ON FRIDAY NIGHT I THINK WE'RE GOING TO SEE BEST GAME EVER PLAYED BY A STANFORD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM.

You've probably watched UConn as much as I have and know what our team needs to do on Friday night. Their three starting guards are among the five best backcourts in the nation - and ours are better. Our defense will have to be even more aggressive and stingy than Arizona's was last season, when they beat UConn in the semis in San Antonio.

Their starting "bigs" are not, in my opinion, among the twenty-five best frontcourts in the nation. Ours is one of the very best. We need to out-rebound and out-score the Huskies in the paint - and provide rim-protection all night against their guards' dribble drives (without fouling.)   

Here's how I see the starters for each team:

Stanford Frontcourt                                UConn Frontcourt

Cameron Brink (6'-4")                           Olivia Nelson-Ododa (6'-5")

In the next two games I see Cameron emerging as the consensus number one post player in the nation.

Fran Belibi (6'-1")                                  Aaliyah Edwards (6'-3")

Every game Fran gets better. She anticipates the flight of the carom, moves to the ball, and gets off the floor quicker every game. Against Texas she was using her 31" vertical, which more than makes up for her height, and ripping the ball out of the air. (On Friday night, once she secures a rebound, she'll protect it with her strong hands from those pesky thieving guards!) I predict our front court will score thirty-five points between them and their subs coming off the bench, including Ashten, Kiki, Brooke, and Alyssa.

Stanford Backcourt                                UConn Backcourt

Lexie Hull (6'-1")                                    Paige Bueckers (5'-11")

Lacie Hull (6'-1")                                                   Azzi Fudd (5'-11")

Haley Jones (6'-1")                                               Christyn Williams (5'-11")

Our three guard starters are longer and stronger than Geno's and they move at least as well. On Friday night, I think our guards will score fifty points between them and the subs coming off the bench, including Hannah, Anna, Agnes, Jana, Jordon, and Elena.

I'm looking for fifteen three-pointers. 

LET'S SHOW EVERYONE THAT OUR TEAM IS THE BEST DIVISION 1 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM IN AMERICA! PERIOD.

THE TERRAPINS WILL BE A STIFF TEST IN SPOKANE FRIDAY NIGHT.

Charlie Creme, ESPN's women's basketball bracketologist, has just revised his rankings for the teams remaining in the Sweet Sixteen. And guess what - he now has Stanford ranked #1 and the Gamecocks #2. He says South Carolina's field goal percentage hasn't reached 40% in four of their last five games. Against Miami in the second round, he says the Gamecocks' 49 points, "were an extreme example of an ailing offense." He adds that, "for the season, South Carolina ranks 310th in Division One for three point shot percentage made and their free throw percentage is only 67%." He went on to explain that they only dropped to #2, in his opinion, because their defense is so good. They only allowed 54 total points in their first two games of the tournament. Also, they lead the nation in blocked shots and opponent's field goal percentage.     

He ranks Maryland as #10 of the sixteen remaining teams, although he says they're peaking at just the right time. 

ESPN has also updated their list of the top 25 players in the remaining sixteen teams. Stanford and Maryland are the only teams with three players each on his list. Lexie was added, finally. The following is an ESPN piece after Sunday's games: 

Player of the year candidates and All-Americans were on the court Sunday. Who impressed you most individually?

"The three top candidates for player of the year were in action and none of them was particularly good. Boston rebounded well, but her tough shooting day was a big reason for South Carolina's offensive struggles. Smith was stymied by a smaller South Dakota defense. Clark had one of the toughest games of her career.

Instead, Stanford's Lexie Hull shot her way to a career-high 36 points. Hull is considered the third-best player on her own team, but had the biggest scoring output of anyone on Sunday."

Finally the eastern pundits are discovering Lexie and the depth of talent Tara is dealing with.

Diamond Miller, Angel Reese, and Ashley Owusu are Maryland's big three. Against Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday those three had 65 of the Terp's 89 points. They made 22 of 37 field goal attempts and 5 of 10 three pointers. Miller is a 6'-3" guard who is athletic and lethal. Owusu doesn't have a long lean basketball body, but she's 6' tall,  strong, and coordinated. Reese is another 6'-3" athletic player who does most of her work in the paint. 

Miller was injured and didn't play in November when Stanford beat Maryland in the Bahamas. Both teams have come a long way since that tournament, and Diamond Miller is back in the lineup and is a great addition. 

You're not supposed to waltz into the Final Four unchallenged, and believe you me, our next two games will be tough challenges. Look for a starting five for the Terps that looks something like this:

Diamond Miller        6'-3"    Jr.        Guard

Angel Reese             6'-3"    So.       Forward

Ashley Owusu          6'-0"    Jr.        Guard

Katie Benzen            5'-6"    Grad    Guard

Chloe Bibby             6'-2"    Grad    Forward 

The Hull twins will be playing in front of their friends and family. Let's make this next game our best of the season - so far - which will include Haley hitting a dozen 12' jumpshots in the painted area, several three-pointers, and a bunch of her patented magical layups. 

I've added a piece below, that I wrote several weeks ago about the Longhorns, in case we see them on Sunday.

LET'S GO CARDINAL!! WE'RE ROLLING!! 

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 in December. 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!

ON FRIDAY WE GET THE BIG SKY CHAMPIONS - THE 22 & 12 MONTANA STATE BOBCATS FROM BOZEMAN. ONE OF THE BEST 16 SEEDS EVER.

Lace'em up tight, Stanford. The Montana State Bobcats love to win basketball games and they're coming to Palo Alto looking for a fight. Darian White has a better scoring average than any of our players at 16 ppg and Kola Bad Bear is, as her name implies, a big strong problem. Leia Beattie isn't called "Buckets" for nothing. The days of first round walkovers is gone forever. These Cats won the Big Sky championship last week by beating several good determined teams. They will not go quietly into the night. 

It's just as well, because if we get past the Bobcats, on Sunday we play either Kansas or Georgia Tech and both are legit. Both teams have four players averaging double digit scoring. And both have defenses that limit their opponents to average scoring in the 60's. The Ramblin Wrecks have one of the best international players in the country in 6'-4" Lorela Cubaj (pronounced CooBye) who averages a double double and was recently named to the All-ACC First Team and ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Kansas has a 6'-6" post player and a 6'-3" forward who between them score 20 points a game and pull down 15 rebounds. Then, there's a flock of four guards who average forty points and 15 rebounds per contest. These Jayhawks are dangerous and are to be taken seriously.  

Okay . . . enough with the obligatory cautionary respect.

I just read a piece in ESPN by a compendium of pundits brandishing ten completed brackets - eight had the Gamecocks winning the championship, one had Stanford and the other UConn.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of their monumental disrespect!  

Let's play Friday and Sunday like the obvious best team in the country - no cruising, no easing up, no letting up - a minimum of fifteen threes per round, a dozen breakaway fast break buckets, and three or four Most Outstanding Players. And lockdown defense. We're on our own court - let's make some noise that can be heard from Waco to Storrs! How about a couple of hundred point outings to get things started!!

We're the defending champs!! Let's play like it!!

COME ON STANFORD - LET'S ROLL!!