THE BEAVERS AND THE DUCKS ARE COMING TO TOWN THIS WEEK. LET'S BEAT'EM BOTH!!

This week we get the Oregons in Maples - OSU on Friday at 8PM and the Ducks on Sunday at 1PM. 

Oregon State is currently 11 and 8 overall. 3 and 5 in conference, but in good old Gill Coliseum they're 9 and 3. I'd like to know why both Oregon schools have so much player turnover. In this offseason Oregon State lost four terrific players: Taya Corosdale to Duke, Greta Kampschroeder to Michigan, Kennedy Brown to Duke, and Taylor Jones to Texas. 

I've heard in interviews with players who've left, that for some players Scott micro-manages too much - has too tight a grip on everything - every possession is scripted. So, his team this year is made up mostly of new faces - he's re-loaded with a bunch of really good players. Two strong players transferred in: Bendu Yeaney from Arizona and Shalexxus Aaron from USC - plus three terrific freshmen who get a lot of playing time. 

Their three double digit scorers are a sophomore and two freshmen: Talia vonOelhoffen, Raegan Beers, and Timea Gardiner. vonOelhoffen resembles a sophomore Haley Jones, Beers is a 6'-4" wide-body who does a great job in the paint, and Gardiner was named PAC12 freshman of the week after their win by one point last weekend against Oregon. Jalena Mitrovic, their 6'-9" center from Serbia continues to improve and gets more playing time this season.  

It's a similar story in Eugene. The Ducks lost five important players this offseason: Sydney Parrish to Indiana, Maddie Scherr to Kentucky, Kylee Watson to Notre Dame, Chanaya Pinto to Penn State, and Taylor Bigby to USC. Those five players could probably make up a decently ranked basketball team. Nyara Sabally chose to pass on her Covid extra year and left for the WNBA. 

Of course the Transfer Portal flows both ways, so the Ducks have two starters from the Transfer Portal: Endiya Rogers from USC and Taya Hanson from ASU. Seems like these two teams have way too much turnover. Just think how much better Oregon would be if those five players had stayed. Makes Stanford look so stable - and I'm very grateful. I greatly enjoy watching the development of our players over their four (or five) year college career. Look at the difference in every aspect of Hannah's game over these four years. 

Oregon this season is 13 and 6 overall, 4 and 4 in conference. They have four double digit scorers in Rogers, Grace Vanslooten (a talented highly recruited 6'-3" freshman forward), Paopao, and Chance Gray (another highly recruited freshman guard).  

Both these teams would benefit enormously from a win in Maples this weekend - but that could be said of every team we play. We've got to be ready and waiting for them with our A game locked in. Let's start fast and finish strong Friday night and Sunday afternoon - two solid convincing wins!

COME ON STANFORD LET'S ROCK!!

THE BUFFALOES REQUIRE OUR A-GAME. LET'S GIVE IT TO THEM!!

The Buffaloes have four double digit scorers, their point guard Sherrod is still greased lightning, and their Frida is a terrific three point shooter. Quay Miller and Aaronette Vonleh are stout, physical, and effective in the paint. They held Pili to single digits the other night when they beat Utah on the 6th. 

So Stanford's task is plain - we've got to play great basketball on both ends. If we do we'll win - and if we don't we'll lose. It's that simple. It's nothing like it was in the past, when the Utes and the Buffs came to town we could waltz to a couple of easy wins. These Buffs mean business. They're riding an eight game winning streak and on Sunday they intend to stretch it to nine. On the 13th they beat Arizona - that's two Top Ten teams so far in January.  

So, we stash our B-game we've been using in the last three games and show the nation our A-game - and outplay the team from Boulder in every aspect of the game. It'll be fun.

LET'S GO CARDINAL. GIVE IT 110%!!!

WE NEED TO OUTRUN, OUTSHOOT, OUT-REBOUND, AND OUT-HUSSLE THE UTES FRIDAY NIGHT!! TOTALLY!!

I've had a hard time getting back to this blog. I felt sick at heart after Sunday afternoon. Numb really. I keep thinking I must be exaggerating, but that game in the Galen Center felt like the worst game I've seen a Stanford women's basketball team play in the 40 years I've been cheering for them. I left the game feeling sort of dazed and proceeded to get misled by a screwed-up GPS navigation system and totally lost down in the belly of the megalopolis in driving rain and bumper to bumper mostly stop and a little go traffic. 

