One Game at a Time: Next Up is Cal

I'll be the first to admit I was one of the people on this board that thought the Beavs would lose at least one game in the desert. I think they will win them both this weekend. Obviously, it won't happen if both Kat and Aleah go 0 for. I'm hopeful.

UCLA's easy conference schedule is looming big now. They came out on top of the Arizona schools at home, and they beat Colorado on the road, which I thought may be a tough game for them (and it was, but they won it). With UCLA only having to face Oregon, Oregon St and Stanford once, it's really looking like they will finish in the top 4 in conference, and possibly top 2, unless you are correct and there are a number of surprising upsets. With Stanford only having to face the Arizona schools once (it is on the road though), it looks like the ucks and Beavers ended up with the toughest schedule in conference this year.

No matter how you look at it, after this weekend at least one of these three, Oregon, Oregon State, and Stanford, will have at least two losses in the books. I'm hoping it's not the Beavs, and I would be ok if it was both the ucks, and Stanford. I would even be ok if Stanford lost both games. Go Beavs!! Have a great weekend!

I too had them losing one. But, initially thought it'd be UA. I then predicted a double digit win over ASU. Didn't think ASU would follow up and play well... which they didn't. OSU just played horrible.

I see a split this weekend. I think Furd and all their talented youth are a bit underrated by some on this board. They are very deep and the younger players are gaining knowledge and confidence, but are not asked to shoulder as much as our two Frosh. Being home will help, but we have some players who look to have lost confidence when things go a little sideways. It is one of the few SR coached teams in the last 4+ years I have seen lose composure and confidence in the course of 40 minutes.

I was blasted a bit before the season when I said I thought this team was a bit overhyped/ranked. A lot of people focus on rankings and then of course being undefeated, but I still see some major glitches for this team to go very far in the postseason. Mainly, OSU is not deep, and what depth there is isn't overly talented. The 3 point game will be the rise and fall of this team. The Bigs just aren't the type (yet) to put a team on their back to ease the pressure on the outside game. SR teams have always been fairly balanced, over play one aspect and the other will carry the team. Even the unhyped bigs like Brown, Hunter, etc had games were they came out of nowhere to spark key wins. I do not see this set of players being that versatile.

The real surprise to me is the amount of immature turnovers by players that should never be making them at this point in their careers. Your shots not falling can happen in streaks, but to lose so many possessions to turnovers just exacerbated the pressure to make shots. The good news, that game is NOT who this team is. s%#t happens in athletics, what counts is how you follow up in your next opportunity. 

A wildcard (Jelena Mitrovic) will come into play soon and I think it will likely be this weekend. I can't see Scott playing her in one of the key games (Stanford or Oregon) without her first getting some on-court game experience, so I think he will give her some time against Cal. Hopefully we'll see evidence that she has the ability to be a difference-maker in the remaining games. 

baseba1111, we are mostly in agreement about this team. I think I may feel they are slightly better than you think they are. Despite my thinking they are better, I also feel the Pac12 competition is better, and the Beaver conference schedule is more difficult, so the Beavs may not end up with as good a record as the past couple years. In fact, if you look at the Beavs schedule/competition, they would have to play extremely well to only lose four games this year.

As far as depth goes, I would have really felt good about team depth if Taya hadn't been injured. Taya, Kennedy, Taylor, and Maddie would have been a nice 4 up front, with Kat, Aleah, Destiny, and Mik as your smalls. Those 8 would have allowed a nice rotation. As it is now, the freshmen are getting great experience, but are being heavily counted on. I'm not sure that Kat is completely back either.

There are always two sides to every story, but the thing I don't like about the Stanford game this weekend is that Stanford has an extra day to rest and prepare. The good news is that the Beavs should have an easy victory Friday night against Cal. I did say "should have".

True. And every player that plays needs to contribute in some way (defense, rebounding, boxing out, passing) if the team is to win consistently. It doesn't have to be eight players scoring. Every reserve that takes the floor needs to provide something, much like the second team that ASU put on the floor last Sunday. The five subs for ASU only scored 13 points against the Beavs, but that unit brought a lot to the floor with respect to defense and rebounding.

Dare you mention Ralph. Do you want them to lose in the first round?