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Message: [QUOTE="willtalk, post: 3354620, member: 1220"] Yes that game had a major impact on my Stanford fandom. To start with I was not really a WCBB fan. Nor any form of womens basketball for that matter. I was a volleyball fan and because of their coach and program became a fan of Stanford volleyball. Kristin Folkl was the most dominate volleyball player at the time and through curiosity, it led me to follow Stanford W. Basketball. Tara had also developed a rep as the USA team coach. While still not a much of a fan as I am now, the first women's team I followed was Stanford. Well, the game you described, was one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen. While Appel, who was sort of a local girl I had followed through high school. Tara, I felt, allowing her to play that last game was worse than stupid. It changed my perspective on Tara. Appel, and her grit, was the reason they won the simi game, but she was a serious liability in the game against Uconn. Stanford was the better team that year and it was Tara's brain freeze that lost them the championship. Whenever Appel was not in the game Stanford outscored Uconn. But when she was in the game Uconn made up whatever difference and took back the lead. Appel, not only had a horrible shooting day, but her mobility and hops were limited. She couldn't even get off the ground, rebound or play defense. She was able to grit through her injury in the simi but to anyone with a brain, it was obvious that she had nothing left for the final. The effort she gave on an injured leg in the semi's aggravated the injury to the point where she was, even with effort, a major liability. Tara's insistence on playing her lost them the championship. That event, along with other incidents, led me to believe that Tara carried some psychological monkey on her back that would manifest in key games. Not being that invested anyway, I dropped Stanford as my favorite team in womens basketball. So yes losing that game, and how it was lost, had a major impact. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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