Warren Grimes
En route to Coach VanDerveer’s record breaking total wins,
Stanford dominated Oregon 88 to 63 and, playing without Cameron Brink, fought
to a 65 to 56 victory over Oregon State.
Two players stood out in these victories. Kiki Iriafen had a phenomenal weekend,
scoring 21 points with 15 boards against Oregon and a career high 36 points
with 12 rebounds against Oregon State. To
put things in perspective, Iriafen scored over 55% of the team’s points in the
pivotal game against Oregon State. She
did that despite the absence of Brink, allowing both opponents to focus on defending
Iriafen. She did that despite being guarded by players
who were as tall as or taller than she was. She did that by converting many shots from the
outside including her first two ever three-pointers against OSU.
The second highest scorer in both games was Talana Lepolo,
who averaged 13.5 for the two games.
Stanford’s point guard was 5 for 9 (55%) from distance and had 14
assists with an amazing 7 to 1 assist/turnover ratio.
Both players did what was needed at critical points. Other players stepped up as well, with Brooke
Demetre starting her first game ever (against OSU) and contributing 10 points
in each of the matchups. Jzaniya Harriel
came off the bench to score 2 three pointers against Oregon; against OSU,
Harriel had 3 steals that took the wind out of OSU’s second-half attempted
comeback.
Coaches don’t play the game, but they deserve credit for teaching
and motivating their players to perform at their best. Tara VanDerveer has been doing that for almost
half a century. She started when she was
24 years old and, at 70, she’s still going strong. Hard work, dedication, and love of her players
are part of the formula.
A coach’s record of past wins is, in some ways, an overrated
statistic. Van Derveer lives for the
present and thinks of the future.
Dwelling on the past is a guaranteed pass to oblivion. Fans and athletic administrators want
performance now and, while respecting the past, won’t tolerate a coach who can’t
bring the Ws. The reason for VanDerveer’s
impressive victory chain is that she is focused on the now.
No matter how talented a coach and how gifted the players,
injuries occur. Utah has learned that
the hard way, losing three early season conference games after losing its best three-point
shooter and, at least in the short term, its starting point guard. The loss of Cameron Brink early in the Oregon
game and for the entire OSU game could have changed results. Other injuries are likely among the key Pac-12
teams and could affect who wins the conference.
Coaches can’t stop injuries.
Coaches do have some control, however, over defensive strategies and
physicality. A team such as Colorado plays
in-your-face defense and generates turnovers, often leading to uncontested lay
ups. Watching Colorado over the past
decade, that team has a reputation for starting fast and strong but losing some
of its momentum toward season’s end.
Will that be true this season?
Colorado’s Jaylyn Sherod had 4 steals in Colorado’s victory over
Stanford, but her physicality probably does raise risks of injury to her and to
opposing teams. Will Sherod and her
teammates be fit and motivated at season’s end?
Injuries may be a wildcard in basketball, but a coach who
emphasizes positional defense over in-your-face physicality may have a better
chance of keeping players healthy over a long season.
The hoopla over total coaching wins is over. With some uncertainty over Brink’s return and
the continued fitness of other players, Stanford’s quest for a conference title
continues, one game at a time.
2 comments:
Excellent post once again. I'm glad you pointed out the defensive impact of Harriel who was deep on the bench until recent games. She adds a quickness and tenacity that we didn't have ... although Clardy is a close second on defense. Who would have thought that Kiki could equal Cameron as key players on this year's team.
Your points on type of defense and potential for injury was a new thought to me. Makes sense that aggressive, in your face defense can lead to injuries.
What I will be most interested in (beginning either this Friday or Sunday) is where Tara positions Cam, assuming she is healthy to play. Kiki has been incredibly dominant in the last several games- both when Cam was in foul trouble in the Utah and Colorado games and when she got injured early in the Oregon game.
Tara has some options. She can play Cam and Kiki high/low, which has been very effective, although used sparingly. She can play Cam and Kiki inter-changeably at the post and power forward, which was the standard offense for most of the season, or she can keep Kiki down low and have Cam be power forward, moving her around in motion where she can hit the mid-range or drive.
I also noticed in the Oregon game (leading up to Cam's freak injury) that Kiki was playing defense against Oregon's post player and Cam was guarding one of their forwards. I sensed this was to minimize the potential for Cam fouling.
Tara has some good moving pieces to work with and that usually spells success.
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