THE HUSKIES HAVE BEEN WATCHING FILM AND WONDERING HOW THEY'RE GOING TO BREAK 50 AGAINST THE STIFLING CARDINAL DEFENSE!!

The Washington Huskies get closer every week to being able to beat one of the PAC12 powers. Last weekend in LA they lost two overtime thrillers to UCLA and USC by a total of five points. On Friday at 7PM they get their next chance when they play the Cardinal in Seattle. Here's a link to their website: 
: https://gohuskies.com/index.aspx?path=wbball

The Cardinal will be tough to beat if they play anything like they played against Utah last Sunday. Five turnovers, 82 points of offense, strong rebounding, and a banshee defense are a stifling combination. The Utes managed 49 points. 

The Huskies are led by Melgoza, Henson, and Van Dyke who usually end up with most of their offensive production. If we produce Banshee 2.0 the Huskies will be glad to be done with the Cardinal (until Vegas) and move on to play Cal on Sunday. 

       

NEWS FLASH!! JANUARY 25, 2019 THE UTES DEFEAT #6 RANKED CARDINAL 75 TO 68 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY!!!

The good news is that Megan Huff and Erica Bean have graduated. (You may recall that those two sealed our fate last year in our first ever loss to the Utes.) The bad news is that the new Utes hit 16 of 21 3's against the Colorado Buffaloes ten days ago. Freshman Brynna Maxwell hit 6 of 8 and senior Daneesha Provo hit 4 of 5. This is a shot of their prolific freshman Brynna Maxwell leading the Utes to a historic night - 16 three pointers! 

In contrast, Stanford hit 9 of 25 against the Buffs on Friday night. That's a 21 point differential.

The Utes are on a three game winning streak. They beat USC by 2, Colorado by 15, and Cal by 9. I've included a link to the Ute website below:
https://utahutes.com/sports/womens-basketball

Head Coach Lynne Roberts is aiming for greatness - and she's well on her way. Before the season I was estimating that Stanford would average ten or twelve threes each game. In the last ten we've averaged less than eight. Seems to me it's time for Stanford to fulfill Tara's recruiting goals and start lighting up their opponents. 

This is a critical time for our Cardinal. In the first half on Friday we were getting out-fought and out-hustled. That got fixed in the second stanza, but we can't afford any more slow starts or lackadaisical quarters. On Sunday it's got to be floor burns and banshees on defense from the tip and great passes to sweet swishes on offense.

Let's get this show on the road! Show up and cheer yourself hoarse on Sunday. Let's make sure we don't repeat last year's defeat by the Utes!

GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!

BEWARE OF BUFFALOES WHO COME STAMPEDING INTO MAPLES ON FRIDAY THE 24TH HOPING TO TRAMPLE THE CARDINAL!!

Have you seen their 1200 pound mascot run into their football stadium with six or eight large cowboys hanging onto their ropes for dear life? That's Ralphie. I keep waiting for her to give her harness a shake as she runs, just to see those cowboys fly. Here's a video if you haven't seen her:

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

The Buffalo Coach J.R. Payne uses a nine player rotation and everybody scores. Sound familiar? They have five players 6'-3" or taller and four players who average double figures. Does this sound like your mother's Buffaloes? I don't think so either. Mya Hollingshed is a 6'-4" junior forward who leads them in scoring and rebounding, but Emma, Jaylyn, Quinessa, Aubrey, Peanut, Charlotte, Lesila, and Anika all average 15 or more minutes and they all come to play. Here's a link to the Colorado women's website:

https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-basketball

Earlier this season, the 13 and 3 Buffaloes beat the Wisconsin Badgers by 17 and recently lost to UCLA by 3. This week the Buffs made their first appearance (I think) in Charley Creme's Bracket, giving the PAC12 seven teams - also for the first time (as best I can remember.) 


Do you see the trend here? The folks from Boulder are newly in the business of kicking people's butts. And if you're not totally and completely ready for these Buffalo-women - with mouth guards firmly in place - you could be "Ralphie's" next victim.

The Cardinal will be returning from a couple of tough games up north and might subconsciously be ready for an easy "W". Coach Payne didn't get her name from building easypeasy teams. It's time to fully realize once and for all - there are no easy "W's" in this conference any more. To avoid Ralphie's hooves, you'd better be 1000% ready to ball on Friday night, or it could get ugly.

GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!!   

 

OREGON HAS ALREADY SOLD 11,000 TICKETS TO WATCH OUR UPCOMING COLLISION WITH THE DUCKS IN MATTHEW KNIGHT ARENA!!

