My Take on the Stanford Game

[WestCoastHusky]

I was there last night. It was a great night for a basketball game. It was a near sell out and the crowd was great. Going in, I was expecting a 20+ points blow out. Over the course of the game, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In the end, Stanford won and we lost. Here are my takes:

• Give credit where credit is due: Stanford got two terrific guards. They gave all of our players fits. None of our players could defend either (#1 and #33). Their dribble penetrations did us in.
• Stanford also got a HUGE boost from the crowd and some luck. That 3 pointers with 1.4 secs left was a total killer.
• Saniya Chong could be a big star for UCONN. Granted defensively she had problems with those 2 Stanford guards, but offensively she was lights out. She was also calm handling the ball, which is very important as a guard. I thought UCONN should have set her up with more screens and let her shoot. She was hot and we went away from her in the second half.
• We tried force feeding Stewart down the middle way too much. Stanford had 2-3 players surrounding Stewart every time she touched the ball down the middle. While Stewart is good, but those were all very difficult shots and she missed quite a few. I thought we should have done a better job getting Saniya or KML open on the 3 points line by setting more screens.
• KML is a great player but she needed help getting open. Stanford player was all over her every time she touched the ball. They left Saniya open and we definitely should have gone to Saniya more often because she was shooting lights out.
• Morgan Tuck is still rusty. She missed a ton of shots. She had a great 5 points stretch in OT. She is a tough player and will be back.
• I thought UCONN should have gone to zone since we had almost no weak side help when Stanford guards drove into the paint. I thought we should have put Stokes and Stewart in the middle for defense and either play straight up 2-3 zone or 1-3-1 zone on the #33.

Yes we lost, but it took some miracle for Stanford to win. UCONN is still the better team and I have no doubt we would crush them on a neutral court. We do, however, need to know how to defend fast guards better. Also, I thought we definitely should have try to gone to the hot hand throughout the game. For last night, it was Saniya Chong and we definitely should have tried to get her to shoot more often.

All in all, a great college basketball game for men or women. We had fun even though we lost. Stanford fans were nice for the most part. Several told us they didn't expect a close game but everyone got their money's worth.

 

[Rocket009]

I was there last night. It was a great night for a basketball game. It was a near sell out and the crowd was great. Going in, I was expecting a 20+ points blow out. Over the course of the game, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In the end, Stanford won and we lost. Here are my takes:

• Give credit where credit is due: Stanford got two terrific guards. They gave all of our players fits. None of our players could defend either (#1 and #33). Their dribble penetration did us in.
• Stanford also got a HUGE boost from the crowd and some luck. That 3 pointers with 1.4 secs left was a total killer.
• Saniya Chong could be a big star for UCONN. Granted defensively she had problems with those 2 Stanford guards, but offensively she was lights out. She is also calm handling the ball, which is very important as a guard. I thought UCONN should have set her up with more screens and let her shoot. She was hot and we went away from her.
• We stuck with force feed Steward down the middle way too much. Stanford had 2-3 players surrounding Steward every time she touched the ball down the middle. While Stewart is good, but those were all very difficult shots and she missed quite a few. I thought we should have done a better job getting Saniya or KML open on the 3 points line by setting more screens.
• KML is a great player but she needs help getting open. Stanford player was all over her every time she touched the ball. They left Saniya open and we definitely should have gone to Saniya more often because she was shooting lights out.
• Morgan Tuck is still rusty. She missed a ton of shots. She had a great 5 points stretch in OT. She is a tough player and will be back.
• I thought UCONN should have gone to zone since we had almost no weak side help when Stanford guards drove into the paint. I thought we should have put Stokes and Stewart in the middle for defense and either play straight up 2-3 zone or 1-3-1 zone on the #33.

Yes we lost, but it took some miracle for Stanford to win. UCONN is still the better team and I have no doubt we would crush them on a neutral court. We do, however, need to know how to defend fast guards better. Also, I thought we definitely should have try to gone to the hot hand throughout the game. For last night, it was Saniya Chong and we definitely should have tried to get her to shoot more often.

