Loud, Annoying Beeps

I'm assuming everyone's familiar with the noises that large vehicles make when backing up.

Although in Japan, many vehicles might actually say "vehicle is backing up" when backing up. I certainly recall the buses there had computerized voices which would say "the bus is turning right," or whatever happened to be appropriate. It was one of many weird aspects to the whole robotics culture over there.

One thing you may find, reading what I write, is frequent asides which are basically irrelevant to the main thrust of an issue. I'm a very stream-of-consciousness guy.

Backups

Landry Fields

17.6 pts/40; 8.8 rebs/40; 10/21 2ptFG, 10/25 3ptFG, adjusted shooting pct .543

Fields is a sophomore guard who has a reputation as an extremely streaky shooter. He can hit from outside, but the Cardinal need to limit his 2-point attempts. He's not terribly fast or great as a penetrator. His role is as a spot-up shooter. A poor assist to turnover ratio suggests he's not the best choice as a backup point guard. He's still a developing talent, and the team needs him as a third option from distance along with Goods and Hill.

Drew Shiller

22.5 pts/40; 1.83 rebs/40; 3/6 2ptFG, 10/17 3ptFG, adjusted shooting pct .782

Shiller transferred from San Francisco to Stanford and sat out last season as a result of NCAA rules. Looking at the above, it's not hard to tell why the Cardinal wanted him. A .782 adjusted shooting pct is insane, and obviously unsustainable, but he looks like a guy who's capable of making 40% of his three-point attempts. He has limited ability to penetrate, so he'll work best off of high screens from a Lopez or two to get free for three-point tries. He's also an exceptional free-throw shooter (he's made 28 out of 31 in his college career) which is an unheralded asset for teams trying to finish in close games.

Kenny Brown

23.2 pts/40; 6.3 rebs/40; 3/6 2ptFG, 7/15 3ptFG, adjusted shooting pct .642

Brown's "one shining moment" came in the infamous Chicken Soup Fiasco game last season against Arizona. Half of the team became ill with food poisoning as a result of a pregame meal, forcing Brown, Landry Fields and several other backups to play most of a game which was key to the Cardinal's tournament hopes. In the end the team lost, but not before erasing a huge deficit and forcing overtime. Brown's 22 points in that game were only exceeded, in the category of "astounding statistical outbursts," by Ivan Radenovic's 36 for Arizona.

In any event, the walk-on's primarily going to play a sparkplug role for the team. He's an unspectacular shooter, but has hot streaks.

Taj Finger

8.9 pts/40; 10 rebs/40; 9/21 FG (shooting pct .428)

For a variety of reasons, including the ankle injury to Lawrence Hill, Finger actually has the 6th most minutes played on the team so far this season. He's a solid rebounding forward, but the atrocious shooting percentage indicates that the team is going to need to find frontcourt scoring from other areas. Finger is more of a leadership guy at this point than anything else; he and Washington were significant contributors on Johnson's first NCAA tournament squad in 2005.

Peter Prowitt

11.5 pts/40; 6.2 rebs/40; 6/9 FG (shooting pct .667)

If Stanford could somehow combine Prowitt and Finger into one player, they'd have a pretty good forward, as Prowitt has a bit of the soft touch that Finger lacks. Unfortunately, you can't play 6 guys at once. Prowitt really never developed as a player during his time at Stanford, which is why he's been relegated to garbage time and emergency duties.

Josh Owens

12.8 pts/40; 12.8 rebs/40; 6/11 FG (shooting pct .545)

The only true freshman on the roster this season comes in pretty highly regarded (top 100 nationally) as an athletic talent, but hasn't had much of an opportunity given his position on the current depth chart. It might almost have been worth having him redshirt for a season, because he's currently buried at #5 on the forward depth chart, soon to drop to #6 if Brook Lopez gets his academic act together. Still, it's good to see him contributing positively in both points and rebounds in his limited minutes to date. If one or both Lopezes leave next season, he could shoot up that depth chart in a hurry.


And there we have it. Johnson's done a good job of bringing in guard talent in the last couple of seasons, but the team still lacks the true point guard with the ability to create his own shot. As a result, the offense is a little static. The defense should be rock-solid, though. The great thing about having a pair of 7-footers wandering around the paint is that it frees up the guards to be much more aggressive on the perimeter.

The team's next test (and by "test," I mean "test of how awake they are") comes tomorrow with a home game against Colorado State.