From ESPN: Bracket, Weekend Wrapup and All-Americans

Charlie Creme picks four Pac-12 teams in his first bracket of the season:

• Stanford , #1 in Fresno: A 12th straight conference title is almost a foregone conclusion. A fifth consecutive Final Four trip will be tougher.
  
• USC, #5 in Kingston: The Trojans probably won't challenge Stanford in the Pac-12, but with its depth and experience, Michael Cooper's club should have a hold on second place.
  
• UCLA, #6 in Raleigh: Coach Nikki Caldwell was not all that UCLA lost. The top three scorers from a year ago graduated, so new coach Cori Close will rely on Atonye Nyingifa and Rebekah Gardner to lead the new-look Bruins.
  
• Cal, #9 in Des Moines: First-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb was given plenty to work with to start her career in Berkeley. Juniors Layshia Clarendon, Talia Caldwell and Eliza Pierre are joined by the return of Gennifer Brandon, who was the Bears' leading rebounder as a freshman but missed last season with a stress fracture.

Yesterday, I overlooked Graham Hays' praise of Stanford in his weekend wrapup (It was lurking behind a photo of Brittney Griner and Kim Mulkey.):

Stanford is off and running

Gonzaga stayed with Stanford for a half Sunday, saddling the Cardinal with their first halftime deficit at home since Jan. 30, 2010, a stretch of 24 games at Maples Pavilion. Texas hung around, too, seizing on home-court advantage and a shorthanded opponent to stay within five points with 10 minutes to play against the Cardinal on Friday.

But after three days of the 2011-12 regular season, it's pretty clear that if you want to knock down Stanford, you had best bring a knockout punch.

Testing itself while other contenders test their attention spans during the second half of blowouts against overmatched opponents, Stanford beat Texas 72-59 on the road without Nnemkadi Ogwumike (unspecified upper body injury). Then it beat Gonzaga 76-61 in large part because of the elder half of the Ogwumike sisters. With Gonzaga constantly looking to push the tempo and having already turned an early 24-14 deficit into a 30-29 lead, Stanford kept punching the ball inside for run-ending, soul-sapping baskets down low. Nneka finished with 33 points and 18 rebounds against Gonzaga, while younger sister Chiney followed up 16 points and 14 rebounds against the Longhorns with 19 points against the Bulldogs.

The Cardinal have a star capable of taking over a game and singlehandedly reversing momentum. And they have a team that can win without her.

That's not bad work for a season barely 72 hours old.

Last week Mechelle Voepel, Graham Hays, Charlie Creme and Melanie Jackson picked their preseason top 10 players, Nneka was a unanimous selection to the first team, and Chiney was selected to the second team.

She is the latest example of the talent, smarts and dignity that have come to define the Stanford program. Oh, and no one has figured out how to stop her, either. -- Charlie Creme

All that has changed is that she has gone from the wise young star to the wise old star. She's a 20-10 threat every night if healthy. Heck, she's a 20-10 threat when she isn't. -- Graham Hays

You'll likely notice her great athleticism on display defensively even more than ever this season. She leads the way as a senior for a pretty young Cardinal team. -- Mechelle Voepel

She got better and better as her freshman season progressed and could be ready to explode in Year 2. -- Charlie Creme

Her sister has been an All-American from just about the day she arrived on campus. Chiney is taller and more explosive. So good luck with that, Pac-12. -- Graham Hays

She was terrific as a freshman, but look for her this year to eradicate some of the inconsistency she went through as a rookie. -- Mechelle Voepel