Stanford Players in the WNBA at the All-star Break

The end of July marks the half way point for the WNBA, and that means the All-star game. Hats off to former Stanford Women’s Basketball player Nneka Ogwumike for making her third straight All-star appearance for the West in four years in the league. She was named as a reserve, mostly due to her slow start this season because of injuries.

photo Courtesy of Chiney Ogwumike

The other former Stanford players didn’t fare nearly as well. Little sis Chiney Ogwumike, who was drafted number one last year (same spot as Nneka in 2012) and won Rookie of the Year (same as Nneka in 2012), suffered a knee injury while playing overseas (and trying to make more money). She had knee surgery and will sit out this WNBA season. Drat, we really wanted to see her growth from rookie to seasoned vet. She has, however, found ways to occupy her time, making many appearances on TV, including a half time stint at the All-star game (It was on her home court of the Connecticut Sun, and she was photo-bombed by big sis Nneka. We saw you steal a sip of her water, sisters have no boundaries!).

What about other Stanford alum in the WNBA? Jayne Appel, playing for San Antonio started the season injured, and just found her way back into games. Kayla Pederson remains with former teammate Chiney Ogwumike in Connecticut. Nicole Powell retired before the season started, but has landed on her feet coaching for the Oregon Ducks, a Pac-12 foe for Stanford!

Jeanette Pohlen returns to Indianapolis after missing the 2014 season due to a torn left Achilles tendon. She won a WNBA title in 2012 with the Fever, but it was bittersweet as she was injured in the playoffs and did not play in the championship game. Candice Wiggins, also a WNBA champion with the Lync in 2011, started her eighth season in the WNBA (my, how time flies!). It is her first season with the New York Liberty (if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere). Wiggins was the 2008 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, and has averaged 9.6 points in her career while playing for Minnesota, Tulsa and Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, Amber Orrange, drafted by the Liberty with the 23rd overall pick in April of this year, was waived by the team in May.

Overall Stanford has had 27 players play in a regular-season WNBA game since the league's inception in 1997. Tara VanDerveer’s program boasts 11 first-round draft picks and has had six players win a total of seven WNBA titles.

Oh, the West side (the best side) won, 117-112.

Looking forward to seeing basketball in the Fall and Winter.

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Stanford Crushes Ducks, Ogwumike Gets Record

They say defense wins championships. Well, the best offense in the nation went against an under-appreciated defense and the defense won. Well, couple the Stanford Women’ basketball Team’s defense with Pac-12 foe Oregon’s LACK of it and you get a 96-66 Stanford win.

Oregon came into Maples leading the country with 105.3 points. They were also the only women’s team averaging over 100 points. Then they met Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike. Chiney suffocated Oregon’s Chrishae Rowe, who was averaging 24.5 points a game (about the same amount Chiney averages, 25.8). Rowe was held to just five points in the first half and 11 for the game, five of those with the Stanford starters including Chiney on the bench.

Chiney Ogwumike blocks a layup-attempt from Oregon's Lexi Petersen. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Chiney received plenty of help on defense from her teammates. Stanford held run-and-gun Oregon to a season low 66 points, 39 below its nation-leading season average of 105 per game. Oregon’s 41 percent  of made 3-pointers plunged downward when Stanford held them to 23 percent (6-of-26).

When C and R saw the two teams line up for tip off, we thought Stanford was going to have their way rebounding and inside, as the Card looked taller. Imagine our surprise when Stanford Head Coach Tara Vanderveer dialed up a first half game plan of threes. Stanford used quick perimeter passing to counter Oregon’s zone and when the first Stanford player behind the line was a little bit open, they launched. And launched they did, hitting 12-24 behind the arc. Stanford also stopped Oregon from launching their own threes. Oregon missed their first nine 3-point tries and wound up 6 for 26 on 3-point tries for the game.

Stanford’s Bonnie Samuelson matched a career high with six 3-pointers and scored a career-best 21 points in just 17 minutes. Younger sister Karlie Samuelson (1), Taylor Greenfield (2), Jasmine Camp (1) and Lili Thompson (2) all hit triples as Stanford matched its season high with 12 makes from behind the arc. BTW, the bench scored 47 points, something that has been lacking all season.

The half ended Stanford up 51 to 33, (the official scorers table would change it to 34, something we didn’t know they could do). So Oregon came out of the break and employed a typical coaching move when the other team is making threes. They went to a man to man defense. And what happens, Stanford fans, when you leave Chiney one on one inside? It’s Chiney all day. Chiney had a quiet first half for her, only scoring 14 points and going 10 minutes without a basket, and then suddenly in the second she is stepping around her one defender. She ended up with 33 points and 14 boards for her ninth double-double of the year, before Tara took her out with five and a half minutes remaining.

Speaking of Chiney, she also set the Pac-12 and Stanford rebounding record in this game. She needed just ten to set it. Heck she could do that in her sleep. Hats off to Oregon, who boxed her well, and held her to just six rebounds in the first. C and R were counting on their fingers to see when she would get #10 for the record. She grabbed what we thought was the tenth rebound only to have an Oregon player tie her up for a jump ball. The announcer said it was her 10th and we cheered. Turned out it wasn’t, so the NEXT one was the record. Either way, she grabbed 14 boards to seal the deal.

Chiney passed former Stanford player Kayla Pedersen’ mark of 1,266 for the Pac-12 record. Earlier in the game she passed another Stanford great, Jayne Appel. Last game, she passed her sister, Nneka Ogwumike, who now stands fourth on that list. So Stanford holds the top four spots of the conference rebounding record. Chiney is at 1,271 and counting, with a whole season of Pac-12 left to play. This record might stay for a long, long time.

One thing Oregon did do well was push the ball in transition. One player grabs the rebound and goes the length of the floor as fast as possible without passing. If you don’t stop ball, they go all the way to the glass. And Stanford let too many of those go by. Goes to show you, always room for improvement.

Looking forward to the rest of the Pac-12 season.

Follow C and R for the rest of the Pac-12 Season on Facebook and Twitter, too!

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Jeanette V Kayla-Two Former Stanford Players Go Head-to-Head in WNBA

Well, social media let C and R down. Live chat with Jeanette Pohlen didn’t go as planned. Instead they switched it to Erin Philips (She has six cats and two dogs, and she likes Words with Friends). Sigh, wanted to hear what Jeanette thought about playing against Kayla. Speaking of which…

Last night Jeanette’s Indianapolis Fever team played Kayla Pedersen’s winless team, the Tulsa Shock. Tulsa actually took a one-point lead into the locker room and the announcers said that was the first time all season they had a lead at the half. To be fair, Tulsa’s 6’8” center Liz Cambage was out with a concussion, and Tulsa only had 8 players suited up for the game.

Highlights. Kayla started, played the whole game and scored 13 points. She usually played center on defense and also handled the ball sometimes as the Shock are thin at guard, and the ones they do have are small. She was only one from three from the free throw line, though; so don’t make us get Tara VanDeveer to get after you!

