The first, the last, and UConn was everything in between. C and R are of course talking about the amazing UConn Huskies women's basketball streak of consecutive wins and Stanford’s small part in it. Stanford was the last team to beat them in March 2008, and the first team to beat them since they got the all-time men’s or women’s streak record of 89, stopping them at 90.
This win was so great; let’s savor it minute by minute, shall we?
40 minutes before the game, tons of scalpers on the sidewalks next to parking lots, which themselves are choked with cars. Tickets like the seats R has are going for $125 a pop!
35 minutes before the game, C and R get in Maples early to watch the teams warm-up, but only UConn is out there. Where is Stanford?
30 minutes before game, the countdown clock stops. This game is being televised after a men’s college game. Are they waiting for men’s’ basketball to be over? Stanford waits to come out to warm up, too.
15 minutes before the game, a friend walks up to Stanford box office and gets 3 general admission seats at face value. Say what, Stanford? You advertised the game was sold out and many of our friends who did not have tickets (And yes, you who did not heed our warnings know who you are) friends without tickets stayed away and yet they could have gotten in? Why didn’t you advertise, “Limited seats left?” You might have gotten even more fans here. Official attendance is 7329. Why is it when Tennessee women’s basketball has a sellout, it is 14,136?
10 minutes before game, both teams are now out and warming up. UConn is intense in warm ups, and to our untrained eye, Stanford looks half hearted, kinda going through the motions. UConn has purpose and drive on their lay ups to the basket, Stanford, well, not so much.
5 minutes before game, time for the National Anthem. Maya Moore tells a teammate, “The flag is this way.”
3 minutes before the game, C and R see former Stanford players Jayne Appel, Candice Wiggins, Ros Gold Onwude and… JJ HONES? Wow, she is the guard who got kicked off the team at the end of last year with one year of eligibility left for drinking and driving… a golf cart (Lord, what a thing to live down) and would be starting this game if not for that. It would be hard to show up back at the farm, yet here she is which says a lot about her character, wanting to support her friends and Stanford. Let’s hope she is not bitter.
Pregame introductions
Maya Moore gets a healthy round of applause. Geno gets booed. C and R hate when anyone boos players or coaches, we just feel it is bad sportsmanship. Anyone who is out there playing or coaching is dedicated and putting forth a high effort, and let’s face it you have to respect the streak of 90 straight winning games, nearly 2 and a half years worth of not losing.
Game time-tip off, Stanford’s Nneka Ogwumike loses the tip, not a good sign.
18:42 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes a three. (C leans to R and says, look, were winning! Little did she know Stanford would not give up the lead for the entire game!)
18:29 minutes left in the first half, Kayla Pedersen gets a defensive rebound. She would be tough on the boards all night. In fact Stanford would go on win the rebounding battle 43-36.
18:02 minutes left in the first half, UConn makes their first basket, a two pointer
(C: look, were still winning!)
15:59 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen makes another of her five threes and Stanford is up 6-2.
14:08 minutes left in the first half, Lindy La Rocque hits the first of her two three-point shots, glad to see running, gunning Lindy shooting. And she has a great, great defensive game. Was on Maya Moore for part of the night, was very determined and focused.
14:00 minutes left in the first half, the Jumbotron shows the Quattro of friends (Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice), for the first of umpteen million times.
13:31 minutes left in the first half, Jeanette Pohlen post up over a smaller guard and makes a lay up, first practiced two days ago against Xavier, and finds success again.
13:31 and 12:27 minutes left in the first half, Stanford goes up by 13 points!! Thirteen points! The largest lead of the night, but still, 13 points!
Oops, wait we did it again at 4:21, too.
10:36 minutes left in the first half, or thereabouts, National Player of the Year Maya Moore shoots an air ball. The crowd chants the “Air-ball” refrain. Look, not that we are making fun of Maya Moore, it’s just that Maya Moore has the best pull up jumper in the country and has been so outstanding and so consistent during the two and half year streak, we are sure that was very uncharacteristic of her, and hopefully can be attributed to Stanford’s tough defense on her.
3:16 minutes left in the first half, Maya Moore makes her first basket, a three. Her first basket of the night with almost 17 minutes gone by in the game. That’s got to be some kinda record. Stanford’s defense is great. Chiney Ogumike is doing most of the defending of Maya Moore now, except when she and then Nneka get two fouls and both go to the bench in the closing few minutes of the half. Now we do not do so well defending Maya and hence the 3-point shot. Maya Moore hits another one at 1:52, but Stanford holds her to just 6 first points half. Also must be some kinda record.
Stanford fouls with 32 seconds minutes left in the first half and with one second left in the first half. Yes one second, UConn threw a half court pass and Lindy undercut Kelly Faris. She should have let her catch and shoot, odds are she wouldn’t have made it anyway.