Our group looked like they wanted no part of that gym, that team, or even playing basketball. They made 17 shots in 40 minutes. (30%) It felt worse. And it seemed like they completed about 30% of their passes, as well. They hit 4 of 21 3's. (19%) It was grim. They entered the game averaging 82 points and scored 46.   

I know a lot of it was terrific coaching on Lindsay's part. But most of it was the home team wanted it a whole lot more than we did. Before the game, talking with the guy next to me, watching a listless warmup on our end, I mentioned that for the Trojans, this game is their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. That's the way they played on both ends of the floor. This game would be the turning point of their season!

I've recovered, pretty much. Just in time to welcome a Utah team into Maples that plays like they love playing together - love running and gunning - and love playing basketball. They're young energetic - and they smell blood in the water. They know they could use a big win against Stanford to solidify their reputation as a major contender worthy of their Top Ten ranking. They're coming off a come from behind one point win against Arizona and feel justifiably good about themselves.

Alisa Pili plays in the middle. She's undersized, strong, stout, and coordinated. She averages 20 points and 6 rebounds. Kneepkens, Johnson, and McQueen average double figures and 13 rebounds between them. 

I'll be there. I'm interested to see if this coach I so admire - and these players I think of as contenders - can overcome such a dismal experience and play like a Final Four calibre team less than a week later. Utah is fast and quick and exuberant. What is Stanford? 

COME ON STANFORD - LET'S SHAKE IT OFF AND WIN BIG!!!

 

OUR TRIP TO LA IS GOING TO BE THE TOUGHEST WE'VE HAD IN YEARS. SO GET READY!

 Our upcoming trip to play the LA schools is going to be the toughest in years. We play UCLA on Friday the 13th in Pauley at 8PM.  They're ranked #12 and are playing great. Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice are as good a guard tandem as any in the nation. Rice plays point guard more like a senior than a freshman - confident and skilled. Osborne plays exactly like a senior - confident and skilled. Emily Bessoir their 6'-4" post player is much improved, but not as good as she will be. 

Cori's number one recruiting class is transforming her program.  All five play double-digit minutes and average 34 points per game. Gabriela Jaquez is the sister of the men's team star and her game is advanced for a freshman. They recently lost by a few points to Oregon State, but their leading scorer, Charisma Osborne was injured and didn't play. In her absence, Kiki Rice scored 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. (What's she going to be like as a senior?) Both their team and ours lost to South Carolina by single digits, but their game was in Columbia.

We definitely need our "A" game Friday night from the opening tip to the final buzzer. 

USC is much better than their record or their ranking would indicate. Kadi Sissoko, a 6'-2" slasher, is one of the quickest most dynamic players in the country. Rayah Marshall, their 6'-4" power forward (take that literally), is emerging as one of the most effective post players in the PAC12. In their last game she scored 33 points against Oregon State. Destiny Littleton came off the bench for Dawn Staley, but she's a dangerous starter for Lindsay. They recently lost to Oregon, but Sissoko couldn't play. They're really just getting to know each other, since most of them recently emerged from the Transfer Portal. Even as a bunch of semi-strangers they're darn good. The Trojans are going to do a lot of damage during the conference season and I predict they end up as a ranked team that makes the NCAA Tournament. How do you think they're approaching their upcoming game against #2? 

TWO HARD-EARNED WINS. LET'S GO CARDINAL!!

    

ON SATURDAY AND MONDAY WE GET THE ARIZONAS. THE DEVILS AND THE CATS WILL BOTH BE MONUMENTALLY TOUGH GAMES!!

 Coach Adair and her Sun Devils have come through a ton of adversity this preseason. They've come out of it as a tight-knit, determined, enormously improved team. The new coach took over in April from Charlie. The adversity started then and hasn't let up. She preaches toughness, grit, determination, and togetherness - and her young team has taken her sermon to heart.  Although they've rarely had enough healthy players to scrimmage or walk through their next opponent's offense - they've won five hard-fought games and given a great account of themselves in their loses. Against Notre Dame in the Bahamas they were up by three with three minutes to go in the third quarter, but couldn't withstand the Fighting Irish's furious rally down the stretch. They came out of that game knowing they could go toe-to-toe with a top ten team. 

