Blowouts and Upsets

UW's huge losses last weekend, especially the 77-point blowout by Stanford, has gotten a lot of media attention. In Washington, much of the discussion is about how it will affect Tia jackson, in her second season as the Huskies' coach:

• Blowout losses leave an impression from the Seattle Times
• Huskies smarting from two routs in Bay Area from the Seattle P-I.
• UW women hope to rebound after disastrous weekend from the Snohomish County HeraldNet.

Tia and her players say they're ready to move on. Junior forward Sami Whitcomb: "The Stanford game was a terrible game. They played great and we didn't. We certainly didn't expect the performance that we had, but we have to keep it in perspective. We have to move forward, we have to look forward to the opportunities this week against the Oregon schools. It's a chance to redeem ourselves, a chance to play together and get some wins."

And Tia's job does not appear to be in jeopardy. UW athletic director Scott Woodward said he plans to be patient with the second-year coach. "I have confidence in coach Jackson," he said. "She's in her second year with a very young team, and we're going to be very patient with her, and I have confidence that she'll steadily bring the women's basketball program to where it needs to be."

Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chronicle) sees the blowout as bad news for the Pac-10. She also pooh-poohs the notion that Tara ran up the score against UW and WSU. Read more...

On a different topic, Charlie Creme (ESPN) discusses how the many recent upsets – to ten of the Top 25 teams last week – have affected his bracket predictions. He still has the Cardinal as a #2 seed, pending their upcoming game against Cal. Read more...

One of those upsets – Vanderbilt 74, Tennessee 58 – really upset Pat Summitt. Read what she's doing about it here ...