On Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream, #2 Stanford women’s basketball will take on the Vanguard Lions in an exhibition game. Vanguard is an NAIA school, so this is a game that Stanford should win in by 70+ points. With that in mind, I’m going to approach this preview a bit differently, instead highlighting five things to look for from Stanford.
#1. Starting lineup: While Wednesday’s starting lineup very well may not be the starting lineup Stanford uses in their regular season opener next week against San Diego State, whatever lineup Tara VanDerveer rolls with will still give us at least some indication of what direction she’s thinking. I think one of the key things to look for will be how big VanDerveer decides to go. She’s talked about going bigger and wanting to use Cameron Brink at the small forward spot at least a little bit. This will be a great chance for her to experiment with such a lineup and see how it looks on the floor against another team.
#2. Free throw percentage: Stanford shot 68% from the foul line last year while their opponents shot 72%. Foul shooting was bit of a weakness for Stanford last year and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve made any improvements from last season. Granted, one game is as small of a sample size as you can get, but still, free throws are the same no matter who you are playing and this will have the feeling of at least some game pressure.
#3. Will Francesca Belibi play: Francesca Belibi had her hand wrapped during Saturday’s scrimmage and saw limited action/did not play. It’ll be of note to see whether or not she plays at all in the exhibition as that will give us a better feel for where her hand is at.
#4. Guard rotation: Stanford has some talented freshmen guards in Talana Lepolo and Indya Nivar. It’ll be interesting to see how VanDerveer works them into the rotation and also how often Haley Jones runs the point.
#5. Will anyone dunk: This last one is kinda fun, but in an exhibition game like this, the opportunities for someone to try to throw it down will definitely be there. If Belibi is not a go, Kiki Iriafen is one who could possibly step in there and throw it down. She tried last year and got close. It’ll also be interesting to see how VanDerveer reacts to a dunk attempt in an exhibition if it does happen.
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