No more USA Basketball for the Cardinal this summer

USA Basketball has announced its rosters for two women's basketball competitions, and neither includes Stanford players, past or present.

The USA Women's National Team has embarked on a five-game European exhibition tour. Jayne and Candice are members of the 2009-12 USA Basketball Women's National Team roster, but neither was selected for the European tour.

Candice is currently playing with the Minnesota Lynx in their run for the WNBA championship. It has not yet been announced where (or if) Candice or Jayne will be playing overseas in the 2011-12 season.

The USA Women's Pan-American Games team will compete in Guadalajara, Mexico at the 2011 Pan American Games. The roster does not include any players from Stanford, all of whom are busily engaged in pre-season practice and other team activities.

NCAA Women's Basketball Attendance

James Bowman ( Swish Appeal) has posted a report of the twenty teams that had the biggest attendance change – declines as well as increases – between 2010 and 2011. Read more...

Stanford is neither among the winners nor the losers. The Cardinal averaged 4839 fans at home games last season, a 13% increase from 4280 the season before. They ranked 23rd in NCAA Division I in 2009-10 and 17th in 2010-11.

Tara will appear on Chronicle Live tonight

Tara will join host Ted Robinson on "Chronicle Live" Friday night. The show will air at 9:30 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, with a replay scheduled for 11 p.m.

She will join Robinson and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler to discuss her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. last month, as well as preparations for the upcoming 2011-12 Stanford women's basketball season.

Read more...

Pac-12 announces TV schedule

Stanford women's basketball adds five television appearances to its 2011-12 slate as the Pacific-12 Conference announced its 2011-12 women's basketball television schedule Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement brings Stanford's total of guaranteed televised games in 2011-12 to six. The Cardinal's Nov. 21 contest against Connecticut at Hartford's XL Center is set to be broadcast on ESPNU at 4 p.m. PT.

The televised games have been noted in the FBC Schedule of games and FBC events. Links to other media coverage (webcasts, radio, GameTracker) will be added to the schedule as that information becomes available.

See also the Pac-12 Announcement.

Note that the Pac-12 schedule says that the games will be televised on FSN, but the FBC and Stanford schedules say Comcast. Media Relations director Aaron Juarez has kindly explained this apparent discrepancy:

The Pac-12’s TV contract (the one that expires this year, as the new ESPN/FSN mega-deal takes effect in 2012-13) is with FSN, and as a result FSN produces all of the games.

However, since FSN no longer has a Bay Area channel, Stanford's games air on one of the two Comcast SportsNet channels (CSN Bay Area & CSN California) available here in Northern California. CSN simply picks up the FSN feed for air, which explains why the FSN graphics are used during the telecast.

Fans that live in the Bay Area and get the Comcast SportsNet channels will be able to watch Stanford games on one of the two channels. Which channel will air a given game will be noted in the schedule each week. Fans outside of Northern California will have to check their local listings (FSN or Comcast SportsNet, depending on where they live) to see if the game will be shown live or on tape-delay.

Tara receives Phyllis Bailey Career Achievement Award

Tara received the Phyllis Bailey Career Achievement Award from Ohio State's Varsity "O" Women's Alumnae Society as part of the school's Hall of Fame Induction Weekend.

The award pays tribute to those who have contributed to the honor and fame of Ohio State University through the field of athletics by continuing to demonstrate, in their daily lives, the values learned in intercollegiate athletics and have continued the advancement of women's athletics.

The award has particular significance for Tara, who said, "Receiving this award is a very special honor, and holds very special meaning to me. Phyllis Bailey gave me my first job in collegiate basketball at Ohio State. When I was beginning my coaching career, I wrote letters to the top 20 programs, and only heard back from two. Ohio State was one of those two schools, and Phyllis wrote back and offered me a position at Ohio State as assistant coach and the junior varsity head coach."

Read more...

Stanford lost a fan

From Harriet Benson:

Janice Kohout, aka Aunt Jean

(1914 - 2011)

Most of the Stanford fans who traveled to Eugene to see us play against the University of Oregon got to see my Aunt Jean--see, but not talk to since she was profoundly deaf and could only understand if you wrote your message. She retained all her other faculties though, and read avidly, followed news and sports, and was a sharp bridge player.

Seeing Aunt Jean was a treat. She knit most of the sweaters she wore, and then color coordinated the sweater with her shoes, earrings, and necklace or pin--every day. When she came with me to a Stanford game, she wore cardinal or white, even though I suspect that deep inside she had some loyalty to the Ducks after living in Eugene for 27 years.

Watching games at Mac Court were difficult for us. Not only was the on-the-street parking a nightmare for healthy attendees, Aunt Jean's artificial knees and general wobbliness made handicap parking a must, and it was a scarce commodity around Mac Court. Even if you arrived 1-1/2 hours before the game, the parking would be gone. I would then need to leave her on the sidewalk to wait for me in the cold while I searched for a parking place and made it back to the arena.

Her deafness was an advantage during loud cheering and band outbursts. When I first began to take her to games, she still wore hearing aids that she turned off. During later years she just didn't hear.

One year at Mac Court our boosters were sold supposedly good tickets. Aunt Jean and I labored up two steep ramps, very slowly. She was brave to keep going and very tired when we finally got to our seats. So much for good seats. Then to add insult, an assistant belatedly arrived waving tickets for better seats much lower down. Although other boosters leaped at the opportunity to sit in the better seats, Aunt Jean didn't have the energy to move. I learned after that to take ticket purchase in my own hands.

The new Matt Arena was a different problem. I had phoned the ticket office before last season to purchase the best handicapped seats possible. Parking was better, but inside was a disaster: although the ticket office has assured me of convenient handicap seats, the ushers initially couldn't even direct us to the assigned seats. Then, after going up and down the elevator twice and walking (with her walker) completely around the arena, we discovered the seats down several rows--seats that were totally impossible for her to get to, and even dangerous to try (no handrails!). Aunt Jean finally took the matter in hand and just sat, exhausted. She refused to move even though the seats were sold to others.

By the way, her opinion of the Matt Arena basketball floor? "I've been all over Oregon, and I've never seen any trees that look like that."

Her support for Stanford basketball extended beyond games in Eugene. We went to a couple in Corvallis, and during every basketball season, I alerted her to the Stanford games she could see on TV. I still have her disappointed fax to me after the Texas A&M game last April.

Despite all the difficulties in attending games, Aunt Jean was planning to join me at the next game in February on her 98th birthday. I'll miss you, Aunt Jean.

(photo by Don Anderson)

Additions to the WBB staff

Welcome back Susan & glad you're still with us Lauren!!

From Stanford Athletics:

Today Tara announced the additions of former Cardinal letterwinner Susan Borchardt and Lauren Grief to the Cardinal staff. Borchardt will serve as the team's Sports Performance coach while Greif, after spending 2010-11 as an intern, is promoted to a full-time position as Special Assistant to the Coaches/Video Coordinator. Read more...