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This is Bird's fourth nomination to a national watch list. She has also landed on lists for the John R. Wooden Award®, the 2017 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year, and the 2017 Wade Trophy.Fittingly, Thursday was also National Bird Day. SWBB Facebook showed its appreciation of our Bird with a charming video — watch.
☘ It's finally time to announce Chapter 2! ☘ pic.twitter.com/HZaqfCMPg6
— Lili Thompson (@Lili_Thompson) January 5, 2017
Though senior Lindsay Allen departs this spring, former Stanford point guard Lili Thompson announced on Twitter on Thursday that she will join Notre Dame as a graduate transfer in the 2017-18 season.
"I'm SO excited to announce the next step in my journey!" Thompson wrote. "I have decided to postpone my entry into the WNBA Draft and make a return to College Basketball. For the 2017-2018 season, I will be joining the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame!
"I'm excited to join what is already a stellar team, and to get to work on winning a National Championship. Thanks to everyone, past and present, who has been a part of this process and supported me. Go Irish!"
The 5-foot-7 Thompson — a Mansfield, Texas, native — will arrive in South Bend with an extensive resume, including All-Pac-12 honors in her sophomore and junior seasons and a spot on the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team in 2014.
She started 96 of 104 career games at Stanford, averaging 12.0 points per game while racking up 295 assists. Last season, Thompson was named Pac-12 Player of the Week three times and averaged 14.7 points and 3.5 assists per game.
In Stanford's 90-84 Sweet Sixteen upset victory over Notre Dame last March, Thompson scored 11 points and added nine assists in 37 minutes.
The former Timberview High School standout, who has one season of eligibility remaining, chose to leave Stanford's program prior to her senior season this fall, though she remained enrolled at the university.
In South Bend, Thompson will have to compete for playing time with a slew of talented guards, including current sophomores Arike Ogunbowale and Ali Patberg, junior Mychal Johnson and freshman Jackie Young.
The media coverage for both games is:
Almost half of last year's team graduated, including three of the Ducks' top five scorers. Jillian Alleyne, who overtook Chiney to become the top career rebounder in the Pac-12, is the greatest loss.
But the Ducks have lots of young talent — their seven-player recruiting class ranked No. 3 in the nation by ESPN. Most notable are 6'4" forward Ruthy Hebard, who played on the USA U18 team last summer, and 5'10" guard Sabrina Ionescu, one of the top five recruits of the year and MVP of the 2016 McDonald’s All-American Game.
Hebard is the Ducks' leading scorer (14.6 ppg) and rebounder (8.4 rpg). She makes 73.2% of her shots, the best in the nation. She has put up four 20-point plus games this season, including 25 points in 27 minutes against Washington last Friday.
Ionescu is the Ducks' second-best scorer (13.1 ppg) and rebounder (6.5 rpg) and the best ball handler. Although she is nominally a shooting guard, she averages more than five assists per game with an excellent 2.47 assist/turnover ratio. She has already had two 20-plus point games this season and a pair of triple-doubles.
Junior guard Lexi Bando is the Ducks' third double-digit scorer with 12.8 per game. She is their best 3-point shooter with an average of 2.7 treys per game at a rate of 57.1%, the seventh-best 3-point percentage in the nation.
However, all has not been well in Eugene. Recent injuries sapped the Ducks' backcourt. Ionescu broke her thumb about a month ago and missed the last four games. She is expected to be back in the lineup for the upcoming Bay Area games. Their other primary ballhandler, sophomore guard Maite Cazoria, missed several games while nursing a foot issue, but was back on the court last Sunday.
Freshman forward Lydia Giomi is out indefinitely with a broken hand. Freshman guard Jayde Woods also suffered a hand injury recently. She has since left the program and has been given permission to seek a transfer.
So it's not surprising that the Ducks began conference play with two losses — to Washington 77-99 and to Washington State 59-75. Head coach Kelly Graves said, "It is what it is. You gotta lace 'em up and play with what you have."
