March 23, 2016

Continuing on to Lexington

Stanford vs Washington in the Elite Eight? A tantalizing, but unlikely, possibility.

Five Thirty Eight gives Stanford a 15% chance of defeating Notre Dame and Washington an 18% chance of defeating Kentucky in Lexington on Friday.

Here's how the four teams in the Lexington Regional match up statistically:
Stanford Notre Dame Washington Kentucky
Points per game 67.9 79.9 62.1 74.8
Scoring margin +13.7 +19.5 +8.9 +14.9
Field goal % .425 .496 .411 .457
Opponents field goal % .328 .372 .365 .362
3-pointers per game 6.6 6.0 7.1 4.7
3-point % .359 .408 .333 .362
Free throw % .686 .712 .784 .712
Rebounds per game 41.6 38.8 39.1 39.9
Rebounding margin +5.9 +5.8 +0.8 +5.7
Assists per game 15.0 18.1 11.6 14.4
Turnovers per game 14.3 14.9 12.8 15.6
Assist/turnover ratio 1.1 1.2 0.9 0.9
Steals per game 6.8 9.2 7.4 6.8
Blocks per game 6.3 4.8 3.5 4.1
Overall record 26-7 33-1 24-10 25-7
Conference record 14-4 16-0 11-7 10-6
RPI 9 1 33 13
Schedule strength 2 4 10 23

Here is Mechelle Voepel's (espnW) preview of the Lexington Regional:

No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Washington (ESPN, 7 p.m. Friday): The "home" team, Kentucky, will have the postseason stage to itself, since the Kentucky men's team is already out of its tournament. The spotlight in Lexington will be on Matthew Mitchell's squad, which didn't have much trouble in the early rounds. Most were expecting a Kentucky showdown with Maryland, but instead the Wildcats will take on Washington. What the Huskies don't have in depth (they have none, essentially), they make up for in hustle and in having one of the best pure scorers in the college game in guard Kelsey Plum, who burned the Terps on Monday for 32 points. While the focus will be on the guards in this game -- the Wildcats will hope Makayla Epps' shoulder is OK by Friday -- this one could be decided by which team dominates the boards.

No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Stanford (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. Friday): It looked as if the Irish were going to have a rematch with South Dakota State, a team Notre Dame beat by 11 points in November. Instead, it's a "braniac bowl" between the eggheads of South Bend versus the geniuses of Palo Alto. Seriously, these are two storied programs, both of which have racked up a ton of Final Four visits in recent years without winning a title. Both programs have won the national championship, but it's been awhile -- 2001 for Notre Dame, 1990 and 1992 for Stanford. Notre Dame guard Lindsay Allen appears to be at the top of her game. And in general this season, everything the Cardinal do well, the Irish tend to do a little bit better.

  Stanford Cardinal

Even in down year, Stanford women back in Sweet 16 by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)

Lexington Travel Day, video from Stanford Athletics

Roster
2015-16 Statistics
Game Notes

  Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame ready to take the next step and win another national title by Vicki L. Friedman (espnw)

Roster
2015-16 Statistics
Game Notes

  University of Washington Huskies

UW women return to soak in good vibes before heading to Sweet 16 by Larry Stone (Seattle Times)

UW women get promising news on Mathilde Gilling’s knee; she will be a game-time decision for Sweet 16 matchup vs. Kentucky by Adam Jude (Seattle Times)

Roster
2015-16 Statistics
Game Notes

  University of Kentucky Wildcats

Epps’ guts help lift UK women to Sweet 16 by Mark Story (Lexington Herald-Leader)

A quick update on Epps’ shoulder injury, prognosis by Jen Smith (Lexington Herald-Leader)

Roster
2015-16 Statistics
Game Notes

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