I LOVE TARA'S PIONEER SPIRIT! IF IT'S NEW AND IT WORKS - SHE'S ALL IN! HERE'S A PREVIEW OF WHAT 2020/21 MIGHT LOOK LIKE.

When Chiney graduated in 2014, Tara lost Stanford's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. A lot of coaches would have stuck with their old tried and true offense, without a Chiney, and just muddled through. Not Tara. She was heard to say, "This old dog has got to learn some new tricks."  

She dumped the Triangle and started learning the Princeton Offense, which is guard-oriented and up-tempo. It uses constant motion, backdoor cuts, and multiple screens on and off the ball. In mid-December UConn rolled into town featuring the National Player of the Year, Briana Stewart. Stanford was featuring their two-month-old offense. As you'll recall, it worked: Amber Orrange went off in the fourth quarter - got us into overtime and then beat'em.

While learning the Princeton Offense, Tara was also incorporating what she could of the Warrior's positionless offense, built around three-point shooting. They set twice as many off-ball screens as any other NBA team to get their shooters open. They increased their passing to an average of 314 per forty-eight minute game - which would equate to 262 passes in a forty minute game. Get the shooters open shots. This is where I think we're headed.

You may have noticed the shift in our recruiting to fill the team with superb three point shooters over the last five years:

2016: Anna Wilson, Nadia Fingall, and DiJonai Carrington.

2017: If she gets a full season, Kiana Williams has a shot at becoming the top three point shooter in Stanford history. Alyssa Jerome is a 6'-3" long ball shooter. 

2018: Lexie and Lacie Hull are both great three point shooters.

2019: Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel and Hannah Jump.

2020: Cameron Brink and Jana VanGytenbeek.

2021: Brooke Demetre, Jzaniya Harriel, Elena Bosgana and Kiki Iriafen. 

I'll leave you with what I expect will be a preview of our 2020/21 season - the first half of the February 2020 game against USC in which we hit ten threes. In 2020/21 I fully expect twenty 3's in several games. Doesn't that sound like fun?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae2YQ8JTRg

GO STANFORD!! LET'EM FLY!! I CAN'T WAIT!!