ok, so given that my Troy Taylor intel was, ahem, a bit overblown... I'll take a break from trying to be Stanford Football Adam Schefter and report on what I saw with my own two eyes tonight...
The Main Takeaway
I don't see how Haase possibly is the coach next season. This team needed to make the tournament and it doesn't look like they will be close. An upset tonight would have at least given a bit more hope for a strong conference run.
UCLA's press embarrassed them and effectively ended the game before it started. With Shaw gone, it's hard to justify retaining Haase after another (7 now!) middling season. Ben also made a good point that Carlyle is locked in due to his mom's job, so collateral damage of a coaching change is lessened (but no way does an assistant stay on). These guys simply aren't getting it done on offense and Haasefense is close to Shawfense in difficulty to watch.
The Scene
I'll give MBB credit, they are doing everything possible to get butts in seats and generate excitement (aside from playing quality hoops, sadly). They gave away posters and towels and the student section was packed 30 minutes before tipoff! Upon closer examination, the students were all eating Chipotle burritos... Yes, we are now bribing our students with burritos to sit courtside for the PAC home opener against a ranked team. Close to half of the students left after halftime (and many remained but with laptops out, NERDS!)
Adam Keefe and Tracy Murray spent a long time chatting pregame (Murray works for UCLA sports network). Lacob was in his spot with regular guest, Mike Duleavy Jr. I didn't see any of the football players in 6th man... but perhaps they are all hanging out in the portal instead (bad joke).
Muir sat courtside for the entire game and was rarely on his phone. Reflecting further, I don't think it's worth reading too much into what this means in the coaching search, or as an indication that Muir is screwing up. This was likely Stanford's biggest home game of the season and it's important for the AD to show up and be visible for these events. It appears that Fangio, Roman and Taylor are all clearly in play, and I would be happy with any of them (though I still think it will be Taylor, who presents the biggest upside, and probably downside). I don't think that Muir not working the coaching search for 2ish hours in the evening means that he's dropped the ball. But please, let's wrap this up soon!
The official Stanford roster that was handed out lists 16 players on the team, which includes Josue Gil-Silva and Roy Yuan, team managers who were just promoted to walk-on players. Here's a great little read on Gil-Silva (Isa's cousin!) and an older read on Gil-Silva playing for his father at Alisal HS in East Salinas. Benny Gealer and Jaylen Thompson were dressed but I assume they aren't playing this season and will redshirt.
The Game
Possibly the worst start to a game by a decent team that I have ever seen. Down 17-0 on only 2 shot attempts and 7 turnovers. I thought we might lose by 50 if UCLA kept pressing.
Silva has surpassed O'Connell as PG1, and flashed a bit but is still a weak spot. He has a better handle and is more of a natural scorer. His errant pass to Keefe was a momentum killer and effectively ended a spirited comeback.
Spencer Jones came to play but Ingram just didn't have it. Jaime Jaquez has a similar frame and game to Ingram and absolutely ate him alive. If JJJ is a 2nd round prospect, Ingram is a 5th rounder (there are only 2 rounds). He only played 19 minutes, a season low.
Michael Jones' cold shooting streak continues (when he finally hit a 3, he yelled out, clearly relieved to finally have one go down). He can consistently get good outside looks and the shots are almost always close but he's now shooting 20.9% from deep after going 42.1% last season. Devastating. Agarwal flashed a bit in 14 minutes, at the expense of Angel who got surprisingly little run (13 minutes).
The most entertaining part of the night was sitting directly behind Mick Cronin. He's an incredibly intense coach, he probably dropped 20+ F bombs that were audible to our section, his default signal for a sub is to scream "GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" and he was chewing out a player, up 14 with 30 seconds left. Picture JK Simmons in Whiplash. But boy, is that team incredibly focused on defense and super well-coached. The players spend an inordinate amount of time looking over to Cronin to get direction on offense, and he called the two final Jaquez plays that sealed the game (of course, his calls wouldn't have been audible to the PG in a normally loud road environment). I keep going back to the Mandel article on Shaw... many of the best coaches are incredibly demanding and push their players past their natural limits, using tactics that might not be acceptable to many parents or school administrators. Is Cronin a "good representative for the university?" Perhaps not by the traditional Stanford definition, but he absolutely gets results.