Now, with Ionescu and Cazoria back, the Ducks are ready to get a Pac-12 win.
Here are the Ducks' roster and season statistics.
The reigning Pac-12 champions have lost most of the talent that took them all the way to the Final Four last season. Their outstanding shooting guard Jamie Weisner, powerful center Ruth Hamblin, and forward Deven Hunter graduated.
But point guard Sydney Wiese, now a senior and the team leader, is determined to continue the Beavers' winning tradition into this season and beyond. Wiese's biggest focus this season has been working with the underclassmen to help them be, "as good as they can be and as good as we need them to be."
Wiese is an excellent ball handler who prefers distributing the ball to taking shots. She averages more than five assists per game with a very good 2.1 assist/turnover ratio.
Although Wiese has the green light, she attempts only about 11 fields goals per game. (In contrast, Washington's Kelsey Plum takes about 19 shots per game). But she's having one of the most efficient offensive seasons in the country, shooting 49 percent from the field, 47 percent from the 3-point line and averaging a career-best 16.0 ppg. (up from 12.8 last season).
She has tallied a triple-double (points, rebounds, assists) this season.
6'5"junior center Marie Gulich , who was backup to Ruth Hamblin last season, has also stepped up. She's the Beavers's second-best scorer (10.9 ppg) and the best rebounder (7.9 rpg).
The third consistent starter for the Beavers is senior guard Gabriella Hanson, their defensive specialist. She helped the Beavers limit Kelsey Plum to a season-low .348 field goal percentage last Sunday and to a season-low 14 points in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals last season.
The Beavers have two very promising freshman guards: Kat Tudor with 7.8 ppg, almost all from beyond the arc, had a strong opening weekend in Pac-12 play, scoring a combined 20 points against Washington State and Washington; Mikayla Pivec, with a season average of 6.0 ppg and 4.9 rpg, has started the last five games for the Beavers averaging 10.8 ppg in those starts.
The Beavers have begun conference play this season with two wins — 80-58 over Washington State and 73-70 over Washington.
Here are the Beavers' roster and season statistics.
A week into the conference season Charlie Creme (espnW) has updated his bracket with this comment, "Texas and Tennessee are back in the 64-team field, but the ACC leads the way with five teams in the top 16, including Virginia Tech. Notre Dame, upset by NC State, drops to a No. 2 seed, making room for South Carolina on the top line."
He now has eight Pac-12 teams in the bracket:
Click here for the complete bracket.
Arizona suffered by far the worst scoring drought, going twelve minutes (8:20 in the second quarter to 6:30 in the third) without a field goal. During that gap, Stanford opened a lead that couldn't be closed.
Stanford had its own drought in the third quarter, during which only one player managed any field goals: Marta, who hit two three-point baskets, a layup, and a free throw for nine points that kept UA from closing the gap its drought had opened.
The Wildcats later narrowed the margin to nine points, but in the fourth quarter Karlie hit two threes and Bird and Nadia hit layups to put the game well out of reach.
Bird led all scorers with 19, plus 16 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.
Karlie had 17 points, including hitting five of ten three-point shots, plus five assists and two blocks. She played most of this game, heading for the bench with just three minutes left to play — it's not surprising that she looked rather tired on some of her failed shots.
Nadia scored 12 points on 4-5 strong layups under the basket and all four of her free throws.
Marta had those nine important points during the third quarter when nobody else could score.
The game may be more memorable for the injury toll than the result. Early in the game Alanna fell and had to leave the floor. She was seen wearing a boot later.
In the fourth quarter Erica took a hard fall and left the court, but was seen at the end of the game walking normally.
Nadia fell hard in the fourth quarter when she was undercut by Arizona's Breanna Workman. Workman paid a price: Nadia fell directly on her. Both left the game briefly, but both later returned to play and score.
The Cardinal will now have several days to recover before hosting the Oregon teams at Maples.
