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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4496659, member: 12088"] For a different sort of contrast, I rewatched the 2010 NC game against Stanford last night. The first half was a bit like that Villanova game — we couldn’t buy a basket, though we played fierce D against a larger slower Stanford squad. The score was 20-12 at the half. We’d made only 5 baskets in the entire half, shot something like 15 percent. Of course, Maya the Magnificent showed up for the second half and we won going away. And Kelly Faris had to bring a little of her magic, too, scrapping for every loose ball. Tina started hitting shots as well. I found myself wondering how this year’s team measured up to that one. Maya is difficult to find a parallel for, at least with respect to her complete game. But in terms of offense Azzi is obviously comparable, as Paige would be too. Lou is a better shooter than anyone besides Maya on that squad. Aaliyah and Dorka are not as forceful as Tina was, but they maybe comparable on offense. Aubrey gives us a similar defensive stopper to Kelly, and a better finisher in transition. And there was no one really like Nika on that team. Doty and Hayes lacked her ferocity, and their offense wasn’t consistently better. Dory could be a better perimeter shooter, often was in the regular season. But in the pressure of that game, her shot disappeared. How would that team have matched up against our rivals this season? Maya and Tina would have been unstoppable. No one has that sort of all-around energy today, not even us. But we have some of the things they had, like an explosive transition game and maybe even better shooters. Dorka is not the rim protector Tina was. Tina had just out-muscled and out-hustled Griner in the FF game, after all, so I don’t think Stanford’s or SC’s post players could have kept up with her. Dorka has her moments, but she’s not Tina. If Ice and Ayanna had been able to develop naturally alongside her and Aaliyah, it would be a different story and we could have stood toe to toe with anyone in the paint. As it is, we’ll have to rely on winning in the backcourt to counter our rivals’ front court advantage. We also have more offensive weapons than the 2010 team. When everyone went cold in that first half against Stanford, they had no one to turn to. In addition to Azzi and Lou and Aaliyah and Dorka, we will be able to bring in Caroline and Aubrey. As far as I know, there isn’t another team today who can find that sort of talent on the bench. In the Kool-Aid comparison, and thinking about the 2010 team, I like our chances this year. Stuff has to break our way health-wise, but we definitely have the juice to make a run at the title. [/QUOTE]

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