Stanford at Full Strength for First Practice

Michelle Smith reports on Stanford's first official practice of the season on Friday night.

Everyone except Sarah and Hannah are cleared to play and took part in drills and scrimmages. Judging from these comments, they're all eager to get started on another successful season.

• JJ said she felt strong and, "I know how it's going to go, that there are going to be setbacks. I've been through it before and I'll do it again."
  
  
• Jayne is absolutely ready to play. She said, "I feel good, it's exciting. It's the first day and everyone is going 2,000 miles an hour."
  
  
• Jeanette said, "I can't even imagine losing before the Final Four, because I don't know that. We have so much potential and not to live up to it would probably be pretty hard, so we are improving each day so that doesn't happen."

Read more...

Tara's intense offseason

Jake Curtis reports that Tara worked harder than she ever has in the offseason in preparation for the Cardinal's toughest non-conference schedule ever. Read more...

Tara's best team ever?

Even though Tara knows that what a team looks like in October means "squat", she compares this season's team favorably with her best teams at Stanford.

She's excited about the team's versatility — the various combinations she can put on the floor. She can go big, she can go small and she can do almost everything in between.

Read more in this report by Jake Curtis.

Offseason boost for the Cardinal

In a interview by Jake Curtis, Tara discussed two things that have given this Cardinal team an offseason boost heading into Friday's opening practice — the extra practice and playing time acquired by having a foreign trip and the completion of the practice facility adjacent to Maples Pavilion.

She has already seen improvement in the team's outside shooting, in particular Kayla's.

Read Jake's complete article here ...

Interviews & photos from USA Basketball training camp

The USA Basketball Women’s National Team returned to Walter Reed Army Medical Clinic on Saturday afternoon to host an open practice and clinic for members of the military and their families. Here's the full report from USA Basketball.

Here's a brief interview of Jayne ...

How difficult has it been to sit out this week and what have you gotten out of it?
I definitely think it’s a good idea to be out here. It’s been really hard to be on the sidelines watching, especially when I’ve been so close to playing. I think it’s been a great experience for me to come out here. I’ve learned a lot just from talking to the players and picking their minds about the next level. Watching them on the court almost has its advantage. It’s definitely been worth it.

Has it helped having other injured players out there with you?
Yeah, it would be a lot harder if I was the only one. We were saying that if we all got healthy we’d have a full squad.

On today’s clinic (at Walter Reed):
It was fun. They were really excited to be interacting with us, playing with us. It wasn’t so much about basketball as it was about having fun with them, letting them get out there and bounce the balls around a little bit, get their minds off of other things for an hour.

... and an interview of Candice ...

How has training camp been for you the past three days?
It’s been great. It’s been nothing but great since day one. Geno is the man. It’s my first time playing for him and he’s probably one of the easiest people I’ve ever had to play for my whole life. That’s a compliment because there are a lot of great coaches out there, but I think he’s the perfect guy for this. He’s going to get the best team together. He’s going to have everybody playing hard. The offense is brilliant to me. It’s very reminiscent of our offense at Stanford. Everybody’s playing hard, playing together, playing smart. We’re our biggest competition. Whatever our national team looks like, whoever’s on it, the first five is going to be the best team in the world. The second five’s going to be the second best team in the world. It’s just been great, a lot of fun.

How different is your confidence level in this training camp from the first USA National Team you were on in 2007?
Night and day. I think that’s just how it is. That’s what experience does. It makes you more confident. It makes you more aware and able to do things that you weren’t able to do before. Because now you know what works and you’re more sure about what you need to do.

Do you feel this is your chance to help mold the future of the USA National Team?
I think so. I’ll take on that responsibility. I know that obviously it’s the national team, it’s not about just one person, but I know that me, Candace (Parker), Sylvia (Fowles), Crystal (Langhorne), we have such a tight connection and rapport with each other. Obviously with other people, too, but seeing them you have that sense of family a little bit. I think that that are the same characteristics that Dawn (Staley) and Lisa (Leslie) had. All of the great teams of the past have had. What Sue (Bird) and Diana (Taurasi) have. Those kinds of things are important. It’s more than just playing basketball on the court. It’s also having that sense of family and making it that special experience.

