Stanford Tops Tennessee

Well, that was a pleasant surprise. The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team came out of the gate aggressive and focused, and walloped Tennessee 69-55. (C and R are boycotting the “lady” team name). This was a VERY different team we saw that lost to #5 Texas and unranked Santa Clara.

What changed? Well, for one thing, Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer can learn new tricks. Stanford’s player to player (wow, aren’t’ we being politically correct tonight?) defense was NOT working in past games. They could not help out when a faster player was able to beat the first defender. So Tara changed them to a zone, and boy did they help each other out, sometimes double and triple teaming the orange jersey with the ball.

Stanford Tops Tennessee (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The fun started early when NC transfer Diamond Deshields shot an air ball. The Rose Bowl-bound Stanford football team, who was in attendance to be honored at half time, started chanting “Airball.” Except they kept remembering to chant it EVERY time she touched the ball on offense! The second time they chanted it, she scored on a drive and gestured to the whole team, “Bring it!” Yikes. You don’t gesture to a whole section of 250 pound big boys all dressed in black on the road. Who is going to back you up? The water girl? The football team kept up the chanting the whole half! Six man assist to them. Diamond was held to 12 points in the game (and also shot an airball in the second half!).

As C and R said, Stanford was more aggressive on the boards, outrebounding 42-31. Still was a little distressing Stanford only had two offensive rebounds in the first half. But the zone enabled them to box out better. Plus Tenn was not making any threes (sadly, neither could the Cardinal, both teams going 0-5 in the first half).

Defense was excellent. Stanford limited Tenn to the second-lowest point total in the series between the two teams. Stanford held Tenn to 25% FG shooting in the first quarter and nine points in the third quarter. Nine.

So we love the new aggressiveness. C and R know Tennessee plays in the rougher SEC, but they showed little body control when Stanford was in the air on offense. Even thought they were taller and more athletic, they never went straight up for the block, always reaching across and fouling. Strangely, Stanford did not take great advantage of that. When they got the ball and started a drive, it seemed as if they were afraid to take it inside on 6’6 Mercedes Russell.  However, when they did, they drew contact almost every time.  Tenn had 25 total fouls for the game. BTW, Stanford led the block party 4-2, so who’s afraid of 6’6 now?

So here is Standard enjoying this 21 point lead in the third quarter, shooting 60% or so, and feeling some new-found confidence when the second half started and Tenn pulled out the ol’ full court press. We. Cannot. Handle. Pressure. Period.

Several steals and lay ups and a rattled Cardinal found themselves only leading by 7 late in the second half. Twice. However, Stanford showed some poise. And Freshman Marta Sniezek (pronounced Sneeze-ix by the announcer, it sounded like) showed great poise and ball handling skills. Once they got it across mid-court a few times without turning it over, they settled down and then Tenn had to play the foul game. Eight FT attempts in the last minute. Card cruises to the win.

Shout outs:
Lili Thompson scored 19 points, including seven during a crucial stretch
McCall had 14 points and 10 rebounds (another double-double, we might add)
Kaylee Johnson added 10 points. Good for her after she lost her starting job
Marta almost joined the double digit club, scoring nine

Awesome! Keep it up!

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Stanford Trampled by Tennessee

The good news? The Stanford Women’s Basketball team held Tennessee to 27 first half points. The bad news? Stanford only scored 15 in the same period. Stanford shot 23% in the first, making five of 21. They shot 25% for the game. To be fair, both teams struggled early on. Tennessee shot 35 % in the first before heating up in the second. How bad was it for Stanford? They were stuck on 10 points for eight minutes, from 10:24 to 2:10 left in the first. Stanford scored one basket over the last 10 minutes of the first half.

Tennessee guard/forward Jaime Nared (31) and Stanford forward Erica McCall (24) get tangled up (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)

The good news? When Stanford did score in the first, it was guards driving on high ball screens. The bad news? Tennessee finally caught on to the play and cut off drives or contested shots when the guards did make it to the blocks. Tennessee is always known to be physical, and there was contact many times without whistles, but you still have to finish. A lot of missed shots (13-51). Once that drive was cut off, Stanford once again did not have a post option to go to all game. That was coupled with Tennessee’s long bodies and athletic ability to rush Stanford at the three point line to limit good looks. Stanford made 6 out of 18 for the game from three point land.

Let’s just say Tennessee’s defense made Stanford offense look bad.

Second half was just more of the same. Both teams struggled early on and no one scored in the first 3 minutes. Then Tennessee finally got hot, and Ariel Massengale started bombing threes. She made four of them and finished the game with 18 points. When Stanford would make a shot, or even a three, they could not get a defensive stop on the other end.

The final score was Tennessee 59, Stanford 40. Both teams combined to miss 75 shots and commit 37 turnovers.

The good news
Lili Thompson scored 13 points, including two 3-pointers.
Kaylee Johnson lost a contact, continuing the Ogwumike trend. Let's hope this translates to Ogwumike rebounds and points (She was held to eight boards and four points in this one).

The bad news
No one else from Stanford was in double figures. Take out Lili’s 13 and the rest of the starting five scored 10 points. The next highest scorer for Stanford was a tie with four points. Stanford had not lost consecutive games since December 2010.  Also, it was the first time Stanford has scored below 50 points in consecutive games since 1976-77 season. Fewest points (by 8) for the Cardinal in 32 all-time games against Tennessee, and fewest points by an opponent ranked in the top 10 against Tennessee.

Stanford comes back to Maples Monday, so we hope they can get a win for Christmas and build up some confidence and better inside presence.

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Ogwumike, Stanford beat Tennessee

The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team gave their fans an awesome Christmas present, a 76-70 win over Tennessee. The majority of the game was not as close as the score suggests, with Stanford’s lead a comfortable nine to ten points for most of the game. It wasn’t until the last minute that Tennessee made it interesting.

At the start, Stanford wanted to put Tennessee on notice that they were no longer “The Nice Girls From Stanford.” Stanford proceeded to bloody Tennessee’s nose, literally. During a lose ball scramble on of the Tennessee players got inadvertently hit in the face and had to leave the game (didn’t get her name or number). Another fan said after the Tenn player came to the bench she passed out near the tunnel, so not sure what happened.

Well, okay, Stanford didn’t mean to be THAT tough. But there was a fire and a passion in starting freshmen guard Lili Thompson that told Tennessee that Stanford was not backing down. Lili fought hard and made some key steals and scores, elbowing one Tennessee player to the ground during the steal and the subsequent score. Hard to get back up with 6,000 intense fans and one very large Rose-Bowl Bound football team screaming in your face with delight.

And then Lili was all up in their grill and jacked a three early on to put Stanford ahead 13-4! (Okay R just told me to stop trying to be “hip” using young person language). But man, that SWAGGER and that STARE she gave after that three said everything. Lili would make three 3-pointers in Tennessee’s face and had a season high 14 points.

While Lili had the swagger, the scoring and rebounding belonged to Stanford’s all-everything Chiney Ogwumike. After spotting Tennessee the first four points, Chiney singled handedly scored Stanford’s first ten points, and Lili’s afore-mentioned three gave Stanford 13 unanswered points in the first five minutes. Chiney would have a double-double by half time, 18 points and 11 boards. She would finish the game with 32 points and a season high 20 rebounds (credit big Sis Nneka Ogwumike with an assist, as she gave Chiney a long distance pep talk).

Although at times it looked like Stanford’s only play was to lob it into Chiney (And some uncharacteristic missed lobs by the passers), Chiney got some scoring help from Lili and bench player Taylor Greenfield. Taylor also connected with three 3-pointeres, one right before the half to give Stanford a  37-29 lead  going into the locker room. The  few times Tenn pushed Chiney off the low block, ala UConn, Chiney’s angle was wrong to the backboard and she would miss. Luckily Tenn didn’t do that very much and she could have her way around the glass.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said before the game whoever controls the boards wins the game (I don’t know, we might be paraphrasing, but you get the idea). And Tennessee wasn’t ranked #3 and undefeated going into this game for nothing. They could rebound, too. When Tenn did get an offensive rebound, it was usually a score. Tennessee was ahead in rebounds (I think) in the first half, yet Stanford clamped down better in the second half and outrebounded them 46-40 for the game, Chiney accounting for nearly half of those.

