Holiday Hoops

Charlie Creme (ESPN) discusses a dozen upcoming nonconference games that may distinguish Team A from Team B come selection time, including:

Tennessee at Stanford: Two heavyweights who will definitely be in the NCAA Tournament meet with the game meaning much more to the Cardinal than the Lady Vols. When it's all said and done, Tennessee is going to be a No. 1 seed, but Stanford would be in the running as well with an upset here. Another big loss like the one to UConn at the Paradise Jam, however, and it will be all too clear that the Cardinal aren't ready to compete with the absolute elite. That could relegate Stanford to a region with one of the two aforementioned powers and a huge barrier to the Final Four.

Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online) reports that Candice is very excited about the game and that folks in Albuquerque were very impressed by the Cardinal.