This year even more than previous could be the “have’s” and the “have-not’s”. Stanford is ranked # 2 and Cal is # 11, while ASU hovers at the # 25 level. Here’s my prediction for the final standings of the Pac 10:
10. Washington State (3-9, 0-1 with no quality wins). Good 3 point shooting by leading scorer Katie Appleton and a decent post in 6-3 Heather Molzen, but that’s about it. June has no Seniors and an incoming recruiting class that is getting better and better, but any Pac 10 wins this season will be a surprise, or because they turn off the heat in their Gym (which has happened).
Friday lost to Stanford, Sunday at Cal
9. Oregon State (7-4). It’s hard to fault Coach Wagner for playing an extremely weak pre-season schedule. She needs to build confidence in a team that has not had success for several years. OSU is led by SR Ashley Allen at 20.7 points per game. It’s the 2nd year in a row that a Sr from OSU has lead the conference in scoring. The only frosh contributing much is 5-11 Talisa Rhea, scoring 11 points per game. 6-2 Jr Tiffany Ducker has returned from a year off to average 9 points and nearly 7 rebounds.
Saturday, Oregon
8. Oregon (6-5, with a win over UCSB). Taylor Lilly is scoring just over 11 points per game, but her 3 point shooting is down 20% to 32%. Nothing here to get excited about.
Saturday at Oregon State
7. Arizona (6-5, with a win over New Mexico). Ashley Whisonant is leading the team in scoring at 14.6. Amina Njonkou has really stepped up, averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds while Frosh Ify Ibekwe has been a pleasant surprise averaging 11 points and almost 8 rebounds per game. Would be starters Hobson and Arnold have only played one game between them.
Friday lost to USC, Sunday, UCLA.
6. Washington (5-8, 0-1). Frosh Katelan Redmon leads the team in scoring at almost 13 per game, and she’s the 2nd leading rebounder on the team. Soph Sami Whitcomb is 2nd in scoring at over 11 per game, while the leading rebounder is 5-5 Jr Point Guard Emily Florence. They’ve had some injury problems and are very young. My guess is they will improve quite a bit as the season moves along.
Friday lost to cal, Sunday at Stanford.
5. USC (8-4, 1-0). Losing two starters before the season started has held back USC and makes it difficult for them to challenge for the top three. Center Nadia Parker is the leader scorer and rebounder at 11 and 6. Camille LeNoir has made a comeback after missing last season to average over 11 points per game. Morghan Medlock started off the conference season Friday night with a huge game against Arizona.
Friday, beat Arizona, Sunday at ASU.
4. UCLA (5-7, 0-1). While Sr Lindsey Pluimer leads the team in both scoring, 14, and rebounding, 7.5 per game, the next four leading scorers are Frosh. UCLA has played a tough schedule, almost won some big games and they have also lost some games they should have won.
Friday lost at ASU, Sunday at Arizona
3. ASU (7-5, 1-0). A hard team to figure, they lost all their tough pre-season games, and lost their top outside scoring treat, Danielle Orsillo for the season. They now play more of a power game with fine games recently from their two transfers, Lauren Lacey and Sybil Dotsy.
Friday beat UCLA, Sunday –USC
2. Cal (10-2 1-0). They have the # 11 ranking despite Hampton missing 9 of their first 12 games. Ashley Walker has really stepped up for the Bears, averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. Soph Rama N’diaye has shown great improvement, averaging 10 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Friday beat Washington, Sunday, WSU
1. Who else, the # 2 team in the Nation, our Stanford Cardinal.
Friday beat WSU, Sunday, Washington
December 29, 2007
December 18, 2007
Pac 10 Preview-ASU
ASU has started off slowly this season compiling a 6-4 record. All four losses were to good teams: Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Auburn and North Carolina. Their victories include UCSB, Gonzaga and Iowa, none of whom are top teams. However an injury in the first game to sharp shooting Danielle Orsillo, has kept her out since. She opened with 21 points in 21 minutes, hard numbers to replace.
In the past ASU has been the team for Stanford to beat. If they get Orsillo back, and I can’t find a timetable, then they’ll be much better as their posts are playing better and better each game. Until then they may struggle a bit with other first division Pac 10 teams. They open with UCLA and USC at home after Christmas.
ASU could be very good in the post, quite a change from being a wing/guard oriented team recently. They start two big post players and three wing/guards. And they have five good and improving post players. Minnesota transfer 6-3 JR Lauren Lacey starts at one post position. She is averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds over 23 minutes. The other starter has been either 6-3 Jr Tennessee transfer Sybil Dosty or 6-6 Jr Kristen Thompson. Dosty is averaging 7 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes and Thompson 7 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes. The other two post players are 6-4 frosh Becca Tobin and 6-2 Jr Kayli Murphy. Tobin is averaging 4 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes, and Murphy 3 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes.
The other starters include 5-10 Sr and 6th year player, Jill Noe, and 5-8 Jr Briann January. Reagan Pariseau, a 5-5 Sr and Dymond Simon a 5-5 Soph have shared the 3rd spot as both have battled injuries. Pariseau just returned after missing 2 ½ games and Simon missed their game yesterday, but is day to day. And then there is the 5-9 JR Danielle Orsillo who has been out since the first game. The productivity of the five is:
Noe: 11 points per game and hitting 41% of her three point attempts
January: 11 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
Pariseau: 4 points per game
Simon: 9 points per game
Orsillo is a pure scorer; hitting 3 three’s in her only game to go with her 21 points.
Two other guards who see action are Kate Engelbrecht, a 5-10 Jr and 5-22 Soph Gabby Fage.
ASU is ranked # 22, and as always will be a contender for the Pac 10 title and a NCAA bid. They need their post players to continue their development, and for Orsillo and Simon to be healthy. They’ve played some very good teams, but haven’t beaten them. However they’ll be tough in conference play. Charli will see to that.
In the past ASU has been the team for Stanford to beat. If they get Orsillo back, and I can’t find a timetable, then they’ll be much better as their posts are playing better and better each game. Until then they may struggle a bit with other first division Pac 10 teams. They open with UCLA and USC at home after Christmas.
ASU could be very good in the post, quite a change from being a wing/guard oriented team recently. They start two big post players and three wing/guards. And they have five good and improving post players. Minnesota transfer 6-3 JR Lauren Lacey starts at one post position. She is averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds over 23 minutes. The other starter has been either 6-3 Jr Tennessee transfer Sybil Dosty or 6-6 Jr Kristen Thompson. Dosty is averaging 7 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes and Thompson 7 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes. The other two post players are 6-4 frosh Becca Tobin and 6-2 Jr Kayli Murphy. Tobin is averaging 4 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes, and Murphy 3 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes.
The other starters include 5-10 Sr and 6th year player, Jill Noe, and 5-8 Jr Briann January. Reagan Pariseau, a 5-5 Sr and Dymond Simon a 5-5 Soph have shared the 3rd spot as both have battled injuries. Pariseau just returned after missing 2 ½ games and Simon missed their game yesterday, but is day to day. And then there is the 5-9 JR Danielle Orsillo who has been out since the first game. The productivity of the five is:
Noe: 11 points per game and hitting 41% of her three point attempts
January: 11 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
Pariseau: 4 points per game
Simon: 9 points per game
Orsillo is a pure scorer; hitting 3 three’s in her only game to go with her 21 points.
Two other guards who see action are Kate Engelbrecht, a 5-10 Jr and 5-22 Soph Gabby Fage.
ASU is ranked # 22, and as always will be a contender for the Pac 10 title and a NCAA bid. They need their post players to continue their development, and for Orsillo and Simon to be healthy. They’ve played some very good teams, but haven’t beaten them. However they’ll be tough in conference play. Charli will see to that.
December 11, 2007
Pac 10 Preview-UCLA
UCLA has started the season 4-4, losing 4 of their last 5. They had a very close loss to highly ranked Maryland, and they then lost to far lesser teams. It’s not going to get easier with BYU and Tennessee two of the three games remaining before the conference begins. UCLA is very young, 6 Frosh and only one Sr.
One thing UCLA does have is depth. They have six post players, for the 4/5 positions. 6-4 Frosh Regina Rogers has started 7 of the 8 games thus far, averaging 10 points and over 5 rebounds per game. Her problem is she is only averaging 16 minutes per game. She is averaging almost one foul per 5 minutes of play.
Outstanding 6-4 Sr Lindsey Pluimer is the Starting 4. She is averaging team highs of 14 points and 8 rebounds per game. Lindsey is also shooting 47% from 3 point land, although taking less than 3 per game.
Back up post players include 6-6 Soph Center Monique Alexander. Monique is averaging 3 points and 3 rebounds in 10 minutes. 6-4 Jr C/F Chinyere Ibekwe is averaging 2 points and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes per game. Chinyere started many games over the past two seasons. 6-4 Frosh Christina Nzekwe is averaging 3 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes per game. 6-4 Frosh Candice Brown is averaging over 3 points and 3 rebounds in only 9 minutes per game.
The other three starters are Wing players and the Point Guard. 5-9 Fr Darxia Morris is the Point Guard. She has started 6 of the 8 games, averaging 8 points and 3 assists. She leads the team in steals and has an assist to turnover ration of 1:1. Not bad at all for a young PG and a very young team.
The Wings are 5-10 Frosh Doreena Campbell and 6-0 Soph Erica (Latimer) Tukiainen. Campbell is averaging 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game. And she leads the team averaging 31 minutes per game. If that isn’t enough she has hit 59% of her 17 three point attempts. The former Latimer now Tukiaianen has averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds per game.
The main back-ups have each started games thus far. 6-1 Frosh Nina Earl is the 2nd leading scorer at over 10 points per game. 5-10 Jr Tierra Henderson has averaged 8 points per game.
UCLA is scoring 77 points per game, but giving up 73. They are very young, but with 5 weak teams in the conference UCLA has an excellent chance at a winning conference record.
One thing UCLA does have is depth. They have six post players, for the 4/5 positions. 6-4 Frosh Regina Rogers has started 7 of the 8 games thus far, averaging 10 points and over 5 rebounds per game. Her problem is she is only averaging 16 minutes per game. She is averaging almost one foul per 5 minutes of play.
Outstanding 6-4 Sr Lindsey Pluimer is the Starting 4. She is averaging team highs of 14 points and 8 rebounds per game. Lindsey is also shooting 47% from 3 point land, although taking less than 3 per game.
Back up post players include 6-6 Soph Center Monique Alexander. Monique is averaging 3 points and 3 rebounds in 10 minutes. 6-4 Jr C/F Chinyere Ibekwe is averaging 2 points and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes per game. Chinyere started many games over the past two seasons. 6-4 Frosh Christina Nzekwe is averaging 3 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes per game. 6-4 Frosh Candice Brown is averaging over 3 points and 3 rebounds in only 9 minutes per game.
The other three starters are Wing players and the Point Guard. 5-9 Fr Darxia Morris is the Point Guard. She has started 6 of the 8 games, averaging 8 points and 3 assists. She leads the team in steals and has an assist to turnover ration of 1:1. Not bad at all for a young PG and a very young team.
The Wings are 5-10 Frosh Doreena Campbell and 6-0 Soph Erica (Latimer) Tukiainen. Campbell is averaging 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game. And she leads the team averaging 31 minutes per game. If that isn’t enough she has hit 59% of her 17 three point attempts. The former Latimer now Tukiaianen has averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds per game.
The main back-ups have each started games thus far. 6-1 Frosh Nina Earl is the 2nd leading scorer at over 10 points per game. 5-10 Jr Tierra Henderson has averaged 8 points per game.
UCLA is scoring 77 points per game, but giving up 73. They are very young, but with 5 weak teams in the conference UCLA has an excellent chance at a winning conference record.
December 3, 2007
PAC 10 Preview- Oregon State
Any discussion of this season’s Beavers has to start with their player losses. Casey Nash led the league in scoring averaging 20 points per game, but has graduated. Could have been Soph’s Judie Lomax and Jasmine Smith transferred out of the program. The 5-11 Lomax was awesome in post, and Smith would have seen a great deal of playing time. But that was then and this is now.
So far the Beavers are 4-2 without a quality win and a two point loss Sunday night to USF. Their pre-season schedule isn’t much so they could enter the Pac 10 with a winning record. However I would think their goal this season is to simply stay ahead of WSU and Arizona as they build up their team.
Tiffany Ducker has returned from a redshirt year to be a solid post for the Beavers. She’s a 6-2 Jr who has had two 10 rebound games and has scored 19 in a game thus far this season. Tiffany has averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per game. Prized 6-4 frosh Alex Mitchell is the backup Center.
Oregon State starts two post players and three guards. The other post is 6-1 Frosh, and former teammate of JJ Hones’, Stacy Nichols. She’s averaged just shy of 5 points and 5 rebounds per game. Other Forwards are 6-4 Frosh Viki Wohlers and 6-3 Frosh Brittany Eskridge. Neither has seen much action yet.
Mercedes Fox-Griffin, a 5-7 Jr returns as the starting Point Guard. She was outstanding last season and thus far has averaged 8.5 points per game and 4 Assists per game. Mercedes has missed two games and 5-11 Frosh Talisa Rhea moved over from back up off guard. Rhea has been a big surprise, scoring 12.5 points per game, and is also seeing a lot of time at a Wing position.
Other Wings are Ashley Allen, a 5-10 Sr and the only Sr on the team. She has had games of 23 and 25 points and 8 rebounds. She leads the team with 17 points per game. The other starting wing is Brittany Davis, a 5-10 Jr who transferred from Minnesota. She’s averaging 7 points per game. The only other Wing getting much playing time is 5-8 Soph Julie Futch, averaging just under 2 points per game.
While their record is 4-2, Oregon State is only scoring 63 points per game and being out shot and out rebounded. Coach LaVonda Wagner has the Beavers playing hard, a tribute to her coaching abilities.
BONUS: Pac 10 team Records thus far.
Stanford: 7-1
Cal: 7-1
Oregon State: 4-2
Arizona State: 4-3
Oregon: 4-3
UCLA: 4-3
USC: 3-2
Washington: 4-4
Arizona: 2-4
Washington State: 2-5
So far the Beavers are 4-2 without a quality win and a two point loss Sunday night to USF. Their pre-season schedule isn’t much so they could enter the Pac 10 with a winning record. However I would think their goal this season is to simply stay ahead of WSU and Arizona as they build up their team.
Tiffany Ducker has returned from a redshirt year to be a solid post for the Beavers. She’s a 6-2 Jr who has had two 10 rebound games and has scored 19 in a game thus far this season. Tiffany has averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per game. Prized 6-4 frosh Alex Mitchell is the backup Center.