0 seconds minutes left in the first half, and Stanford leads 34-30.
Halftime, as C races to the concession stand and gets two hotdogs, R gets stopped by the floor crew letting UConn pass to the locker room. R looks right at Geno and says, “You’re awesome!” He looks right at her and says “Thanks.” He then spies one of the half time performers; a monk in a karate suit and lunges low in a karate stance to challenge him two feet in front of R. R is too late to get the photo!
C and R meet with super fan TG and give him his “Fear the Trees” shirt, a prize for knowing who the other coaches were in the 800 career-wins club. C shows her “Hecka Necka” shirt to the cameras but is sure they didn’t show it.
20 minutes left in the second half, C and R just get back to their seats.
17:56 minutes left in the second half and Jeanette scores the first Stanford basket of the second half, what else, a three! Stanford goes back up by seven.
17:11 minutes left in the second half, UConn scores their first points of the second half, also a three. The last time Stanford beat UConn, it’s not that Stanford stopped them, it’s just that Stanford (And Candice Wiggins) outscored them. Let’s hope this game Stanford just stops them, because this year, sometimes Stanford is not good at scoring.
13:22 minutes left in the second half a three by Jeanette Pohlen….lead is nine!
13:21 minutes left in the second half, Jumbotron shows a live action shot of Jayne, Ros, JJ and Candice Wiggins…
10:52 minutes left in the second half, Maya Moore makes her first basket of the second half, (got to be some kinda record), what did she make? What else, a three, she would have no lay ups, a huge defensive statistic. But wait, her three makes it a four-point game. Stanford needs a basket and cannot let UConn back into this game!
10:44 minutes left in the second half, Kayla makes a lay up, thank you very much Ms. Reliable. (Old Faithful?)
9:12 minutes left in the second half, a friend texts R and tells her she thought she saw C and R on TV!
8:05 minutes left in the second half, jumper by Moore.
7:26 minutes left in the second half, three pointer by Moore. Oh no, is this the start of an UConn come back? Little did anyone know, this would be the last points for Maya Moore all night.
7:05 minutes left in the second half, no, no comeback, a lay up for Joslyn Tinkle, who also is having the game of her young life. She played great defense, also asked to guard Moore several times and did a great job. C and R hearTinkle bells in the audience, even though we haven’t promoted it as much this year. Thanks, Stanford fans! R also starts to say, “we’re going to win, I can feel it!” C has a sour pit in her stomach. She can’t handle the stress (You can’t handle the truth!)
6:44 minutes left in the second half, missed three-pointer by Moore. R pounds C’s knee.
Kelly Faris for UConn makes 2 three-pointers at 5:59 and 4:49 to cut the lead to six. Yikes.
3:35 minutes left in the second half, Maya More is being guarded by Tinkle, who gets screened and hands her off to Lindy, who gets screened, hands her off to Kayla who defends her tough and although Moore gets a three point shot off it misses badly.
Tinkle to Lindy to Kayla
Tinker to Evers to Chance
(go ahead and look that one up, especially the sad poem part about breaking opposing fans hearts! C’s head is full of useless trivia like that, just swimming around in her head, waiting to surface at parties to annoy people and mostly beat R at Jeopardy).
2:19 minutes left in the second half, two UConn free throws narrow the lead to six points again, and C is worried, worried, worried. Little did she know this would be the last time UConn would score on the Maples floor that night!
1:42 Chiney would foul Maya Moore and also foul out of the game. Maya misses the front end of a one and one. Again, uncharacteristic of her.
1:37 minutes left in the second half, timeout with Stanford still leading by six and R all smiling and happy and pessimistic C still cannot let herself believe lest she jinx it for Stanford and it is the longest 1:37 minutes of C and R’s life!
1:20 minutes left in the second half, another timeout. Time seems to be agonizingly suspended.
1:14 minutes left in the second half, Nneka would score again to end up with 12 points and have 6 sky-high rebounds.
53 seconds left in the second half, Reliable, Old Faithful Kayla misses the front end of a one and one! And we were just saying about Maya Moore… (To be fair, Kayla got knocked to the floor and possibly hit her head and got her wrist banged so much she grimaced in pain for the final 23 seconds.) Kayla would finish with just 8 points but 11 timely rebounds.
But wait, Tinkle got the rebound and was fouled. They have another chance to pad the six point lead.
51 seconds left in the second half, Tinkle would miss the front end of a one and one… C is about to have a heart attack.
42 seconds left in the second half, 34 seconds left in the second half, 17 seconds left in the second half, Jeanette is fouled, and she would sink all six shots! She would finish the game with a career high 31 points!
4 seconds left in the second half, UConn’s Kelly Faris shoots a three pointer and misses and Jeanette Pohlen grabbes the rebound.