Kayla usually inbounded the ball because she is the smartest player on the floor, except when Jeanette came in, then they are tied. Speaking of which...Jeanette played about 17 minutes and didn’t score any points, attempting two three-pointers. It seems her coach has her standing on the wing right outside the three-point line waiting for a pass. She doesn’t move around the court at all. Seems a waste if you ask us, but what do we know? Liked Jeanette’s nifty fast break where she and another guard, we think Erin Phillips did a drill-perfect, touch-passing-no dribbling ball movement to the basket. The announcers remarked what unselfish play Jeanette had to give the last pass so Erin could make the basket uncontested. Huh? Isn’t that just good basketball and shouldn’t everyone do that in that situation?

The lowlights. Okay, we have been reading how bad, and how, well, UN-productive Tulsa’s offense is, and we saw it last night. They looked stagnate and confused. Their half court offense seems to consist of the point guard bringing up the ball and the other four players in a straight line around the top of the circle. Yuck. Then some guard, usually Amber Riley would selfishly bomb a three, with no rebounders. One time she was practically out of bounds and shot. C and R don’t think this Tulsa coach is a good fit for the WNBA. Thought he was supposed to play a run and gun type offense.

We got to hear the Tulsa coach, Nolan Richardson, in a time out with about three minutes left and he said something like play hard, play with your gut. What about some strategy, coach? What about, with three minutes left, play this offense and do this defense, and if it gets to be two minutes left and we are down, push the ball? So with two minutes left and Tulsa down, there is guard Amber Riley WALKING the ball up the court. Took up the whole shot clock. Tara VanDerveer would not have wasted a time out like that. We’re just saying…

Fever won 82-74, on sharp shooting by Katie Douglas, a leftie three-point specialist. Here's Kayla's take on the game, from WNBA.com: “We left our hearts on the floor," Pedersen said. "We played well until the end. Lots of shot clocks. Everything went well until the end. We need to finish.” She is talking about the offense not being in a rhythm, with some guard dribbling around near the half court line and then looking up to see they have 5 seconds left and then having to rush a shot, usually a long-range one that missed.

Sorry to be so harsh, but since this is the WNBA, and everyone is a pro and does this for a living, C and R feel they can be tougher and more critical on them.

Well, we are disappointed we didn’t get to hear Jeanette’s thoughts on playing against her old teammate of four years (and at one point Jeanette was trying to box out Kayla during the game), but we have a picture of three former Stanford Women's Basketball teammates getting together after the game, picture compliments of Jeanette Pohlens’ twitter account. That’s Jeanette Pohlen, Kayla Pedersen and Sarah Boothe in Indy.

Live Chat with Jeanette Pohlen

So check out this cool event. You can chat live with Fever rookie (and former Stanford Women’s basketball player) Jeanette Pohlen, Wednesday, June 15 · 10:00am - 11:00am EST, which means 7 AM Stanford time, but who cares? And how did C and R find out about this cool event? Why, through Facebook, of course! WNBA has been good at using social media to bring in fans and help them feel like they are connecting more personally.

So here’s more detail from the site promoting the event:
Fever rookie Jeanette Pohlen will chat live with fans this Wednesday, June 15, at 10:15 am ET. She will be interviewed by Fever Broadcaster Chris Denari featuring your questions as it is broadcast live on FeverBasketball.com. Fans can submit their questions in three ways: 1) On FeverBasketball.com, 2) On Facebook commenting on this event, 3) On Twitter using hashtag #FeverLive.

Yes, they say 10 AM, 10:15 AM EST, make up your minds. Did you catch the three ways to submit questions? Us C and R geeks already submitted two on Facebook:

Live chat question: You went from your last college game to the WNBA draft to training camp in a hurry. What has been the some of your challenges transitioning from college student to, well, grown up!
And
Live chat question: Hey, you're about to play against the Tulsa Shock and your old Stanford teammate of four years, Kayla Pedersen. What was that like? And have you ever played against Kayla? Last part-did you hang out after the game?

So if you want to ask your questions, go to the website or Twitter or Facebook. Don’t have a Facebook account? (Like us three days ago?) Oh, then email them to us and we will post them for you, because that’s the kind of people we are.

Oh, BTW, Jeanette squares off against former Stanford teammate Kayla Pedersen tonight at 4 PM Stanford time. Good luck to both. (And don’t tell us the outcome, we are taping it to watch later!).

WNBA Rookies Gone Wild

So, C and R admittedly admit that we do not follow the WNBA that closely. It’s in the summer and we are easily distracted by shiny things. Plus you can’t beat our Nor Cal weather and we are usually outside tending to our rogue tomato plants surrounded by our high maintenance cats. That, and WE HAVE NO WNBA TEAM TO FOLLOW! Yes, there is some key marquee games broadcast on ESPN, and we thank them every day for the coverage. And yes, we know even more games are on the Internet "live access" but don’t even get us started on our hate of computers.

But seeing the games on a screen cannot compare to seeing them live. Incidentally, we popped in the DVD of the game where Stanford beats UConn to end their streak (hee hee) and it just wasn’t the same. We got nearly one tenth of the thrill, the excitement as seeing it live and feeling the crowd and sharing all the tension and emotion of the moment. One tenth. That’s why we love Stanford Women’s Basketball so much, we can see most of the games live and up close and personal. Not so with the WNBA and with no team in the women’s-basketball-obsessed Bay Area. It is hard for us to get excited when a game is on TV at 3 PM on a Sunday and the sun is shining and we can go for a bike ride.

But back to our original point, the one in the headline. Another reason C and R have been so ho-hum about the WNBA is that we haven’t had that many Stanford players to follow. Yes, there has always been Nicole Powell, although she was before C started following Stanford. Things did change with Candice Wiggins, so we would have our ear out for her Minnesota Lynx team, but that was about it. And didn’t help that Candice’s career has been in fits and starts due to injuries. Then we were so excited to get ready to follow Jayne Appel’s career with San Antonio last year. She was hurt throughout the season and had a disappointing rookie year in terms of stats.

So this year, we had two more fave Stanford players to follow in Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen. It’s only week two, but both made their respective teams and are contributing. Kayla scored 15 points in a her Tulsa team’s loss to the UConn Sun (yes we are making a joke) and Jeanette had 14 points off the bench for the Fever, including 4 for 4 from downtown, with her final 3-pointer being the dagger in the New York Liberty’s heart.

Interestingly, two rookies that have connections back to Stanford also had great weekends. Rookie Guard Courtney Vandersloot, who rose to national attention when her Gonzaga team lost to Stanford in the NCAA tournament, scored 18 points, four of them 3-pointers and had five assists in Chicago’s home opener against the Sun. Not bad for someone who was not even on the WNBA radar a year ago.

Another notable rookie with a great game this weekend was San Antonio’s Danielle Adams. Last year, Danielle and her Texas A & M team knocked off Stanford in the Final Four and eventually won the NCAA championship. C even questioned her conditioning and if she could keep pace in the WNBA. Well, she scored 32 points. Marked a franchise record for most points for a rookie, meaning Jayne didn’t even come close to that as a rookie last year. Half of Danielle’s points came from three-pointers, too. One eyewitness report said she was clearly exhausted when she subbed out, so hopefully she can get in even better shape and contribute more. She and Jayne and the rest of the Silver Stars are currently undefeated.

