Stanford FBC: Stories of the Season

Views from across the bay

2012-01-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a few interesting stories about how Saturday's battle appeared to supporters on the other side of the bay:

Brittany Boyd's Masterful Performance Against The Stanford Cardinal by Nate Parham (Swish Appeal) — a well-deserved tribute to the Bears' young star

Bears fall short in overtime challenge by Annie Gerlach (The Daily Californian)

Cal Falls in OT at No. 4 Stanford, 74-71 by Viet Nguyen (The Bear Insider)

Bears Come Up Just Short In Overtime Thriller by Norcalnick (California Golden Blogs)

What a battle!

2012-01-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Stanford won a fine battle – their 74th consecutive victory at Maples and their 66th consecutive conference victory – in overtime, 74-71.

Cal shot better than Stanford today. They took exactly the same number of shots and close to the same number of 3-pointers. Cal made 40.5% of the total and 25% of the treys. Stanford made just 36.5% and 15%. Stanford wasn't able to contain Cal's sharp-shooting guards. Freshman Brittany Boyd got 19 points and junior Layshia Clarendon got 17. Tara said, in the behind-the-bench session after the game, that it was "kind of refreshing" to win when your shooting is off.

Both teams were strong and aggressive, but Stanford out-did Cal by just enough in the other statistical categories to eke out the victory: rebounds 51-47, assists 15-10, blocks 4-2, steals 9-5, and – most importantly – fouls 13-19.

Actually, the game was won at the charity stripe where Stanford got twice as many free throws as Cal (not due to favoritism by the officials). Stanford made 17 of 25 for a poor 68%, but Cal had only 12 and made seven.

Chiney broke through the Bears' tough defense for a huge double-double of 28 points and 18 rebounds, both career highs. Her aggressive play drew a lot of fouls. She's still struggling a bit with free throws, but made nine of her 12 attempts.

Toni's long-range shooting was not on tonight ‐ she sank just one. But she was the Cardinal's second-best scorer with 15 more points from a fast break, drives to the basket, jumpers and five free throws. She made two of her free throws in the last 23 seconds of overtime to seal the victory.

Tara said that Nneka had been sick all week and hadn't practiced for the past couple of days. In spite of that, she played for 43 minutes. She drew much of the Bears' defensive attention, but still managed 12 points and nine rebounds. She moved past Val Whiting into fourth place on the Cardinal all-time scoring list and needs 42 more points to overtake Jayne Appel. She's in fifth place on the all-time rebounding list and needs 78 more to overtake Val Whiting.

Bonnie sank two long ones in a span of 30 seconds late in the second half that gave the Cardinal a nine-point lead (that unfortunately dwindled away to a tie). She also made an uncharacteristic drive to the basket for two more points.

Joslyn didn't score much today, but her strong defense was a big factor in keeping the Bears' front court in check. She tallied five rebounds, a block and two steals.

Here are game reports:

Cal women fall short to No. 4 Stanford 74-71 in OT by Josh Dubow (Associated Press)
Stanford women hang on to beat Cal in overtime by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
Stanford women's basketball pushed into overtime by Cal before extending home winning streak by Stephanie Hammon (Mercury News)
Stanford hangs on to beat Cal women in overtime by Jake Curtis
Stanford women go OT in hoops to hold off Cal from Palo Alto Online
WBB: Stanford 74 CAL 71 OT from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria (Stanford Photo),

And more photos by Ben Margot (Associated Press):

Chiney shoots over Gennifer Brandon Nneka shoots over Talia Caldwell Chiney's going to get this one Nneka boxes out Amber does her best Brittany Boyd gets past Nneka Chiney looks for a way out "OK! Now we're gonna ,,," Celebration!

Anticipation – no prediction

2012-01-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

Anticipation, but no prediction of the outcome of the Battle of the Bay:

Cal women take aim at Stanford win streaks by Tom FitzGerald, San Francisco Chronicle
Stanford women's basketball wary of surging Cal by Zack Farmer, The Examiner
Cal women's basketball team seeks huge breakthrough against Stanford by Stephanie Hammon, Mercury News
Cardinal has chance to open up big lead in the Pac-12 by Rick Eymer, Palo Alto Online
Cal crosses the Bay as first half of Pac-12 season wraps up by Tom Taylor, The Stanford Daily

Nneka and Chiney named to Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 list

2012-01-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

Nneka and Chiney are two of the 20 women (and the first sisters ever) named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 list.

Both were on the Preseason Top 30 list and advanced to the Midseason list based on their performances in November, December, and January. This is Nneka's third consecutive appearance and Chiney's first on the Midseason list

You can find more information in the announcements from:

The Los Angeles Athletic Club, which includes a list of the 20 candidates.
Stanford Athletics, which details the accomplishments that have earned Nneka and Chiney this honor.

Matchup of freshmen point guards

2012-01-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

Jake Curtis highlights Stanford's Amber Orrange and Cal's Brittany Boyd, the pair of freshmen who, "will be directing the attacks of what might be the two best teams in the conference." Read here...

Chance for an upset?

2012-01-27T06:50:00.000-08:00

norcalnick (California Golden Blogs) knows how Cal can upset Stanford:

Stop Nneka.

Unfortunately for the Bears, he has not the slightest clue on how to do that. Read more...

Battle of the Bay at Maples

2012-01-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

Up next: Round 1 of the Battle of the Bay on Saturday afternoon at Maples.

The game will not be televised, but it will be video-streamed by Stanford All-Access and broadcast by KZSU. You can find the links in the Prior and Upcoming Games schedule on the FBC home page.

This may be the Cardinal's most challenging battle of the conference season — Cal has taken possession of second place in the Pac-12, so it's No. 1 vs No. 2.

An extra bit of incentive for both teams:

Stanford's last conference loss was to Cal three years ago when Alexis Grey-Lawson lit up Haas Pavilion with 37 points.

Stanford's last loss at Maples was to Cal five years ago when the Cardinal weren't able to recover from losing JJ to a torn ACL 45 seconds into the game.

Over the last three years Cal has recruited a collection of talent on a par with any other program in college basketball. The juniors on the current Cal team were part of a top 5 recruiting class. The sophomores were part of a top 15 recruiting class. The freshmen were part of a top 5 recruiting class.

This season Cal has a fresh start under new head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. Her enthusiasm has re-energized the Bears, and they are finally realizing their potential and living up to expectations.

The Bears performed very well in a tough non-conference season. The schedule included four ranked teams — Rutgers, Texas, Virginia and Ohio State. Cal's only losses were to three of those teams by a combined margin of six points!

They stumbled as they began conference play with losses to USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, but they won their next six games.

There are a good many similarities between the Bears and the Cardinal:

They are the top two rebounding teams in the conference and among the top five in the nation.
Cal leads the Pac-12 and is second in the nation in rebound margin. They grab 16.1 more rebounds per game than their opponents. Stanford is second in the Pac-12 and fifth in the nation with 13.1.

They are the top two teams in the conference in outscoring their opponents.
Stanford is first with a margin of 22.6, and Cal is second with 12.5

They have deep benches that play a significant role in the team's success.
Cal has ten players that average more than ten minutes per game and one that averages less. The reserves get 39% of the playing time and account for 32% of the rebounds and 39% of the scoring.
Stanford also has ten players that average more than ten minutes per game and three active players that average less. Assuming its current starting five, Stanford's reserves get 42% of the playing time and account for 35 % of the rebounds and 28% of the scoring.
Coach Gottlieb said, "We can go 10 deep on a regular-basis. We can play a style that lends itself to up-tempo or aggressive play and we don't have to worry about foul trouble or fatigue." Tara could say the same.

They have a rapidly improving freshman point guard.
Brittany Boyd is scoring more points than Amber, but Amber takes better care of the ball.

Scoring from beyond the arc is not a significant factor in either team's success.
Only about 15% of Cal's points come from 3-pointers. They have three players who attempt, on average, more than two 3-pointers per game — Layshia Clarendon, Lindsay Sherbert and Mikayla Lyles. Collectively they've attempted about nine per game and made 34% of them.
About 22% of Stanford's points come from 3-pointers. Our 3-point shooters (Lindy, Toni, Bonnie and Taylor) have attempted about ten 3-pointers per game and made 30% of them.

There are two areas where Stanford is significantly better than Cal:

Taking care of the ball.
Stanford is the only team in the Pac-12 that has more assists than turnovers. Our assist-turnover ratio is 1.42. Cal is sixth in the conference with an assist-turnover ratio of 0.84

Free throws
Stanford makes 72.6% of its free throws — the best in the conference. Cal makes 61.4% — the worst in the conference. In their three losses to ranked teams by a total of six points, Cal left 24 points at the line.

The probable starters for Cal are:

#15, 5'9" freshman guard Brittany Boyd is Cal's new point guard. She averages 4.6 assists per game, but turns the ball over 3.4 times. She averages 8.8 points, 2.2 steals and 3.4 rebounds per game. She has been Cal's top scorer twice this season.

#23, 5'9" junior guard Layshia Clarendon, who ran the point last season, has now been able to move to shooting guard, her natural position. She leads the team in scoring (10.9 ppg) and is the best 3-point shooter with just over one a game at a rate of 32%. She also averages 4.3 rebounds per game. She has been Cal's top scorer in five games this season and has had one double-double.

#32, 6'0" sophomore guard Lindsay Sherbert takes about half her shots from beyond the arc and matches Clarendon in production — one per game at a rate of 32%. She averages 5.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

#25, 6'2" redshirt sophomore forward Gennifer Brandon, who sat out last season with a stress fracture in her shin, has become Cal's strength in the paint. She averages 11.0 rebounds per game — ninth-best in the nation and second-best in the Pac-12. She is also Cal's third-best scorer with 9.8 points per game. She has been Cal's top rebounder in 13 games, the top scorer in five, and has had seven double-doubles.

#33, 6'3" junior center Talia Caldwell is Brandon's partner in the paint. She averages 8.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. She has been Cal's top rebounder four times this season, the top scorer five times, and has had two double-doubles.

The Cal reserves are::

#4, 5'7" junior guard Eliza Pierre now shares the point guard duty with Brittany Boyd. She averages 3.0 assists and 2.4 turnovers per game — about the same ratio as Boyd. She doesn't shoot well, but is a beast on defense in ways that don't show up in the box score. She was named to the All-Pac-10 Defensive Team in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

#2, 6'0" sophomore guard Afure Jemerigbe averages 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

#30, 5'8" sophomore guard Mikayla Lyles takes about ¬æ of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 24% of them. She averages 2.4 points per game.

#5, 6'0" redshirt freshman guard Avigiel Cohen is an import from Israel with great potential. She sat out last season with a torn ACL and is still adjusting to playing college ball. She hasn't played much yet this season — just eight games for an average of 3.4 minutes.

#21, 6'3" freshman forward Reshanda Gray, who was a McDonald's All-American, is a strong addition to Cal's front court. She is their second-best scorer with 10.2 points and also averages 5.1 rebounds. She has been the leading scorer four times, the leading rebounder once, and has had one double-double.

#40, 6'2" freshman forward Justine Hartman is the highest-ranked recruit ever signed at Cal. She was a McDonalds's and WBCA All-American. she average 5.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

Cal's win-loss record (15-5 overall, 6-2 conference) places them second in the Pac-12, their RPI (35) places them third, and their strength of schedule (67) places them seventh.

Here are Cal's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Joslyn starting to make her presence felt

2012-01-26T00:10:00.000-08:00

Tom Fitzgerald (San Francisco Chronicle) writes about how Joslyn worked her way into the starting lineup. Read here ...

Nneka is finalist for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

2012-01-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Nneka has been named as one of the ten finalists for the 2011-12 Women's Basketball Senior CLASS Award — the award that is presented annually to an NCAA Division I female senior basketball player who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and competition.

This is the one where your vote counts. Fan balloting counts for ⅓ of the total vote — the other ⅔ comes from Division I head coaches and national media. Kayla was up for the award last season and got only about 8% of the fan vote.

We can do better than that for Nneka! We all love watching Nneka play. Show your love by helping her win the national recognition she so richly deserves.

You can vote once a day from the Lowe's website from your smart phone and from each computer to which you have access. In addition, you can also vote once a day from Facebook. Voting begins today and continues though March 18th. Do the math — you can cast at least 54 votes for Nneka (or 108, or 162, or ...).

Vote now: Click here

More information:

Nneka's qualifications for the award
Details of the selection process
About the award
History of the award
Stanford Athletics announcement

How good is the Cardinal?

2012-01-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

... "The best!" say its fans.

But, objectively, just how good is the team? How does it stack up against the other 341 Division I teams? How do the Cardinal players stack up against the other 3500 or so players?

As of January 22nd, the Cardinal as a team ranks in the top ten in nine of the 18 statistical categories reported by the NCAA:

No. 2 in Assist Turnover Ratio with 1.42 (Connecticut leads with 1.45)
No. 3 in Turnovers per Game with 12.6 (St Bonaventure leads with 11.9)
No. 5 in Rebound Margin with 13.1 (Liberty leads with 16.8)
No. 5 in Won-Lost Percentage with 94.4 (Baylor and Greenbay lead with 100.0)
No. 6 in Scoring Offense with 78.9 (Notre Dame leads with 85.2)
No. 6 in Scoring Margin with 22.6 (Connecticut lead with 37.1)
No. 8 in Assists per Game with 17.9 (Connecticut leads with 20.7)
No. 8 in Three Pt FG Defense with 24.4 (South Carolina leads with 20.7)
No. 10 in Field Goal Percentage with 46.0 (Connecticut leads with 49.4)

Individually, Cardinal players are ranked:

Nneka is No. 5 in Points per Game with 22.9 (Elena Della Donne, Delaware leads with 27.9)
Chiney is No. 5 in Field Goal Percentage with 59.0, and Nneka is No. 11 with 56.5 (Carolyn Davis, Kansas leads with 62.2)
Nneka is No. 5 in Double Doubles with 11, and Chiney is No. 25 with 8 ( Kylie Kuhn, Sacramento State leads with 16)
Amber is No. 7 in Assist Turnover Ratio with 2.57, and Toni is No. 14 with 2.42 (Monique Smalls, Texas Tech leads with 3.77)
Nneka is No. 8 in Rebounds per Game with 11.2, and Chiney is No. 22 with 10.2 (Ashar Harris, Morehead leads with 12.4)
Nneka is No. 65 in Free Throw Percentage with 83.0 ( Abby Oliver, Richmond leads with 94.4)

You can find all the national statistics in NCAA 2011-12 Women's Basketball Statistics. If you're curious about how the Cardinal ranks in the Pac-12, see Pac-12 Conference Overall Statistics.

Chiney is Pac-12 Player of the Week – again!!

2012-01-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

Chiney posted her seventh and eighth double-doubles of the season last week in Stanford's sweep of Washington State and Washington. She averaged a double-double of 17.0 points and 11.5 rebounds while shooting 68.4% from the field.

For that remarkable performance, she was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second consecutive time.

Congratulations Chiney!!

For more details, see the announcements from Stanford Athletics and from the Pac-12.

Cardinal drubs Udub

2012-01-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal defeated the Washington Huskies thoroughly this afternoon 65-47.

The game got off to a sloppy start with several missed shots by both teams. The first basket came at 17:45 as Amber put back a miss by Chiney. Chiney made her next attempt, then Lindy sank two treys in the next two minutes, and the Cardinal was off to a 10-0 lead. The Huskies never got closer than six points.