1 second left in the second half, Jeanette Pohlen throws the ball in the air.
0 seconds left in the second half, Stanford wins 71-59, a margin of 12 points! R predicted they would win by 10, so C is taking R to the track next weekend.
2 seconds after the game ended, Candice Wiggins, Stanford great, who is NOT on the team currently stormed the floor and hugged Pohlen, Pohlen still had her game face on and hurriedly pulled away, probably wondering if it was a violation of game rules or something for her to even be on the court and wanted to do nothing, nothing to jeopardize this incredible win. Jeanette wanted this one. She wanted this so badly and has stepped up her play. Kara Lawson on ESPN said Jeanette Pohlen was the best guard on the floor tonight. Maya Moore was held to 14, 10 points below her average, and credit Stanford for being in her face and not letting her have good looks all night. Credit Stanford Head Coach Tara Vanderveer for having the exactly right game plan and Stanford for executing it.
5 minutes after the game, the team came back out, lead by a leaping Nneka.. Tara spoke to the crowd, thanking them for helping to make Maples a good environment to win (and keep their home streak alive at 52) and asked that everyone come back for another game. Then she thanked The UConn team and coach and staff.
R said she feels bad for Geno. Heck, C figures, Geno must feel relieved. He got the streak in the record books, and now the pressure and the daily questions will go away and he can focus on basketball, league play and the March tournament. Hey, same for Stanford.
15 minutes after the game at the post game conference on national TV Tara said, “We didn’t win a national championship.” We have a lot of basketball left.
Yes, good to keep it in perspective, Tara, but it sure makes those losses to DePaul and Tennessee easier to swallow, and gives much hope for the future.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
UConn - Stanford Game Sold Out!
Thursday’s Stanford Women’s Basketball team’s game vs. number 1 in the country UConn is sold out. However, if you did not secure your ticket like C and R (well, R, she has the season’s tickets), we have seen scalpers outside of Maples during big games like this, so maybe you will get lucky. And, if you can’t go to the game, this one is being televised on ESPN 2.
So, the national papers were kinda hum ho about Stanford’s win against Xavier. It seemed to C and R they already discounted that game and were looking ahead to the UConn game. The game where Stanford played their best game all year. The game where number 9 Stanford knocked off number 4 Xavier. A game where number 9 beat number 4 by 37 points. You can’t discount a game like that.
C and R were encouraged by that win because it means at least we have a chance with UConn with the team that showed up Tuesday. And remember, this is essentially the same team that held UConn to 12 first half points in the championship game. (The two Stanford players missing from that game are defense specialist Ros Gold-Onwude, and center Jayne Apple, who went scoreless for the first time in her college career). Annnnnd, Stanford’s Jeannette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen were the last two players to beat UConn in 2008!
Travel safely to the game, come early, and expect long lines at the concession stands. Plan on eating out for dinner.
So, the national papers were kinda hum ho about Stanford’s win against Xavier. It seemed to C and R they already discounted that game and were looking ahead to the UConn game. The game where Stanford played their best game all year. The game where number 9 Stanford knocked off number 4 Xavier. A game where number 9 beat number 4 by 37 points. You can’t discount a game like that.
C and R were encouraged by that win because it means at least we have a chance with UConn with the team that showed up Tuesday. And remember, this is essentially the same team that held UConn to 12 first half points in the championship game. (The two Stanford players missing from that game are defense specialist Ros Gold-Onwude, and center Jayne Apple, who went scoreless for the first time in her college career). Annnnnd, Stanford’s Jeannette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen were the last two players to beat UConn in 2008!
Travel safely to the game, come early, and expect long lines at the concession stands. Plan on eating out for dinner.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
A Different Stanford Team Shows up and Crushes Xavier
R leans to me to be heard above the din and says, “This is a totally different team. This one is good.”
At the time, C and R were sitting with 4,493 fans who braved the misty rain (East coast readers are quoting the “We are a nation of wimps” mantra, but we almost went hydroplaning when we made that U-turn at Embarcadero and got our tennies wet walking back to our car, light rain is no laughing matter in Northern California, but I digress.) Anyhoo, C and R were sitting with all the Stanford fans that interrupted their Christmas vacation and played hooky from work to come out to a rare 1:00 PM game against Xavier, the game that C and R are billing as the revenge-of-the-double-missed-lay-up game from last year’s NCAA regional finals.
And ye of short term memory, that was the game where Jeanette Pohlen raced coast to coast with 4.4 seconds left and Xavier was too late in picking her up and let her score the game wining lay up. Well, she did that in this game not once, not twice, but three times! She took the inbounds pass after a Xavier score and went coast to coast, twice the defense did not pick her up and she made easy lay ups. The second time they showed the replay on the in house Jumbotron not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES as she passed her defender about the foul line and the second defender stood frozen on the opposite block and watched, watched from about 4 feet away as she scored easily. The third time she drove in the defenders at least saw her and moved; unfortunately they moved right in her way and fouled her. Didn’t they watch any game film? Although to be fair, Stanford again did some things they don’t normally do, so if Xavier did watch game film, Stanford surprised them. Tara has been surprising us all season with showing teams new things.
