Saturday, April 9, 2011

Congratulations Are in Order

Congratulations Stanford Head Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer for being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2011. (Note, this is not the “Women’s” hall of fame, which Tara was elected to in 2002, but the “basketball” hall of fame, so read “men’s.”  To tell you how rare this is, she is the ninth women’s coach inducted). She is joined by former Warriors star Chris Mullin, Bad Boy Dennis Rodman, Artis Gilmore, Arvydas Sabonis, Herb Magee, Tom "Satch" Sanders, Teresa Edwards, Tex Winter and Harlem Globetrotter Reece "Goose" Tatum. Tara coached Teresa Edwards to one of her four Olympic Gold Medals in 1996.

Congratulations again to Stanford Head Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer for being named the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year. It is her third National Coach of the year award this season and second Naismith honor in her career (C and R don’t understand the distinction, can’t we just have one award?). Tara also won WBCA and Associated Press National Coach of the Year Awards this season, although she had to share the AP award with Geno Auriemma and Miami's Katie Meier.

Congratulations to Kayla Pedersen for being named to the Pac-10 women's five-player all-academic team for basketball, and for being  named Pac-10 scholar athlete of the year for women's basketball.

Congratulations to Stanford's Sarah Boothe, Lindy La Rocque, Melanie Murphy, Nneka Ogwumike, Jeanette Pohlen and Mikaela Ruef for being named honorable mentions to the Pac-10 all-academic team for basketball.

Congratulations to Nneka Ogwumike for being named to the State Farm Coaches' All-America Team for the second consecutive season.

Congratulations to Kayla and Jeanette for all the records they set this season and we wish them more basketball luck and success as they try their hand at the WNBA.

Congratulations to the Women’s NCAA tournament and to ESPN who broadcasted it, for increasing their average viewership for the entire tournament to almost 1.9 million people from more than 1.6 million.

Congratulations to the Women’s National Championship game for increasing their viewership from 3.5 million last year to 3.8 million this year. Wait, last year was the Stanford-UConn final. C and R guess the rumors we read out on the internet are true that people get tired of “traditional” power houses always playing out in the final game.

Congratulations to TG for winning the Women’s Talk Sports Bracket!

Congratulations to Joanne Boyle being named Virginia Women’s Basketball Coach and condolences to Cal.

Congratulations Stanford….
For a wonderful season.

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