The Cardinal defense pretty well shut down the Huskie's front court. Leading scorer Regina Rogers got five points, Mollie Williams got six and Mackenzie Argens got one.

Amber had a great game. She stuck to freshman point guard Jazmine Davis, UW's second-best scorer, like a piece of Velcro. Although Davis was the Huskies' top scorer today with 16 points, she sank only three field goals while Amber was on the court. Amber stole the ball four times and forced a held ball at least once. She had nine assists with just one turnover. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is now 2.57 — the best in the Pac-12 and within the top ten in the nation.

Tara told the team that anyone who had an open shot should take it. Taylor was paying attention. She sank four of five 3-point attempts. Lindy sank the two that got the Cardinal off to a good start, but no more after that although she took five more. Bonnie got one of five.

Chiney took her shots, whether open or not. She made six of eleven attempts, and got the only double-double —15 points and 11 rebounds (seven offensive). And an assist, a block and two steals.

Nneka scored 17 points and moved up to fifth place in the list of Stanford's top scorers. She now has 2072 points — more than any other Stanford player except Candice Wiggins (2629), Kate Starbird (2215), Jayne Appel (2125) and Val Whiting (2077).

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women top Washington 65-47 from the Associated Press
Stanford women defeat Washington Huskies 65-47 by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
Slow start hurts UW women by Richard J. Marcus (Seattle Times)
Orrange sets the pace for Cardinal women by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Times)
Freshman point guard puts up the numbers Stanford women need by Jake Curtis
WBB: Stanford 65 Washington 47 from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (Stanford Photo),

And more photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):

Amber guards Jazmine Davis Amber and Joslyn on defense Chiney celebrates her basket Nneka drives through the Huskies defense Chiney is ready for the rebound Nneka is doubled up Chiney is called for a foul Nneka puts one up You rock! Nneka and Joslyn like the result

Up next for the Huskies

2012-01-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

Jayda Evans (Seattle Times) previews the Washington Huskies' game against Stanford:

" ... As the scout tape rolled, all Washington coach Kevin McGuff could think of was slowing the Cardinal down. Hitting pause on the tape may be the only way..." Read more...

Stanford relishes a new dining experience

2012-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) tells us all about the Cardinal's new dining venue where the food is nutritious and delicious! Read here...

Cardinal clamps down on the Cougars

2012-01-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

The Cougars played a great game — for 15 minutes. Their defense kept our bigs away from the basket, and their driving offense kept them in the lead from the opening basket until the 05:27 mark.

Then the Cardinal tightened their defense, stepped up the pace and took control of the game. The first half finished with a beautiful coast-to-coast layup by Toni, and the Cardinal went into the locker room ahead by eleven points. They stayed in control for the second half and won 75-41.

The "new" lineup was in effect again tonight, with Joslyn and Amber joining Nneka, Chiney and Toni.

Nneka had the biggest double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Chiney was close behind with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and she may be over her charity-line slump — she made five of six free throws.

Joslyn had an almost double-double with nine points and eight rebounds, but that's not all. She also had four assists, two blocks, three steals and zero turnovers.

Toni played the most — 30 minutes. She didn't tally a lot in the box score — four points, three rebounds, five assists and two steals. But she was also a tiger on defense. She forced held balls and turnovers and generally disrupted the Cougars' offense.

Amber did a good job at the point for 21 minutes. Her only score was a free throw, but she grabbed five rebounds, stole the ball three times and had three assists with no turnovers. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is now a very good 2.25.

Bonnie came in and tried to take advantage of the Cougars' zone defense, but her shot wasn't quite on tonight. She made just two of seven attempts. There was an entertaining sequence late in the first half when, in the space of 11 seconds, Bonnie missed a 3-ptr, Nneka got the rebound, Bonnie missed a 3-ptr, Joslyn got the rebound, Bonnie missed a three-pointer, Amber got the rebound.

Some of the most gratifying statistics (for Cardinal fans) didn't appear on the scoreboard. The Cardinal were handling the ball beautifully with hard, fast passes and tallied 19 assists. They out-stole the Cougars (who were second in the Pac-12 in steals) 12-4. And they turned the ball over three times less than the Cougars (who had the best turnover margin in the Pac-12).

Here are game reports:

Washington St. women lose to No. 4 Stanford 75-41 from the Associated Press
No. 4 Stanford Cardinal continues dominance over Washington State in women's basketball by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
Ogwumike sisters foil Cougars' upset bid from Palo Alto Online
WBB: Stanford 75 WSU 41 from The CARDboard
Stanford wins 72nd straight home game by Jake Curtis
Stanford breezes by Cougars by Tom Taylor (The Stanford Daily)

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria (isiphotos.com)

And more photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):

Chiney shoots through her triple team Nneka soars above her defenders Toni and Joslyn are fierce defenders Nneka trips over a Cougar Held ball! Ouch!!! The bench celebrates

Toni on and off the court

2012-01-19T15:52:00.001-08:00

Mark Soltau (Buck/Cardinal Clubhouse) profiles Stanford's Second City Sparkplug, Toni Kokenis. Read here...

Wazzu and Udub at Maples

2012-01-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

The Washington State Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies are on the road this week to play Stanford — WSU on Thursday at 7:00 pm, UW on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Neither game will be televised, but both will be video-streamed by Stanford All-Access and broadcast by KZSU. You can find the links in the Prior and Upcoming Games schedule on the FBC home page.

Stanford is not travelling to Washington this season, so this is the only time they will play WSU and UW except, perhaps, in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Lindy drives past a Cougar last season

Washington State Cougars

In her fifth season at Washington State, head coach June Daugherty is continuing to improve the women's basketball program. The Cougars finished tied for 7th in the Pac-10 last season (8-23 overall, 6-12 conference), their best showing in 13 years. This season they already have nine wins and have a good chance of finishing in the top half of the conference.

Those wins came with a very tough non-conference schedule that included four ranked teams — Penn State, Gonzaga, Louisville and Ohio State. WSU didn't win any of those games, but they weren't blown out — one loss was by two points, another by four, the other two by twelve. They started the conference season with three wins — against Oregon and Oregon State on the road and Utah at home — then lost to Colorado by one point and to Washington last week by nine.

The Cougars were fortunate in having no major injuries — until the Pac-12 opener at Oregon, when their key three-point shooter Ireti Amojo tore her ACL. Amojo made almost two three-pointers per game at a rate of 50% – the best in the Pac-12.

The Cougars are an unusually balanced team. They have ten players who average between 12 and 24 minutes per game. They have no single player who scores in double digits — instead they have seven players who score, on average, between seven and nine points per game. Eight different players have been the top scorer in WSU's 17 games this season.

The Cougars are a quick team that likes to run and harass its opponents. They lead the Pac-12 in turnover margin (4.3 fewer than their opponents) and are second in steals (11.0 per game).

Coach Daugherty feels that the team is out of sync and still adjusting to the loss of Amojo. She has been shuffling the lineup, trying to get the team back into a rhythm offensively. The starters against Stanford will probably be:

#11, 5'10" senior guard Jazmine Perkins is WSU's leading scorer (9.0 ppg), rebounder (7.6 rpg) and ball thief (3.0 spg). She leads the Pac-12 in steals.

#33, 6'5" junior center Carly Noyes averages 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists. and 0.9 blocks per game.

#3, 5'5" senior point guard Rosetta Adzazu averages 6.0 points 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

#21, 6'1" senior guard/forward Rosie Tarnowski averages 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

#24, 6'1" sophomore guard/forward Brandi Thomas averages 3.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. She has been in the starting five only once.

First off the bench will probably be senior guard April Cook (5.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.0 apg), sophomore guard/forward Sage Romberg (7.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg) and freshman guard Tia Presley (6.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg). Each of them has started before in more than ten games.

Another reserve to watch for is 6'3" freshman forward/center Shalie Dheenshaw. She provides length and strength in the paint, which the Cougars need badly. She hasn't played much yet, but was strong and confident last week against Washington – she grabbed seven rebounds (three of them O-boards) in 16 minutes.

WSU's win-loss record (9-8 overall, 3-2 conference) places them 4th in the Pac-12 their RPI (66) places them 5th, and their strength of schedule rank (20) places them 4th.

Here are WSU's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

University of Washington Huskies

The Huskies are having a rough go this season. First, they had to adjust to an all-new coaching staff, headed by Kevin McGuff, who came to Washington after nine seasons at Xavier. Then their star player, senior guard Kristi Kingma, tore her ACL before the season started. And last week, sophomore forward Marjorie Heard, a key player off the bench, tore her ACL during a practice drill.

Two bright lights for the Huskies have been standout freshman point guard Jazmine Davis and rejuvenated senior center Regina Rogers. Conditioning was an issue with Rogers last season — she couldn't keep up in a fast game and didn't have the stamina to play major minutes. This season, she's in the starting five, playing about 27 minutes a game (10 more than last season), and leading the Huskies in scoring and rebounding.

The Huskies are, as they have been in the past, an aggressive team on defense. They hold their opponents to 33% field goal shooting – the best in the Pac-12 and #8 in the nation.

They don't handle the ball well. They average about 12 assists and almost 18 turnovers per game. They rank 11th in the Pac-12 in assists and in assist-to-turnover ratio.

They're not much of a threat beyond the arc. They have the second-best 3-point shooting percentage in the Pac-12 (34.3), but attempt only about 12 per game – the fewest in the Pac-12.

The Huskies inherited a soft schedule from Tia Jackson and did pretty well with it, winning eight of ten non-conference games. The conference season hasn't started as well — they defeated Colorado and WSU, but lost to Oregon, Oregon State and Utah. Coach McGuff said, “We have a lot of places where we need to grow to feel like we could compete at the top,”

The probable starters for UW are:

#43, 6'3" redshirt senior forward/center Regina Rogers is UW's leading scorer (16.2 ppg) and rebounder (7.9 rpg). She makes 65.3% of her field goal attempts – the best in the nation. She missed the game against WSU last week due to a bruised hamstring, and she may not play in the Bay Area games – UW lists her in their game notes as a probable starter, but she hasn't been cleared to practice yet.

#32, 5'8" freshman guard Jazmine Davis is having a standout freshman season. She's UW's second-best scorer and the top freshman scorer in the Pac-12 with 13.6 ppg. She makes 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. She makes 81.2% of her free throw attempts – second-best in the Pac-12. She has started all 15 games for the UW and has played 34 minures per game – third-most in the Pac-12.

#33, 6'3" redshirt senior forward/center MacKenzie Argens averages 9.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

#1, 5'8" sophomore guard Mercedes Wetmore averages 7.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

#22, 5'10" senior guard/forward Charmaine Barlow averages 2.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Coming off UW's short bench are sophomore guard Kellie McCann-Smith, freshman guard/forward Aminah Williams, junior forward Jeneva Anderson and senior forward Mollie Williams. Collectively they play 50 minutes per game and account for 22% of the scoring and 25% of the rebounds.

Washington's win-loss record (10-5 overall, 2-3 conference) places them 8th in the Pac-12 their RPI (103) places them 9th, and their strength of schedule rank (139) places them 10th.

Here are Washington's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Chiney's first Player of the Week award

2012-01-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Chiney averaged a double-double of 15.0 points and 12.5 rebounds against Utah and Colorado last week and earned her first Pac-12 Player of the Week award.

Congratulations Chiney!!

For more details, see the announcements from Stanford Athletics and from the Pac-12.

Stanford buffaloes Colorado

2012-01-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

The Buffs had no answer for the Cardinal's implacable offense and stifling defense – the Cardinal won 80-54.

Montana native Joslyn was invigorated by the Rocky Mountain air. She started again for the fourth time this season, played for 32 minutes and led all scorers with 20 points, matching her career high. She began the scoring 1½ minutes into the game with a long-g-g three-pointer and followed that a minute later with a cut to the basket and two points. She sank another long one later in the first half and made all four of her free throws. She also grabbed three rebounds and was a strong, effective defender.

Chiney and Toni added 19 points each. Chiney also had nine rebounds and two assists. Toni had five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Nneka subbed out early in the first half after she stepped on Chiney's foot and tweaked her ankle. But she got it re-taped, came back in six minutes later and played most of the rest of the game. She finished with 15 points, five rebounds and a steal.

The Cardinal defense held Chucky Jeffery, the Buffs' top scorer, to just two points on one of ten field goal attempts and Lexy Kresl, their second-best scorer, to three points on one of seven three-point attempts. Colorado had the lowest-scoring first half (15 points) in a home game in team history. Their final 54 points is the current team's second-lowest score of the season.

Here are game reports:

Tinkle leads No. 4 Stanford women past Colorado from the Associated Press
No. 4 Stanford rolls ice-cold CU Buffs by Brian Howell (Daily Camera)

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos from the Daily Camera,

And photos by Jack Dempsey (Associated Press):

Chiney puts up a shot Nneka drives to the basket Chiney pressures Chucky Joslyn on defense Chiney goes for a loose ball Toni's not about to let go of this one Nneka reaches in Taylor is robbed

The view from Boulder

2012-01-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of previews of the upcoming Stanford/Colorado game from the Boulder Daily Camera:

Tough to gauge how good Lappe's Buffs are by Kyle Ringo
CU Buffs hope to keep composure vs. Stanford by Brian Howell

Hoops Homework

2012-01-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) takes us into the basketball office for her weekly report of Stanford Hoops:

Scouting reports. Recruiting. Travel plans. There's always plenty of work to do for a coaching staff. This week, we see how coach Tara VanDerveer's crew prepares for upcoming games. Read more...

Cardinal Up-ends the Utes

2012-01-12T18:37:00.001-08:00

Strong defense and balanced offense led the Cardinal to a 62-43 victory over the Utah Utes.

The Cardinal defense held the Utes to a tie of their season-low 43 points on 28% shooting. Toni's and Chiney's dogged defense of Iwalani Rodrigues reduced her three-point production to three of ten (she popped a fourth one, unguarded, in the Utes' last possession). The Cardinal out-rebounded the Utes 43-34 and had seven blocks and six steals.

The Cardinal weren't shooting particularly well either – 43% on field goals isn't bad, but 69% at the charity stripe and 9% beyond the arc!

However, Nneka and Chiney did get their usual double-doubles – 18,13 and 11,14 respectively. They each had two blocks and a steal.

Toni also scored in double-digits (13) and sank the Cardinal's only three-pointer of the evening.

Amber started tonight and ran the point for 20 minutes. She tallied eight points, two rebounds, two steals, three assists and zero turnovers. Not fully reflected in the box score was her ferocious defense, which Chiney described as, "... all up in the grill, forcing turnovers and deflecting the ball."

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women beat Utah 62-43 from The Associated Press
No. 4 Stanford breaks open tight game, beats Utah 62-43, a different story from The Associated Press
Fourth-ranked Stanford cruises past Utah by Steve Luhm (Salt Lake Tribune)
Chiney Ogwumike sings Stanford hoops praises from Palo Alto Online
Stanford used new lineup to squash Utah women by Jake Curtis

The box score and play-by-play,

And lots of photos by Jim Urquhart and Chris Detrick (Associated Press):

Chiney drives past Michelle Plouffe Chiney gets all tied up Nneka reaches for a rebound Nneka grabs a rebound Nneka lays on a perfect block Nneka blocks another one Nneka jumps over a fallen Ute Nneka tries a bit of robbery The sisters gang up on Taryn Wicijowski Amber, Nneka and Chiney triple-team Taryn Wicijowski Joslyn and Amber on defense Joslyn on defense Amber battles for the ball Sarah is not so easily distracted

Cardinal heads for the Rockies

2012-01-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

... to take on the new Pac-12 members.

