The Victoria Invitational Tournament will challenge our young team. I'm predicting a hard won championship!

The Greater Victoria Invitational Tournament should be the perfect next step for our Cardinal team. I'm predicting that the top seedings will all hold and Stanford will play the three teams previewed below. After an unranked team the first night at 7:30 PM, hopefully we'll win and advance to play the other two nationally ranked and top-seeded teams on Friday and Saturday and win both of those games.

On Thanksgiving Day, Stanford will play California Baptist University. CBU is undefeated to date and in their last game they defeated UCSB in double overtime. The problem for the Lancers playing Stanford is that their tallest player who gets playing time is 6'-1". I know they'll play tough, but I'm hoping our starters can open up a lead and sit for much of the game on Thursday. We'll have two tougher games on Friday and Saturday.

Cal Baptist has surprised three Big West schools on their way to a 6 and 0 start this season. They have great chemistry and poise to go along with their fine basketball IQ and crisp passing. Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, and UCSB were all out-played along the way. Lexy Ram and Caitlyn Harper both average about 16 points and 9 rebounds. Taylor Wu has hit 13 of 28 3's this season. Georgia Dale and Sydney Palma generate assists and steals. We certainly can't overlook the Lancers and our defense has to take over the game.


Syracuse was one point down after two quarters against Oregon on Sunday and comes into the Thanksgiving Tournament in Victoria, BC ranked #17 in the nation. In the second half, the Ducks pulled away and won by 17. Syracuse will play Houston on Thursday and should have little difficulty with the Cougars. I've included a link below to show you the game on Sunday. I was expecting the Orange to be a wicked pressing team and felt concerned about how our young team would handle our first tough press of the season. But the Cuse defense was an effective zone without intense pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvFb2Xq_Slg

Kiara Lewis is the Orange's 5'-8" junior floor general and she had 23 points on Sunday afternoon, including 4 three-pointers. Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi is a 6'-2" sophomore forward who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Emily Engstler is a 6'-1" sophomore guard and had 10 points and 9 rebounds. Digna Strautmane is a 6'-2" junior forward who scored 9 points and took down 6 boards.

Syracuse hit 10 three-point shots, got 5 steals, and caused 14 turnovers.  Interestingly, when the game was over there were dozens of little girls and boys, plus many teenagers and adults lining the runway to the Ducks locker room, and the marquee players of college women's basketball gave many autographs and pictures to their new upstate New York fans.

 

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have been destroying their preseason opposition. I've mentioned it before, but State's scheduling makes me doubly grateful for the steady progression of Stanford's opponents through the fifth week and going forward. I wonder how smart Mississippi State has been thus far, scheduling so far below their talent level. They've won their last two games by scoring an average of 125 points. They're ranked #8/10 and face their first real challenge of the young season Monday night in Marquette. It was an incredible battle and came down to the last minute with the Bulldogs winning 74 to 68.

The Bulldog stars are Jessika Carter, a 6'-5" athletic talented sophomore center who is averaging 19.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game and Jordan Danberry a 5'-8" grad student guard who is a defensive buzzsaw. Jessika is the latest of Vic Shaefer's imposing post players, but against Marquette she was on the bench much of the game with fouls. Tierra McKown, you remember, was their 6'-7" boss under the basket for the past four years, as the Bulldogs mounted two strong, but unsuccessful campaigns to win the national championship.

https://youtu.be/rh2uP5MI3AU

Typical of Vic Shaefer's teams, the Bulldogs use a full court press throughout the game on made baskets. In the Marquette game on 11/25 their press comprised mostly of Danberry, Myah Taylor, and Chloe Bibby and must have caused fifteen turnovers on inbound passes, usually resulting in points for the Bulldogs. In addition, Danberry stole the ball five times from the point guard playing a hard pressing one on one defense and usually scored on a layup going the other way. Her hands are lightning quick.

In all, Marquette had 28 turnovers and State scored 32 points off of turnovers. Danberry had 20 points to lead all scorers. The Bulldog press won the game, even though the Golden Eagles fought tooth and nail the whole way and were up by five early in the fourth quarter. Marquette tried all night to throw the inbounds pass from the end line over the pressing defense and completed about 50% of those passes. It turns out, that pass has to be almost perfect or its a turnover. In the second half, the Golden Eagles realized that they could use backdoor moves against State's overplaying defense and must have made eight or ten baskets going backdoor.

Kiana, Haley, Anna, Jenna and the whole Cardinal team are going to have to play the best game of the year to date to cope with the Bulldog press. Every pass is challenged, but with a good fake the defender is hung out to dry, which leads to a pass to a backdoor cutter. Marquette didn't make near enough use of this basic move against an overplaying defense and must have lost a dozen intercepted passes. The other major problem the Eagles had came from giving up their dribble too early. Instantly, there would be two or three defenders trying to steal the ball from the overwhelmed ballhandler. If you're aggressive with the ball they'll foul you more often than not and if you drive the basket they foul almost every time. It'll be an interesting challenge.   

