ARE THE STANFORD CARDINAL AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS ON A COLLISION COURSE?

Maybe you've read Mechelle Voepel's piece on ESPN's online news feed with the above title. Of course, it's an exercise of counting chickens weeks before they hatch, but then she proceeds to write a lengthy coronation piece about how the Gamecocks will win their second national championship, Aliyah Boston will be named the player of the year, and Dawn Staley coach of the year. 

Stanford will just be the last inconsequential bump on their path to impending glory. The Basketball Gods have spoken. In Mechelle's mind and in all the eastern sportswriter's minds, this is actually a fait accompli. The NCAA Tournament will just be a formality.    

Reminds me of the scene in the movie "Seabiscuit" when Jeff Bridges' character quotes the eastern sportswriters about their upcoming match race with War Admiral,  He's speaking to a Depression Era crowd gathered around the back of their train taking Seabiscuit across the country, "Yeah, they say our horse is too small, our jockey's too big, our trainer's too old, and I'm too dumb to know the difference."

Another classic battle between the relatively unknown champion from the west against the overwhelming favorite - the invincible Champion from the East. I love The Iceman's line after the "Biscuit" looks War Admiral in the eye, "See ya later, Charlie," as they leave them in their dust.

Well, just for the hell of it, let's imagine that Stanford and South Carolina do actually survive what could be the toughest gauntlet of a tournament of all time - and meet in the Final in Minneapolis. The betting line in Vegas will probably be 10 to 1.

You probably still have the December game against the Gamecocks recorded on your DVR. Go back and watch the first, second, and fourth quarters. {The third quarter, of course, was the worst quarter in Stanford women's basketball history - so don't watch it.) Anyway, we beat them in the first two and played them even in the fourth. 

So, what does it take to put together four quarters where we take care of the ball and hit shots? The eastern sportswriters obviously think we can't do it. I know we can. We have "practice" players who can equal Destini Hendersen's ball pressure. 5'-7" with quick feet and hands and lots of energy. I saw during the pregame warmup in Oregon, Haley doing a close facsimile of Steph Curry's terrific dribble workout. During March our players should all get that workout down, plus dribble for hours against Hendersenesque ball pressure, and have the ball taken away every time it's held out for the taking.

Saw something the other night that I commend to you. Maybe you can bring it up on YouTube. Some weeks back, Texas (#9) played The Lady Red Raiders in Austin. I watched it because Charlie Creme has Texas as the #2 seed in the Spokane Region and they were a tough problem for our team. Everything I said about beating the Gamecocks applies to Vic Schaefer's Longhorn team and we may need to beat the Longhorns to get a shot at the Gamecocks. 

The Texas Tech coach got her team so ready - they outfought'em. It looked like the longest hardest forty minutes any one of those players had ever had. Almost every possession the kids from Lubbock attacked the basket. Very few pull-up jumpers or long balls - they went at'em. Two of Vic's stars fouled out, two had four fouls, and four had three. The Lady Raiders made thirty-four free throws. There were some offensive charges, but they were relentless in their attack.

Also, they had a forward (think Haley Jones) bring the ball up hard with the defender trying to keep up. And they fired their passes or did dribble hand-offs.  Then, when the slightest daylight opened up - vrooom!! - they drove the basket. They played a two/three zone that allowed almost no drives to the basket - it collapsed on any driver. Texas hit twelve threes, but it didn't matter - they lost by double digits to those unranked kids from Lubbock who came to outfight the Longhorns.   

Destini's tough, and so are those Texas guards - I'll grant you. but honestly their steals, our ballhandling, and crisp passes are the only obstacles between us and a National Championship. In March we can clean that stuff up. We shoot, move, rebound, guard, and play the game better than they do.  So yeah!

Another Championship is within our reach!

Let's Go Stanford!