This will be the first Pac-12 meeting between these schools, but Stanford has played Colorado occasionally and Utah frequently. Long-time Cardinal fans may remember Colorado as the team that defeated us in the West Regional semi-final in Boise in 2002. And remember the game at Utah in 2007 when, with 0.2 seconds left to play, Melanie Murphy sank the first three-pointer in her career and took the game into overtime ... and an eventual win.

The Utah game (Thu Jan 12, 6:00 pm PT)will be webcast by Utah All-Access. The Colorado game (Sat Jan 14, 3:00 pm PT) will be telecast by ROOT Sports ‐ Rocky Mountain, which is widely available throughout the western U.S. KZSU will broadcast both games.

Utah Utes

Utah won seven of 11 Mountain West Conference titles before moving to the Pac-12. Last season, they won the MWC tournament and went to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.

They return four starters from that team and lost none of their high volume scorers. But they are a young team with only one senior, and injuries have done major damage to the depth of their roster. Sophomore guards Brittany Knighton and Ciera Dunbar are out indefinitely with knee injuries.

Utah did well in their non-conference run. They lost just four of eleven games — all on the road and by a total margin of 19 points. They stumbled at the beginning of Pac-12 play with losses to Colorado and WSU, then won over Washington.

The Utes are a strong defensive team. Coming into the conference season, head coach Anthony Levrets said, “We have defended well and we continue to get better at that.”

They lead the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing their opponents just 51.4 points per game, and are second in field goal % defense (33.2%). They are ranked #16 nationally in both those categories. They are also ranked #18 nationally and second in the Pac-12 in turnovers per game (14.2) and lead the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (73.4%).

The probable starters for Utah are:

#15, 6'4" sophomore forward Michelle Plouffe leads the Utes in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year last season and trained with the Senior Women's Canadian National Team last summer.

#11, 6'3" redshirt sophomore forward Taryn Wicijowski is another strong presence in the front court. She's the second-best scorer (12.9 ppg) and rebounder (8.0 rpg) and has the most blocks (1.6 bpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year in 2010, then sat out most of last season after tearing her ACL in late November.

#3, 5'9" redshirt junior guard Iwalani Rodrigues is the Utes' most productive three-point shooter. She set a school record last season with 110 (For perspective, Jeanette set the Stanford record with 96; the Pac-12 record is 124.). So far this season, she has taken half of her shots from beyond the arc and made 33% of them. She averages 10.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

#1, 5'7" senior guard Janita Badon runs the point for the Utes. She averages just under five assists per game (second-best in the Pac-12) and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6. She averages 10.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

#13, 5'9" junior guard Rachel Messer plays the '1', '2' or '3'. She averages 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

The starting five account for 85% of the scoring and 82% of the rebounding. The Utes have six healthy reserves, but only two of them play more than ten minutes per game.

Utah's win-loss record (8-6 overall, 1-2 conference) places them ninth in the Pac-12; their RPI (136) and strength of schedule (148) place them eleventh.

Here are Utah's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Colorado Buffs

The Buffs were used to finishing in the middle of the Big 12 (their previous conference) behind Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas State and other ranked teams. They feel more optimistic about their prospects in the Pac-12. Head coach Linda Lappe thinks they can finish anywhere from two to twelve (she concedes the top spot to Stanford). She says, "We feel like we can do very well in the Pac-12; we feel like we can make an impact."

The Buffs' confidence increased as they won every non-conference game. They accomplished that with a very weak schedule (ranked 333 by Collegiate Basketball News), but they've jelled into a team that believes in itself and is thinking 'W' every time they hit the court.

They've started well in the Pac-12 with a win at Utah, a loss at Washington and a 1-point win over WSU.

The Buffs are a very young team with just one senior, two juniors and five freshmen. They did a lot of off-season conditioning and lifting work and are in topnotch physical condition. This is a big plus, especially in home games at 5345 ft altitude. Lappe likes her team to push the pace – they run a lot.

The probable starters for Colorado are:

#23, 5'10" junior guard Chucky Jeffery is the Buffs' star player – a dynamic point guard who leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg), steals (2.1 spg), blocks (1.1 bpg) and drawing fouls (she gets almost four free throws per game and makes 78% of them). Her play is marred by careless ball handling – she has a few more turnovers than assists. (This is a weakness in the team as a whole, which averages 13 assists and 17 turnovers per game.)

#1, 5'11" freshman guard Lexi Kresl is primarily a shooting guard. She averages 11.1 points per game. She takes almost two-thirds of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 36% of them. She also gets four rebounds per game.

#15, 6'3" senior forward Julie Seabrook is Colorado's most dependable shooter – she makes almost 60% of her field goal attempts. She averages 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

#14, 6'2" junior forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck averages 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. She plays about 27 minutes per game – less than you may think – one of her teammates is her identical twin sister Brenna.

#40, 6'4" sophomore center Rachel Hargis averages 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

The Buffs have six reserves, four of whom play major minutes. They account for about 28% of the Buffs' scoring and 36% of the rebounding.

Colorado's win-loss record (13-1 overall, 2-1 conference) places them fourth in the Pac-12 their RPI (91) places them ninth, and their strength of schedule (333) places them last.

Here are Colorado's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

POY? Bracket? Nneka!

2012-01-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Graham Hayes (ESPN) checks in at the midway point of the season to review what we've learned, things we thought we knew, and some needed revisions. One of the revisions is to the preseason wisdom, "There is no player of the year race." Although Griner is having the best season of her career for the No. 1 team, some of the competition is rising to the challenge. One, of course, is:

Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford: Just as Baylor's Robert Griffin III took down preseason uber-favorite Andrew Luck in the Heisman Trophy race, despite another stellar season from the Stanford quarterback, Ogwumike might return the favor by swiping a major award away from Waco. At the moment, she's ahead of Griner in scoring and rebounding (although Griner has an enormous defensive edge on Ogwumike and every other player in the sport). Ogwumike also had the kind of performance people remember come voting time when she went for 42 points and 17 rebounds against Tennessee.

There's lots more interesting information in Hayes' story. Read here...

Charlie Creme (ESPN) has updated his bracket prediction. He dropped UCLA and has this to say about the three remaining Pac-12 teams:

Stanford, #1 in Fresno: The player of the year award, for which Nneka Ogwumike is a prime front-runner, should be a closer race than the Pac-12, which the Cardinal should win for a 12th straight year. (Creme has Stanford playing the 1st & 2nd rounds in Nashville – sure hope he's wrong about that!)

Cal, #9 in Raleigh: Talia Caldwell and Gennifer Brandon give the Golden Bears a threat in the post that might match up well with Stanford.

USC, #11 in Raleigh: Close losses to good competition and another terrible knee injury to Jacki Gemelos have characterized the Trojans' season, but it now appears to be on the upswing.

Here is Creme's bracket and an article about it, in which he offers more praise of Nneka:

Nneka Ogwumike is amazing
Yes, that statement is from the file labeled obvious. The stats Ogwumike recorded against Tennessee in a game five days before Christmas -- 42 points, 17 rebounds, 19-of-27 shooting, three assists -- might go down as the signature performance of the season. Talk on the Farm of where to place Ogwumike in the history of the Stanford program has certainly begun already.

Tom Taylor (Stanford Daily) urges football fans to move on to women's hoops:

So when you need a break from homework this quarter and you’re missing being able to watch the nation’s best college football player strut his stuff on Stanford’s field every weekend, come on down to Maples. In tight games the Cardinal could certainly do with your support, and players like the Ogwumikes deserve it with their skill and commitment.

Nneka is Pac-12 Player of the Week

2012-01-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

It's no surprise at all to hear that Nneka's stellar performances against Oregon and Oregon State last week earned her the Pac-12 Player of the Week award.

This is the third time this season and the seventh time in her career that Nneka has been named conference Player of the Week. Among Stanford players, only Candice Wiggins (nine) and Nicole Powell (eight) earned the honor more often.

For more details, see the announcements from Stanford Athletics and from the Pac-12.

Nneka carries the Cardinal past the Beavers

2012-01-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Nneka put her name in a special place in Stanford's record book this afternoon. She joined Val Whiting, Nicole Powell and Jayne Appel as the only women to score at least 2000 points and make 1000 rebounds in their careers. Nneka has 2000 points and 1013 rebounds — so far.

In a remarkable coincidence, Jayne got her 1000th rebound and 2000th point two seasons ago in the game against Oregon State at Maples. (Correction: Jayne got her 2000th point in that game, but got her 1000th rebound about two months previously.)

Oregon State made it a surprisingly tough game. They were ahead by four points at halftime. Stanford took the lead for good with ten minutes left to play; the margin was just five at the five-minute mark; the final score was Stanford 67, OSU 60.

The Beavers had a brilliant game plan – they slowed down our inside game and shut down our outside game simultaneously. Nneka scored 33 points, but she made just 38% of her attempts – well below her 62% average. The Cardinal attempted only eight shots beyond the arc and made just two of them – one each by Lindy and Bonnie.

At the other end of the court, the Cardinal defense allowed the Beavers to make 65% of their field goal attempts in the first half. At the behind-the-bench session after the game, Tara explained that some of the younger players didn't understand how hard they had to play. She straightened them out at halftime, and the Cardinal defense improved considerably in the second half.

In addition to her game-high 33 points, Nneka had 16 rebounds, an assist, two blocks and 11 of 13 free throws.

Chiney stepped up big in the second half and ended with 20 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a steal. And she made all four of her free throws!!

Joslyn contributed an excellent 18 minutes of play to the victory, during which she had five points, six rebounds, an assist and three steals.

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women survive, beat Oregon St 67-60 by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
Stanford women trail by 4 at half but beat Beavers by Ron Kroichick (San Francisco Chronicle)
Nneka Ogwumike doubles her lifetime achievements from Palo Alto Online
Nneka Ogwumike becomes Stanford's fourth player to score career 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
Stanford women struggle more than expected by Jake Curtis
WBB: Stanford 67 Oregon 60 from The CARDboard
Women's Basketball Falls Short at No. 4 Stanford from OSU Athletics
Beavers nearly pull off upset of No. 4 Stanford from the Corvallis Gazette-Times

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (Stanford Photo),

Photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):

Nneka shoots over 6'7" Thais Pinto Taylor and the sisters on defense A battle for the rebound Toni attempts a steal Going for a loose ball Nneka never gives up "There, there, it's OK, Chiney."

The Cardinal's holiday break

2012-01-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

In this week's installment of "Total Access", Michelle Smith (espn) reports how the Cardinal used the holiday break to practice, retool and prepare for the rest of the season ... and how they spent their free time. Read here...

Cardinal downs the Ducks

2012-01-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

The final score was about what I expected – Stanford 93, Oregon 70 – but the game wasn't.

The Ducks didn't press, except for a few half-hearted attempts that the Cardinal broke easily.

The Ducks did run their usual up-tempo game when they could, but the Cardinal's dogged defense held them to 33% shooting and just 17 attempts from beyond the arc, of which they made six – well below their average eight of 25 three-pointers.

They stayed in a zone the entire game, presumably in an attempt to deny our inside game. That didn't slow down Nneka much – she made 71% of her shots and scored the game-high 32 points. She also had 15 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Chiney missed a double-double by one point, but she grabbed 12 rebounds and had two blocks and two steals.

Toni, Amber and Lindy ran the point with admirable control against the team that leads the Pac-12 in steals. Toni had eight assists and one turnover. Amber had five assists and one turnover. Lindy had three assists and one turnover. The team total was 24 assists and seven turnovers.

The most exciting part of the evening was what the fast pace and zone defense did to the Cardinal's outside game — turned it ON!!

Bonnie tied her career high by sinking six three-pointers (of 13 attempts).

Taylor was almost as hot — she hit a career-high five of eight long ones.

Lindy, Toni and Joslyn each hit one for a grand total of 14 three-pointers.

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women cruise past Oregon, 93-70 from the Associated Press
Stanford women run, gun past Paul Westhead's Ducks by Henry Schulman (San Francisco Chronicle)
Nneka Ogwumike leads No. 4 Stanford women past Oregon 93-70 by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
Scoring comes in threes for Stanford women in big hoop win by Rick eymer (Palo Alto Online)
WBB: Stanford 93 Oregon 70 from The CARDboard
Stanford's Nneka Ogwumike has "bad" game in win over Oregon by Jake Curtis

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria for Stanford Photo,

And more photos:

Taylor launches a three Chiney ducks out of a sandwich Nneka puts up a shot Toni launches her three Nneka is ready for the rebound Toni and Nneka enjoy the moment

Ducks need a perfect game

2012-01-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

Curtis Anderson (Eugene Register-Guard) previews tonight's game against the Cardinal from the Ducks' viewpoint. Read here...

Here's another preview of the Oregon/Stanford game by Joe Soriano in the Autzen Zoo blog.

Steve Gress (Corvallis Gazette-Times) previews the Beavers' tough road trip to the Bay Area. Read here...

Nneka takes over at Matt Arena last year

Ducks and Beavers are coming to Maples

2012-01-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

The Ducks and Beavers are visiting the Cardinal this week — Oregon on Thursday evening and Oregon State on Saturday afternoon.

Neither game will be telecast, but both will be covered by Stanford All-Access and KZSU. You can find the links in the mini-schedule of upcoming games on the FBC home page.

The teams will play again in Oregon in mid-February. If you're planning to go but don't have your ticket for the Oregon Ducks game yet, you can order one from travel@stanfordfbc.org before January 21st. See OU Brunch and Ticket Buy for more information.

Oregon Ducks

The Ducks are in their third season of "run-and-gun" basketball under head coach Paul Westhead. They returned five of their six top scorers and added a couple of good freshmen. The season looked promising for the Ducks, and it started off well with six wins, albeit against fairly weak teams, before a loss to Fresno State.

Then in early December their star player, senior forward Amanda Johnson, fractured her thumb. She was the Ducks' leading scorer and rebounder, their go-to player. Without her, the Ducks have lost four of their last six games.

In conference play, they lost big to Washington State (75-47), then pulled out a two-point win over Washington. Johnson is not expected back on the court until, at a minimum, next week.

Another significant injury for the Ducks was to freshman center Janitah Iamaleava, who was expected to add much-needed strength in the front court. She suffered a season-ending knee injury during preseason practice.

The Ducks, as a team, rank in the top 25 nationally in four categories — #9 in three-point field goals per game (8.0), #14 in points scored (78.6), #22 in blocks per game (5,4), and #25 in steals per game (12.5). They lead the Pac-12 in steals per game and three-point field goals per game and are #3 in blocks per game.

It should be a lively game at Maples on Thursday – the Ducks' style of play leads to lots of action. Of the Pac-12 teams, they score the second-most points (78.6 per game), but allow their opponents 78.3 points per game (worst of the Pac-12 teams). They grab 45.1 rebounds per game (third-best in the Pac-12) while allowing their opponents 44.4 rebounds per game (#11 in the Pac-12).

The probable starters for Oregon are:

#30, 6'0" senior guard/forward Jasmine Holliday is, in Amanda Johnson's absence, Oregon's leading scorer (16.1 ppg) and rebounder (8.3 rpg). She has the most blocks (2.0 per game), the second-most steals (2.4 per game) and the best field-goal percentage (51.2).