And then there is Maya Moore. Four games played, four games started, averaging 14.5 points a game. Not bad for a rook.

Gee, that was just week two of the WNBA, Can’t wait to see what week three brings. Maybe the weather will be cloudy this weekend.

C and R’s Social Media

Hold on to your hats, batten down the hatches and hide the children! Sell all your worldly possessions and buy pet insurance cuz the world must be comin’ to an end because…
Dunt… dunt… dunt….
C and R have joined the 21^st century and got a page on FACEBOOK!


Check us out at C and R’s Stanford Women’s Basketball Facebook Page.

We still have no idea what we are doing, so any kindly help would be appreciated. And oh, make sure to like us or friend us or write to us or whatever the devil you kids are into today because we need all the friends and like buttons we can get and need you to otherwise artificially inflate our sense of self worth. Plus now you can instantly communicate with us, helpfully point out any typos, correct our “facts,” remind us of game times so we don’t miss them, and state your favorite player for all to see.

So if we ignore this blog, scoot on over to Facebook and check us out, kinda like what the Official Stanford Women’s Basketball site did. Not that we are calling them on the ignoring part, just that they have transitioned over to Facebook so quickly! It was and is still a shock to us.
Look forward to interacting with all of you on Facebook. Get a sneak peek here:

Pedersen and Pohlen Preseason Previews

So, biding or time until the women’s college basketball season starts back up, C and R are trying to keep tabs on our recent Stanford grads Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen and how they are faring in the WNBA.

Even if we can’t see them live and in person the way we used to, we are trying to keep up with their press clippings. The Tulsa World compared Kayla to Larry Bird, even though Kayla was three when Bird stopped playing, and boy don’t that make C and R feel old! (Yes, R, I know this is bad English but I am doing it to make a point or have personality or somethin'). But the good news is her new coach, Nolan Richardson, likes her. He typically likes to play a run and gun style pace and likes that she ran at Stanford. Hope she will crack the starting line up. They open May 29th at Seattle.

The great women’s basketball writer Mechele Voepel, caught up with Kayla and Jeanette and wrote a long, in-depth interview about what life is like right out of college for a basketball player, and right out of a program that made four final-four appearances and never once came away with college’s top prize of a basketball championship.

Interesting reading about both of them being aware of social media and to not say anything too controversial and to stay a role model. Wish some more pros would think that way.

For people of a certain age like C and R (read, before cell phones) the cell phone part was a little chilling. Not about Kayla and Jeanette themselves, but just the fact college-aged kids get together to hangout or have dinner and bring their cell phones to text other people not present and then ignore/not connect with those that are present. Jeanette’s an old fashioned gal who leaves her cell phone at home when out with the folks. Now, is that a role model or what?

C and R wish them both good luck. Got a little nervous when Mechelle wrote, “Admittedly, with 12 franchises and 11 roster spots for each, making a WNBA team in 2011 is exceedingly difficult. The vast majority of players who compete in women's college basketball will not play in the WNBA.” Yikes. Looking forward to the start of the season, as we are sure JP and KP are, too.

Spring Basketball Just Isn’t the Same

May (Friday the )13th- Spring Basketball Just Isn’t the Same
Has this been the slowest women’s college basketball off-season in the history of the world, or what? Maybe because we had such high hopes last year and knew we had a potential title team, and feel a little cheated we didn’t even make it to the championship game. But lets not dwell on the negative, and you can reread all the great things the Stanford Women’s Basketball team accomplished the past season. (Psst, it’s a lot!)

So the best way to fix a basketball jones (somebody set a pick for me on the free throw line…) is to find out what the players are up to in the off-season. Former Stanford players and newly drafted WNBA players Kayla Pdersen and Jeanette Pohlen will hit training camp May 15th. And here are 15 reasons to be excited about the upcoming 15th season for the WNBA, courtesy of the WNBA. (Warning, there is no mention of any Stanford players in the article, well except for our girl Candice Wiggins gets a shout-out.).

Sigh, and yet… it’s hard to get excited about pro training camp because, well, we don’t have a pro women’s team within 500 miles of us. We can‘t go see training camp or hang out and watch the players at training camp or ask for autographs after training camp because even though the Bay Are has 11teen million people crammed together on the peninsula and has a devoted core group who watch women’s basketball with tons of disposable income to buy a $25 dollar t-shirt and a five dollar hot dog, we can’t get a team. Oh sure, we can live vivaciously through the WNBA puff pieces and the players’ twitter accounts, whatever that is, but its not the same as seeing your team live.

Speaking of twitter, a little birdie told me that Kayla Pedersen called a certain young fan on her 10th birthday and made her day! And speaking of Kayla Pedersen, which we actually were, she has a new website coming out soon called kaylapedersen.com. Stay tuned to C and R to find out when it goes live (Because why should you check the actual source or anything, hee hee.)

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaayne
Speaking of pros, as we were a while ago, the WNBA and Team USA basketball veterans had a three-day training camp in Vegas with head coach Geno Auriemma. Here, let’s let former Stanford Cardinal player Jayne Appel tell you about it. As to what she did in Vegas… she slept.

So what are the current Stanford women’s basketball players up to, you ask C and R? Well, Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike get what amounts to free high level coaching and training by being invited to USA basketball to represent the US at the World University Games. They have represented USA basketball a bunch of times already. They go May 22-25 to work out with the other collegians, follow Chiney on twitter, if you can understand any of it.

Sadly, that’s all we have to report. Fall can’t get here quick enough!

Stanford Goes Seven and Nine in the WNBA Draft

Stanford Women’s Basketball player Kayla Pedersen was selected seventh by the Tulsa Shock in the 2011 WNBA draft. Another Stanford star, guard Jeanette Pohlen was selected ninth by the Indiana Fever. Top Ten for each, baby! Wow, congratulations to the women for all their hard work and for Stanford and Tara VanDerveer’s program to get them “pro” ready. Now they just have to make the team, although top ten picks are expected to. (C had a little bet with R about where Jeanette Pohlen would be drafted, and, well, let’s just say, C failed miserably and R had every faith in Jeanette).

And it was great when Kayla’s name was announced, after hugging her parents, she got a big hug from Jeanette at the next table. We are sure Kayla would have returned the favor when JP was drafted two spots behind her, but she was probably busy doing interviews and posing for pix and stuff.

A huge surprise for C and R was Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot getting picked third and going to Chicago. Congratulations to her, we look forward to following her WNBA career. She looked incredible in her highlight reel.

First pick, of course, was Maya Moore, who was selected by Minnesota. Minnesota also got the fourth pick and selected Xavier’s Amber Harris, a big post player who can dribble, much like Kayla. We are excited for former Stanford player and current Minnesota player Candice Wiggins, whose team went from cellar-dweller to play off team with just those two picks.

And now C and R can officially say we LOVE Maya Moore. They were showing her highlights again and she is just amazing. Such a pure jump shot. And they showed her playing on the USA National Team, and said how she held her own on what is essentially a WNBA all-star team and against other country’s veterans. We are looking forward to her long and illustrious pro career.