Oregon State starts two post players and three guards. The other post is 6-1 Frosh, and former teammate of JJ Hones’, Stacy Nichols. She’s averaged just shy of 5 points and 5 rebounds per game. Other Forwards are 6-4 Frosh Viki Wohlers and 6-3 Frosh Brittany Eskridge. Neither has seen much action yet.
Mercedes Fox-Griffin, a 5-7 Jr returns as the starting Point Guard. She was outstanding last season and thus far has averaged 8.5 points per game and 4 Assists per game. Mercedes has missed two games and 5-11 Frosh Talisa Rhea moved over from back up off guard. Rhea has been a big surprise, scoring 12.5 points per game, and is also seeing a lot of time at a Wing position.
Other Wings are Ashley Allen, a 5-10 Sr and the only Sr on the team. She has had games of 23 and 25 points and 8 rebounds. She leads the team with 17 points per game. The other starting wing is Brittany Davis, a 5-10 Jr who transferred from Minnesota. She’s averaging 7 points per game. The only other Wing getting much playing time is 5-8 Soph Julie Futch, averaging just under 2 points per game.
While their record is 4-2, Oregon State is only scoring 63 points per game and being out shot and out rebounded. Coach LaVonda Wagner has the Beavers playing hard, a tribute to her coaching abilities.
BONUS: Pac 10 team Records thus far.
Stanford: 7-1
Cal: 7-1
Oregon State: 4-2
Arizona State: 4-3
Oregon: 4-3
UCLA: 4-3
USC: 3-2
Washington: 4-4
Arizona: 2-4
Washington State: 2-5
November 21, 2007
Pac 10 Preview-Oregon
Oregon has started off the season 2-1, with an easy win over San Jose State, an embarrassing loss to South Dakota State, and a win over Marquette. The Marquette game was in Eugene and they didn’t have their top player. Still it was a good win for the very young Ducks. Oregon is a team with only 2 Srs and 8 new players. So they’ll need time to jell, and that may last most of the year.
Recruiting by Oregon continues to consist of foreign players. The Ducks have 3 players from Australia, 2 from Canada and players from Italy, New Zealand and Hungry. That leaves only 4 Americans on the 12 person roster and none from the State of Oregon.
The starting Center is 6-5 Frosh Nicole Canepa from San Francisco. Nicole has scored 27 points in the first two games, but her rebounds have matched her fouls (8) thus far. Australian Ellyce Ironmonger, a 6-4 frosh is the backup Center and scored 12 points against San Jose State.
At the Forward position is starter Ellie Manou, a 6-3 Frosh. She had 17 points and 8 rebounds against SJS. Ellie played on the Australian 19U team this past summer. Back ups include Victoria Kenyon a 6-2 Frosh and Mary Sbrissa a 6-2 Soph. 6-0 Sr Rita Kollo is a transfer from Oklahoma State and will redshirt this season. Kenyon played for the Hungarian 21U team this past summer.
Oregon is using a Three Guard Line up. Starters are 5-6 Soph Taylor Lilley, 5-10 Sr Kaela Chapdelaine and 5-8 Jr Tamika Nurse. Lilley shot 51% from 3 last season to lead the Pac 10. She averaged 8.3 PPG. Chapdelaine averaged 6.5 PPG and 3.5 Assists per Game last season. The starting Point Guard is Nurse who averaged 9.2 PPG and 3.3 Assists per game while playing 34 minutes per game. An aside, Nurse’s aunt is married to FB star Donovan McNabb.
The other two guards, 5-7 Frosh Nia Jackson and 5-8 Soph Micaela Cocks have already played quite a bit. Jackson is the back up PG and was the PG last year for the outstanding Chief Stealth High School of Seattle. Cocks saw a lot of action last season for the Ducks and played for the New Zealand National team during the summer.
Oregon is young but with a number of players with international experience. Their attendance for the Marquette game was 2100 so the interest is there to cheer them on. However they lack a marquee player and being so young appear to be a 2nd division Pac 10 team.
Recruiting by Oregon continues to consist of foreign players. The Ducks have 3 players from Australia, 2 from Canada and players from Italy, New Zealand and Hungry. That leaves only 4 Americans on the 12 person roster and none from the State of Oregon.
The starting Center is 6-5 Frosh Nicole Canepa from San Francisco. Nicole has scored 27 points in the first two games, but her rebounds have matched her fouls (8) thus far. Australian Ellyce Ironmonger, a 6-4 frosh is the backup Center and scored 12 points against San Jose State.
At the Forward position is starter Ellie Manou, a 6-3 Frosh. She had 17 points and 8 rebounds against SJS. Ellie played on the Australian 19U team this past summer. Back ups include Victoria Kenyon a 6-2 Frosh and Mary Sbrissa a 6-2 Soph. 6-0 Sr Rita Kollo is a transfer from Oklahoma State and will redshirt this season. Kenyon played for the Hungarian 21U team this past summer.
Oregon is using a Three Guard Line up. Starters are 5-6 Soph Taylor Lilley, 5-10 Sr Kaela Chapdelaine and 5-8 Jr Tamika Nurse. Lilley shot 51% from 3 last season to lead the Pac 10. She averaged 8.3 PPG. Chapdelaine averaged 6.5 PPG and 3.5 Assists per Game last season. The starting Point Guard is Nurse who averaged 9.2 PPG and 3.3 Assists per game while playing 34 minutes per game. An aside, Nurse’s aunt is married to FB star Donovan McNabb.
The other two guards, 5-7 Frosh Nia Jackson and 5-8 Soph Micaela Cocks have already played quite a bit. Jackson is the back up PG and was the PG last year for the outstanding Chief Stealth High School of Seattle. Cocks saw a lot of action last season for the Ducks and played for the New Zealand National team during the summer.
Oregon is young but with a number of players with international experience. Their attendance for the Marquette game was 2100 so the interest is there to cheer them on. However they lack a marquee player and being so young appear to be a 2nd division Pac 10 team.
November 7, 2007
Pac 10 Preview-Cal
Last year the University of California went 23-9 and 12-6 in the conference with a first round NCAA tournament loss. This year they expect more, maybe much more. Cal is riding the recruiting success of their former coach who recruited 6-3 Center Jessica Lawson four years ago and then the Fab 5 three years ago. Then she was shown the door. To be fair, excellent players or not, there was nothing in Caren’s win loss record at Cal to indicate she could go 23-9.
Fast forward three years and Cal is ready to contend for the Pac 10 Championship and make a deep run into the Dance, the NCAA Tournament. Four of the Fab 5 are only Jrs, although one of them hasn’t turned out Fab. Also Cal lost Morris, a Fab 5er, Lawson, the Center, and recent recruit Sanford. This would have been the depth and maybe even two of them starters, making the depth for Cal awesome. Alas, that have what is left. However in Hampton, Walker and Gray-Lawson they certainly have three athletes who may well be All Conference and more.
Head Coach Joanne Boyle thought about the Duke job, then thought some more and then said Cal will be just fine thank you, and stayed. She immediately turned over her staff with two new Assistants. Former Stanford star and Assistant Charmin Smith moved to Cal as did well known AAU Coach Kevin Morrison.
The post players will be 6-3 Jr Devanei Hampton and 6-1 Jr Ashley Walker. Hampton was the Pac 10 Player of the Year while averaging 16.6 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game. The best part is she plays to her middle name, Devanei is Unique. Walker led the Bears in both scoring and rebounding with 17.3 and 8.7. She may be 6-1 but she is a Bear (enough of that) under the basket. The only posts back up, whoa could they use the depth that left, is 6-5 Soph, Rama N’diaye. Rama averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds, while averaging 17 minutes per game.
There are two other potential 4’s, although they are more likely 3’s. 6-0 Sr (the only Cal Sr) Krista Foster and 6-0 Jr and Fab 5er Shantrell Snead. Foster played a bit less last year than her first 2 years, but remained consistent with 4 points and 2 rebounds in 15 minutes per game for her Cal career. She’s a solid player both offensively and defensively. Sneed hasn’t played much at Cal, but may be the healthiest she has been in 3 years.
Cal will start with a 3 Guard, 2 Post line-up. Alexis Gray-Lawson returns after having torn her ACL in her 9th game last year. She’s a 5-8 Jr. Her career numbers are 4 points and 4 rebounds per game. Her assist to turnover ratio is not good, 1.3 turnovers per assist. She’s 37% from 3. Alexis is a natural scorer and if 5-8 Soph Natasha Vital can continue her improvement that the Point this would be huge toward Cal’s successful season. Vital averaged 7.2 points per game and had a plus turnover ratio of 1.1 assist per turnover. Vital certainly took better care of the ball later in the season than after having to suddenly replace Alexis at the Point.
5-10 Soph Lauren Grief will be the 5th starter, and the 3rd Guard in the Line-up. She started every game last year, averaged 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, and 36 minutes per game and had a plus assist to turnover ratio. And Lauren shot 35% from 3. She is a fan favorite. How big a fan favorite? At her 100 plus year old High School she was the first player to have her jersey number retired.
Back ups will be the 6-1 Canadian National Team member, Frosh Kelsey Adrian and 5-11 Frosh Rachelle Federico. Adrian can play the 2, 3 or 4, and should be able to add some instant offensive off the bench. Federico will have competition for playing time, but there are only 10 players on Cal’s roster so she may get some quality minutes at some point.
Cal is ranked from 8-12 in the National Polls and while lacking depth, should be an outstanding team.
Fast forward three years and Cal is ready to contend for the Pac 10 Championship and make a deep run into the Dance, the NCAA Tournament. Four of the Fab 5 are only Jrs, although one of them hasn’t turned out Fab. Also Cal lost Morris, a Fab 5er, Lawson, the Center, and recent recruit Sanford. This would have been the depth and maybe even two of them starters, making the depth for Cal awesome. Alas, that have what is left. However in Hampton, Walker and Gray-Lawson they certainly have three athletes who may well be All Conference and more.
Head Coach Joanne Boyle thought about the Duke job, then thought some more and then said Cal will be just fine thank you, and stayed. She immediately turned over her staff with two new Assistants. Former Stanford star and Assistant Charmin Smith moved to Cal as did well known AAU Coach Kevin Morrison.
The post players will be 6-3 Jr Devanei Hampton and 6-1 Jr Ashley Walker. Hampton was the Pac 10 Player of the Year while averaging 16.6 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game. The best part is she plays to her middle name, Devanei is Unique. Walker led the Bears in both scoring and rebounding with 17.3 and 8.7. She may be 6-1 but she is a Bear (enough of that) under the basket. The only posts back up, whoa could they use the depth that left, is 6-5 Soph, Rama N’diaye. Rama averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds, while averaging 17 minutes per game.
There are two other potential 4’s, although they are more likely 3’s. 6-0 Sr (the only Cal Sr) Krista Foster and 6-0 Jr and Fab 5er Shantrell Snead. Foster played a bit less last year than her first 2 years, but remained consistent with 4 points and 2 rebounds in 15 minutes per game for her Cal career. She’s a solid player both offensively and defensively. Sneed hasn’t played much at Cal, but may be the healthiest she has been in 3 years.
Cal will start with a 3 Guard, 2 Post line-up. Alexis Gray-Lawson returns after having torn her ACL in her 9th game last year. She’s a 5-8 Jr. Her career numbers are 4 points and 4 rebounds per game. Her assist to turnover ratio is not good, 1.3 turnovers per assist. She’s 37% from 3. Alexis is a natural scorer and if 5-8 Soph Natasha Vital can continue her improvement that the Point this would be huge toward Cal’s successful season. Vital averaged 7.2 points per game and had a plus turnover ratio of 1.1 assist per turnover. Vital certainly took better care of the ball later in the season than after having to suddenly replace Alexis at the Point.
5-10 Soph Lauren Grief will be the 5th starter, and the 3rd Guard in the Line-up. She started every game last year, averaged 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, and 36 minutes per game and had a plus assist to turnover ratio. And Lauren shot 35% from 3. She is a fan favorite. How big a fan favorite? At her 100 plus year old High School she was the first player to have her jersey number retired.
Back ups will be the 6-1 Canadian National Team member, Frosh Kelsey Adrian and 5-11 Frosh Rachelle Federico. Adrian can play the 2, 3 or 4, and should be able to add some instant offensive off the bench. Federico will have competition for playing time, but there are only 10 players on Cal’s roster so she may get some quality minutes at some point.
Cal is ranked from 8-12 in the National Polls and while lacking depth, should be an outstanding team.
October 30, 2007
Preview of the Washington Huskies
This week we’ll look at the Washington Huskies and their new Coach, Tia Jackson. When June Daugherty was fired after the past season, for a lack of buzz, Tia inherited a top 10 recruiting class. And quickly that some of this class, all of whom had signed binding Letter of Intent, started to have doubts. Katelan Redmon, an outstanding Wing from Spokane, had very serious doubts, as did New Zealand import Jess McCormack. In addition commit for the 2008 class, Krista Kingma also had doubts.
Fast forward to today, and all appears to be well at udub. Redmon and McCormack are practicing with the team and Kingma, an outstanding “1” or “2” has recommitted to the Huskies. And this turns out to be good news for Tia, as Kingma has a younger sister who could become a Division 1 prospect. Also Redmon’s father is a well known High School and Travel Girls Basketball Coach.
Now it’s up to Jackson to coach this team, and move them into the first Division of the Pac 10 and back into the NCAA’s. And this is Tia’s first Head Coaching job. Of course the actual coaching may be a welcome relief after her great re-recruiting effort.
Washington lost six players from last year’s team; well you have to lose some to bring in so many. Key losses include solid players Jill Bell and Cheri Craddock, and the outstanding Cameo Hicks. Hicks scored 17.2 points per game and wanted the ball in crunch time. However Washington brings in that outstanding class, Top 10 to be sure, and several will play key roles right away.
At the Center position and the “4” will be six players with a chance to play solid minutes. Returning is 6-2 Sr Andrea Plouffe. Andrea averaged 10 points per game last year. Also returning are 6-2 Soph Laura McLellan from the San Jose area, and 6-3 Jr Heidi McNeill. McLellan only scored 2 points per game, but based on her outstanding High School career, I think she will be a solid player for the Huskies.
The excitement comes from the three Frosh post players. Jess McCormack is on the New Zealand National team that recently qualified for the 2008 Olympics. She’s 6-5 and played on the New Zealand National team at ages 15, 16 and 17. Then there is incoming frosh, 6-5 Kali Bennett, ranked # 36 in her class by HoopGurlz. Fellow frosh MacKenzie Argens is 6-3 and also an outstanding prospect.