#32, 5'7" redshirt senior guard Nia Jackson, who runs the point, missed the final nine games last season due to knee injuries and has been playing through knee soreness. She has the most steals (2.6 per game). She dishes out 4.1 assists per game, but has a poor assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2). She scores the second-most points (10.4 per game).

#22, 5'6" sophomore guard Ariel Thomas averages 9.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

#2, 6'2" sophomore forward Danielle Love averages 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

#15, 6'1" freshman forward Liz Brenner joined the team in December after a season on the UO volleyball team, where she earned Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honors. She has played in four games and started just once. She averages 3.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game

The Ducks have five other players that average at least 10 minutes per game. They account for close to half of the 3-point field goals. Freshman guard Jordan Loera has made the most 3-pointers (1.7 per game) at a rate of 32%. Sophomore guard/forward Deanna Weaver makes not quite one per game, but at the top rate of 53%.

Oregon's win-loss record (9-5 overall, 1-1 conference) places them 6th in the Pac-12 their RPI (155) places them 11th, and their strength of schedule (188) places them 10th.

Here are Oregon's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Oregon State Beavers

The Beavers are in their second year under head coach Scott Rueck, who did such a fine job of rebuilding the team last season after LaVonda Wagner's departure.

Rueck thinks that lack of depth was the team's biggest detriment a year ago. Their three key players averaged 36 minutes per game and often had a hard time making plays down the stretch. The Beavers have a more robust roster this season – six returners and seven new players, five of them Junior College transfers. They are one of the few Pac-12 teams that has not suffered any serious injuries.

Rueck set up a respectable non-conference schedule, and the Beavers performed well. They won nine and lost two (to North Texas and Saint Mary's). They began conference play with a win over Washington, then lost to Washington State in double overtime.

The Beavers, as a team, rank in the top 25 nationally in five categories — #8 in blocks per game (6.5), #13 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.09), #21 in field goal percentage (44.8), #22 in assists per game (17.2) and #23 in [fewest] fouls per game (13.8). They lead the Pac-12 in turnover margin (3.0 fewer than their opponents) and are second in blocks, assists, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio.

The starters for Oregon State are:

#15, 5'11" senior guard Earlysia Marchbanks leads the team in scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounding (7.0 rpg) and assists (4.2 apg). She's had two double-doubles and scored more than ten points in nine games this season.

#14, 5'11" freshman guard Ali Gibson is having a standout freshman season. She leads the team in steals with 2.5 per game – second-best in the Pac-12. She averages 3.2 assists per game; her assist-to-turnover ratio ( 2.16) is second-best in the Pac-12. She's the Beavers' second-best scorer (12.2 ppg) and has scored in double figures in nine games this season. Half of her field goal attempts are from beyond the arc – she makes 34% of them.

#20, 6'4" junior forward/center Patricia Bright is doing a good job of replacing El Sara Greer in the post. She averages 3.5 blocks per game – #1 in the Pac-12 and #5 in the nation. She averages 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds. She makes 63.9% of her field goal attempts – second-best in the Pac-12. She came close to a triple-double in the OSU/Pepperdine game with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a school-record nine blocked shots.

#24, 6'0" sophomore guard Alyssa Martin played the conference-high 38.1 minutes per game last season and was the Beavers' leading scorer. With this season's more balanced team, she averages 30 minutes, 8.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

#22, 5'9" junior guard Sage Indendi was the mainstay of last season's rebuilt Oregon State team. She led them with a school-record 75 three-pointers. She's in better shape this season and focusing on doing more for the team than "just camping out behind the three-point line," — on driving and creating shots and on improving her defense. She averages 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

The Beavers have four reserves that play at least 10 minutes per game. Watch in particular for #4, 6'7" junior center Thais Pinto. One of OSU's JC transfers, she played for the Brazilian National Team in 2006. She averages 7.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Her field goal percentage is 63.8 — third-best in the Pac-12.

Oregon State's win-loss record (10-3 overall, 1-1 conference) places them 5th in the Pac-12, their RPI (79) places them 7th, and their strength of schedule (130) places them 8th.

Here are Oregon State's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Sophomores shoot to head of the class

2012-01-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

By Michelle Smith (espnW):

It's a new year, and in some parts of college basketball, the new blood is making its mark. In the quest to highlight the class of each class in the women's game this season, we're looking at the top sophomores. Read more...

Cardinal breezes by the Bruins

2011-12-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Were the Bruins worn out from their tough win over Cal on Thursday? Was the Cardinal determined to get a prettier win this afternoon? Some of both probably. In any case, the Cardinal posted a definitive victory over the Bruins: 77-50.

The Bruins clearly were tired — moving slowly, making poor shot selections, missing bunnies. Thea Lemberger, who shot the lights out against Cal on Thursday, had been suffering from severe leg cramps and scored just eight points today.

The Cardinal weren't playing great either for the first ten minutes. But they pulled themselves together for a 17-3 run and were up by 17 points at the break. The second half was no contest — the Bruins never managed to narrow the gap.

The Sisters racked up another double-double-double. 18 points and 10 rebounds (and two assists, two steals and a block) from Nneka. 15 points and 11 rebounds (and an assist, a block and zero fouls) from Chiney.

Toni had another fine game. She played the '2' for much of her 26 minutes on the court and scored 11 points, several on drives to the basket and "Wow!" layups.

Amber played the point for 19 minutes. I don't know if she's found her voice yet, but she did everything you want from a team leader. She dealt fast, hard passes leading to five assists with just one turnover. She played a pesky one-player press at times and got two steals. And she scored six points on three-of-four shooting — two of them on fast breaks.

Tara put in the reserves for the last 10 minutes or so, and they maintained the Cardinal dominance. Joslyn had nine points, four rebounds, a block and a steal. Sarah had eight points, three rebounds, an assist and a block. Sara had seven points and two rebounds.

The Cardinal were somewhat better at the stripe today - 70%. But they left their 3-pointers at home. They made four of 16 attempts against USC on Thursday and just two of 13 this afternoon. I trust that the 3-pointers are not lost completely — just temporarily misplaced.

Here are game reports:

UCLA loses to No. 4 Stanford 77-50 by Beth Harris (Associated Press)
Ogwumike sisters sees double in conference win over UCLA from Palo Alto Online
New Year’s Eve in Westwood by Wally Mersereau

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Rob Ericson (Stanford Photo),

And photos by Richard Hartog (Associated Press):

Chiney on the move Toni launches one Sarah shoots while being punched in the mouth? Chiney lays up a shot Taylor and Toni battle for a loose ball

Amber works to find her voice

2011-12-30T08:33:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) considers Amber's transition from a highly-ranked recruit to a collegiate team leader. Read here...

Cardinal grinds out a win at Galen

2011-12-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

It wasn't a pretty game by a long shot, but the Cardinal managed to pull ahead of the Trojans in the fourth quarter for a 61-53 victory.

The Cardinal led by as much as twelve in the first half, but the margin was down to three at the break. The Trojans took the lead halfway through the second half. The Cardinal then went into a zone defense that held the Trojans scoreless for the next six minutes. The Trojans' field goal percentage dropped from 36.7% in the first half to 25% in the second.

Defense ruled. The Cardinal (primarily Toni) limited Ashley Corral to just two of eight 3-pointers. Although she scored the game-high 21 points, she didn't do it from beyond the arc at her usual rate of 40%. And the Trojans' top scorer, Briana Gilbreath, was held to one of eight field goals.

At the other end of the court, the Trojans stifled Nneka under the basket, but they also fouled her. She made zero layups, but seven of her team-high 19 points were from the charity stripe. She also grabbed 15 rebounds, six of them O-boards.

Toni played the point for much of the game with confidence and control. She had just one assist (the Trojan defense didn't allow many of those), but no turnovers. She was the Cardinal's second-high scorer with 15 points on 44% shooting. Three of her layups were on fast breaks. She also had three steals and three rebounds.

Chiney had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. She committed only three fouls and was on the court for 34 minutes. Unfortunately, she's back in a free-throw slump and missed five of her nine attempts.

Bonnie contributed two of her signature quick-release three-pointers to the victory.

Here are game reports:

USC women fall short against No. 4 Stanford by Beth Harris (Associated Press)
Ogwumike responds for Stanford women hoops from Palo Alto Online
USC Plays Tough at Home by Wally Mersereau

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Rob Ericson (Stanford Photo),

And photos byLori Shepler (Associated Press):

Chiney shoots up and over the defense Nneka puts up a jumper Nneka takes a charge Jos on defense Taylor on defense Sarah in a battle for the ball Good job!

Conference play begins in L.A.

2011-12-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal head south to begin conference play against USC on Thursday evening and UCLA on Saturday afternoon.

You can listen to both games on KZSU and watch them on the home team All-Access: USC All-Access and UCLA All-Access.

The weekend in L.A. has in the past been one of the most troublesome for the Cardinal, but it's hard to know what to expect this season.

USC and UCLA were expected to be in the top tier of the Pac-12 this season. They were picked to finish second and fourth, respectively, but are currently the two bottom teams in the conference.

USC Trojans

The Trojans have considerable experience and talent. They returned four starters from the team that reached the WNIT finals last season and added two MacDonald's All-American freshmen, but they've lost half of their games this season. Granted, they had a very hard non-conference schedule (ranked #21 in the nation by Collegiate Basketball News). Four of their five losses were against ranked teams — Georgia, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and Texas A&M.

They suffered a devastating loss halfway through the game against Texas A&M week before last when redshirt senior Jacki Gemelos tore her ACL for the fourth time. They rallied to almost win that game, losing by just one point, and defeated Pepperdine last week by a narrow margin.

They return to the Galen Center for the game against Stanford after almost a month on the road and are no doubt eager to rack up a conference win.

The Trojans' probable starters are:

#15, 6'1" senior guard Briana Gilbreath has been a noted Pac-10 defensive player for the past three years. Now in her final season, she continues to be strong on offense as well as defense. She is the Trojans' top scorer (12.7 ppg), has the most steals and is the steadiest ball-handler (2.3 assists to 1.6 turnovers). She averages 2.5 blocks (#2 in the Pac-12 and #24 in the nation) and 5.1 rebounds per game.

#11, 6'2" sophomore forward Cassie Harberts is a powerful post player for the Trojans. She started in every game last season as a freshman. She averages 11.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

#24, 5'9" senior guard Ashley Corral is USC's all-time leader in career 3-pointers. Her current total is 250. Almost two-thirds of her shots are from beyond the arc, and she makes almost 40% of them for a total of 11.2 points per game. Her average of 2.7 3-pointers per game is #1 in the Pac-12 and #25 in the nation.

#00, 6'1" junior forward Christina Marinacci is the Trojans' leading rebounder with an average of 6.4 per game. Almost half of them are O-boards.

#21, 6'1" freshman forward Alexyz Vaioletama is the Trojans' star rookie. She averages 5.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

USC has a very short bench: redshirt junior guard Stefanie Gilbreath, freshman guard Ariya Crook and sophomore forward Desireé Bradley.

In addition to Gemelos, USC has two players out for the season due to injury: freshman forward Deanna Calhoun and redshirt freshman forward Thaddesia Southall.

Not elibible to play this season are junior forward Kate Oliver who transferred from Marist and freshman guard Kiki Alofaituli who decommitted from ASU and then signed with USC.

Here are USC's 2011-12 statistics and roster.

UCLA Bruins

It's not surprising that UCLA is not doing as well as expected. They lost their key player, senior forward Jasmine Dixon, to a ruptured Achilles tendon before the season began. She led the Bruins in rebounding and steals last season and was second in scoring.

Junior forward Markel Walker missed the first seven games of the season recovering from thumb surgery.

Injury struck again last week when junior forward Atonye Nyingifa tore her ACL near the end of the Bruins' game against Tennessee. In an unfortunate deja vu, Nyingifa had been leading the Bruins in rebounding and steals and was second in scoring.

This is the Bruins' probable starting five:

#35, 6'1" senior guard Rebekah Gardner is the Bruins' leading scorer with 15.2 points per game and the second- best rebounder (5.9 per game)

#23, 6'1" junior guard/forward Markel Walker is now the leading rebounder with 7.8 per game and the second-best scorer (12.0 ppg).

#1, 5'7" sophomore guard Thea Lemberger, who plays the point, has had 35 assists with 29 turnovers in eleven games. She averages 10.4 points and 2.3rebounds per game

#20, 6'1" sophomore forward/guard Rhema Gardner avergages 5.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. She's Rebekah's younger sister.

#5, 5'4" junior guard Mariah Williams averages 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Coming off the bench for UCLA are freshman guard Moriah Faulk, freshman forward Kacy Swain, sophomore forward/center Corinne Costa and freshman guard Madeline Brooks.

The Bruins do not have any strong long-range shooters. As a team, they average just 3.5 3-pointers per game at a rate of 30%. Without Nyingifa, they average seven steals and 2.5 blocks per game. They have more turnovers than assists — their ratio is 0.7.

Here are UCLA's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Nneka is Women's National Player of the Week

2011-12-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Stanford forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike as its Women's National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Dec. 25. Read more...

Nneka is Pac-12 Player of the Week

2011-12-26T21:31:00.000-08:00

Nneka's average of 25 points and 10.5 rebounds against Tennessee and Cal State Bakersfield last week earned her another Pac-12 Player of the week award — her second of the season and the sixth conference POW award of her career.

For more details, see the announcements from the Pac-12 and from Stanford Athletics.

Her performance also yielded another nice Super Siblings Story in the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard: Stanford siblings are double trouble.

The beginning of double trouble

2011-12-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Clearing out my inbox before the holidays:

Michelle Smith (espnW) reports how the Cardinal are spending the holiday break — Helping out and hanging out
Ann Killion (Sports Illustrated) writes about Pat and Tara — Stanford pays tribute to Summitt on this uncharted farewell tour
Jake Curtis asks a couple of questions about Nneka — Ogwumike's 42-point performance against Tennessee raises two questions
Jake Curtis on streaks and statistics — Stanford women tie mark for second-longest home winning streak in history
And finally, a familiar name in espnW's remembrances of Christmases Past:
Jayne Appel, WNBA player
"One year my two older brothers and I decided to make a play about Christmas. We created our own outfits and skit. Clearly I got the leftovers for the costumes since I was only left with a robe."

Cardinal slows the Roadrunners

2011-12-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Stanford defeated a determined, but outmatched, team from Cal State Bakersfield 90-48 on a quiet afternoon at Maples.

CSUB is making the transition to Division I this season. They have been hit very hard by injuries — three ACLs and two other less serious knee injuries. The remaining seven healthy players' average height is 5'8".

But they played with skill and intensity all afternoon and made a respectable 40% of their field goal attempts in the second half.

Tara used the mismatch to give a lot of playing time to people whose name doesn't start with 'O'.

Joslyn took full advantage of the opportunity and posted a career-high 20 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. She also had an assist, three blocks, two steals and no fouls. Joslyn leads the team in blocks. She now has 13 of them in ten games.

Erika, who usually plays the '4' played the point this afternoon. She posted a near double-double of 12 points and nine rebounds (both career highs) in her 27 minutes of playing time. She also had an assist and two blocks.

Bonnie honed her shooting skill — she sank two of four long ones and four of four free throws, all with her signature quick release. She added to her repertoire of shots with a jumper inside the perimeter and a layup under the basket.

The bench got 60% of the playing time, during which they scored 42% of the points and snatched 47% of the rebounds.