All in all, a great college basketball game for men or women. We had fun even though we lost. Stanford fans were nice for the most part. Several told us they didn't expect a close game but everyone got their money's worth.

Completely agree with this. I was at the game too and thought it was a great matchup. Very tense and drama filled. Stanford subbed often using 9 players UCONN used only 7 players. I think we ran out of steam a little at the end of each half and that's when the shooting suffered and the defense broke down.

Stanford guards are really good and Tara had a great game plan to take advantage of them - given all that we only lost in OT. All together a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season.

 

[UConnCat]

Nice post and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I hope someone asks Geno about playing more zone in the game. I'll be interested in his thoughts. Part of the problem is that Bonnie Samuelson is so tall and has such good range that she can shoot over most zones, particularly when the defenders up top are short like Jefferson and Chong. Greenfield is a tall shooter too.

I'll be interested to see how other teams choose to defend Stanford. They have the 3-point shooters to spread the floor and the guards to penetrate and either score or dish. It'll be a dilemma for teams.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Nice post and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I hope someone asks Geno about playing more zone in the game. I'll be interested in his thoughts. Part of the problem is that Bonnie Samuelson is so tall and has such good range that she can shoot over most zones, particularly when the defenders up top are short like Jefferson and Chong. Greenfield is a tall shooter too.

I'll be interested to see how other teams choose to defend Stanford. They have the 3-point shooters to spread the floor and the guards to penetrate and either score or dish. It'll be a dilemma for teams.

We should have gone to zone or 1-3-1 on their guards. Yes Stanford got tall players that can shoot, but they are not fast and our players can easily close on them even in a zone. We definitely needed Stewart and Stokes in the middle to defend against guard penetration since it was obvious their 2 guards were getting all the calls if they got touched going to the paint. It is not fair to ask Jefferson or Chong to defend those 2 1-on-1 since they were really fast. The only way to play the 2 would be a zone. Regardless, we still should have gone to zone more just to force Stanford to shoot more 3s. On the offense end, I thought we should have used Jefferson to attack Thompson more to get her in foul trouble. Thompson had 4 fouls in OT the entire time and we didn't attack her at all. If she was out of the game, I don't think Stanford has another player of her speed or caliber on the bench. Either Chong or Jefferson should have attacked their guards more to get them in foul trouble. Had we gone to Chong more often last night, I think we would have won.

 

[boontonbomber]

I was there last night. It was a great night for a basketball game. It was a near sell out and the crowd was great. Going in, I was expecting a 20+ points blow out. Over the course of the game, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In the end, Stanford won and we lost. Here are my takes:

• Give credit where credit is due: Stanford got two terrific guards. They gave all of our players fits. None of our players could defend either (#1 and #33). Their dribble penetrations did us in.
• Stanford also got a HUGE boost from the crowd and some luck. That 3 pointers with 1.4 secs left was a total killer.
• Saniya Chong could be a big star for UCONN. Granted defensively she had problems with those 2 Stanford guards, but offensively she was lights out. She was also calm handling the ball, which is very important as a guard. I thought UCONN should have set her up with more screens and let her shoot. She was hot and we went away from her in the second half.
• We tried force feeding Stewart down the middle way too much. Stanford had 2-3 players surrounding Stewart every time she touched the ball down the middle. While Stewart is good, but those were all very difficult shots and she missed quite a few. I thought we should have done a better job getting Saniya or KML open on the 3 points line by setting more screens.
• KML is a great player but she needed help getting open. Stanford player was all over her every time she touched the ball. They left Saniya open and we definitely should have gone to Saniya more often because she was shooting lights out.
• Morgan Tuck is still rusty. She missed a ton of shots. She had a great 5 points stretch in OT. She is a tough player and will be back.
• I thought UCONN should have gone to zone since we had almost no weak side help when Stanford guards drove into the paint. I thought we should have put Stokes and Stewart in the middle for defense and either play straight up 2-3 zone or 1-3-1 zone on the #33.

