[M T]

(continued 4th Q)
5:19 After a time out, Kiana is being closely defended as she dribbles back and forth across the court.  As she tries to stop, she dribbles it off her foot & out of bounds
5:09  Hristova drives from 10' out but misses, OR to WSU Kostourkova (different than PxP).  She loses it, but in the confusion the official on the endline blindly called a tie ball when there was no tie ball. 
5:02 TV cuts to show a schedule so we miss the inbound play by WSU, but we see Hristova taking a 12' shot and missing.  The ball rolls out of bounds, last touched by WSU.
4:46 Dijonai drives down the left side of the lane and gets challenged as she goes up at the block.  She attempts a pass to Alyssa in the corner, but throws it right to a defender.
4:25 A good defensive effort results in a DR for Stanford
4:20 Kiana has a great drive in transition for a layup but misses.  DR by WSU
4:13  In transition, Muzet drives from the left corner, past Brittany. Dijonai and Kayle come to defend.  The shooter & Dijonai go up and Dijonai emphatically knocks the ball backwards, with her hand and elbow above the shooter's head.  The official calls that as a foul at that point, presumably because of the colliding bodies (never mind that Dijonai was in the air first).  I suspect it was called an unsportsmanlike foul because the shooter was in a vulnerable position.  0/2 FTs  +20
3:56 Kiana passes in to Kaylee on the block with her defender pinned up high, but the ball is deflected. Kaylee still gets to it but late & very deep.  Despite her defender getting her hands on the shot, the ball goes in.  +22
3:46 Marta gets picked and her player drives in on & past Kaylee. Kaylee wisely doesn't foul.  Dijonai doesn't help out fast enough.  Layup.  +20
3:29  Good pass from Kaylee up high to Brittany on a baseline drive. Brittany is fouled on her missed shot.  2/'2 FT  +22
3:10  Due to a lot of passing, Kaylee winds up guarding Halley who cuts past her to the basket for a layup.  +20
2:55 Smith tries a pass to a cutting(!) Kaylee, but the ball is deflected, out to Kiana.  She tries to corral it and cut along the baseline but her momentum meant a foot touched out of bounds.  TO
2:40  Good D by Kaylee.
2:37 Hristova drives and attracts Alanna and Brittany, leaving a player open who then sinks an 18' jumper.  +18
2:18 Kiana throws a hot pass into Kaylee who can't handle it and it goes out of bounds.  Fortunately (and incorrectly, I think) it was called out on WSU.
2:10 Kaylee gets called for an offensive foul for backing down her defender.  Probably the correct call besides being a flop.  But I wish they'd called this at other times.  Is the lesson to be learned that you have to flop in order for this to be called?
1:59 Marta's player is in the paint with the ball with Marta on her.  She dumps the ball out to Halley and cuts out to the 3pt line.  Marta stays to cut off the drive (not a bad idea).  The pass goes out to the 3pt line and it goes in  +15
1:45  Britanny makes a good drive to the basket and is fouled on her shot.  2/2 FTs  +17
1:35 Marta's player drives her into the lane and dribbles the ball off Marta's foot.  Correct no call on double dribble, but questionable on no travel, and definitely wrong in a failure to call her 6 seconds in the lane.
1:29  Kiana steals the ball from a WSU dribbler.
1:19  Marta throws the ball in to Maya on the block, but the ball gets away from Maya for a second and she gets tied up before she can go up for a shot.  Stanford possession.  BUT, IMO, Marta should have decided that it was time to freeze the ball.
1:18  Kiana tries to inbound the ball to Alexa but it is too tall and goes through her hands.  Fast break for WSU, but she gets fancy with a backward spin and misses the shot.
A WSU rebounder comes down with the ball on the stationary Alexa, and Alexa is called for the foul.  Alexa could have done better by boxing out.  1/2 FT  +16
We don't have Kaylee in, and we lose the rebound on the missed FT.  (Up 16, with 1:18 left, I presume Tara wasn't worried about the victory, so good to let others have the experience).
1:00 Good ball movement gives WSU a good 3pt opportunity but they miss.  Alexa makes a good rebound in traffic and they jump all over her.  She hangs on tightly, resulting in a WSU foul.
0:48  Dijonai takes a jumper from the elbow with 18 seconds on the shot clock.  (I wonder if Tara wanted them to keep playing hard, versus holding the ball).  Maya tips the rebound away from a clutch of WSU players, and Alyssa gets the rebound.
0:23  With 20 on the shot clock, Maya gets an shot from in the key but misses.  WSU rebound.
0:14  Hristova sinks a 3 in transition.  That was the only successful 3 of the game for her.  +13