Katelan Redmon is a true wing, 6-1 and athletic. She is another incoming frosh and ranked # 102 by Hoop Gurlz. She and transfer Michelle Augustavo, a 6-0 JR who transferred from the University of San Diego could be the “3’s”. Michelle holds the single game scoring record at USD, 42 points. In that game she made 10 of 19 three pointers. However she was only 35 of 116 or 30% the rest of that season. Which Michelle will it be this season for the Huskies?
At the Point is the very good 5-5 Sr Emily Florence. OK, Emily’s not a good shooter, but the rest of her game? Wow. She has started all but 3 games during her three years, she led the Pac 10 in steals and was 2nd in assist to turnover ratio and for the 3rd year in a row was the Husky Defensive Player of the Year. In summary, Emily is the perfect Point Guard for this young team.
Off Guards, or “2’s”, are 5-8 Sr Dominique Banks, and 5-10 Soph Sami Whitcomb. . Banks had pre-season surgery a year ago for two stress fractures and came back to average 4.4 points per game. Banks scored over 7 points per game during her first two seasons at Washington. Whitcomb scored 4.3 points per game, and scored her career high of 13 against Stanford. Jr Stephanie Clark left the team at some point after late August. However this could open the door for Frosh Candice Nicholas, ranked # 83 by HoopGurlz. Nicholas cousin, and here’s a trivia question, is Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
The back up’s at Point for Florence have encountered injury problems. 5-9 Sara Mosiman is out for the 1st half of the season with stress fractures. Her back up is 5-8 Frosh Sarah Morton, # 66 ranked by HoopGurlz. Sarah is recovering from a leg injury, but could be back soon.
Washington doesn’t look to be a 3 point shooting team, but a team that pounds it inside for their talented post players. It will be interesting to witness Tia’s style of play. The former Stanford, UCLA and Duke Assistant is now in charge.
Fast forward to today, and all appears to be well at udub. Redmon and McCormack are practicing with the team and Kingma, an outstanding “1” or “2” has recommitted to the Huskies. And this turns out to be good news for Tia, as Kingma has a younger sister who could become a Division 1 prospect. Also Redmon’s father is a well known High School and Travel Girls Basketball Coach.
Now it’s up to Jackson to coach this team, and move them into the first Division of the Pac 10 and back into the NCAA’s. And this is Tia’s first Head Coaching job. Of course the actual coaching may be a welcome relief after her great re-recruiting effort.
Washington lost six players from last year’s team; well you have to lose some to bring in so many. Key losses include solid players Jill Bell and Cheri Craddock, and the outstanding Cameo Hicks. Hicks scored 17.2 points per game and wanted the ball in crunch time. However Washington brings in that outstanding class, Top 10 to be sure, and several will play key roles right away.
At the Center position and the “4” will be six players with a chance to play solid minutes. Returning is 6-2 Sr Andrea Plouffe. Andrea averaged 10 points per game last year. Also returning are 6-2 Soph Laura McLellan from the San Jose area, and 6-3 Jr Heidi McNeill. McLellan only scored 2 points per game, but based on her outstanding High School career, I think she will be a solid player for the Huskies.
The excitement comes from the three Frosh post players. Jess McCormack is on the New Zealand National team that recently qualified for the 2008 Olympics. She’s 6-5 and played on the New Zealand National team at ages 15, 16 and 17. Then there is incoming frosh, 6-5 Kali Bennett, ranked # 36 in her class by HoopGurlz. Fellow frosh MacKenzie Argens is 6-3 and also an outstanding prospect.
Katelan Redmon is a true wing, 6-1 and athletic. She is another incoming frosh and ranked # 102 by Hoop Gurlz. She and transfer Michelle Augustavo, a 6-0 JR who transferred from the University of San Diego could be the “3’s”. Michelle holds the single game scoring record at USD, 42 points. In that game she made 10 of 19 three pointers. However she was only 35 of 116 or 30% the rest of that season. Which Michelle will it be this season for the Huskies?
At the Point is the very good 5-5 Sr Emily Florence. OK, Emily’s not a good shooter, but the rest of her game? Wow. She has started all but 3 games during her three years, she led the Pac 10 in steals and was 2nd in assist to turnover ratio and for the 3rd year in a row was the Husky Defensive Player of the Year. In summary, Emily is the perfect Point Guard for this young team.
Off Guards, or “2’s”, are 5-8 Sr Dominique Banks, and 5-10 Soph Sami Whitcomb. . Banks had pre-season surgery a year ago for two stress fractures and came back to average 4.4 points per game. Banks scored over 7 points per game during her first two seasons at Washington. Whitcomb scored 4.3 points per game, and scored her career high of 13 against Stanford. Jr Stephanie Clark left the team at some point after late August. However this could open the door for Frosh Candice Nicholas, ranked # 83 by HoopGurlz. Nicholas cousin, and here’s a trivia question, is Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
The back up’s at Point for Florence have encountered injury problems. 5-9 Sara Mosiman is out for the 1st half of the season with stress fractures. Her back up is 5-8 Frosh Sarah Morton, # 66 ranked by HoopGurlz. Sarah is recovering from a leg injury, but could be back soon.
Washington doesn’t look to be a 3 point shooting team, but a team that pounds it inside for their talented post players. It will be interesting to witness Tia’s style of play. The former Stanford, UCLA and Duke Assistant is now in charge.
October 18, 2007
Preview of the Pac 10, Washington State
Each week we'll preview the other nine Pac 10 teams as we approach the pre season and continue toward the start of league play. The Pac 10 appears to have 3 Top 12 or so teams as practice starts in the world of College Basketball. Stanford, Cal and Arizona State will all be highly ranked, and USC and maybe UCLA have a chance at the Top 25. There are new Head Coaches at Washington State and Washington, and top recruits joining the Pac 10 as frosh.
We'll start with Washington State, with their old/new Coach June Daugherty. June and husband Mike have moved from Seattle to Pullman. Fired from Washington due to a lack of buzz in the Husky program, they are already creating a buzz at Washington State with a fine recruiting class who will sign their Letters of Intent next month. Change will come slowly in the Palouse, but it has started.
WSU returns their Center from last year, Ebonee Coates, a 6-4 Jr. Coates averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds a game. She will never be a scorer, her high is only 11, but she is a fine rebounder with a high of 14 and about 10 per 40 minutes last season. The back up will be 6-4 Jr Sabrina Shired. She has played little at WSU, but does provide size and some experience.
Outside of the two post players and Forward Heather Molzen a 6-3 Jr, WSU has no players with experience over 5-9. Molzen has played very little in her two years, but the opportunity has certainly presented itself. Fr Katie Calderwood at 6-0 has a chance to see a lot of playing time. She was a fine High School player in Colorado.
Another possibility at a Forward position is Gonzaga transfer Salena Dickerson. Salena is a 5-11 Frosh, not clear why a frosh after transferring from Gonzaga, where she did not play. She was the state of Washington's leading scorer as a High School Sr, averaging 26 points a game. She could add firepower to a team really looking for firepower.
The losses of Kate Benz to graduation and the transfer of top scorer Marisa Stotler of Boise State will ready hurt this year's team in the post area. Marisa transferred just before school started.
You can see why WSU will probably play a 3 guard line up. Returning is 5-8 Jr Katie Appleton who averaged 8 points per game and is a fine 3 point shooter. The other two starters should be 5-7 So Nakejia Kelly who averaged 7 points per game and 5-9 So Colleen Betteridge who averaged 5 points per game. Appleton shot 37% from 3, Kelly lettered 3 years at the famed Christ The King HS in New York City and Betteridge hit 33% from 3.
Other Guards include two frosh, 5-9 Jasmine Williams and 5-6 Kezia Kelly. Williams is a local Washington woman, and a good prospect. Kelly is a recent signee, coming from New Zealand. Kelly played for their National 19U team, and in HS played netball. A Hot Dog if you comment on what netball might be.
WSU suffered a major defection when Amanda DuRocher transferred to an NAIA school. She scored 8 points per game as a frosh last season. Dani Montgomery who scored 4 points per game last year also left the team.
June has a very young team, no Srs and 4 Jrs among the 11 player roster. But she has a fine class coming in next year, four solid players and she's on a mission to prove her past Athletic Director so very wrong. For this season however, the cellar looms for the Cougs.
WSU does have a pretty easy pre-season schedule with a game on the road against North Carolina State and a home against Texas Tech the only major opponents.
We'll start with Washington State, with their old/new Coach June Daugherty. June and husband Mike have moved from Seattle to Pullman. Fired from Washington due to a lack of buzz in the Husky program, they are already creating a buzz at Washington State with a fine recruiting class who will sign their Letters of Intent next month. Change will come slowly in the Palouse, but it has started.
WSU returns their Center from last year, Ebonee Coates, a 6-4 Jr. Coates averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds a game. She will never be a scorer, her high is only 11, but she is a fine rebounder with a high of 14 and about 10 per 40 minutes last season. The back up will be 6-4 Jr Sabrina Shired. She has played little at WSU, but does provide size and some experience.
Outside of the two post players and Forward Heather Molzen a 6-3 Jr, WSU has no players with experience over 5-9. Molzen has played very little in her two years, but the opportunity has certainly presented itself. Fr Katie Calderwood at 6-0 has a chance to see a lot of playing time. She was a fine High School player in Colorado.
Another possibility at a Forward position is Gonzaga transfer Salena Dickerson. Salena is a 5-11 Frosh, not clear why a frosh after transferring from Gonzaga, where she did not play. She was the state of Washington's leading scorer as a High School Sr, averaging 26 points a game. She could add firepower to a team really looking for firepower.
The losses of Kate Benz to graduation and the transfer of top scorer Marisa Stotler of Boise State will ready hurt this year's team in the post area. Marisa transferred just before school started.
You can see why WSU will probably play a 3 guard line up. Returning is 5-8 Jr Katie Appleton who averaged 8 points per game and is a fine 3 point shooter. The other two starters should be 5-7 So Nakejia Kelly who averaged 7 points per game and 5-9 So Colleen Betteridge who averaged 5 points per game. Appleton shot 37% from 3, Kelly lettered 3 years at the famed Christ The King HS in New York City and Betteridge hit 33% from 3.
Other Guards include two frosh, 5-9 Jasmine Williams and 5-6 Kezia Kelly. Williams is a local Washington woman, and a good prospect. Kelly is a recent signee, coming from New Zealand. Kelly played for their National 19U team, and in HS played netball. A Hot Dog if you comment on what netball might be.
WSU suffered a major defection when Amanda DuRocher transferred to an NAIA school. She scored 8 points per game as a frosh last season. Dani Montgomery who scored 4 points per game last year also left the team.
June has a very young team, no Srs and 4 Jrs among the 11 player roster. But she has a fine class coming in next year, four solid players and she's on a mission to prove her past Athletic Director so very wrong. For this season however, the cellar looms for the Cougs.
WSU does have a pretty easy pre-season schedule with a game on the road against North Carolina State and a home against Texas Tech the only major opponents.
October 2, 2007
Rating the Pac 10 Coaches
Our first article of the new season will be rating the other nine
Pac 10 Coaches. The other nine? Yep, you all know who is # 1. I have used an A, B, C grade to be polite, and to better make my point, without causing too much of an uproar.
The C's:
Tia Jackson is the newest Head Coach to the Pac 10 and the Washington job will be her first as a Head Coach. She does have Pac 10 experience, having been an Assistant at both Stanford and UCLA. She moved from UCLA to Duke as an Assistant before coming to Washington. The C grade has not been earned, but she simply hasn't been a Head Coach before. However her start in the recruiting area hasn't been great, as she has had to talk several commits into staying with their signed LOI and their verbal (Kingma). This year I believe she only has one Scholarship remaining, so we will see her recruiting impact with the 2009, next year, class.
Tia replaced June Daugherty in an effort to pump up fan interest in the program. With an outstanding incoming frosh class (recruited by June), Tia and the Huskies could get off to a good start toward building both excitement and a post season team. We'll see how she performs as a Head Coach.
Oregon's Bev Smith has been at Oregon for a while now and it's been pretty ho hum lately. This is a program with good fan interest, but the results the past two years have been disappointing. Oregon's recruiting over the past few years consists mostly of importing players from overseas. 8 of this year's 12 players are foreign. And Oregon has no players from the state of Oregon.
I appreciate that good players can come from abroad, but it hasn't produced results. So that's either suspect coaching or suspect recruiting methods. Neither lead me to believe Smith is above average as a Coach.
Kathy Olivier of UCLA is a Coach we fans often critize. She had a great players just 2 years ago and it fell way short of expections, and last year was even further away from what Bruin fans expect and hope for. But, and this is big, she can recruit. UCLA has an outstanding 6 player group coming in as frosh this season. The huge question is will they improve and will they play as a team and would playing as a team even be the plan. Kathy seems to use the star system, pleasing a few players. But it has not translated to post season wins.
LaVonda Wagner of Oregon State will be cause for debate here with her C grade. I base this on her lack of ability to retain 2 of her top 3 scorers from last season. After only one season at Oregon State, Smith and Lomax left. 7 of her 12 players will be new this year (one of the seven returns after a year off). Yes her players play hard and yes she seems to coach her team up. But she must recruit better and keep her recruits to move up a grade in my mind. The potential is there. But recruiting is a big part of Coaching, and she is not doing well there.
The B's:
June Dougherty was fired and I give her a B? Yep. It is de javu all over again. June has a great class coming in and gets fired, much like Caren at Cal 3 years ago. But the real ironic thing is that June is a good game coach. It will be very hard to do well at Washington State, so hard to recruit, and she's not off to a good start in that area. Too many players considering Gonzaga and not WSU.
June's Washington teams ranged from good to average. But they could always be counted on to play the tough teams tough. She should be a great addition to the Washington State program, and if anyone can recruit to Pullman, I suspect it's June. And hot off the press, she has 4 solid commits for the November Signing Period.
Joan Bonvicini seems to be only able to recruit the Top 100-200 players at Arizona, but she gets a number of those. He teams play hard, they stay in their game plan and they slightly over achieve. I'm being a bit inconsistant, but if Joan could land a Top 25 player they'd move to the top half of the Pac 10 immediately. Recruiting top players hasn't been her forte since Polk enrolled. Joan handles the in game coahing very well though, thus her B grade.
Joanne Boyle has done a fine job in her two years at Cal, but is really at a crossroads now. She recruited but couldn't keep Sanford, a Top 25 player, who has been by far her highest ranked recruit. With six weeks to go to Letter of Intent Period, Cal has only one committment. However Boyle proved her coaching and leadership ability last year when Cal lost Gray-Lawson in Dec and still advanced to the NCAA's with a very young team. Cal will have 10 openings this year and next, so the pressure will be on to sign several top players.
Mark Trakh has done a fantastic job recruiting, sadly injuries have struck heavily on USC. Last year he lost two and possibly a third player who would have been starters, and this year he has lost two starters already. However unlike last season when USC had to start a walk-on late in the season, this year he will have a solid group of 8-9 players. A 20 win season is very possible, and a trip to the Dance. In fact to keep his # 3 in the Conference rating, he had better reach the NCAA's.
What I like most about Trakh is that he keeps his cool and the fact that a walk on was able to play a number of minutes demonstrates his coaching ability. I'm big on calm game coaches. I like those who do their coaching in practices and don't pace the sideline yelling instructions.
The A Coaches:
Of course that leads into Arizona State's Charli Turner Thorne. She's a pacer, she's a yeller, she's a hockey coach with hockey substitution patterns. But she can coach. Her teams are extremely competitive, very well coached and by goodness are they aggressive. Arizona State has been a very strong Pac 10 contender and competitive on the national level. Players develop well, of course they also know that if in the 10 deep they will play.
ASU is a team that will contend for the Pac 10 title for the foreseeable future, and could well advance deep in to the NCAA tournament. Charli has formed an excellent foundation for the Sun Devils.
Pac 10 Coaches. The other nine? Yep, you all know who is # 1. I have used an A, B, C grade to be polite, and to better make my point, without causing too much of an uproar.
The C's:
Tia Jackson is the newest Head Coach to the Pac 10 and the Washington job will be her first as a Head Coach. She does have Pac 10 experience, having been an Assistant at both Stanford and UCLA. She moved from UCLA to Duke as an Assistant before coming to Washington. The C grade has not been earned, but she simply hasn't been a Head Coach before. However her start in the recruiting area hasn't been great, as she has had to talk several commits into staying with their signed LOI and their verbal (Kingma). This year I believe she only has one Scholarship remaining, so we will see her recruiting impact with the 2009, next year, class.
Tia replaced June Daugherty in an effort to pump up fan interest in the program. With an outstanding incoming frosh class (recruited by June), Tia and the Huskies could get off to a good start toward building both excitement and a post season team. We'll see how she performs as a Head Coach.
Oregon's Bev Smith has been at Oregon for a while now and it's been pretty ho hum lately. This is a program with good fan interest, but the results the past two years have been disappointing. Oregon's recruiting over the past few years consists mostly of importing players from overseas. 8 of this year's 12 players are foreign. And Oregon has no players from the state of Oregon.
I appreciate that good players can come from abroad, but it hasn't produced results. So that's either suspect coaching or suspect recruiting methods. Neither lead me to believe Smith is above average as a Coach.
Kathy Olivier of UCLA is a Coach we fans often critize. She had a great players just 2 years ago and it fell way short of expections, and last year was even further away from what Bruin fans expect and hope for. But, and this is big, she can recruit. UCLA has an outstanding 6 player group coming in as frosh this season. The huge question is will they improve and will they play as a team and would playing as a team even be the plan. Kathy seems to use the star system, pleasing a few players. But it has not translated to post season wins.
LaVonda Wagner of Oregon State will be cause for debate here with her C grade. I base this on her lack of ability to retain 2 of her top 3 scorers from last season. After only one season at Oregon State, Smith and Lomax left. 7 of her 12 players will be new this year (one of the seven returns after a year off). Yes her players play hard and yes she seems to coach her team up. But she must recruit better and keep her recruits to move up a grade in my mind. The potential is there. But recruiting is a big part of Coaching, and she is not doing well there.
The B's:
June Dougherty was fired and I give her a B? Yep. It is de javu all over again. June has a great class coming in and gets fired, much like Caren at Cal 3 years ago. But the real ironic thing is that June is a good game coach. It will be very hard to do well at Washington State, so hard to recruit, and she's not off to a good start in that area. Too many players considering Gonzaga and not WSU.
June's Washington teams ranged from good to average. But they could always be counted on to play the tough teams tough. She should be a great addition to the Washington State program, and if anyone can recruit to Pullman, I suspect it's June. And hot off the press, she has 4 solid commits for the November Signing Period.
Joan Bonvicini seems to be only able to recruit the Top 100-200 players at Arizona, but she gets a number of those. He teams play hard, they stay in their game plan and they slightly over achieve. I'm being a bit inconsistant, but if Joan could land a Top 25 player they'd move to the top half of the Pac 10 immediately. Recruiting top players hasn't been her forte since Polk enrolled. Joan handles the in game coahing very well though, thus her B grade.
Joanne Boyle has done a fine job in her two years at Cal, but is really at a crossroads now. She recruited but couldn't keep Sanford, a Top 25 player, who has been by far her highest ranked recruit. With six weeks to go to Letter of Intent Period, Cal has only one committment. However Boyle proved her coaching and leadership ability last year when Cal lost Gray-Lawson in Dec and still advanced to the NCAA's with a very young team. Cal will have 10 openings this year and next, so the pressure will be on to sign several top players.
Mark Trakh has done a fantastic job recruiting, sadly injuries have struck heavily on USC. Last year he lost two and possibly a third player who would have been starters, and this year he has lost two starters already. However unlike last season when USC had to start a walk-on late in the season, this year he will have a solid group of 8-9 players. A 20 win season is very possible, and a trip to the Dance. In fact to keep his # 3 in the Conference rating, he had better reach the NCAA's.
What I like most about Trakh is that he keeps his cool and the fact that a walk on was able to play a number of minutes demonstrates his coaching ability. I'm big on calm game coaches. I like those who do their coaching in practices and don't pace the sideline yelling instructions.
The A Coaches:
Of course that leads into Arizona State's Charli Turner Thorne. She's a pacer, she's a yeller, she's a hockey coach with hockey substitution patterns. But she can coach. Her teams are extremely competitive, very well coached and by goodness are they aggressive. Arizona State has been a very strong Pac 10 contender and competitive on the national level. Players develop well, of course they also know that if in the 10 deep they will play.
ASU is a team that will contend for the Pac 10 title for the foreseeable future, and could well advance deep in to the NCAA tournament. Charli has formed an excellent foundation for the Sun Devils.
March 20, 2007
The Day the Music Died
And it's bye, bye, American Pie. I remember that day well in 1959. That surely dates me, but my picture is here for all to see. And it's a better title than
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", or the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. Yeah I'm rambling, rolling over in self pity, saddened by the end of the season for the wonderful Stanford Women's Basketball team.
When I was a Little League President. I went to a new Manager's Team Meeting. He was managing a Major Boys team, ages 10-12. He said, "the season ends with a loss for every single team but one, so enjoy the ride, not thinking of that final loss". OK how about a 29-5 season, a Pac 10 Title going 17-1, the Pac 10 Tournament Championship. That's pretty heady stuff. Got us to # 5 in the country and a solid 2 seed. Quite a ride, indeed.
To our four great Srs, thank you for that ride, and the three Elite Eight's that preceeded it. To Tara and her coaches, to our support staff, thank you for the ride. To the parents of the 14 players who lead the ride. A rough night I'm sure, and some rough days ahead. Think about that one, the parents who are the biggest fans of all, who must give so much praise and encourgement while cancelling travel plans.
Good bye, Kish. From Manager to scholarship player, thank you.
To Bode, who gave an extra year of her life for the dream of playing in a Final Four.
And New, I'll remember that baseline drive at the end. Where did that come from? Shear desire.
And to a truely special player, thank you Brooke. You gave so much of yourself, with so much skill. But your emotion is what made you special to us.
Thank you all. It was a great season, and your futures are so bright.
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", or the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. Yeah I'm rambling, rolling over in self pity, saddened by the end of the season for the wonderful Stanford Women's Basketball team.
When I was a Little League President. I went to a new Manager's Team Meeting. He was managing a Major Boys team, ages 10-12. He said, "the season ends with a loss for every single team but one, so enjoy the ride, not thinking of that final loss". OK how about a 29-5 season, a Pac 10 Title going 17-1, the Pac 10 Tournament Championship. That's pretty heady stuff. Got us to # 5 in the country and a solid 2 seed. Quite a ride, indeed.
To our four great Srs, thank you for that ride, and the three Elite Eight's that preceeded it. To Tara and her coaches, to our support staff, thank you for the ride. To the parents of the 14 players who lead the ride. A rough night I'm sure, and some rough days ahead. Think about that one, the parents who are the biggest fans of all, who must give so much praise and encourgement while cancelling travel plans.
Good bye, Kish. From Manager to scholarship player, thank you.
To Bode, who gave an extra year of her life for the dream of playing in a Final Four.
And New, I'll remember that baseline drive at the end. Where did that come from? Shear desire.
And to a truely special player, thank you Brooke. You gave so much of yourself, with so much skill. But your emotion is what made you special to us.
Thank you all. It was a great season, and your futures are so bright.
March 13, 2007
Let the Fun Begin
The Stanford Cardinal got the Seed they hoped for, and the Regional they hoped for, with a # 2 seed and the Fresno Regional. The stars are now aligned.
We start at Maples on Saturday, March 17th. The first game will be Old Dominion vs Florida State. ODU brings a 24-8 record and is the # 7 seed in the Fresno Section,. while Florida State is 22-9 on the season and the # 10 seed.
Our game against Idaho State will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Idaho State has a 17-13 record. If we win this game, we face the winner of the 11AM game on Monday.
The Fresno Sweet Sixteen will begin Saturday, March 24 and conclude Monday, March 26. LSU is the # 3 seed, and UConn is the # 1 seed. No need to talk about Fresno anymore, we need two wins at Maples first.
Other Pac 10 teams in the Dance are Arizona State, Cal and Washington.
ASU is the # 3 seed in the Greensboro Region. They will start in LA against UC Riverside, the # 14 seed with a 21-10 record. If the Sun Devils win, they face the winner of the Louisville- BYU game. Louisville is the # 6 seed with a 26-7 record, while BYU at 23-9 is the # 11 Seed. The top seeds in this Regional are Duke at # 1 and Vanderbuilt at # 2. If ASU wins in LA and Vandy is not upset, I believe ASU has a great chance to advance to the Elite Eight.
Cal is the # 8 seed in the Dallas Region. They start with # 9 seed Notre Dame with a 19-11 record. Of course, as we know, the winner of the 8 vs 9 game gets the Regional's # 1 seed, in this case North Carolina. Hopefully Cal can at least face the Tar Heels.
The 4th Pac 10 team is # 11 seed Washington who are in the Dallas Region with Cal. Washington starts with # 6 seed Iowa State at 25-8. That's going to be a very tough game for the Huskies but if they succeed, then it's most likey # 3 seed Georgia.
With the Pod System, there will be 2 more games at Maples on Saturday with # 5 seed Middle Tennessee State against # 12 Gonzaga. This will be followed by # 4 Ohio State vs # 13 Marist.
I'm feeling for USC who went 17-13, had some tough close games with top 10 teams, hosts a 1st Round, and wasn't selected. On the Men's side, it appears the league tournament meant quite a bit. On the Women's side, USC beats Washington in the Tournament and Washington gets the bid. Of course more to it than that, but we know the Trojans are thinking just that.
Here's a link to the Women's NIT:
http://womensnit.com/index.htm
Only Oregon from the Pac 10 made it, maybe USC declined.
We start at Maples on Saturday, March 17th. The first game will be Old Dominion vs Florida State. ODU brings a 24-8 record and is the # 7 seed in the Fresno Section,. while Florida State is 22-9 on the season and the # 10 seed.
Our game against Idaho State will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Idaho State has a 17-13 record. If we win this game, we face the winner of the 11AM game on Monday.
The Fresno Sweet Sixteen will begin Saturday, March 24 and conclude Monday, March 26. LSU is the # 3 seed, and UConn is the # 1 seed. No need to talk about Fresno anymore, we need two wins at Maples first.
Other Pac 10 teams in the Dance are Arizona State, Cal and Washington.
ASU is the # 3 seed in the Greensboro Region. They will start in LA against UC Riverside, the # 14 seed with a 21-10 record. If the Sun Devils win, they face the winner of the Louisville- BYU game. Louisville is the # 6 seed with a 26-7 record, while BYU at 23-9 is the # 11 Seed. The top seeds in this Regional are Duke at # 1 and Vanderbuilt at # 2. If ASU wins in LA and Vandy is not upset, I believe ASU has a great chance to advance to the Elite Eight.
Cal is the # 8 seed in the Dallas Region. They start with # 9 seed Notre Dame with a 19-11 record. Of course, as we know, the winner of the 8 vs 9 game gets the Regional's # 1 seed, in this case North Carolina. Hopefully Cal can at least face the Tar Heels.
The 4th Pac 10 team is # 11 seed Washington who are in the Dallas Region with Cal. Washington starts with # 6 seed Iowa State at 25-8. That's going to be a very tough game for the Huskies but if they succeed, then it's most likey # 3 seed Georgia.
With the Pod System, there will be 2 more games at Maples on Saturday with # 5 seed Middle Tennessee State against # 12 Gonzaga. This will be followed by # 4 Ohio State vs # 13 Marist.
I'm feeling for USC who went 17-13, had some tough close games with top 10 teams, hosts a 1st Round, and wasn't selected. On the Men's side, it appears the league tournament meant quite a bit. On the Women's side, USC beats Washington in the Tournament and Washington gets the bid. Of course more to it than that, but we know the Trojans are thinking just that.
Here's a link to the Women's NIT:
http://womensnit.com/index.htm
Only Oregon from the Pac 10 made it, maybe USC declined.
March 6, 2007
PAC 10, Take a Dance Card
After all the "we may hold Candice out" talk, we win the Pac 10 Tournament because of Candice and almost certainly go in as a # 2 seed and should be the # 6 overall. We will join USC and Cal in the Dance, and maybe, they do host, USC. Washington? Will the Huskies lose out because USC is hosting? I think they will, but it depends on how the Conference Tournaments all play out. If the seeded teams win their Tournament, the Huskies have a chance. If a League that would normally send a single team to the Dance sends two, then it's NIT for the Huskies, and maybe Oregon gets into the NIT also.
Before the Dance two Coaches who have been on the Hot Seat could know their fate. Karen Olivier may have her contract extended once again, or their Fans could win out and UCLA starts looking for a replacement. I would guess no Cal tricks here, that a great recruiting class gives Kathy more years as the Bruin Head Coach.
On the other hand, June Daugherty at the University of Washington, has received no encouragement on her future, and she may be relieved of her duties at any time. That would be sad, not only is June a former Stanford Ass't, but a fine Head Coach. San Jose State is looking for a Head Coach and June would be an ideal person to build a program, if she would be willing to take a lessor job. She and husband Mike are a team, and some program will scoop them up if the new AD at Washington decides on another Head Coach.
For those who missed the All Pac 10 Tournament team, MVP was Candice, with Jayne Appel and Brooke Smith joining her on the honored team.
The announcement of the NCAA Dance Cards will be televised on ESPN on Monday, March 12 at 5PM. Maybe it's Old Pro time. At 6PM the Old Pro has the live Stanford Monday Night Show. Might have a player or two and coach or two. Learn we're going to who know's where and then Tara's reaction? Sounds like a great way to spend the evening. The show's guests have not been announced, but what could be better? I'll be there for the Selections.
Before the Dance two Coaches who have been on the Hot Seat could know their fate. Karen Olivier may have her contract extended once again, or their Fans could win out and UCLA starts looking for a replacement. I would guess no Cal tricks here, that a great recruiting class gives Kathy more years as the Bruin Head Coach.
On the other hand, June Daugherty at the University of Washington, has received no encouragement on her future, and she may be relieved of her duties at any time. That would be sad, not only is June a former Stanford Ass't, but a fine Head Coach. San Jose State is looking for a Head Coach and June would be an ideal person to build a program, if she would be willing to take a lessor job. She and husband Mike are a team, and some program will scoop them up if the new AD at Washington decides on another Head Coach.
For those who missed the All Pac 10 Tournament team, MVP was Candice, with Jayne Appel and Brooke Smith joining her on the honored team.
The announcement of the NCAA Dance Cards will be televised on ESPN on Monday, March 12 at 5PM. Maybe it's Old Pro time. At 6PM the Old Pro has the live Stanford Monday Night Show. Might have a player or two and coach or two. Learn we're going to who know's where and then Tara's reaction? Sounds like a great way to spend the evening. The show's guests have not been announced, but what could be better? I'll be there for the Selections.
February 25, 2007
We Are The Champions
Once again Stanford is the Pac 10 Women's Basketball Champion. The 7th straight season of at least tying for the Championship, and this year, thanks to the gritty win over USC, we are the sole first place finisher. Today's victory was a tribute to togetherness, grittiness, and a team that is tougher than nails.
USC played very hard. They pressed thoughout the game, and almost pulled off the upset. But Brooke Smith's 2 pressure FT's sealed the victory and the Championship.
Cutting down the net after winning the league crown is always fun, but to accomplish it without Candice this week was really great for all the members of the Stanford team.
Rather than discuss how the league finished, let's move right in to the next round of fun, the Pac 10 Tournament in San Jose. Here are the Final Standings:
1. Stanford: 17-1
2. ASU: 16-2
3. Cal 12-6
4. Washington: 11-7
5. USC: 10-8
6. Oregon: 8-10
7. UCLA: 7-11
8. OSU: 4-14
9. Arizona: 4-14
10. WSU: 1-17
The Pac 10 Tourney:
Friday:
6 PM: WSU(10) vs. UCLA(7)
8:15PM: OSU(8) vs. Arizona(9)
Saturday:
11AM: Cal(3) vs. Oregon(6)
1:15: ASU(2) vs UCLA or Washingron State
5:00PM: Stanford(1) vs. Oregon State or Arizona
7:15PM: USC(5) vs. Washington(4)
Sunday:
2:00PM: Winner of the 11AM game vs the winner of the 1:15 game
4:30PM: Winner of the 5PM game vs the winner of the 7:15 game
Monday:
7:30PM; Sunday's winners.
The biggest question for Stanford fans is will we have Candice back for the Tourney? Huge question. She looked great climbing that ladder, if that means anything. :)
So do you know the way to San Jose?
USC played very hard. They pressed thoughout the game, and almost pulled off the upset. But Brooke Smith's 2 pressure FT's sealed the victory and the Championship.
Cutting down the net after winning the league crown is always fun, but to accomplish it without Candice this week was really great for all the members of the Stanford team.
Rather than discuss how the league finished, let's move right in to the next round of fun, the Pac 10 Tournament in San Jose. Here are the Final Standings:
1. Stanford: 17-1
2. ASU: 16-2
3. Cal 12-6
4. Washington: 11-7
5. USC: 10-8
6. Oregon: 8-10
7. UCLA: 7-11
8. OSU: 4-14
9. Arizona: 4-14
10. WSU: 1-17
The Pac 10 Tourney:
Friday:
6 PM: WSU(10) vs. UCLA(7)
8:15PM: OSU(8) vs. Arizona(9)
Saturday:
11AM: Cal(3) vs. Oregon(6)
1:15: ASU(2) vs UCLA or Washingron State
5:00PM: Stanford(1) vs. Oregon State or Arizona
7:15PM: USC(5) vs. Washington(4)
Sunday:
2:00PM: Winner of the 11AM game vs the winner of the 1:15 game
4:30PM: Winner of the 5PM game vs the winner of the 7:15 game
Monday:
7:30PM; Sunday's winners.
The biggest question for Stanford fans is will we have Candice back for the Tourney? Huge question. She looked great climbing that ladder, if that means anything. :)
So do you know the way to San Jose?
February 19, 2007
MY ALL LEAGUE TEAM
You can vote on your own All League Team on the front page of the FBC Site, but here's my team:
Appel, Jayne - Stanford
Hampton, Devanei - Cal
Hicks, Cameo - Washington
January, Briann - ASU
Johnson, Aubree - ASU
Nash, Casey - OSU
Quinn, Noelle - UCLA
Smith, Brooke - Stanford
Walker, Ashley - Cal
Wiggins, Candice - Stanford
Where is USC's Shay Murphy? Too many sub 33% shooting nights. ASU's Westerberg, or Noe, or Orsillo? To be honest when I thought about this for the FBC Web Site, I didn't have Aubree Johnson. But the more I thought about it the more I thought Johnson isn't even the 10th player on this list. She was glue for the Sun Devils. I thought in the pre season that Amanda Thompson would become the Center for ASU, but it was Johnson who rose up to be "the post" for her team. Johnson was a solid rebounder, defender, and scored more than anyone predicted.
We move into the final week of league play. The top six teams start with byes in the Pac 10 Tournament, so both UCLA and Oregon are playing for that Friday bye.
1. Stanford: 15-1, 23-4
Stanford is now # 8 in the nation, and needs one win this week to be the Regular season Champions. ASU has only one game, against in state rival Arizona, so two Stanford wins would keep Charli from ignoring the tie breaker, that is we beat ASU twice. It's also SR Day on Sunday for 4 Cardinal, Bode, Brooke, New and Kish. Please make sure you're at Maples for this emotional, rousing, uplifting and sad at the same time, occasion. From a class of one, New was the only scholarship player 4 years ago, comes four players who have made their mark at Stanford University.
Feb 22: UCLA
Feb 25: USC-SR Day at Noon, be early.
2. ASU: 15-2, 25-3
The # 10 Sun Devils beat both USC and UCLA. Briann January had a career high 22 points to go with 9 assists and 6 steals in the win over UCLA. Aubree Johnson had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win over USC.
Feb 24: @ Arizona
3. Cal: 10-6, 20-7
A stunning loss to Oregon low lighted the week. During that game the outstanding Devanei Hampton scored 27 of her team's 42 points. Imagine a team, minus one, scoring 15 points in a college basketball game? For the week, Hampton had 44 points and 21 rebounds. Cal came back tough to beat Oregon State in double overtime. The Bears have 20 wins, the first time with 20 or more since 1992.
Feb 22: USC
Feb 24: UCLA
3. USC: 10-6, 16-10
USC split with the Arizona schools, and they probably need four wins to reach the NCAA's. They are about 20 behind Washington in RPI. USC played ASU very close until the end, missing out on a huge opportunity. But ASU would not let that happen. Shay Murphy had 26 points and 20 rebounds, but was only 8 for 29 from the floor, in the two games.
Feb 22: @ Cal
Feb 25: @ Stanford
5. Washington: 9-7, 16-11
Despite having the same # of wins as USC, Washington seems to be closer to the NCAA's than the Trojans. The Huskies really contol their own destiny, playing the Oregon schools at home. Their one game this past week was a 32 point victory over Washington State.
Feb 22: Oregon State
Feb 24: Oregon
6. UCLA: 7-9, 13-15
The Bruins lost to both Arizona schools to take themselves out of NCAA consideration and unless they win 4 more, probably out of post season, read NIT, entirely. A sad way for the great Noelle Quinn to end her career. Quinn, as usual, did it all with 37 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the losses to Arizona and ASU.
Feb 22: @ Stanford
Feb 24: @ Cal
6. Oregon: 7-9, 15-11
The Ducks beat Cal and lost to Stanford, but keept alive their post season, NIT, hopes. Eleanor Haring had a fine week with 36 points.
Feb 22: @ Washington State
Feb 24: @ Washington
8. Arizona: 4-13, 10-19
The Wildcats had a huge win at UCLA. Joy Hollingsworth had 18 points in that game and Malia O'Neal had 11 assists.
Feb 24: ASU
9. Oregon State: 3-13, 8-17
Played very tough against both Cal and Stanford but came up just short in both games. Casey Nash scored 36 points and continues to led the Pac 10 in scoring.
Feb 22: @ Washington
Feb 24: @ Washington State
10: Washington State: 1-15, 5-21
Washington State lost by 32 to Washington.
Feb 22: Oregon
Feb 24: Oregon State
Appel, Jayne - Stanford
Hampton, Devanei - Cal
Hicks, Cameo - Washington
January, Briann - ASU
Johnson, Aubree - ASU
Nash, Casey - OSU
Quinn, Noelle - UCLA
Smith, Brooke - Stanford
Walker, Ashley - Cal
Wiggins, Candice - Stanford
Where is USC's Shay Murphy? Too many sub 33% shooting nights. ASU's Westerberg, or Noe, or Orsillo? To be honest when I thought about this for the FBC Web Site, I didn't have Aubree Johnson. But the more I thought about it the more I thought Johnson isn't even the 10th player on this list. She was glue for the Sun Devils. I thought in the pre season that Amanda Thompson would become the Center for ASU, but it was Johnson who rose up to be "the post" for her team. Johnson was a solid rebounder, defender, and scored more than anyone predicted.
We move into the final week of league play. The top six teams start with byes in the Pac 10 Tournament, so both UCLA and Oregon are playing for that Friday bye.
1. Stanford: 15-1, 23-4
Stanford is now # 8 in the nation, and needs one win this week to be the Regular season Champions. ASU has only one game, against in state rival Arizona, so two Stanford wins would keep Charli from ignoring the tie breaker, that is we beat ASU twice. It's also SR Day on Sunday for 4 Cardinal, Bode, Brooke, New and Kish. Please make sure you're at Maples for this emotional, rousing, uplifting and sad at the same time, occasion. From a class of one, New was the only scholarship player 4 years ago, comes four players who have made their mark at Stanford University.
Feb 22: UCLA
Feb 25: USC-SR Day at Noon, be early.
2. ASU: 15-2, 25-3
The # 10 Sun Devils beat both USC and UCLA. Briann January had a career high 22 points to go with 9 assists and 6 steals in the win over UCLA. Aubree Johnson had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win over USC.
Feb 24: @ Arizona
3. Cal: 10-6, 20-7
A stunning loss to Oregon low lighted the week. During that game the outstanding Devanei Hampton scored 27 of her team's 42 points. Imagine a team, minus one, scoring 15 points in a college basketball game? For the week, Hampton had 44 points and 21 rebounds. Cal came back tough to beat Oregon State in double overtime. The Bears have 20 wins, the first time with 20 or more since 1992.
Feb 22: USC
Feb 24: UCLA
3. USC: 10-6, 16-10
USC split with the Arizona schools, and they probably need four wins to reach the NCAA's. They are about 20 behind Washington in RPI. USC played ASU very close until the end, missing out on a huge opportunity. But ASU would not let that happen. Shay Murphy had 26 points and 20 rebounds, but was only 8 for 29 from the floor, in the two games.
Feb 22: @ Cal
Feb 25: @ Stanford
5. Washington: 9-7, 16-11
Despite having the same # of wins as USC, Washington seems to be closer to the NCAA's than the Trojans. The Huskies really contol their own destiny, playing the Oregon schools at home. Their one game this past week was a 32 point victory over Washington State.
Feb 22: Oregon State
Feb 24: Oregon
6. UCLA: 7-9, 13-15
The Bruins lost to both Arizona schools to take themselves out of NCAA consideration and unless they win 4 more, probably out of post season, read NIT, entirely. A sad way for the great Noelle Quinn to end her career. Quinn, as usual, did it all with 37 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the losses to Arizona and ASU.
Feb 22: @ Stanford
Feb 24: @ Cal
6. Oregon: 7-9, 15-11
The Ducks beat Cal and lost to Stanford, but keept alive their post season, NIT, hopes. Eleanor Haring had a fine week with 36 points.
Feb 22: @ Washington State
Feb 24: @ Washington
8. Arizona: 4-13, 10-19
The Wildcats had a huge win at UCLA. Joy Hollingsworth had 18 points in that game and Malia O'Neal had 11 assists.
Feb 24: ASU
9. Oregon State: 3-13, 8-17
Played very tough against both Cal and Stanford but came up just short in both games. Casey Nash scored 36 points and continues to led the Pac 10 in scoring.
Feb 22: @ Washington
Feb 24: @ Washington State
10: Washington State: 1-15, 5-21
Washington State lost by 32 to Washington.
Feb 22: Oregon
Feb 24: Oregon State
February 12, 2007
WITHOUT CANDICE
Two great wins for Stanford, two great wins for ASU, USC catches Cal for 3rd. Candice sprains her ankle, could be out for, well, the good news is with Candice who knows. She is a tough person.
We head into the final 2 weeks of the season with three NCAA teams,
Stanford, ASU and Cal, and a bubble team , USC.
1. Stanford: 13-1, 21-4.
Last week we lost JJ for the season, and this week Candice for 2-3 or so
weeks, it appears. Melanie Murphy really stepped up replaced JJ, now who
will step up and replace Candice? Both Oregon games become tough now, is
Stanford tuff enough? However when we play OSU, we should pound it inside
forever. See the ASU summary.
