April 03, 2009

10 things we love about Stanford women's basketball

By John Reid
Daily News Staff Writer

1. Stanford won't be afraid of UConn. The Cardinal has beaten the Huskies in five of eight meetings.

2. Stanford has entertaining YouTube videos. UConn's are not entertaining.

3. Stanford's Jayne Appel (right) is a walking headline. After her school-record 46-point game to beat Iowa State in a regional final, a headline could have been: "How do you like that Appel?"

4. With 83 3-pointers, Jeanette Pohlen needs eight to tie Krista Rappahahn for Stanford's single-season record.

5. Appel, Stanford's season(84) and career (214)blocks leader, will keep the Huskies from driving to the hoop. That should force the Huskies to shoot from the perimeter in a strange venue.

6. Stanford doesn't have anyone annoyingly tweetering during NCAA tournament games telecasts (UConn has Rebecca Lobo).

7. Stanford doesn't have a player who promised to give back her full scholarship money if they don't win the title (Oklahoma's Courtney Paris did).

8. Stanford's warm-up music ("All Right Now" played by the Stanford band) makes us want to get on the floor and dance with them.

9. Stanford's frontline of Appel, Kayla Pedersen and Nnemkadi Ogwumike is peaking at the right time. If the Cardinal wins its first national title since 1992, the frontline would be crowned the school's best ever.

10. Jillian Harmon (135 career games) can tie Candice Wiggins' Stanford record for most games played with an appearance in Tuesday's title contest.

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