[M T]

(continued 4th Q)
5:19 After a time out, Kiana is being closely defended as she dribbles back and forth across the court.  As she tries to stop, she dribbles it off her foot & out of bounds
5:09  Hristova drives from 10' out but misses, OR to WSU Kostourkova (different than PxP).  She loses it, but in the confusion the official on the endline blindly called a tie ball when there was no tie ball. 
5:02 TV cuts to show a schedule so we miss the inbound play by WSU, but we see Hristova taking a 12' shot and missing.  The ball rolls out of bounds, last touched by WSU.
4:46 Dijonai drives down the left side of the lane and gets challenged as she goes up at the block.  She attempts a pass to Alyssa in the corner, but throws it right to a defender.
4:25 A good defensive effort results in a DR for Stanford
4:20 Kiana has a great drive in transition for a layup but misses.  DR by WSU
4:13  In transition, Muzet drives from the left corner, past Brittany. Dijonai and Kayle come to defend.  The shooter & Dijonai go up and Dijonai emphatically knocks the ball backwards, with her hand and elbow above the shooter's head.  The official calls that as a foul at that point, presumably because of the colliding bodies (never mind that Dijonai was in the air first).  I suspect it was called an unsportsmanlike foul because the shooter was in a vulnerable position.  0/2 FTs  +20
3:56 Kiana passes in to Kaylee on the block with her defender pinned up high, but the ball is deflected. Kaylee still gets to it but late & very deep.  Despite her defender getting her hands on the shot, the ball goes in.  +22
3:46 Marta gets picked and her player drives in on & past Kaylee. Kaylee wisely doesn't foul.  Dijonai doesn't help out fast enough.  Layup.  +20
3:29  Good pass from Kaylee up high to Brittany on a baseline drive. Brittany is fouled on her missed shot.  2/'2 FT  +22
3:10  Due to a lot of passing, Kaylee winds up guarding Halley who cuts past her to the basket for a layup.  +20
2:55 Smith tries a pass to a cutting(!) Kaylee, but the ball is deflected, out to Kiana.  She tries to corral it and cut along the baseline but her momentum meant a foot touched out of bounds.  TO
2:40  Good D by Kaylee.
2:37 Hristova drives and attracts Alanna and Brittany, leaving a player open who then sinks an 18' jumper.  +18
2:18 Kiana throws a hot pass into Kaylee who can't handle it and it goes out of bounds.  Fortunately (and incorrectly, I think) it was called out on WSU.
2:10 Kaylee gets called for an offensive foul for backing down her defender.  Probably the correct call besides being a flop.  But I wish they'd called this at other times.  Is the lesson to be learned that you have to flop in order for this to be called?
1:59 Marta's player is in the paint with the ball with Marta on her.  She dumps the ball out to Halley and cuts out to the 3pt line.  Marta stays to cut off the drive (not a bad idea).  The pass goes out to the 3pt line and it goes in  +15
1:45  Britanny makes a good drive to the basket and is fouled on her shot.  2/2 FTs  +17
1:35 Marta's player drives her into the lane and dribbles the ball off Marta's foot.  Correct no call on double dribble, but questionable on no travel, and definitely wrong in a failure to call her 6 seconds in the lane.
1:29  Kiana steals the ball from a WSU dribbler.
1:19  Marta throws the ball in to Maya on the block, but the ball gets away from Maya for a second and she gets tied up before she can go up for a shot.  Stanford possession.  BUT, IMO, Marta should have decided that it was time to freeze the ball.
1:18  Kiana tries to inbound the ball to Alexa but it is too tall and goes through her hands.  Fast break for WSU, but she gets fancy with a backward spin and misses the shot.
A WSU rebounder comes down with the ball on the stationary Alexa, and Alexa is called for the foul.  Alexa could have done better by boxing out.  1/2 FT  +16
We don't have Kaylee in, and we lose the rebound on the missed FT.  (Up 16, with 1:18 left, I presume Tara wasn't worried about the victory, so good to let others have the experience).
1:00 Good ball movement gives WSU a good 3pt opportunity but they miss.  Alexa makes a good rebound in traffic and they jump all over her.  She hangs on tightly, resulting in a WSU foul.
0:48  Dijonai takes a jumper from the elbow with 18 seconds on the shot clock.  (I wonder if Tara wanted them to keep playing hard, versus holding the ball).  Maya tips the rebound away from a clutch of WSU players, and Alyssa gets the rebound.
0:23  With 20 on the shot clock, Maya gets an shot from in the key but misses.  WSU rebound.
0:14  Hristova sinks a 3 in transition.  That was the only successful 3 of the game for her.  +13