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women roll past Bakersfield 90-48 by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
WBB: Stanford 90 CSU Bakersfield 48 from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

And photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press)

Toni hustles downcourt Erica blocks a shot Sara gets the rebound Sarah draws an uncalled foul Nneka appreciates a good play So does Tara

Jasmine is out for the season

2011-12-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

Our joy over Tuesday's victory is dimmed today by the announcement that Jasmine will miss the rest of the 2011-12 season due to a stress fracture in her left foot.

We look forward to seeing Jasmine on the court for Stanford's 80th consecutive win at Maples next November.

Orange CRUSHED!!

2011-12-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

... 97-80 ...
by

Nneka the Unstoppable

who was not to be denied a victory tonight. She crashed and twisted through doubled and tripled defense for layup after layup. She threw in a jumper now and then to further baffle the Vol defenders. She made all of her free throws. She grabbed rebounds and passes that were seemingly out of reach. She stayed in control against aggressive defense, not committing a foul until six minutes into the second half.

She ended with a grand total of 42 points (her career high and just four shy of Jayne Appel's Stanford record), 17 rebounds (eight of them O-boards), and two steals.

Toni the Tiger

who played with determination and ferocity for 38 minutes. She drove the lane. She hit five of ten from beyond the arc. She scored a career-high total of 26 points.

At the point, she handled the Vols' pressure defense with calm assurance and sometimes just blazed through and past it. She forced held balls by grabbing them out of Vols' hands. She scrambled for loose balls.

Toni was no laid-back tie-dyer tonight!

and all their teammates

who, although they didn't post great stats, played an awesome game tonight.

They sometimes seemed tentative against the full-court press that the Vols applied on almost every possession. But they handled that and the Vols' aggressive defense with just nine turnovers — their season-low!

Their defense held the Tennessee scorers in check. Shekinna Stricken scored 27 points (almost twice her average), but the perimeter was pretty well closed off to their other long-range shooters. The Vols made just 30% of their 3-point attempts, well below their season average of 42.4%

Here are game reports:

Nneka Ogwumike scores 42 points as Stanford defeats Tennessee 97-80 by Ellliott Almond (Mercury News)
Nneka Ogwumike's 42 lead Stanford past Tennessee by John Crumpacker (San Francisco Chronicle)
No. 4 Stanford women top sixth-ranked Tennessee by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
Nnemkadi Ogumike, Toni Kokenis score at will against Lady Vols, 97-80 by Dan Fleser (Knoxville News)
Ogwumike, Kokenis with career nights in Stanford's 97-80 win over Tennessee from Palo Alto Online
Player of year? Ogwumike could be good fit by Michelle Smith (espnW)
WBB: Stanford 97 Tennessee 80 from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

The Stanford press conference video with Tara, Nneka and Toni,

The Tennessee press conference video with Holly Warlick, Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen

The game highlights video,

A postgame video featuring Nneka and Toni

A gallery of photos by John Todd (Stanford Photo),

A collection of many photos by Paul Sakuma (AP Photo) — here are a few of them:

It takes more than two to stop Nneka Toni in heavy traffic Nneka stops and pops over Glory Johnson Chiney grabs a rebound away from Taber Spani Don't mess with Lindy Toni foils Meighan Simmons' attempted steal Celebration!

Friendly rivalry, Pat, the Sisters

2011-12-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of tonight's game:

Stanford-Tennessee sealed with a handshake by Michelle Smith (espnW)
Stanford-Tennessee rivalry has evolved into one of best in women's basketball by Mark Soltau (Stanford Athletics)
VanDerveer and Summitt are a winning combination from Palo Alto Online
Tennessee women's basketball coaching legend Pat Summitt set for first Stanford appearance since her dementia disclosure by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
Vols' Pat Summit gets applause for brave fight by Susan Slusser (San Francisco Chronicle)
Stanford's sister act is a big threat to Lady Vols by Dan Fleser (Knoxville News)

The Big One: Cardinal vs Orange

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Up next: The Big Game of the season — episode 29 in the Stanford/Tennessee rivalry.

Statistically, this one is pretty much of a tossup:


Points per game	81.8	78.1
Scoring margin	+23.1	+15.4
Field goal %	0.468	0.439
3-pointers per game	6.5	7.4
3-point %	0.364	0.424
Free throw %	0.703	0.696
Rebounds per game	49.2	45.9
Rebounding margin	+16.8	+8.3
Assists per game	18.1	14.9
Turnovers per game	14.8	16.7
Assist/turnover ratio	1.29	0.89
Steals per game	6.5	8.3
Blocks per game	3.4	5.2
Win-loss record	7-1	7-2
Rank	4/4	6/6
RPI	4	2
Schedule strength	7	1

#5, 5'6" freshman point guard Ariel Massengale
is Tennessee's standout freshman point guard. Much has been made by TV commentators about Tennessee's struggling to get along without her since she severely dislocated her finger a couple of weeks ago. In fact, they seem to be coping quite well — Stricklen and Simmons are filling the void nicely. She didn't play at UCLA last Saturday, but coach Warlick said she believes Massengale will return to action soon. Against Stanford? Who knows?

#40, 6'3" senior guard/forward Shekinna Stricklen
is noted for her versatility. She can and does play all five positions. She's back to playing the point in Massengale's absence, but that hasn't had a serious impact on her shooting. She's Tennessee's leading scorer at 16.2 points per game. She's scored in double digits in every game this season — she wasn't feeling well for the UCLA game and scored only eleven against them. About 1/3 of her shots come from beyond the arc — she makes 46.5% of them. She's also Tennessee's second-best rebounder, with an average of 7.9 per game.

#25, 6'3" senior forward Glory Johnson
is Tennessee's primary strength in the paint. She's on pace to become the fourth member of Tennessee's 1000-point/1000-rebound club this season. Her current totals are 1251/934. She leads the team in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and is second only to Stricklen in scoring (13.2 ppg). She grabs the most O-boards — almost four per game.

#13, 6'1" junior guard Taber Spani
is Tennessee's biggest threat beyond the arc. She made about 1/3 of her 3-point attempts as a freshman and sophomore. This season, she's making 48.9% of them and is the team's third-best scorer (12.2 ppg).

#21, 6'4" redshirt senior center Vicki Baugh
tore her ACL in the championship game against Stanford in 2008, tore it again halfway through the next season and sat out the season after that. She did play last season, but for limited minutes. This season, she's strong and productive again and is fulfilling the promise she showed as a rookie. She's in the starting lineup and averages 9.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

#10, 5'9" sophomore guard Meighan Simmons
was in a three-game shooting slump earlier this season when she made just two of 26 field goal attempts. In spite of that, she's Tennessee's fourth-best scorer with 10.1 points per game. She has recovered from the slump (she was Tennessee's top scorer with 18 points in the game against UCLA) and is back in the starting lineup. She has been helping out at the point in Massengale's absence.

Coming off the bench and contributing a total of about 14 points and 11 rebounds per game are:

#15, 6'1" senior forward Alicia Manning
#11, 6'2" freshman forward Cierra Burdick
#20, 6'2" freshman center Isabelle Harrison
#1, 5'2" senior guard Briana Bass

Junior guard Kamiko Williams tore her ACL during the summer and is red-shirting this season.

Here are Tennessee's 2011-12 statistics and roster.

Coach Summitt expects the Cardinal to be focused on Tuesday night. She said, "it's very important we get a good game plan and I think we have that. Our coaches are working on that. They have a great team. We have to do what we do best and hopefully we can do it and come home with a 'W'."

This one is at Maples and Maples is sold out and
a sold-out Maples is an awesome force!

GO CARDINAL!!

The O's and who knows

2011-12-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

From Jessica Lantz (Swish Appeal): "I've grown to love the Ogwumike sisters in the three live games I've seen of them while in the Bay ... [but] As great as "The Sisters" are, Stanford - the team - concerns me." Read more...

We Back Pat!

2011-12-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

Despite Pat's being a rival on the court, she's a cornerstone of this game and highly respected by the Stanford community.

We each back Pat in our own way.

Stanford Women's Basketball will show its support for Pat with "We Back Pat!" rally towels and video tributes at the game on Tuesday.

I'm sure that Cardinal fans will honor Pat with a standing ovation when she's introduced at Maples.

Nicole Powell writes her tribute to Pat, "The great Pat Summitt’s influence will be felt by players for years, whether she coaches beyond this season or not." Read more...

For me, the best way to support Pat is to join her fight against Alzheimer's with a donation to The Pat Summitt Foundation.

Cardinal hold that Tiger

2011-12-16T18:55:00.002-08:00

... but it wasn't nearly as easy as the score (85-66) suggests.

The Tigers came to Maples to play and showed themselves to be a good strong team. Their aggressive defense kept the game close all through the first half, and they went into the locker room just seven points behind. Taylor began the second half with a 3-pointer that gave the Cardinal their first double-digit lead.

The Cardinal played good defense too. They had five blocks, seven steals and a few more rebounds than the Tigers. They held Niveen Rasheed, the Tigers' leading player, to 16 points and seven rebounds ‐ a bit below her season average.

The Tigers weren't able to control The Sisters.

Nneka led the Cardinal in scoring (22) and rebounding (12) and also had two assists, two blocks and a steal. Nneka didn't just pile up points in the paint today. Six of her eight field goals were long- or mid-range jumpers — pull up, pop, in it goes. "We haven't been coaching that," said Tara after the game, "Nneka's been spending a lot of time working on her shooting."

Chiney scored about a point a minute — 21 points in 22 minutes on 10-of-11 shooting. She also tallied nine rebounds (six of them O-boards), an assists, a block and a steal and made her free throw.

The Cardinal had trouble finding the basket from beyond the arc, but improved in the second half. Lindy made 3-of-8 threes, Toni 2-of-4 and Taylor 1-of-4.

Here are game reports:

No. 4 Stanford women win 67th straight game at Maples Pavilion in 85-66 victory over Princeton by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
Nneka Ogwumike scores 22 in Stanford victory by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
Princeton women a blend, not clash, of cultures by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle) — not a game report, but a nice story about two Princeton players.
Stanford women prepare for Tennessee by knocking off Princeton by Jake Curtis
WBB: Stanford 85 Princeton 66 from The CARDboard
Card sends Princeton packing by Tom Taylor (The Stanford Daily)

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Richard C Ersted (Stanford Photo),

And photos by George Nikitin (Associated Press):

Nneka drives Chiney shoots Toni goes for a loose ball Sarah struggles for the ball

Finals Fun

2011-12-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) gives us a glimpse of what Finals Week is like for some of our hoopsters. Read here...

The Tigers are coming

2011-12-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

Finals are almost over, and the Cardinal will be back in Maples on Saturday afternoon, eager to take on their next opponent — the Princeton Tigers.

The two teams have competed only once before — in a Stanford invitational tournament at Maples in 2002.

However, one of the visiting Princetonians knows Maples well. Milena Flores (Stanford '01) is in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Princeton where she works primarily with the guards. Milena was a standout point guard herself at Stanford. She holds the Stanford records for the second-most assists in a game and the third-most career assists.

There may be a surprising number of Tiger fans at Maples. Two of the Princeton starters are from the Bay Area. Niveen Rashid is from Danville and Lauren Polansky is a native of Danville.

Princeton is favored to be the Ivy League champion this season, as they were the preceding two seasons. They went to the NCAA tournament twice, but lost in the first round both times. They have a tough schedule this season that they hope will take them further in the postseason.

Their current RPI rank, as reported by Collegiate Basketball News, is 17 and their schedule strength rank is 23.

The team is a lot different than it was last year, although it lost only one player to grauation — Ivy League Player of the Year Addie Micir. Micir was one of the top perimeter shooters in the league who could also drive to the basket, and the Tigers' play revolved around her.

Last season 30% of the Tigers' points came from beyond the arc. This season it's just 22%, but the Tigers' offense is faster-paced and they're looking to do more in transition. Head coach Courtney Banghart said “We’re going to be messier; we’re going to be trapping; we’re going to be playing at full court on both sides of the ball. Our looks are different, so we’ve tweaked our offensive looks to better suit our personnel.”

The Tigers' new style was working very well as they won their first six games. But they've had tougher opponents since then and have lost three of their last four — to No. 24 Delaware, Navy and No. 23/21 DePaul.

The probable starters are:

#24, 6'0" junior forward Niveen Rasheed rejoins the Tigers after missing half of last season with a torn ACL. She leads the team in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg) and is second in assists and steals. She has been the top scorer in seven of Princeton's 10 games this season and the top rebounder in six of them.

#30, 6'0" senior guard Lauren Edwards has started every game since the beginning of her sophomore year. She averages 9.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. She is the only Tiger to shoot much from beyond the arc — she makes 1.4 per game at a rate of 30%.

#44, 6'3" senior center Devona Allgood averages 8.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

#20 6'0" junior forward Kate Miller averages 6.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

#3, 5'8" junior guard Lauren Polansky runs the point for the Tigers. She was the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year last season. She leads the team in steals (3.4 per game) and assists (2.5 per game), but has a couple more turnovers than assists.

Here are Princeton's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Kate and Stanford have always been a good fit

2011-12-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

Kate explains why Stanford is such a special place for her and why her job is a dream situation in her blog for the Buck/Cardinal Clubhouse. Read here...

Rankings 101

2011-12-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

Which team is the best?

How much better is this team than that team?

It's all a matter of either opinion or statistics.

Opinion

Informed opinions for Division I Women's Basketball are expressed in these two weekly polls that rank the top 25 teams:

AP Top 25: The rankings are compiled by polling 40 sports writers or broadcasters across the nation. These are the 2011-12 season voters.
ESPN/USA Today Coaches: The rankings are compiled by polling 31 voters, all head coaches at Division I institutions and members of the WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association). There is one coach from each conference that has at least eight teams. June Daugherty from Washington State is the Pac-12 voter this season. These are the 2011-12 season voters.

When you read, for example, that Stanford is ranked 3/5, it means that Stanford is No. 3 in the AP Top 25 Poll and No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

These rankings are just a popular way of evaluating teams. They are not a factor in selecting teams for conference or national post-season tournaments.

Statistics, Winning Percentage

Each conference ranks its members by their winning percentage (games won divided by games played). Once conference play has begun, the teams are ranked by their overall percentage within conference percentage. These are the current Pac-12 Standings

The standings are used as seedings for the conference tournament.

Statistics, RPI

The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule, as well as its winning percentage. It is used by the NCAA as one of their factors in deciding which teams to invite to the NCAA tournament and where to seed them.

The formula for the RPI is:
RPI = ((0.25 * WP) + (0.50 * OWP) + (0.25 *OOWP)), where:

WP: is the team's weighted winning percentage against Division I opponents. Games against non-Division I opponents are not included in the RPI calculation.
The calculation of the winning percentage for RPI purposes is changed this season (as it was for the men in 2004-05) to give more weight to road wins vs. home wins. A team's win total = ((1.4 * road wins) +( 0.6 * home wins) + (1.0 * neutral site wins)).
OWP: is the team's opponents' non-weighted winning percentage, excluding results against the team in question. It is also called the team's schedule strength.
OOWP: is the team's opponents' opponents' non-weighted winning percentage, or the team's opponents' schedule strength, excluding results against the team in question.

The RPI and Schedule Strength of the 342 Division I Women's Basketball teams are available on the internet from these organizations:

NCAA, updated weekly on Monday morning, beginning in late December.
Collegiate Basketball News, updated weekly on Monday morning.
Real Time Sports Ranking, updated daily.
Warren Nolan, updated daily.

