Bittersweet

So bitter to see JJ go down in great pain, apparently with an injured knee, as she drove towards the basket late in the first half. She had started the game right where she left off last season: nine points on three of four three-pointers, six assists and one turnover.

But what a sweet victory for the Cardinal, who crushed the Scarlet Knights 81-47. Jayne led the way in the paint and on the scoreboard with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Kayla added 17 points and Nneka 11 for a total of 47, the same as Rutgers' total score.

Which is not to say that the other members of The Committee were not needed. It is said that Tara doesn't like to play zone defense, but the Cardinal employed it very effectively for most of the game, and Rutgers could not cope with it. On the other hand, the Cardinal coped very well with Rutgers' occasional press. Turnovers were 8-16 and steals 8-5, both in the Cardinal's favor.

For more, see:

• Game reports from Palo Alto Online and the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
• The AP game recap and photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

Next up, the Scarlet Knights

Before their road trip to the Bay Area, coach C. Vivian Stringer said of her five McDonald's All-American freshmen, "They don't know what they don't know." In other words, don't expect the newcomers to shy away from what promised to be a treacherous weekend.

They're beginning to understand after the 66-52 plain ol' whuppin' the Bears put on them at Haas last night. Playing without Devanei Hampton and Rama N'Diaye, still recovering from knee injuries, the Bears outplayed the Knights in all aspects of the game. In addition to all that's covered in the game reports, two things impressed me:

• The difference between our Jayne and the Knights' Big, Kia Vaughn. As has been the case with Jayne, Kia was double-teamed almost every time she got the ball (usually by Ashley Walker and Kelsey Adrian). The difference: her stats line -- 35 minutes, four points, four turnovers, eight rebounds, one block, zero assists. “Jayne is a very unselfish player,” Amy said after the New Mexico game, "so when she can’t do her own shooting, she passes off to someone who can." Kia was not able to do that last night.
  
  
• The Knights' defensive intensity. They pressed so hard in the last quarter of the game, that the Bears were often unable to inbound the ball. I expect the Cardinal will be ready for that on Sunday.

Here are the story about Rutgers' anticipated Bay Area road trip, the Cal/Rutgers game report, both from the New Jersey Star-Ledger, and the box score and play-by-play.

They're back!

Jillian said, "People are still learning their roles and picking their spots. I think it's coming along."

It came along very nicely in the Cardinal's 84-46 win over the New Mexico Lobos. Jillian led five committee members in double figures with 13 points.

JJ is back. She played 11 minutes, hit three three-pointers, and ended up with 12 points. Tara said, "Having JJ back really changes our team. "She gives us great stability with her experience, her poise." JJ said, "It was so nice to play. It was killing me sitting on the bench."

The perimeter shooting is back. The Cardinal swished 12 of 27 three-pointers: four from Lindy (who earned her first start and played 19 minutes), four from Jeanette, three from JJ and one from Ros.

The defense is back. The Cardinal held the Lobos to 27% shooting and out-rebounded them 47 - 35. Jayne was double-teamed almost every time she got the ball, so turned her attention to finding her teammates. She dished out seven assists to go with 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Nneka added eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and 11 points.

Here are the AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics and game reports from Michelle Smith (SF Chronicle) and Wyndam Makowsky (Stanford Daily).

Next up, the New Mexico Lobos

Richard Stevens (GoLobos) thinks the Lobos could have found a more favorable place to open their 2008-09 road season than Palo Alto, CA.

Although the Cardinal fell to #8 in the polls after their loss to Baylor, coach Dan Flanagan says, "I don't want to criticize them at all. I don't want anything on their bulletin board about what I said. They are missing one great athlete (Wiggins) that they had last year, but they have four of their starting five back again and they are very physical, very talented, execute very well, are well coached. Maybe not as athletic as last year, but they are young and I think eventually they are going to be one of the top five teams in the nation."

UNM does have something the Cardinal don't have: a perfect record. The Lobos are 3-0 after winning the Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tournament in The Pit.

It will be interesting to see how the MVP of the tournament, 6'-3" Angela Hartill does against the inside talent of Stanford. It's important for the Lobos to get points from Hartill because she is the main threat inside and a good game from her in the paint opens up the perimeter more for the Lobo long guns. Read more...

Things learned from Baylor's upset of Stanford

Tracy Schultz (SI.com) learned something about Stanford on Sunday: You don't just replace a four-time All-America.

Although the Cardinal struggled with physical battles in the paint and missed plenty of open shots on the perimeter, she thinks there is no need for them to panic. They do need the leadership and consistency that Candice provided, but they may get that back when JJ rejoins the team.

