South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - #2 Stanford
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All eyes are on Palo Alto, CA, Sunday as #1 South Carolina visits #2 Stanford for the biggest nonconference game of the season.
1. Point guard
The point guard law firm of Johnson and Fletcher bounced back from a lackluster game against Maryland with an impressive showing at Clemson. Keirra Fletcher moved into the starting lineup, but Raven Johnson still played more minutes. Johnson had three points, five assists, and two athletic blocks against Clemson. Fletcher had four points, an assist, and a block in 12 minutes, and both players looked much more comfortable than they did against Maryland.
Stanford presents the toughest challenge yet, plus there is the looming shadow of Destanni Henderson. Henderson was brilliant in the last two games against Stanford, especially last season’s epic 17-point, seven-assists, seven-steal performance. Stanford hadn’t quite solidified its point guard position by that game last season, and Henderson was able to take advantage. Once again, if there is a weakness in Stanford’s starting lineup, it’s at point guard.
Predict & Win Free Time: No. 1 South Carolina at No. 2 Stanford
2. #1 vs #2
For the second season in a row, South Carolina and Stanford meet as #1 and #2. South Carolina also played a 1 vs 2 game last season against UConn. Dawn Staley views these highly ranked games as a win, win or lose.
“You’re measuring yourself. You’re measuring what you are right now and it will unveil what you need to work on in the future,” she said. “These games allow you to see where you are and also to bank in case in the NCAA tournament you have to play a team like Stanford. Win or lose you have some familiarity.”
The matchup is getting the full big-game treatment. The broadcast has been moved to ABC, one of just a handful of women’s games ever on network television. ESPN has run promos for the game during men’s basketball and football games. Reporter Holly Rowe is making the overnight trip from Columbia to Palo Alto after covering South Carolina football’s win over Tennessee.
South Carolina won both of its 1 vs 2 games last season, and the higher-ranked team has won every meeting in this series.
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3. Remember when?
For two programs on opposite coasts, who haven’t played regularly, there is a lot of history between South Carolina and Stanford. South Carolina’s growth as a program could be measured by its games against Stanford. It starts with the coaches. Stanford and Tara VanDerveer twice beat Staley’s Virginia teams in the Final Four, including a 66-65 win in the final game of Staley’s career (I could do a whole other story on that game alone). VanDerveer then coached Staley with the 1996 USA Olympic team, where she became a mentor to Staley.
When Staley took over at South Carolina, she suffered lopsided losses to the Cardinal in two of her first three seasons. Staley freely admitted then that her Gamecocks weren’t on the same playing field as the Cardinal.
“That’s what I remember most,” Staley said Saturday. “It was a blowout. Tara’s so sweet. She thought after her team blew us out that it would be good for me to come in her locker room and speak to her team. Like really, Tara? (Director of Player Development) Freddy Ready just reminded me yesterday at our practice that there’s a weight room attached to their practice facility that you can see from Maples. He said, ‘Coach do you remember that weight room? That’s the weight room that right after they blew us out they went in and worked out like it was one of their practices.’”
The next season the teams met in the 2012 Sweet 16. Stanford won 76-60, but the gap was closing. Staley said after the game she was proud of the Gamecocks because “we didn’t get outplayed, we got out-talented.”
They played in Columbia that fall. Stanford won again, but this time by a narrow 53-49 margin. The talent gap was almost gone. It was fitting, then, that after six losses to her mentor, Staley’s first win finally came in the 2017 Final Four en route to her first national championship.
Since then, Stanford and South Carolina have each won another national championship and played an instant classic in the Final Four. They played a thriller in Columbia last season, and early on this season they look like they are clearly the two best teams in the country. They plan to continue the series for at least the next two years, as Staley continues to measure herself against her mentor.
“I think Tara is a savant when it comes to basketball and understanding how to play and disciplining her team how to play,” Staley said. “It’s a win-win situation for our team, but also for me to be able to watch her, to prep for her, to get in her brain for what she’s going to do.
When you play Tara, when you play a team that’s led by her, you know you’re getting the very best.”
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4. Is South Carolina a dynasty?
I had the pleasure of talking to ESPN’s M.A Voepel on Friday. We chatted about the budding Stanford-South Carolina rivalry, the relationship between Staley and VanDerveer, and whether South Carolina has built a true dynasty.
You can read that HERE.
5. Scouting the Cardinal
Not much separates the Gamecocks and Cardinal. Stanford is one of the few teams that can match South Carolina’s size. Aside from point guard, Stanford’s starting lineup goes 6-0, 6-1, 6-3, and 6-4, with 6-5 and 6-7 coming off the bench.
“Not a lot of people around the country have 6-7 as a reserve,” Staley said, referring to Stanford’s talented freshman Lauren Betts, the top recruit in the class, and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso.
There’s very little difference in the season stats for the two teams. They both rebound, defend, and score. The Gamecocks get the ball into the paint a little more, while the Cardinal are the better three-point shooting team.
“They have incredible spacing,” Staley said. “They are going to spread you out and they’re just going to read and react. They are going to get ahead of the possession and at the end of it, they want a practice three-point shot. If you take that away they are going to backdoor you to get wide-open layups.”
In the 2021 Final Four, South Carolina had trouble stopping those backdoor cuts. Last season South Carolina, although primarily Henderson, was able to pressure Cardinal ball-handlers and speed up the offense.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (3-0) at #2 Stanford (5-0)
When: Sunday, November 20, 3:00 pm ET
Where: Maples Pavilion, Palo Alto, CA
Watch: ABC
