On to lighter news. Stanford Senior Women’s Basketball player Nneka Ogwumike and her sophomore sister, Chiney Ogwumike have both been named to the preseason “Wade Watch” list. The Wade Trophy is given to the player who embodies the following criteria, according to the Stanford Women’s Basketball site: "game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability." And also the player that best embodies the Spirit of Margaret Wade, the three time national champion at Delta State University. Or as the Wade Trophy Wiki says, for the best women’s basketball player in NCAA Division I.
Either way, we wish the best of luck to the sisters Ogwumike. BTW, Stanford is one of six schools to have multiple candidates. UConn's Maya Moore was the last winner, and the previous two before that, and so, of course, is the only 3 time winner. Who was the last winner before Maya Moore? Our very own Candice Wiggins!
Stanford season starts November 11th!
Showing posts with label Maya Moore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maya Moore. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Maya Moore Hecka Smart
Boy that Maya Moore sure is smart. Much as we hate to admit it, C and R have always (begrudgingly) admired the former UConn women’s basketball star when she gave interviews. She seems very bright and articulate. We mean, she was thinking to apply for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, for goodness sakes!
So it should come as no surprise the WNBA rookie got tapped to write an article for the Huffington Post. In the words of the article, “Moore shared her thoughts with The Huffington Post on unions, fair pay in athletics and what is soon-to-be the ‘Maya’ brand.” Very good reading, makes you believe male basketball players are entitled to and worth all their millions. Too bad some women only make, in Maya’s words, “$36,570.” Fair pay indeed.
And, speaking of the “Maya Brand,” the-just-a-month-out-of college-young-twenty-one-year-old just signed with Jordan Brand, a division of Nike Inc. Jordan. As in Michael Jordan. Now she can clearly say she is on Team Jordan. Now that’s smart.
Maya also wore number 23 in college and identified with Michael Jordan and relishes the chance to be mentored by him, although she didn’t say a mentorship of basketball skills or of his endorsement skills. Can’t go wrong with either one. Terms were not disclosed yet the Hartford Curant reports, “There may even be a sneaker made with her name on it.” C and R hope she got Michael Jordan Money to augment her low WNBA rookie salary.
Curious, the headlines announcing this endorsement deal state: “1st female basketball player to join Jordan’s sportswear brand.” Not to rain on Maya Moore’s parade, but Zachary Rymer of the Bleacher Report asked the 64 million penny question, “why did it take this long for the Jordan Brand to align itself with a female basketball player?”
See Maya Moore talk about her first day of WNBA practice with the Minnesota Lynx (With our girl Candice Wiggins). Is she wearing number 23 for the Lynx?
So it should come as no surprise the WNBA rookie got tapped to write an article for the Huffington Post. In the words of the article, “Moore shared her thoughts with The Huffington Post on unions, fair pay in athletics and what is soon-to-be the ‘Maya’ brand.” Very good reading, makes you believe male basketball players are entitled to and worth all their millions. Too bad some women only make, in Maya’s words, “$36,570.” Fair pay indeed.
And, speaking of the “Maya Brand,” the-just-a-month-out-of college-young-twenty-one-year-old just signed with Jordan Brand, a division of Nike Inc. Jordan. As in Michael Jordan. Now she can clearly say she is on Team Jordan. Now that’s smart.
Maya also wore number 23 in college and identified with Michael Jordan and relishes the chance to be mentored by him, although she didn’t say a mentorship of basketball skills or of his endorsement skills. Can’t go wrong with either one. Terms were not disclosed yet the Hartford Curant reports, “There may even be a sneaker made with her name on it.” C and R hope she got Michael Jordan Money to augment her low WNBA rookie salary.
Curious, the headlines announcing this endorsement deal state: “1st female basketball player to join Jordan’s sportswear brand.” Not to rain on Maya Moore’s parade, but Zachary Rymer of the Bleacher Report asked the 64 million penny question, “why did it take this long for the Jordan Brand to align itself with a female basketball player?”
See Maya Moore talk about her first day of WNBA practice with the Minnesota Lynx (With our girl Candice Wiggins). Is she wearing number 23 for the Lynx?
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sports Illustrated Covered
Superfan TG writes in to help with the Sports Illustrated Cover Conundrum. He also probably bought a copy of the mag cuz he could tell a lot more than C and R. He writes:
In addition to the women players you correctly identified, I have the following:
1. Skylar Diggins - Notre Dame (in the upper right, just below the funny orange mascot)
2. Brittney Thomas - Michigan State (just above the "d" in Illustrated)
3. Jasmine Thomas - Duke (just to the left of Kemba Walker's arm)
4. Felicia Chester - DePaul (at the bottom, right in front of John Wooden)
I am pretty sure those four plus Adams, Griner, Simmons, Nneka, and Harris makes everybody! And oh, that is indeed Maya Moore just on top of the "e" in Illustrated. That means we have players from each of the 1 and 2 seeds, plus DePaul and Michigan State - 10 in all.
Also, I've been a big fan of Barack Obama from the start. Agree with him or not, I think he has handled tremendous adversity with both intelligence and grace. However, he picked Baylor over Stanford in the national semifinals - I'm voting Republican!