And as we said this team is different. This is not the team that lost at DePaul. This is not even the team that beat USF 100-45 to get Tara VanDerveer her 800th career win. This is a team that woulda-coulda-shoulda beat Tennessee. This is a team that can beat UConn.
So, dear reader, you are asking what is different about this team beating #4 Xavier by 37 points? (Thirty-seven points! Number 4 Xavier!). Well, first of all defense was king (Xavier didn’t score a point until 13:49 into the contest). Now Stanford IS a team that watches game film and devises a plan tailored to a specific team. Stanford played man-to man help defense, especially on number 53 Ta’Shia Phillips, who averages 13 points a game. She was limited to six. Nneka Ogwumike was on her and it was usually Kayla Pedersen or Jeanette Pohlen that came off their man and helped. Xavier never found the left-open player, as they usually were away from the ball. Their best scorer, 6-5 Amber Harris surprisingly played away from the basket and liked to hover around the 3 point line. Chiney Ogwumike was able limit Harris somewhat, and although she wasn’t 100%, she played 30 minutes and got 18 points, 2 away from her average.
And Stanford stole the ball, mostly by Kayla and Nneka playing that deny defense. I hope young girls were watching because they put on a defensive clinic.
Tara went with an opening lineup of two guards and three trees, (Jeanette, Lindy, Kayla, Nneka and Chiney respectively ). Lindy La Rocque was serious and in control. She played great defense, and even shot three threes and made two (she has been strangely silent on the scoring front this year).
Another huge change was offensive. Stanford started their offense in that predictable pass, pass, pass around the perimeter, then the post comes up to the three point line, gets the ball with her back to the basket and hands off to the guard. Xavier probably was thinking, oh yeah, like last year. And then, out of nowhere, the post turned to the basket and fired to a player cutting underneath. A wide-open player. Say What? Stanford did a great job all night looking inside, including when Xavier was in a 1-3-1 half court defense with 5-3 guard Shatyra Hawkes under the basket! Kayla, no slouch at 6-4, would sneak in at the block and have an easy basket. This happened several times. Say what, Xavier? And the first few times it happened, shouldn’t you adjust? But what do C and R know?
And could C and R believe their eyes, point guard Jeanette Pohlen was suddenly on the blocks down low, posting up, calling for the ball. What? She never, ever is given permission to go inside the three-point line on offense. She is usually the one that stays back to defend a fast break. But Xavier was in a man-to-man mode, and little Special Jennings, 5-6 or the same Shatyra Hawkes, all 5-3 of her, would be on Jeanette. Jeanette (and Tara) recognized the mismatch and took advantage of it. Stanford missed her the first few times down low, but when they hit her, she took it to the basket over her smaller opponent for easy points. Man, we have never seen that in all of Jeannette’s four years here!
And when Xavier, relying on last year’s film again we guess, pressed us after their basket, Jeannette raced the length of the court again for her third lay up! Hey Xavier, remember that time…
Okay, couple of plays that nearly brought down the house, a fast break with the ball in Jeanette’s hands and Nneka out on front pointing up in the air. JP gave her the alley oop and she caught it around the height of the backboard and shot it against the backboard without landing. Unfortunately the bank angle was too steep and it just missed. Then there was the leaping put back by Nneka, again, grabbing for the rebound at the height of her jump even though the ball was off to her right side, reaching out her arm and putting it back with same arm while in air. Fantastic. Not often seen in the women’s game.
Nneka leaping, Jeannette posting, Kayla stealing, three point T-shirts flying, C almost got one but fell into her back row seatmate’s lap, Tinkle driving, yes Tinkle who looked like she lost weight, Gracie coming in off the bench in the final seconds and getting a three, 30 point leads! Wow, glad this team showed up today. Hope they stick around for Thursday night.
Other possible headlines:
Xavier almost matched last year’s score, missing by one. Too bad Stanford scored 34 more points than last year (compare 55-53 to 89-52).
Jeannette drives the length of the court against Xavier for the lay in, not just once but many times.
Nine Nnekas leaping!
Bring On UConn!
At the time, C and R were sitting with 4,493 fans who braved the misty rain (East coast readers are quoting the “We are a nation of wimps” mantra, but we almost went hydroplaning when we made that U-turn at Embarcadero and got our tennies wet walking back to our car, light rain is no laughing matter in Northern California, but I digress.) Anyhoo, C and R were sitting with all the Stanford fans that interrupted their Christmas vacation and played hooky from work to come out to a rare 1:00 PM game against Xavier, the game that C and R are billing as the revenge-of-the-double-missed-lay-up game from last year’s NCAA regional finals.