On Saturday we have an unranked .500 team coming to Maples, but let me tell you - they've got the heart of a wounded lion and they'll fight like one - tooth and nail. 

On Monday we get the 10 and 1 Wildcats. They recently trounced Baylor by twenty-one down in Texas. Jade Loville is a grad transfer from ASU and is their leading scorer. She plays like her dad, a three-time Super Bowl champion.

Maya Nnaji is a 6'-4" freshman who is the highest ranked recruit in program history. She was the ninth ranked player in the 2022 class. In the preseason she has averaged fifteen minutes per game, seven points and seven rebounds. 

Esmery Martinez had 15 rebounds against Baylor. Helena Pueyo is a candidate for sixth-player of the year. The team had eight threes and Jade had four of them.

We're almost too familiar with Pellington and Reese and the rest of the Wildcats. Monday will be one of our toughest conference contests. 

COME ON CARDINAL - LET'S ROLL!! 

CREIGHTON AND CAL ARE NEXT. BOTH HAVE DONE A LOT OF WINNING THIS SEASON. WE NEED TO COME OUT STRONG AND TAKE CONTROL IN BOTH.

Creighton is a bunch of stout, slow-footed, vertically-challenged non-athletic white girls from Omaha who can shoot, play defense, and score in the paint in unlikely ways. So far this season they're 8 and 2. Four of their five starters average double digits - Morgan Maly 18, Lauren Jensen 17, Emma Ronsiek 12, and Molly Morgensen 10.

They're used to being guarded by taller players and scoring against them. They hit open threes, step-back fall-aways, scoop shots, and looping hook shots that somehow usually go in. If you don't take them seriously, they'll beat you.

We need to take them seriously.

Cal is much improved. Their whole roster shows tons of off-season dedication and hard work. They're 9 and 2 so far overall with losses to SMU and Notre Dame. Jayda Curry is still their leading scorer, but Kemery Martin, Evelien Lutje Schipholt, and Leilani McIntosh are now double digit scorers. Two common opponents for our team and theirs this season are Pacific and CSUN. They beat Pacific by 17 and we beat them by 54. They beat CSUN by 30 and we beat them by 64. 

We need to come out strong and take control.

LET'S GO STANFORD!! LET'S WIN BOTH!!   

    

TENNESSEE ISN'T COMING TO PALO ALTO FOR THE WEATHER.

Things have changed since I previewed our December 18th game against Tennessee. Tamari Key, their 6'-6" post player, is out for the rest of the season with a medical problem. Rickea Jackson, their 6'-2" transfer from Mississippi State, has been returned to her spot in the starting lineup. For several weeks she had been missing from the team after removal by the coach. 

Jordan Horston has recovered from her knee injury and is playing very well. Jillian Hollingshead, their 6'-5" freshman, is back in the lineup, as well. 

Their preseason has been an up-and-down affair. They're currently 5 and 5. Recently they beat Colorado by 18 and lost to #13 UCLA by 18. They lost to #22 Gonzaga by one and to #7 Virginia Tech by three. 

They started the season ranked #5 and are currently unranked. In Charlie Creme's first iteration of the 64 team bracket, Tennessee was a number two seed. In his latest edition they have fallen out of the 64 team field altogether. 

So, if we're looking for a moral to this story, it could be that there are no guarantees in women's basketball - and just because Stanford has been a ranked team for 615 weeks there can be no resting on past laurels. 

Obviously, from the Vols' viewpoint, their trip to Palo Alto is step one on their road back to the NCAA Tournament. They aren't coming out here for the weather. Jordan Horston is one of the most electrifying athletes in America and I'm sure she fully intends to put up twenty-five or thirty on the 18th in a winning effort.

Their charter from Knoxville to SFO will bring a quiet, serious, determined group ready to turn their season around by knocking off #2. Kelly Harper is a three-time National Champion for Pat Summit and a Tennessee legend. She will have her team ready to win on the 18th. 

Stanford has to come off their two week break ready to rock. We can't be slow starting or sluggish out of the gate. Tennessee means business and Jordan and her crew will come out swinging and slinging. Be Ready!!

LET'S GO STANFORD!!