The rankings from these organizations vary quite a lot, perhaps because of data errors, perhaps because of slight differences in the formulas they use. No matter — in the end, the only rankings that matter are those from the NCAA.

Nothing rattles Susan

2011-12-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

In this week's Total Access installment, Michelle Smith (espnW) spends time with Susan Borchardt, Stanford's strength and conditioning coach.

Susan has three babies at home and two sports teams to care for, but she makes it look like it's a piece of cake. Read more...

More honors for the Ogwumikes

2011-12-06T15:49:00.001-08:00

I neglected to report last week that Nneka and Chiney added another accolade to their collection — each was named to the Naismith Trophy early-season watch list.

They have both already been named to the Wade Trophy and John R. Wooden Award preseason watch lists.

Nneka is also a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and for the Associated Press All-America team.

It's so much fun watching the sisters play and so gratifying to see them earn national recognition!

Here's more information about the Naismith nomination:

The announcement from the Atlanta Tipoff Club includes a list of all the nominees.
The announcement from Stanford Athletics includes details of Nneka's and Chiney's accomplishments.

Cardinal leash the 'Dogs

2011-12-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal shut down the perimeter for the first half, and held the Bulldogs to two (of fifteen) 3-pointers. By then the score was 56-27, and although the 'Dogs fared better in the second half , they never reduced the gap by much. Final: Stanford 93, Fresno State 59.

The Bulldogs took better care of the ball than the Cardinal. They had seven steals to our five and ten turnovers to our sixteen.

But the Cardinal excelled in the paint. They out-rebounded the Bulldogs 67-28! Coincidentally, the Cardinal had 28 O-boards and Nneka & Chiney combined for 28 rebounds.

The Bulldogs ended with eight 3-pointers. Bullseye Bonnie had almost as many herself. She sank six of eight — that's 75%! (Bonnie's release is so quick that no-one got a photo of her launching a shot. In the photo on the left, she watches one of her 3-pointers fall.) Bonnie also stepped up her defense in this game and blocked three shots.

Nneka sat out most of the first half after two fouls (one of them bogus!), but came back strong in the second half and ended as the leading scorer with a double-double of 28 points (at a rate of 69%) and 12 rebounds.

Chiney reigned under our basket and theirs with a career-high 16 rebounds. She also scored 13 points.

Lindy was back in action today and was the Cardinal's fourth double-digit scorer. She made 57% of her shots, including two of five 3-pointers and ended with 10 points.

Erica distinguished herself today by grabbing six rebounds, four of them O-boards, in nine minutes of play.

Here are game reports:

Ogwumike sisters lead Stanford women over Fresno by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
Stanford women power past Fresno State by Jeff Davis (The Fresno Bee)
Bulldogs Fall to No. 5 Stanford from Fresno State Athletics

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos from Fresno State Athletics,

And photos by Gary Kazanjian (AP Photo):

Nneka looks for a shot Joslyn puts up a shot Jasmine drives past Ki-Ki Moore Nneka drives through Bulldog defense Chiney attempts a steal Joslyn in a Bulldog sandwich Lindy takes off on a fast break Chiney drives to the basket

Going to the Dogs

2011-12-02T11:29:00.001-08:00

The Cardinal travel across the valley to the Savemart Center on Sunday to play the Fresno State Bulldogs. Finals break begins on Monday so this is your last chance to see them play until mid-December.

If you don't go to the game, you can watch it on Fresno State All-Access, listen to it on KZSU or follow the action on GameTracker.

Five years ago, Fresno State head coach Adrian Wiggins brought in a handful of freshmen, and the Bulldogs made their first NCAA Tournament appearance after winning their first Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship. The Fab Five (Jaleesa Ross, Marnique Arnold, Taja Edwards, Emma Andrews and Hayley Munro) went on to lead the Bulldogs to a school-record 98 wins, three WAC regular-season titles, three WAC tournament championships and four trips to the NCAA dance.

The Fab Five graduated this year and took with them 62% of the Bulldogs' scoring and 57% of their rebounding, Taking their place are four freshmen, two transfers from four-year schools who must sit out, and guard Ki-Ki Moore who becomes eligible after tranferring from Washington State last season.

The rebuilt team has made a good start toward capturing another WAC title in their final season in the conference before transferring to the Mountain West. The Bulldogs have won five of the first seven games of a fairly challenging schedule (Sagarin/CBS ranks their schedule strength at 77). They've lost only to USC and Pepperdine, where they blew a 12-point lead late and lost in double overtime.

The Bulldogs are a guard-oriented team with a run-and-shoot style of play and are currently one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation. They were ranked #4 last week with an average of 9.7 per game; their rate of 39.7% was ranked #9. Since then, they sank 17 3-pointers in their victory over Oregon and upped the average to 10.7 and the percentage to 40.5.

They are aggressive on defense. They lead the WAC in steals (12.5 per game) and turnover margin (5 less than their opponents).

Although they have a good turnover margin, they don't take good care of the ball themselves. They average almost as many turnovers (16.5) as assists (16.7).

The starters for Fresno State are:

#24, 5.8" redshirt junior guard Ki-Ki Moore sat out last season after transferring from Washington State, where she was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. She is the Bulldogs' leading scorer (19.6 ppg) and rebounder (6.6 rpg). She averages 2.1 3-pointers a game at a rate of 55.6%.

#25, 6'1" junior guard/forward Rosie Moult hails from Australia, where she played for the U19 team for two years. She is the Bulldogs' best 3-point shooter, averaging 3.6 per game at a rate of 42%. She averages 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

#12, 5'10" senior guard/forward Blakely Goldberg transferred to Fresno State last year after two seasons with Fresno City College She averages 8.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 3-pointers per game.

#10, 6'1" freshman forward Alex Sheedy is the eighth Australian to join the women's basketball program. She was a member of the Australia U19 team for three years. She averages 6.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

#33, 5'5" sophomore guard Taylor Thompson is the Bulldogs' best ball-handler. She averages 4.4 assists per game with only half as many turnovers. She also averages 6.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Coming off the bench for significant minutes are:

#11, 5'8" freshman guard Madison Parrish is the second Parrrsh to play at Fresno State. Her sister, Amy, was an All-WAC forward and is now a third-year assistant coach. Madison averages 24.4 minutes, 8.1 points and 1.7 3-pointers per game.

#31. 6'3" senior center Veronica Wilson averages 18.4 minutes, 7.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

#5, 5'10' sophomore guard Bree Farley is the third Australian on the squad. She averages 16.0 minutes, 3.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

Here are the Bulldogs' 2010-11 statistics and their roster.

Working through injury and growing pains

2011-12-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

In her weekly behind-the-scenes visit with the Cardinal, Michelle Smith (espnW) reports that the freshmen are getting more playing time because of injuries.

She focuses on Taylor's progress as she adjusts to starting for a top college team.

Read here...

The "Page Five" Chronicles

2011-12-01T16:27:00.001-08:00

Stanford Athletics has added a nice feature to its weekly Women's Basketball Game Notes — player's thoughts on anything under the sun. It appears on, guess where, page 5 of the play notes.

On Nov 11, Chiney and Joslyn and Grace kicked off the new feature.

On Nov 17, Amber and Sarah added their contributions, and Grace provided a second installment of her thoughts on reality TV

This week featured Mikaela's report of her perfect Thanksgiving and another reality TV installment from Grace.

Cardinal harvest a win

2011-11-30T21:06:00.001-08:00

The Cardinal started out slow and careless tonight against the Aggies, who are a very quick team with excellent passing and aggressive defense. It was neck and neck for about the first eight minutes. Then Sara sank a couple of threes, and the Cardinal settled down and overwhelmed the Aggies with their superior size and skill to a 93-44 victory.

Joslyn had a splendid game. She scored a career-high 19 points on 88% shooting! She also grabbed nine rebounds (two O-boards), had three assists with zero turnovers and stole the ball once. She played like the Third Sister with her strong offensive and defensive play in the paint.

The other two sisters were just as effective. Nneka scored 20 points on 70% shooting and six of seven free throws and had nine rebounds with five O-boards. Chiney scored 18 points (including four of six free throws), had nine rebounds with six O-boards, a block and a steal.

The Cardinal were hot beyond the arc tonight. They made 44% of their three-point attempts. Bonnie led the way with five (of eight). Sara had two and Taylor, Toni, Amber and Joslyn each had one.

The Aggies are noted for their thievery, but the Cardinal out-stole them seven to three — Bonnie had two and Taylor, Chiney, Toni, Sara and Joslyn each had one.

Here are game reports:

No. 5 Stanford women down UC Davis 93-44 by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
Stanford women dominate UC Davis by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicla)
WBB looked very good tonight 93-44 from (The CARDboard
Freshmen perform well in Stanford women's rout of UC Davis by Jake Curtis

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A postgame interview of Sara James,

A gallery of photos by Rick Bale (Stanford Photo),

And more photos by Marcio Jose Sanchez (Associated Press):

Bonnie launches one of her eight threes Nneka goes up for a shot Chiney rises above the opposition Toni steals the ball Jasmine drives Nneka grabs a rebound

Back home with the Aggies

2011-11-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal have returned from two tough games on the road to play at home against the UC Davis Aggies on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

If you can't be there to see them, you can watch the game on Stanford All-Access, listen to it on KZSU, or follow the action on GameTracker.

The Aggies are coming off their best season ever — they were the Big West champion last season and advanced to the NCAA for the first time (where they lost to Stanford in the first round).

Jos on defense at 2010-11 NCAA round 1

They began this season with a 5-0 run, then lost to Santa Clara 78-81 in their sixth game. However, they've had a fairly weak schedule so far. Their schedule strength is ranked 256 by Sagarin/CBS (incidentally, that's 3 points better than UConn's schedule strength at this time). They've been picked to finish third in the Big West, behind Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara.

The Aggies have lost their three leading scorers and rebounders (Paige Mintun, Vicky Deely and Heidi Heintz), and they have a new coach — sort of. Sandy Simpson retired after 14 seasons as head coach. Taking over is Jennifer Gross, who was an assistant coach at UC Davis for four years and then associate head coach for the past three.

However, ten players returned from last season, including three senior starters — Samantha Meggison , Hana Asano and Kasey Reicks

UC Davis is a small team. All their starters are less than six feet tall. They do have a couple of taller players (6'2" senior post Lauren Juric and 6'3" sophomore post Kelsey Beard), but neither has played yet this season. I don't know why — there's no injury report on them.

The Aggies have made up for their lack of size with their defensive efforts. They've averaged 12.8 steals per game, nearly twice that of their opponents, and forced their opponents to an average of 21.2 turnovers a game,

The UC Davis starters are:

#32, 5'11" senior guard Samantha Meggison leads the Aggies in scoring (13.5), rebounding (4.7) and steals (3.0). She has scored in double digits in all six games this season.

#2, 5'6" seniot guatd Hana Asano is second to Meggison in points (10.0) and steals ( 2.8). She has the most assists (3.5) with a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.5

#5, 5'7" junior guard Hannah Stephens averages 8.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

#10, 5'10" junior guard Blair Shinoda is the second-best rebounder (4.3) and averages 7.2 points per game.

#25, 5'11" senior forward Kasey Reicks averages 8.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

The Aggies' best 3-point specialist is 5'11" junior guard Cortney French, who comes off the bench. She has averaged just under three per game at a rate of 42.5%.

Here are the Aggies' 2011-12 statistics and roster.

Nneka is Pac-12 Player of the Week

2011-11-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

Nneka earned her fifth conference Player of the Week award for her average of 28.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in the games against UConn and Xavier last week.

More information in the announcements from:

Pac-12
Stanford Athletics

Stanford perseveres to victory over Xavier

2011-11-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

Stanford had an unexpectedly difficult game today, but eventually defeated Xavier 80-64.

The Cardinal used up several games worth of poor shooting karma today. It didn't look that way when Toni sank a 3-pointer on the first play of the game, but the next Cardinal 3-pointer came 32½ minutes later (from Taylor) with 12 misses in between. Their final 3-point tally was a miserable 16.7% (3 of 18).

In spite of their poor shooting, the Cardinal never lost focus nor let up on defense. They had five steals, forced 20 turnovers and out-rebounded the Musketeers 43-26 (with 21-7 O-boards).

Stanford and Xavier traded the lead with all through the first half, and Stanford didn't gain its first double-digit lead until six minutes into the second half.

Xavier's aggressive defense made it difficult to get the ball inside, but there's no stopping Nneka. She scored a season-high 34 points on 61% shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds (six of them O-boards).

Chiney was right in there with her. She had 18 points and eight rebounds (seven of them O-boards!) and made four of her five free throws.

Toni played excellent offense and defense for 31 minutes. She had 14 points, two rebounds, four steals and six assists with just two turnovers.

Here are game reports:

Xavier better but loses to No. 3 Stanford 80-64 by Joe Kay (Associated Press)
No. 3/5 Stanford Bests Xavier Women, 80-64 from Xavier Athletics
No. 3 Stanford 80, XU 64 (women) Xavier Musketeers Blog (Cincinnati.com)

The box score and play-by-play,

And photos by David Kohl (AP Photo)

Nneka puts up a shot Joslyn looks to shoot Chiney looks for her shot Amber scrambles for the ball

Family shares Thanksgiving on the road

2011-11-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) takes us to Thanksgiving dinner with the team at Mikaela's home. Read here...

Onward to Xavier

2011-11-22T14:19:00.001-08:00

The Cardinal have moved on to Ohio where they will have Thanksgiving dinner at Michaela's home in Beavercreek. Then they'll continue on to Cincinnati to play Xavier on Friday.

There will be no telecast or webcast of this game, but it will be broadcast by KZSU. The game is at 10:00 in the morning Pacific Time. If you're working on Friday, try to take a long early lunch hour. If not, be sure to get home from your Black Friday shopping trip in time for the game.

Tyeasha Moss guards Jos at Maples last season

Xavier has led their conference (Atlantic 10) and been a strong NCAA contender for the past three seasons. They had perfect conference seasons, were the A10 runner-up in 2009 and the A10 champion in 2010 and 2011. In 2008-09, they were ranked 20/18 in the national polls and made their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Gonzaga in the first round. In 2009-10, they were ranked 5/5 and, as you may remember, lost to Stanford in the Elite Eight. Last season, they were again ranked 5/5 but lost in the second round.

But things are very different at Xavier this season. Head coach Kevin McGuff left to take the head coaching job at the University of Washington, and the staff is now headed by former assistant coach Amy Waugh. Four seniors graduated, including "twin towers" Ta’Shia Phillips and Amber Harris. Three-point specialist Katie Rutan transferred to Maryland.

Xavier returns just one starter, senior guard Tyeasha Moss. They have only ten active players. They have been picked to finish seventh in the A10.

Xavier's RPI, as calculated by Sagarin/CBS is 87 and their schedule strength is 14 — they've started the season with some tough games. They defeated Eastern Kentucky 66-61 in their home opener, then lost the next two on the road.They battled back from an 11-point deficit against Mississippi State to within two with less than a minute to go, but lost 65-71. Last Sunday they lost 44-62 to No. 9/10 Louisville.

The Musketeers' main weakness so far this season is ball-handling. They've averaged 16 turnovers a game. They don't shoot from beyond the arc very well — 16 of 67 attempts so far. They make about 33% of their field goal attempts. On the plus side, they rebound well, getting three more per game than their opponents.

