March Madness at Maples

Here is how the teams that will play rounds 1 and 2 at Maples match up:

	Stanford	UC Davis	Texas Tech	St. Johns
Points per game	79.9	68.8	65.9	63.3
Scoring margin	+25.1	+9.4	+8.9	+6.1
Field goal %	0.491	0.418	0.420	0.417
3-pointers per game	6.1	7.4	4.6	3.1
3-point %	0.353	0.333	0.352	0.346
Free throw %	0.746	0.689	0.686	0.655
Rebounds per game	43.7	34.4	39.2	37.5
Rebounding margin	+11.5	-2.3	+4.6	+1.5
Assists per game	17.7	15.0	14.1	11.5
Turnovers per game	14.2	16.2	16.1	15.7
Assist/turnover ratio	1.24	0.93	0.88	0.73
Steals per game	7.4	11.2	10.4	9.5
Blocks per game	3.5	2.8	3.7	3.1
Win-loss record	29-2, 18-0	24-8, 10-6	22-10, 8-8	21-10, 9-7

The first game between St. John's and Texas Tech should be very interesting. Mechelle Voepel thinks that a second-round game against either could be the toughest foe that any of the No. 1 seeds have to face in that round. The two teams have never played each other.

  UC Davis Aggies

The Aggies are having an exciting post-season. They upset #1 seed Cal Poly 66-49 to win their first-ever Big West championship and earned their first bid to the NCAA tournament. Head coach Sandy Simpson is retiring after 14 years at Davis, and the team was determined to send him off on a high note. The Aggies come into the tournament on a seven-game win streak.

Coach Simpson says, "We're thrilled to be in the tournament and for the opportunity to play Stanford, one of the storied programs, really, in the history of women's basketball. We have tremendous respect not just for their players and their coaches, especially Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer, but also the way they conduct themselves, the way they compete and how they play the game. It's something we should all aspire to."

The Cardinal and the Aggies have often played each other. This is the team that Hannah's sister Haylee played for, but she graduated last year. Most recently, the two teams met in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The Cardinal claimed three victories.

The Aggies are a mature, experienced team with three seniors and five juniors. They have a deep bench — nine players average at least 16 minutes a game, none play more than 27. The Aggies lead the Big West in points scored, scoring margin, 3-point field goals made, steals, and turnover margin.

Here are the Aggies' 2010-2011 statistics, roster and game notes. Their probable starters are:

• #11, 6'2" 5th year senior post Paige Mintun leads the Aggies in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounding (5.7 rpg) and blocked shots (1.8 bpg). She was named to the Big West all-conference team for the 3rd consecutive year.
  
• #15, 5'10" 5th year senior wing Heidi Heintz is the Aggies' most accurate shooter, with a field goal percentage of 48.4. She makes the most assists (2.6 per game) and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio (1.29). She averages 9.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
  
• #25, 5'11" junior wing Kasey Riecks is the Aggies' second best three-point shooter; she averages 1.6 a game at a rate of 36%. (The leading three-point shooter with just over two a game at 40% is reserve wing Vicky Deeley.) Riecks averages 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
  
• #32 5'11" junior wing Samantha Meggison leads the Aggies in steals, with just under two a game. She averages 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
  
• #2, 5'6" junior guard Hana Asano runs the point. She averages 4.5 points and 2.3 assists per game. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.31.

  Texas Tech Lady Raiders

Texas Tech finished sixth in the Big 12 behind Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Iowa State. That and a huge win against Baylor were enough to secure their first NCAA bid since 2005. Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma in the quarterfinals round of the Big 12 Tournament. They've had a streaky season. They won 16 of their first 17 games, then lost six in a row, and come into the NCAA Tournament having won six of their last nine games.

Stanford and Texas Tech have played each other about a dozen times, most recently a four-year stretch from 2003-2006. Stanford won three of those games. Stanford and Texas Tech had two common opponents this season — Cal and Texas. Texas Tech defeated Cal 50-43; Stanford defeated Cal twice, 78-45 & 75-51. Texas Tech lost to Texas twice, 67-75 & 59-83; Stanfprd defeated Texas 93-78.

