Welcome to the second Bootleg Hoops Roundtable of 2011-12, a roundtable
where we gather folks who love, live, and breathe hoops...and then some.
For today's installment, we have the following three folks joining us on our
panel:
Drew Shiller - Former Stanford basketball player turned color
commentator starting with the 2010-11 season. A multi-sport athlete, Drew
came to Stanford via USF and contributed well for the Cardinal in his two
seasons on the Farm.
"Roscoemaynard" - Former Stanford basketball player who has
provided years and years of wisdom, witty remarks, and butt coil to The
Bootleg through his time on the boards and through his weekly columns
during the basketball season.
Poly81 - Former Stanford basketball player who has
provided many years of his wisdom and witty remarks on The Bootleg.
Andy Poppink - You'll remember our newest member of the panel as one of the key cogs to Stanford's 1990s hoops renaissance, as "Popps" played with the Cardinal from 1992-1996 and was a force to be reckoned with at the forward position.
I posed five questions to the panel this
week, ranging from their feelings coming out of the last slate of games to what they think Stanford will do to close out the regular season to how does one try to break out of a shooting slump. Here's what they had to say:
(1) Stanford sits at 7-6, getting a home split versus the Arizona
schools and a road split at the LA schools. About what you expected out of
those four games?
Andy Poppink - Expected, maybe...With two
solid victories. But not what we hoped for. It would've been nice to
pick up one against Zona or UCLA. The Arizona game was fun to watch.
Two athletic teams playing their hearts out but it ended up just being a lot of
exercise for not very many points.
"roscoemaynard" - The Zona loss was painful,
because I thought given how lousy ASU and USC are, that we should come out of
this stretch 3-1.
Drew
Shiller - Not what I expected. Both the losses to Arizona and
UCLA were winnable games. Against the Wildcats, Stanford got a plethora of wide
open shots, and nobody could make anything. Against UCLA, 22 turnovers, after
averaging just nine the previous five games.
"Poly81" - Yes. Arizona has talent
and decent coaching, UCLA was the tougher of the two LA schools, and we know
this Stanford team has a tough time on the road, and evidently your team is
really pretty bad if you wear Cardinal and Gold. Although I give Sendek
credit for booting kids off the team (assuming, of course, that they deserved
it). Plus, he went to Carnegie Mellon, so he has that to fall back on.
(2) Much has been made of the shooting woes the team has experienced
lately that coincided with their losing ways since beating up on Colorado last
month. Will the game versus USC give them the springboard of
confidence they need to get things going back in the right
direction?
Andy Poppink - The best way to get your confidence back and
get out of a slump is to get some easy hoops first. Would love to see Josh
get the ball down low and that be the starting point for getting people in a
rhythm and some wide open looks.
"roscoemaynard" - I think that springboard is a
loaded noun in this context. To what is the springboard attached Mon
Frere? I have trouble seeing a game we should win by 30, but only win by
12 and commit 19 turnovers, as a springboard.
Drew Shiller - It's somewhat hard to tell.
USC is historically bad, but a win is a win and it was an impressive second
half. I don't care how undermanned a team may be, outrebounding any opponent
45-19 is amazing.
"Poly81" - One hopes, and we have two
teams this week that are roughly middle of the pack with regard to their
defensive ability (kenpom.com. I'd add more, but he's now charging $19.95
a year!). I'd like them to build confidence from the inside out (i.e., get
Owens off to a good start, and that will help our three-point shooters).
Fast break baskets off rebounds build confidence, too.
(3) What did you do during
your careers to help break out of your shooting slumps, if you ever had any of
course?
Andy Poppink - It probably all looked like one very long
slump to most casual viewers. My way out was to work my tail off to pick
up an offensive board or a loose ball to try to find a few easy
buckets first. It is amazing what a little head start and some
confidence will do for a shooting slump.
"roscoemaynard"
- I had one shooting slump,
December of 1987. I didn’t make a shot. It was the December not to
remember. The shooting slump included bunnies and free throws, hell I
remember airballing a three wide left from the top of the key—totally
spastic. First game of January...January 2, 1988, against Seattle Pacific
and my dear old AAU buddy Mark Sundquist, I put up a top of the key three
pointer that felt like total crap and my soul was crushed, my shoulders were
already slumping and it banked in. Basically, I watched my friend Mark,
who was nowhere near the player I was, light us up and play with reckless
confidence. It was too embarrassing to watch Mark play that well while I
sucked. That pushed my ego too far and it finally pushed back. My
career turned a corner that game. Nobody noticed until the Zona game a
month later.
Drew
Shiller - Simply have to keep shooting when you get good looks. You
don't want to force up bad shots, but you need to stay aggressive.
"Poly81" - I'm
still in a shooting slump. I missed my first 20 or 30 shots my freshman
year - which was painful, since I got two or three per game. I had visions
of being 0-for-a-career. My advice: keep shooting and try to get
fouled. And buy your point guard a dinner or two.
(4) Any predictions for
the homestretch with home games versus the Oregon schools and cal with a road
trip to Colorado and Utah squeezed in?
Andy Poppink - The
home games will be great to watch.
I expect a lot of energy, hustle, and some high flying highlights. I
expect the cal game to be close and back and forth throughout with Stanford
hitting a few big shots in the last few minutes to take it home. I also
expect "roscoe" to taunt Monty the entire
game.
"roscoemaynard" - I think we will go 3-2.
But I really want to say we go 5-0. Man are these five games
winnable.
Drew Shiller
- Not going to make any predictions. With the way things have gone in
the Pac-12 this year, it will drive you crazy if you try to simulate outcomes
(having said that - a win at Utah should be a sure
thing).
"Poly81" - 3-2
would be good. 4-1 would be great - and I believe they can do it.
That said, can someone talk to Larry Scott about playing ASU and USC again?
(5) If you could give this team any advice as they
prepare for the end of the season, what would it be?
Andy Poppink - From my perspective, one of the challenges with the team this year is
that it appears that we still have yet to find our offensive identity. It
is great to have depth and talent and to give everyone opportunities but from a
casual observer standpoint it appears at times that the team does not
necessarily know who the go-to players are at critical moments in the
game. Josh is a difference maker given his strength and athleticism and
I'd love to see him be the focal point at key moments and Randle has shown an
ability to be a confident playmaker at the end of games. I would love to
see those two emerge as the known go-to guys and have the rest be ready for the
open opportunities that come from Josh and
Chasson.
"roscoemaynard" - They sure as hell don’t need any
advice from me. But if I was coaching, I’d put butts on the bench until
Josh Owens shot the ball 10 a game, no excuses. No one in this conference
plays elite defense, no one. Josh Owens can’t go 2-4 from the floor
against UCLA on the road. He just can’t.
Drew Shiller - Make some open shots!
Also, go back and watch the Syracuse game and remember what it felt like to
compete and be the
aggressor.
"Poly81" - Be bold - and that goes for the
coaching staff as well as the players. As much as I hate the conference
tournament, that's the end game. Stop screwing around with different
lineups, give Randle control of the point and force tempo, get the ball to Owens
if the fast break isn't there, and everyone rebound. We're deep enough to
be able to press - let's give the other teams something to worry about come
tournament time.
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