And ye of short term memory, that was the game where Jeanette Pohlen raced coast to coast with 4.4 seconds left and Xavier was too late in picking her up and let her score the game wining lay up. Well, she did that in this game not once, not twice, but three times! She took the inbounds pass after a Xavier score and went coast to coast, twice the defense did not pick her up and she made easy lay ups. The second time they showed the replay on the in house Jumbotron not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES as she passed her defender about the foul line and the second defender stood frozen on the opposite block and watched, watched from about 4 feet away as she scored easily. The third time she drove in the defenders at least saw her and moved; unfortunately they moved right in her way and fouled her. Didn’t they watch any game film? Although to be fair, Stanford again did some things they don’t normally do, so if Xavier did watch game film, Stanford surprised them. Tara has been surprising us all season with showing teams new things.
And as we said this team is different. This is not the team that lost at DePaul. This is not even the team that beat USF 100-45 to get Tara VanDerveer her 800th career win. This is a team that woulda-coulda-shoulda beat Tennessee. This is a team that can beat UConn.
So, dear reader, you are asking what is different about this team beating #4 Xavier by 37 points? (Thirty-seven points! Number 4 Xavier!). Well, first of all defense was king (Xavier didn’t score a point until 13:49 into the contest). Now Stanford IS a team that watches game film and devises a plan tailored to a specific team. Stanford played man-to man help defense, especially on number 53 Ta’Shia Phillips, who averages 13 points a game. She was limited to six. Nneka Ogwumike was on her and it was usually Kayla Pedersen or Jeanette Pohlen that came off their man and helped. Xavier never found the left-open player, as they usually were away from the ball. Their best scorer, 6-5 Amber Harris surprisingly played away from the basket and liked to hover around the 3 point line. Chiney Ogwumike was able limit Harris somewhat, and although she wasn’t 100%, she played 30 minutes and got 18 points, 2 away from her average.
And Stanford stole the ball, mostly by Kayla and Nneka playing that deny defense. I hope young girls were watching because they put on a defensive clinic.
Tara went with an opening lineup of two guards and three trees, (Jeanette, Lindy, Kayla, Nneka and Chiney respectively ). Lindy La Rocque was serious and in control. She played great defense, and even shot three threes and made two (she has been strangely silent on the scoring front this year).
Another huge change was offensive. Stanford started their offense in that predictable pass, pass, pass around the perimeter, then the post comes up to the three point line, gets the ball with her back to the basket and hands off to the guard. Xavier probably was thinking, oh yeah, like last year. And then, out of nowhere, the post turned to the basket and fired to a player cutting underneath. A wide-open player. Say What? Stanford did a great job all night looking inside, including when Xavier was in a 1-3-1 half court defense with 5-3 guard Shatyra Hawkes under the basket! Kayla, no slouch at 6-4, would sneak in at the block and have an easy basket. This happened several times. Say what, Xavier? And the first few times it happened, shouldn’t you adjust? But what do C and R know?
And could C and R believe their eyes, point guard Jeanette Pohlen was suddenly on the blocks down low, posting up, calling for the ball. What? She never, ever is given permission to go inside the three-point line on offense. She is usually the one that stays back to defend a fast break. But Xavier was in a man-to-man mode, and little Special Jennings, 5-6 or the same Shatyra Hawkes, all 5-3 of her, would be on Jeanette. Jeanette (and Tara) recognized the mismatch and took advantage of it. Stanford missed her the first few times down low, but when they hit her, she took it to the basket over her smaller opponent for easy points. Man, we have never seen that in all of Jeannette’s four years here!
And when Xavier, relying on last year’s film again we guess, pressed us after their basket, Jeannette raced the length of the court again for her third lay up! Hey Xavier, remember that time…
Okay, couple of plays that nearly brought down the house, a fast break with the ball in Jeanette’s hands and Nneka out on front pointing up in the air. JP gave her the alley oop and she caught it around the height of the backboard and shot it against the backboard without landing. Unfortunately the bank angle was too steep and it just missed. Then there was the leaping put back by Nneka, again, grabbing for the rebound at the height of her jump even though the ball was off to her right side, reaching out her arm and putting it back with same arm while in air. Fantastic. Not often seen in the women’s game.
Nneka leaping, Jeannette posting, Kayla stealing, three point T-shirts flying, C almost got one but fell into her back row seatmate’s lap, Tinkle driving, yes Tinkle who looked like she lost weight, Gracie coming in off the bench in the final seconds and getting a three, 30 point leads! Wow, glad this team showed up today. Hope they stick around for Thursday night.