TG
In addition to the women players you correctly identified, I have the following:
1. Skylar Diggins - Notre Dame (in the upper right, just below the funny orange mascot)
2. Brittney Thomas - Michigan State (just above the "d" in Illustrated)
3. Jasmine Thomas - Duke (just to the left of Kemba Walker's arm)
4. Felicia Chester - DePaul (at the bottom, right in front of John Wooden)
I am pretty sure those four plus Adams, Griner, Simmons, Nneka, and Harris makes everybody! And oh, that is indeed Maya Moore just on top of the "e" in Illustrated. That means we have players from each of the 1 and 2 seeds, plus DePaul and Michigan State - 10 in all.
Also, I've been a big fan of Barack Obama from the start. Agree with him or not, I think he has handled tremendous adversity with both intelligence and grace. However, he picked Baylor over Stanford in the national semifinals - I'm voting Republican!
TG
Monday, January 31, 2011
How Did Duke Get to Be Number 3?
Hey, ESPN2 advertised a great women’s basketball game for Monday night preim time, number two UConn vs. number three Duke, both teams ranked higher than Stanford, even though Stanford beat one of them, go figure, Duke is the last undefeated team in the country, 20-0, and has the current “Streak”, Stanford beat UConn to end the streak….. So C and R tape it and settle in to watch, women’s basketball, 2 vs 3, a chance to root against UConn again (What’s that old saying, I root for Stanford and any team playing UConn…). Problem is, someone forgot to tell Duke to show up.
UConn jumps out to a 13-0 score before Duke even scored a point 5 minutes into the contest. Duke missed its first 12 shots, and then didn’t score again until they made one free throw by Karima Christmas (jiminy Christmas!). When it got to be 23-3 with about 9 minutes left, it was embarrassing for women’s basketball! Want more? Duke missed their first 20 shots and were 1 for 10 from three point land. When it got to be 40-9, the UConn students chanted, “overrated” at the Duke bench (See, other fans can be as witty as the Stanford band!). The only drama was could UConn hold Duke to fewer than 12 points in the half to set a Duke record in futility. Duke clawed back and got to 15, darn it, their lowest half of the season, and went into the locker room down 41-15, shooting 15% from the floor, and we can’t get Stanford on TV!?
And where was Duke’s D? How do you lose Maya Moore? They let her score at will, running the baseline and posting up, fast breaking, hitting threes. Maya would finish with 29. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer would never allow that, losing track of Moore. Or allow UConn to score so many points in transition. Or allow the kinds of shot selections Duke took that were way beyond the arc, hurried and just plain ugly. I mean C and R have never seen so many airballs in a game. R said she felt sorry for Duke, but also it looked like they did not do their preparation for this game, like a Tara VanDerveer does. How did Duke get to be number three in the country ahead of Stanford? You know we are biased and all, but Stanford would run circles around this Duke team we saw tonight.
We must admit the reffing was terrible, even worse than the PAC-10, so much contact left uncalled, but it looked like UConn was fouled the most and should have gotten to the line more.
Duke would come out in the second with a little more hustle and got it within 18-20 points, but than Maya Moore took over, hitting threes, quick-releasing her pretty jump shot and getting 29 points before letting what few bench players they have get some playing time (It was Maya’s 134th game in double figures and it tied Courtney Paris’ record). Even Tiffany Hayes got 20 points on a bum ankle, twisted early in the second half. UConn got the lead up to 36 points and coasted to an 87-51 victory.
Must admit the one time Maya took a breather before the end UConn looked unsure and lost without her. A telling quote Maya’s teammate Kelly Faris reported from SI:
"When you have an athlete like Maya, the second she steps off the floor, you are kind of waiting for her to come back in," said Faris. "It's fun being on the floor with her. I can speak for everybody that when she's on the floor, she kind of relaxes us all."
It was fun to hear ESPN2 analyst Kara Lawson’s comments. She was “speechless and perplexed” when the score was, what 40-9 or so, and couldn’t believe “Duke didn’t compete on prime time TV”. Called Duke “a colossal no show”… if only we could get her to watch a Stanford game.
UConn jumps out to a 13-0 score before Duke even scored a point 5 minutes into the contest. Duke missed its first 12 shots, and then didn’t score again until they made one free throw by Karima Christmas (jiminy Christmas!). When it got to be 23-3 with about 9 minutes left, it was embarrassing for women’s basketball! Want more? Duke missed their first 20 shots and were 1 for 10 from three point land. When it got to be 40-9, the UConn students chanted, “overrated” at the Duke bench (See, other fans can be as witty as the Stanford band!). The only drama was could UConn hold Duke to fewer than 12 points in the half to set a Duke record in futility. Duke clawed back and got to 15, darn it, their lowest half of the season, and went into the locker room down 41-15, shooting 15% from the floor, and we can’t get Stanford on TV!?
And where was Duke’s D? How do you lose Maya Moore? They let her score at will, running the baseline and posting up, fast breaking, hitting threes. Maya would finish with 29. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer would never allow that, losing track of Moore. Or allow UConn to score so many points in transition. Or allow the kinds of shot selections Duke took that were way beyond the arc, hurried and just plain ugly. I mean C and R have never seen so many airballs in a game. R said she felt sorry for Duke, but also it looked like they did not do their preparation for this game, like a Tara VanDerveer does. How did Duke get to be number three in the country ahead of Stanford? You know we are biased and all, but Stanford would run circles around this Duke team we saw tonight.