[81alum]

MT, thank you for that detailed break down of our break down.  It confirms a few of my hunches and corrects one or two others.  I guess the referees were not unusually incompetent--on the fast break call at least they got it right.  The play when I yelled at them to consult the monitor was when Swedlund sprained her ankle but before we knew she was seriously hurt.  They did go over to the monitor and I thought perhaps they had heard the crowd complain, but my guess is they were not checking the out of bounds call (which you confirmed they got wrong) but checking to see if any egregious foul had been committed against Swedlund to cause her injury.

What I also like about your analysis is that it shows that the true breakdown didn't really begin until well into the 4th quarter.  All during the 3rd and until 7:41 in the 4th we basically played WSU even.  That may not be good--but it doesn't represent a collapse.  When Marta made that layup at 7:41 to extend the lead back to 26 we answered WSU and seemed to be on track.

But after Marta's layup what I noticed most is the decline in William's play.  She did not stay in front of her player, she made several deflected passes leading to turnovers.  I think this is a sign of fatigue--whether physical or mental.  It also fits with her previous pattern of being an offensive genius early in the game but receding later in the game.  She is probably our most talented player, but she is a freshman, and as opposing defenses turn up the pressure on her over the course of the game she does not stay quite as crisp and focused.  I think 36 minutes is probably too long for her--but with Anna Wilson out we would have needed to play Romano considerably more than we did.

After Marta's layup, we scored only one more basket the rest of the game--the layup by Kaylee.  But over the last 7+ minutes of the game, we had 4 misses, 9 turnovers, and 3 fouls.  Williams, Carrington, McPhee, and Coffee seemed to be responsible for most of those mistakes.  Williams and McPhee, as I said, just seemed tired.  Carrington played 11 minutes in the 2nd half and was 0/6 with 2 turnovers. 

Romano played only 1 minute in the second half.  I think in retrospect that was probably a mistake.

[81alum]

MT, thank you for that detailed break down of our break down.  It confirms a few of my hunches and corrects one or two others.  I guess the referees were not unusually incompetent--on the fast break call at least they got it right.  The play when I yelled at them to consult the monitor was when Swedlund sprained her ankle but before we knew she was seriously hurt.  They did go over to the monitor and I thought perhaps they had heard the crowd complain, but my guess is they were not checking the out of bounds call (which you confirmed they got wrong) but checking to see if any egregious foul had been committed against Swedlund to cause her injury.

What I also like about your analysis is that it shows that the true breakdown didn't really begin until well into the 4th quarter.  All during the 3rd and until 7:41 in the 4th we basically played WSU even.  That may not be good--but it doesn't represent a collapse.  When Marta made that layup at 7:41 to extend the lead back to 26 we answered WSU and seemed to be on track.

But after Marta's layup what I noticed most is the decline in William's play.  She did not stay in front of her player, she made several deflected passes leading to turnovers.  I think this is a sign of fatigue--whether physical or mental.  It also fits with her previous pattern of being an offensive genius early in the game but receding later in the game.  She is probably our most talented player, but she is a freshman, and as opposing defenses turn up the pressure on her over the course of the game she does not stay quite as crisp and focused.  I think 36 minutes is probably too long for her--but with Anna Wilson out we would have needed to play Romano considerably more than we did.

After Marta's layup, we scored only one more basket the rest of the game--the layup by Kaylee.  But over the last 7+ minutes of the game, we had 4 misses, 9 turnovers, and 3 fouls.  Williams, Carrington, McPhee, and Coffee seemed to be responsible for most of those mistakes.  Williams and McPhee, as I said, just seemed tired.  Carrington played 11 minutes in the 2nd half and was 0/6 with 2 turnovers. 

Romano played only 1 minute in the second half.  I think in retrospect that was probably a mistake.