August 30, 2009

TV schedule announced

The Pac-10 has announced the television schedule for the 2009-2010 women's basketball season. Three of the Cardinal home games and two away games will be televised by Fox Sports Net. In addition, as already announced, the Stanford @ UConn game will be televised by ESPN2.

Here is the complete Pac-10/FSN schedule. You can see the complete Stanford schedule in the FBC website or in the GoStanford website.

Note that several game dates are different from the preliminary schedule posted a month ago:
  • The Cal game at Maples is on Sat, Jan 2 instead of on Sun, Jan 3.
  • The USC game at Maples is on Sun, Feb 7 instead of on Sat, Feb 6.
  • The away games in Arizona late in February have been swapped — first the ASU game on Thu, Feb 25 and then the Arizona game on Sat, Feb 27.

August 27, 2009

Whatever happened to ...?

... the Pac-10 women's basketball coaches who resigned or were fired in the past ten years?

June Daugherty

was head coach at the University of Washington for 11 seasons, from 1996 to 2007. In spite of leading the Huskies to nine postseason appearances — six in the NCAA tournament and three in the WNIT — she was replaced by Tia Jackson.

Daugherty is now the head coach at Washington State, where she has made a good start on rebuilding a program whose last winning season was 1995-96. She has brought in a highly-ranked recruiting class. Last season she led the Cougars to an 11-19 record and #8 in the Pac-10 — for the first time in eight years, they weren't #10.

Sherri Murrell

was head coach at Washington State for five seasons, from 2002 to 2007. She resigned and was replaced by June Daugherty.

Since leaving WSU, Murrell has been the head coach at Portland State, a member of the Big Sky Conference. She is having considerable success at PSU. In her first season she led the Vikings to their best season ever (22-9) at the Division I level. Last season they went 23-10 and reached the second round of the post-season WNIT.

Jenny Przekwas

was head coach at Washington State before Sherri Murrell for three seasons, from 1999 to 2002.

Przekwas is now a self-employed professional gardener in Colorado. She served as the Colorado state co-ordinator for the 2008 Ralph Nader presidential campaign.

Judy Spoelstra

was head coach at Oregon State for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. She was replaced by LaVonda Wagner.

Spoelstra spent the following few years in San Diego, where she worked in private business and coached basketball at La Jolla County Day School. Last season, she returned to collegiate coaching and the Pacific Northwest as an assistant coach to Tia Jackson at the University of Washington.

Bev Smith

was head coach at the University of Oregon for eight years, from 2001 to 2009. She has been replaced by Paul Westhead this season.

Smith is now the Executive Director for Kidsports, a not-for-profit organization that provides affordable supervised recreation for kids in the Eugene/Springfield area. She discusses her new job in this interview by the Eugene Register-Guard.

Jody Runge

was the head coach at the University of Oregon before Bev Smith for eight seasons, from 1993 to 2001.

Runge is now the innkeeper of A Painted Lady Inn Bed and Breakfast in Portland, Oregon. It's a whole new game for her, as reported in the Eugene Register-Guard in 2004.

Caren Horstmeyer

was head coach at Cal for five seasons, from 2000 to 2005. She was replaced by Joanne Boyle.

Horstmeyer now lives in Marin County with her husband and their young son and daughter. She is a real estate agent and the director of Horstmeyer Hoops, a girls basketball camp.

Joan Bonvicini

was head coach at the University of Arizona for 17 seasons, from 1991 to 2008. She was replaced by Niya Butts last season.

Bonvicini is now head coach at Seattle University, where she will lead the team in its first full season in Division I.

Seattle University was in Division I, in the West Coast Conference, from 1971 to 1980, when financial difficulties caused them to cut back on athletic expenditures and drop down to Division III. The University is in the midst of an NCAA four-year reclassification period. The women's basketball team will be in Division I in 2009-10, but cannot play in the NCAA tourney until 2012-13. They can play in the WNIT or other events. They are applying for membership back to the WCC.

Kathy Olivier

was head coach at UCLA for 15 seasons, from 1993 to 2008. She resigned last season and was replaced by Nikki Caldwell.

Olivier is now head coach at her alma mater, UNLV, a member of the Mountain West Conference. In her first season the Lady Rebels went 14-18 and ended with a loss to San Diego State in the tournament semifinals — not bad for a new coach.

Mark Trakh

was head coach at USC for five seasons, from 2004 to 2009. He came to USC after eleven seasons as head coach at Pepperdine, where he posted a 62% win record. He led the Women of Troy to the second round of the NCAA tournament in each of his first two seasons at USC. Then a seemingly endless stream of injuries hampered his next three teams. He resigned and has been replaced by Michael Cooper this season.