We must admit the reffing was terrible, even worse than the PAC-10, so much contact left uncalled, but it looked like UConn was fouled the most and should have gotten to the line more.
Duke would come out in the second with a little more hustle and got it within 18-20 points, but than Maya Moore took over, hitting threes, quick-releasing her pretty jump shot and getting 29 points before letting what few bench players they have get some playing time (It was Maya’s 134th game in double figures and it tied Courtney Paris’ record). Even Tiffany Hayes got 20 points on a bum ankle, twisted early in the second half. UConn got the lead up to 36 points and coasted to an 87-51 victory.
Must admit the one time Maya took a breather before the end UConn looked unsure and lost without her. A telling quote Maya’s teammate Kelly Faris reported from SI:
"When you have an athlete like Maya, the second she steps off the floor, you are kind of waiting for her to come back in," said Faris. "It's fun being on the floor with her. I can speak for everybody that when she's on the floor, she kind of relaxes us all."
It was fun to hear ESPN2 analyst Kara Lawson’s comments. She was “speechless and perplexed” when the score was, what 40-9 or so, and couldn’t believe “Duke didn’t compete on prime time TV”. Called Duke “a colossal no show”… if only we could get her to watch a Stanford game.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Ding Dong, the Streak is Dead!
The first, the last, and UConn was everything in between. C and R are of course talking about the amazing UConn Huskies women's basketball streak of consecutive wins and Stanford’s small part in it. Stanford was the last team to beat them in March 2008, and the first team to beat them since they got the all-time men’s or women’s streak record of 89, stopping them at 90.
This win was so great; let’s savor it minute by minute, shall we?
40 minutes before the game, tons of scalpers on the sidewalks next to parking lots, which themselves are choked with cars. Tickets like the seats R has are going for $125 a pop!
35 minutes before the game, C and R get in Maples early to watch the teams warm-up, but only UConn is out there. Where is Stanford?
30 minutes before game, the countdown clock stops. This game is being televised after a men’s college game. Are they waiting for men’s’ basketball to be over? Stanford waits to come out to warm up, too.
15 minutes before the game, a friend walks up to Stanford box office and gets 3 general admission seats at face value. Say what, Stanford? You advertised the game was sold out and many of our friends who did not have tickets (And yes, you who did not heed our warnings know who you are) friends without tickets stayed away and yet they could have gotten in? Why didn’t you advertise, “Limited seats left?” You might have gotten even more fans here. Official attendance is 7329. Why is it when Tennessee women’s basketball has a sellout, it is 14,136?
10 minutes before game, both teams are now out and warming up. UConn is intense in warm ups, and to our untrained eye, Stanford looks half hearted, kinda going through the motions. UConn has purpose and drive on their lay ups to the basket, Stanford, well, not so much.
5 minutes before game, time for the National Anthem. Maya Moore tells a teammate, “The flag is this way.”
3 minutes before the game, C and R see former Stanford players Jayne Appel, Candice Wiggins, Ros Gold Onwude and… JJ HONES? Wow, she is the guard who got kicked off the team at the end of last year with one year of eligibility left for drinking and driving… a golf cart (Lord, what a thing to live down) and would be starting this game if not for that. It would be hard to show up back at the farm, yet here she is which says a lot about her character, wanting to support her friends and Stanford. Let’s hope she is not bitter.
Pregame introductions
Maya Moore gets a healthy round of applause. Geno gets booed. C and R hate when anyone boos players or coaches, we just feel it is bad sportsmanship. Anyone who is out there playing or coaching is dedicated and putting forth a high effort, and let’s face it you have to respect the streak of 90 straight winning games, nearly 2 and a half years worth of not losing.
Game time-tip off, Stanford’s Nneka Ogwumike loses the tip, not a good sign.
18:42 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes a three. (C leans to R and says, look, were winning! Little did she know Stanford would not give up the lead for the entire game!)
18:29 minutes left in the first half, Kayla Pedersen gets a defensive rebound. She would be tough on the boards all night. In fact Stanford would go on win the rebounding battle 43-36.
18:02 minutes left in the first half, UConn makes their first basket, a two pointer
(C: look, were still winning!)
15:59 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes another of her five threes and Stanford is up 6-2.
14:08 minutes left in the first half, Lindy La Rocque hits the first of her two three-point shots, glad to see running, gunning Lindy shooting. And she has a great, great defensive game. Was on Maya Moore for part of the night, was very determined and focused.
14:00 minutes left in the first half, the Jumbotron shows the Quattro of friends (Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice), for the first of umpteen million times.
13:31 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen post up over a smaller guard and makes a lay up, first practiced two days ago against Xavier, and finds success again.
13:31 and 12:27 minutes left in the first half, Stanford goes up by 13 points!! Thirteen points! The largest lead of the night, but still, 13 points!
Oops, wait we did it again at 4:21, too.
10:36 minutes left in the first half, or thereabouts, National Player of the Year Maya Moore shoots an air ball. The crowd chants the “Air-ball” refrain. Look, not that we are making fun of Maya Moore, it’s just that Maya Moore has the best pull up jumper in the country and has been so outstanding and so consistent during the two and half year streak, we are sure that was very uncharacteristic of her, and hopefully can be attributed to Stanford’s tough defense on her.
