Big Kudos to CD and Marisa

[Olde Coach]

Stefanie's incredible defense on Chiney is surely not something Stef figured out by herself.

I'll bet that CD and Marisa spent many hours studying film of Chiney, developing a plan for how Stef could contain her, and then teaching Stef the specific skills she needed to execute the plan.

This was a multi-faceted program that was conceived and executed as a great team effort.

Stef -- in the end -- made it look easy. But it was, in fact, a long way from easy.

I think we need to give our post-player coaches a big gold star today.

 

[EricLA]

Totally agree. The game plan drawn up by the coaches was masterful. Make Kokenis and Ogwumike work extra hard to get any points at all. Play solid defense on everyone else, but really focus on those 2, espeically Ogwumike. The fact that Stef was able to defend her without resorting to a constant double team allowed the rest of the players to focus on defending the rest of the Stanford players on the court.

 

[vtcwbuff]

UConn has always excelled at taking the other team's go to player out of the equation or at least limiting their impact. Last night I think VanDeveer played right into a UConn trap. The Cardinal plan seemed to be go at Dolson and get her in foul trouble early. They went at her, Dolson didn't foul.

In fact I thought Dolson had her best defensive game ever.

 

[Biff]

An image that captures the thought...

 

[semper]

Yeah, all the mental work behind this was stellar. So wonderfully interesting, and Stef REALLY got it.

 

[Shenandoah]

Totally agree. Kudos to CD the elder, Marisa, and Stef for putting in the work necessary to make it work. So many times I recall seeing Stanford going at Stef, with her standing her ground, arms straight in the air, whereas in the past she would lean in and pick up the foul. Just a tremendous overall defensive effort.