After defeating Montana of their season (and residential) opener by a rating of 82-69, the Bulldogs will hop on a aircraft sure for Stanford, California in what has basically been a house and away rivalry going for some years now. The match shall be featured on ESPN2 and tip-off begins at 3 PM EST.
I coated Stanford’s low season adjustments on this article, however let’s go for a fast evaluate:
Legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer retired after 38 years on the helm
Cameron Brinks, the sensational 6’4” heart, is now starring the WNBA
Kiki Iriafen, Stanford’s main scorer in ‘23-24, has transferred to USC
Tess Heal, who dropped 19.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 4.9 APG final season as a sophomore, has arrived after transferring from Santa Clara within the offseason
Predicted to complete seventh in a fully stacked ACC
The Cardinal have performed two video games this season, each at residence and in each completely dominated their opponents. In opposition to the Le Moyne Dolphins, a staff that completed 2nd within the NEC final 12 months, they received 107-43 and in opposition to the Washington State Cougars, they received 94-65.
It’s just a little exhausting to look into the person numbers given the big diploma of rotation featured in each video games, the general staff statistics are fairly horrifying as they’re averaging 100 factors per sport, 59.3% from deep on 27 makes an attempt per sport, and 20.5 assists per sport. In opposition to Wazzu, they shot 70% from three level vary.
Given a number of the defensive breakdowns featured by the Zags in opposition to Montana, it’s doable this sport may flip right into a shootout or, if we’re being pessimistic, a blowout, which is totally doable given the inexperienced Bulldogs enjoying away at a faculty with a powerful resume.
Then once more, perhaps the Cardinal shall be distracted by the pregame celebrations concerned within the renaming of Stanford’s flooring in honor of their not too long ago retired Coach. Perhaps Allie Turner says, “you recognize, 18 factors, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers doesn’t really feel proper, I want 25 factors, 6 assists, 0 turnovers” or Ines Bettencourt goes full-on Russell Westbrook and begins leaving defenders within the wake of her jet stream or, extra possible, Yvonne Ejim shoulders this staff and carries them by way of their weak moments to victory.
Regardless of the case could also be, I’m trying ahead to the match and excited to see how this staff handles a particularly powerful surroundings in opposition to a powerful program.
Hit the thread under to share your ideas as the sport proceeds!
