Pac-10 leads rise of Western women

Dick Patrick (USA Today) writes about the revival of West Coast women's basketball from the long drought since the glory days in the 1980s and 1990s.

The road to Tampa starts ...

... with a game against Cleveland State at Maples Pavilion at 5:30 pm on Saturday, March 22.

The NCAA bracket shows the whole trip and all its participants.

The Cardinal, who had hoped to receive a #1 seed after winning the Pac-10 regular season and tournament, were disappointed to be placed #2 after Maryland in the Spokane region. But the disappointment didn't last long. As soon as the news settled in, they were ready to use the slight as motivation in the tournament.

"The most important thing is not the seed,'' Tara said. "We just want to have a great tournament and have everyone play well. We'd love to play Maryland for the regional title.''

"This is a very motivated team," Candice. "This is extra motivation for us. We have been the hunters the whole season. We're very good in that position. We know what we really want. We know what our goals are. We're going to go after them."

Two other teams in particular are looking forward to playing at Maples next weekend. Cal has the #3 seed (in the Greensboro region), its highest ever. They will begin their trip with a game against San Diego (the WCC tournament champion) on Saturday at 1:30 pm. The bears hope to regain the strength and skill they showed for most of the Pac-10 season before faltering at the end.

And UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) is ecstatic to be dancing for the first time ever as the #7 seed. They'll play Western Kentucky on Saturday at 8:00 pm.

Tell all your noisy friends about next weekend -- it's going to be exciting! Here's the schedule and ticket information.

And remember what Tara said in the team blog last week:

We are playing at Stanford,
WE ARE READY and
YOU will be LOUD!!!

Thanks for the assist, JJ

JJ was recovering from her ACL injury for the first dozen or so games this season, gradually regaining her strength and confidence at the point and working her way back into the starting rotation.

After her second start on Jan 26 in the game against Cal, 51 weeks after tearing her ACL, Tara said , "JJ's come full circle. This was a big game for her. This is her time to be out there. She takes care of the ball; she understands what we are doing. Her contributions are huge. We had steady guard play; she took care of the ball, hit big shots and worked hard on defense. What more can you ask for?"

JJ has been in the starting rotation ever since, playing an average of 29 minutes a game.

Tara said, after the Pac-10 championship game, "JJ Hones had a great tournament and played a great game for us. She was a real key to our team success today.”

And Sue Bair (Bootleg columnist) wrote, "One major challenge for the Cardinal is no longer an issue. It has become very clear lately how much the guard spots have evolved over the course of the season, to the benefit of the players involved and the team as a whole. JJ Hones has blossomed after shaking off the lingering effects of her lengthy rehab from ACL surgery to solidify her position as Stanford’s floor general. It is no coincidence that Hones logged the heaviest minutes of any Cardinal during the Pac-10 tournament. The offensive execution is noticeably better with Hones running the show."

JJ has also developed her three-point shooting. She has made 44 this season, second only to Candice's 69, and her three-point percentage (.386) is the highest on the team and third in the Pac-10.

And now JJ is on the verge of becoming an NCAA statistic -- the player with the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation. The top three players in that category are currently:

#1. Kristi Cirone, Illinois State, 3.00
#2. Tara Miller, Butler, 2.84
#3. Christine Kinneary, Boston U, 2.68

So far this season, JJ has 94 assists and 30 turnovers, for an A/TO ratio of 3.13.

She's not on the NCAA list, because that requires a minimum of 3.0 assists per game, and JJ has only 2.94. She can achieve the required minimum with five assists in the first game of the NCAA tournament on March 22 or with a total of eight assists in the first two games. (She had 17 assists in the three games of the Pac-10 tournament.) With no more than three turnovers, her ratio will exceed Cirone's, and put her in first place.

We're so glad you're back, JJ. Thanks for the assist.

More honors for Candice

In the past week, Candice was named to Sports Illustrated's and ESPN.com's All-American first teams. Here is more information from Palo Alto Online and from ESPN.

Jillian & Clare may play in the Olympic Games!

From the New Zealand Dominion Post:

Two American college players have unexpectedly landed in the lap of the New Zealand women's basketball team just six months out from the Olympic Games.

Tall Ferns coach Mike McHugh can hardly believe his luck after discovering former Stanford University guard Clare Bodensteiner and current forward Jillian Harmon are both eligible for New Zealand.

Read more ...

Candice is Naismith finalist

The announcement, which was made last week, was almost lost in the excitement of the Pac-10 tournament:

Candice is one of the four finalists for the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year award.

Read more

Coaching watch

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) writes, "Three conference coaches, maybe four, could be replaced in the next week or two." Read more ...

Kathy Olivier resigned yesterday, as reported in the Los Angeles Times.

Here is an ongoing report from ESPN of 2007-08 Division I Coaching Changes.

Looking good

Cardinal's finished product looking good by John Reid (Palo Alto Daily News)

... The Rolls-Royce is washed, waxed, fine-tuned and ready. Time to put it in gear.

Women ready for NCAA run by Wyndam Makowsky (The Stanford Daily)

... though nothing will be official until the selection show next Monday, experts, coaches and players alike believe that Stanford has locked up the final top seed.

The Pac-10's Best....Ever by Jeff Lippman (CSTV)

... the West Coast belongs to Candice Wiggins, and for four years she has always been worth the price of admission.

Cal Gets Iced by Sue Bair (The Bootleg)

Wiggins went wild and Stanford totally dominated Cal ...

More from the championship game

With Wiggins, result never in doubt by Ann Killion (Mercury News)

Cardinal exposes Bears' weaknesses by Eric Gilmore (Contra Costa Times)

Pac-10 women's championship: Stanford slam by Jennifer Starks (Monterey Counry Herald)

Audio slideshow by Nhat V. Meyer (Mercury News

Audio slideshow by Jose Carlos Fajardo (Contra Costa Times)

Pac-10 Tournament, Championship

WOW!

Wiggins grabs center stage and Pac-10 title by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)

Stanford Women Soar, At Cal's Expense by Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle)

Stanford smothers Cal in title game by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)

Cal Has No Answers for Stanford by Viet Nguyen (The Bear Insider)

Photo gallery from Stanford Photo

The AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics