The Pac-10 after Week 1

Women's Basketball Standings

Stanford 2-0, 7-3
Washington 2-0, 9-4
Arizona State 1-0, 11-1
California 1-1, 9-2
Oregon 1-1, 8-3
UCLA 1-1, 7-7
Washington State 1-1, 5-6
Arizona 0-1, 6-7
Oregon State 0-2, 4-5
USC 0-2, 6-6

Stanford

visited USC and UCLA and came away with a sweep. Without Candice, Stanford exhibited very balanced scoring.

Dec 28: Arizona
Dec 30: ASU
Jan 2: @ Fresno State

Washington

went to the state of Oregon and came away with two big road wins to co-lead the Pac-10 with Stanford after the first week. Both were 4 point wins and the Oregon State game went to overtime. Cameo Hicks led the way with 37 points and 19 rebounds and Andrea Plouffe had 29 points, in the two games.

Dec 29: USC
Dec 31: UCLA

Arizona State

easily defeated Arizona in their only league game and also defeated Texas Tech in the "outdoor" game. Danielle Orsillo scored 33 points in the 2 games to earn Pac-10 Player-of-the-Week honors.

Dec 28: @ cal
Dec 30: @ Stanford

Cal

started its Pac-10 season without outstanding PG Alexis Grey-Lawson, a huge blow to their top 15 ranking. Cal split its two SoCal games, beating USC and losing a heartbreaker in OT at UCLA. Devanei Hampton led Cal with 40 points and 13 rebounds with Ashley Walker scoring 31 points to go with 19 rebounds in the two games. Cal continues last year's practice of playing starters most of the way. In the UCLA game the five starters all played between 36 and 45 minutes of the overtime game, and 3 of them fouled out.

Dec 28: ASU
Dec 30: Arizona
Jan 2: Rhode Island

Oregon

hosted the Washington schools, losing a tight one to Washington by 4 and beating WSU by 11. Eleanor Haring scored 37 points and 6-7 Jessie Shetters had 19 rebounds in the 2 games.

Dec 30: BYU
no league games this week.

UCLA

beat Cal in OT and lost to Stanford to go 1-1 for the week. Noelle Quinn lead the Bruins with 30 points and 10 assists in the two games. Attendance for the two home games averaged about 750. Incredible.

Dec 29: @ WSU
Dec 31: @ Washington

Washington State

started the Pac-10 season with a 17 point win at Oregon State, then lost at Oregon. WSU will be a low scoring team, as frosh Marisa Stotler lead the team over the first two games with a total of 20 points.

Dec 29: UCLA
Dec 31: USC

Arizona

lost to ASU to start league play. Joy Hollingsworth and Amina Njonkou led the Wildcats against the Sun Devils with identical totals of 14 points and 7 rebounds.

Dec 28: @ Stanford
Dec 30: @ Cal

Oregon State

lost a pair to the Washington schools in Corvallis, although they played a great game while losing in OT to Washington. Sr Casey Nash scored 45 points in the two games, she is the leading scorer in Pac-10 play, to lead the Beavs. Nash was 13 for 16 from the floor against Washington.

Dec 28: Texas (in San Diego)
Dec 30: Holy Cross or San Diego

USC

lost to both Bay Area schools in LA last week to start their league play at 0-2. Shay Murphy had a great week with 39 points. Attendance at USC was a sparkling 695 average against the then # 14 and 15 teams in the country.

Dec 29: @ Washington
Dec 31: @ WSU

Big Games this week

Thursday: ASU @ Cal
Sat: ASU @ Stanford
Sunday: UCLA @ Washington

Predictions for the season

Having previewed all of our competition in the Pac-10, I now move to a weekly commentary on the conference, the results, and the future. Today my predictions on the Pac-10 and the state of each team.

Following are my predictions of the final standings and a brief analysis of each team's season thus far and its schedule for the remainder of 2006. All team stats are through Dec 14th, team records through Dec 16th.