Yes we lost, but it took some miracle for Stanford to win. UCONN is still the better team and I have no doubt we would crush them on a neutral court. We do, however, need to know how to defend fast guards better. Also, I thought we definitely should have try to gone to the hot hand throughout the game. For last night, it was Saniya Chong and we definitely should have tried to get her to shoot more often.

All in all, a great college basketball game for men or women. We had fun even though we lost. Stanford fans were nice for the most part. Several told us they didn't expect a close game but everyone got their money's worth.

Well stated, West Coast. I think that's a great summation, from someone who saw it all , in person. I have a question: during that time when , at the very end, the refs were correcting the time left to 2.6 seconds, did you happen to notice if any of the Uconn coaches seem to be talking to any of the players about what to do after Samuelson shot her foul shots? Though, in that situation maybe coaches are not allowed to talk to players. Just curious if you saw any communication. Thanks.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Well stated, West Coast. I think that's a great summation, from someone who saw it all , in person. I have a question: during that time when , at the very end, the refs were correcting the time left to 2.6 seconds, did you happen to notice if any of the Uconn coaches seem to be talking to any of the players about what to do after Samuelson shot her foul shots? Though, in that situation maybe coaches are not allowed to talk to players. Just curious if you saw any communication. Thanks.

Thanks for the good comment on the summary. Are you talking about the 5 secs violation in-bounding the ball? I don't recall coaches talking to the players. It seems a simple thing to do but it was obvious we were not prepared for that play.

That play and the play after where #33 was wide open for the 3 did us in during regulation. I can tell you the place erupted when that 3 went in. We still had a chance in OT but like I said, we went away from our hot hand and did not play zone, which ultimately cost us the game.

 

[boontonbomber]

Thanks for the good comment on the summary. Are you talking about the 5 secs violation in-bounding the ball? I don't recall coaches talking to the players. It seems a simple thing to do but it was obvious we were not prepared for that play.

That play and the play after where #33 was wide open for the 3 did us in during regulation. I can tell you the place erupted when that 3 went in. We still had a chance in OT but like I said, we went away from our hot hand and did not play zone, which ultimately cost us the game.

I was referring to the point at the end of the overtime, where there was a pause as the refs changed the clock from 1.7 seconds to 2.6 seconds left. Just before the very embarrassing way that Uconn ended the game, as it seemed that no one knew who was going to in-bounds the ball, or to whom the ball would be in-bounded to. I was just wondering if the coaches made any of that clear to the players before Samuelson shot the foul shots. We'll probably never know.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Not so much about the game itself, but here's my two cents worth on the Boneyard responses. Although we all had issues of strategy and analysis upon which everyone passionately (and a few dispassionately) agreed and/or disagreed, the positions Boneyarders communicated, almost universally, displayed a incredibly knowledgeable and wonderfully opinionated fan base.

 

[UConnCat]

I was referring to the point at the end of the overtime, where there was a pause as the refs changed the clock from 1.7 seconds to 2.6 seconds left. Just before the very embarrassing way that Uconn ended the game, as it seemed that no one knew who was going to in-bounds the ball, or to whom the ball would be in-bounded to. I was just wondering if the coaches made any of that clear to the players before Samuelson shot the foul shots. We'll probably never know.

We do know. The cameras showed the team huddled up with Geno while the officials reviewed the replay. Geno said after the game that the players were told what to do depending on whether they were down 3 or 2. Whatever they were told didn't sink in.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I was referring to the point at the end of the overtime, where there was a pause as the refs changed the clock from 1.7 seconds to 2.6 seconds left. Just before the very embarrassing way that Uconn ended the game, as it seemed that no one knew who was going to in-bounds the ball, or to whom the ball would be in-bounded to. I was just wondering if the coaches made any of that clear to the players before Samuelson shot the foul shots. We'll probably never know.