So the second pick selected by Tulsa, was an Australian National Team player, Elizabeth Cambage, who did not come to the US to play college. We have been hearing about her the last few days as draft day counted down, especially since she is 6’8. We figured she must be a seasoned veteran in her 20’s. Turns out she is 19.

Now, the WNBA has this really great rule saying that a player cannot be drafted until their graduating class has made it through four years of college. This is to prevent players from jumping early to the pros, like in the men’s NBA. Essentially, colleges with men’s teams are “renting” male players for a year or two until they turn pro, or else they skip college altogether, (Kobe, LeBron). It is rare to see a college senior on a men’s team, and it also decreases the graduation rate (Maryland’s Men’s Basketball team only graduated 8% of its players this year).

Not so in the women’s game, which has a far higher graduation rate, probably because of the WNBA rule. One notable exception is Epiphanny Prince who left college a year early to play in Europe and get a paycheck for her family. She came back to the WNBA the following year when the rules said she could.
Actually, this is a more complete explanation of the WNBA’s eligibility: you must have turned 22 years old, graduated from college, completed your eligibility to play or played at least two seasons for another professional league. So Lizzie played for 2 years in an Australian professional league, starting when she was 17. So she gets to come to the WNBA when she is 19? But other 19 year olds can’t be drafted? Seems like they should stick to the 22-year-old rule for everybody.

Well, Lizzie can always room with Kayla Pedersen in OK. And now Kayla can say she’s not the tallest player on her team.

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.

Basketball Sisterhood

C and R knew it! We knew there was a special connection between the Stanford sisters, Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike. We’ve been saying it all year. Now a great article by Mechelle Voepel confirms it.

We have seen them always find each other on the court, gravitating to each other for a high five or “it’s okay” word of encouragement. And since the start of the tournament they seem to not only finish each other’s sentences, they finish each other’s baskets. We weren’t imagining it, Mechelle says they have sisterhood and “twin speak,” or sister speak. We knew it, they are just that connected.

Ands now they have incorporated Kayla Pedersen into the fold. She grew up with all brothers like C, and is welcoming this new-found sisterhood. Cutest quote:
"I can define 'sister-speak' like this," Chiney said. "They'll call a play, and I never have to say, 'What?' Because Kayla will say automatically, 'Chiney, don't worry, go here.' And that's what Nneka has been doing all season.
Here’s more from Chiney:
"Nneka and I can just look at each other and communicate without saying anything. We can do that with Kayla, too. I think the whole team is starting to get it, but Kayla's really got it down."

You go sisters. All you sisters.

Cheap thoughts…

So much great women’s basketball on TV, a big thank you to ESPN for showing it. Hey, Mechelle Voepel says the ESPN brass listens when people write in and say they like to see more women’s basketball, so take a moment today and let them know you like it and want more!

And a big bouquet of roses to Texas A & M.

Heard its snowing in indy… pack your warm things, it jus tmight be a frozen four.

Did you see and hear “I Got Bounce” on National TV! Mel Murphy, you’re a star!

Best Geno Quote…. Best thing Maya does is not listen to me

Our NCAA bracket went to heck (way to represent, PAC-10! Said sarcastically) but C is beating R and that’s all that matters.

Although we must give shout out to super fan TG, who is sitting at the top of the bracket! He correctly picked the Texas A & M win over Baylor, the Gonzaga trip to the elite eight, and Notre Dame knocking off Tennessee to get to the final four. TG, we are taking you to Vegas or having you buy lottery tickets or somethin’!

Awarding:
Both Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen have tied the record for most Stanford career games at 149. They broke Ros Gold Onwude’s old record of 148. It’s fitting that the seniors are doing it together. Pedersen and Pohlen are 1-2 on the career minutes played list with 4,722 for Kayla and 4,316 for Jeanette. Kayla has 1,256 career rebounds, and is seven away from tying Jayne Appel (Jaaaaay-nneeee) for the Stanford and Pac-10 career rebounding record, while Pohlen is second all-time in Stanford history with 265 3-pointers made. Kayla also has a career-high 119 assists this year.

Kayla was also awarded the Pac-10 Scholar Athlete of the Year for basketball. She has a 3.53 GPA and is majoring in communications/psychology.  We knew she was smart!

Jeanette and Nneka Ogqumike have been named to both the John R. Wooden All-America Team and the Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-America Teams. Congrats, you two deserve it!

Stanford Final Four Bound with Win Over Gonzaga

Well, that slump is over! Stanford Women’s Basketball player Jeanette Pohlen, probably tired of getting asked about her mini scoring “slump,” responded in the Elite Eight game against Gonzaga by hitting shots and playing with intensity and determination. How intense and determined? Try 60% shooting from the floor, five of them three pointers for a total of 17 points.

Fellow senior Kayla Pedersen had twelve timely rebounds and the team as a whole had 49 to Gonzaga’s 25, thirteen of them being on the offensive end for more chances to score. Kayla’s eight points are little low, and we don’t want to say anythAng, but C and R are sure she will be the next one to have a scoring outpouring.

Two Stanford players who aren’t slumping are the Stanford sister, Nneka and Chiney. They combined for 51 of Stanford’s 83 points and 26 of the 49 rebounds, and had the first 11 Stanford points of the second half . Nneka ended up with 23 points, 18 bounds, and Chiney, 18 points 15 boards. In the first half it was mostly Nneka who was scoring, Gonzaga not having the size to deny the entry pass or stop her path to the basket like UNC previosuly. When big sis Nneka was in a little scoring slump of her own in the second half, missing shots in the paint, it was Chiney who grabbed the rebound and put it back or was fouled trying.

Credit Gonzaga’s Courntey Vandersloot, the incredible point guard, for keeping her team in the game in the first half. She was on fire, hitting for 21 points in the first half and dishing out nine total assists to her teammates. C and R had to yell the now familiar refrain, “somebody guard her!”

So what does basketball genius Tara VanDerveer do in the second half? She goes into a little used zone defense to limit Courtney to one basket in the first 14 minutes of the second half, and four total points for said half. C and R, not the basketball geniuses, didn’t even realize Stanford went into the zone. We just kept our eyes on Vandersloot and just who was going to guard her and would call out, “Lindy is guarding her, now Jeannette, now Kayla, now Nneka” Whew. We thought they were handing her off man to man like they did Maya Moore. Now that we realize they were in zone, they weren’t switching and handing her off, she was just rotating through Stanford’s zone and they were guarding her as if man to man, so maybe a zone man to man. Duh C and R! Well, whatever it was, it worked, shutting down Gonzaga’s amazing point guard and no one stepping up in her place.

And then it was too much Ogwumikes. Nneka misses, Chiney gets it, even though they were being PUSHED by the other team and it wasn’t called (gee, we biased-ly think the refs aren’t calling fouls against Stanford, what’s new?) Courtney is negated, the sisters roll, it’s Stanford by a score of 83-60.

