Cardinal cruise in exhibition

As promised, the Cardinal won its first game of the season by committee. Everyone (except Morgan & Hannah, who were not in uniform) played with intensity and skill, and everyone scored.

Lindy led all scorers with 21 points off seven (of 13) beautiful three-pointers. Jeanette, who looks even stronger and better than last season, set the tone with 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Jayne, Nneka and Sarah also scored in double figures.

The team spirit was emphasized by what I hope will be a new Cardinal tradition -- the team gathered at center court after the game, joined their uplifted hands, and shouted STANFORD!

Here is the AP game recap and the box score from Stanford Athletics and a game report by Michelle Smith (SF Chronicle).

Winning by committee

A staff writer for SI.com considers how the Cardinal will move forward without Candice.

Tara says that this year's team will do it by committee -- four people who get ten, five or six people in double figures, different players in different games. Her biggest challenge may be divvying up minutes considering the depth of the team at every position. Read more...

Jayne is ready to go

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) reports on the health issues of Bay Area post players. Cal's Devanei Hampton and Rama N'diaye are still recovering from their knee injuries. But Jayne is cleared to practice this week and is likely to play against Chico State on Saturday. Read more...

Coaches pick Stanford to win Pac-10

You won't be surprised to hear that the Pac-10 head coaches have picked Stanford to win the conference title (for the ninth straight year). Cal is a very close second, and Arizona State is not far behind. Read more...

NCAA Compliance

Stanford Athletics and the Fast Break Club complement their support of women's basketball by linking to each other's website. Both are required to observe NCAA Recruiting Rules.

It was recently brought to our attention that we failed to comply with two rules.

We linked to articles about prospective student athletes who had verbally committed to Stanford. We are not allowed to write about a recruit until she has signed a Letter of Intent. This usually happens during the early signing period, which this season is Nov 12-19, but may be done as late as May 20, 2009. We have removed such entries from the FBC Recruiting blog.

We linked to websites of recruiting services -- services that evaluate and provide information about recruits' potential. This is not allowed because it implies endorsement of those services. Two such services are HoopGurlz and scout.com (The Bootleg). We have removed all links to recruiting services, including entries in the FBC Recruiting blog and the FBC Interview blog. Much to our regret, the latter included links to Sue Bair's excellent interviews with various team members, which were posted in The Bootleg. Her interviews do not violate NCAA rules, but our linking to The Bootleg did.

We regret the need to restrict the content of our website, as you, perhaps, regret the need to restrict your contact with prospective athletes. But, so be it. The NCAA Recruiting Rules are designed to prevent gross recruiting violations and are in the best interest of our recruits.

Preview of the top teams

USA Today has previewed, but not ranked, what they consider to be the top 16 women's basketball teams. Among them are Stanford, of course, and six of our upcoming opponents: Arizona State, Baylor, California, Duke, Rutgers and Tennessee. The evaluation of each team includes a "Big Question", which I've paraphrased below. To which of the above six teams does each question pertain?

• Will they rebound from a relatively down 2007 and compete in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Coast?
• Three of the their seven losses last season came against xxx. Can they get over the hump and take the top spot in the conference?
• They finished losing six of their final 11, including a first-round exit in the conference tournament. Can their starting guard's knee hold up?
• How quickly can the freshmen get past the learning curve and become acclimated to the speed of the college game?
• Can their leading scorer handle being the new leader of the team, and can she shoulder the load if the freshmen don't pay immediate dividends?
• After what was considered a disappointing 22-11 record, including a second-round loss, can they rebound and put together a deeper run in the big dance?

The answers and more...

Stanford & Cal among the best

Do you remember the three Stanford/Cal games last season?

• The first one at Maples when the Cardinal's A+ defense shut down the Bears 72-52.
• The last one, the Pac-10 Tournament Championship, when the Cardinal stunned the tired Bears in a 56-35 rout.
• And the best one at Cal where 10,525 fans watched Stanford battle to a 60-58 victory. Remember the last 37 seconds when Stanford held on to its slim lead as Cal missed four shots and JJ, Kayla and Ros took turns missing a one-and-one?

Michelle Smith writes about the expectations and prospects of these two teams that are expected to be in the top 10 again this season.

Stanford is eager for another championship season. JJ says, "We've experienced the Final Four and everyone is definitely working really hard to get back." Kayla adds, "People understand what it takes to get there and we're doing it."

Cal has all five of their starters returning, and this is the last chance for the So Berkeley Trio (Devanei, Alexis and Ashley) to achieve their goal.

Read more...

Ready for a big jump

Seven years ago, the only thing Nneka Ogwumike knew about basketball was that the object of the game was to put the ball in the basket. She's learned a lot since then and is ready for the jump into her college career. Teammate Kayla Pedersen says Nneka is powerful and quick enough to jump out of the gym.

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) writes of Nneka's road to Stanford, what she expects of her college career, and what Tara expects of her. Read more...

Preseason Top 25

SPM Sportspage predicts that Stanford will be the #3 women's basketball team this season. They say, "Don’t be surprised to see Coach Tara Vanderveer’s squad win another Pac-10 title." We won't be!

The Cardinal will be playing six of SPM's top-25 teams this season:

#4 Tennessee
#6 California
#8 Duke
#9 Rutgers
#13 Arizona State
#20 Baylor

Read more...

Injury Report

The class of 2010 has had three ACLs, two meniscus surgeries and one shoulder. Jayne hopes that they're done with the injury jinx.

She and Michelle had their meniscus tears repaired recently. Their pre-season practice is limited, but Tara doesn't see them missing games.

Ros's practice has been limited too because she wrenched her back in a rear-ender this summer.

Read more...