Stanford and Tennessee come together in sisterhood after the game. Photo courtesy of C and R 's shaky smart phone

Hats off to Tennessee’s Meighan Simmons, a senior, who tried her hardest in the second half to will Tenn back to life. She drove hard and quick to the basket to convert or get the foul. She ended up with 15 points, and if she could have sustained that intensity the whole game, who knows. Although not much of a team play to take the ball and shoot every time the ball is in your hands, whether you are open or not. Maybe that is why she was on the bench when Tenn made their run with about three minutes left in the game.

Tennessee came within two with a 1:03 on the clock. Time to cue Amber Orrrrange. The quiet point guard drove the lane, was fouled yet still banked it off the glass. She made the extra point to put Stanford up by five, Mikaela Ruef got a key rebound after that, was fouled, and sank her two as well. Amber Orrange had nine points and five assist and Ruef had a solid eight points and eight boards for the game.

Speaking of free throws, Stanford was 13-21 from the line. You can’t leave eight easy points on the table when you are playing top-ranked teams. C and R know what Stanford will need to practice in their week break before they next play…

Still great win for Stanford; POY candidate Chiney Ogwumike lookin’ good, yet glad to see some others are finding ways to score. Looks like Tara VanDerveer might be set on her 8-9 player rotation for the year.

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Stanford Women Beats Tennessee 73-60.

Congrats to the Stanford Women’s Basketball Team beating #10 Tennessee, at home, in a hostile orange-clad arena. Granted Tenn. was without Legendary Coach Pat Summit at the helm for the first time in, oh, 30 years or so, but still, it is hard to get a win there. I think this was their second win since 1996. C and R are starting to think they deserve this here number one ranking!

Another top 10 victory for Stanford, another game NOT shown Nationally. It is baffling. Usually number 1 vs. number 10, at a sold out arena in Tennessee, the Stanford vs. Tennessee rivalry, how is Tennessee doing in it’s first year without Pat Summit, so many story lines, this game is usually shown. Why the snub? We will never know, but I am guessing the answer is…because they’re women. Sigh.

Chiney Ogwumike is high scorer over Tennessee - Wade Payne / AP Photo

Stanford never trailed this one, (yes they were tied 8-8 early in the first half), but Stanford made the first 4 points and never let up. But that’s the thing, though; C and R have no idea if it was great Stanford defense or bad Tennessee shooting. Tennessee at one point was shooting 23% from the field and 0-13 on threes way into the second half. It is so hard to get a sense of the game from the radio (Although bless KZSU for trying, and actually broadcasting something, are you listening ESPN and all your affiliate stations?).

And kudos to Tennessee for not giving up. They came back from double-digit deficits twice to pull with 8 or 9. But really, when you are in double-digit deficits, you are not really in the game.

Chiney Ogwumike grabbed a career high 19 rebounds and pounded in 21 points. She also had a career high 4 assists, so kudos for knowing when to pass and when to shoot. According to the Tennessee website, Chiney’s rebounds are the most by an opponent ever at Thompson-Boling Arena (with Pat Summit’s name on the hardwood floor). It’s Chiney’s eighth double-double of the season, we believe. She had her double-double just 14 minutes into the first half.

Which brings us to another point. Chiney was scoring early, but not much help from the starters or bench. Point Guard Amber Orrrrange did some nice drives to the hoop, but called twice for charges and had to sit in the second with 4 personal fouls. Bonnie Samuelson, coming off the bench, got two quick threes right before the end of the first half, with the KZSU announcer stating no one from Tennessee was even getting a hand in her face. Amber would finish with 14, Bonnie Stanford guard Toni Kokenis each had 11 apiece. Starter and big presence Jos Tinkle was notably absent for most of the game. She did managed to score 10, eight near the end of the second half. When Tennessee did start one of their comebacks early in the second half, Chiney had only one free throw point. It is hard to get a team win when the team goes as Chiney goes. If you look at the box score on the win against Baylor, everyone contributed big points.

Yes, five players were in double figures for Stanford by the end of the game, but three are on the low end, and Taylor Greenfield played just 8 minutes and missed one shot for 0 points. She took a hard fall on her chin a few games ago, so C and R wonder how she is doing. So, next game UConn, with a Stanford home-court streak on the line, and oh, wouldn’t UConn like to play streak-killer like Stanford has done to them in the past. Every player from Stanford will need to step up and score 15 or more if they want to out-score and out-last UConn.

Hope the Stanford Women’s Basketball players and coaches enjoy their time off with their families for the holidays. They deserve it.

Follow C and R on Facebook and Twitter, too! And Happy Holidays to you, too!

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Stanford Victory Over Duke Propels them Into Fifth Straight Final Four

The Stanford Women’s Basketball team is going to the Final Four for the Fifth time in five years. Stanford seniors have gone to four straight Final Fours. There was the net cutting and the trophy hugging, and lots of smiles all around at the regionals, especially for the Stanford Faithful who made the trek back to Fresno. But…

C and R hate to bring up what everyone is trying hard not to say. Stanford is 0-4 in Final Fours from the last four years. Their opponent they have to play to get to the championship game is the number one ranked team in the nation, Baylor. They feature an athletic, dunking 6’8 Brittney Griner. They are undefeated this year. All the bigs had their shot, Tenn, UConn, Notre Dame, and lost. But…

Stanford senior Nneka Ogwumike was gracious in her interview after her team easily dispatched Duke 81-69. She said she is excited to play Baylor, and she knows Brittney and thinks she is nice and Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey is a good coach, but she is looking forward to it (as opposed to C and R who are dreading it). But…

Yes, we know Baylor has other weapons besides Brittney, namely Odyssey Sims. But Baylor has not seen the likes of two Ogwumikes who play as one. This year they have been a perfect compliment to each other. Nneka has developed an outside scoring touch and Chiney gets any rebounds she misses and puts them back. If anyone can do it, bet on these sisters (and thank you Obama for betting against them, picking St. John’s to go to the Final Four. They didn’t even make it to the Elite Eight).

Stanford controlled this game from the first lob from freshmen Amber Orrrrange to Nneka. When Duke went to a zone early on to try to limit Nneka, Amber drove and good ball movement got to open players, who hit some threes. Amber would have 13 for the game.

After Stanford got out-rebounded in their last game against a shorter South Carolina team, they made it a priority to get the ball. Chiney, with bulky knee and brace got 17 of them all by herself. She chipped in 12 points. Nneka once again saved the day when Chiney went to the bench with three fouls and she herself had three fouls, she scored 29 timely points and grabbed 9 boards.

Memo to the rest of the team: When Nneka and Chiney each have three fouls and Duke knows it and drives into the lane right at the sisters, one of you not named Ogwumike have to step up and either stop the drive or take the foul to save them. Because as much as anyone attached to Stanford hates to admit it, without the sisters, Stanford is sunk. Although…

Stanford did hit some threes tonight as we mentioned, seven of them to be exact. Tinkle had three of them and finished with 13 points. Having four starters in double figures helps the Stanford cause a lot, and takes pressure off of the sisters.

As we mentioned, Baylor is also going to the Final Four. They beat Tennessee earlier this evening and a lot of chatter if this was Tennessee coach Pat Summit’s last game. There was a scuffle on the court near the end of the game, and three Baylor players left the bench to see what was going on. Trouble is, rules state if a player leaves the bench to enter the court, they are assessed a technical foul and ejected from the game. Both teams got the technical foul, so no shots, but one of the three Baylor players ejected was Brittney Griner. Then the twitter-sphere erupted as to would she and the others be suspended for the next game? The Final Four game with Stanford? Rules said since there was no fight and the bench players did not fight then there is no suspension. R said she would not want to beat Baylor that way, and we all know she has a point. Still…

Final Four game is set for April Fools Day on ESPN. If anyone can solve the Brittney puzzle, it’s Tara VanDerveer, who recruited a 6’8 inch guy to be her in their practices. I bet his phone is ringing off the hook right now with Stanford coaches trying to get him into practice for the next 6 days!

