I've not yet found any news of who the Cardinal will play during their trip to Italy, but so far they've had a great time as tourists in Rome!
Kate reports, "Colosseum, Ancient Rome, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Stairs & GREAT late dinner at Dal Bolognese at Piazza del Popolo! Awesome day!"
(The photos are from the Sara James and Stanford WBB twitter accounts.)
I just noticed that our freshmen borrowed some uniforms and had their photos taken by Norbert von der Groeben/ISI Photo several weeks ago. Click here for all the photos.
The Pac-12 has ramped up its attempt to bring DirecTV into the fold.
Bud Withers (Seattle Times) reports on the Pac-12's new ad campaign here.
Click here for the Pac-12 press release, which includes links to all versions of the TV spots.
Stanford Athletics has announced the Women's Basketball non-conference schedule. As usual, it's a tough one.
“Our non-conference schedule follows our philosophy that preparation for the unique demands and challenges of the NCAA Tournament begins in November,” said Tara.
As to the Pac-12, the Cardinal will compete with the Arizona, Southern Cal, and Washington schools twice, both at home and away. They'll compete with the Oregon schools and with Colorado and Utah just once, either at home or away.
The Cardinal’s full schedule, which will include TV broadcast information as well as the Pac-12 slate, is expected to be available in early September.
Here are links to:
Stanford Athletics announced on Friday that Toni has suffered concussions and will not play her senior season.
This is such a disappointment for Toni, her team and her fans. She has already contributed so much in her three seasons with the team and will be a valuable mentor for the newbie guards, but I regret that I won't see her play again.
I noted in her college debut game that, "She's very fast, physically and mentally, sees the floor extremely well, and gets the ball to her teammates with great precision. She's equally impressive on defense – intense and tenacious."
Tara said, “The story for me today was Toni. We went right away with Toni and Jeanette as our two guards and I think her speed and her quickness really helped us get into doing the things we wanted to do.”
Remember the Pac-10 Title Game that season when Toni brought the Cardinal back from the brink of defeat?
UCLA had held the lead for most of the game as the Cardinal fell further and further behind. A victory began to seem possible halfway through the second half after Jeanette hit two three-pointers and Toni made a fast break layup after stealing the ball. The score was tied with six minutes left to play.
The bench went wild!
She handled the Lady Vols' pressure defense with calm assurance, driving at them, around them and sometimes over them.
I'll miss seeing Toni directing traffic …
Her distinctive style on free throws …
And three-pointers ...
Most of all, I'll remember Toni as someone who marches to her own beat …
It was announced today that Toni has retired from basketball because of concussions, but that she will stay with the team for her senior year.
Aly tore her ACL again during a recent summer workout, so will be out for the season.
Click here for the complete announcement from Stanford Athletics.
espnW has posted the report of Tara's new contract under this headline:
Tempie rose to the position of Associate Head Coach at Michigan State, where she helped guide the Spartans to four finishes in the top three teams of the Big Ten and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament. She has 14 years of coaching experience.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1990 and was a standout member of the basketball team. She still ranks in their top-15 in scoring and their top-20 in career assists and steals.
Note: Coach Brown's first name is Tempie, not Temple. I misread and misspelled it in my original post.
Brittany has five years of experience as a strength and conditioning specialist, most recently at Holy Cross.
She is a 2007 graduate of Holy Cross, where she played basketball as a starting guard for four years and scored 1,000 points.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight panel has approved the following changes for Division I Women's Basketball in 2013-14.
10-second backcourt rule
Closely guarded rule
The closely guarded rule in the backcourt has been eliminated.
The closely guarded rule in the frontcourt now declares it a violation when a player with a defender within six feet holds the ball for more than five seconds. Previously, the defender had to be within three feet.
Media timeouts
When a team-called timeout occurs within 30 seconds of the scheduled media timeout (first dead ball under the 16-, 12-, eight- and four-minute marks), it becomes the subsequent media timeout with the exception of the first team-called timeout in the second half.
Restricted area rule
When a player starts her move from inside the lower-defensive box area, a secondary defender can draw a charge and the restricted area is not in effect.
Elbow rule
Regarding elbow contact above the shoulders, officials may use the monitor to determine if a flagrant foul has been committed. Officials will determine if the contact was a flagrant 2, flagrant 1, common foul or no call.
The rules committees felt the original intent of the elbow rules (to protect players) have caused too many flagrant fouls being called when they weren’t appropriate.
Monitor usage
In the last two minutes of regulation and overtime, officials can review a shot-clock violation and determine who caused the ball to go out of bounds on deflections involving two or more players.
If officials are unsure if a shot was a two-point or a three-point field goal, they can signal to the scorer's table to review it during the next media timeout. However, in the last four minutes of regulation and all of overtime, officials will go to the monitor immediately in such situations, rather than waiting for a timeout.
The monitor can be used to determine who committed a foul if there is uncertainty. Previously, officials could only use the monitor for determining the free throw shooter.
(See the Rules Committee Report for more information about the above changes.)
Leaning Into Basketball
When I was in the 7th grade, the librarian at my school called my father and told him, "Mr. VanDerveer, I am concerned about Tara. She has read every book in this library about basketball." He laughed a little, relieved knowing I could be in a lot more trouble than that!
Today the Menlo Park librarian could be calling too because I have been reading all of their books on leadership and mentorship.