In other Pac-12 action today, OSU didn't slow down Chantal Osafor, who swished six of nine 3-pointers. But they did slow down Kelsey Plum without fouling her — she was awarded just five free throws and scored only 22 points — and eked out a 73-70 win over Washington.
And the Sun Devils slowed down Christine Anigwe for 40 minutes, limiting her to just six points on six field goal attempts. Ten [playing] minutes later they handed the Bears their first defeat of the season, 72-62 in double overtime.
Here are game reports and commentary:
And a gallery of photos by Chris Hook for Arizona Athletics.
The game turned on two key minutes.
With one minute to play in the third quarter and the score 43-42, Nadia stole the ball and Marta fed Karlie for a three. After several misses, Nadia grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in on the buzzer, ending the quarter 48-42.
The Cardinal clung to that lead as the Sun Devils clawed back. With one minute left in the game and the score 59-57, ASU passed the ball out of bounds. The refs conferred at length over the replay to see which player had the last touch; and awarded the ball to Stanford.
ASU forced a held ball with 0:24 to play, the arrow pointing Stanford's way. Now came a crazy play. With three seconds on the shot clock, Karlie inbounded the ball on a high lob to Bird in front of the bench. Bird had to reach high to catch it and might have intended to immediately shoot it — or not. Before anyone could know, ASU's Quinn Dornstauder reached up and touched Erica's arm. The ref decided it was a shooting foul and awarded Erica three free throws, which she made, icing the win.
Karlie had the game-high 16 points on 6-9 shooting as well as scrapping continually, taking endless punishment as she pursued every loose ball. She played every one of the grueling 40 minutes, the only player on either side to do so.
Bird ended with 12 points (including eight of nine free throws) and eleven rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.
Brittany scored eight points. Thwarted by the Sun Devils' defense under the basket, she took two shots from beyond the arc and sank both of them.
Nadia also scored eight points. Marta made seven and showed a new determination to score, driving to the basket eight times. She would have connected more than three times against a different defense than ASU's.
Now the team can retire to the hotel for a New Year's Eve that will probably feature more ice bags than iced drinks, before playing Arizona on Sunday.
Here are game reports and commentary:
A video interview of Karlie,
A video about that decisive last play,
And a gallery of photos by Cheryl Evans (azcentral/sports) — these capture the flavor of this intense, physical game:
Stanford women’s basketball begins the conference season this weekend with the desert trip to the Arizona schools. Friday afternoon’s game against ASU will be a heavy duty encounter against one of the conference’s top schools. In national polls, Stanford is more highly ranked, but ASU is a perennial top team in the conference, was conference co-champion last year, shares Stanford’s 9-2 record in non conference games, and plays especially tough at home. Last year, ASU bested Stanford both home and away. The game will be a major test for Stanford.
This Stanford team begins the season with major challenges and opportunities. Stanford has three starters who routinely score in double figures: Erica McCall (16.7 average), Brittany McPhee (14.8 average) and Karli Samuelson (11.2 average). Each plays solid defense, with Samuelson leading the team in steals and McCall leading in boards and blocks. If there is a surprise here, it is McPhee – she averaged only 6.5 points last season.
Looking beyond this impressive starting trio, the remaining players show substantial but as yet not fully realized potential. There are major question marks at the point guard position and also at the power forward position.
At the point guard, both Briana Roberson and Marta Sniezek have started. Roberson has averaged 5.8 points per game to Sniezek’s 4.4 per game. But Sniezek is, by far, the team leader in assists (4.7 assists per game to Roberson’s 2.5). What is needed is a point guard who can lead the team but also provide more of a scoring threat.
An intriguing possibility is that Anna Wilson, who played her first collegiate game against Yale earlier this week, could provide a scoring spark while leading at the point. In her inaugural effort, Wilson scored 11 points in just 17 minutes of playing time. She had one assist and one steal during this time, but her potential as a difference maker must be established against top quality opponents. If she can stay healthy, her future looks bright.
