Chances of Beating Stanford

**twistedredbird** · 03-29-2009, 06:00 PM

As MRed pointed out, this is a whole different ISU team than the one that played Stanford earlier in the season. Lacy was still dealing with hip issues, BF was trying to run a freshman at point, and Wieben was still trying to find her legs.

This is not the same Stanford that beat UConn last year either without Wiggins. OSU played Stanford pretty well until they shut down OSU's point guard in the second half, and OSU is more of a "paint" team. A good outside shooting game by ISU will keep Stanford on their toes, and as BF put it, we need a 4th or 5th scorer. If Wieben gets 12+, I like our chances.

Slowing Stanford down the court and getting defense set is also important, and I think ISU does that better than most teams. Can't let Appel get set in the post early.

**wyocy** · 03-29-2009, 06:07 PM

I think everyone knows that if Stanford is really on their game we are in big trouble Monday night . But I think we have a couple intangibles working for us now that we haven't had as of yet. It's a fact that we haven't beaten a ranked team yet in this tournament but in my opinion we've played a little tight at times as a result of being expected to win every game so far. (The first few minutes last night). We have been the favorite in all 3 games. That monkey is off our backs the rest of the way. We're playing with house money from now on. Secondly, human nature is such that due to the thrashing they gave us earlier in the year they can't, deep down, take us as seriously as they would had they been up against Duke. That could be big. If we can come out sharp, with a lot of energy and get them back on their heels a little bit out of the chute, and have a great shooting night...it can happen.

**hursts** · 03-29-2009, 06:11 PM

We must get some scoring out of Weiben and Bolte. We cannot expect Lacy, Ezell, and Nisleit to carry us to victory by themselves against a team like Stanford. If we can get double digit scoring out of Weiben and Bolte I expect the game to go down to the wire. If Bolte can get hot like she is capable of and score 20 I think we have a great chance to head to St. Louis. I think BF will try and shorten the game, we must execute our opportunities late in the shot clock.

**twistedredbird** · 03-29-2009, 06:13 PM

Just to be clear how different this game should be than the first, Whitney had more minutes(24) than any of the starters:

Ezell - 14 minutes
Niz - 4
Lacy - 22
Bolte - 19
Wieben - 23

Women's Basketball, WNBA Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors - Women's Basketball - ESPN

**cstrunk** · 03-29-2009, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by twistedredbird

Just to be clear how different this game should be than the first, Whitney had more minutes(24) than any of the starters:

Ezell - 14 minutes
Niz - 4
Lacy - 22
Bolte - 19
Wieben - 23

Women's Basketball, WNBA Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors - Women's Basketball - ESPN

Nice find, that's a pretty revealing statistic. Should be a fun game to see unfold.

**Steve** · 03-29-2009, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by twistedredbird

Just to be clear how different this game should be than the first, Whitney had more minutes(24) than any of the starters:

Ezell - 14 minutes
Niz - 4
Lacy - 22
Bolte - 19
Wieben - 23

Women's Basketball, WNBA Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors - Women's Basketball - ESPN

Not only that, but Ezell, Lacy, & Wieben combined for a total of 1 FG in the earlier game. I'll go way out on a limb and predict that they will do a tad bit better this time around.

**isuno1fan** · 03-29-2009, 06:56 PM

Will be rooting like crazy for ISU, but will be shocked if we stay within 15 with the final score.

**alarson** · 03-29-2009, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Steve

Not only that, but Ezell, Lacy, & Wieben combined for a total of 1 FG in the earlier game. I'll go way out on a limb and predict that they will do a tad bit better this time around.

considering those 3 average about 30 pts\game, if they even have their average night things could be a lot closer.

**CyCloned** · 03-29-2009, 07:20 PM

I don't like the Clones chances, but they will not quit, and that is worth something. I thought the giant for MSU (Pretty geant) played way better than normal last night. She doesn't even average 10 points and she was hitting turn around baseline jumpers last night. Officiating can make a huge difference in a game. MSU played pretty rough last night, and though they got called for a lot of fouls, they did not get called for a lot of others. There was a serious amount of hacking going on out there.

**NWIAclone** · 03-29-2009, 07:21 PM

I think the team thinks they have a shot.

**ISUCyclones** · 03-29-2009, 07:26 PM

I am an avid sisters fan and make nearly every game, I can, with all honesty, tell you there is no one they can not beat on a given day. Sure, it will mean they play lights out; they are fully capable of that. I'm not an optimist, I've seen them play, they can win this.

Go Twister Sisters!

**BenEClone** · 03-29-2009, 08:31 PM

We are no way close to being the same team that we were when Stanford beat us at the beginning of the season. Granted, we haven't had to play a ranked team in the tournament thus far, but we played plenty of them during the regular season. The Big XII is the toughest conference and has prepared us well for this challenge. Lacey is playing unbelievable right now. We are the underdog but do not have the pressure that Stanford does. I hope we can win but am very proud of and happy for our girls and BF no matter what.