Yeah it went by so fast I don't recall. However, how we ended the game was embarrassing. With 2.6 secs left, we definitely could have at minimal get a shot off. We could have threw it to Stewart at mid court like we did at end of the first half and let her take a shot. Stewart is taller than everyone else so she definitely could have got a shot off.

 

[Bayareahusky]

I was there last night. It was a great night for a basketball game. It was a near sell out and the crowd was great. Going in, I was expecting a 20+ points blow out. Over the course of the game, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In the end, Stanford won and we lost. Here are my takes:

• Give credit where credit is due: Stanford got two terrific guards. They gave all of our players fits. None of our players could defend either (#1 and #33). Their dribble penetrations did us in.
• Stanford also got a HUGE boost from the crowd and some luck. That 3 pointers with 1.4 secs left was a total killer.
• Saniya Chong could be a big star for UCONN. Granted defensively she had problems with those 2 Stanford guards, but offensively she was lights out. She was also calm handling the ball, which is very important as a guard. I thought UCONN should have set her up with more screens and let her shoot. She was hot and we went away from her in the second half.
• We tried force feeding Stewart down the middle way too much. Stanford had 2-3 players surrounding Stewart every time she touched the ball down the middle. While Stewart is good, but those were all very difficult shots and she missed quite a few. I thought we should have done a better job getting Saniya or KML open on the 3 points line by setting more screens.
• KML is a great player but she needed help getting open. Stanford player was all over her every time she touched the ball. They left Saniya open and we definitely should have gone to Saniya more often because she was shooting lights out.
• Morgan Tuck is still rusty. She missed a ton of shots. She had a great 5 points stretch in OT. She is a tough player and will be back.
• I thought UCONN should have gone to zone since we had almost no weak side help when Stanford guards drove into the paint. I thought we should have put Stokes and Stewart in the middle for defense and either play straight up 2-3 zone or 1-3-1 zone on the #33.

Yes we lost, but it took some miracle for Stanford to win. UCONN is still the better team and I have no doubt we would crush them on a neutral court. We do, however, need to know how to defend fast guards better. Also, I thought we definitely should have try to gone to the hot hand throughout the game. For last night, it was Saniya Chong and we definitely should have tried to get her to shoot more often.

All in all, a great college basketball game for men or women. We had fun even though we lost. Stanford fans were nice for the most part. Several told us they didn't expect a close game but everyone got their money's worth.

Good summary...... we obviously have work to do......

- the crowd is so strong at Maples..... I was there in 2010 for the streak beater and it was an incredible atmosphere...... so I know first hand of the advantage the building provides for Stanford..... now I live in Vegas, so I didn't get back to Bay Area for this game.....

- Chong looked good didn't she? This performance also exposed some things she has to work on..... but game also showed her strong points...... like..... I love the quick release..... what an advantage...... like the Dan Marino football release..... release it quickly while preserving good form..... love it

- KML looked like she may be better as AN option, and not THE option....... in the concert that is team play, though, she will shine this year.

Must also say that on sports shows today (Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, etc) they were talking about this game.... overall a good showcase for WCBB...... I only saw that captured in past years in UT UConn games..... It is nice to get some pub.

 

[UConnCat]

I've re-watched the game and after this post I'm officially done with last night's game. UConn played zone on one possession in the first half (coming out of the under 4 timeout) and Stanford scored on a long 3-pointer from the top of the key. That was it in the first half.

UConn started the second half playing zone and stayed in its zone for about the first 6+ minutes. Stanford struggled a little bit with it at first then had some success getting inside the zone. UConn then played zone off and on for the rest of the game with mixed results.

Having watched the game again I don't think the defense was terrible. It wasn't a great effort but not as bad as I initially thought.

Kiah Stokes was open from the elbow all night long. Stanford dared her to shoot and she didn't until the end and that was not a good decision. Last year Stef took and made those shots and things opened up in the lane. Stokes or Tuck must take and make that shot.

UConn outplayed Stanford for the first 15 minutes of the 1st half and the first 15 minutes of the second half. The last 5 minutes of both halves were painful to watch and cost the ballgame.