Currently I am reading "Lean In," by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. In her book, Ms. Sandberg writes about the lack of progress for women in leadership positions. She notes that women are now 50% of our college graduates yet women are woefully underrepresented in leadership positions in industry and government.
She could have added sports too! Like Ms. Sandberg, I am concerned about the direction I see in athletics and specifically in women's basketball. According to the Women's Coaching Alliance, women hold only 19% of all coaching jobs. In women's basketball, women hold just over 40% of coaching jobs. Why is the number of women coaches so abysmal?
In the early years of women's athletics, over 90% of women's teams were coached by women. Most of these positions were either volunteer or minimal pay. The AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), the governing body of women's sports, was run and directed by women athletic directors.
When the NCAA took over administering women's athletics many of the female coaches and administrators were reassigned, phased out or replaced. When coaching women became more lucrative and prestigious more men became interested in these positions.
Ms. Sandberg encourages women to, "Sit at the table and lean in!" This is great advice. Throughout her book I would laugh or nod my head in agreement with the stories she told.
It reminded me of my experience as a young girl going out to play basketball with the neighborhood boys. They didn't want me to play with them just because I was a girl (or maybe because I was a better player!). I tried "leaning in" but the result was a fight and a bloody nose. When I came home bleeding and crying my mother's reaction was, "Clean up and go back and get in the game." She asked me, "Are you going to give up something you love because of a bloody nose?" My mom went into the attic and returned with a new basketball. She said, "Here is an early Christmas present. If they want to use your ball, you play." It worked.
As the Olympic Coach in 1996, my staff (all women) and I were the only female basketball coaches in Atlanta. On our trip to Russia, one of the Russian directors was totally amazed and flabbergasted that a women's basketball team would have all women coaching and leading the team...and winning I might add!
At Stanford we are one of a few all female basketball coaching staffs. As an experienced coach it is important for me to mentor young coaches. I am excited to see former players and coaches having the opportunity to coach their teams. These women are knowledgeable, hard working and enthusiastic teachers of the game.
Mentoring and giving women opportunities is not only women's work. I encourage and applaud men in athletics who are developing women coaches and administrators. Playing college basketball definitely prepares women to "lean in" (even if it means having an ice bag handy!).
I need to invite Ms. Sandberg to one of our games and have her meet our team. After spending time with people like Chiney Ogwumike, she will be more optimistic about the future of women as leaders!
-Tara VanDerveer
Jill's Italian Survival Guide
Jillian Harmon, '09, was a member of four Pac-10 championship teams and two Final Four teams, as well as a member of the New Zealand Olympic team in 2008. Jill has played professionally in Italy, where Stanford women's basketball will take its foreign tour this summer, the past five seasons and has returned to the Bay Area this off-season to train and intern at a local company.
"Ciao" - You automatically know two words in one with ciao. Hello and goodbye. Use it all the time - Italians love it. If you want to go that extra mile as Stanford people generally do, there are more formal ways of saying hello and goodbye: "Buongiorno" is good morning, "Buona Sera" is good evening, and "Arrivederci" is goodbye.
"Grazie" - One of the things that drive Italians nuts is the mispronunciation of grazie (thank you) by foreigners. Grazie is as follows: the "i" is pronounced as "e" and the "e" is pronounced as "a". Imagine it spelled like this: "Graz-E-A", and not "Graz-EE".
"Non Era Un Fallo" means "That wasn't a foul." (You all will actually be playing a little basketball over there right???)
Proud To Be A Cardinal
Guard Jasmine Camp is primed to make an increased contribution in the 2013-14 season after battling injuries her first two years on The Farm. Known for her high energy and vocal enthusiasm, the Georgia native has made a strong showing in spring workouts and will benefit from the team's summer training and foreign tour.
Wake up. Go to class. Go to practice. Eat dinner. Study. Go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again. As students, we often get lost in the monotony of our daily routines.
In an attempt to remember when Computer Science assignments are due and how long papers need to be, knowledge of the outside world and its happenings often pass us by. We could easily allow the hectic nature of our schedules and the stress of academia to consume every minute of our attention, but we don't.
Among the laundry list of things that I love about Stanford, one of the things that I'm most proud of as a Stanford student is our relentless desire to connect with the surrounding community and the greater world. Our athletes are not only skilled, physical specimens, but also helping hands in the surrounding community. Our students are not only brilliant minds with 4.0 GPAs, but teachers in the making.
Even our faculty extends their knowledge to us students through more than just lectures and assignments. After reading and discussing a research topic, one of my psychology professors always presented us with the question of, "How can we use this research to change workplace and school environments and improve the world around us?" It was a constant reminder that the things we learned were not just for mere memorization but to be put to use in order to better our communities and the futures of those around us.
From research and education reform to community service and peer tutoring, Stanford is a place that provides so many opportunities to impact the world on any scale, large or small. Last year, a couple of my friends and I worked and participated in the Relay for Life fundraiser, and we had a blast. The event was a lot of fun, but what I remember most about that fundraiser wasn't the beads we got for laps that we walked, or the carnival games that we so eagerly played, but the fact that everything that we did that day helped keep someone alive.
In those moments, I realize that life is so much more than grades and eating lunch out on the lawn. This world is bigger than just our Stanford community, and there are people in this world that need whatever knowledge, help, or skills we can offer. Some of the greatest minds in the world walk this campus, and I have yet to meet someone who was intent on keeping all of that knowledge to oneself.
This is what makes Stanford special. This is why I'm proud to be a Cardinal.
-Jasmine Camp, '15
