WOW! What a thread. This game came down to the final seconds....South Carolina won the game on their home court. Refs did not dictate outcome of this game. Congrats to South Carolina for their comeback. Stanford may have won this game in the final seconds if the ball had been in someone else's possession other than Brink. Without the amazing Destiny Henderson who impacted the game more than any other player, Stanford wins this game going away. DH was simply amazing. And the comment made about South Carolina being more physical and aggressive than Stanford is comical. Stanford is such a physical team (always has been). They are tough cookies, with maybe the exception of Brink. Hull sisters, Anna Wilson, Haley Jones, Fran Belibi are extremely physical players. I've watched all of them courtside multiple times. I think the most physical team I have watched this season is Texas. No surprise, Vic teaches physical toughness. In any case, great game, and I still think these are the 2 best teams right now, and both will make the Final 4.
I think that Brink is in fact quite physical; she's just paper thin and that can be an issue against someone like Boston. She also needs to know when/how not to foul.
That said, I think the key issues (for Stanford) are on the offensive side, since they are always tough defensively. And that has been a concern for several years now.
First, they don't have the point guard(s)/distributor(s) they need. Wilson doesn't seem to fit the bill; neither do either of the Hulls (or Jones). Against many teams this doesn't matter since the overall talent on the team can carry the day. But it did Tuesday and will again (I suspect) down the road.
Second, the team needs an aggressive--and
consistent/dependable--scorer. Jones is the obvious candidate here, but, as others have pointed out, she's only the player you expect her to be once in a while, and I don't think she has improved much since her freshman season. (Tara is a great coach but I don't think player development is one of her strengths.) Lexie Hull tries to be that, but she can be lights out one (or part of one) half (the first, Tuesday) and then start missing badly, since her shot selection at times leaves a lot to be desired. With a roster as deep as this one, Tara can plug and play and sometimes find someone who is hot (Prechtel in last seasons championship game, for instance), but that's obviously less than ideal. In my view, both cost the Cardinal dearly on Tuesday.