You may remember in the national semi-final game between Stanford and Texas A&M. Coach Shaefer was the defensive assistant coach and his press completely undid the Cardinal. Jeanette Pohlen was the point guard and under normal circumstances she would have been the shooting guard, but the Cardinal didn't have a real point guard, so Jeanette took on the job. A&M had incredible guards and their press was even more effective than this year's Bulldog press. A&M beat Notre Dame for the national title that year, because of Vic's high intensity pressing defense. 

This year State's guard corps is again deep and talented led by Jordan Danberry, Andra Espinoza-Hunter, and Myah Taylor who are all averaging about 10 points per contest. They don't lean on their forwards for much of their scoring, to date, but Chloe Bibby is averaging 9 rebounds per game. The Bulldogs were 4 of 16 on 3-point shots, so tonight that wasn't a bright spot.

At the risk of redundancy, I'm grateful and impressed with the insight and intelligence shown in the construction of the Stanford schedule. The tournament in Victoria is the perfect next level of competition and we will be severely challenged - which is the idea, right? When I write my next blog piece about the Ohio State game on December 15th, we'll know if our progression led to our best game of the season against the Bulldogs and a tournament championship. I think it will. Fun isn't it!

GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!

http://victoriainvitational.com/

READY OR NOT - A HERD OF BULLS IS GONNA COME STORMIN INTO MAPLES ON SUNDAY AT 2PM!!

The Buffalo guards are  FAST and QUICK!! Did I mention they can REALLY SHOOT! 

I've included a link here that is some video of Dyaisha Fair, their 5'-5" freshman that was taken last year when she was a senior in high school. Couldn't find anything shot this year that tells her story adequately. Take a look. She reminds me a lot of Aari McDonald of Arizona. 
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJaJslhKYUM

As a freshman, Dyaisha has averaged 26 points in their first four games. Hanna Hall and Theresa Onwuka are also strong guards averaging double digits and are capable of going over 20 on any given night. Theresa went for 31 last week. Loren Christie is 6'-3", has inside moves and can hit from beyond the line.  

In their game Thursday at San Jose State, it appeared in the first half that SJSU hadn't heard about Dyaisha. On half of Buffalo's possessions she would get a crisp pass beyond the arc with no one near her. SWISH! She ended up with 8 threes and 28 points. But in the locker room during halftime Hosey State decided to not lose - and they didn't. They won the 3rd quarter 30 to 13 and the game 95 to 88. The Spartans came out like a different team and began rebounding, running, and playing defense. Surprising what happens when you get serious and play hard! Buffalo was sure surprised. Onwuka had 21, Walters had 17, and Hall had 8. As a team the Bulls ended up with 15 threes, but they got out hustled and out fought in the 2nd half.   

Do you remember an Elite Eight game six years ago or so up in Washington when Courtney Vandersloot kept getting around Karlie in the first half, causing havoc inside our defense? During halftime Karlie suggested a zone designed to stop her. The defenders on either side of Karlie helped her on every possession to stop Courtney's penetrations - turning her into a well-defended perimeter shooter and passer. That zone got us to the Final Four. So, if Kiana or Anna have trouble staying in front of Dyaisha, don't be surprised if Tara decides to Vandersloot her.  
GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!!   

ON SUNDAY THE 17TH WE GET ANOTHER SHOT AT THE ZAGS. LET'S MAKE IT COUNT!!

I've never been quite sure why we lost to Gonzaga last season up in Spokane. Obviously, they were a better team than we were that night. As you recall last season, consistency was not our most outstanding quality. In February we lost to Oregon by 40 or so in our building, and the next month we beat Oregon by 10 or so in Vegas. That's a 50 point difference!

So it's quite understandable that we could go into Gonzaga's packed building, our leading scorer gets into foul trouble early, and our shots aren't falling. All that added up to a recipe for defeat - but we learned a lot that night.

A couple of weeks later we went into Thompson-Bolling Arena in front of 12,000 orange-clad screaming Tennessee fans and showed the women's basketball world what we learned in Spokane.  Our leading scorer got into foul trouble early in the second quarter, and everyone watching in Cardinal gear said, "OH NO, not again!!" That's when the other players in Cardinal red sucked it up, came together, and stepped up big time. DiJonai went on a rampage and everyone else played good solid basketball.  We grew up that night in Knoxville on national television.