Other possible headlines:
Xavier almost matched last year’s score, missing by one. Too bad Stanford scored 34 more points than last year (compare 55-53 to 89-52).
Jeannette drives the length of the court against Xavier for the lay in, not just once but many times.
Nine Nnekas leaping!
Bring On UConn!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Say It Ain’t So, Diana!
C and R favorite of favorites, so much that we overlook the fact she came from UConn, Diana Taurasi, has bee reported to have tested positive for a banned drug while playing basketball in the country of Turkey. Of course, all issues of privacy went out the window when the news was leaked, but like Pandora’s box, it’s out and in the news.
The first reports from her lawyer was that is it NOT a steroid. Okay, that piqued C and R’s interest enough that we dug deeper. Now it is being reported she tested positive for a stimulate, modafinil. Modafinil is used to counter excessive sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift-work sleep disorder or sleep apnea, according to the website for the prescription drug Provigil. Man, she must have trouble staying awake over there is Turkey. To make matters worse, this very stimulate has been involved in several BALCO doping cases, most notably sprinter Kelli White. And we all know that BALCO was all about coming up with new and improved ways to HIDE steroid use. Sigh.
Taurasi has been suspended from European play and asked for her “B” sample to be tested. If the “B” sample is also positive, it could put her in jeopardy for the US National Team and Olympic lay in 2012. Augh!
Say it ain’t so.
The first reports from her lawyer was that is it NOT a steroid. Okay, that piqued C and R’s interest enough that we dug deeper. Now it is being reported she tested positive for a stimulate, modafinil. Modafinil is used to counter excessive sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift-work sleep disorder or sleep apnea, according to the website for the prescription drug Provigil. Man, she must have trouble staying awake over there is Turkey. To make matters worse, this very stimulate has been involved in several BALCO doping cases, most notably sprinter Kelli White. And we all know that BALCO was all about coming up with new and improved ways to HIDE steroid use. Sigh.
Taurasi has been suspended from European play and asked for her “B” sample to be tested. If the “B” sample is also positive, it could put her in jeopardy for the US National Team and Olympic lay in 2012. Augh!
Say it ain’t so.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
VanDerveer Gets Win Number 800, Beating USF 100-45
The day dawned glorious before us: we had tickets to the exclusive, only-museum-in North-America hosting the post-impressionists from Paris (yes, we have other interests beside basketball, too), dinner in SF and a Stanford basketball game where head coach Tara VanDerveer was hoping to make history by wining number 800. What could be better?
It was only slightly misting when C and R made their way to the De Young Museum, and C especially enjoyed the Seurats, and that Van Gogh is some sort of crazy genius, both and separately, kinda like us. When it came time for dinner in the most cuisine friendly City by the Bay, we asked the trusted ol’ GPS and what did we pick? Mel’s Diner with burgers, fries and shakes. Walking back up the hill to USF, bloated, we see the Stanford bus and C waves like the bloomin’ idiot that she is, and that’s why you, dear reader, read us because we sure don’t get bogged down in things like facts or statistics of the Stanford games, now do we?
So C and R have finagled a press pass from USF, and if they are reading this post, I am sure they have morning-after regret. Plenty of back story on this game. Tara coaching against her two former and favorite players, USF head coach Jennifer Azzi, and assistant coach Katy Steding. Tara going for win number 800. Stanford dropping two on the road definitely need a “fix” of an easy win. The venue practically being a home game due to the proximity of Stanford. But we’re just happy to be here.
We get inside plenty early and chat with Tara VanDerveer’s mom, a delightful woman. She regaled us with stories, and said how happy she was to share this game with Tara.
We see Jennifer Azzi, still looking like she could play college ball, take a few minutes to address the young ladies and gentleman from Oakland Parks and Rec, who were here to see the game and get a taste of college life. She asked how many planned on attending college and just about all the young players raised their hands. Very cool.
R hits my shoulder, and good thing it was not the other way around as she is still nursing major surgery to hers, and says, “Chiney is wearing injured black.” We learn later in the post game press conference (yes, they let us in, hee hee) that Chiney turned it in practice and it is not major and should play the next game.
The starting line up is again juggled, with veterans Jeanette Pohlen, Necka Oqumike and Kayla Pedersen, Tinkle and Lindy. Tara alluded in the post game conference that this is the fifth starting line up she has experimented with and they need consistency and need to know what works down the road if they expect to compete.
Even though the house is not sold out, about 3,600 show up, a lot of it is Stanford faithful. We all expect a victory, and win number 800. So it is with dismay we see USF take the lead at the 14 minute mark, pulling ahead 11-10. Stanford looks ragged and slow on defense. The teams exchange leads several times, then something clicks. Stanford tightens up their D and they stop USF from scoring. Kayla looks like her old self before the head injury, and drives down the middle. We start hitting threes, including two by freshmen Sara James. USF gets stuck on 21, and go about 7 minutes without scoring until the half comes, and the half ends 21-48. Although, did you see the old inbounding-the-ball-off-the-opponents-backside-for-a-score-trick Tinkle did. Only a coach’s daughter could get away with that!