3:16 minutes left in the first half, Maya Moore makes her first basket, a three. Her first basket of the night with almost 17 minutes gone by in the game. That’s got to be some kinda record. Stanford’s defense is great. Chiney Ogumike is doing most of the defending of Maya Moore now, except when she and then Nneka get two fouls and both go to the bench in the closing few minutes of the half. Now we do not do so well defending Maya and hence the 3-point shot. Maya Moore hits another one at 1:52, but Stanford holds her to just 6 first points half. Also must be some kinda record.
Stanford fouls with 32 seconds minutes left in the first half and with one second left in the first half. Yes one second, UConn threw a half court pass and Lindy undercut Kelly Faris. She should have let her catch and shoot, odds are she wouldn’t have made it anyway.
0 seconds minutes left in the first half, and Stanford leads 34-30.
Halftime, as C races to the concession stand and gets two hotdogs, R gets stopped by the floor crew letting UConn pass to the locker room. R looks right at Geno and says, “You’re awesome!” He looks right at her and says “Thanks.” He then spies one of the half time performers; a monk in a karate suit and lunges low in a karate stance to challenge him two feet in front of R. R is too late to get the photo!
C and R meet with super fan TG and give him his “Fear the Trees” shirt, a prize for knowing who the other coaches were in the 800 career-wins club. C shows her “Hecka Necka” shirt to the cameras but is sure they didn’t show it.
20 minutes left in the second half, C and R just get back to their seats.
17:56 minutes left in the second half and Jeanette scores the first Stanford basket of the second half, what else, a three! Stanford goes back up by seven.
17:11 minutes left in the second half, UConn scores their first points of the second half, also a three. The last time Stanford beat UConn, it’s not that Stanford stopped them, it’s just that Stanford (And Candice Wiggins) outscored them. Let’s hope this game Stanford just stops them, because this year, sometimes Stanford is not good at scoring.
13:22 minutes left in the second half a three by Jeanette Pohlen….lead is nine!
13:21 minutes left in the second half, Jumbotron shows a live action shot of Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice Wiggins…
10:52 minutes left in the second half, Maya Moore makes her first basket of the second half, (got to be some kinda record), what did she make? What else, a three, she would have no lay ups, a huge defensive statistic. But wait, her three makes it a four-point game. Stanford needs a basket and cannot let UConn back into this game!
10:44 minutes left in the second half, Kayla makes a lay up, thank you very much Ms. Reliable. (Old Faithful?)
9:12 minutes left in the second half, a friend texts R and tells her she thought she saw C and R on TV!
8:05 minutes left in the second half, jumper by Moore.
7:26 minutes left in the second half, three pointer by Moore. Oh no, is this the start of an UConn come back? Little did anyone know, this would be the last points for Maya Moore all night.
7:05 minutes left in the second half, no, no comeback, a lay up for Joslyn Tinkle, who also is having the game of her young life. She played great defense, also asked to guard Moore several times and did a great job. C and R hearTinkle bells in the audience, even though we haven’t promoted it as much this year. Thanks, Stanford fans! R also starts to say, “we’re going to win, I can feel it!” C has a sour pit in her stomach. She can’t handle the stress (You can’t handle the truth!)
6:44 minutes left in the second half, missed three-pointer by Moore. R pounds C’s knee.
Kelly Faris for UConn makes 2 three-pointers at 5:59 and 4:49 to cut the lead to six. Yikes.
3:35 minutes left in the second half, Maya More is being guarded by Tinkle, who gets screened and hands her off to Lindy, who gets screened, hands her off to Kayla who defends her tough and although Moore gets a three point shot off it misses badly.
Tinkle to Lindy to Kayla
Tinker to Evers to Chance
(go ahead and look that one up, especially the sad poem part about breaking opposing fans hearts! C’s head is full of useless trivia like that, just swimming around in her head, waiting to surface at parties to annoy people and mostly beat R at Jeopardy).
2:19 minutes left in the second half, two UConn free throws narrow the lead to six points again, and C is worried, worried, worried. Little did she know this would be the last time UConn would score on the Maples floor that night!
1:42 Chiney would foul Maya Moore and also foul out of the game. Maya misses the front end of a one and one. Again, uncharacteristic of her.
1:37 minutes left in the second half, timeout with Stanford still leading by six and R all smiling and happy and pessimistic C still cannot let herself believe lest she jinx it for Stanford and it is the longest 1:37 minutes of C and R’s life!
1:20 minutes left in the second half, another timeout. Time seems to be agonizingly suspended.
1:14 minutes left in the second half, Nneka would score again to end up with 12 points and have 6 sky-high rebounds.
53 seconds left in the second half, Reliable, Old Faithful Kayla misses the front end of a one and one! And we were just saying about Maya Moore… (To be fair, Kayla got knocked to the floor and possibly hit her head and got her wrist banged so much she grimaced in pain for the final 23 seconds.) Kayla would finish with just 8 points but 11 timely rebounds.
But wait, Tinkle got the rebound and was fouled. They have another chance to pad the six point lead.
51 seconds left in the second half, Tinkle would miss the front end of a one and one… C is about to have a heart attack.
42 seconds left in the second half, 34 seconds left in the second half, 17 seconds left in the second half, Jeanette is fouled, and she would sink all six shots! She would finish the game with a career high 31 points!