During the game, the announcers kept talking about Pac-10 player of the year Jeanette Pohlen and R prophetically said, Nneka deserves an award. She got one at the end of the game, or, well several. First of all, both sisters were named the “Player of the Game.” And how cute is that? Then Nneka got the Spokane Regional's most outstanding player award. And sometime after that when the all-regional team was announced, it included Nneka, Chiney and Kayla Pedersen. Yay, someone else was watching and appreciating Nneka like we do.

Side Notes:
C and R were watching the Tennessee-Notre Dame game right before the Stanford game. C, wisely learning her lesson about using up her good luck mojo, kept fairly silent throughout the game, even though secretly she was rooting against Pat Summit’s Tennessee team, a team and coach we love to hate. So now she can say those things she repressed for so long. Oh, how sweet was that ND win? Guess 21 times is a charm! And next time, Pat, when playing the green Irish, wear something else besides a mint green suit!!

ESPN cut in late to the Stanford game due to the Tennessee-Notre Dame game. However, C and R persevered. Some of our fans had earlier clued us in to ESPN 3 on the internet and they were streaming the live game and we saw all ten Stanford points, and R said this was the fastest game she ever saw, points flying across the boards for both teams, so glad we didn’t miss a second.

Then when Stanford won, we saw a little graphic that said go to ESPN 3 to see the net cutting ceremony because ESPN had spent long enough on a women’s sport. So back we went to the computer screen and we saw the trophy presentation and net cutting ceremony, with the team cutting the net into tiny pieces to wear behind their ears, Nneka herself cutting about five strands, and Tara VanDerveer throwing what was left of the net to Jeanette, silently expressing she was glad JP was out of her slump.

Cool it was a sold-out arena for women’s basketball. Not so cool it was a home game for Gonzaga and 10,500 were rooting for the Zags. Cool the arena held 11,000 plus. Not so cool Gonzaga got to sleep in their own beds for all four games. Tournament officials said they will look into that, and let’s hope they mean teams have to travel the last two games and not make a rule about sleeping in beds.

Other things to note we stole from the Stanford website:
The top-seeded Cardinal (33-2) will be making its fourth straight trip to the national semifinals for the first time in school history. The seniors of Pedersen, Pohlen and fellow seniors Ashley Cimino and Hannah Donaghe, hold the distinction of a perfect 63-0 career record at Maples Pavilion, and also becoming the first class in Stanford history to reach four consecutive Final Fours

Nneka was named the Most Outstanding Player in the regional for the second straight year while Chiney was named to the All-Regional Team along with Pedersen. Kayla has been named to the all-regional squad for a third time. Pedersen now has 1,256 career rebounds, just seven shy of tying Jayne Appel's all-time Stanford and Pac-10 record of 1,263 boards.

Stanford senior guard Jeanette Pohlen was selected to the Associated Press All-America First Team. Junior forward Nneka Ogwumike earned a spot on the Second Team for the second year in a row while senior forward Kayla Pedersen earned her second straight honorable mention.

Through the regional final win over Gonzaga, Pohlen has shot 41.2 percent from behind the arc and hit 93 3-pointers, breaking the old Stanford single-game record of 91 set by Krista Rappahahn in 2005-06.

And the last award:
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association named Tara VanDerveer the 2011 Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division I Head Coach of the Year.

Stanford Survives North Carolina

I’m sorry Stanford, I knew I shouldn’t have watched that Gonzaga-Louisville game. I was rooting too hard for Gonzaga that I used up all my good luck/wishing mojo (I mean, how do you lose a twenty point lead, Zags?). Think I’m being silly? Think I’m being superstitious? Well, R called me Sunday morning to say UConn was losing to Georgetown, and when I tuned in UConn went on a 16-2 run. Before I started watching, Georgetown was raining threes and Maya Moore was 1 for 9 or something like that. When I stated watching, Georgetown couldn’t buy a basket and missed every three, and UConn stepped UP their game and Maya Moore made everything she touched, even though I was rooting hard for Georgetown to knock off UConn. Why did that happen? Because Geno’s such a great coach? No, it’s because I used up every LAST drop of good luck mojo rooting for Stanford to pull out their Sweet Sixteen victory the night before.

Well enough about UConn, after all this isn’t the C and R UConn Women’s Basketball Blog. Uweee, I don’t even like writing those words together! But I am delaying the inevitable to write about Stanford’s win last night. Yes, a win is a win is a win, and winners advance and non-winners go home and end their season, so C and R are definitely thankful Stanford is still alive in the tournament, but it was not pretty last night.

It’s funny, because C and R said all night Stanford's Nneka Ogwumike is having a “bad” game. She was bad for 19 points and she and sister Chiney scored the last 12 points for Stanford before Jeanette Pohlen iced the game with her free throws. North Carolina used their size (they have a 6’5 player, a 6’3 and a 6’0 player, similar to Stanford’s size) to deny and steal the entry pass to Nneka. You can’t score if you can’t get the ball. And when Nneka did touch the ball, they blocked her or pushed her out away from the basket to frustrate her all night long. (And the refs let a LOT of contact go uncalled).

Good thing for little sisters. Chiney would come to her big sister’s rescue to the tune of 16 points and eleven very critical rebounds. None was bigger than the offensive rebound and subsequent basket and the FOUL with 39 seconds left to give Stanford the lead, 69-65. She was a beast on the glass (guess her dislocated pinkie didn’t bother her) and saved Stanford many times.

So Stanford guard Jeanette Pohlen, is in a little, minor, just a teensy little bit, tiniest bit of a slump. It’s very small, so small we should hardly mention it. So small R didn’t even want me to mention it here in the blog because then we might be responsible for jinxing her for the rest of the tournament. She was 1-9 shooting for the night, yet she was 80% percent from the free throw line and she made 3 out of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds. She is ice, ice baby. In fact, the other coach called a timeout to try and “ice” her first attempts and she was all like, huh, free throws I can do. Final score was 72-65 but it was a much, much closer game.

Kayla Pedersen had her usual “quiet night” scoring 15, yet was 5 for 13 from the floor, and only 2-6 from three-point land. Fifteen points is nothing to sneeze at, but Stanford’s shooting percentage is waaay down, shooting 36% for the game, and only 19% from beyond the arc. Gotta step that up for these next few games.

Kudos to Kokenis for playing on a sprained ankle that was encased in silver-plated armor. No, just kidding, but Toni’s sprained ankle was bandaged up good and tight and she scored 9 points from the bench and even on a busted ankle she was faaa-ssst, leading the fast break, which Stanford had so few of. But she also missed a lot of pull-up jumpers she normally makes, going 3 for 11 from the floor. Hope she can play or even walk by Monday.

And Tinkle bells were ringing for Joslyn Tinkle, another bench player who came in and contributed big time. She was 3 for 4 for the night with 7 points. It’s good to know the role players can step up when someone like a Jeanette is struggling.

Monday night we play home crowd favorites Gonzaga, and although we beat them before early in the seaosn, they gave us a game of it. We need all Stanford players to be “on” Monday and for the rest of the tournament.