The second half opens and you can tell Nneka is feeling good. WE don’t let USF score until17-minute mark in the second half. A lot more of the second string get to play, for valuable experience, and perhaps not to embarrass her former player, Azzi. Sara James gets more playing time and she got the ball stolen a few times and showed she still can get rattled. Even with the bench players in, Stanford breaks 100 points and the final score ends up 100-45.
USF hands out Cardinal read signs that say “800” and “Congratulations Tara”. Jennifer gives Tara a warm hug, and some flowers and the game ball at center court. Tara returned the favor and spoke to the USF players after the game and told them to keep focusing on little things, which made Azzi happy because that’s what she tells her players every day.
At the post game conference, several reports asked Tara to reflect back on winnng 800, and she said, “I don’t even remember win number 700.” But that this was special and ironic to win it against Jennifer Azzi, the player that put Stanford on the map. She also appreciated winning it with “family” around to witness it, whether it be her sister and mother, or her extended family of former and current players and fans.
One thing Tara said to Kayla and Nneka as they were leaving the press area was, “See ya on Sunday.” Christmas day is Saturday. No rest for a team trying to find itself and resurrect a season in what is arguable their two toughest opponents in a two-day span.
And, oh, Azzi had to buy dinner for Tara.
It was only slightly misting when C and R made their way to the De Young Museum, and C especially enjoyed the Seurats, and that Van Gogh is some sort of crazy genius, both and separately, kinda like us. When it came time for dinner in the most cuisine friendly City by the Bay, we asked the trusted ol’ GPS and what did we pick? Mel’s Diner with burgers, fries and shakes. Walking back up the hill to USF, bloated, we see the Stanford bus and C waves like the bloomin’ idiot that she is, and that’s why you, dear reader, read us because we sure don’t get bogged down in things like facts or statistics of the Stanford games, now do we?
So C and R have finagled a press pass from USF, and if they are reading this post, I am sure they have morning-after regret. Plenty of back story on this game. Tara coaching against her two former and favorite players, USF head coach Jennifer Azzi, and assistant coach Katy Steding. Tara going for win number 800. Stanford dropping two on the road definitely need a “fix” of an easy win. The venue practically being a home game due to the proximity of Stanford. But we’re just happy to be here.
We get inside plenty early and chat with Tara VanDerveer’s mom, a delightful woman. She regaled us with stories, and said how happy she was to share this game with Tara.
We see Jennifer Azzi, still looking like she could play college ball, take a few minutes to address the young ladies and gentleman from Oakland Parks and Rec, who were here to see the game and get a taste of college life. She asked how many planned on attending college and just about all the young players raised their hands. Very cool.
R hits my shoulder, and good thing it was not the other way around as she is still nursing major surgery to hers, and says, “Chiney is wearing injured black.” We learn later in the post game press conference (yes, they let us in, hee hee) that Chiney turned it in practice and it is not major and should play the next game.
The starting line up is again juggled, with veterans Jeanette Pohlen, Necka Oqumike and Kayla Pedersen, Tinkle and Lindy. Tara alluded in the post game conference that this is the fifth starting line up she has experimented with and they need consistency and need to know what works down the road if they expect to compete.
Even though the house is not sold out, about 3,600 show up, a lot of it is Stanford faithful. We all expect a victory, and win number 800. So it is with dismay we see USF take the lead at the 14 minute mark, pulling ahead 11-10. Stanford looks ragged and slow on defense. The teams exchange leads several times, then something clicks. Stanford tightens up their D and they stop USF from scoring. Kayla looks like her old self before the head injury, and drives down the middle. We start hitting threes, including two by freshmen Sara James. USF gets stuck on 21, and go about 7 minutes without scoring until the half comes, and the half ends 21-48. Although, did you see the old inbounding-the-ball-off-the-opponents-backside-for-a-score-trick Tinkle did. Only a coach’s daughter could get away with that!
The second half opens and you can tell Nneka is feeling good. WE don’t let USF score until17-minute mark in the second half. A lot more of the second string get to play, for valuable experience, and perhaps not to embarrass her former player, Azzi. Sara James gets more playing time and she got the ball stolen a few times and showed she still can get rattled. Even with the bench players in, Stanford breaks 100 points and the final score ends up 100-45.
USF hands out Cardinal read signs that say “800” and “Congratulations Tara”. Jennifer gives Tara a warm hug, and some flowers and the game ball at center court. Tara returned the favor and spoke to the USF players after the game and told them to keep focusing on little things, which made Azzi happy because that’s what she tells her players every day.
