March 2008 Archives

March 31st-Fourth Round-Elite Eight

We won! We won! Yes! YES! Candice cried, Cissy sat the bench, we ate salty snacks, and Stanford beat Maryland to go to the final four.

Oh my gosh, there is so much more to this game but I am too elated to write it all now. I mean, JJ Hones had a career night with 23 points, Candice was in top form and finished with 41, Kayla hit 3 three’s (Yes, way) and Stanford had the best balanced scoring performance I have seen all year, if not in a few years. Okay, let me tell you.

Yes, R came over to my house so we could TIVO the game and go back and forth at will (it’s fun to make your own replays, as the coverage will often cut away to something we don’t want to see). And, yes, I got a little teary-eyed (so did R!) when they did that whole segment about Maryland’s coach Brenda Frese and being pregnant for the first time during the season, giving birth to 2 healthy twin boys! I loved her talking about how she has often thought of her players as her “girls”, but know she knows she is coaching someone’s daughter, and that makes her more responsible to be a positive force in their lives and how special that is. Excuse me, I need a tissue…..

Oh, and yes, we have a little pre-game ritual we like to do. Would you like to hear it? Here’s how it goes:

C: I think Stanford is going to lose.

R: Are you crazy, Stanford is totally going to win.

The funny thing is I am the optimist of this duo….I guess R is just a fanatic. I said that Stanford was going to lose during the second Cal game, when Stanford won by 400, and when we met them again in the PAC-10 finals, and before the Tennessee game, the UTEP game, UCLA in the PAC-10 tournament, every NCAA play-off game…. oh heck, just about any important game I say it. And any not-so-important game, R points out. Cal? UCLA? We didn’t let them score 30 points until 4-5 minutes left in the game during the tournament.

Anyway, in this game I said Stanford was going to lose, once again got key help from minor players in this game, and they were not one-dimensional in scoring, although they did hit 8 of 12 threes in the first half. They scored so many ways! Candice hit threes (from 4 feet behind the arc!) and also would drive in, and would occasionally pull up for the jumper. Kayla was blocked inside so she came out and hit open threes. As I said, Candice scored 41 points. That 41 points was the fifth best performance in tournament history (she also owns the third) and she is the first player with two 40-point games in tourney history. (Not even Candace Parker? I am surprised)

Yes, Hones averages 6 points game. She finished with 23. R said JJ didn’t want to be outdone by Gold-Onwude’s sweet sixteen game. Kayla, who is a good scorer, (when ever Stanford passes her the ball!!!!!) had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Jayne, Stanford second leading scorer had a quiet night and only scored 11, but when Kayla is hitting threes, who needs Jayne to have the hot hand?

Yes, this was a high scoring game, 98-87. And the tempo was quick the whole 40 minutes. Hats off to Maryland’s Kristy Toliver who just could not miss. Toliver scored nine straight points to pull Maryland within single digits at 79-72. Toliver threw up a rainbow with all of Candice Wiggins’ 5’11 and a half inches stretched out in her face and it went in to come within eight. She finished with 35. However, Maryland went 1 of 5 at the free-throw line over the next two minutes, missing its best chance to rally.

At the buzzer, Candice jumped into the arms of her teammates and started crying. She fell to the floor and kept crying. ESPN injury woman (you know, the woman who does sideline duty finding out how they are treating injuries. "Dan, they are putting a band-aid on it and he/she will be back on the court/field in no time"). Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the ESPN sideline reporter (now known as Injury Woman) grabbed Candice out of the pile and wanted to interview her. Candice kept crying and also trying to regain her composure (she does go to Stanford, ya know). Every time Injury Woman said the words “final four” Candice started crying again. She would listen to the question, but could not make her brain comply. At one point Candice said, “I can’t think right now, I am just over come with emotions”. You could see her teammates in the background carryin’ on, and then they started passing out the shirts.

I told R they should put her out of her misery and let her be with her teammates. This moment has been 4 long years in the making, and she should be celebrating. But Injury Woman plugged away, asking another serious question. Finally Candice said, “um, I don’t know, I am so sorry America....” After another attempt, IW finally let her go and she jumped up and down towards her teammates and right into the arms of none-other-than Coach Tara VanDerVeer. Tara also doesn’t have her any children of her own, and I am sure she treats them all like her daughters, but Candice is her bestest, most favoritest player in the world.

Imagine, Candice apologizing to us.

No Candice, thank you.

Go here to see Candice cutting down the net.