 

[NorCalHuskie]

Did anyone else notice that on the 7th team foul by Stanford in the first half UCONN wasn't given the 1 and 1? It was posted on the scoreboard but nobody (who matters) noticed it.

On that final play where the time ended up at 2.6... The hometown clock timer let the clock run from 3.0, down to 1.4, before it was corrected to 2.6. IOW, the timer ran off 1.4 seconds instead of the proper amount of .4 seconds.

For all the talk about UCONN's mistakes throughout the game, UCONN was up 18-9 in the first half, and had a 10 point lead with about 6:40 to play.

The crowd was very, very loud. When the Stanford player made the 3 to tie at the end of regulation it hurt my ears. Great atmosphere for wcbb. I was left wondering what other crowd will be that loud against UCONN this season.

 

[JRRRJ]

Did anyone else notice that on the 7th team foul by Stanford in the first half UCONN wasn't given the 1 and 1? It was posted on the scoreboard but nobody (who matters) noticed it.

On that final play where the time ended up at 2.6... The hometown clock timer let the clock run from 3.0, down to 1.4, before it was corrected to 2.6. IOW, the timer ran off 1.4 seconds instead of the proper amount of .4 seconds.

For all the talk about UCONN's mistakes throughout the game, UCONN was up 18-9 in the first half, and had a 10 point lead with about 6:40 to play.

The crowd was very, very loud. When the Stanford player made the 3 to tie at the end of regulation it hurt my ears. Great atmosphere for wcbb. I was left wondering what other crowd will be that loud against UCONN this season.

I was wondering if someone changed a rule on the foul shots without telling me about it. Then in the second half, both teams got the 1&1 on the 7th foul, leaving me astounded that no one on the UConn bench noticed the faux pas.

In the first half, most of UConn's lead was because they were making FTs and Stanford was not.

And yes, it was an electrifying atmosphere for a game because of the crowd.

 

[hoophuskee]

I was there last night. It was a great night for a basketball game. It was a near sell out and the crowd was great. Going in, I was expecting a 20+ points blow out. Over the course of the game, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In the end, Stanford won and we lost. Here are my takes:

• We tried force feeding Stewart down the middle way too much. Stanford had 2-3 players surrounding Stewart every time she touched the ball down the middle. While .

I don't know about too much or too little. I guess probably so it may have been too much. But I cringed though as Stewie got position and either a pass was way off the mark (Stokes) or a lazy bounce pass (KML) etc blew up the play. When Stewie gets the ball inside - she's too tall and long armed for players 6'3 and smaller for Stanford to affect her shot that much. One problem with Stewie getting fed - was tha tthe team didn't find her enough when she had position. They could put 5 players on her - and if she has position- and the ball is delivered when she establishes that position- she is more-than-likely going to score.

On top of it- four of the five positions - they outplayed our team. Other that Stewie every player was outplayed though Chong and Nurse were admirable.

Tough game. Tip-of-the-cap to Stanford.

 

[hoophuskee]

I've re-watched the game and after this post I'm officially done with last night's game. UConn played zone on one possession in the first half (coming out of the under 4 timeout) and Stanford scored on a long 3-pointer from the top of the key. That was it in the first half.

UConn started the second half playing zone and stayed in its zone for about the first 6+ minutes. Stanford struggled a little bit with it at first then had some success getting inside the zone. UConn then played zone off and on for the rest of the game with mixed results.

Having watched the game again I don't think the defense was terrible. It wasn't a great effort but not as bad as I initially thought.

Kiah Stokes was open from the elbow all night long. Stanford dared her to shoot and she didn't until the end and that was not a good decision. Last year Stef took and made those shots and things opened up in the lane. Stokes or Tuck must take and make that shot.

UConn outplayed Stanford for the first 15 minutes of the 1st half and the first 15 minutes of the second half. The last 5 minutes of both halves were painful to watch and cost the ballgame.

The end of the game - the last several possesions of regulation it was terrible.