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Hecka Nneka Single-Handedly Beats Tennessee

There is a saying Stanford Women’s Basketball Head Coach Tara VanDerveer has been espousing all season; “Nneka is a woman playing among girls.” And that certainly was the case tonight when #4 Stanford met #6 Tennessee.

Nneka Ogwumike scored a career high 42 points and grabbed an eye-popping 17 boards to help her team win 97-80 over the Vols. We’ve also been hearing the same refrain all season that other people have to step up for Stanford besides Nneka and her sister Chiney, that we can’t be a one or two woman show. But when you score 42 points, that’s like two really good players having a great game, right?

The funny thing was Tennessee was the more athletic team. They were stronger, faster, could steal the ball at will and shot well (49.1% for the game). Yet Stanford came away with the win. They got just enough from everybody to compliment Nneka’s insane performance. Sophomore Toni Kokenis did do her part well, scoring a career high 26, 5 on three-pointers. In most games, it has been Nneka, then Chiney, then Toni scoring in descending order. Tonight against Tennessee Nneka had 42, Toni 26 and Chiney 14. So Nneka, Chiney and Toni had 82 of Stanford’s 97 total points.  Freshmen Taylor Greenfield added 2 three-pointers for 6 total and even three-point specialist Bonnie Samuelson silenced her critics that she couldn’t score one of those crazy shots with the game on the line. She got one, and made 2 free throws for a total of 5 critical points.

We do want to compliment the Tennessee team. One, they didn’t back down. Stanford would score a basket to please the crowd and Tennessee would march right back down the court and knock one down themselves. However when Stanford is scoring 3’s and your only scoring 2, you are going to find yourself in a deficit, as Tennessee did. Stanford made 9 of their threes to Tennessee’s 6.

And the Tennessee game plan was to trap and press, as Tara said they would see. And boy was Tennessee fast! When Stanford made slow, lazy passes, Tennessee was there to steal them. And for every loose ball, Tennessee hit the deck and hustled when Stanford players gave up on the ball heading out of bounds. They also knew whom to double team. Whenever Jos Tinkle and freshie Taylor Greenfield caught the ball in the trap, Tenn. immediately sent two players after them. Our freshmen were not used to their speed and got the ball stolen a lot (Amber Orrange). Stanford finally broke them down in the closing minutes, breaking their full court press and then getting some easy lay ups to pad the score, which is what you need to do against a Tennessee team as they can come back so quickly.

Tennessee also moved the ball quickly on offense and knew to pick Stanford guard Lindy LaRocque, getting her man an open run to the basket. And for some reason, Tara had them playing a zone on defense. Quick ball moment left the Tenn. wings open for wide-open looks or a back door sneaker behind the defense. It helped Stanford dig a hole early, falling behind by 9 before clawing back.

But we have Nneka and you don’t. Back to Hecka Nneka. So when Tennessee pressed Stanford, it took them 15-17 seconds to get the ball across the half court line. Then by the time Stanford got the ball to the free throw line there would be 5 seconds left. Not enough time to go through their whole offense where she stands there and she hands off here and she runs around the Cape of Good Hope… five seconds left they just threw it to Nneka and she scored it.

How did she score? Let us count the ways. She went one on one, she faked, she juked, she banked, she used her speed to blow to the basket or would pull up and shoot a jumper when they blocked her path, she drew contact and the foul, still scoring the basket, she out jumped everyone for the rebound and she calmly hit open shots when they gave her room. One time they just handed the ball to Nneka with about 3 seconds left and she just turned and shot a long 2, just inside the three-point line. Funny thing was, Nneka missed a lot of baskets in the first half, so her stat line reads 19-27. In fact, C and R felt Stanford was lucky to be up by 7 at the end of the half. Then the second half came along. At some point in the second half, Nneka made 11 shots in a row! She was just unstoppable.

We told you didn’t want to miss this historic game because of Tennessee coach Pat Summit, and it turned in to a historic performance by Nneka. It was amazing to behold live. She just could not be denied.

Ah, Pat Summit. Tennessee had some of their fans there dressed in orange, of course. But this game was unusual because many a Stanford fans wore the “We Back Pat” orange shirt with conflicting emotions. Dozens decided to honor Pat and her struggle with dementia and Alzheimer’s by wearing a netraul purple shirt that supported a “Walk for the Cure for Alzheimer’s. This way they can support the greatest women’s basketball coach and yet cheer for Stanford and not the Tennessee team.

The crowd was definitely on her side. Anticipation was high awaiting her entrance to Maples. When Pat came out, a warm welcome, standing ovation and holding of the “We back Pat” towels. (And big shout out to super fan K, who gave us one of his towels since they were gobbled up quickly. Thanks!). Tara and staff went over to hug her, and a video tribute from Tara has just played moments before.

It was a very classy thing to do but it definitely affected the crowd. At the UConn game last year, the fans were so fired up to cheer against Geno and the streak that they gave a lot of emotion to the Stanford team. The crowd gave them positive energy for every great play and a vocal voicing of when they felt robbed by bad calls. The crowd stayed on their feet practically the whole game. This crowd cheered the Tennessee team when they came out, was polite and reverent, but it was not helping the Cardinal. Many times Chiney exhorted the crowd to make some noise and give them some energy to the team. We didn’t need any reminders in the UConn game. It definitely was weird. Maybe that might explain a sluggish first half by Stanford. By the second half the warm glow had faded, and we even saw Pat berate the ref. We also felt embolden to heckle Pat, probably for the last time, all in good fun, of course.

Stafnord’s Mikaela Ruef was still out for this game and is listed out as “indefinitely” with plantar fasciitis. Jasmine Camp had an “undisclosed” foot injury, yet the foot was closed up in a boot and she was on crutches not putting any weight on it. Bummer.

C and R are so happy for Nneka. You can tell she is a senior and she wanted it. She played to the crowd, especially the Stanford football team in the house, and brought her own energy to the team. And when she got an assist from sister Chiney, she had a special smile. It really was wonderful to behold.

R said had she played like this against UConn, they would have won. However, the difference was she was in foul trouble and sat most of the first half of the UConn game. For this game, she played 19 of 20 minutes in the first and all of the second half. She stayed out of foul trouble in the first but got to 3 in the second and had to play smart, and you don’t go to Stanford unless you are smart. Several times we saw her pull up and refrain from contact against Tennessee and was able to stay in the game and single-handedly win it for her team, and her legendary coach, too.

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Not Just a Game

You have to get to this game. By “this game”, we mean the Stanford Women’s Basketball team taking on Tennessee. It will be a good game. Many questions will be answered, especially about Stanford’s team. One being can they rise to the occasion, and hey, if the local 49ers football team can knock off Pittsburgh, a game C and R thought surely they would get creamed, then anything is possible.

But really, you have to get to this game for another reason, this might be your last chance to see legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit coaching basketball. Much has been written about her legend (8 NCAA championships and over 1,000 wins) and about her decision to go public with her early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type. A true silver lining is the awareness and influx of contributions to the condition. (For more info see the Pat Summit Foundation).

When Pat went public, she said she as going to turn over more responsibility to her assistant coaches. However, many are noticing she has turned over practically everything to them and he has become the assistant. She no longer speaks to the media after games or in the huddles or travels to see recruits. The San Jose Mercury reported she did not attend Tennessee’s’ practice at Stanford Monday.

Stanford head basketball coach Tara VanDerveer hinted to the crowd after the Princeton game to come out because it would be “special.”  Other opposing teams have already honored Pat in some way when she come to play, and C and R think the word is out, privately, that Pat is not coming back to caching and this might be the last time to honor her.

Listen to Tara VanDerveer talk candidly about Pat Summit in an interview by Stanford alum Ros Gold-Onwude:


Speaking of something special, the first 2,500 people that come to Maples tomorrow get a free "We back Pat” rally towel, and you know how much C and R love free stuff, although Stanford and C and R draw the line at orange: the towels will be red. Highlights of past Stanford-Tennessee games will play before the game (Hope they show the Stanford wins, but with Tennessee holding a 22-6 margin of victory, that would be a short highlight reel. Wait, didn’t Candice Wiggins beat Candace Parker at Maples one year? Yes, we believe so).