At the post game conference, several reports asked Tara to reflect back on winnng 800, and she said, “I don’t even remember win number 700.” But that this was special and ironic to win it against Jennifer Azzi, the player that put Stanford on the map. She also appreciated winning it with “family” around to witness it, whether it be her sister and mother, or her extended family of former and current players and fans.
One thing Tara said to Kayla and Nneka as they were leaving the press area was, “See ya on Sunday.” Christmas day is Saturday. No rest for a team trying to find itself and resurrect a season in what is arguable their two toughest opponents in a two-day span.
And, oh, Azzi had to buy dinner for Tara.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Limited Seats Left for Stanford at USF
Tonight’s game at USF has limited tickets left. Reserved seating is sold out, but general tickets remain, so get there early if you need tickets! Game time is 6:30. Having Stanford, with its large following show up, coupled with the chance for head coach Tara VanDerveer going for win number 800 makes for good ticket sales for USF. Add to that it is USF’s annual "Pack the House Challenge" contest. Each year colleges compete to see who can get the most people to come to their gym on a certain night, and it seems like making the Stanford game the one is a little like cheating, or good business sense.
Speaking of good business sense, C and R had a hard time navigating the USF website. Couldn’t find the roster, current record, schedule in visible links. We had to dig deep. We thought we saw the Dons were 1-13, now we get a press release they are 2-9. Not that we want to short-change anyone a win, when so desperately needed, but someone needs to redo the website. C and R were sent a press kit for tonight’s game and they list Tara VanDerveer’s alma mater as Southern Utah (!) and that she graduated in 1994. Wow, how did she rack up 799 wins? They list her career record as 799-197, and her Stanford record as the same. No, she coached at Idaho and Ohio State and got some of those wins at those places. We’re just sayin’… someone needs to check their facts, and this from two people who routinely say whatever we think without fact checking.
Anyway, see you at the game.
Footnote:
Congratulations to UConn for… CONTINUING THE STREAK of wins in women’s college basketball with win number 89. Some people have been comparing it to the UCLA men’s streak of 88, which is not the same game, just ask Geno Auriemma. Maya Moore was unbelievable, scoring a career high 41 points, and they beat FSU by 31. Got to see an interview of Tara VanDerveer as the last coach to beat UConn.
Speaking of good business sense, C and R had a hard time navigating the USF website. Couldn’t find the roster, current record, schedule in visible links. We had to dig deep. We thought we saw the Dons were 1-13, now we get a press release they are 2-9. Not that we want to short-change anyone a win, when so desperately needed, but someone needs to redo the website. C and R were sent a press kit for tonight’s game and they list Tara VanDerveer’s alma mater as Southern Utah (!) and that she graduated in 1994. Wow, how did she rack up 799 wins? They list her career record as 799-197, and her Stanford record as the same. No, she coached at Idaho and Ohio State and got some of those wins at those places. We’re just sayin’… someone needs to check their facts, and this from two people who routinely say whatever we think without fact checking.
Anyway, see you at the game.
Footnote:
Congratulations to UConn for… CONTINUING THE STREAK of wins in women’s college basketball with win number 89. Some people have been comparing it to the UCLA men’s streak of 88, which is not the same game, just ask Geno Auriemma. Maya Moore was unbelievable, scoring a career high 41 points, and they beat FSU by 31. Got to see an interview of Tara VanDerveer as the last coach to beat UConn.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Come See Tara VanDerveer Make History at USF
If there is one silver lining to the fact Stanford Women’ Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer is stuck on number 799 and could not get win number 800 in two tries on the road it is that she comes back to the Bay Area to try in what amounts to a home game up the hill at USF. And it would be against her first favorite ex-player, Jennifer Azzi. The game is on Wednesday, December 22.
Lots of people have been eyeing Azzi, to see if the former great player can translate her success unto others, and so far her team sits at 1-13. In all fairness, these are not the players she recruited. Hopefully she can turn it around if not this year, then next.
Game time is 6:30 if you want to get front row seats on a piece of history, as everyone is expecting Tara to get win 800 Wednesday. C and R will be there, crashing the interview area. Plenty of tickets left, and the game time is not 7:00, as we saw listed on an old schedule some place, make sure you are there before 6:30.
Lots of people have been eyeing Azzi, to see if the former great player can translate her success unto others, and so far her team sits at 1-13. In all fairness, these are not the players she recruited. Hopefully she can turn it around if not this year, then next.
Game time is 6:30 if you want to get front row seats on a piece of history, as everyone is expecting Tara to get win 800 Wednesday. C and R will be there, crashing the interview area. Plenty of tickets left, and the game time is not 7:00, as we saw listed on an old schedule some place, make sure you are there before 6:30.
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