The Lady Raiders play an uptempo, athletic style of basketball. Players are allowed to run the floor and look to score easy transition baskets. Offensive rebounding is a big part of their offense. The Lady Raiders pride themselves on being tough on the defensive end of the floor and dominating the defensive boards. they play mostly man defense, but sometimes use a tough zone defense as well as presses to keep the opponents at bay.

The Lady Raiders' boarding as not as stellar as the above description indicates. They rank 4th in the Big 12 in O-boards and 8th in D-boards.

They do not have a strong perimeter game. Their average number of three-pointers per game (4.56) ranks 11th in the Big 12.

Here are the Lady Raiders' 2010-2011 statistics, roster and game notes. Their probable starters are:

• #20 ,6'3" junior forward/center Kierra Mallard is Texas Tech's top scorer with 12.1 points per game, the only one to average double-digits. She is also the best rebounder with 7.2 per game. She had seven double-doubles this season. And she's their best shot-blocker — she ranks 45th in the nation with 1.9 per game.
  
• #4, 6'3" senior forward/center Teena Wickett is the Lady Raiders' second best scorer (9.8 ppg) and rebounder (6.0 rpg).
  
• #15, 5'9" sophomore guard Casey Morris is the tied-for-second-best scorer with 9.8 ppg. She averages 1.7 three-pointers per game, the only Lady Raider with more than one. Incidentally, Morris played her freshman year at Cal then transferred to Texas Tech.
  
• #23, 5'6" sophomore guard Monique Smalls runs the point. She averages 3.7 assists per game with a very good 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. She is an adept ball thief — she ranks 37th in the nation with 2.7 steals per game.
  
• #5, 5'10" sophomore guard Christine Hyde averages 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

  St. John's Red Storm

St. John's finished seventh in the Big East, behind Connecticut, DePaul , Notre Dame, Rutgers, Marquette and Louisville. They lost to DePaul in the Big East quarterfinals, but earned an at-large bid with one of the most successful seasons in school history. This is only the second time in school history that St. John's has gone to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons. The last time was almost 30 years ago. They come into the tournament having won six of their last ten games.

Stanford has never played St. John's. They had three opponents in common this season — Rutgers, DePaul and UConn. Stanford defeated Rutgers 63-50; St. John's defeated Rutgers 51-48. Stanford lost to DePaul 71-91; St. John's lost to DePaul twice, 54-69 & 54-66. Stanford defeated UConn 71-59; St John's lost to UConn 52-84.

The Red Storm is not much of a threat beyond the arc. As a team, they average just over three three-pointers per game, the fewest in the Big East. The only player to average more than one a game is reserve guard Amanda Burakoski.

Here are St. John's 2010-2011 statistics, roster and game notes. Their probable starters are:

• #35, 6'1" sophomore guard Shenneika Smith is the Red Storm's leading scorer (12.8 ppg) and shot blocker (but less than one per game) and their second-best rebounder (6.1 rpg). The St. John's WBB website describes her as, "... one of the best wings in the country. She has tremendous length and athleticism, as well as a smooth scoring touch. She has focused on knocking down the open jumper, and has rare basketball instincts."
  
• #3, 6'1" junior forward Da'Shena Stevens is the Red Storm's leading rebounder (6.5 rpg) and second-best scorer (12.1 ppg). She is their Kayla — "She's our go-to player. She rebounds.She scores.She does everything that we need her to do."
  
• #30, 6'1" senior forward Centhya Hart is the Red Storm's most accurate shooter (48.5%). She averages 8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. "She's probably our smartest player, and does all the intangible things. She has mastered the science of taking a charge, and she puts her body on the line for her teammates." There is no record of how often she is fouled, but she averages 2.3 free throws per game and makes 73% of them.
  
• #5, 5'7" sophomore guard Nadira McKenith is, "... the best point guard in the country. She is a little sparkplug for us. She controls the pace we want to play at and gets our fast break going at top speed." She averages almost four assists per game, and has a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio. She also averages 8.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
  
• #1, 5'11" senior guard Sky Lindsay "... brings experience to the wing position as our only upperclassman on the perimeter." She averages 4.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.