I did not like this game. I did not like this game at all. The game, to which I am referring to, is Stanford’s sweet sixteen game against Pittsburg. I won’t keep you in suspense, Stanford won, and the score of 72-53 made it not look close, but close it was. So close, that at the half, Stanford was only up by one point. So close, that Candice didn't take a shot for the first 8 1/2 minutes and her first basket didn't come until eleven minutes into the game. In fact, she missed five of her first eight shots and only finished with 14 points. So close that Stanford let Pitt’s Shavnte Zellous get, well over zealous, and torch them for 22 points.

To be fair, ESPN jinxed Stanford before the game even started. They really played up the Stanford scoring, and Wiggins in particular. They said in the last 2 tournament games, Candice had combined for 57 points, the most in the country. They also emphasized her 44 points last game. Wanna know who was second in the nation in scoring the last 2 tournament games? Jayne Appel with 53. Granted, they were playing lesser teams, but so were all the other number 1 seeds. (Oh, that’s right, Stanford was a number 2 seed and played even tougher opponents then the number one seeds. Why didn’t Candice Parker score 44 in her last game? But I digress). ESPN kept asking, “Will Candice get 44 points tonight? Stay tuned”. Talk about a double whammy jinx, all right.

So what does Candice come out and do? She misses badly on her opening shots and didn’t make her first points until over 11 minutes into the game. Stanford even tried that little back door play from the center at the three point line to Candice breaking for the basket, and the Pitt defender intercepted the pass as if SHE KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! Finally, someone studies film.

To be sure, ESPN had the cameras following Candice around, Candice being Candice, and that smile! And ESPN also played up the fact that Candice played basketball against Mallory Winn of Pitt when they were both girls in San Diego. But Candice didn’t do that much, and the announcers loved to point out whenever Mallory made a basket before Candice. Jayne also had some trouble getting going. So who stepped up for the Cardinal to propel them to their victory? None other then 5-points-per-game-avereger-and-savior-of-the-Tennessee-game, the unlikely Rosalyn Gold-Onwude.

She hit clutch shots and some killer threes to end with 15 for the game, 2 short of her career high. Which was good, because she was getting burned on defense. She get getting screened at the fouled line and no one adjusted and her player would pull up for an easy jump shot. Ros even fouled out of the game with a few minutes left and we needed her still.

This was a very physical game, and I am worried Maryland, who is being, stronger, faster, will also play them physically. Two of the Cardinal went down with grimaces on their faces and put a scare in every Cardinal fan’s hearts. The first Cardinal to go down was JJ Hones, she was scrambling for a loose ball and got hit in the hip and was spun around. The cameras flashed to the bench and Van DerVeer was sitting calmly and looked at her trainers, who then rushed on the court to JJ . She ended up shaken up and staying in the game. (okay, remember that)

With about 2 minutes left, Stanford made a steal and Candice broke for her basket. None of the Pitt players thought to get back on defense. Stanford threw it down court and Candice was all alone, running to the basket. A Pitt defender raced after her. As Candice slowed at the basket and jumped for the lay-up, he Pitt defender caught up to her and grabbed her non-shooting hand, which should be an intentional foul. Candice was thrown so off balance that she missed the shot and fell hard into the stanchion that holds up the basket. Unbelievably, the ref calls only a regular foul, and the network showed replays of how the Pitt defender did not even come close to the ball. (more on the ref later) Jayne extended a big paw to her to help her up and Candice turned to her with a look of pain on her face and waved her off. Van DerVeer was up like a shot and ran out onto the court, a big coaching no-no (coaches are not allowed on the court, usually technical foul). She was at Candice’s side in an instant (remember, with JJ, she just sent the trainers when the refs gave their permission.) Candice got up and walked around gingerly.

Now, one of the refs starts talking to Tara. Probably to say, coach, you just violated the rules and we should give you a technical but you are a hall of fame coach so we are going to give you the benefit of the doubt. The announcers are all over it and practically leaning in to hear the conversation and report it to us. Tara is very animated, well, as animated as Tara can get and explaining to the ref. She said she thought Candice was really hurt and needed medical attention. Okay, says the ref, since you came out under that pretext, Candice must come out of the game and have someone else shoot her shots. Tara argues some more and says now Candice has shaken it off and wants to return. Fine, says the ref but she must stay out until one second comes off the clock in order for you to avoid the technical. So coach puts in their best shooter, who is 6-4 Morgan Clyborn! Morgan Clyborn? Yes, Gold-Onwude has just fouled out, but they should have put in Cissy Pierce to continue as guard.