Anyway, come for some great college women’s basketball, and to support and say goodbye to a great college basketball coach who has changed the women’s game forever.

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Pat Summitt Shocks Women’s Basketball World, Diagnosed with Early Dementia

The Women’s Basketball World was shocked today with news that legendary coach Pat Summitt has been diagnosed with early onset dementia (“Alzheimer’s Type”). Writer Sally Jenkins, who helped Pat Summitt write two of her books, wrote a touching article for the Washington Post. You can read it and also watch her interview Pat.


If you can’t get the video, go to the Washington Post Link.

Pat released this video on the Official Tennessee Vols site, stating that she has always been about honesty. And then she was brutally honest. And very calm and classy. The Pat Summitt way.


Go to the You Tube site if you cannot get the video.

She wants “No pity party” and will continue to coach with much help from her staff, with the blessing of her University. Classy lady gets a classy act right back at her. That’s the way it should be.
The Twitter world explored with an outpouring of support and love and good wishes from anybody who cares about women’s basketball, and the name “Pat Summitt” was a trending topic. Many major news media orgazations picked up on the AP feed and placed it on their websites and Tweeted about it. C and R only wish the mainstream media would give as much coverage to women’s basketball when something good happens, too. (Incidentally, R noticed last year that Pat Summit seemed “out of it” and let her assistants do all the talking in huddles. We’re sure others who were closer must have noticed, too).

Stanford Women’s Basketball coach Tara VanDerveer released this statement on the Official Stanford Women’s Basketball Facebook Page:
"Hearing today's news about Pat Summit's diagnosis was numbing to me," said Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer. "Pat is not only a great coach but she has been an outstanding mentor and friend. She has shown great courage in announcing this news. I know that she has the best support group around her that anyone could ask for, and I know that Pat will fight this development with the strength, spirit and determination that she has shown throughout her Hall of Fame career. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family."

As is the whole women’s basketball universe. All the best to you, Coach Summitt.

Pulling Rank

So when C and R saw Baylor lost, to unranked Texas Tech, we thought the new women’s basketball rankings this week would be UConn, Baylor, Stanford, especially after all those PAC-10 games where Stanford started out so slowly, they would be lucky to hold on to number three. Lo and behold, the rankings dropped Baylor to number three. Both polls have UConn number one, Stanford number two, and Baylor number three. Yippee. We're number two! And we mean that in the best possible way! Maybe it is a good thing those PAC-10 games weren’t televised. Oh yeah, Tennessee is a distant fourth, hee hee.

Jennifer Azzi to be Named University of San Francisco Coach!

Ohhh, C and R have an exclusive scoop for you! Our pals at the University of San Francisco invited yours truly to a press conference today. But before it happens, we already know the news. Former Stanford great Jennifer Azzi is to be named the new head coach. Pretty cool, huh? And we reported it before it was official or in any papers. (Well, except for the Daily Palo Alto and the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury…  okay it made the AP wires late last night, but we just saw it today. Oh, the AP story is written by AP writer Janie McCauley, who C and R met while covering the Tennessee-USF game. Small world, isn’t it? She gives a more personalized touch in her srticle).

Azzi will replace former Tennessee player Tanya Haave. She was fired for a 36-86 record over the past four years, including going 5-27 for this year with a record of 1-13 in conference play. Hmmm, Haave was a former standout at the college level, like Azzi, but it didn’t translate into coaching success. Just trying to think back, does Jennifer have any official coaching experience, either at the college level or any other level? Well, we wish her well and C and R will have to take more trips to San Francisco now.

Hope she and Tara can schedule a few friendlies.

Tournament Odds and Ends

With Stanford busy practicing for the Sacramento Regional Games, C and R thought they would take some much needed time off and let some other people talk about women’s basketball. Because, yes blogging is SO hard, dreaming up our opinions, with no facts or research to back it up, typing with two fingers , so, so very hard!

First up are (sigh) Cal fans who watched a lot of TV and were at the Berkeley Regional for the first and second rounds and saw Baylor in action. Now, Baylor is a curiosity because of Brittney Griner. She’s 6’8”, can dunk with two hands, is setting all kinda records for blocks, and broke an opponents nose because she was fouling her. She also is a freshman and can be maddeningly inconsistent on both ends of the floor. You never know which Brittney is going to show up.

Here D and C’s report:
The Baylor game was ugly: Georgetown shot 17%, Baylor shot 38%; Griner out 12 minutes in first half in foul trouble; Baylor's best freshman scoring threat (Shanay Washington) out with hip pointer in 1st half; Georgetown missed its first 14 shots, was down 19-2 at one point!  Griner did have 13 blocks in the 2nd half (NCAA record).  Jones impressed big-time playing post for Griner (on Georgetown’s 6-6 freshman Sidney Wilson).  Score was 31-19 at the half.

It was really fun to see Kim Mulkey (in fabulous skin-tight zebrah-pattern top, bell bottoms w/Texas-big belt/buckle, and super-sized hair), way out on the floor, gesticulating and yelling like crazy at the refs, who at times had to dodge her.  She crouched much of the game (in stiletto boots)…  You go, Kim!  The Baylor fans in the house loved her. The Cal fans behind us didn't get her at all!

Seeing Griner, even in this raw state, is worthwhile. Her mobility and height gave her the edge over GT's freshman 6-6er, but Griner needs to bulk up (she looks skinnier in person, though her frame is a V, with solid legs). She is impressive defensively - her full-paint coverage really alters the game.  She's hit a slump offensively, but passes and catches well, and runs the floor really well.  The refs seem pretty hard on her, and will need to figure out what to with her (ala Shaq).  The Baylor fans were behind her 100%.

On the other games:
Well, our bracket is utterly blown, but so much good came out of it!  Falling in love with San Diego State (we're Mountain West fans), especially senior guard Jene Morris (a Cal transfer out of San Francisco...?!), AND coach Beth Burns, graduate assistant to Tara at Ohio St!  UCLA kicked butt in Caldwell's first tournament win. Sorry to see them go down to Nebraska (Jasmine Dixon got in foul trouble and that was it).  BOTH of Stanford's potential Big 12 opponents are eliminated....Oh yeah, and "Yay Zags!"
>>>>>>
Thanks, D and second C.

Other Stuff:
Speaking of Gonzaga, they beat Texas A&M, our one question mark we were supposed to have met in the Elite Eight. And we beat Gonzaga this year by 30 points!

It will be exciting to see Baylor against Tennessee. They met in the first game of the season, in Brittney Griner’s first college game, and she was not ready for prime time. Since then she has gone on to set the single season shot blocking record. Will be interesting, as we mentioned, to see which Brittney shows up. Wonder if she will glower at Pat Summit? 'Course, Pat would just glower right back.

Speaking of brackets, R is still winning in our local one… bragging has commenced immensely (C is in last place). But in the Women’s Talk Sports Bracket, if you played, make sure you go to their site and register your name so you can be eligible for prizes. (In that one, R is in the middle of the pack and C is waaaay down below). And if your screen name is Stanford A, currently tied for 9th in the whole NCAA contest, not just WTS, you are killin’ it. Drop us a line to say hi, and be sure to register, I hope they give you a special prize. (One clever fan said it must be Tara!)

And C was so happy her beloved Dayton won in the NCAA tournament for the first time... ever. Well, let’s amend that, they were in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever and won their first game against some sort of frog.  C is from Dayton, Ohio. She first learned to drive in the University of Dayton’s basketball parking lot so many years ago. Her first women’s college basketball game was seeing the Dayton Flyers play (Dayton is the birthplace of the Wright brothers, hence the name—the more trivia you know, the more you forget where your car keys are). To bad the Flyers ran into that buzz-kill, Tennessee. Apparently, no one thought Dayton would make it this year, either, as they gym played host to a bracket, yet the team was sent to Knoxville so Tennessee could have a home game against them.

And Ohio State. When not rooting for UD in basketball, our house cheered Ohio State in Football, because in the fall and winter, it was too darn cold to go outside and do anything else. Ohio State lost to Mississippi State in the second round, even though Ohio State was a number 2 seed and Miss. was a number 7 seed. Darn under-achieving Ohioans.

