Next up: Texas and Gonzaga

Our young Cardinal team faces two big challenges in the opening week of the 2011-12 season:

• First they play a strong team on the road on Friday. The Cardinal trounced Texas at Maples last season, and I'm sure the Longhorns will be eager to reciprocate.
• Then they return to Maples on Sunday to defend their home court against Gonzaga and extend the record home winning streak to 64. This game is being touted as a replay of last season's Spokane Regional, but it isn't really — not without Kayla, Jeanette and Courtney Vandersloot.

The Texas game will be covered by the Longhorn Network. The live telecast will likely be available only in the Austin area, but the online stream will be provided free — just go to the Longhorn website at game time to view it. KZSU will broadcast the game.

If you attend the Gonzaga game, be sure to stay in your seat at halftime for the tributes to the 1992 National Championship team, Trisha Steven's induction to the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame and Tara's induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

If you don't attend the Gonzaga game, you can watch it on Stanford All-Access (link to be posted by game time) and listen to it online on KZSU.

  University of Texas Longhorns

Texas has the experience and athleticism to be one of the top teams in the Big 12. They have been picked to finish third (behind Baylor and Texas A&M) and are ranked #24/20 in the national preseason polls.

Senior guard Kathleen Nash graduated, but Texas' other four starters and seven reserves return. Among the returnees is sophomore post Cokie Reed — she sat out last season with a foot injury, but is expected to have a major impact this season. Texas has added freshman phenom point guard Cassie Peoples, who was named the Big 12 preseason co-Freshman of the Year.

The probable starters are:

• #24, 5'10" sophomore guard Chassidy Fussell is the Longhorn's energizer bunny. She was their freshman phenom last season and the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She was Texas' leading scorer (16.2 ppg), the second-best 3-pt shooter (2.0 per game at a rate of 39%) and the second-best rebounder (4.9 rpg). She has been named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team.


• #12, 5'7" senior guard Yvonne Anderson averaged 11.8 points, 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.0 rebounds last season


• #44, 6'3" sophomore forward Anne Marie Hartung had a solid freshman year with an average of 3.8 points and 3.3 rebounds.


• #22, 6'4" senior post Ashley Gayle is Texas' defensive specialist. She averaged 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.6 blocks last season.


• #45, 6'4" sophomore post Cokie Reed redshirted last season. In her freshman year, she averaged 8.4 points at a rate of 52% and 4.6 rebounds.

Here is Texas' roster.

  Gonzaga Bulldogs

Although Courtney Vandersloot and Janelle Bekkering are gone, the Zags are still the "team-to-be-reckoned-with" in the West Coast Conference (WCC) as they go for their eighth consecutive conference championship.

Head Coach Kelly Graves says, “We’ve got experience, we’ve got marquee, go-to players and we obviously have a culture of winning. Honestly, I think this is as good a team as I’ve ever coached."

They still have two legitimate stars in seniors Katelan Redmon and Kayla Standish, who were All-WCC last year, selected to the Preseason All-WCC team this year, and who played for Team USA in the Pan American Games this summer.

The Zags have added a potential replacement for Vandersloot — 5'8" junior Taelor Karr, who averaged 10.3 points at Kansas State last year. The NCAA has granted her immediate eligibility to play this year.

They've also added depth (and height) in the paint with 6'5" freshman center Shelby Cheslek and 6'4" freshman center Sunny Greinacher.

The probable starters are:

• #32, 6'2" senior forward Kayla Standish led the team in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and shot-blocking (1.6 bpg) last season. She made 56% of her field goal attempts and scored the second-most points (17.1 ppg).


• #23, 6'1" senior guard/forward Katelan Redmon averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season.


• #44, 6'0" senior forward Kelly Bowen is the third returning starter. She averaged 4.6 points and 5.0 rebounds last season.


• #3, 5'8" sophomore guard Haiden Palmer sat out last year after transferring from Oregon State, where she averaged 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 assists per game in her freshman year.


• #34, 5'9" sophomore guard Jazmine Redmon was a backup point guard last season. She averaged 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Incidentally, she and Katelan are not related.

Here is Gonzaga's roster..