Okay, we learned that important lesson. When we get down in front of a big opposing crowd, we can come together, stiffen our resolve, and fight our way through to victory. This is a different season and a different team and we don't have to learn that lesson again. On Sunday we need to be fully prepared for a tough game. The Zags can play and they can shoot. Against CSU Bakersfield last week they went 10 of 22 from the three point line. The 6'-3" Wirth twins combined for 31 points and 8 rebounds. Kayleigh Truong shot 4 of 6 from 3 and had 18 points. Katie Campbell also went 4 of 6 from 3. Jessie Loera had 9 assists. They had four players in double figures. This is the first NCAA game on our schedule that you lose if you're not ready to play hard. The following link will give you an idea of how the Zags play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNH-e0ZDTuY

The people who put our schedule together obviously figure that after Eastern Washington, USF, and Northern Colorado we should be ready for Gonzaga and Buffalo. Then, after Cal Baptist, we should be ready for Syracuse and Mississippi State up in British Columbia - and then in December Ohio State, Tennessee, and Texas. That's what you sign up for if you decide to come to Palo Alto and play for Stanford.

So, relax and enjoy. Gonzaga is the first of a whole host of NCAA Tournament teams we get to battle between now and New Years Eve. And then we hit the PAC12!! What a season!! By the time we get through the PAC12 Tournament down in Vegas, we should be ready for anything. And that's the point, isn't it. 
   
GO STANFORD!! BRING ON THE ZAGS!! 

THIS THURSDAY AT 7PM THE YOUNG BEARS OF NORTHERN COLORADO ROLL INTO MAPLES

The Bears of Northern Colorado are working hard and growing up. Two weeks ago they had the USF Dons by four in the third quarter and lost them in the fourth. Coach Jenny Huth is pushing the Bears and they're responding. In their last game they focused on executing down the stretch and cutting down on fouls. Against USF they gave up forty-two fouls shots (which cost them the game) and last week they only put Colorado State on the free throw line for four shots. Even though they lost again, that's the kind of improvement that makes a tough coach smile.

Last week against the Rams of Colorado State Alexis Chapman, a 5'-7" Junior scored 25 points including five threes. Kadie Deaton, a 5"-11" freshman had 14 points and Ali Meyer, a 6'-1" grad student, had 15 rebounds. So, you can see that the Bears are getting it together. They listen and learn. If they continue this trend, in a couple of seasons I think they'll be challenging for the Big Sky conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

But on November 14th  they pull into Maples and that's a tough evening for almost anybody. Coach Huth will have them mentally ready and they'll give a good account of themselves. I think they'll fight like young Bears and feel good about their effort. If they return in a couple of seasons, I think they'll fight like grown up Bears and present a much bigger challenge.     

WATCH OUT!! THE USF LADY DONS ARE A WHOLE DIFFERENT BALL GAME THIS SEASON!!

SF State and Chico State weren't ready - and got rolled. USF scored 105 points in each of their first two games. So the word is out, Molly Goodenbour and Katy Steding mean business, and whoever plays their team is going to have to deal with some tough hombres. 

Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Saskatchewan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Greece, and New Jersey. Now that's a roster. They've signed some JUCO stars and a Division II All American. In other words, this is a worldwide consortium of serious players - and Stanford had better be serious about this game in the Warriors new arena.

Eleven of them are freshmen and sophomores, but that doesn't matter. In the second half against Chico they scored 67 points. Ioanna Krimili (she's a freshman from Heraklion, Greece) had 25 points in that game, followed closely by Kia Vaalavirta (Espoo, Finland), and Abby Rathbun (Moses Lake, Washington). The team hit 11 of 21, or 50% of their 3's. They're a bit undersized so they gang rebound and all end up with five or six. 

So, a word to the wise. Don't be caught gawking at the great new arena and forget why we're there. These foreign women are dangerous.

THE EAGLES FROM EASTERN WASHINGTON LAND IN MAPLES NOVEMBER 5th

The Eagles ended their season last year on a high note - and they intend to start this season where they finished last March, playing their very best basketball. Seeded sixth, Eastern Washington fought their way to victories in their first three games of the Big Sky Tournament and played in the title game for the first time since 1988, thirty-one years ago. Unfortunately, they lost on a last second shot by Portland State. With more depth and balance this season they're aiming to make it back to the championship game of their tournament and win it this time - and earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.  

To get her young Eagles prepared for this monumental challenge Coach Wendy Schuller has scheduled their toughest preseason ever - starting with the Stanford Cardinal. For the young Eagle squad, the game on the 2nd is comparable to Stanford's game against the U.S. National team. They want to use it as a take-off point for their challenging season ahead - which includes games against NCAA Tournament teams Gonzaga, Boise State, and Portland State.

Jessica McDowell-White made their All-Tournament team as their freshman point guard and was the key to their magical tournament run last season. This year, as a sophomore, she's bigger, stronger, and better. Bella Cravens is another sophomore who shocked some people in the tournament last season. She was their leading rebounder and shot blocker. Brittany Klaman and Grace Kircher provided most of their perimeter shooting from last season. Like the Cardinal, they also have a group of talented freshman players that add to their depth and balance.

Full of hope and optimism for the season ahead, the Eagles are looking forward to showing the women's basketball world that they're ready to make a run at the NCAA Tournament this year.