The Xavier starters are:

#0, 5'9" senior guard Tyeasha Moss is Xavier's only returning starter. She is their leading scorer (13.0 ppg), second-best rebounder (7.0 rpg) and primary 3-point shooter (2.7 per game at a rate of 28.6%).
#10, 6'0" sophomore guard Lynette Holmes averages 9.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.
#3, 5'3" sophomore guard Shatyra Hawkes averages 6.0 points and 3.0 rebounds
#12, 6'2" redshirt junior forward Jessica Pachko transferred to Xavier from Marquette last season and did not play. She averages 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds.
#2, 6'1" redshirt junior forward Amber Gray transferred to Xavier from Tennessee, which wouldn't clear her to play basketball after she sat out her sophomore season as she recovered from brain surgery for a life-threatening stroke. Now in her second season at Xavier, she is their leading rebounder with 8.7 per game and averages 8.0 points

Only three other players have come off the bench so far this season, each for a bit more than 10 minutes per game: 6'2" senior center Sabrina Johnson, 6'3" freshman forward Liz Stratman and 5'10" sophomore guard Ashley Wanninger.

Here are Xavier's 2011-12 statistics and roster.

Afterthoughts

2011-11-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

Quick Stanford-UConn postcript: Michelle Smith comments on valuable lessons to be learned from the game.

Stanford women’s basketball: Not ready for prime time: Tom FitzGerald writes about some disconcerting aspects to the Cardinal’s game.

UConn Huskies 68 Stanford Cardinal 58 — Quick Recap: Holly C. Tanneyhill (Swish Appeal) reviews the game in terms of what she had earlier said were the keys to victory.

UConn's No. 23 rises to occasion again: Graham Hays (espnW) pays a well-earned tribute to KML's performance last night

WBB: UConn 68 Stanford 58: Stanford Women's Basketball fans voice their opinions of the game in The CARDboard.

Tweets from:

Ros: Final Thoughts: it's early. More important who learns the most from this and improves the most come March.

Nneka: Thx 4 the support tweeps! We fought hard and will only learn from playing such a talented team

Chiney: The sun is up... Its a new day! True colors come out when you are tested! On to Ohio!

Cardinal out-played in Connecticut

2011-11-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

The Huskies played the better game and delighted about 14,000 fans at the XL Center with their 68-58 victory over the Cardinal.

The Huskies' fierce defense controlled the game. They had nine blocks and twelve steals and caused 16 Cardinal turnovers.

They got the Cardinal into foul trouble — Nneka sat out about 14 minutes of the first half with two fouls. We can beat Texas without Nneka, but not UConn.

The Huskies' defense led to dazzling offense — especially by star freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored 25 points, and sophomore Bria Hartley, who added 19. Between them, they accounted for 65% of UConn's points.

Nneka led the Cardinal's offense with 22 points. Jasmine was our only effective 3-point shooter tonight — she made three of four. Sarah made four of her five field-goal attempts. Chiney played a strong, controlled game. She had 12 rebounds. Although she ended with four fouls, she didn't commit the first one until four minutes into the second half.

The Cardinal were behind by just six at half-time. With Nneka back in, they closed the gap in the second half. The score was tied for the ninth time with 13 minutes left to play. After that, the Huskies gradually pulled ahead as the Cardinal wilted under the relentless pressure.

Here are game reports:

No. 2 UConn beats No. 3 Stanford 68-58 by Doug Feinberg (Associated Press)
No. 2 UConn women subdue Stanford by Rich Elliott (Connecticut Post)
Mosqueda-Lewis Kick Starts Huskies In 68-58 Win Over Stanford by John Altavilla (Hartford Courant)
Stanford hopes to learn from loss to UConn by Pat Eaton-Robb (Associated Press)
UConn-Stanford Women’s Basketball Notebook from The Hour
A live blog from Michelle Smith

The box score and play-by-play,

And photos by Jessica Hill (AP Photo):

Nneka goes up against Stefanie Dolson Tiffany Hayes drives past Amber Taylor guards Stefanie Dolson Jos and Chiney double-team Kiah Stokes Sarah, Toni and Chiney triple-team Bria Hartley A disappointed bench

Last round of pregame commentary

2011-11-20T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here's the last round of speculations and commentary (no predictions) before UConn and Stanford tip off at the XL Center tonight.

This is why they came to Stanford by Michelle Smith (ESPNW.

Stanford freshmen ready for prime time when playing against Connecticut in women's basketball by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

Stanford, UConn women resume classic rivalry by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)

Connecticut and Stanford renew their rivalry on Monday with a lot less on the line by The Associated Press)

Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli preview Stanford-UConn ... with Kara Lawson., first 10 minutes of ESPNW Podcast

Banking on Freshmen: UConn & Stanford in the Same Boat by Holly C. Tannyhill (Swish Appeal)

Big test: Stanford at UConn from the Republican American

In Stanford-UConn, Look For Freshmen To Make Noise by John Altavilla (Hartford Courant)

Stanford poses major test for UConn women by Rich Elliott (Stamford Advocate)

Auriemma will learn a lot about his team in tonight's game by Mike DiMauro (The Day)

UConn women's basketball preview glance -- Huskies vs. Stanford from The Hour

UCONN WOMEN: Stanford will be sizable challenge for Huskies by Jim Fuller (Register Citizen)

Next up: Stanford

2011-11-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

The game against Stanford on Monday is drawing a lot of interest in Connecticut.

Blast from past next on agenda by Carl Adamec (Journal Inquirer) rightly dismisses last season's historic loss with UConn's talking points for 2011-12: "It's a different team. It's a new season."

Stanford brings toughest test yet for UConn by Matt Cerullo (The [UConn] Daily Campus) provides an inadequate analysis of UConn's toughest competitor. The only Stanford players the author mentions are the "dangerous Ogwumike sisters" and Toni.

10 Things To Make You Feel Good About UConn, by John Altavilla (Hartford Courant) gives his worried readers "10 reasons why UConn will, could, might beat Stanford Monday."

Something About Stanford For Breakfast, by John Altavilla (Hartford Courant) gives his readers plenty to worry about in this evaluation of the Cardinal.

For UConn Women And Stanford, The Season's First Real Test, by John Altavilla (Hartford Courant. In his third story of the day, Altavilla repeats some of his points about Stanford, but adds Tara's thoughts about the UConn/Stanford rivalry.

Stanford, UConn resume what may be top rivalry in women's game, by Rich Elliott (Greenwich Time) includes a brief report of each of the prior 12 games between UConn and Stanford.

Game Notes from Connecticut Women's Basketball

Going for two in a row

2011-11-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

... against UConn on Monday night.

Is one win enough to be deemed a streak? Why not? A streak has to start sometime, and this one had the sweetest start you could wish for.

The Huskies have dominated the Big East for two decades, but have been predicted to finish second this season (after Notre Dame). They are currently ranked #4 in the national polls, just a bit ahead of Stanford.

They haven't been challenged yet this season. Their first two games, which they won handily, were against Holy Cross and Pacific, whose respective ranks by Sagarin/CBS are 191 and 290.

The Huskies have a short bench again this season — minus Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon plus three freshmen equals eleven. Geno says, "We're one injury or one misfortune away from being a very average team ... by UConn standards."

The Huskies' starters this season are:

#3, 5'10" senior guard Tiffany Hayes is UConn's only senior, and they will rely on her leadership this season. She started every game last season. She was UConn's second-best scorer with 14.7 ppg, made 1.3 3-pointers at a rate of 35% and 3.7 assists with a a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.5.

#34, 5'11" junior guard Kelly Faris also started every game last season and played the most minutes (about 33 on average). She was second only to Maya in rebounds (6.7), steals (1.8), assists (3.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65). Although she's listed as a guard, she played as a somewhat height-challenged power forward.

#14, 5'7" sophomore guard Bria Hartley started all but four games last season as a freshman. She was UConn's best 3-point shooter (2.0 per game at a rate of 39%) and the third-best scorer (12.4 ppg). Her weakness was ball-handling — she made about three assists per game and almost as many turnovers. That should improve in her sophomore year — she's had eight assists and five turnovers in this season's two games.

#31, 6'5" sophomore center Stefanie Dolson started all but two games last season. She was UConn's fourth double-digit scorer (10.2 ppg) and their most accurate shooter (62%). She got 6.1 rebounds per game.

#5, 5'10" redshirt junior guard Caroline Doty is back in the starting lineup after missing last season with her third major knee injury. Teammate Stefanie Dolson says that Doty's return, "is going to mean everything to us. She's definitely that glue player that coaches always talk about. She brings everyone together, keeps them focused and on point with what we're doing on offense and defense. Her intensity on both ends of the floor is one of the highest on the team."

HoopGurlz ranked UConn's 2010-11 recruiting class second-best (to Tennessee) in the nation. The Husky pups are:

#23, 6'0" freshman forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was ranked the *1 overall recruit. She has drawn early comparisons to Maya Moore in more than her uniform number. Someday Geno may be saying, "We have Kaleena and you don't."

#41, 6'3" freshman center Kiah Stokeswas ranked the #5 post. She is said to be a great shot blocker and rebounder.

#13, 5'0" freshman guard Brianna Banks was ranked the #6 guard. She is especially noted for her quickness. She is tempted to say that, "[her opponents] might be surprised if I blow past them a couple of times.” Geno is pleased with her performance so far, but says that she, "is looking for the basket after she crosses midcourt. As we go on, she'll want to learn to pass it to somebody."

Here are the Huskies' 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Monarchs no match for the Cardinal

2011-11-17T21:10:00.001-08:00

ODU didn't come close to its hope of keeping the margin around 20 points — Stanford won 97-48.

The Lady Monarchs are a fast, aggressive and hard-playing team, but they were overwhelmed tonight by the Cardinal's skill, size, and energy. Stanford out-played ODU in the paint, with 52-34 rebounds and at the perimeter with 12-3 three-pointers.

Taylor started the 3-point barrage with two in the first minute, then Lindy sank her first one two minutes later. Lindy went on to make a career-high five 3-pointers for a career-best 15 points — all in the first half. Sara joined in with three of four, Toni and Jasmine each got one of two. In all, the Cardinal made 54.5% of their 3-point attempts.

There was good shooting inside the arc too. Nneka scored 14 points, Chiney 13, Joslyn 12 and Sarah 10.

There was fine guard play from Lindy and Jasmine (each had four assists and one turnover) and from Toni and Amber (each had three assists and one turnover). The final count was 23 assists with just 12 turnovers.

There was good news at the charity stripe too. It's been reported that Chiney has been working hard on her free throws, and it paid off tonight — she made five of six!

Here are game reports:

Cardinal routs Old Dominion 97-48 by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
ODU women no match for No. 5 Stanford from The Associated Press
Stanford 97 Old Dominion 48 from The CARDboard
A live blog by Michelle Smith

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria/isiphotos.com,

And more photos by Paul Sakuma/AP Photo:

Toni directs traffic Sara gets tangled up on defense Chiney goes way up for a shot Nneka receives a hard pass Lindy enjoys the game The sisters enjoy the game

Stanford is the favorite and will win

2011-11-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

So says Chris Carlson (HamptonRoads.com) in his breakdown of ODU's upcoming game against Stanford.

He says that Old Dominion would be thrilled to keep the margin around 20 points against a team ranked No. 5 by the AP and by ESPN, but predicts that the score will be 75-45. Read more...

Next up: Old Dominion

2011-11-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Lady Monarchs are visiting Maples on Thursday for the third ODU/Stanford contest since That Awful Game in 1997.

Stanford All-Access will webcast the game, and KZSU will broadcast it. If you come to the game, you can help fight hunger by bringing non-perishable food items for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Joslyn and Nneka probably remember the most recent ODU/Stanford game (the 2009-10 season opener). Joslyn took the first shot of her college career — a made 3-pointer. Nneka led all scorers and rebounders with 25 points and 12 rebounds (business as usual for Nneka, so maybe not memorable).

Wendy Larry retired last season after 24 years as the Lady Monarchs' head coach. Taking her place is Karen Barefoot, who has had 17 years of coaching experience — three years as assistant coach at ODU and three head coaching positions.

ODU plays in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished second (to Delaware) in the conference last season and played in the postseason WNIT. They've been picked to finish fifth this season. They are 0-2 for the season with losses to Virgina Tech (77-65) and Georgia Tech (67-56).

They are a very young team with nine underclassmen and just one returning starter from last year's squad. They are fairly short — only three active players are over 6'0", the tallest is 6'3".

The probable starters are:

#44, 6'3"senior center/forward Tia Lewis is the only returning starter. She was ODU's top scorer (12.1 ppg) and rebounder (7.8 rpg) last season.

#3, 6'2" redshirt junior center Mairi Buchan returns to the lineup after redshirting last season and adds another much-needed post presence. She came off the bench in her sophomore year and averaged 4.8 points in 15 minutes.

#14, 6'0" junior guard Jackie Cook averaged 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last season. She is ODU's only returning 3-point shooter. She averaged just over one per game last year at a rate of 30%.

#23, 5'10" junior guard JoNiquia Guilford scored in double figures five times last year. She averaged 4.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

#11, 5'3" freshman guard Ashley Betz-White scored the team-high 22 points against Virginia Tech and was named the CAA Rookie of the Week. She runs the point and may also be ODU's best 3-point shooter — she hit 5 of 14 in this season's two games.

Here are ODU's 2011-12 statistics and roster.

From ESPN: Bracket, Weekend Wrapup and All-Americans

2011-11-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Charlie Creme picks four Pac-12 teams in his first bracket of the season:

Stanford , #1 in Fresno: A 12th straight conference title is almost a foregone conclusion. A fifth consecutive Final Four trip will be tougher.
USC, #5 in Kingston: The Trojans probably won't challenge Stanford in the Pac-12, but with its depth and experience, Michael Cooper's club should have a hold on second place.
UCLA, #6 in Raleigh: Coach Nikki Caldwell was not all that UCLA lost. The top three scorers from a year ago graduated, so new coach Cori Close will rely on Atonye Nyingifa and Rebekah Gardner to lead the new-look Bruins.
Cal, #9 in Des Moines: First-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb was given plenty to work with to start her career in Berkeley. Juniors Layshia Clarendon, Talia Caldwell and Eliza Pierre are joined by the return of Gennifer Brandon, who was the Bears' leading rebounder as a freshman but missed last season with a stress fracture.

Yesterday, I overlooked Graham Hays' praise of Stanford in his weekend wrapup (It was lurking behind a photo of Brittney Griner and Kim Mulkey.):

Stanford is off and running
Gonzaga stayed with Stanford for a half Sunday, saddling the Cardinal with their first halftime deficit at home since Jan. 30, 2010, a stretch of 24 games at Maples Pavilion. Texas hung around, too, seizing on home-court advantage and a shorthanded opponent to stay within five points with 10 minutes to play against the Cardinal on Friday.
But after three days of the 2011-12 regular season, it's pretty clear that if you want to knock down Stanford, you had best bring a knockout punch.
Testing itself while other contenders test their attention spans during the second half of blowouts against overmatched opponents, Stanford beat Texas 72-59 on the road without Nnemkadi Ogwumike (unspecified upper body injury). Then it beat Gonzaga 76-61 in large part because of the elder half of the Ogwumike sisters. With Gonzaga constantly looking to push the tempo and having already turned an early 24-14 deficit into a 30-29 lead, Stanford kept punching the ball inside for run-ending, soul-sapping baskets down low. Nneka finished with 33 points and 18 rebounds against Gonzaga, while younger sister Chiney followed up 16 points and 14 rebounds against the Longhorns with 19 points against the Bulldogs.
The Cardinal have a star capable of taking over a game and singlehandedly reversing momentum. And they have a team that can win without her.
That's not bad work for a season barely 72 hours old.