Feb 15: @ Oregon State
Feb 17: @ Oregon (11AM on FSBA)
2. Arizona State: 12-2, 23-3
Aubree Johnson could be POW. Against OSU, she scored 27 points on 12 for
15. Fellow Center Kristen Thompson scored 17. Both career highs. They did play 6 minutes together, a total of 46 for the Post duo. Johnson also
scored 17 points against Oregon, on 6 for 10. ASU Had two easy home wins
against the Oregon schools.
Feb 15: @ USC
Feb 18: @ UCLA (1PM, FSBA)
3. Cal: 9-5, 19-6
Cal just choked against a very average Washington team, no excuses. Boyle
wore out the 2 frosh guards, and it cost them. But they came back with a
lot of determination and easily beat WSU. Cal is now tied with USC, who
still has to play ASU. Hampton with 51 points and 23 rebounds in the two
games. Walker with 44 and 19.
Feb 15: @ Oregon
Feb 17: @ Oregon State
4. USC: 9-5, 15-9
Beat UCLA at the Galen Center before 9,749 fans. Not a pretty game with
Shay Murphy high with 13 points, on 2 for 16. Egads. And they won.
Feb 15: ASU
Feb 17: Arizona
5. Washington: 8-7, 15-11
A huge come from behind win at Cal, then a huge loss to Stanford. Hicks had 27 points against Cal, and Plouffe and 17 points and 13 rebounds. Against Stanford the same duo had 17 points. And how tough is Stanford inside, Plouffe had a single rebound against Stanford. In the Cal game, Washington came from 19 down with 13+ to play to win in OT.
Feb 17: @ WSU
6. UCLA: 7-7, 13-13
Going nowhere, this formally great program awaits some loving care from the AD, without which the program seemingly will stay around .500 basketball. In their only game UCLA lost to USC.
Feb 15: Arizona
Feb 18: Arizona State (1PM, FSBA)
7. Oregon: 6-8, 14-10
Only averaged 53.5 points in their two games last weekend, one a loss to ASU and the other a close win over Arizona. Both but games were in Arizona and we all know the Ducks play very well at home. Not much to report on stats, as no player scored more than 10 in either game.
Feb 15: Cal
Feb 17: Stanford (11AM, FSBA)
8. Oregon State: 3-11, 8-15
The Beavers played well in Arizona, losing to ASU by 15, and to Arizona by just 4. But the hard luck continues for this team that really lacks post play and depth. Frosh Judie Lomax does a great job for a sub 6 footer. She had 14 points against Arizona. Casey Nash continues to lead the Pac 10 is scoring, she had 39 in the two games. However she was only 16 for 39, 41%.
Feb 15: Stanford
Feb 17: Cal
9. Arizona: 3-12, 9-18
Won their 3rd Pac 10 game of the season, beating Oregon State, and also lost to Oregon. Ashley Whisonant had 29 points on the weekend, Joy Hollingsworth, 26.
Feb 15: @ UCLA
Feb 17: @ USC
10. Washington State: 1-14, 5-20
Lost badly in the Bay area to Stanford and then Cal.
Feb 17: Washington
We head into the final 2 weeks of the season with three NCAA teams,
Stanford, ASU and Cal, and a bubble team , USC.
1. Stanford: 13-1, 21-4.
Last week we lost JJ for the season, and this week Candice for 2-3 or so
weeks, it appears. Melanie Murphy really stepped up replaced JJ, now who
will step up and replace Candice? Both Oregon games become tough now, is
Stanford tuff enough? However when we play OSU, we should pound it inside
forever. See the ASU summary.
Feb 15: @ Oregon State
Feb 17: @ Oregon (11AM on FSBA)
2. Arizona State: 12-2, 23-3
Aubree Johnson could be POW. Against OSU, she scored 27 points on 12 for
15. Fellow Center Kristen Thompson scored 17. Both career highs. They did play 6 minutes together, a total of 46 for the Post duo. Johnson also
scored 17 points against Oregon, on 6 for 10. ASU Had two easy home wins
against the Oregon schools.
Feb 15: @ USC
Feb 18: @ UCLA (1PM, FSBA)
3. Cal: 9-5, 19-6
Cal just choked against a very average Washington team, no excuses. Boyle
wore out the 2 frosh guards, and it cost them. But they came back with a
lot of determination and easily beat WSU. Cal is now tied with USC, who
still has to play ASU. Hampton with 51 points and 23 rebounds in the two
games. Walker with 44 and 19.
Feb 15: @ Oregon
Feb 17: @ Oregon State
4. USC: 9-5, 15-9
Beat UCLA at the Galen Center before 9,749 fans. Not a pretty game with
Shay Murphy high with 13 points, on 2 for 16. Egads. And they won.
Feb 15: ASU
Feb 17: Arizona
5. Washington: 8-7, 15-11
A huge come from behind win at Cal, then a huge loss to Stanford. Hicks had 27 points against Cal, and Plouffe and 17 points and 13 rebounds. Against Stanford the same duo had 17 points. And how tough is Stanford inside, Plouffe had a single rebound against Stanford. In the Cal game, Washington came from 19 down with 13+ to play to win in OT.
Feb 17: @ WSU
6. UCLA: 7-7, 13-13
Going nowhere, this formally great program awaits some loving care from the AD, without which the program seemingly will stay around .500 basketball. In their only game UCLA lost to USC.
Feb 15: Arizona
Feb 18: Arizona State (1PM, FSBA)
7. Oregon: 6-8, 14-10
Only averaged 53.5 points in their two games last weekend, one a loss to ASU and the other a close win over Arizona. Both but games were in Arizona and we all know the Ducks play very well at home. Not much to report on stats, as no player scored more than 10 in either game.
Feb 15: Cal
Feb 17: Stanford (11AM, FSBA)
8. Oregon State: 3-11, 8-15
The Beavers played well in Arizona, losing to ASU by 15, and to Arizona by just 4. But the hard luck continues for this team that really lacks post play and depth. Frosh Judie Lomax does a great job for a sub 6 footer. She had 14 points against Arizona. Casey Nash continues to lead the Pac 10 is scoring, she had 39 in the two games. However she was only 16 for 39, 41%.
Feb 15: Stanford
Feb 17: Cal
9. Arizona: 3-12, 9-18
Won their 3rd Pac 10 game of the season, beating Oregon State, and also lost to Oregon. Ashley Whisonant had 29 points on the weekend, Joy Hollingsworth, 26.
Feb 15: @ UCLA
Feb 17: @ USC
10. Washington State: 1-14, 5-20
Lost badly in the Bay area to Stanford and then Cal.
Feb 17: Washington
February 4, 2007
After 50 in a row
Stanford suffered it's first loss after 50 straight conference wins to lowlight the week for the Cardinal. And to compound matters, starting Point Guard, JJ Hones suffered a knee injury at the start of the contest and could not return. Stanford remains # 1 in the conference, but they are back in a race with ASU who won twice. Stanford does own the tie breaker with ASU, having defeated the Sun Devils twice.
1. Stanford: 11-1, 19-4
The loss of JJ Hones will really affect the Cardinal. Will Candice become the full time Point Guard, as she was on Sunday? And does that mean the outside shooting must come from Cissy Pierce and Clare Bodensteiner who went a combined 1 for 19 Sunday? Or will Stanford revert to what has made them so successful over the years and pound the ball inside? Big questions and big adjustments if JJ is out for a period of time.
Feb 8: WSU
Feb 10: Washington
2. ASU: 11-2, 21-3
ASU won both their games this week, against the Washington schools. Jill Noe was 7 for 7 with 4 three pointers in an easy win over WSU. The Sun Devils had to come from behind to beat Washington in Seattle. Noe was high scorer there also, but 7 women scored between 8 and 13 points for the Sun Devils in a very balanced attack.
Feb 8: Oregon
Feb 10: Oregon State
3. Cal: 8-4, 18-5
Cal barely edged Richmond on Wednesday, then played their hearts out to defeat Stanford at Maples. Stanford had not lost a home conference game for 5+ seasons. Hampton had 22 points and 14 rebounds for Cal against Stanford. The huge games by the Frosh Guards Vital and Greif might have been even bigger as they played every minute and combined for 34 points.
Feb 8: Washington
Feb 10: Washington State
4. USC: 8-5, 14-9
USC barely beat Oregon State, then lost to Oregon, on the road. Shay Murphy, who else, scored 24 points in the 3 point win over Oregon State, then went 3 for 16 in the loss to Oregon.
Feb 10: UCLA
5. Washington: 7-6, 14-10
The Huskies lost a close one at home against ASU, then easily beat Arizona. Cameo Hicks led the Huskies with 41 points in the two games, 25 against Arizona.
Feb 8: @ Cal
Feb 10: @ Stanford
5. UCLA: 7-6, 13-12
Lost badly to Oregon but came back to defeat Oregon State. Noelle Quinn had her typical week with 38 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists.
Feb 10: @ USC
7. Oregon: 5-7, 13-9
The Ducks quacked up two big home wins against the LA schools to jump back into the first division race. Both wins were by 10 or more points. Tamika Nurse had a career high 22 points against UCLA then she followed with 16 against USC. How to have two wins home wins like this? Oregon made 49 of it's 53 Free Throw attempts.
Feb 8: @ ASU
Feb 10: @ Arizona
8. Oregon State: 3-9, 8-13
The Beavers lost both games at home to the LA schools, the USC game being close. Casey Nash will continue to lead the conference in scoring, as she had 44 points for the week.
Feb 8: @ Arizona
Feb 10: @ ASU
9. Arizona: 2-11, 8-17
The Wildcats got a win this week, beating WSU. Joy Hollingsworth scored 20 points in that game, including 5 for 10 from three. Arizona lost to Washington, Hollingsworth scoring 26 points.
Feb 8: Oregon State
Feb 10: Oregon
10. Washington State: 1-12, 5-18
Washington State lost both their games to the visiting Arizona schools, although their game against the Wildcats was only a 4 point loss. Frosh Marisa Stotler scored 16 points in Arizona game.
Feb 8: @ Stanford
Feb 10: @ Cal
1. Stanford: 11-1, 19-4
The loss of JJ Hones will really affect the Cardinal. Will Candice become the full time Point Guard, as she was on Sunday? And does that mean the outside shooting must come from Cissy Pierce and Clare Bodensteiner who went a combined 1 for 19 Sunday? Or will Stanford revert to what has made them so successful over the years and pound the ball inside? Big questions and big adjustments if JJ is out for a period of time.
Feb 8: WSU
Feb 10: Washington
2. ASU: 11-2, 21-3
ASU won both their games this week, against the Washington schools. Jill Noe was 7 for 7 with 4 three pointers in an easy win over WSU. The Sun Devils had to come from behind to beat Washington in Seattle. Noe was high scorer there also, but 7 women scored between 8 and 13 points for the Sun Devils in a very balanced attack.
Feb 8: Oregon
Feb 10: Oregon State
3. Cal: 8-4, 18-5
Cal barely edged Richmond on Wednesday, then played their hearts out to defeat Stanford at Maples. Stanford had not lost a home conference game for 5+ seasons. Hampton had 22 points and 14 rebounds for Cal against Stanford. The huge games by the Frosh Guards Vital and Greif might have been even bigger as they played every minute and combined for 34 points.
Feb 8: Washington
Feb 10: Washington State
4. USC: 8-5, 14-9
USC barely beat Oregon State, then lost to Oregon, on the road. Shay Murphy, who else, scored 24 points in the 3 point win over Oregon State, then went 3 for 16 in the loss to Oregon.
Feb 10: UCLA
5. Washington: 7-6, 14-10
The Huskies lost a close one at home against ASU, then easily beat Arizona. Cameo Hicks led the Huskies with 41 points in the two games, 25 against Arizona.
Feb 8: @ Cal
Feb 10: @ Stanford
5. UCLA: 7-6, 13-12
Lost badly to Oregon but came back to defeat Oregon State. Noelle Quinn had her typical week with 38 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists.
Feb 10: @ USC
7. Oregon: 5-7, 13-9
The Ducks quacked up two big home wins against the LA schools to jump back into the first division race. Both wins were by 10 or more points. Tamika Nurse had a career high 22 points against UCLA then she followed with 16 against USC. How to have two wins home wins like this? Oregon made 49 of it's 53 Free Throw attempts.
Feb 8: @ ASU
Feb 10: @ Arizona
8. Oregon State: 3-9, 8-13
The Beavers lost both games at home to the LA schools, the USC game being close. Casey Nash will continue to lead the conference in scoring, as she had 44 points for the week.
Feb 8: @ Arizona
Feb 10: @ ASU
9. Arizona: 2-11, 8-17
The Wildcats got a win this week, beating WSU. Joy Hollingsworth scored 20 points in that game, including 5 for 10 from three. Arizona lost to Washington, Hollingsworth scoring 26 points.
Feb 8: Oregon State
Feb 10: Oregon
10. Washington State: 1-12, 5-18
Washington State lost both their games to the visiting Arizona schools, although their game against the Wildcats was only a 4 point loss. Frosh Marisa Stotler scored 16 points in Arizona game.
Feb 8: @ Stanford
Feb 10: @ Cal
January 30, 2007
Tough Enough
Stanford tripped to the desert and tripped up the Sun Devils. Got to believe that Charli thought the tide had turned, but we had Candice and they didn't.
Southern Cal jumped up with two wins, and looked good. Washington lost two and had a woeful week.
1. Stanford: 11-0, 18-3
Played fair in the 2nd half of the victory over Arizona, but against ASU won in OT behind the fantastic display by Player of the Week, Candice Wiggins. Two game lead with 7 games to go and five of them at home.
Feb 1: @ Santa Barbara
Feb 4: Cal
2. ASU: 9-2, 19-3
Their lack of a go to player really did them in against Stanford. It's one thing to say great Stanford Defense, but Westerberg and Noe went 3 for 13 against Stanford, and that did them in as much as Candice. Charli expects to get revenge at the Pac 10 Tournament, and after the rumble in the desert
she could be right.
Feb 1: @ Washington
Feb 3: @ Washington State
3. Cal: 7-4, 16-5
Cal keeps winning the games they should. The loss of Gray-Lawson, which I thought would be a killer, hasn't been. Cal is still ranked # 21. Hampton scored 39 points and had 16 rebounds last week, Walker 36 points and 19 rebounds, in their split in Arizona.