4 seconds left in the second half, UConn’s Kelly Faris shoots a three pointer and misses and Jeanette Pohlen grabbes the rebound.
1 second left in the second half, Jeanette Pohlen throws the ball in the air.
0 seconds left in the second half, Stanford wins 71-59, a margin of 12 points! R predicted they would win by 10, so C is taking R to the track next weekend.
2 seconds after the game ended, Candice Wiggins, Stanford great, who is NOT on the team currently stormed the floor and hugged Pohlen, Pohlen still had her game face on and hurriedly pulled away, probably wondering if it was a violation of game rules or something for her to even be on the court and wanted to do nothing, nothing to jeopardize this incredible win. Jeanette wanted this one. She wanted this so badly and has stepped up her play. Kara Lawson on ESPN said Jeanette Pohlen was the best guard on the floor tonight. Maya Moore was held to 14, 10 points below her average, and credit Stanford for being in her face and not letting her have good looks all night. Credit Stanford Head Coach Tara Vanderveer for having the exactly right game plan and Stanford for executing it.
5 minutes after the game, the team came back out, lead by a leaping Nneka.. Tara spoke to the crowd, thanking them for helping to make Maples a good environment to win (and keep their home streak alive at 52) and asked that everyone come back for another game. Then she thanked The UConn team and coach and staff.
R said she feels bad for Geno. Heck, C figures, Geno must feel relieved. He got the streak in the record books, and now the pressure and the daily questions will go away and he can focus on basketball, league play and the March tournament. Hey, same for Stanford.
15 minutes after the game at the post game conference on national TV Tara said, “We didn’t win a national championship.” We have a lot of basketball left.
Yes, good to keep it in perspective, Tara, but it sure makes those losses to DePaul and Tennessee easier to swallow, and gives much hope for the future.
This win was so great; let’s savor it minute by minute, shall we?
40 minutes before the game, tons of scalpers on the sidewalks next to parking lots, which themselves are choked with cars. Tickets like the seats R has are going for $125 a pop!
35 minutes before the game, C and R get in Maples early to watch the teams warm-up, but only UConn is out there. Where is Stanford?
30 minutes before game, the countdown clock stops. This game is being televised after a men’s college game. Are they waiting for men’s’ basketball to be over? Stanford waits to come out to warm up, too.
15 minutes before the game, a friend walks up to Stanford box office and gets 3 general admission seats at face value. Say what, Stanford? You advertised the game was sold out and many of our friends who did not have tickets (And yes, you who did not heed our warnings know who you are) friends without tickets stayed away and yet they could have gotten in? Why didn’t you advertise, “Limited seats left?” You might have gotten even more fans here. Official attendance is 7329. Why is it when Tennessee women’s basketball has a sellout, it is 14,136?
10 minutes before game, both teams are now out and warming up. UConn is intense in warm ups, and to our untrained eye, Stanford looks half hearted, kinda going through the motions. UConn has purpose and drive on their lay ups to the basket, Stanford, well, not so much.
5 minutes before game, time for the National Anthem. Maya Moore tells a teammate, “The flag is this way.”
3 minutes before the game, C and R see former Stanford players Jayne Appel, Candice Wiggins, Ros Gold Onwude and… JJ HONES? Wow, she is the guard who got kicked off the team at the end of last year with one year of eligibility left for drinking and driving… a golf cart (Lord, what a thing to live down) and would be starting this game if not for that. It would be hard to show up back at the farm, yet here she is which says a lot about her character, wanting to support her friends and Stanford. Let’s hope she is not bitter.
Pregame introductions
Maya Moore gets a healthy round of applause. Geno gets booed. C and R hate when anyone boos players or coaches, we just feel it is bad sportsmanship. Anyone who is out there playing or coaching is dedicated and putting forth a high effort, and let’s face it you have to respect the streak of 90 straight winning games, nearly 2 and a half years worth of not losing.
Game time-tip off, Stanford’s Nneka Ogwumike loses the tip, not a good sign.
18:42 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes a three. (C leans to R and says, look, were winning! Little did she know Stanford would not give up the lead for the entire game!)
18:29 minutes left in the first half, Kayla Pedersen gets a defensive rebound. She would be tough on the boards all night. In fact Stanford would go on win the rebounding battle 43-36.
18:02 minutes left in the first half, UConn makes their first basket, a two pointer
(C: look, were still winning!)
15:59 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes another of her five threes and Stanford is up 6-2.
14:08 minutes left in the first half, Lindy La Rocque hits the first of her two three-point shots, glad to see running, gunning Lindy shooting. And she has a great, great defensive game. Was on Maya Moore for part of the night, was very determined and focused.
14:00 minutes left in the first half, the Jumbotron shows the Quattro of friends (Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice), for the first of umpteen million times.
13:31 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen post up over a smaller guard and makes a lay up, first practiced two days ago against Xavier, and finds success again.
13:31 and 12:27 minutes left in the first half, Stanford goes up by 13 points!! Thirteen points! The largest lead of the night, but still, 13 points!
Oops, wait we did it again at 4:21, too.
10:36 minutes left in the first half, or thereabouts, National Player of the Year Maya Moore shoots an air ball. The crowd chants the “Air-ball” refrain. Look, not that we are making fun of Maya Moore, it’s just that Maya Moore has the best pull up jumper in the country and has been so outstanding and so consistent during the two and half year streak, we are sure that was very uncharacteristic of her, and hopefully can be attributed to Stanford’s tough defense on her.
