So far this season I've seen the Cardinal, Ducks, Buffalos, Huskies, Cal, UCLA, USC, and the Wildcats play. Granted this season has been scrambled and disjointed by the pandemic, but so far I'd rank the Cardinal and Ducks tied for first, Wildcats third, UCLA fourth, Trojans fifth, the Buffalos sixth, Huskies seventh, and Cal eighth.
The Cardinal on Saturday in Vegas looked out of sync against UNLV, I'm sure because of all the Covid disruptions. Three of the first four games cancelled and the County Health authorities forcing the team out of Santa Clara County to play their games. Lindy LaRocque's close relationship with Tara and Stanford saved the early portion of the season. We'll play three games at UNLV in southern Nevada, where Lindy is the new Head Coach.
Today's game in Vegas with the Washington Huskies is the start of the Cardinal PAC12 season and Stanford has to get re-focused and more together than they looked yesterday against the Runnin Rebels. The Washington team wasn't great on Friday against Cal, but they're considerably better than Cal Poly or UNLV.
Kiana was off her game yesterday and today she'll be needed at full strength. She's obviously the motor and the glue, but yesterday she lacked her usual verve, had seven points and was 1 for 2 from distance. Haley was terrific and picked up much of the slack, but Kiana is crucial for the success of this team.
Our three point shooting has to be resurrected. On Friday in Maples we shot 14 of 30 and on Saturday at UNLV 8 of 24. Anna was 2 for three and Lexie was 2 for 4, but Hannah was 1 for 6 and the rest of the team was cold. The defensive intensity needs to be turned up and the layups and put-backs have to go down. And the fouling? 22 fouls come from sluggish defense.
Haley had a great scoring game with 25 points and Fran had one of her best outings with 15 points. An off game after all we've been through is understandable, but we need to shake it off and get sharp heading into the PAC12 season.
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