And how about the DIII basketball champs? None other than my old Alma Mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Although some DII schools looked at me for basketball and other sports (walk on-no scholarships), I decided to go to Washington University to study art. I played intramurals and was always hanging around the gym and one assistant coach was always trying to recruit me, but I thought, “It will take a lot of time and what will I do after college for basketball, being no opportunities for women in the US at the time.” Plus an art major took a lot of time. A lot of time. So I always said no. I could strangle my former 18-22 year old self. Well, congrats to the D III Bears who gave up their free time to dedicate themselves to basketball and won the championship.

One reader wrote in and said they are sick and tired of hearing about UConn. We are too, so we won’t tell you how they destroyed, just destroyed Temple in the second round.

With UCLA, the only other PAC-10 team, out of the tournament, we are now cheering for San Diego State, and Gonzaga, two West Coast teams. Well, if Gonzaga wins over Xavier, we won’t be cheering for them any more because that would be Stanford’s next opponent! Stanford plays Georgia at 6 PM and Zags are on at 8:30 on Saturday.

Oh, if you are heading to Arco Arena, NO BACKPACKS. Thought Maples was bad about the water bottles. No outside food, drink or backpacks. No exceptions, no how. Leave them at home. Trade up in seats at your own risk.

Three-Headed Monster

Swish Appeal, your one stop shopping for PAC-10 blogging (hey, let's put that on a T-Shirt!), has a nice article on Stanford’s Kayla Pedersen. They charmingly call her “The Calming Force of Stanford’s Three-Headed Monster”. C and R get quoted, too. Maybe that’s why we are partial to this website! Warning, the Three Headed Monster Article might reveal our beloved Nneka Ogwumike in a possibly bad light (RE: She missed her defensive assignment and left Jayne Appel out to dry-but it’s okay, Stanford is smart and can adjust). You know, the article expresses all the great things we have said about Kayla’s smarts through the years… oh just go read the article.

Speaking of articles, Mechelle Voepel of ESPN wrote a great article about Stanford. It’s a “We-Get-No-Respect-But-That’s-Okay-With-Us” type. It sounds like Mechelle was at the Stanford Women’s Basketball Game vs. Oregon, as she described that great play Nneka had almost out jumping an Oregon player from behind for a rebound. I wonder if Stanford threw her a red victory ball?

Oh, this was interesting to C and R, a little tidbit about Tennessee in the ESPN article:
-Tennessee left center Kelley Cain in Knoxville on Thursday because she had missed a lot of class work and needed to catch up. The fact that Tennessee was playing at the SEC's last-place team, Alabama, certainly made that decision easier. But it contributed to a much closer than expected game, which Tennessee still won, 74-67.-

Hee hee, bet Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer has never had to do that to one of her players. Bet Tennessee coach Pat Summitt STILL wishes she had Jayne Appel.

Extra Extra! Jayne Appel Thrown Out of Game for First Time Ever!

So C and R were sitting there watching a perfectly normal Stanford women’s basketball game vs UCLA when the abnormal happened. Jayne Appel got ejected from the game in the second half! Jayne? Our Jayne? Out mild-mannered, everyone loves Jayne, Jayne? The Jayne who had a foot infection and wasn’t even supposed to play tonight Jayne?

When C and R saw Jayne run to the locker room we looked at each other. We have never seen Jayne thrown out of a game in her four years here. We looked away and then back at each other and then said we can’t remember a Stanford player EVER getting thrown out of a game in all the years R has been going (She has had season tickets longer than she has known C). Head Coach Tara VanDerveer said the same thing he next day, that in her 24 years of coaching, she’s never had a player thrown out.

And it did seem like a normal PAC-10 game. UCLA came out scrappy and hustling, and in a man-to-man press. We took an early lead, let them come back and take the lead, then we had a slight lead at half, then came back and pounded them in the second half to win 74-53. You know, typical game for us against a PAC-10 foe, as it has happened three times in a row now.

What was abnormal was that Jayne was having a game from last year. Even coach Tara VanDerveer was quoted as saying, “She was the old Jayne.” Jayne was taking them one-on-one and had 23 points and 13 rebounds before she was tossed with 7:41 left in the game (Think if she played the whole game). By contrast, Kayla had 4 points at that juncture.

Also abnormal was we discovered Stanford’s 6’2” Nneka Ogwumike can dribble. Yes, really. She even dribbled between her legs in the opening minutes. When Stanford is pressed, as they were last night by UCLA, a tall person will inbound it to the guard and the guard, feeling pressure, will pass it back to the person who threw it in, as she is not guarded. The other team rarely expects them to throw it backwards. We have been lucky in that usually it is Kayla Pedersen back there, who is a great ball handler for someone so big. But tonight it was Nneka inbounding the ball, and she kept winding up with the ball in her hands and she took it up court in the point guard position. In past games, when we have seen her dribble, it is high and not so deft. She did a credible job last night but let’s not have this be standard operating procedure, Stanford.

UCLA is coached by Nikki Caldwell, a former Tennessee player and assistant coach under Pat Summit. You could see Pat Summit’s fingerprints all over this team. They were disciplined and in shape. They ran and they hustled constantly. They did the fundamentals extremely well. (They boxed out Jayne so hard one time they made her bend over backwards and got called for a foul). They even had a little speedy but teeny point guard ala Shannon Bobbit to push the ball up court.

So here’s something funny we noticed about UCLA. The faster they pushed the ball, the better STANFORD responded. UCLA came out of the gate in the opening seconds pushing the ball up court quickly, and playing an up tempo game. We responded by scoring 11 points to their 2 in the first five minutes! Then they slowed down. And we slowed down all of a sudden it’s 16-10, Stanford, with 10 minutes gone. We said in a previous post we seem to respond or mirror the team we are playing. Play us up tempo and we come out firing. Play us slow with a set half court offense and defense and we are sluggish and lose our scoring ability. Hmmmm, hope other teams don’t catch on to this.

As UCLA and Stanford slow down, we let them take the lead with about 6 minutes in the half and then hang on to a 36-32 lead at half time. The game is getting rough, as UCLA is scrappy and the refs are allowing it, emboldening UCLA to get even more scrappy, which will come in to play in the second half and Jayne’s ejection. (Yes, finally, we got to the ejection! You were just about to go to another site to satisfy your curiosity, weren’t you?)

So here’s what happened. Jayne grabbed a rebound…did you know going in to the game she was just 17 away from the all-time Stanford record? And last night she moved past Val Whiting and into second place on Stanford's career rebounding list with 1,140? She is three away from tying Nicole Powell’s school record. (Arrgh, R just pinched me to get on with it).

So Jayne grabbed the defensive rebound and three UCLA players surrounded her. Usually one UCLA player would harass the rebounder, but they were getting a little desperate with the score being 60-42, trying to force turnovers. Jayne did as she was taught, which was to move the ball quickly back and forth in her arms to not let them grab it, and if they reached in, would probably foul her as she is moving her arms quickly. When the three UCLA players did not back off from her movements, and were reaching in on her, she moved the ball quicker and higher, and her elbow caught Jasmine Dixon in the face, and she dropped to the floor and the whistle blew.

Now, you know C and R are huge Stanford fans. Heck, it says it all over our website. But we are also honest and fair to a fault. And in our opinion, it was not a dirty play on Jayne’s part at all. She was not slinging her elbows maliciously or far away from her body. She was not using her elbows as a weapon. She was moving aggressively within the context of protecting the ball and the UCLA players were not giving her any space, in fact were moving in closer on her. At first we thought UCLA should be given the foul and when we found out it was Jayne, we booed with the rest of the crowd. Then when it was apparent UCLA was shooting a two shot technical, we were livid and booed harder. It was not flagrant, in our opinion, as we said. Give Jayne the foul, but not a technical. Then when we saw Jayne run to the locker room and was ejected, we were really, really mad. It was not done deliberately or maliciously; there was no reason to kick her out of the game. And would she be suspended for the next game, too?