In the last five years the PAC12 has become the toughest women's basketball conference in America. Each year the coaching improves markedly, the quality of the players improves immensely, and the teams get better accordingly. 

With two crucially important upperclassman players injured, Stanford has had to count on freshman and sophomore replacements to carry the load. To turn this group into national title contenders, we need to perform some metallurgical magic in the next two months (in addition to the return of DiJonai and Maya.)   

One way to strengthen steel is to add carbon and then heat-treat it. One way to strengthen a basketball team is to send it to Eugene and Corvallis to do battle with the Ducks and the Beavers. Our stalwart basketball warriors are going to get hardened this Thursday at 6PM in Eugene, and heat-treated at Noon on Sunday in Corvallis.

Oregon women's basketball website:

https://goducks.com/sports/womens-basketball

Oregon State women's basketball website:

https://osubeavers.com/sports/womens-basketball    

Win or lose, what matters most is that we play our hardest in front of ten or twelve thousand voracious Duck and Beaver fans and come back with hearts MIGHTILY strengthened and our resolve hardened. Then, on February 7th we beat UCLA, and on February 21st and 24th in Maples we beat the Oregon teams with our two returning stars at full strength. To complete our PAC12 schedule we will head down to the desert in late February and beat both of the Arizona schools. 

In early March in Las Vegas with (hopefully) three tough games in three nights, we complete the metallurgical process and our steeled young players and stouthearted veterans come out of PAC12 play ready to CHALLENGE FOR THE NATIONAL TITLE!!

GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!!    

O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL!! ON FRIDAY AT 7PM WE'RE HOSTING THE BATTLE OF THE BAY!! THEN ON SUNDAY AT 5PM WE PLAY CAL AGAIN AT HAAS PAVILION!

Cal Women's Basketball Website

You know from decades of watching these two programs play each other, that the Battle of the Bay very often results in upsets and close battles. Usually, you can throw out the records, rankings, and stats and watch the underdog scare the bigeegees out of, or beat the higher ranked team.

Charmin Smith is the new Head Coach at Cal, and her team will come stormin into

Maples at 7PM on Friday. Then, we play them again on Sunday at 5PM in Haas Pavilion. You probably know Charmin and Tara go way back. She played for the Cardinal from 1994 to 1997, was a pro player until 2003,  and an Assistant Coach from 2003 (2004 to 2007 Tara's assistant) until this year, when she was named the Head Coach of the Cal Bears.

Cal is off to a decent 8 and 5 start in the new season. They've played three ranked teams, so far - they beat #20 Arkansas by 4 points, lost to #1 UConn in Storrs by 11, and lost to #14 Kentucky by 2. You can see from those scores that their season has had some real exciting moments, and then you find out they lost to Washington State by 21 on Sunday. How did Chanelle Molina and Bobbie Buckets go off for a combined 54 points? Wow! Sounds like Charmin has got her work cut out for her in the conference games. By January 19th they're facing us twice, then the two Oregons in Oregon. Welcome to the PAC12, Charmin Smith.   

She's inherited some good players. Among the top scorers there are three seniors - Jaelyn Brown, C.J. West, and Sara Anastasieska; a junior - Alaysia Styles; and a promising freshman - Evelien Schiph.

On paper we should be awarded two “W’s”. Unfortunately, they don’t play these rivalry games on paper. I'm sure you remember The Play! If you don't, just ask John Elway - he still dreams about the seven laterals into the middle of the Stanford Band.

Anyway, that's why you're sorely needed in attendance to support our Cardinal team, especially our freshman players who haven't played in this rivalry before. Come and cheer your loudest!

GO STANFORD!! WE CAN DO THIS!

ON SUNDAY THE 5TH AT 2PM WE GET THE HUSKIES AT 9 AND 3. THEY'RE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!! CAN YOU SAY AMBER MELGOZA?

UW Women's Basketball Website

The last time we saw the unranked Huskies, they played the Beavers in their third game of the PAC12 Tournament. (Oregon State's second game.) Missy Peterson hit a long three Schedule
with two seconds left in the 4th quarter and they beat the 11th ranked Beavers 68 - 67. That led to this massive pile at center court as the shocked Beavers filed out of the arena.

The next night they lost to Stanford. All the Huskies, but one, were exhausted after the battle the night before. Amber Melgoza had 32 points. See what I mean? She was 8 of 17 for 2's, 4 of 7 for 3's, and 4 of 6 for FTs in her fourth game in four nights. Amber Melgoza is a tireless warrior!  

On Sunday expect an all-out battle. The Huskies fight and Melgoza scores.

Stanford can beat'em, but we'll have to show up ready to rock!

GO STANFORD!! We Can Do This!