Last week Mechelle Voepel, Graham Hays, Charlie Creme and Melanie Jackson picked their preseason top 10 players, Nneka was a unanimous selection to the first team, and Chiney was selected to the second team.

She is the latest example of the talent, smarts and dignity that have come to define the Stanford program. Oh, and no one has figured out how to stop her, either. -- Charlie Creme

All that has changed is that she has gone from the wise young star to the wise old star. She's a 20-10 threat every night if healthy. Heck, she's a 20-10 threat when she isn't. -- Graham Hays

You'll likely notice her great athleticism on display defensively even more than ever this season. She leads the way as a senior for a pretty young Cardinal team. -- Mechelle Voepel

She got better and better as her freshman season progressed and could be ready to explode in Year 2. -- Charlie Creme

Her sister has been an All-American from just about the day she arrived on campus. Chiney is taller and more explosive. So good luck with that, Pac-12. -- Graham Hays

She was terrific as a freshman, but look for her this year to eradicate some of the inconsistency she went through as a rookie. -- Mechelle Voepel

More views of the Texas & Gonzaga games

2011-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

In a nutshell, from Michelle Smith: A good win at Texas without Nneka Ogwumike and a home win over Gonzaga that wouldn’t have happened without Nneka Ogwumike.

Ogwumikes pick up where they left off in wins: Joseph Beyda (The Stanford Daily) writes about Nneka's and Chiney's contributions to the Cardinal's 2-0 season start.

Stanford 76 Gonzaga 61: Several fans give their views of the Gonzaga game in The CARDboard

Baranduin Briggs' view of Nneka's flip-shot-from-the-floor (Click to enlarge):

See Fast Break Fan Pix for more photos by Baranduin and other phtographers in the stands.

Get it to Nneka!

2011-11-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal extended their home-court winning streak into its fifth season as they chalked up their 64th consecutive victory at Maples: 76-61 over Gonzaga.

Gonzaga brought its best game to Maples, and it was a much better one than the final score indicates. The Bulldogs shot a bit better than the Cardinal in the first half and took a one-point lead into the locker room. They stole the ball eight times and hassled the Cardinal into making 16 turnovers.

But they had no answer for the Cardinal's front court. The directive today was, "Get it to Nneka!" And when they didn't, she got it herself as she tallied her career double-double of 33 points and 18 rebounds.

Chiney made the play of the game when she grabbed a loose ball, barely recovered her balance as she lurched down the court, faked a pass, and laid the ball up and in. She had 19 points and six rebounds for the day.

Toni was the third double-digit scorer today with 14 points. She brought the Cardinal fans to their feet twice with a couple of fast breaks, one after a steal.

Also entertaining was a ridiculous basket by Nneka. She flipped the ball towards the basket as she was falling to the floor, and it went in! She lay on the floor for a few moments, laughing too hard to get up.

Here are game reports:

Ogwumike leads No. 5 Stanford to win from the Associated Press
Gonzaga gives Stanford a run before falling short 76-61, a different report from the Associated Press
Despite Halftime Lead, Zags Fall To No. 5 Stanford 76-61 from Gonzaga Athletics
Senior Ogwumike stars as No. 5 Stanford tops Gonzaga by Elliott Almond (Mercury News

The box score and play-by-play,

The game highlights video,

Photos by Paul Sakuma / Associated Press:

Nneka, the unstoppable Chiney drives to the basket Nneka fights for a rebound Look out Joslyn! Good job sister! Nneka celebrates the victory Tara enjoys the postgame tribute to her Hall of Fame induction

What's so hard about winning on the road?

2011-11-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

Plenty! It was a hard-won game, but the Cardinal did win 72-59.

It wasn't a pretty game — lots of fouls, lots of turnovers, lots of missed opportunities on both sides.

Credit for the victory goes to:

Chiney, who got into early foul trouble and sat out much of the first half, but came back in the second to score a double-double — the team-high 16 points and 14 rebounds, 10 of them O-boards.

Amber, who ran the point for 25 minutes. Her ball control wasn't great today, but she drove to the basket for four layups and made all six of her free throws for a total of 14 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and had three steals.

Toni, who played the most minutes (34). She had the most assists (four) with just one turnover. She scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers. (There were just five 3s in all tonight; Taylor, Lindy and the Longhorn's Chassidy Fussell each made one.)

Taylor, who started again tonight and played an all-around good steady game. She scored nine points and stole the ball three times.

Joslyn, Sarah and Mikaela, who kept the Longhorn bigs under control and also contributed much to the offense — 14 points from Joslyn and six from Sarah. Mikaela didn't score, but provided some much-needed relief for Joslyn and Sarah when they got into foul trouble.

Lindy, who didn't put up much on the scoreboard, but who provided valuable senior leadership on the court.

All eight players showed great hustle and intense, effective defense all evening.

Bonnie, Erica, Sara and Jasmine came off the bench too, but for less than five minutes apiece. The Cardinal weren't able to hold a double-digit lead until the last five minutes of the game, and there was little opportunity to call in anyone who wasn't currently being effective.

It would have been a lot easier with Nneka, but she did not play because she has suffered an unspecified upper-body injury. She participated in the warmup and didn't appear to be in pain. The coaches are optimistic that she'll be able to play on Sunday against Gonzaga.

Here are game reports:

With sister Nneka Ogwumike sitting out, Chiney takes charge as No. 5 Stanford women win their opener over No. 24 Texas from the Associated Press
Stanford women cruise past No. 24 Texas without Nneka Ogwumike by Jake Curtis (Editorial comment, "It was definitely not a cruise!")
No. 5 Stanford schools Longhorns in opener by Suzanne Halliburton (Austin Statesman)
No. 5 Stanford edges Women's Basketball, 72-59, in season opener from Texas Athletics
11s no jinx in Texas by FBC traveller, Wally Mersereau

The box score and play-by-play

A gallery of photos from Texas Athletics

And a few more photos from the Associated Press:

Amber scrambles Sarah goes for a loose ball Amber and Joslyn defend against Cokie Reed Thus far and no farther

Hitting the road for the first time

2011-11-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

Michelle Smith (espnW) takes us along with the Cardinal as they leave on their first road trip of the season. Read here...

Stories on the eve of season-opener

2011-11-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

The Cardinal is getting lots of attention from the media as the season is about to open:

Ogwumike sisters power Stanford women by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)

Nneka Ogwumike sets her sights on that elusive title, by Rick Eymers (Palo Alto Online)

Stanford has a new look with running, athletic players who plan to push tempo when possible from the Associated Press
(Don't know what a jab step is? Michael Jordan explains.)

Stanford Women's Basketball Roundtable, video of the Cardinal Channel's women's basketball analysts Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, Kevin Danna and Tim Swartz discussing the 2011-12 campaign

Yesterday, an ESPN panel (Mechelle Voepel, Graham Hays, Charlie Creme and Melanie Jackson) picked the Top five at each position.

They picked Nneka as the top power forward. Graham Hays picked Chiney as one of the top five centers, saying that she, "is less a true center than true force of nature."

If you've lost track of all the changes in the Pac-12 this season, this article by Meri-Jo Borzilleri (ESPNw) will bring you up to date: There's still Stanford, but much else is new

Nneka embraces her talent

2011-11-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

By Mechelle Voepel (ESPN):

... entering her final year with coach Tara VanDerveer's Cardinal, Ogwumike — widely acknowledged as the top senior in women's basketball this season — is much more comfortable with the notion that her coaches have been right all along. She really can be as good as she wants to be. Read more...

Next up: Texas and Gonzaga

2011-11-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

Our young Cardinal team faces two big challenges in the opening week of the 2011-12 season:

First they play a strong team on the road on Friday. The Cardinal trounced Texas at Maples last season, and I'm sure the Longhorns will be eager to reciprocate.
Then they return to Maples on Sunday to defend their home court against Gonzaga and extend the record home winning streak to 64. This game is being touted as a replay of last season's Spokane Regional, but it isn't really — not without Kayla, Jeanette and Courtney Vandersloot.

The Texas game will be covered by the Longhorn Network. The live telecast will likely be available only in the Austin area, but the online stream will be provided free — just go to the Longhorn website at game time to view it. KZSU will broadcast the game.

If you attend the Gonzaga game, be sure to stay in your seat at halftime for the tributes to the 1992 National Championship team, Trisha Steven's induction to the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame and Tara's induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

If you don't attend the Gonzaga game, you can watch it on Stanford All-Access (link to be posted by game time) and listen to it online on KZSU.

University of Texas Longhorns

Texas has the experience and athleticism to be one of the top teams in the Big 12. They have been picked to finish third (behind Baylor and Texas A&M) and are ranked #24/20 in the national preseason polls.

Senior guard Kathleen Nash graduated, but Texas' other four starters and seven reserves return. Among the returnees is sophomore post Cokie Reed — she sat out last season with a foot injury, but is expected to have a major impact this season. Texas has added freshman phenom point guard Cassie Peoples, who was named the Big 12 preseason co-Freshman of the Year.

The probable starters are:

#24, 5'10" sophomore guard Chassidy Fussell is the Longhorn's energizer bunny. She was their freshman phenom last season and the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She was Texas' leading scorer (16.2 ppg), the second-best 3-pt shooter (2.0 per game at a rate of 39%) and the second-best rebounder (4.9 rpg). She has been named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team.

#12, 5'7" senior guard Yvonne Anderson averaged 11.8 points, 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.0 rebounds last season

#44, 6'3" sophomore forward Anne Marie Hartung had a solid freshman year with an average of 3.8 points and 3.3 rebounds.

#22, 6'4" senior post Ashley Gayle is Texas' defensive specialist. She averaged 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.6 blocks last season.

#45, 6'4" sophomore post Cokie Reed redshirted last season. In her freshman year, she averaged 8.4 points at a rate of 52% and 4.6 rebounds.

Here is Texas' roster.

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Although Courtney Vandersloot and Janelle Bekkering are gone, the Zags are still the "team-to-be-reckoned-with" in the West Coast Conference (WCC) as they go for their eighth consecutive conference championship.

Head Coach Kelly Graves says, “We’ve got experience, we’ve got marquee, go-to players and we obviously have a culture of winning. Honestly, I think this is as good a team as I’ve ever coached."

They still have two legitimate stars in seniors Katelan Redmon and Kayla Standish, who were All-WCC last year, selected to the Preseason All-WCC team this year, and who played for Team USA in the Pan American Games this summer.

The Zags have added a potential replacement for Vandersloot — 5'8" junior Taelor Karr, who averaged 10.3 points at Kansas State last year. The NCAA has granted her immediate eligibility to play this year.

They've also added depth (and height) in the paint with 6'5" freshman center Shelby Cheslek and 6'4" freshman center Sunny Greinacher.

The probable starters are:

#32, 6'2" senior forward Kayla Standish led the team in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and shot-blocking (1.6 bpg) last season. She made 56% of her field goal attempts and scored the second-most points (17.1 ppg).

#23, 6'1" senior guard/forward Katelan Redmon averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season.

#44, 6'0" senior forward Kelly Bowen is the third returning starter. She averaged 4.6 points and 5.0 rebounds last season.

#3, 5'8" sophomore guard Haiden Palmer sat out last year after transferring from Oregon State, where she averaged 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 assists per game in her freshman year.

#34, 5'9" sophomore guard Jazmine Redmon was a backup point guard last season. She averaged 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Incidentally, she and Katelan are not related.

Here is Gonzaga's roster..

Coverage of 2011-12 Cardinal games

2011-11-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Note: Updated Nov 8 with information about Texas Longhorn Network

Summarized below are your options for watching or listening to the Stanford women's basketball games you can't attend in person this season.

You can find links to all available coverage of specific games in:

The FBC 2011-12 Schedule & Results and

The mini-schedule of "Prior and Upcoming Games" on the FBC home page.

Television

Six of the Cardinal games will be shown on national television this season:

ESPNU: The game at UConn on Nov 21.

FSN/Comcast: The home game against Tennessee (Dec 20), away at Arizona State (Feb 2), home against USC (Feb 9), home against UCLA (Feb 12) and away at Cal (Mar 4).

Two other games will be covered by local television networks:

Longhorn Network will cover the game at Texas on Nov 11. Longhorn is a new network with very limited support (more info ...). The telecast can probably be seen only in the Austin area.
The good news is that the Longhorn Network will provide free access to its online stream of the game. Just go to its website at game time.

ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain will cover the game at Colorado on Jan 14. This network has extensive support throughout the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain areas. (I get it in Palo Alto on DivectTV channels 683 and 684.)

Webcasts

Stanford All-Access will cover all the non-televised home games. Most of our opponents will video-stream their non-televised home games via All-Access or some other provider.

Access to a webcast requires a subscription with the host school. So away games are essentially pay-per-view at the monthly rate of $9.95.

All-Access has greatly improved its user interface and removed a major irritation. When you order a subscription, you can specify that it is to be cancelled at the end of the subscription period — you no longer have to remember to do that after you've watched the game.

The link to a particular webcast is often not posted until just before the game. So no link may mean "not yet", not "no webcast" — do check the schedule on game day.

Radio

KZSU plans to broadcast all the Cardinal games this season, although their current schedule only shows the next couple of games.

KZSU can cover up to three events concurrently on its three audio streams. You can almost always find the game by selecting KZSU-2 on KSZU Live. It will carry the game whether or not the game is being broadcast live on 90.1 FM.

Gametracker

Gametracker will cover all the Cardinal games this season. Gametracker is not a very satisfying way to "watch" a basketball game, but at least it provides the current score and statistics.

Women''s Basketball Preview 2011-12

2011-11-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

ESPN is previewing the upcoming season all this week. There are two articlies of interest to Cardinal fans today:

Preseason Top 25

The ESPN panel (Mechelle Voepel, Graham Hays, Charlie Creme and Melanie Jackson) rank Stanford #4 with this evaluation:

A great deal was on the shoulders of Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen the last four years, so they'll be missed. However, Stanford could be a speedier team overall this season, taking advantage of how fast posts/sisters Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike are. They will be the team leaders in all aspects. But expect the big freshman class to have an immediate impact, too, for the Pac-12 favorites.

Baylor leads the way as 2011-12 opens by Mechelle Voepel

The article is summarized well by its subtitle — "The run to Denver could hold many surprises". Voepel thinks there is no prohibitive favorite this season, and that that's great. This is what she has to say about Stanford:

The Pac-10 turned into the Pac-12 this season, but one thing didn't change a bit. The league remains the Stanford show, as the Cardinal look to tie UConn and LSU this season with five consecutive appearances in the Final Four. The Huskies won in four of those -- 2000, '02, '03 and '04 -- while the Tigers never got past the semifinals. Stanford made two title-game appearances and lost twice in the semis the last four years. A deep team that adds some speed and shooters with a highly regarded freshman class, Stanford will miss stalwarts Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen, now both in the WNBA. But led by sisters Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, the Cardinal are positioned well again to contend for what would be the program's first NCAA championship since 1992.

Sisters in Sync

2011-11-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

Mark Soltau has written a nice long story about Nneka and Chiney for the Buck/Cardinal Clubhouse. Read here ...