1. Stanford. Well who else?

Record: 5-3
Quality wins: Texas Tech, Utah
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Wiggins, 16.9 ppg
• Smith, 14.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg
• Newlin, 9.0 rpg

3-point %: 32.7%
Averaging 18 assists and 15 turnovers per game, the only Pac-10 team with a positive ratio.

Schedule:

• Dec 20 @ USC
• Dec 22 @ UCLA
• Dec 28 Arizona
• Dec 30 Arizona State

2. Arizona State

Record: 9-1
Quality wins: Gonzaga, New Mexico
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Westerberg, 16.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg
• Orsillo, 10.4 ppg
• Noe, 6.4 rpg

3-point %: 41%, tops in the Pac 10.
January, Thompson, Simon and Noe are all averaging between 9.3 and 9.9 ppg.

Schedule:

• Dec 20 Arizona
• Dec 28 @ Cal
• Dec 30 @ Stanford

3. UCLA

Record: 6-6
Quality win: 3 losses to top 10 teams
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Pluimer, 16.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg
• Quinn, 15.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg
• Ibekwe, 6.5 rpg

3-point %: 34.5%
Quinn is averaging 6.4 assists per game, but shooting only 39%. UCLA is out-rebounding its opponents by 8 per game.

Schedule:

• Dec 20 Cal
• Dec 22 Stanford
• Dec 28 @ WSU
• Dec 30 @ Washington

4. Washington

Record: 7-4
Quality wins: Gonzaga, Florida State
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Hicks, 18.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg
• Plouffe, 10.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg
• Bell, 9.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg

3-point %: 32.3%.

Schedule:

• Dec 21 @ Oregon
• Dec 23 @ Oregon State
• Dec 29 USC
• Dec 31 UCLA

5. USC

Record: 6-4
Quality win: Notre Dame
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Murphy, 19.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg
• Kerr, 14.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg

3-point %: 28.5%.
Backup Hughes is now out for several weeks.

Schedule:

• Dec 20 Stanford
• Dec 22 Cal
• Dec 29 @ Washington
• Dec 31 @ Washington State

6. Cal

Record: 8-1
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Walker, 19.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg
• Hampton, 11.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg

3-point %: 35.8%
The loss of Grey-Lawson for the year puts the spotlight on Frosh Lauren Greif. She is hitting 48.6% from 3-point range and has a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Schedule:

• Dec 20 @ UCLA
• Dec 22 @ USC
• Dec 28 Arizona State
• Dec 30 Arizona

7. Oregon

Record: 7-2
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Haring, 13.1 ppg
• Lilley, 11.4 ppg
• Shetters, 8.9 rpg

3-point %: 39.6%

Schedule:

• Dec 21: Washington
• Dec 23: Washington State
• Dec 30: BYU (Note, Oregon will play Oregon State twice in the same week later this season)

8. Arizona

Record: 6-5
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Hollingsworth, 16.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg
• Whisonant, 11.8 ppg
• Njonkou, 6.1 rpg

3-point %: 26%
6-7 JC Transfer Beatrice Bofia never got to play and is now out for the season with a knee injury.

Schedule:

• Dec 22: @ ASU
• Dec 28: Stanford
• Dec 30: Cal

9. Washington State

Record: 4-6
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Stotler, 10.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg
• Kelly, 8.4 ppg
• Benz, 8.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg

3-point %: 24.2%

Schedule:

• Dec 21: @Oregon State
• Dec 23: @ Oregon
• Dec 29: UCLA
• Dec 31: USC

10. Oregon State

Record: 4-3
Leading Scorers & Rebounders:

• Nash, 21.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg
• Lomax, 12.4 ppg, 12.2 rpg

3-point %: 22.4%
They have a fine 1:1 assist to turnover ratio

Schedule:

• Dec 21: Washington State
• Dec 23: Washington
• Dec 28: Texas
• Dec 30: Holy Cross or San Diego

Pac-10 Preview: Washington State

(Washington State roster)

In the past three years WSU has gone 5-49 in league play. They are the weak sister of the Pac 10. It appears that record won't improve much in the coming season. Thus far in pre-season play WSU has 3-6 record with wins over Sac State, San Jose State and Eastern Washington.

