11-07-2015, 06:00 PM
Atmosphere
We had our first chance to see this year's team in game action today, and the last chance to see them at home until after we play some tough road games and return in 2 weeks. The first meaningful home game will be on Big Game day, and the time of the WBB game will be determined after the TV gods determine the time of the football game. What a twisted sports world it is.
The new scoreboard was certainly flashy and it allowed us to watch McCaffrey complete his halfback pass while we were waiting for the basketball game to begin. As with the stadium, the video screen has taken over virtually the whole scoreboard, leaving no room for useful information except for the score. The other info comes up on the four corner screens that have replaced the banners. There were complaints that these corner screens were small and cryptic, and they were. And there were even more complaints that there are no plans to put the banners anywhere. Meanwhile, the atmosphere was pretty good for such a measly crowd on a football day. The band and dollies and hard core fans were present.
All in all, it was intriguing to see the four new players in action and to see if our experienced players had improved. However, several of us observing thought the vastly inferior Academy of Art team played with a lot more heart than we did. These exhibitions tend to be absolute blowouts, but Academy of Art actually led for parts of the 1st quarter. Once Tara pulled our scoring stars Erica McCall and Karlie Samuelson in the second half, we stopped extending the lead. Our defense looked suspect at times. All in all, this game did not inspire me to think our team was close to being ready to face a top 20 George Washington, let alone Gonzaga at their house in Spokane next weekend. We looked very, very rough around the edges. Let's hope everyone else does too.
Lili had a foot in a boot. Tara said later it was precautionary and it was hoped she would be back by next week. Starting were McCall, Kaylee Johnson, Samuelson, Bri Roberson, and frosh Marta Sniezek at point guard.
Evaluating the team
Erica McCall is indeed much improved on offense. She has several moves around and under the basket now. She scored 19 points in 17 minutes. However, this was against a much shorter, over matched team, and there were several occasions when it took her 2 or 3 offensive rebounds to get it in the hoop. Against Pac 12 competition, which will be at least equal in height to McCall, she cannot necessarily count on having so many chances. I saw her shooting 10 footers in practice with ease--I eagerly await seeing her do that in a game.
Our other major scorer was Karlie Samuelson, who as I suspected, is indeed playing the 3. She looks like she will be starter there all year if she keeps up her three point shooting. Academy of Art played a frenetic zone, and this left Karlie open on the wing quite often. She was 3/9 but also 6/6 free throws, and she grabbed a rebound from her own missed trey and laid it in, for a total of 17 points in 26 minutes.
Kaylee and Kailee looked to me to be very much like they were last year. Kaylee continues to rebound well--she had 9 in 19 minutes, but neither of them have fluid finishing moves under the basket. I had hoped that they might add a lot to their offense over the summer, as McCall seems to have been able to do, but if they did it was not obvious during this scrimmage.
Alanna Smith played well at times. She made two nifty moves down the middle of the key for lay-ins, but was incorrectly called for an offensive foul on one of them. She wound up 5/11 for 12 points in 22 minutes, with a couple of blocks too. She did miss all 3 of her trey attempts. It seems obvious to me that she is going to be needed for point production this year. After the game Tara said that Alanna has been sick and is a little behind in training. She will be used at both the 3 and the 4, which means she is learning twice as much as a typical frosh and it will take some time to learn both those positions well. Tara seemed to be circumspect in what she said, leading me to believe that she wants Alanna to have some adjustment time before throwing her to the wolves. But my assumption that she would have time both at the 4 and the 3 was confirmed.
The only frosh that Tara started was pg Marta Sniezek, who we also met after the game. A very bright and articulate young woman, and Tara was effusive about her, suggesting that she may be the best pure point guard to come to Stanford. Tara and Amy both said that Marta loves to push the pace and is an excellent passer--and this will work very well with our bigs who can all run. Marta had 4 assists and 2 turnovers, and her shooting was off today, hitting just 1/9. Tara remarked that her shooting has been extremely good in practice.Â
Kiran Lakhian actually played point guard for 15 minutes in the second half and looked very good, with 4 assists and no turnovers, 1/1 shooting, and 4 rebounds to boot. Apparently she is the third point guard, said Tara, and I wound up thinking that this is a fascinating story in the making--given she has not been on the team for two years.
In other play, Bri Roberson looked like her old self, contributing 9 points and a couple of assists. Britt McPhee has also been ill, and Tara kept her to 8 minutes, so it was hard to tell much about her. I thought Alexa Romano played good defense--her body type and movement reminds me of Sara James. Shannon Coffee, who was also introduced, played only 6 minutes but had a very nice basket and a block. She looked pretty good to me--not sure why the limited minutes. Tess looked like Tess, and got many cheers when she scored a basket.Â
Conclusion
Looking this over, all the frosh showed me they have contributions they can make, and probably this year. The team is still learning how to play as a team. There were some great flashes of potential, but this is very much a work in progress. I can only hope they come back to us with a couple of wins at Davis and Gonzaga, but I would not be surprised at almost anything. But also keep in mind that our best player did not play today, and so it is rather hard to judge where we are right now.