At power forward, Stanford began the season with Kaylee Johnson getting most of the time (Johnson is still recovering from a stress fracture). Alanna Smith and freshman Nadia Fingall have played more in Johnson’s absence. The three players bring different skill sets to the court. Kaylee is a veteran and a force in rebounding and defense. When she returns, Johnson needs to assert herself offensively, but may have to fight to regain a starting position.
Fingall is a power forward (or post) in the true sense. She offers strength, finesse and smarts. Fingall has averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 boards while playing just over 14 minutes per game. Fingall started against Yale and performed well. Perhaps she has earned a starting position for conference games.
Smith has averaged 5.5 points and 6.2 boards in just under 17 minutes per game. She shot the three ball at 33% last year, but has had a disappointing 15% conversion rate so far this season. Smith has shown some progress in improving her assists and turnover numbers.
There are others who may earn a regular role in the rotation, including freshmen DiJonai Carrington and Mikaela Brewer.
To win the conference, Stanford must get both offense and defense from all five players on the court. It would be encouraging if all five starters could average a minimum of 10 points per game. If defenders can sag off the point guard or power forward, Stanford’s offensive potential will be limited. Karlie Samuelson is the only starter to consistently hit three point shots. Three point shooting percentages are down for McPhee, Roberson, and McCall. Sniezek has attempted only 4 (and converted 1). That’s not going to win games against top flight opponents.
Quick and precise interior court passing is another key to the team’s success. That sort of passing was in evidence against Yale, but must be proven against higher quality opponents.
The potential for a fine conference season is there. I’ll be watching to see who steps up.
The big news was Anna Wilson's debut. During the pre-game talk, Kate Paye announced that Anna had at long last been cleared to play. She had been held out from full-contact practice since suffering a concussion in the McDonald's High School All-American game last April. Now Kate not only said she had cleared the concussion protocol but would probably see action in this game. This was good news, although nobody had high expectations for a player who can have had only limited practice time.
Anna entered the game as the point guard around the 6:00 minute mark in the second quarter. She moved smoothly and confidently and seemed to know what she was doing and where she ought to be. Then, a minute in, she was guarding the Yale point guard as Yale inbounded the ball. Anna simply reached around the girl, took the ball from her hands, coolly ducked under the startled Yale center leaping at her, and laid the ball in the basket. Let the record show: Anna Wilson's first college points were on a steal of an inbound.
A minute later she passed to Karlie for a three, and before the end of the quarter she sank a three of her own. In the fourth quarter she hit two more threes, for a total of eleven points on 4-7 shooting -- a most impressive start for her first game.
Everyone who was available (Kaylee and Mikaela were not) played and scored.
Karlie led the scoring with 21 points, including four of five three-point attempts, and was a complete defensive pest, frustrating the Bulldogs' every move.
Bird had 19 points on seven of nine shots, including hitting her only three-point try.
Brittany had 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Nadia, who started for the first time, had eight points on four of four shots, six rebounds and four assists.
Alanna had seven points, thirteen rebounds (a career high), and two blocks. The second was a memorable block of a three-point attempt. The shooter was just in front of the Yale bench and Alanna sprang at her and swatted the ball out with a slap that could be heard across the court.
Alexa had six points, hitting two three-point attempts. Dijonai had six; Bri and Shannon had four; and Marta had two (and four assists and three steals).
All in all, a fine romp at Maples, sending the team off to Arizona on a high note.
Here are game reports and commentary:
The press conference audio with Tara, Anna, and Karlie,
And a gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (isiphotos.com).
Pac-12 play has just begun (Washington and Washington State played yesterday), and it's going to be as tough a run as it ever has been.
Ryan Thorburn (Oregon Register-Guard) reports on the superlative Pac-12 teams and players: Pac-12 has been the nation’s toughest women’s basketball conference so far
and Pac-12 women’s basketball team-by-team capsules