Jan 31: UC Riverside
Feb 4: @ Stanford
3. USC: 7-4, 13-8
USC beat both Washington schools at home to keep alive their NCAA chances. I would say right now they are iffy, but the Trojans are hanging tough. Shea Murphy scored 43 points in the two wins, and Jamie Hagiya came out of her funk with 28 points, 11 assists, only 1 turnover and 11, Wow! steals.
Feb 1: Oregon State
Feb 3: Oregon
5. Washington: 6-5, 13-9
Washingon has now lost 4 of 5, their only win in three weeks over Washington State. Now ASU comes to town so it won't get any better for the Huskies. The bigger question is becoming, Is June done?
Feb 1: ASU
Feb 3: Arizona
5. UCLA: 6-5, 12-11
The Bruins won two close games at home against the Washington schools, beating WSU by only three, thanks to 4 three's in the game by back up Zaidi. Pluimer had a fine game against WSU with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Noelle Quinn had a normal week, for her, 29 points, 21 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Zaidi also hit 2 three's against Washington, 6 three's for the week.
Feb 1: @ Oregon
Feb 3: @ Oregon State
7. Oregon: 3-7, 11-9
The Ducks split with their in state rival the Beavers.
Feb 1: UCLA
Feb 3: USC
7. Oregon State: 3-7, 8-11
And the Beavers split with the Ducks
Feb 1: USC
Feb 3: UCLA
9. Arizona: 1=10, 7-16
Feb 1: @ WSU
Feb 3: @ Washington
9. Washington State: 1-10, 5-16
A close loss at UCLA was the highlight of the Cougars' week. Marisa Stotler scored 15 points against UCLA but only 2 points against USC.
Feb 1: Arizona
Feb 3: Arizona State
Southern Cal jumped up with two wins, and looked good. Washington lost two and had a woeful week.
1. Stanford: 11-0, 18-3
Played fair in the 2nd half of the victory over Arizona, but against ASU won in OT behind the fantastic display by Player of the Week, Candice Wiggins. Two game lead with 7 games to go and five of them at home.
Feb 1: @ Santa Barbara
Feb 4: Cal
2. ASU: 9-2, 19-3
Their lack of a go to player really did them in against Stanford. It's one thing to say great Stanford Defense, but Westerberg and Noe went 3 for 13 against Stanford, and that did them in as much as Candice. Charli expects to get revenge at the Pac 10 Tournament, and after the rumble in the desert
she could be right.
Feb 1: @ Washington
Feb 3: @ Washington State
3. Cal: 7-4, 16-5
Cal keeps winning the games they should. The loss of Gray-Lawson, which I thought would be a killer, hasn't been. Cal is still ranked # 21. Hampton scored 39 points and had 16 rebounds last week, Walker 36 points and 19 rebounds, in their split in Arizona.
Jan 31: UC Riverside
Feb 4: @ Stanford
3. USC: 7-4, 13-8
USC beat both Washington schools at home to keep alive their NCAA chances. I would say right now they are iffy, but the Trojans are hanging tough. Shea Murphy scored 43 points in the two wins, and Jamie Hagiya came out of her funk with 28 points, 11 assists, only 1 turnover and 11, Wow! steals.
Feb 1: Oregon State
Feb 3: Oregon
5. Washington: 6-5, 13-9
Washingon has now lost 4 of 5, their only win in three weeks over Washington State. Now ASU comes to town so it won't get any better for the Huskies. The bigger question is becoming, Is June done?
Feb 1: ASU
Feb 3: Arizona
5. UCLA: 6-5, 12-11
The Bruins won two close games at home against the Washington schools, beating WSU by only three, thanks to 4 three's in the game by back up Zaidi. Pluimer had a fine game against WSU with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Noelle Quinn had a normal week, for her, 29 points, 21 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Zaidi also hit 2 three's against Washington, 6 three's for the week.
Feb 1: @ Oregon
Feb 3: @ Oregon State
7. Oregon: 3-7, 11-9
The Ducks split with their in state rival the Beavers.
Feb 1: UCLA
Feb 3: USC
7. Oregon State: 3-7, 8-11
And the Beavers split with the Ducks
Feb 1: USC
Feb 3: UCLA
9. Arizona: 1=10, 7-16
Feb 1: @ WSU
Feb 3: @ Washington
9. Washington State: 1-10, 5-16
A close loss at UCLA was the highlight of the Cougars' week. Marisa Stotler scored 15 points against UCLA but only 2 points against USC.
Feb 1: Arizona
Feb 3: Arizona State
January 22, 2007
Showdown in the Land of the (Sun) Devils
Stanford and ASU, Sat at 11AM PST, on TV. What more could a fan ask for?
Oh, a more competitive Pac 10? Not going to be this year. Someone else to
rise up and beat either ASU or Stanford? Doesn't look likely. Cal to
finish 3rd? Maybe.
1. Stanford: 9-0, 16-3
We beat Oregon and Oregon State in games that raised our stress level, but in the end we did win. The Oregon game's first 15 minutes showed why we don't have young girls come watch. Not pretty at all. But the last 5 minutes of the first half, and the second half of the Oregon State game was all Stanford Basketball. Anyone else get a tournament feeling in the first 5 minutes of the Oregon State game 2nd Half?
The rumble in the desert. The meeting of spiked heels vs flat heels. the
teacher vs the pupil. The, ah no more, this Sat for all the marbles. A
must win for ASU, a "we better win" for Stanford. This is what sports is all
about.
Jan 25: @ Arizona
Jan 27: @ ASU (11AM PST, on FOX)
2. ASU: 8-1, 18-2
6,113 screaming young ladies saw ASU beat UCLA by 40 points. 40 points!
Kathy Olivier's Bruins intimidated by little girls and the hurly burly of
Charli's Sun Devils. USC had a chance to beat ASU Sunday, but came up
just short. Now the Sun Devils have the moment they have waited for,
Stanford at their house.
The bad news, Dymond Simon was lost for the year with a knee injury.
Jan 25: Cal
Jan 27: STANFORD
3. Cal: 6-3, 15-4
Cal has really stood in there despite the pre-season losses of several
players and the loss of Alexis Gray-Lawson at the start of league play.
But they still play only 6 people and at some point that philosophy could
haunt them.
Jan 25: @ ASU
Jan 27: @ Arizona
4. Washington: 6-3, 13-7.
The Huskies bounced back from the Lost Weekend to defeat WSU. This week
they travel to LA, and must sweep to stay in the race.
Jan 26: @ UCLA
Jan 28: @ USC
5. USC: 5-4, 11-8
USC beat Arizona and gave ASU a good game, very close until about 5 minutes
left. They must have Shay Murphy on every game to win though, and she went
an horrendous 5 for 24 against ASU.
Jan 26: Washington State
Jan 28: Washington
6: UCLA: 4-5, 10-11
A very disappointing game agains ASU, losing by 40. Can they bounce back?
Well they did hold on to beat Arizona. My guess is they could well win two
this weekend.
Jan 26: Washington
Jan 28: WSU
7. Oregon: 2-6, 10-8
A double loss in the Bay Area puts Oregon one game out of last place. Their
10 wins are deceiving, having played a number of cupcakes. The Ducks play
in state rival Oregon State twice this weekend.
Jan 24: Oregon State
Jan 28: @ Oregon State
8. Oregon State: 2-6, 7-10
Oregon State really battled both Stanford and Cal but came up short. They
have some good players coming in next season, but lose the Pac 10's leading
scorer in Casey Nash. One thing for sure, they have a fine Coaching Staff.
Jan 24: @ Oregon
Jan 28: Oregon
9. Arizona: 1-8, 7-14
With Stanford and Cal coming to Tucson, it should be a long weekend for the
Wildcats.
Jan 25: Stanford
Jan 27: Cal
10: Washington State: 1-8, 5-14
The Cougars had five players in double figures and Washington, but lost by
20. The long season continues.
Jan 26: @ USC
Jan 28: @ UCLA
Oh, a more competitive Pac 10? Not going to be this year. Someone else to
rise up and beat either ASU or Stanford? Doesn't look likely. Cal to
finish 3rd? Maybe.
1. Stanford: 9-0, 16-3
We beat Oregon and Oregon State in games that raised our stress level, but in the end we did win. The Oregon game's first 15 minutes showed why we don't have young girls come watch. Not pretty at all. But the last 5 minutes of the first half, and the second half of the Oregon State game was all Stanford Basketball. Anyone else get a tournament feeling in the first 5 minutes of the Oregon State game 2nd Half?
The rumble in the desert. The meeting of spiked heels vs flat heels. the
teacher vs the pupil. The, ah no more, this Sat for all the marbles. A
must win for ASU, a "we better win" for Stanford. This is what sports is all
about.
Jan 25: @ Arizona
Jan 27: @ ASU (11AM PST, on FOX)
2. ASU: 8-1, 18-2
6,113 screaming young ladies saw ASU beat UCLA by 40 points. 40 points!
Kathy Olivier's Bruins intimidated by little girls and the hurly burly of
Charli's Sun Devils. USC had a chance to beat ASU Sunday, but came up
just short. Now the Sun Devils have the moment they have waited for,
Stanford at their house.
The bad news, Dymond Simon was lost for the year with a knee injury.
Jan 25: Cal
Jan 27: STANFORD
3. Cal: 6-3, 15-4
Cal has really stood in there despite the pre-season losses of several
players and the loss of Alexis Gray-Lawson at the start of league play.
But they still play only 6 people and at some point that philosophy could
haunt them.
Jan 25: @ ASU
Jan 27: @ Arizona
4. Washington: 6-3, 13-7.
The Huskies bounced back from the Lost Weekend to defeat WSU. This week
they travel to LA, and must sweep to stay in the race.
Jan 26: @ UCLA
Jan 28: @ USC
5. USC: 5-4, 11-8
USC beat Arizona and gave ASU a good game, very close until about 5 minutes
left. They must have Shay Murphy on every game to win though, and she went
an horrendous 5 for 24 against ASU.
Jan 26: Washington State
Jan 28: Washington
6: UCLA: 4-5, 10-11
A very disappointing game agains ASU, losing by 40. Can they bounce back?
Well they did hold on to beat Arizona. My guess is they could well win two
this weekend.
Jan 26: Washington
Jan 28: WSU
7. Oregon: 2-6, 10-8
A double loss in the Bay Area puts Oregon one game out of last place. Their
10 wins are deceiving, having played a number of cupcakes. The Ducks play
in state rival Oregon State twice this weekend.
Jan 24: Oregon State
Jan 28: @ Oregon State
8. Oregon State: 2-6, 7-10
Oregon State really battled both Stanford and Cal but came up short. They
have some good players coming in next season, but lose the Pac 10's leading
scorer in Casey Nash. One thing for sure, they have a fine Coaching Staff.
Jan 24: @ Oregon
Jan 28: Oregon
9. Arizona: 1-8, 7-14
With Stanford and Cal coming to Tucson, it should be a long weekend for the
Wildcats.
Jan 25: Stanford
Jan 27: Cal
10: Washington State: 1-8, 5-14
The Cougars had five players in double figures and Washington, but lost by
20. The long season continues.
Jan 26: @ USC
Jan 28: @ UCLA
January 14, 2007
Pac-10 Review, Jan 14
The complete collapse of Washington has left the Pac-10 with a two team race, heading for the big showdown between Stanford and ASU in two weeks. Can anyone doubt that Brooke Smith will be the Pac-10 player of the week? Or even the national POW. Washington State will beat someone, and then have the confidence to do it again. And USC wins at UCLA, could that start a roll for them? And anyone notice the attendance at UCLA? Over 7,100.
1. Stanford: 7-0, 14-3.
Stanford has won 12 in a row now. Brooke Smith put up some awesome #'s for the week's three games with 52 points, 25 rebounds, 17 assists and 8 steals. Just skipping ahead a bit, the Stanford -ASU game will be on live TV, Saturday, Jan 27, 11AM.
Jan 18: Oregon
Jan 20: Oregon State
2. Arizona State: 6-1, 16-2
Two nice wins in Oregon by ASU could get them into the Top 10, staying right behind Stanford. Emily Westerberg scored 34 points in the two wins and Aubree Johnson added 26 points and 18 rebounds.
Jan 18: UCLA
Jan 21: USC
3. Washington: 5-3, 12-7
Fans of classic movie's might remember "The Lost Weekend" with Ray Milland. Well this Lost Weekend starred, sort of, the U of Washington's Women's Basketball team. They had a chance to really put themselves into league title contention, but it was not to be.
Jan 20: Washington State
4. Cal: 4-3, 13-4
Cal surprised to win 2 on the road. They continue to play 6 players, except for an injury, and a 7th player just a couple of minutes. While I wonder how they will survive the season without much substitution, Cal answers by remaining in the Top 25. Hampton and Walker continue to lead the Bears. Hampton had 39 points and 21 rebounds and Walker 32 points and 14 rebounds in the two games.
Jan 18: Oregon State
Jan 20: Oregon
4. USC: 4-3, 10-7
USC beat UCLA by 3 at Pauly before 7,134 fans. No one got 20 points, but the team play was excellent. With Jamie Funn back are the Trojans ready to play toward the dance?
Jan 18: @ Arizona
Jan 21: @ ASU
6. UCLA: 3-4, 9-10
Lost to USC in their only game, but before a huge turnout. Noelle Quinn lead UCLA again with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists.
Jan 18: @ ASU
Jan 20: @ Arizona
7. Oregon: 2-4, 10-6
Oregon split with the Arizona schools, playing ASU tough before losing near the end. Taylor Lilly led the Ducks this past weekend with 33 points while hitting 6 of 9 three's. She is a frosh who had been injured earlier this season. The ASU game "featured" 52 fouls in the game, played before a season high 3,353.
Jan 18: @ Stanford
Jan 20: @ Cal
7. Oregon State: 2-4, 7-8
The Beavers also split with the Arizona schools, beating Arizona and losing to ASU. They had career games against Arizona in their win from Casey Nash and 27 points , and from Mercedes Fox-Griffin with an amazing 15 assists.
Jan 18: @ Cal
Jan 20: @ Stanford
9. Arizona: 1-6, 7-12
Arizona lost both their games in Oregon. Things don't get better this week although they will be on their home count. However visiting USC and UCLA should prove to be too much for the Wildcats.
Jan 18: USC
Jan 20: UCLA
10. Washington State: 1-7, 5-13
A very tough week for the Cougars who lost two single digits games to Stanford and Cal. They are in a pretty good position to beat Cal.
Jan 20: @ Washington
1. Stanford: 7-0, 14-3.
Stanford has won 12 in a row now. Brooke Smith put up some awesome #'s for the week's three games with 52 points, 25 rebounds, 17 assists and 8 steals. Just skipping ahead a bit, the Stanford -ASU game will be on live TV, Saturday, Jan 27, 11AM.