The Main Takeaway
I don't see how Haase possibly is the coach next season. This team needed to make the tournament and it doesn't look like they will be close. An upset tonight would have at least given a bit more hope for a strong conference run.
UCLA's press embarrassed them and effectively ended the game before it started. With Shaw gone, it's hard to justify retaining Haase after another (7 now!) middling season. Ben also made a good point that Carlyle is locked in due to his mom's job, so collateral damage of a coaching change is lessened (but no way does an assistant stay on). These guys simply aren't getting it done on offense and Haasefense is close to Shawfense in difficulty to watch.
The Scene
I'll give MBB credit, they are doing everything possible to get butts in seats and generate excitement (aside from playing quality hoops, sadly). They gave away posters and towels and the student section was packed 30 minutes before tipoff! Upon closer examination, the students were all eating Chipotle burritos... Yes, we are now bribing our students with burritos to sit courtside for the PAC home opener against a ranked team. Close to half of the students left after halftime (and many remained but with laptops out, NERDS!)
Adam Keefe and Tracy Murray spent a long time chatting pregame (Murray works for UCLA sports network). Lacob was in his spot with regular guest, Mike Duleavy Jr. I didn't see any of the football players in 6th man... but perhaps they are all hanging out in the portal instead (bad joke).
Muir sat courtside for the entire game and was rarely on his phone. Reflecting further, I don't think it's worth reading too much into what this means in the coaching search, or as an indication that Muir is screwing up. This was likely Stanford's biggest home game of the season and it's important for the AD to show up and be visible for these events. It appears that Fangio, Roman and Taylor are all clearly in play, and I would be happy with any of them (though I still think it will be Taylor, who presents the biggest upside, and probably downside). I don't think that Muir not working the coaching search for 2ish hours in the evening means that he's dropped the ball. But please, let's wrap this up soon!
The official Stanford roster that was handed out lists 16 players on the team, which includes Josue Gil-Silva and Roy Yuan, team managers who were just promoted to walk-on players. Here's a great little read on Gil-Silva (Isa's cousin!) and an older read on Gil-Silva playing for his father at Alisal HS in East Salinas. Benny Gealer and Jaylen Thompson were dressed but I assume they aren't playing this season and will redshirt.
The Game
Possibly the worst start to a game by a decent team that I have ever seen. Down 17-0 on only 2 shot attempts and 7 turnovers. I thought we might lose by 50 if UCLA kept pressing.
Silva has surpassed O'Connell as PG1, and flashed a bit but is still a weak spot. He has a better handle and is more of a natural scorer. His errant pass to Keefe was a momentum killer and effectively ended a spirited comeback.
Spencer Jones came to play but Ingram just didn't have it. Jaime Jaquez has a similar frame and game to Ingram and absolutely ate him alive. If JJJ is a 2nd round prospect, Ingram is a 5th rounder (there are only 2 rounds). He only played 19 minutes, a season low.
Michael Jones' cold shooting streak continues (when he finally hit a 3, he yelled out, clearly relieved to finally have one go down). He can consistently get good outside looks and the shots are almost always close but he's now shooting 20.9% from deep after going 42.1% last season. Devastating. Agarwal flashed a bit in 14 minutes, at the expense of Angel who got surprisingly little run (13 minutes).
The most entertaining part of the night was sitting directly behind Mick Cronin. He's an incredibly intense coach, he probably dropped 20+ F bombs that were audible to our section, his default signal for a sub is to scream "GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" and he was chewing out a player, up 14 with 30 seconds left. Picture JK Simmons in Whiplash. But boy, is that team incredibly focused on defense and super well-coached. The players spend an inordinate amount of time looking over to Cronin to get direction on offense, and he called the two final Jaquez plays that sealed the game (of course, his calls wouldn't have been audible to the PG in a normally loud road environment). I keep going back to the Mandel article on Shaw... many of the best coaches are incredibly demanding and push their players past their natural limits, using tactics that might not be acceptable to many parents or school administrators. Is Cronin a "good representative for the university?" Perhaps not by the traditional Stanford definition, but he absolutely gets results.