Stanford Beats St. John's, Seniors are Perfect at Home

You would think C and R would be used to it by now; Stanford falling behind a little in the first half, battling back, taking a slight lead into the locker room. Stanford head Coach Tara VanDerveer working her adjustment skills magic, second half opens, Stanford goes on a XXX run, where X does not equal anything pornographic, but a large number to their opponents small one. Then, boom goes the dynamite, the subs come in and the Stanford Women’s Basketball team wins the game. It has happened all season long (except when Stanford played UConn, they lead that one wire to wire, hee hee), so you think C and R would not worry when Stanford is down. But no, worry they did. The Stanford seniors starters (an alliteration, my third grade students like to point out), of Pohlen and Pedersen (double alliteration, they would say) looked tight and… uh, can’t think of another “T” word to fit the theme, let’s just say they looked not as comfortable as they usually do at Maples. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact their 62 home game wining streak, of never having to walk off Maples without beating their opponent, of being the first Stanford senior class to accomplish this feat was on the line. A sense of history can do that to a person or two.

But, as C and R already spoiled the ending. Stanford beat their second round opponent St. John by a score of 75-49, after a slow start, for a record 63 staight home victories. Half way through the first half, Stanford was down by eight, yet when the half ended, it was Stanford up by eight, 38-30. How did that reversal of fortune happen? Nneka Ogwumike happened. Granted, St. John’s didn’t leave her open, it’s just they played her one on one. They denied her an easy path to the basket. This time she would turn around quickly, elevate, and we mean elevate, and then shoot, ands she must be taking  a class in geometry because she banked in some crazy angles. It really was Nneka to the rescue. It helped little sis Chiney picked up any and all rebounds, six on the offensive side, six on the defensive side, a little of everything, and happy birthday to her, she just turned 19 during the game!

So remember the half time score being 38-30, Stanford. St. John’s would score only seven more points in the first fourteen minutes of the second half. They got stuck on 37 points for eight whole minutes! Stanford has some great D! Mikaela Ruef stepped up big for Chiney when she was on the bench. St. John’s got 12 more points against the bench.

Scary moment of the game with 2:20 left before half time, Toni Kokenis, who already gave Stanford a spark off the bench with three three-pointers and eleven total points, went for loose ball and a St. John’s player rolled up her leg, injuring her. She left the game for treatment, and came back on the court in the second half (to thunderous applause) but she was wisely rested for the rest of the night. Hope she heals by Saturday, it is being listed as an ankle injury. Chiney also go hurt, the injury being listed as her finger (dislocated pinkie), but C and R know from their playing days that any jammed finger hurts and hurts for awhile. Hope both of them are better by Saturday.

It was great to see another almost full house. About 5,900 people came out to see Stanford and their seniors make history. (And again, watching the other games on TV, hardly anyone in some of the stands). When Jeanette Pohlen came out of the game around the 4-minute mark, she got a Stanford ovation. Same for Kayla Pedersen at the 3:20 mark. Both C and R said good-bye to them, as we will never see them live and in operson in a Stanford uniform again, boo hoo!

Stanford has the late late game on Saturday. No wonder the East Coast gives the West no respect. They never see them, as they are all fast asleep.

Stanford Beats Well-Coached UC Davis

Okay, first things first. Yes, number one seed Stanford beat number 16 seed UC Davis 86-59, no surprise there, because no number one women’s seed has ever lost to a number 16 seed before… oh wait, yes one team did, Stanford lost to Harvard on Maples floor but that is not the point I am trying to make. Yes, it was a forgone conclusion who would win this game, but I hope everyone who is following the women’s basketball tournament attended or saw this game on TV (Yes I know the network cut in late) to see what women’s basketball is all about.

When C and R have been checking out the other first round games on TV, the stands have been empty, and we mean emp-tay. It is embarrassing. We didn’t see the Tennessee game, and UConn’s first round game has the stands about half full, but the other regions have looked terrible.

The Stanford-UC Davis game had an official attendance of 6,515, which is close to a sell out due to the small size of Maples. It helped that Stanford’s opponent was two hours away and a lot of vocal fans make the trip to pack the stadium. The place was rockin’! Both teams got applause for good plays, and the audience adrenaline added to the excitement and vitality of the game. Wish every arena could be like that.

So, with all the cheering going on, UC Davis helped out Stanford to know what it will be like to play in hostile environments when the UC Davis fans cheered every bad Stanford play, of which there were quite a few. Stanford shot an air ball. Stanford made a bad pass. Stanford threw the ball away. Stanford got the ball stolen. Stanford pulled their guards and replaced them one at a time. UC Davis fans went nuts.

So, C and R pondered, which comes first, chicken or the egg. Did Stanford play sloppy and not take care of the ball on offense? Or did UC Davis have a great game plan and pressure Stanford into uncharacteristic turnovers? Let’s take a deeper look, shall we?

When the game opened, UC Davis went into the classic UCLA defense. By that, C and R mean they used the defense UCLA developed just one week ago against Stanford in the PAC-10 championship game. They doubled up Nneka Ogwumike and tried to shut down the inside game. The only problem for UC Davis was this time Stanford made their threes from the outside. Then the defense spread out to stop the three and although Nneka was not “open” under the basket, Stanford was able to get her the ball and she could turn and create in the paint, her specialty. So, UC Davis went to plan C. They pressured the ball handler as they crossed the half court line, sending two frenetic players in their faces. If you can’t get the ball to the wing to shoot a three, or throw the ball to Nneka, then you don’t score points, and that’s what UC Davis was counting on. They knocked the ball away, forced bad passes, and outright stole the ball. Lindy LaRocque looked nervous in the first few minutes and made mistakes with the ball. Ditt o point guard Jeanette Pohlen and when Mel Murphy was inserted for her ball handling skills, she also lost the ball. The UC Davis fans cheered every Stanford miscue/UC Davis hustle play. So in answer to did Stanford not take care of the ball or did UC Davis play great D, the answer is a little of both. We are sure Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer will use this as a wake up call to her team.

In the second half, Stanford adjusted and executed, crisp, sharp passes around the perimeter, often reversing the ball flow and freed up their three point shooters, and shoot they did. Lindy matched her career high with 14 points, four of them three pointers. Freshmen Toni Kokenis, who did not start because coach VanDerveer says she gives the team a spark off the bench, sparked indeed, coming in early and knocking down shots. She had three three-pointers and 11 points. Seniors Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette each had three three-pointers, tying the team high 13 made three-pointers.

One interesting note: When Stanford had the ball out of bounds under their basket, we saw the four players line up in a traditional stack, all in a line about five feet away from the ball. C and R don’t ever remember seeing this out of bounds formation. The defense is huddled around the stack, and the UC Davis player closest to the ball has her back turned to the ball, trying to hold the front Stanford player from going in front of her to get the ball. You guessed it, Stanford’s Mikaela Ruef inbounds the ball off of the defenders butt, steps in bounds and picks up the ball and shoots a lay up before anyone on the team has a chance to react, including the poor defender who just got hit in the bottom. Unbelievably, Ruef missed the lay up! But this is twice now we have seen this play. Tinkle did it earlier in the year, and we just thought it was a fluke, a high school play. So what C and R want to know is, does Tara VanDerveer have this play in the Stanford hand book? If player has her back to you, hit her butt? Enquiring minds want to know!