Jan 18: Oregon
Jan 20: Oregon State
2. Arizona State: 6-1, 16-2
Two nice wins in Oregon by ASU could get them into the Top 10, staying right behind Stanford. Emily Westerberg scored 34 points in the two wins and Aubree Johnson added 26 points and 18 rebounds.
Jan 18: UCLA
Jan 21: USC
3. Washington: 5-3, 12-7
Fans of classic movie's might remember "The Lost Weekend" with Ray Milland. Well this Lost Weekend starred, sort of, the U of Washington's Women's Basketball team. They had a chance to really put themselves into league title contention, but it was not to be.
Jan 20: Washington State
4. Cal: 4-3, 13-4
Cal surprised to win 2 on the road. They continue to play 6 players, except for an injury, and a 7th player just a couple of minutes. While I wonder how they will survive the season without much substitution, Cal answers by remaining in the Top 25. Hampton and Walker continue to lead the Bears. Hampton had 39 points and 21 rebounds and Walker 32 points and 14 rebounds in the two games.
Jan 18: Oregon State
Jan 20: Oregon
4. USC: 4-3, 10-7
USC beat UCLA by 3 at Pauly before 7,134 fans. No one got 20 points, but the team play was excellent. With Jamie Funn back are the Trojans ready to play toward the dance?
Jan 18: @ Arizona
Jan 21: @ ASU
6. UCLA: 3-4, 9-10
Lost to USC in their only game, but before a huge turnout. Noelle Quinn lead UCLA again with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists.
Jan 18: @ ASU
Jan 20: @ Arizona
7. Oregon: 2-4, 10-6
Oregon split with the Arizona schools, playing ASU tough before losing near the end. Taylor Lilly led the Ducks this past weekend with 33 points while hitting 6 of 9 three's. She is a frosh who had been injured earlier this season. The ASU game "featured" 52 fouls in the game, played before a season high 3,353.
Jan 18: @ Stanford
Jan 20: @ Cal
7. Oregon State: 2-4, 7-8
The Beavers also split with the Arizona schools, beating Arizona and losing to ASU. They had career games against Arizona in their win from Casey Nash and 27 points , and from Mercedes Fox-Griffin with an amazing 15 assists.
Jan 18: @ Cal
Jan 20: @ Stanford
9. Arizona: 1-6, 7-12
Arizona lost both their games in Oregon. Things don't get better this week although they will be on their home count. However visiting USC and UCLA should prove to be too much for the Wildcats.
Jan 18: USC
Jan 20: UCLA
10. Washington State: 1-7, 5-13
A very tough week for the Cougars who lost two single digits games to Stanford and Cal. They are in a pretty good position to beat Cal.
Jan 20: @ Washington
January 9, 2007
Pac-10 Review, January 9th
Pac-10 Play, Jan 9th:
Stanford remains in first place, but hits the road to play Washington on Thursday. ASU and Washington threaten to make it a three team race.
1. Stanford: 5-0, 11-3
Stanford played two great games last week, beating Fresno State and Cal handily on the road. Couldn't ask for more than that. Now off to Washington for a showdown between certainly two of the top three teams. Candice is really back, hitting 6 three's against Cal and high rebounding and assist numbers in both games. Jayne has been a scoring machine, now a real threat to score a point a minute in any game. Last night Stanford held South Carolina to under 30% and Brooke with her Hook scored 28 points.
Jan 11: @ Washington
Jan 13: @ WSU
2. Washington: 5-1, 12-5
The Huskies just missed staying undefeated in league play, falling to ASU in Tempe by five. An easy win over Arizona puts Washington into the Championship picture, and they can move into first by beating Stanford. Washington is really playing like a team, Hicks wasn't even the high scorer against ASU, although she did get 18. Clark had 21 against ASU. Hicks did have 8 turnovers in that game.
Jan 11: Stanford
Jan 13: Cal
3. ASU: 4-1, 14-2
ASU is right behind the 10th ranked Cardinal in the #11 spot in the first pool out this week. They are 3rd in the conference only because they have played one less game than Washington. Frosh Dymond Simon was big this week, adding to the scoring from their other Guards. Simon scored 40 points in the two games last week including 4 of 5 from 3. ASU visits the Oregon schools this week, and should take two while the Huskies and Cards fight it out.
Jan: 11 @ OSU
Jan: 13 @ Oregon
4. UCLA: 3-3, 9-9
UCLA lost in the biggest upset thus far in league play, to Oregon State in Pauley. Only 621 people present to support the Bruins. Amanda Livingston had a career game against Oregon with 18 points in the UCLA win.
Jan 13: USC
4. USC: 3-3, 9-7
USC surprised me by winning both their games. Granted Oregon and Oregon State are second division teams, but I thought Oregon would beat USC, and Oregon State had just shocked the Bruins. Jamie Funn returned to really help out USC. Shay Murphy had 26 points against Oregon and Funn 10 points and 8 rebounds against Oregon State.
Jan 13: @ UCLA
6. Cal: 2-3, 11-5
Cal beat Rhode Island on Monday then got rolled by the Cardinal on Saturday. Coach Boyle warned her team that if they played against Stanford like they did in the 2nd Half against Rhode Island they would get overwhelmed. They did and they did.
Jan 11: @ WSU
Jan 13: @ Washington
7. Oregon: 1-3, 9-5
Oregon surprised me by losing two in LA. They lost in double overtime to USC, then a close game to UCLA. Oregon hit 22 of 50 three's and lost twice.
Jan 11: Arizona
Jan 13: ASU
7. Oregon State: 1-3, 6-7
The Beavers split in LA with a huge win over UCLA. Judie Lomax had 29 points and 16 rebounds in the two games, while Casey Nash had 26 points.
Jan 11: ASU
Jan 13: Arizona
9. Arizona: 1-4, 7-10
The Wildcats got their first win, beating Washington State in Tucson. Joy Hollingsworth stepped up with 18 points in the game. They were soundly beaten by Washington in their other game, but Hollingsworth scored 31 to keep it respectable.
Jan 11: @ Oregon
Jan 13: @ Oregon State
10. Washington State: 1-5, 5-11
The Cougars lost a pair in Arizona, losing by only two to Arizona. Kate Benz, playing with a bad back, had 20 rebounds in the pair of losses. Katie Appleton had 22 points against Arizona.
Jan 11: Cal
Jan 13: Stanford
Stanford remains in first place, but hits the road to play Washington on Thursday. ASU and Washington threaten to make it a three team race.
1. Stanford: 5-0, 11-3
Stanford played two great games last week, beating Fresno State and Cal handily on the road. Couldn't ask for more than that. Now off to Washington for a showdown between certainly two of the top three teams. Candice is really back, hitting 6 three's against Cal and high rebounding and assist numbers in both games. Jayne has been a scoring machine, now a real threat to score a point a minute in any game. Last night Stanford held South Carolina to under 30% and Brooke with her Hook scored 28 points.
Jan 11: @ Washington
Jan 13: @ WSU
2. Washington: 5-1, 12-5
The Huskies just missed staying undefeated in league play, falling to ASU in Tempe by five. An easy win over Arizona puts Washington into the Championship picture, and they can move into first by beating Stanford. Washington is really playing like a team, Hicks wasn't even the high scorer against ASU, although she did get 18. Clark had 21 against ASU. Hicks did have 8 turnovers in that game.
Jan 11: Stanford
Jan 13: Cal
3. ASU: 4-1, 14-2
ASU is right behind the 10th ranked Cardinal in the #11 spot in the first pool out this week. They are 3rd in the conference only because they have played one less game than Washington. Frosh Dymond Simon was big this week, adding to the scoring from their other Guards. Simon scored 40 points in the two games last week including 4 of 5 from 3. ASU visits the Oregon schools this week, and should take two while the Huskies and Cards fight it out.
Jan: 11 @ OSU
Jan: 13 @ Oregon
4. UCLA: 3-3, 9-9
UCLA lost in the biggest upset thus far in league play, to Oregon State in Pauley. Only 621 people present to support the Bruins. Amanda Livingston had a career game against Oregon with 18 points in the UCLA win.
Jan 13: USC
4. USC: 3-3, 9-7
USC surprised me by winning both their games. Granted Oregon and Oregon State are second division teams, but I thought Oregon would beat USC, and Oregon State had just shocked the Bruins. Jamie Funn returned to really help out USC. Shay Murphy had 26 points against Oregon and Funn 10 points and 8 rebounds against Oregon State.
Jan 13: @ UCLA
6. Cal: 2-3, 11-5
Cal beat Rhode Island on Monday then got rolled by the Cardinal on Saturday. Coach Boyle warned her team that if they played against Stanford like they did in the 2nd Half against Rhode Island they would get overwhelmed. They did and they did.
Jan 11: @ WSU
Jan 13: @ Washington
7. Oregon: 1-3, 9-5
Oregon surprised me by losing two in LA. They lost in double overtime to USC, then a close game to UCLA. Oregon hit 22 of 50 three's and lost twice.
Jan 11: Arizona
Jan 13: ASU
7. Oregon State: 1-3, 6-7
The Beavers split in LA with a huge win over UCLA. Judie Lomax had 29 points and 16 rebounds in the two games, while Casey Nash had 26 points.
Jan 11: ASU
Jan 13: Arizona
9. Arizona: 1-4, 7-10
The Wildcats got their first win, beating Washington State in Tucson. Joy Hollingsworth stepped up with 18 points in the game. They were soundly beaten by Washington in their other game, but Hollingsworth scored 31 to keep it respectable.
Jan 11: @ Oregon
Jan 13: @ Oregon State
10. Washington State: 1-5, 5-11
The Cougars lost a pair in Arizona, losing by only two to Arizona. Kate Benz, playing with a bad back, had 20 rebounds in the pair of losses. Katie Appleton had 22 points against Arizona.
Jan 11: Cal
Jan 13: Stanford
January 1, 2007
A Happy New Year for the Pac-10
Except for the Oregon schools, teams have now played at home and away and we can see a trend developing in the Pac-10. We are very good, winning a tremendously hard fought game against the Sun Thugs. Washington is showing they have a strong team. And the Satan Devils of Charli Turner Thorne might only have the single loss to us when we travel to the Valley of the Sun.
Jan 2: @ Fresno State
Jan 6: @ Cal
However things now get very tough for Washington as they play at ASU on Sunday, then host Stanford the following Thursday.
Jan 4: @ Arizona
Jan 7: @ ASU -- on FSN
Jan 4: WSU
Jan 7: Washington
Jan 5: Oregon State
Jan 7: Oregon
Jan 2: Rhode Island (they are 2-11, 'nuff said)
Jan 6: Stanford
Jan 5: @ USC
Jan 7: @ UCLA
Jan 5: Oregon
Jan 7: Oregon State
Jan 4: @ ASU
Jan 6: @ Arizona
Jan 5: @ UCLA
Jan 7: @ USC
Jan 4: Washington
Jan 6: WSU
1. Stanford, 4-0 & 9-3
We play two games this week, traveling to Fresno on Tuesday and then to Cal on Saturday. Cal will have its biggest crowd of the season waiting for us. Candice has been named Pac-10 Player of the Week, bouncing back from her injury. We are playing very well right now.Jan 2: @ Fresno State
Jan 6: @ Cal
1. Washington, 4-0 & 11-4
Cameo Hicks continues to lead the Huskies, 4-0 after their first 2 weeks. Emily Florence and Andrea Plouffe are also playing well. Against UCLA, Jill Bell came off the bench for 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Erica Schelly came off the deep end of the bench to score 11 against USC.However things now get very tough for Washington as they play at ASU on Sunday, then host Stanford the following Thursday.
Jan 4: @ Arizona
Jan 7: @ ASU -- on FSN
3. ASU, 2-1, 12-2
Beat Cal on the road and came close to beating us at Maples, but no cigar. Kristin Thompson had a big game against us, with 17 points, and could provide a big boost to their one weakness, post play -- not that they have a huge weakness. ASU showed this past week that they are an outstanding team, and could go through their remaining Pac-10 schedule without a loss.Jan 4: WSU
Jan 7: Washington
4. UCLA, 2-2, 8-8
UCLA split in Washington this past week. Trailing Washington by 11 with 1:49 left, they scored 7 points in 61 seconds to almost pull out the win. That comeback shows that UCLA will be a player in the race, capable of beating anyone, and probably a top 5 team in the conference. Noelle Quinn had 43 points, 16 assists and 14 rebounds in the two games.Jan 5: Oregon State
Jan 7: Oregon
4. Cal, 2-2, 10-3
The loss of Alexis Gray-Lawson for the season will continue to haunt the Bears. But despite many turnovers against Arizona, their frosh guards helped Cal to the victory. Also, in the Arizona game, the Bears sank 9 of 14 3-point attempts. With their outstanding posts, Cal will be a treat to win any game. The Chronicle and Mercury said Hampton and Walker were often double- and triple-teamed this past week. If both were triple-teamed, does that mean Joan B played some defense? :)Jan 2: Rhode Island (they are 2-11, 'nuff said)
Jan 6: Stanford
6. Oregon, 1-1, 9-3
Oregon beat BYU at home before 3,100, and beat them at the free throw line. Oregon canned 26 of 31 to 9 of 15 by BYU in the 9-point win. Big 6-7 center Jessie Shetters continued her very strong rebounding with 13 Boards.Jan 5: @ USC
Jan 7: @ UCLA
7. USC, 1-3, 7-7
Now missing four players, the Trojans are just too short-handed for the Pac-10. Shay Murphy had another big week with 28 points and 18 rebounds in the two games. Chloe Kerr was the difference against WSU in USC's 6-point win, with 19 points.Jan 5: Oregon
Jan 7: Oregon State
7. Washington State, 1-3, 5-9
Washington State lost two close games in Pullman this past week. A 3-point loss to UCLA was followed by a 6-point loss to USC. Two winnable games that could have changed their whole season.Jan 4: @ ASU
Jan 6: @ Arizona
9. Oregon State, 0-2, 5-6
The Beavers lost to Texas by only one and beat Holy Cross at a tournament in San Diego. Casey Nash had 25 points against the now 10-3 Texas Longhorns, ranked # 27 in the country. In the Holy Cross game, 4 of the 5 starters played all 40 minutes for OSU.Jan 5: @ UCLA
Jan 7: @ USC
10. Arizona, 0-3, 6-9
It won't get any better. Not much to say.Jan 4: Washington
Jan 6: WSU
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