Washington State is led by 6-2 SR Kate Benz, who averaged 10 points and 9 rebounds per game last year. She would be a go to player on any Pac 10 team, and is a very strong rebounder.

The good news for WSU is that the supporting cast is very young, and some of them are playing quite well.

Washington uses a three Guard line-up, with 5-8 SO Katie Appleton swinging to several spots, including the Point; 5-9 SO Amanda DuRocher at the 2/3 and 5-8 FR Colleen Betteridge at the Point. Betteridge had a game with 6 assists. Appleton and DuRocher each averaged 8 points per game as Frosh, and both are good 3 point shooters.

Also playing at the 2/3 are 5-7 FR Nakejia Kelly and 5-11 JR Dani Montgomery, who averaged 4 points per game last season.

In the frontcount with Benz are 6-1 FR Marisa Stotler, 6-4 SO Center Ebonee Coates and 6-0 SR Adriane Ferguson. Last season Ferguson averaged 4 points per game, but has been sidelined for a time this season with a finger injury. Coates started out great in the rebounding area, but recently has given way to Stotler who has had games of 24 and 25 points.

Only 2 of 8 players are SRs, and only one is a top six player, so the future could get slightly better, except for recruiting. I can't find any recruits for the 2007 class. There is one possible, Shanice Brown who should be a frosh, but is not on the roster.

Pac-10 Preview: Washington is not being bold

(Washington roster)

The Purple and Gold are not being Bold. One would have thought a 5-1 start would be possible and probable, given their schedule, but losses on the road to Kent State and Marquette have left the Huskies at 3-3 going into a road game against Ohio State. And the Ohio State game was very encouraging, despite a close loss.

Graduation losses were minimal, Kayla Burt and Kristen O'Neill. Burt made a fantastic comeback from heart problems and O'Neill was an excellent 3 point shooter, but losing only 2 role players from an 18-9 regular season record should not have had this effect on the Huskies.

At the point is 5-5 junior Emily Florence. She is leading the team in assists at 4 per game while averaging 4 points per game. She has started every game and tied for the most minutes with Cameo Hicks.

Hicks, a 5-10 senior, is off to a great start, averaging 19 points per game. She is an offensive force, one of the best offensive players in the Pac 10.

Washington doesn't have a true center on the team, but has a number of 6-0 to 6-3 women.

Andrea Plouffe is a 6-2 junior who came on toward the end of last season. She missed 3 games this year, but is 2nd in points per game at 11 and 2nd in rebounds at 5 per game. Also starting up front is 6-1 senior Breanne Watson. Watson is averaging 9 points and 4 rebounds per game. 6-0 senior Jill Bell is scoring at the rate of 10 points per game and has a sizeable lead in rebounding at 7.4 per game for the Huskies.

Other post-type players are 6-2 freshman Laura McLellan from San Jose who has played in every game, and 6-3 senior Maggie O'Hara.

Cheri Chaddock, a wonderful athlete, is a 5-10 senior averaging 6 points per game. Stefanie Clark is a 5-9 sophomore guard averaging 8.6 points per game, 5th on the team.

Injured, and out until January or so, is 5-8 junior Dominique Banks, who scored 7 points per game last season while starting all but one game.

Lack of strong post play has hurt the Huskies, who are presently 3-4 on the year.

Recruiting: The Huskies recently got a transfer from the University of San Diego, 6-0 guard Michelle Augustavo. She must sit out this season and will play next year. Can she shoot? She holds the USD record for scoring 42 points last year against Clemson with TEN 3's.

Washington has a great high school recruiting class, # 10 in the US. Joining the Huskies next year will be:

• 6-5 4-star center, Kali Bennett
• 5-8 4-star point guard, Sarah Morton
• 5-10 4-star guard, Candice Nichols
• 6-3 3-star center, Mackenzie Argens
• 6-0 3-star guard, Katelan Redmon

Adding in Augustavo makes for a bright Husky future.