3:16 minutes left in the first half, Maya Moore makes her first basket, a three. Her first basket of the night with almost 17 minutes gone by in the game. That’s got to be some kinda record. Stanford’s defense is great. Chiney Ogumike is doing most of the defending of Maya Moore now, except when she and then Nneka get two fouls and both go to the bench in the closing few minutes of the half. Now we do not do so well defending Maya and hence the 3-point shot. Maya Moore hits another one at 1:52, but Stanford holds her to just 6 first points half. Also must be some kinda record.
Stanford fouls with 32 seconds minutes left in the first half and with one second left in the first half. Yes one second, UConn threw a half court pass and Lindy undercut Kelly Faris. She should have let her catch and shoot, odds are she wouldn’t have made it anyway.
0 seconds minutes left in the first half, and Stanford leads 34-30.
Halftime, as C races to the concession stand and gets two hotdogs, R gets stopped by the floor crew letting UConn pass to the locker room. R looks right at Geno and says, “You’re awesome!” He looks right at her and says “Thanks.” He then spies one of the half time performers; a monk in a karate suit and lunges low in a karate stance to challenge him two feet in front of R. R is too late to get the photo!
C and R meet with super fan TG and give him his “Fear the Trees” shirt, a prize for knowing who the other coaches were in the 800 career-wins club. C shows her “Hecka Necka” shirt to the cameras but is sure they didn’t show it.
20 minutes left in the second half, C and R just get back to their seats.
17:56 minutes left in the second half and Jeanette scores the first Stanford basket of the second half, what else, a three! Stanford goes back up by seven.
17:11 minutes left in the second half, UConn scores their first points of the second half, also a three. The last time Stanford beat UConn, it’s not that Stanford stopped them, it’s just that Stanford (And Candice Wiggins) outscored them. Let’s hope this game Stanford just stops them, because this year, sometimes Stanford is not good at scoring.
13:22 minutes left in the second half a three by Jeanette Pohlen….lead is nine!
13:21 minutes left in the second half, Jumbotron shows a live action shot of Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice Wiggins…
10:52 minutes left in the second half, Maya Moore makes her first basket of the second half, (got to be some kinda record), what did she make? What else, a three, she would have no lay ups, a huge defensive statistic. But wait, her three makes it a four-point game. Stanford needs a basket and cannot let UConn back into this game!
10:44 minutes left in the second half, Kayla makes a lay up, thank you very much Ms. Reliable. (Old Faithful?)
9:12 minutes left in the second half, a friend texts R and tells her she thought she saw C and R on TV!
8:05 minutes left in the second half, jumper by Moore.
7:26 minutes left in the second half, three pointer by Moore. Oh no, is this the start of an UConn come back? Little did anyone know, this would be the last points for Maya Moore all night.
7:05 minutes left in the second half, no, no comeback, a lay up for Joslyn Tinkle, who also is having the game of her young life. She played great defense, also asked to guard Moore several times and did a great job. C and R hearTinkle bells in the audience, even though we haven’t promoted it as much this year. Thanks, Stanford fans! R also starts to say, “we’re going to win, I can feel it!” C has a sour pit in her stomach. She can’t handle the stress (You can’t handle the truth!)
6:44 minutes left in the second half, missed three-pointer by Moore. R pounds C’s knee.
Kelly Faris for UConn makes 2 three-pointers at 5:59 and 4:49 to cut the lead to six. Yikes.
3:35 minutes left in the second half, Maya More is being guarded by Tinkle, who gets screened and hands her off to Lindy, who gets screened, hands her off to Kayla who defends her tough and although Moore gets a three point shot off it misses badly.
Tinkle to Lindy to Kayla
Tinker to Evers to Chance
(go ahead and look that one up, especially the sad poem part about breaking opposing fans hearts! C’s head is full of useless trivia like that, just swimming around in her head, waiting to surface at parties to annoy people and mostly beat R at Jeopardy).
2:19 minutes left in the second half, two UConn free throws narrow the lead to six points again, and C is worried, worried, worried. Little did she know this would be the last time UConn would score on the Maples floor that night!
1:42 Chiney would foul Maya Moore and also foul out of the game. Maya misses the front end of a one and one. Again, uncharacteristic of her.
1:37 minutes left in the second half, timeout with Stanford still leading by six and R all smiling and happy and pessimistic C still cannot let herself believe lest she jinx it for Stanford and it is the longest 1:37 minutes of C and R’s life!
1:20 minutes left in the second half, another timeout. Time seems to be agonizingly suspended.
1:14 minutes left in the second half, Nneka would score again to end up with 12 points and have 6 sky-high rebounds.
53 seconds left in the second half, Reliable, Old Faithful Kayla misses the front end of a one and one! And we were just saying about Maya Moore… (To be fair, Kayla got knocked to the floor and possibly hit her head and got her wrist banged so much she grimaced in pain for the final 23 seconds.) Kayla would finish with just 8 points but 11 timely rebounds.
But wait, Tinkle got the rebound and was fouled. They have another chance to pad the six point lead.
51 seconds left in the second half, Tinkle would miss the front end of a one and one… C is about to have a heart attack.