When play resumed to a chorus of boos, the refs are calling any little contact (Two UCLA payers would eventually foul out of the game). After a minute and a half of whistles, Stanford steals the ball and gets it to Ros Gold-Onwude. She is running uncontested for a lay up and we see the UCLA player speed up from behind. Now, C and R are thinking, if the UCLA is smart, she will let this play go, she can’t stop the lay-up, and in light of a player just getting kicked out and seeing the refs are whistle happy, should not risk a foul here. Instead the UCLA player grabs Ros’ arm as she is jumping up. Okay, if you aren’t going for the ball on a lay up, if you grab a jersey or an arm to stop a lay up, that is usually a technical foul. If a player touches the body or hand trying to stop the shot, then that is a regular foul. The technical foul designation is used to stop a player from coming up from behind and stopping the player at all costs, by saying grabbing a fistful of jersey, or hair or her arm. Do they call a technical? Noooooo. The crowd is even more incensed. (Someone grabbed my ponytail once to stop me on a fast break and got a technical, hee hee, but it sure did hurt).

Back to Jayne’s technical and ejection. This morning, Jayne said her action was unintentional, and Dixon and UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell backed her.

"Appel was just trying to get the rebound and clear the board," Dixon said. "I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Said Appel, "I was in no way intentionally trying to be flagrant or trying to hit her, just playing basketball."

While neither VanDerveer nor Caldwell saw the entire play, both defended Appel. Caldwell recruited Appel while working at Tennessee.

"I saw a lot of arms and people around and Jayne trying to square up," VanDerveer said. "She's got like three people all over her. People are swiping at her. She was trying to hold onto the ball and be aggressive with the ball. She's not a dirty player."

Said Caldwell, "I don't think she's that type of kid who would intentionally try to hurt anybody."

Gracious of UCLA’s coach Caldwell and Jasmine Dixon, and we appreciate their candidness. We hope the PAC-10 review committee that is deciding if Jayne can play in the next game is listening.

OMG, almost forgot to report THE most exciting part of the game. As the Stanford women’s team was throwing their red victory balls, Joslyn Tinkle ran over to our section and C was vigorously shaking her tinkle bell. She looked right at us and threw the ball to R! So we want to give a big thank you shout out to Joslyn Tinkle and say how great you look on the court!! Hee hee. R said she bets her mom made her find us and throw us a ball! So thanks Mrs. Tinkle. C and R didn’t have time to meet Mrs. Tinkle when she was here, but the coach of our little girls’ team, who is from Montana, did. Mrs. Tinkle probably told Jos to throw those women a ball; they are so nice to you!

See you on Superbowl Sunday, with or without Jayne.

Book Club

With R on vacation, C has plenty of time on her hands, so one of the things she is doing is reading one of the Pat Summit books she got R for Christmas. (Shameless in her gift giving-like Homer Simpson giving Marge a birthday present of a bowling bowl engraved with “Homer” on it. “Gee Honey, you don’t bowl? I’ll just take this off your hands.”) The only reason we can read these books, by the way, is because Stanford beat Tennessee this December. If we had lost, C would have bought the Vivian Stringer book instead.

R is reading the life and times story (“Reach for the Summit”) and C is reading the description of the 1997-1998 season (“Raise the Roof”). In that season, the Lady Vols went undefeated and won the National Championship (with four freshmen). Both are interesting. Both were written within a year of each other and feature some of the same characters.

In R’s book, it is part autobiography and part 12 steps to guide you in success with a team whether it is sports or not. Summit says listening is important, yet she uses harsh language when dealing with her players. She says you need to find out what will motivate a player, yet she seems to stick to one style. She says her “over the top behavior”, which is definitely on display in C’s book, is tempered with what she thinks they can handle, and that tearing down a player and building them up can be withstood by a player with a strong ego. She did admit sometimes she made a mistake with a player and she counted heavily on her assistant coaches to help out by being the opposite and more supportive. Sometimes she said she wasn’t aware how critical she was being or how she was emotionally too much.

In C’s book, the first thing that struck her is Pat Summit admitted she knew she was being hard, tearing down, withholding love and praise to motivate them and get them to play harder than they would if they were happy. C had a hard time with that coaching style; to consciously withhold praise and support, to yell, be critical on purpose, to know what you are doing, to consciously manipulate emotions and 19 year old young women so shamelessly, well, it was hard for C to take. C knows Pat has won and been successful with this style, but is there another way? Summit did admit this was the first year she broke down and actually hugged her players and thought it was okay to have a relationship with them other than a screaming head coach.

C did read about some neat things. One, in the beginning of that year, 1997, Summit did not like to press. Say What? She was a control freak (naturally) and liked a controlled half court defense. When she saw she had not one or two athletic women, but all five who could run, and press full court, 90 feet she called it, for 40 minutes, she decided to “give up control” and let them run. She had already been coaching for 24 years and this was the first time she had the personal to play the kind of basketball she had always dreamed about. And that women where playing at the rim (not over it yet), with alley oop passes, uptempo games and showtime athleticism. There are allusions that this changed the face of women’s college basketball.

When Tennessee played UConn of that year 24,597 fans showed up, the single largest crowd ever to see a women’s collegiate basketball game at that time (And after an exhaustive internet search, I think that record still stands). Pat stood at the center and looked up and thought both teams had already won, what with years of anonymity and coaching a sport no one else seemed to care about. She graciously told Geno Auriemma before the game the crowd was a tribute to both programs. The team got unprecedented coverage that year, and to go from a few fans to thousands with a national press coverage was something to behold. Summit appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated that year and it was the first time a female head coach was on the cover. People, this is only 12 years ago.

But C hated the way Summit purposefully treated her players. Several times, on the way to an unprecedented undefeated season, blowing teams out by 30, she would scream at them for something done wrong. And several times the players asked, is she ever happy or satisfied?

After watching Summit denigrate her players at the news conference in San Francisco this year, C really didn’t like her coaching style. When searching for videos of Stanford, C came across one after the Tennessee game, and granted, we had won, but head coach Tara Vanderveer said, “First of all, I want to praise the following players…” I think she listed the whole starting five. C liked the fact she praised them in public. It seems she asks for perfection, then trains you to do it, and if you do what she wants in a game, she will praise and reward.

R observed that Pat’s style is very hierarchal, and can be degrading and mean, and wouldn’t fly here in the Bay Area. It seems Summit doesn’t adjust to her players and instead makes them bow to her. Smart women don’t want to be treated that way. Tara’s style seems more suited for a Stanford-type player. Over the years, Summit has been lauded for changing and adjusting her offense and defensive schemes and learning and growing in different techniques. Can she adjust and change her coaching style to match today’s woman?

The Day After

Happy Holidays, and for those of you that celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a nice one. Speaking of Christmas, R asked for a book on women’s basketball and when C went online to buy one, she discovered she could get three for the price of one. So for about 5 bucks each she got one Lisa Leslie and two Pat Summits. C wasn’t sure if she should think herself lucky for getting three books so inexpensively, or feel ashamed that books by women and about women’s athletics is considered cheap and so reduced in price. Anyway, R gave me one of the books to read over the break (an added benefit to giving a book) and I was reading about Pat Summit’s 1997-1998 undefeated season and three-peat. The inside flap cover said not only did control freak Pat Summit have to give up control (there’s hope for a control freak like me yet) but that they had to deal with injuries, team chemistry, tears, adversity and a STALKER. I laughed so hard, about the stalker part. Will one of the Stanford players one day write a book about C and R, well, especially C being a “stalker”?!

On a lighter note, C and R loooove whoever (whomever?) does the Stanford Women's Basketball videos. This one we saw at one of the games called “Extreme Cardinal Challenge: Jayne versus Kayla” it is so funny; it had us laughing so hard. It totally plays on Kayla Pederson and Jayne Appel’s personalities. Kayla, reserved, quiet, dribbles like a guard, Jayne, social outgoing, and dribbles the basketball so friggin’ high!! We actually had to comment on it when she dribbled that high in a game. In case you can’t view this video, (or we embedded it incorrectly), it’s Kayla vs. Jayne in shoe tying, being a fan and dribbling, with Nneka Ogwumike being the judge (referee). Contrast Jayne being a total spaz when she is a fan to Kayla’s deadpan look as she dribbles. It cracked us up! Enjoy.