In the closing minutes, the UC Davis fans started chanting, “Thank You Sandy!” It was in reference to UC Davis coach Sandy Simpson who is retiring after fourteen years as their coach. They also chanted, “We’ll be back!” Astonishingly, UC Davis has only been a Division I school for four years. Simpson guided the team to back to back 20 win seasons, and their first conference championship win and NCAA appearance this year. Then Coach Simpson pulled his seniors so the crowd could acknowledge them and the fans chanted “thank you” by name. It was very touching and emotional. When the game ended, the UC Davis team as a unified group, head up, waved to the fans behind the bench, in the band section, and opposite their bench. They didn’t want to leave, because they knew as soon as they stepped foot off the court, their season, their time together, was over.

Footnote:
C and R caught the Texas Tech – St. John’s game, and to be blunt, neither team looked sharp. In fact, UC Davis could have probably beaten both those teams. C and R are sorry, but when Texas Tech was down with 5 minutes to play, they had no sense of urgency, that their season was on the line. St. Johns, missed lay ups and easy put backs, and foul shots! With two minutes left, Texas Tech stayed in a zone and let St. Johns use the full shot clock to bring the ball up and pass. They didn’t go into man to man or try to pressure the ball/foul to stop the clock. They both looked lethargic. Stanford should have no problem Monday night.

Stanford, PAC-10 Champs, Again!

TONNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!

Okay, every so often, someone will say or write so-and-so was the hero of the game, but Toni Kokenis single-handily WON the PAC-10 tournament championship trophy for Stanford. The Stanford freshman scored 10 straight points in the span of three minutes in the second half. Make that ten unanswered points from the 5:15 to about the three-minutes-left-in-the-game mark. Stanford was only up by one at that point, after trailing by 9 at the half, and more importantly, deflated UCLA’s hopes of an upset. And it was a good thing she scored, because it seemed no one else for Stanford could.

First, hats off to a scrappy and aggressive UCLA team, who was knocking down shots, especially in the first half. Credit UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell with coming up with a good offensive plan and an even better defensive plan. First, as Stanford’s Jeanette Pohlen pointed out in one of her many post game interviews, UCLA watched them destroy Arizona the day before. They watched Stanford work it inside to the Sisters. So UCLA packed the paint and essentially took away the inside game. Stanford usually says, okay, you take away our inside game, then we will bomb you with threes. That’s why coaches beaten by Stanford this year say they have so many weapons. But this time Stanford could not hit from the outside, making just 3 of 16 threes for a dismal 18% success rate in the first half. At first, UCLA was so quick they could pack the inside and quickly get to the three point line to push Stanford’s three point shooters far way from the line. So many shots were taken a good 4-5 feet behind the three-point line, just out of their comfort zone and it showed. Then it seemed like UCLA just collapsed inside and LET Stanford shoot, figuring all their confidence was gone, and boom, Stanford was down by 9 at the half.

So offensively, Nikki Caldwell used the ol’ pick and roll to her team’s advantage. They know Stanford likes to play man to man and switch defensive players when screened, so when they had a larger UCLA player on a smaller Stanford player, they hit that tall player. And since Stanford starts four players six feet and above, the most obvious to pick on was the smaller Lindy LaRoque. Now, C and R aren’t saying Lindy is a bad player; it was just Nikki took advantage of the weakest link, a 5’8” player. When Stanford switched on the screens the taller UCLA player rolled to the inside, pushing Lindy out of the paint and placed her body closer to the basket. UCLA would penetrate and bounce pass it to the waiting UCLA player who had an easy path to the basket. Stanford tried subbing in different players to solve this problem and instead got themselves all out of rhythm on the offensive side, thanks to UCLA’s defensive scheme. It also hurt to have Chiney Ogwumike on the bench with two fouls for about 9 minutes of the first half, as they missed her rebounding and her defensive prowess. (However, good thing they did because Chiney fouled out anyway with a minute seven left in the game.)

The announcer at half time asked Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer how they were going to solve the problem of switching and TVD said that was exactly the problem and she wasn’t sure. She also said they weren’t sure who to play, admitting the line up juggling did not work, and that they needed to do a better job of working it inside, implying the outside game was waaaaay off.

In the second half, Stanford stuck with their starting line up of their tall trees, with liberal helpings of Toni Kokenis. Having Chiney and sister Nneka Ogwumike back in the game at the same time helped them work it inside and keep UCLA off the boards. And when Stanford couldn’t get it inside and the three was iffy, Toni would dribble penetrate and then execute a pull back jumper.

Now, TVD knows Lindy can knock down threes when she is open, but her weakness is that she cannot create her own shot by dribble penetrating like a Toni or a Nneka. However, since the threes were not falling for Lindy and she is not tall enough to play inside, she was out of options. So when Lindy missed 2 threes in the first five minutes of the second half, TVD wanted Toni to create some points, put her in at the 16-minute mark, Toni goes on her tear including the ten straight unanswered points (She would score a career high 17 points and gave a career high smile when UCLA called a timeout to staunch the flow) and Tara VanDerveer looks like a genius. And she is. Final score 64-55 and it was much closer than it sounds.

It was kinda sad after the game when the network took away Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen to go up to the “booth” to give a post game interview. They missed some of the celebration with their team and the team photos with them all in their championship T-shirts and hats. In the team photo on the Stanford official website with the group posing with the winning trophy you can see the two out of three captains absent.

Also, we think Nneka Ogwumike won the tournament’s most outstanding player, but they network didn’t announce it, so it was hard to tell. And... and, when they interviewed Nneka immediately after the game and the woman announcer was giving leading questions and trying to get her to say they wanted a national championship, Nneka diplomatically said they were taking it one game at a time and they are trying to win the next six. The announcer stupidly said, well if you win the next six, you win the national championship. Yes, Nneka knows that, she is trying to be humble and not be brash or engage in trash talk. C and R didn’t care for her tone! Give us the mike next time, hee hee.

Sad to see, part two, was the dismal crowd. C and R read somewhere it was about 2,600. Wish they would bring it back here. Well, you can say Stanford won the last PAC-10 tournament because next year it will be the PAC-12 tournament and probably a completely different format.

Congratulations to Stanford and watch Monday night to see all the seedings for the NCAA tourney.

Sister Sister Act "Does In" Arizona

Hi, C here.  So I get through work without “accidentally” hearing, seeing, or getting texted the score of Stanford’s earlier semi-final PAC-10 tournament game vs. Arizona, which is not hard because I am surrounded by elementary school children and preschoolers all day long who still say “Banilla” for vanilla ice cream and my phone battery conveniently died. So then R comes over so we can watch the taped version of the game and as we turn on the TV she says,” I’ve been watching the UCLA-Cal game and they said Stanford won. We killed them.” Right then, I wanted to kill R! I said, “then why should we watch the game right now if we know the results,” and she said, “because the sisters had an incredible game.” And she was rigth! It was fun to watch.

