As of right now, the nation knows the Stanford Cardinal women’s basketball team for one reason: They’re the team that gave up the triple-double to Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu on the night she became the first player to ever record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in their career against Stanford in February. But if that’s your only thought of the Cardinal this season, you’d certainly be surprised to see that they’re essentially a game away (that Oregon game) from a No. 1 seed in this year’s 2020 NCAA Tournament.
Still, the Cardinal are poised for a lengthy tournament run as almost a guaranteed No. 2 seed when the tournament gets underway later this month. The Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament is all that remains from securing a two seed in the national tournament as the Cardinal are set to receive a bye in their conference tournament and play the winner of the Washington State-Oregon State game this coming Friday, March 6.
Save for a quarterfinal exit from the Pac-12 Tournament, the Cardinal are all but guaranteed a No. 2 seed while the Oregon Ducks are likely one of the nation’s No. 1 seeds.
Stanford finished the regular season with a record of 25-5 (14-4) but lost two of their final three games of the season including a heartbreaker in overtime to No. 13 Arizona on February 28. They’ve been led by their terrific guard duo of Kiana Williams and Lexie Hull this season as two are averaging 14.6 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. They’ve each started all 30 games this season and Hull leads the team with 6.0 rebounds a game while Williams leads the team with 116 assists.
The Cardinal are an incredibly deep team in 2019-20 as they have 10 different full-time players (players who have seen time in at least 60% of their games) who are averaging at least double-digit minutes. They’re an incredibly sharp defensive team and have the nation’s 30th highest offensive output per contest this year as well and they’re outscoring opponents by nearly 15.0 points per game in the process.
As of right now, Stanford is penciled into the No. 2 seed in the Greenville portion of the bracket, under No. 1 seed South Carolina. It’s a favorable draw outside of the one seed Gamecocks as right now they’d take on San Francisco in the opening round, a team they defeated in the second game of the season back in November.
There is still much to be learned in terms of the complete bracket but with their No. 2 seed essentially all but locked up, the Cardinal can focus in solely on the Pac-12 Tournament that tips off this Thursday on Pac-12 Network.
What are you predictions for Stanford’s 2020 NCAA Tournament appearance? How long will they last? Drop your predictions in the comments below!
Comments
I'll post this here as well...
The women’s game against Arizone: That guard Ari McDonald? continually drove to her left. Lexi? Hull repeatedly let her go left. The three times Stanford forces Ari to the right, she turns the ball over trying to dribble on two of them and the third, was her regulation ending possession where, after being forced right, she just pulled up and missed a jumper. On the last drive in OT, they set Ari up for an isolation play and what does she do? She goes LEFT all the way to the bucket. WTF? The first thing I learned when playing defense is to figure out what hand someone wants to drive with and force them the other way. I learned this in 5th grade. I am mind-blown that neither Hull nor anyone on the staff could identify the need to force Ari to her right. In addition, Ari had a bad left leg, so that mean she could not get any elevation driving right. Yet…nobody on Stanford seemed to have any clue this woman was left-handed. Don’t colleges do scouting reports? Unbelievable lapse in defensive execution and it cost Stanford the game. So painful to watch.
And what is with the Hull sister and the deluge of turnovers? Look, those sisters are great players on-balance. Excellent defenders/rebounders. Prolific scoring on many nights. But Jebus do the have problems passing the ball and dribbling in the key. I am amazed at how many bad passes Stanford women make. Passes that never should have been attempted or don’t even get past the on-ball defender.
By Blackjoy on 03.02.20 12:52pm
Tara's only focus should be the NCAA.
It’s great that Tara can win the conference and the Pac-12 tourny. But the only thing Tara needs to acrue are national championships and given the talent she gets, she has far too few. Honestly, Stanford’s NCAA seed is largely irrelevant provided they get to start at Stanford and avoid Oregon for as long as possible. That aside, Stanford needs to able to beat anyone they face.
If Hana Jump gets more PT and lights it up, I think Stanford easily gets to the FF. Without a red hot Jump, or Haley Jones coming back, I think Stanford is in danger of having a flat game if Kia and Lexi have a bad outing. The only other X factor is Dobson. If she can someone how show up as a scorer, then that could provide enough change-up to get Stanford to the FF. But Tara plays too much musical chairs with the bigs, it’s hard for them to get in a rhythm. Plus, Tara hasn’t really allowed Fingall or Prechtel to fully develop their low post game. And Belibi just doesn’t get enough consistent minutes.