Tara said, "Our team not only is without Candice, but without our starting point guard, [whose return] would allow Jeanette Pohlen to play her real position and would bring tremendous stability to our team. When you take away basically -- this is Texas -- your quarterback and your best running back, you've got trouble. Sometimes you go into a fight, and this is Round 1. We've got a big bloody nose. See us at Round 15, see where we've come."

There's no reason the Cardinal can't rebound from the loss. Wiggins might have been a huge part of the program, but she's not the only one that got the Cardinal to the championship game last season, even after losses to UCLA and USC. Read more...

Baylor payback

Just 11 months ago, Stanford defeated Baylor 87-63 at Maples. Rachel Allison was hurt and embarassed. "It broke our heart," she said.

Today Baylor defeated Stanford 81-65. Allison led the way offensively with the game-high 25 points, including four of six 3-pointers.

"They were on a mission," Tara said. "They didn't like what happened last year and wanted payback. They were fired up and got after it. More power to them."

Here are the AP game recap, photo gallery and the box score from Stanford Athletics and a game report by Joe Holloway (Baylor Lariat).

Next up, the Baylor Lady Bears

There are several superficial similarities between the Cardinal and their next opponent, Baylor.

Baylor returns all but one starter, star guard and top scorer Angela Tisdale.

Both teams struggled beyond the arc in their first game. The Lady Bears sank just three of 20 3-point attempts. Ros and Jeanette found the basket late in the game, and the Cardinal ended up three of 10.

They too have four freshmen. This similarity end with the number. In their season opener against Florida Atlantic last night with a substantial early lead and looking to rest the starters as much as possible before taking on No. 2 Stanford, coach Kim Mulkey subbed-in the four freshmen with a little more than six minutes to go in the first half. "The freshmen did about what you expect them to do," Mulkey said. Three minutes and 10 Florida Atlantic points later, the freshmen were out and the starters were back in to close out the half.

The freshmen got another chance in the last six minutes of the game, when they surrendered only 11 points. "They were much better the second go around," Mulkey said. But none appear to be of the same caliber as Nneka and Sarah.

"Stanford is huge, they have a lot of depth," Mulkey said. " We'll play hard. We're going to give it everything we have and see if we can make a ballgame out of it."

No doubt the Cardinal will do the same.

You can watch a webcast of the game on Baylor's All*Access channel, but it will cost you $6.95. Go to the Baylor Schedule, click on the Stanford game, then click the Watch button. And if you don't want to do that, remember that you can Listen Live on KZSU.

Off to a good start

By Michelle Smith, San Francisco Chronicle

The Cardinal won their eighth straight season opener 68-55 with a physical, roller-coaster effort against a strong Big Ten opponent. What looked like it would be an easy win in the opening minutes and a defensive slog as the first-half ended, turned into a second-half dogfight.

"I like that it was physical out there, I think that's great for our team," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We didn't back down and that's a great statement. That's the way it's going to be. Read more...

Here are the AP game recap and the box score from Stanford Athletics.

Up first, the Golden Gophers

Stanford opens the season at home tonight against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Like Stanford, Minnesota begins the season with confidence. Their motto is, "Expect to win!" They too have more depth than last season with three freshmen (Jackie Voigt, Brianna Mastey and Kiara Buford) who are expected to play and produce immediately. Their top returning scorer, Emily Fox, is expected to pile up points again.*

But this will not be an easy game for the Gophers. In coach Pam Burton's seven seasons at Minnesota, they have never lost a season opener. But they have never opened against a nationally ranked opponent, nor away from home.

Read previews of the game from Minnesota's viewpoint by Mark Heise (Minnesota Daily) and Rachel Blount (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.

*Emily Fox is also a world champion cup stacker.

We want more

Graham Hays (ESPN) writes about the Cardinal's confronting life after Candice.

When asked if they might be a little tired of talking about her, JJ said, "I wish she was still here and we didn't have to be talking about her. But it's not something that I'm tired of, because she deserves all the talk and publicity and credit she gets."

Nobody is talking about replacing her presence. Having seen what it takes to get to the season's final weekend, nobody is all that interested in wasting energy on words of any kind. Jayne says, "We're just going to go out and do it and not talk about it so much. We're all kind of aware that we all need to step up."

Unlike Tennessee and LSU, Stanford returns almost its entire roster. In addition to all the returning talent, Tara brought in a surprisingly large and unsurprisingly lauded recruiting class. But something else returned alongside all that talent from last season, something that should quickly be passed on to the fresh faces.

"I feel like, coming into Stanford, I think if you ask anyone why they're here, it's to win a national championship," Hones said. "I think everyone put themselves in a place where they were going to do well both athletically and academically. And I don't think -- not think, I know -- we were not satisfied with how we finished last year. Yes, it's great we got to the national championship game, but this year we're greedy. We want more.

Read more...