March 05, 2009

Consider the possibilities



The top three teams in the Pac-10 play head-to-head the last weekend of the regular season. Who ends up as #1? Could be any of them.

Until last weekend, Stanford and Cal had lost conference games only to each other and were tied for first place. Then Cal was defeated by UCLA and dropped to a second-place tie with Arizona State.

Arizona State lost to Stanford and Cal the first weekend of the conference season, then won the next 14 games and reclaimed a spot in the national rankings. But are the Sun Devils really national contenders, or just great pretenders? Charli Turner Thorne said, “There’s no doubt in our minds that we can beat these teams, and now we’ve got to do it. Obviously, we’re the underdog, and that’s good. I think we’ve been that for most of the season, so we’re OK with it.”

What was already a short bench for Cal may have become even shorter for these critical last two games. Joanne Boyle said, "We've gone through it before. The whole team has to step up and take on a bigger piece of that puzzle. It's just a battle that comes down to the wire. It makes for an exciting finish."

Tara is confident that the Cardinal will not be distracted on the court by the prospect of a conference title. Rather, she thinks it will only improve their play, giving them extra focus. “I think it’s definitely motivating,” she said. “It doesn’t get better than having a chance to win a championship in your own gym. Everything that we do is focused towards winning a championship, whether it’s giving a screen, taking a charge, getting out and playing defense. So as a player or a coach, we’ll do whatever we need to get it done.”

It's tempting to remove #8 Arizona from the equation. Although the Wildcats have improved greatly this season under their new coach, Niya Butts, it's not likely that they can defeat either Stanford or Cal on the road. Especially since their leading player Ify Ibekwe injured her knee in practice two weeks ago and is questionable for those games.

But Arizona could be the spoiler. Remember last season when #6 Washington defeated tied-for-#1 Cal in the last regular season game?

So, these are the possibilities:
  • Stanford is #1 if they win both games.
  • Stanford is #1 if they win either game and Cal loses at least one.
  • Cal is #1 if they win both games and Stanford loses both.
  • ASU is #1 if they win both games and Stanford loses both.
  • Stanford and Cal are tied for #1 if Cal wins both games and Stanford loses either.
  • Stanford and ASU are tied for #1 if ASU wins both games and Stanford defeats Arizona.
  • It's a three-way tie if Stanford loses both games and Cal defeats ASU and loses to Arizona.
You can find more predictions and opinions about the upcoming games in the Chron and the four student newspapers:
Posted by Marian Cortesi at 3/05/2009 08:00:00 AM

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