... and more photos of Jayne and Candice ...

Jayne & Candice at USA Basketball training camp

Jayne and Candice are in Washington, D.C. this week at the USA Basketball Women’s National Team training camp. Here is a team photo — that's Candice (#30) in the back row and Jayne (#16) in the front:

AP sports writer Doug Feinberg reports on the three collegians at camp — Jayne, Maya Moore and Tina Charles. Although Jayne isn't able to play yet, coach Auriemma is impressed with her. He said, "We're not really deep at that spot and I think her game is well suited for a team like this because she's such an unbelievably difficult player to guard in the lane and it would open up so many more opportunities for us." Read more...

Here are photos of Jayne and Candice at today's practice session:
After practice, the team visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as reported in this article.

Tara is pleased with team workouts

Who's healthy and who's not?
Who's improved the most over the summer?
How are the freshmen doing?

Jake Curtis spoke with Tara after team workouts last week, and got the answers to all these and other questions.

In summary, she said, “I’m not upset with anyone. Everyone, even the kids that didn’t play much, are in 1,000 percent better shape.” Read more...

Jayne & Candice headed to national team camp

Palo Alto Online reports:

Jayne Appel's busy senior year at Stanford just got a little busier. The Cardinal basketball standout, along with recent graduate Candice Wiggins, have accepted invitations to attend the 2009 USA Basketball Women's National Team's training camp. Read more...

Jayne among Glamor magazine's Top 10 College Women of 2009

Jayne was named as one of Glamor magazine's Top 10 College Women of 2009 in this month's issue. She was the only athlete among the group of budding leaders in various fields.

This is the magazine's description of Jayne:

Her dream: To play for the WNBA.
How she’s making it happen:As captain of the Stanford Cardinal team, Appel devotes about seven hours a day to basketball, and it shows. An All-American, she led her team to the Final Four the past two seasons. The 6’4” center grew up in the San Francisco Bay area shooting hoops with her three brothers. “I was a tagalong sister and wanted to do whatever they were doing,” she says. Off the court, Appel was inspired by a family member who suffers from mental illness to do advocacy work on the issue and volunteer for a support group. The psychology major plans to graduate early so she can prepare for the WNBA and expects to pursue a career in mental health advocacy.
Embarrassing moment: “Air-balling a free throw on national television.”
Can’t live without: “My flip-flops—I’m a California girl.”

This is the article that describes all 10 winners.

Cardinal lose tough game in Italy

The Cardinal lost their fourth and final game in Italy to San Giovanni (also called Bracco Geas) 72-63.

Jake Curtis has written a brief game report, in which he quotes Amy, "It was a physical game with few fouls being called."

There is a long and spirited game report on the Geas website. It's clear, even through the murk of a computer translation, that they were delighted with the game.

"There could be no better opening day than that staged Saturday evening — against one of the best college women's programs, with one of the most renowned coaches in America and players on vacation but wanting to play real games — a good standard!

Clarisse Machanguana was San Giovanni's top scorer with 19 points. Remember her with the San Jose Lasers?

She's now 36 years old and described in Eurobasket as "a big post player who moves extremely well. Offensively, she plays very well with her back to the basket and can also face up and shoot consistently. Defensively she helps the team with rebounds, helps, rotations..."

It would have been interesting to see a matchup between her and Jayne. As it was, Nneka matched up with her very well. She was the top scorer for the Cardinal with 18 points and was described in the Geas game report as "very energetic and vertical".

After the game, Tara said, "The Geas is a good team, Machanguana and Martinez are two very good players who tonight led their teammates in a masterly way. We did some things very well, others very ill, without finding the middle path that would allow us to do more. Playing teams such as Geas is good for us, this was a real match, tough and demanding."

"We love Italy and we'll definitely be back."