So to answer your question, I could see Stanford flaming out in the Elite Eight on account of Kia and Lexi going 2-10 from 3 point and Lexi having 5 turnovers and Stanford having double-digit turnovers by the 2nd period.
By Blackjoy on 03.02.20 1:04pm
I have to say I LOVE the detailed answer
And the punchline at the end too.
Appreciate the detailed approach/recap of that Arizona game as hard as it was to watch unfold.
I, unfortunately, after checking a little bit more in depth into their season and the way it has gone, can see a ‘flame out’ too and maybe not for the same reasons but certainly because of the rest of the talented playing field that should be the NCAA Tourney this year.
We’ll see, it’s the tournament and anything can happen — gotta be one of the better times of the year for any sports fan, that’s for sure.
By Cam Mellor on 03.02.20 4:03pm
More articles on women's basketball are appreciated!
Let me say that I’m glad to see some discussion on the women’s teams.
By Blackjoy on 03.03.20 10:03am
Will keep 'em coming!
Fortunately, there’s an abundance of sports from most schools but especially from the Cardinal. Double-fortunately, they’re all pretty, pretty good so we will definitely keep it coming! Happy to have them appreciated, that’s for sure.
By Cam Mellor on 03.03.20 10:20am
The Stanford women's team is still a work in progress.
One of Tara’s great strengths is that her teams always improve throughout the season. Just look back to last year’s win over Oregon in the Pac 12 tournament v. the 40 point blowout loss at Stanford. So if Stanford faces UCLA in the semis this year, and into the NCAA tournament, I think we’ll see some significant adjustments, that should get them to the elite eight. But this is not yet a final four team, or a team that can beat Oregon, for several reasons.
1. Neither Belibi nor Dodson has a fifteen foot jump shot. This causes their defenders to sag, closing off the back door cuts. To their credit, Dodson has developed a good short hook shot and Belibi can drive to the hoop, but when your game is one dimensional, it can ge stopped.
2. Kiana Williams does not know how to set up a screen. She consistently drives too wide around the screen (particularly double screens), letting her defender squeeze around it. If she would learn to peel right off the screener, it would force the defense to switch and she is simply too quick for any big to guard.
3. Hannah Jump needs to move (like Reggie Miller used to do). Tara’s offense does involve significant movement, but it is all predictable and, thus, easily anticipated and defended. Hannah needs to constantly juke in and out, back and forth, so that her defender has to turn her head. Hannah also needs to learn to drive to the hoop, not because it will become a go to move, but because it will cause her defender to be vulnerable to a step back move.
4. Prechtel has to shoot 100 short shots every day in practice (right side, left, middle) until it becomes automatic. And on defense next year (it is too late this year), she has to jump rope every day. She will become a much better inside presence with a little more spring.
5. The Hull sisters are fundamentally sound and very good defenders, but I agree they are poor passers. Both repeatedly throw passes in anticipation of where the teammate will be without thinking about where the defender is going to be. They need to talk at length with Haley Jones, who is one of the best passers on the team.
6. Jerome needs to shoot 100 three point shots a day in practice. She misses open threes far too often. And when she misses, they are frequently off the back of the rim, with means she doesn’t have enough arc on the shot. (Same problem Haley Jones faced with her jump shots before she got hurt.)
7. Belibi has to learn how to defend the pick and roll. She sits back and doesn’t switch, leaving the other team’s guard space to shoot an uncontested three point shot. Get up there and switch, switch, switch. No way a guard can get a pass over her to the big as she rolls to the hoop.
8. Brown needs to learn that she is simply too short to drive against bigs.
9. Lexie Hull has to invite contact when she drives to the hoop. She heads either straight or away from contact. Officiating in the women’s game is very predictable. If there’s contact, there’s usually a whistle. So as she drives, drive into the defender who is moving with her.
There’s more to talk about, but hopefully there will be more times to do so, now that women’s sports are getting some ink.
By SU74 on 03.05.20 8:48am
Love the detail
Not only do I love the detail but you can beat these are nine things I’m going to watch for (among others) when they tip off in their quarterfinal matchup tomorrow night! Think it’s an easy road to the semifinals for them no matter the winner of Oregon State vs Washington State and definitely got the easier side of the bracket as the 3-seed to avoid Oregon until the Championship game.
Happy to keep the women’s sports ink coming, trust me. Especially if we keep getting interaction like this! Much appreciated.
By Cam Mellor on 03.05.20 10:53am