Tennessee vs USF Game

Okay, okay, okay, when they opened the doors to the press room at USF for the post-game press conference, R made a beeline to the front row, with C, permanent hide-in-the-back-row-dweller reluctantly following, and that’s how we ended up being five feet away from the winning-est coach in women’s or men’s basketball! (R hates C’s run-on sentences and made up words - “winning-est?). But C and R were like kids in a candy store when they made the trip to the University of San Francisco to see Tennessee take on the USF Dons. And we even got to ask questions of Tennessee’s coach, Pat Summit, and she looked directly at us and answered! Even when R asked one about Jayne Appel and I thought she was going to stand up and throw us out. But wait, C is telling you the end of the story first. Let C tell you our tale from the beginning.

Faithful readers (Hi Mom, Hi Patty) know we finagled our way to press passes for this game because we wanted to meet the afore-mentioned Pat Summit. This has been on our calendar since the beginning of the season. That, coupled with Stanford’s victory over Tennessee, we were in seventh heaven braving the traffic to drive up to USF from the South Bay.

First of all, C and R would like to say what a wonderful experience we had and that was largely in part to the courteous and professional staff at USF. Rachael Engrissei, assistant media relations director and Lorraine Gan, director of basketball ops were very knowledge and helpful. Rachel told us the War Memorial Gym, where the women and men play, holds about 4500, but they weren’t pulling all the seats out, and in this configuration, the building holds about 3,500. The women’s teams averages about 200 people a game, and they had already pre-sold 2,500 tickets. She expected about 3,300, yet sadly, this would be the smallest crowd Tennessee would play in front of all year long. (Official count would be 3,255). Makes us appreciate the support Stanford receives.

Lorranie worked for eight years at UConn!! We asked for some inside scoop on UConn coach Geno Auriemma. First, she eyeballed our press passes and laptop and then very diplomatically said he was a stand up guy and she got to know him outside of the court. No, really, we believe she meant that, it was just disconcerting for us to be thought of, or taken seriously, as "Press". That what you said to us mattered, or that someone thought twice before talking to us because we are Press, because we love talking to everyone. (Okay, Janie McCauley, the Associated Press writer that kindly introduced herself and sat next to us and asked for our link, is probably shaking her head and calling us the hicks that we are, but we write from a fan’s perspective, and I think that’s what keeps our faithful readers (mom, Patty) coming back to us. If you want to know who scored how many points or moved into third place on Tennessee's all-time 3-pointers list with 165 –Angie Bjorkland-it was Angie Bjorkland-you can find that out anywhere, but if you want to read that with her team winning, yes winning by 60 points, Pat Summit called a timeout and yelled to her team loud enough for everyone in the gym to hear, “Get over here!” and we felt her anger so much that we wanted to run on the court and say, “Yes M’am, please don’t hurt us!”, then come to us.) OMG, R is elbowing me in the ribs to stop that horribly-gone-wrong-run-on sentence and get back to the story and I will. Oh, here is what Janie from the Associated Press wrote about the game, and it is neat to see how she pulled together quotes from that afore-mentioned press conference, typing away while C and were still trying to get their tape recorder turned on.(check out her story about Pat popping popcorn to watch Stanford play Connecticut today).

Things we noticed about the game:
Tennessee showed up to the gym at 6:00 for a 7:00 game. We noticed for the Stanford game they were on the floor an hour ands a half before the game with an assistant coach with a whistle doing elaborate stretching with stretch bands and drills with cones. Although they did an abbreviated version of that, we wondered if they were taking this game lightly?

Even the refs were star-struck at seeing Pat Summit, and when Pat emerged five minutes before game time, the three gathered around Pat and basked in her wisdom.

In the first five minutes, Tennessee was too relaxed (Kelley Cain missed three put backs in a row) and the Dons were doing well and went up 4-2. Summit called a timeout to yell at her team and give them the “glare”. Then USF tried to take it inside and ran up against a wall and they panicked and did not want to try that again. Summit, smelling fear, put on a three-quarter press and forced a turnover and soon it was 8-20 and that was all she wrote.

Pat put in her subs around 6:22, but these subs were eager to show Pat what they could do and smelling points ran it up to 48-17 at half time. They used power, finesse and athleticism to mug USF and forced them to shoot threes way out of their comfort range.

The second half was more of the same, with USF reluctant to go inside and their three-point percentage ended up being 20%. R didi notice that USF had great fundamentals, blocked and blocked out well. Just Tennessee was taller. Also, USF didn’t give up. They ran the whole 40 minutes. The final score was 34-89.

Then we hustled down to the media room and we finally get back to the beginning of this story, which is really the end of this story. So we are sitting five feet from Pat and the thing I noticed the most was she was not afraid to pull punches about her players. Or, as I thought, give sharp barbs to the media with the players sitting right beside her. She made several mentions about Kelley Cain and Alyssia Brewer not getting up and down the court fast enough and needed to get in better shape. Now, C and R agree with her, but we feel you shouldn’t air that to the media. She also said Kamiko Williams needs to “not give into fatigue” and Kamiko was sitting right next to Pat! Another time someone asked about Angie breaking the record and is that what she, Pat, expected, and Pat said, yes that’s why we recruited her, “we didn’t recruit her for her defense.” Angie sitting a player away said, “Hey!” Pat backtracked and said she has been working on her defense. Ouch.

Then C got up the courage to ask about the four assists last game (Stanford) and the team effort this game and Pat admitted the team effort was lacking at Stanford but graciously credited Stanford for in getting in the passing lanes. She thought the team got better ball movement and moment without the ball at this game.

Then R got to ask about Pat playing more zone (Pat used a zone for the first time we think ever against Baylor in the opening game) this year and she answered she just thought it matched her teams's talent. She said when she saw it on the floor they looked "tall and rangy" and they play big and the zone has bothered other teams. Then R asked how she thought center Kelley Cain matched up with Stanford Jayne Appel and R got a little bit of the stare and C wearing her Stanford blogging shirt thought please don’t hurt us Stanford bloggers and Pat answered that Cain didn’t match the intensity of Jayne and that she got a valuable lesson on how active Jayne is and how much energy and how aggressive she is and the skill set she has to attack the basket…C and R kinda got the idea Pat would LOVE to have Jayne Appel on her team. She turned it into a positive saying Kelley learned a lot from playing her.

Pat had to go do a radio show and C and R were wowed by how tough she is on her players. The one question we didn’t ask, because we were a-scared to was one Pat brought up herself at the Stanford press conference. She said her team looked too much like “me, me, me” during that game with only four assists. We thought we saw evidence of that at this game, too, and that should be a concern for Summit. But we didn’t want to draw attention to it in case she made the team run up and down the San Francisco hills before boarding the bus, so we let it go.

Then the Tennessee players talked to us. We asked what they liked best about their free time and California and they said everything! Shopping at Union Square and the Stanford Mall (Does Tennessee have a “Vols” mall?), the seafood, being outside, walking around Fishermen’s Wharf, trying to see Alcatraz for the umpteenth time, as the media director lady said earlier…. C and R kinda got the idea the Tennessee players would LOVE to play in California!

We also got to talk with USF Head Coach Tanya Haave, former Tennessee player, and she also was very impressive. Assistant coach Abby Conklin also played for Tennessee. Haave did admit she hoped Tennessee would beat Stanford because, "you don’t want to play Pat after a loss". She was very gracious to Pat’s team and the caliber in both teams. We did like her saying that you only get better by playing better teams, a sentiment some coaches might not share when they want to pad their stats. We applaud USF for scheduling them.

All in all, it was the best night of women’s basketball that did not feature Stanford!

Tennessee vs USF

Normally, C and R would be nervous about the upcoming game between number 2 Stanford and number 1 undefeated-beat-everyone-by-an average-of-45-points Uconn on Wednesday, but we have something to distract us tonight. (BTW, we just read 16,000 fans are coming to the Stanford-Uconn game. We are thinking if we lose by less than 30, we win!)