The sisters, or as Arizona’s coach refers to them, “THOSE sisters,” are Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike. And although I was at first fuming, it WAS a joy to watch those two play.

Wanna feed your inner stat monster? The sisters combined for 53 points and 23 rebounds. That’s 53 of Stanford’s 100 points and 23 of the 41 rebounds. At the half, the sisters had scored 36 of Stanford’s 45 points. From 8:49 until the 2 minute mark in the first half, the Ogwumikes scored 21 straight points! Kayla got two free throws in there at the 1:57 mark, and then Chiney scored the final two baskets of the first half! Want it further broken down? Both had double doubles with Chiney scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 of the rebounds, and big sis Nneka scored 32 points and sky-ed high for 10 rebounds.

The only bad note of the game, that probably kept Chiney from scoring more, was the hard hit to Chiney’s mouth that sent her to the sidelines in tears. Turns out she wasn’t wearing mouth guard and took a vicious hit to the jaw and she chipped her tooth. Ouch! She came back in to score more points. Nneka didn’t have it nearly so rough, only losing a contact lens again, popping it back in on the court. R wonders if she should invest in some goggles or lightweight glasses. C remembers her freshmen year when Nneka broke her nose and had to wear that clear plastic mask. It looked like she hated it, always pulling it off to wipe away sweat, so she probably has bad memories associated with headgear.

The game was so one-sided that C and R kept watching the score to see if we could chant the brainy Stanford taunt the Stanford band uses. They like to chant 2X plus 4, where X is your score when we are killing teams. We had to do math on the fly, and it wasn’t pretty, but we don’t think it happened. But we did double their score a few times, so we came up with 2X plus zero, where Nneka is the hero! You get the drift.

One of the announcers, the guy, jokingly said, I wouldn’t want to see my sister every day! But these two young women have a special bond and clearly enjoy each other. If you were not a sports fan, or said you didn’t care for women’s basketball, I would take you to a Stanford basketball game and tell you to just watch the nature of the relationship between them, it is very special. After every dead ball or especially after a Stanford turn over, the sisters gravitate to each other and reach out and touch hands, even so briefly, as if to say, hey, its okay, I’m here for you.

The best moment of the Arizona game was when Chiney was down low in the paint, her back to the basket and Kayla threw her a high pass, she had to reach high and then bring the ball down, throwing off her timing. Two Arizona players instantly collapsed on her, and as she dribbled to create some room I think four Arizona players surrounded her. So as she’s trying to fight her way to the basket, she sees Nneka standing two feet away from her, in the lay up spot, with no one guarding her, so she gives a little shovel pass and Nneka scores untouched! But it was the identical smile and the joy on both of their faces as they ran down the court, side by side, that clearly showed these women have a special energy together.

And didn’t you love their post game interview? Man, they could be a walking, talking commercial for Stanford. Poised, graceful, humble, articulate, used poly-syllabic words C and R barely know the meaning of and I can barely spell… tenacity, reciprocity, good SAT words. (Just dropped my son off at the SAT test, so vocab words have been on my mind lately).

And didn’t you just love, part two, when they interview Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer at the half saying she wanted to put in the other little two Ogumike sisters who were sitting in the stands in the second half and see what they could do. Hee hee, no disrespect to Arizona, who scored 71 points and are waiting for Monday to hear if they made it to the NCAA tournament, but I think all of Stanford-land would have agreed to it!

Finals 11:30 AM today. UCLA beat Cal, who put up a good fight, having two really great tournament games, but seemed to run out of gas against a pressing UCLA. And if I have to pause the game to pick up my son from the SAT’s at 12 noon, no one call, text, sky write or in any way contact me. (That means you, R! Or else I should just take you with me so you can’t peek at the score).

PAC-10 Honors II

Well, so the media gets there say on post season awards and they voted Jeanette Pohlen the PAC-10 player of the year, Chiney Ogwumike PAC-10 freshmen of the year and Stanford Women’s Basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer the PAC-10 coach of the year. Jeanette Pohlen, Nneka Ogwumike and Kayla Pedersen made the media’s All Pac-10 team and Chiney made both the All-freshmen team and All-defensive teams.

Congratulations to all, but if the media awards just mirror the PAC-10 awards, why have them? (C and R thought the media was dying..) And just who is in this so-called media? Double and, were any bloggers invited? hee hee

In other news, Stanford plays Arizona in the semi final round at 12 noon today. C and R have to work, so we are taping it (Yeah, thanks for the coverage CSNBA!). So no one better text, call, IM, or facebook C and R with the results. Okay, so we don’t’ “facebook” whatever that is, so don’t do that anyway. But seriously, no texts to R’s fancy phone.

PAC-10 Honors

Well shucks darn it, Jeanette Pohlen got PAC-10 player of the year! Stanford’s Nneka Ogwumike got it last year for her breakout performance. This year, Jeanette had one of those, too. Jeanette has always been a solid performer but this year she stepped it up and went into overdrive, culminating in a 31 point performance to break UConn’s 90 game wining streak.

Are you a stats junkie? Then feast on these from the official Stanford website:
Currently Jeanette averages 15.8 points and 4.83 assists a game, while shooting 45.3 percent from the field and Pac-10-leading figures of 43.2 percent from 3-point range and 90.8 percent from the free-throw line. Her 80 3-pointers this season are just 11 back of Krista Rappahahn's Stanford single-season record of 91 set in 2005-06. JP was also named to the All-Pac-10 Team for the third time in her career.

Is Nneka bummed she didn’t win it? C and R don’t know for sure, but we kinda doubt it because little sis Chiney got the PAC-10 freshmen of the year award. According to Stanford’s site, Chiney averages 11.4 points and 7.6 rebounds a game while shooting 56.7 percent from the field. Chiney currently leads all Pac-10 freshmen in rebounding, field-goal percentage and blocked shots (0.8 bpg) while ranking second in scoring. She also was Stanford’s defensive stopper, getting a Pac-10 freshman-high 23 blocks as well as a team-leading 43 steals. No wonder she also made the All-Defensive Team as well as All-Freshman Team.

Oh, last but not least, Stanford Women’s Basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer selected to receive the newly named John R. Wooden Pac-10 Coach of the Year Award! Wow! The league must recognize how well she prepares her team and how well she adjusts at half time.

But wait, there’s more, as they say on TV:
Jeanette Pohlen, Chiney Ogwumike, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Kayla Pedersen were all named to the All-Pac-10 Team. Kayla was named All-Pac-10 for the fourth straight year. Chiney was also named to both the Pac-10 All-Freshman and All-Defensive Teams as we said, Nneka and Kayla were named Pac-10 All-Defensive Team honorable mention, and freshman guard Toni Kokenis was named Pac-10 All-Freshman Team honorable mention.

Okay, so that means that 4 of Stanford’s starters are on the All PAC-10 team, 3 were on the All-defensive team (2 honorable mentions), and 2 were on the All-Freshmen team (1 honorable mention), and the coach was the PAC-10 coach of the year. Geez, it looks like Stanford is ready to win a national championship or something.