Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) writes about the pre-conference experiences of the Pac-10 teams. "Stanford, Cal and Arizona State scheduled tough opponents, took some tough losses and are hoping to reap the benefits of those experiences as conference play opens this weekend." She predicts that they will finish 1-2-3 in the Pac-10. Read more...
In a later article, Smith writes about this weekend's games, "No time will be wasted in finding out where the top three teams in the conference - the only three to appear in the national rankings thus far - stack up." In her evaluation of Stanford, Cal, and Arizona State, she quotes:
- Charli Turner Thorne said, "Our posts haven't performed quite to the level that they expected or we expected. But they all know they have to step it up and they are excited for these matchups."
- Alexis Gray-Lawson: "It's a new season. Everybody's back, we are an experienced team and it's going to be real good."
- Tara: "We are going to see right off the bat, how do we match up? What do we need to do better?"
Elliott Almond (Mercury News) says, "Stanford and Cal are expected to battle for the conference title after completing tough nonconference schedules. But [they] also have the NCAA Tournament in their sights. They didn't schedule some of the country's best teams simply to prepare for the Pac-10." Read more...
Jeff Metcalfe (Arizona Republic) writes about the ASU women's chances against Stanford and Cal this weekend -- two more chances to beat a ranked team, which they haven't done since the NCAA tournament last season. Read more...
Ken Brazzle (Tucson Citizen) reports the bad news for Arizona: "They open the Pac-10 women's basketball season against the teams picked to finish first and second in the league: California and Stanford." And the good news: "They have a four-game win streak, with three coming at McKale Center, as conference play begins." Read more...
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