42 seconds left in the second half, 34 seconds left in the second half, 17 seconds left in the second half, Jeanette is fouled, and she would sink all six shots! She would finish the game with a career high 31 points!
4 seconds left in the second half, UConn’s Kelly Faris shoots a three pointer and misses and Jeanette Pohlen grabbes the rebound.
1 second left in the second half, Jeanette Pohlen throws the ball in the air.
0 seconds left in the second half, Stanford wins 71-59, a margin of 12 points! R predicted they would win by 10, so C is taking R to the track next weekend.
2 seconds after the game ended, Candice Wiggins, Stanford great, who is NOT on the team currently stormed the floor and hugged Pohlen, Pohlen still had her game face on and hurriedly pulled away, probably wondering if it was a violation of game rules or something for her to even be on the court and wanted to do nothing, nothing to jeopardize this incredible win. Jeanette wanted this one. She wanted this so badly and has stepped up her play. Kara Lawson on ESPN said Jeanette Pohlen was the best guard on the floor tonight. Maya Moore was held to 14, 10 points below her average, and credit Stanford for being in her face and not letting her have good looks all night. Credit Stanford Head Coach Tara Vanderveer for having the exactly right game plan and Stanford for executing it.
5 minutes after the game, the team came back out, lead by a leaping Nneka.. Tara spoke to the crowd, thanking them for helping to make Maples a good environment to win (and keep their home streak alive at 52) and asked that everyone come back for another game. Then she thanked The UConn team and coach and staff.
R said she feels bad for Geno. Heck, C figures, Geno must feel relieved. He got the streak in the record books, and now the pressure and the daily questions will go away and he can focus on basketball, league play and the March tournament. Hey, same for Stanford.
15 minutes after the game at the post game conference on national TV Tara said, “We didn’t win a national championship.” We have a lot of basketball left.
Yes, good to keep it in perspective, Tara, but it sure makes those losses to DePaul and Tennessee easier to swallow, and gives much hope for the future.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Day Before Jitters
Well now, the Internet is all abuzz about the Stanford/UConn national title women’s basketball game Tuesday, as well it should be. It will be hard for Stanford to beat them, but C and R have really enjoyed how much attention the local papers have showered on the Stanford Women’s Team. It helps they are doing so well (and no local men’s team remain in the men’s Final Four). We guess everyone loves a winner (except UConn-and we are soooo tired of Geno saying, “everyone views us as the bad guy and are rooting for us to lose,” heck yeah, with your pompous attitude we sure are, whether our team was playing you or not—sorry, C and R are in a bit of a foul mood because, on one hand, we made it to the National Championship game, and on the other, we are playing a really talented team, such mixed feelings)
One thing we will say is we do respect the heck out of Maya Moore after watching that Baylor/UConn game. She really did deserve all the National Awards she won (yet, strangely, they gave the Naismith award to teammate Tina Charles). She is the best in college ball today. Tina Charles is a great post player, but her skill set is that of a post player. Maya Moore is a complete all-around player. She can give you guard skills, forward skills, shooting skills and rebounding skills, plus defense. It is going to be a tough road for Stanford (so tough, that for once, C and R don’t have any advice for Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer, we think we will just let her coach this one… although, when we last beat UConn two years ago, we didn’t beat them so much as outscore them and outlast them. We would have to score every time down the floor to have any chance to beat them. Are you listening, guards?).
Going back for a second to the first Final Four game, the one where Stanford let Oklahoma back in it and needed all of Nneka Ogwumike’s 38 points to win, yes that one, did you see when they cut to Chiney Ogwumike? That is Nneka’s sister, who will be a Stanford freshman next year and is the number one women’s basketball recruit in the country. Every time they showed her she was standing and serious looking, like she was saying, give me a uniform and I’ll show you how it’s done. And when Nneka got boxed out to the ground, she looked like she wanted to step down there and box that girl right back. (Our NOF noticed as well and said Chiney showed the “Eye of the Tiger!” We both can’t wait until next year to add her to the mix).
Chiney chose to play Saturday in the Women’s Basketball Coach’s Association All-Star Game on the same Alamo Dome court as big sis. She scored 24 points, and got to stick around to see Stanford’s as well. She said she likes to scout opponents and then give Nneka (sometimes unwanted) advice. Let’s hope she can find some UConn weakness to exploit and pass it on to Nneka. That and she likes to munch on nachos. So do C and R.
In fact, C and R are going to a sports bar (ggod nachos AND pizza) because so many people in the Bay Area, while pretty sure UConn will win, want to share all Stanford has accomplished this year with everyone else. And they would love to witness a miracle, too. We do too, but they better be quiet when the game is on. If anyone so much as whispers during game time, R will have that look Chiney had at the Alamo Dome.
Oh, congrats to the Cal Women’s Basketball Team for winning the WNIT. The Women's National Invitation Tournament is a second tier tournament for D1 teams that did not make the NCAA tournament. The WNIT offers teams an opportunity to get more practices in, to experience playoff-atmosphere games, and to play in front of passionate fans. This year 64 teams were invited to the single elimination tournament and Cal, lead by Alexis Gray Lawson, was the last one standing. Think of the great experience all those Cal freshmen got and how Lexi got to end her season on such a positive note. The reason C and R bring this up is C. Vivian Stringer said she wouldn’t be caught dead playing in the WNIT if her Rutgers team didn’t make the NCAA tournament, intimating the WNIT was small time rinky-dink, effectively insulting the 64 teams that did participate. (Her team did make the NCAA and lost in the first round to Iowa, poetic justice, no?)