I have no information about Trakh since his resignation from USC.

Chris Gobrecht

was head coach at USC before Mark Trakh for seven seasons, from 1997 to 2004.

She is now about to begin her fifth season as the head coach at Yale. The Yale women's basketball pogram has struggled for a long time — they've ranked in the middle or, more often, near the bottom of the Ivy League since about 1990 — and they haven't improved much under Gobrecht yet.

Trivia question: How many active mother-daughter coach-player combinations are there in Division I women's basketball?
Answer: Just one, Chris and her daughter, junior forward Mady.

August 25, 2009

Fourth best women's basketball program of the decade

Jake Curtis, Stanford Cardinal Basketball Examiner,  has selected the ten best women's basketball programs of the decade. His selection parameters are:
To rate the programs, we will rely on two main categories: a school's final regular-season AP ranking each season and its success in the NCAA Tournament.   In other words, a team that was ranked in the top 10 five times, but lost in the first round each year may rank lower than a team with only two top-10 rankings but got to the Final Four twice in that span.  By the same token, a team that got to the NCAA finals once in that period, but was never ranked higher than 12th might rank lower than a team with several top-10 finishes but never got to the Final Four. As you will see, balancing the two criteria will be a challenge in many cases.

The number of All-Americans from a given college and the school's success within a conference could come into play as well, but those will carry less weight. My rankings, my rules.
He has ranked Stanford as #4 and writes about that selection in this article.

This are the articles about his prior selections: The top three are yet to come. You can find them here in the next few days.

August 23, 2009

Watch WUG gold medal game

If you get Fox Sports Atlantic, you can watch a very delayed taping of the 2009 World University Games gold medal game — the one in which Jeanette and Kayla helped USA Basketball defeat Russia 83-64 to win the gold medal. It's scheduled to be shown at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time and again at 11:30 p.m.

August 20, 2009

Jayne & Jeanette are preseason Wooden Award candidates

Congratulations to Jayne and Jeanette!

They are two of the 31 preseason candidates for the 2009-10 Women's Wooden Award. The list is composed of student-athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the front-runners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.

This is the third year in which Jayne has been named to the Wooden Award's preseason list. She was one of the finalists last season. This is Jeanette's first appearance on the list.

Here is today's announcement by Richard "Duke" Llewellyn, the John R. Wooden Award Chairman and founder. (The list of candidates is on the third page.)

August 18, 2009

Stanford to host NCAA 1st & 2nd rounds

The Cardinal can enjoy the comforts of home as they begin their journey to the Final Four next March.

The University of New Mexico had been scheduled as one of the sixteen sites to host the first two rounds of the 2010 NCAA tournament, but their arena "The Pit" is undergoing a major renovation which may not be completed by March. So the NCAA announced today that it's moving the first and second round games from Albuquerque to Stanford.

If all goes well for the Cardinal at Maples, they will likely continue their journey without traveling very far — just to the Arco Arena for the Sacramento Regional.

August 17, 2009

Watch Nneka soar

Devoted Cardinal fan Warren Grimes advises:
I have read that money spent on building memories brings more long term satisfaction than money spent on material things. With that in mind, I have a modest suggestion. Go to a Stanford women’s game this season, or go to all of them. But make sure that for at least one game, you have a court-side seat. Get it any way you can. Buy it, trade for it, or beg or steal if necessary. Even an end-court obstructed view seat will do.

A nose-bleed seat in the upper deck won’t do it. For those with fat wallets who have season tickets 20 rows up at center court, that won’t cut it either. Buying a high quality 60 inch HD television to watch the games – that’s not going to work either -- most television cameras are at a high angle. You have to be at court level – or at least within a few rows of court level. Because it’s only at that angle that you can truly appreciate Nneka Ogwumike’s definitive destruction of Newtonian physics. Watching Nneka soar is a memory that will endure – it will inspire you to reach beyond everyday limits, or at least to appreciate those who can.

Last year, I watched Nneka play in a number of games from good seats, maybe 20 rows up. And I watched her play even more games on television. Everyone talked and wrote about her uncanny leaps. And I could see it happening before me as she leaped, boarded, and made amazing put-backs before returning to earth. But I’m sorry – you can’t really appreciate the soaring until you are at ground level. During the Pac-10 tournament, I was fortunate to have a second row seat – my jaw dropped, and so did those of everyone around me. I won’t forget.