We had our first chance to see this year's team in game action today, and the last chance to see them at home until after we play some tough road games and return in 2 weeks. The first meaningful home game will be on Big Game day, and the time of the WBB game will be determined after the TV gods determine the time of the football game. What a twisted sports world it is.
The new scoreboard was certainly flashy and it allowed us to watch McCaffrey complete his halfback pass while we were waiting for the basketball game to begin. As with the stadium, the video screen has taken over virtually the whole scoreboard, leaving no room for useful information except for the score. The other info comes up on the four corner screens that have replaced the banners. There were complaints that these corner screens were small and cryptic, and they were. And there were even more complaints that there are no plans to put the banners anywhere. Meanwhile, the atmosphere was pretty good for such a measly crowd on a football day. The band and dollies and hard core fans were present.
All in all, it was intriguing to see the four new players in action and to see if our experienced players had improved. However, several of us observing thought the vastly inferior Academy of Art team played with a lot more heart than we did. These exhibitions tend to be absolute blowouts, but Academy of Art actually led for parts of the 1st quarter. Once Tara pulled our scoring stars Erica McCall and Karlie Samuelson in the second half, we stopped extending the lead. Our defense looked suspect at times. All in all, this game did not inspire me to think our team was close to being ready to face a top 20 George Washington, let alone Gonzaga at their house in Spokane next weekend. We looked very, very rough around the edges. Let's hope everyone else does too.
Lili had a foot in a boot. Tara said later it was precautionary and it was hoped she would be back by next week. Starting were McCall, Kaylee Johnson, Samuelson, Bri Roberson, and frosh Marta Sniezek at point guard.
Evaluating the team
Erica McCall is indeed much improved on offense. She has several moves around and under the basket now. She scored 19 points in 17 minutes. However, this was against a much shorter, over matched team, and there were several occasions when it took her 2 or 3 offensive rebounds to get it in the hoop. Against Pac 12 competition, which will be at least equal in height to McCall, she cannot necessarily count on having so many chances. I saw her shooting 10 footers in practice with ease--I eagerly await seeing her do that in a game.
Our other major scorer was Karlie Samuelson, who as I suspected, is indeed playing the 3. She looks like she will be starter there all year if she keeps up her three point shooting. Academy of Art played a frenetic zone, and this left Karlie open on the wing quite often. She was 3/9 but also 6/6 free throws, and she grabbed a rebound from her own missed trey and laid it in, for a total of 17 points in 26 minutes.
Kaylee and Kailee looked to me to be very much like they were last year. Kaylee continues to rebound well--she had 9 in 19 minutes, but neither of them have fluid finishing moves under the basket. I had hoped that they might add a lot to their offense over the summer, as McCall seems to have been able to do, but if they did it was not obvious during this scrimmage.
Alanna Smith played well at times. She made two nifty moves down the middle of the key for lay-ins, but was incorrectly called for an offensive foul on one of them. She wound up 5/11 for 12 points in 22 minutes, with a couple of blocks too. She did miss all 3 of her trey attempts. It seems obvious to me that she is going to be needed for point production this year. After the game Tara said that Alanna has been sick and is a little behind in training. She will be used at both the 3 and the 4, which means she is learning twice as much as a typical frosh and it will take some time to learn both those positions well. Tara seemed to be circumspect in what she said, leading me to believe that she wants Alanna to have some adjustment time before throwing her to the wolves. But my assumption that she would have time both at the 4 and the 3 was confirmed.
The only frosh that Tara started was pg Marta Sniezek, who we also met after the game. A very bright and articulate young woman, and Tara was effusive about her, suggesting that she may be the best pure point guard to come to Stanford. Tara and Amy both said that Marta loves to push the pace and is an excellent passer--and this will work very well with our bigs who can all run. Marta had 4 assists and 2 turnovers, and her shooting was off today, hitting just 1/9. Tara remarked that her shooting has been extremely good in practice.Â
Kiran Lakhian actually played point guard for 15 minutes in the second half and looked very good, with 4 assists and no turnovers, 1/1 shooting, and 4 rebounds to boot. Apparently she is the third point guard, said Tara, and I wound up thinking that this is a fascinating story in the making--given she has not been on the team for two years.
In other play, Bri Roberson looked like her old self, contributing 9 points and a couple of assists. Britt McPhee has also been ill, and Tara kept her to 8 minutes, so it was hard to tell much about her. I thought Alexa Romano played good defense--her body type and movement reminds me of Sara James. Shannon Coffee, who was also introduced, played only 6 minutes but had a very nice basket and a block. She looked pretty good to me--not sure why the limited minutes. Tess looked like Tess, and got many cheers when she scored a basket.Â
Conclusion
Looking this over, all the frosh showed me they have contributions they can make, and probably this year. The team is still learning how to play as a team. There were some great flashes of potential, but this is very much a work in progress. I can only hope they come back to us with a couple of wins at Davis and Gonzaga, but I would not be surprised at almost anything. But also keep in mind that our best player did not play today, and so it is rather hard to judge where we are right now.