Oh, the NCAA, in its infinite basketball wisdom, won’t let bloggers get press credentials to blog about the Final Four games. Yes, why receive free publicity and reach out to many women’s basketball fans? Why, that would only spread interest in the women’s game. See, they have this crazy rule that the person applying for a credential must have a website that gets 1 million visitors per month (mom, keep hitting the back button and Google us again, say, 999,999 more times, please). Some of the bias is outdated and based on old print media models (which is funny because the print model is dying quickly, replaced by... the internet and bloggers). The NY Times website gets the required 1 million unique visitors per month, yet pay little attention to women’s basketball, whereas a site like swish appeal is ALL about women’s basketball. Women’s basketball sites do not generally get the attention male sports get, so they won’t get the one million number (yet). Chicken or the egg, anyone? Still, why would a business pass up free publicity to the very fans you are trying to attract?
See ya at the.. game, TV, bar, floor, radio, internet, however you are watching the game. May your team do well, but may Stanford do better.
More Stanford Stuff (but no blogging) at the original C and R's Stanford Women's Basketball Blog
One thing we will say is we do respect the heck out of Maya Moore after watching that Baylor/UConn game. She really did deserve all the National Awards she won (yet, strangely, they gave the Naismith award to teammate Tina Charles). She is the best in college ball today. Tina Charles is a great post player, but her skill set is that of a post player. Maya Moore is a complete all-around player. She can give you guard skills, forward skills, shooting skills and rebounding skills, plus defense. It is going to be a tough road for Stanford (so tough, that for once, C and R don’t have any advice for Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer, we think we will just let her coach this one… although, when we last beat UConn two years ago, we didn’t beat them so much as outscore them and outlast them. We would have to score every time down the floor to have any chance to beat them. Are you listening, guards?).
Going back for a second to the first Final Four game, the one where Stanford let Oklahoma back in it and needed all of Nneka Ogwumike’s 38 points to win, yes that one, did you see when they cut to Chiney Ogwumike? That is Nneka’s sister, who will be a Stanford freshman next year and is the number one women’s basketball recruit in the country. Every time they showed her she was standing and serious looking, like she was saying, give me a uniform and I’ll show you how it’s done. And when Nneka got boxed out to the ground, she looked like she wanted to step down there and box that girl right back. (Our NOF noticed as well and said Chiney showed the “Eye of the Tiger!” We both can’t wait until next year to add her to the mix).
Chiney chose to play Saturday in the Women’s Basketball Coach’s Association All-Star Game on the same Alamo Dome court as big sis. She scored 24 points, and got to stick around to see Stanford’s as well. She said she likes to scout opponents and then give Nneka (sometimes unwanted) advice. Let’s hope she can find some UConn weakness to exploit and pass it on to Nneka. That and she likes to munch on nachos. So do C and R.
In fact, C and R are going to a sports bar (ggod nachos AND pizza) because so many people in the Bay Area, while pretty sure UConn will win, want to share all Stanford has accomplished this year with everyone else. And they would love to witness a miracle, too. We do too, but they better be quiet when the game is on. If anyone so much as whispers during game time, R will have that look Chiney had at the Alamo Dome.
Oh, congrats to the Cal Women’s Basketball Team for winning the WNIT. The Women's National Invitation Tournament is a second tier tournament for D1 teams that did not make the NCAA tournament. The WNIT offers teams an opportunity to get more practices in, to experience playoff-atmosphere games, and to play in front of passionate fans. This year 64 teams were invited to the single elimination tournament and Cal, lead by Alexis Gray Lawson, was the last one standing. Think of the great experience all those Cal freshmen got and how Lexi got to end her season on such a positive note. The reason C and R bring this up is C. Vivian Stringer said she wouldn’t be caught dead playing in the WNIT if her Rutgers team didn’t make the NCAA tournament, intimating the WNIT was small time rinky-dink, effectively insulting the 64 teams that did participate. (Her team did make the NCAA and lost in the first round to Iowa, poetic justice, no?)
Oh, the NCAA, in its infinite basketball wisdom, won’t let bloggers get press credentials to blog about the Final Four games. Yes, why receive free publicity and reach out to many women’s basketball fans? Why, that would only spread interest in the women’s game. See, they have this crazy rule that the person applying for a credential must have a website that gets 1 million visitors per month (mom, keep hitting the back button and Google us again, say, 999,999 more times, please). Some of the bias is outdated and based on old print media models (which is funny because the print model is dying quickly, replaced by... the internet and bloggers). The NY Times website gets the required 1 million unique visitors per month, yet pay little attention to women’s basketball, whereas a site like swish appeal is ALL about women’s basketball. Women’s basketball sites do not generally get the attention male sports get, so they won’t get the one million number (yet). Chicken or the egg, anyone? Still, why would a business pass up free publicity to the very fans you are trying to attract?
See ya at the.. game, TV, bar, floor, radio, internet, however you are watching the game. May your team do well, but may Stanford do better.
More Stanford Stuff (but no blogging) at the original C and R's Stanford Women's Basketball Blog
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