Nneka Ogwumike had a solid freshman season, averaging 6.1 rebounds (third on the team) and 10.6 points (fourth on the team). She did this primarily as a reserve. In press conferences, Nneka comes across as a modest and unassuming team player. But she has amazing talents, and as the season neared its end, Nneka was suddenly a starter. I believe Coach Van Derveer said she couldn’t keep Ogwumike off the court. Ogwumike’s knowledge of the game and her confidence level had grown steadily. In the post season, she was a FORCE.

At the Pac-10 tournament, Nneka scored 44 points, the best on the team. She had 24 boards, second only to Kayla Pedersen’s 25. In the NCAA tournament, Ogwumike had a career day against San Diego State, with 27 points and 13 rebounds. She did this at the perfect time, because Jayne Appel had limited minutes because of fouls. Overall, for the 5 NCAA games, Nneka averaged 15 points and 9.4 boards, second only to Jayne Appel. Nneka did this despite playing limited minutes (only 15 minutes against Iowa State, 26 minutes against U Conn, and 27 minutes against Ohio State). Against U Conn, Ogwumike used her limited minutes to score 13 points and lead the team with 12 boards (Tina Charles had 12 boards, but was on the court 5 minutes longer than Ogwumike).

If there is any doubt that Nneka Ogwumike has arrived, look at what she did in the FIBA U19 world championships. Nneka led her gold-medal winning team with 13.6 points and 9.9 boards per game. In the Gold Medal match against Spain, the tension was high because Spain had defeated the US in the opening round game. Nneka came to play. She had a “twenty” double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in 36 minutes on the floor. Yup, Skylar Diggins and Samantha Prahalis were there too, but it was Nneka who led the way.

All of this creates a problem for opposing coaches, who may be lobbying for a new handicapping rule – all players with hang time in excess of three seconds would wear 20-pound weights on each ankle. But that is not your problem. Just indulge your flying fantasies. This season, watch at least one game from court-side. You will remember. And you will smile each time you think of Nneka Ogwumike soaring above it all. I do.

August 12, 2009

Basketball History

As a good Cardinal women's basketball fan, you surely know that the first women's intercollegiate game took place more than a century ago, and it was between Stanford and Cal, and Stanford won 2-1.

But you probably don't know all the other historical WBB trivia that Jake Curtis has unearthed. Check it out ...

The illustration here is a 1914 poster. Click the image to enlarge it so that you can read the caption.

August 10, 2009

JJ cleared to play

JJ has good reason to smile today, as do all her fans.

Last week she tweeted,"doctors appointment on monday...cleared?"

Today, "Cleared cleared aaaaand CLEARED!"

August 08, 2009

Joslyn & Mikaela struggle, but Bay Pride wins

Jake Curtis' report of the Bay Pride game at Kezar today:

Incoming Stanford freshmen Joslyn Tinkle and Mikaela Ruef struggled a bit on Saturday, but they did enough for their team, Bay Pride, to advance in the San Francisco Pro-Am basketball women's summer league playoffs. Read more...

The playoff game tomorrow is at 2:00.

August 02, 2009

USA wins the gold!

Nneka's huge double-double (22 points and 20 rebounds) led the USA U19 World Championship Team to an 87-71 gold medal victory over Spain.

She ranked seventh overall in scoring (13.6 ppg) and third in rebounding (9.9 rpg), and was one of just two players to score four double-doubles in the tournament. Her outstanding performance earned her a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

About her performance in today's game, Nneka said she, "... came out with all the effort that I had." Coach Carol Owens said, ""Nneka was awesome, as usual. I'm always probably harder on Nneka because I know she can do so much."

Today's gold medal is Nneka's second in USA team competitions and the USA's fourth in FIBA U19 Worlds.

Here is more information:

August 01, 2009

USA dismantles Canada in semifinal

Canada scored the first goal, but the USA dominated after that. By halftime the USA led 50-18, and they cruised through the second half to an 82-51 victory.

Kelsey Bone was the USA's top scorer today with 16 points. Nneka was second with 12 and also had four rebounds and two steals.

Here is the game report, box score and quotes from USA Basketball and the FIBA USA picture gallery that has all the USA photos including those from today's game. FIBA has failed to post the game statistics, but they may be available here later.

The USA and Spain meet again tomorrow for the gold medal game. Spain won their first, preliminary-round game 90-86. The USA players are looking forward to playing them again. Nneka says, "Spain is a really good team, but we've gotten a whole lot better since the first game."

Here's an article from FIBA about tomorrow's matchup: "Spanish Flair vs. American Solidity".