Tonight we are going to watch Tennessee play the University of San Francisco and hopefully get to be in the same room as legendary coach Pat Summit. If you are wondering why Tennessee is playing USF, the head coach of USF, Tanya Haave, played for Tennessee under Pat Summit.

And speaking of Pat Summit wasn’t she gracious in her team’s defeat against Stanford? “Make no mistake, Stanford was by far the best team on the floor today in all aspects," said Summit

Then compare that to Uconn’s coach Geno Auriemma, who is being a spoilsport even before the game. "[The media will say Stanford] has played two really good teams, or three really good teams before us," Auriemma said. "So they'll be worn out if we [beat] them. If they beat us, it's because we were poorly prepared by our schedule." Said Auriemma. Poor guy, he just can't win for losing.

In other Stanford news, Kayla Pederson was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season, third in her career. For the season, that gives Stanford 4 out of 6 so far.

Brave the rain and wind and come out and cheer for the USF Dons (and against Tennessee) tonight.

Tennessee!

Here’s all you need to know about the Stanford-Tennessee game from C and R and our friends P and M.

C
Tennessee did everything correctly except have their shots go in the basket. They were stronger, very quick at the press, could out jump us at every position, and they rebounded well. In fact we could not get an offensive rebound in the first half. In the second half, if we got the offensive rebound, we could not put it back in, thanks in part to Tennessee center Kelley Cain. But the difference between this team and teams of the previous years where they won championships was the shooting percentage. I believe they were about 22% from the field in the first half, only made 7 out of 32 shots, with 1 of 6 three pointers. Stanford took a 30-18 lead into the locker room. If you add even half of these missed baskets as points, you have a ball game.

R
Summit was missing from this game. When we first got to Maples, we immediately looked at Tennessee’s bench during warm ups and did not see Tennesse coach Summit. Assistant coaches ran the Tennessee warm ups and scouted Stanford when they warmed up. Then about 8 assistant coaches/support staff came out of the locker room. Finally Pat came out right before player introductions. She seemed to be absent and delegated to her large coaching staff. Also, during the longer television time outs, the team would go to the bench and get water and talk to each other and she would gather her coaching staff separately and they would huddle and decide what they should say to the team. Finally, she would address the team briefly. Not very inspirational. In the second half, she was just mad. She would single one player out and be in their face. Bjorkland tried to walk away from her and she yanked her back and yelled at her the whole timeout. I would dread having her talk to me if that is all she did. More importantly, the players did not respond to her browbeating. Getting back to her being absent during warm-ups, etc, and the large coaching staff, I wonder if she is not thinking of retiring in the near future?

P
Pat tried to insert a spark plug with little 5 foot2 guard Briana Bass. She was speedy, would receive the outlet pass and push the ball up the court. However, the rest of her team could not keep up with her. She would pass off once, not a fast break situation and that was all she could do. Center Kelley Cain would still be at half court. Tennessee looked slower and out of shape for a number three team.

M
Stanford center Jayne Appel was back on her heels against the taller Tennessee center (Cain). She usually takes it to the basket, especially left handed, and she had trouble getting that shot off because of the height in front of her. Most of Jayne’s misses looked short or hit the front of the rim. She would finish with 10 points, only making 3 of 12 baskets, but 4 for 4 from the line.



Okay, anyone who had interest in the biggest game in women’s basketball this season so far either was there (near sell out of 6,809) or read about it already so we don’t need to tell you Stanford won, and won convincingly, 67-52.

Here’s what you won’t read in the papers (or on the internet):

C’s grand tinkle bell experiment worked. She prepared 60 or so tinkle bells the night before (little sleigh bells tied with a twist-tie so a fan can ring it), grabbed her jingle bell wreath she puts up every December on her front door (so she can hear if her teenagers are sneaking out after she goes to bed) and headed to Maples. She passed out all the tinkle bells, and when Stanford's Joslyn Tinkle entered the game, Maples was serenaded by the ringing of tinkle bells. When Joslyn scored her one and only basket, C bent her wreath!

There were scores of people wearing orange at the game! Say what? R had to physically restrain C from letting the air out of the tires of some Tennessee fans in the remote parking lot. R talked to some and most of them were here to see and support legendary coach Pat Summit, rather than being die-hard Tennessee fans. One group drove all the way from Oregon to see her.

R walked right past Lisa Leslie! Well, to be fair, R was headed to the bathroom and Lisa was sitting in the row right before the press table and got up just as R turned away from her. By the time C got over her shock and tried to flag down R, Lisa had made her way to the three stools at courtside. Lisa was doing color commentary for the game, having just recently retired from a basketball career with the WNBA and a stretch of four Olympic Gold Medals. C parked herself in the second row, about 6 feet away from her, directly behind the camera, so when Lisa had to look at the camera, she saw C’s goofy grin. Finally, after staring at her, Lisa looked directly at C and C smiled her women’s-basketball-stalker-fan-smile and gave her a thumbs up and Lisa cracked up and smiled back.

We lost the jump ball for the first time this year but did not lose the game. Silly superstition or other forces at play? You decide.

During the warm-ups, C and R discussed how Stanford looked tight and nervous and Tennessee looked loose. We also loved Tennessee’s coordinated workout/stretching routine they did with an assistant coach, complete with stretch bands. Only Stanford center Jayne Appel actually cracked a smile on the other side. We thought for sure Tennessee had the advantage over us, but looks can be deceiving. Stanford was prepared mentally on what to do, and even Pat Summit said they played well as a team, unlike her team that only managed 4 assists.

At about the 10-minute mark in the second half, it was Jayne vs. Cain to see who would foul out first. Both had three. At the 8:18 mark, Cain got her fourth, then a turnover and missed jumper and lost the battle. At 6:22 she subbed out.

Ros Gold-Onwude was the unlikely hero for Stanford in the first half, with a pair of threes and a nifty lay up to lift us to 30-18 near the end of the half. Kayla Pederson was the superstar in the second, scoring 16. Nneka Ogwumike sure got blocked a bunch in the first half and did not score. She scored 14 all in the second, mostly by taking the ball to Kelley Cain and drawing the foul instead of just getting blocked. Great adjustment.

C and R and the other 6,907 fans streamed out into the warm California winter sunlight ecstatic. We beat Tennessee!

Off we Go to Maples

Here we go, off to Maples for number 2 Stanford vs. number 3 Tennessee. The game of the season, until next week when Stanford meets Uconn. C and R just found out that Tennessee center Kelley Cain is 6’6. Has Jayne Appel ever played against a woman taller than her?

Be there with your tinkle bells on.

Come Tease Tennessee Twice!

Okay, did we tell you are crazy plan to interview Pat Summit? Well, to be in the same room with her, at least, during interviews. When we discovered Tennessee was coming West to play Stanford, we also saw they were playing the University of San Francisco on December 22^nd at 7 PM in the War Memorial Gym. So we asked if our blog could have a press pass to the game and USF said yes! At first we thought maybe the Stanford women’s team would travel north to San Francisco to see the game and we could rub elbows, but then we realized they play Connecticut the next day in Connecticut, so that’s probably not going to happen.

Check out the USF Dons athletics home page and their blog (you know we are fools for blogs). Currently, Pat Summit and USF coach Tanya Haave are right on the home page, not just the women’s page. Cool! Also they ask you to “Pack the House”, and give the box office number (415) 422-2USF. Come on out and get another chance to heckle Tennessee.

Rachel Engrissei, Assistant Media Relations Director for USF told me they usually average 300 people per game and so far have sold over 1,800 for this game. Way to go USF! Be a statistic, come on out!

The USF Dons play in the West Coast Conference (WCC). Although USF is currently sitting at 4-8, they have a rich women’s basketball tradition, with 4 WCC championships, three NCAA appearances, and a 1996 Sweet 16 Partridge in a Pear Tree best ever finish to a season. C and R applaud them for scheduling a top tier team like Tennessee. You only get better by playing better opponents.

Earlier this season, the WCC received a grant from the NCAA to help promote women’s basketball, modeled on Gonzaga’s web success, called “Draft Day”. Check it out. Be a fan!

So come on out, support another local team, root against Tennessee one more time, see legendary coach Pat Summit, and look for C and R sitting on press row! December 22nd.