Morgan tanks the first one, and hits the second one. Candice is waiting at the scores table to check back into the game. The blow the horn and Candice walks onto the court. The ref sticks her arm out and grabs Candice around the waist. No time had gone off the clock and the announcers hear the ref say at least one second must go off the clock, so Candice has to wait until a dead ball to check in. Now Stanford has Morgan Clyborn in at the guard spot. Play resumes and Pitt misses at the other end and Stanford grabs the rebound and starts to outlet and fast break and Tara doesn’t care if the whole Pitt team fell down, she has already called a timeout to get Candice back in. The game was still in doubt at this point.

So the ref who didn’t call the intentional foul on Candice was Mary Day. Day called the infamous charging foul on Candice in the Elite Eight game against LSU in 2006. That questionable call cost Stanford a trip to the final foul.

Jayne picked up the slack in the second half and scored 22 and Kayla added 10. They looked more balanced in scoring in the second half. Next up is Maryland, the number one seed of their region. Winner gets to the final four.

Oh, just read that Tara was roommates with Pat Gold, who is Gold-Onwude’s mother. Ros was recruited heavily by Maryland, our next opponent, but Tara sold her Dad on the education part of Stanford and now we need her and Candice and Jayne and Kalya and JJ, and, maybe Jill, to have a big game against Maryland.

What is up with the Stanford women these days? Not only has Stanford been on a win streak throughout the PAC 10 tournament and the early rounds of the NCAA play-offs, but they have been taking turns trying to outscore the other teams individually!

Case in point, Candice had 30 points in the PAC-10 tournament finals game against Cal, and Cal could only muster 35 total points. I think Candice had outscored them the whole game until Tara made her sit down for scrubs with about 4 minutes left. Then Jayne wanted in on the act. During the first round of the NCAA play-offs, Jayne had 29 first half points and Cleveland State had just 22. To be fair, Cleveland State didn’t have anyone over 6 feet tall so Jayne could score at will. Tara made Jayne sit down most of the second half so she stopped at 33, or else she might have broken the single game record of 50. Cleveland St. did rally to score 47 total points.

Then came Candice’s final game on her home floor of Maples against UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Let’s just say she was inspired. She came out hard charging, pressing a little too hard and missing some threes. Then she decided she was going to score come heck or high water, so she was driving in on them like crazy, and most everything she threw up went in. Sometimes it would go in and the other team was called for a foul anyway. She was not to be denied. It was an inspiring performance.

UTEP played Stanford tight for the first half but got tired in the second half. In fact, the score was 38 to 29 Stanford with a few seconds left in the first half. But Stanford had the ball, or more correctly, Candice had the ball, and everyone “cleared out to way”. UTEP knew she was going to keep the ball and drive to the basket, the coaches knew she was going to keep the ball and drive to the basket, and all 5,500 of us in Maples Pavilion knew Candice was going to keep the ball and drive to the basket. So she kept the ball and drove to the basket and it went in. A jubilant Candice and team ran off the court at half time with the score 40-29.

To give UTEP some credit, they were playing over their heads and playing well that first half. It’s just that they were not used to having to keep up that intensity for 2 halves. And that made all the difference. Stanford knows they need to stay intense the whole game. I believe that’s what separates good teams from great ones.

So, let’s pick up the action in the second half with about 7 minutes left in the game. Candice has 38 points, UTEP has 42. Now, the UTEP coach was standing on the floor all night, and I was just waiting for her to get a technical (even yelling, “get off the floor!” a few times to help the refs). Then Candice missed a lay up (a rarity, as she came out on fire this game) and their 6’4 center, Izabela Piekarska grabbed the rebound. Okay, Candice hates to miss, and she really hates to miss lay ups, so when she missed and saw the other team had gotten the rebound, she hustled after the ball and knocked into their big center and the guard the center was trying to throw the ball to. The refs blew their whistles and both R and I thought it was Candice’s foul. Then we see Candice on the free throw line, they CALLED IT ON THE CENTER! Well, the UTEP coach went nuts and got “T-ed” up. Nothing like home court advantage.

So Candice , recognizing a gift or the luckiest call in the world when she sees it, calmly sinks the 2 shots for the technical. Candice 40, UTEP 42. Then she gets the 1 and 1. Makes both, Candice 42, UTEP 42. She has single-handedly tied the other team.

Then the team goes back to pitch and catch to Jayne, who scores at will. Jayne ended up with 20 points. With about 4 minutes left. Candice makes a steal and goes coast to coast and sees that UTEP has three defenders back already. No problem, she slows up and sinks that jumper, too. Candice had 44. UTEP had just made some foul shots and a basket so they had 46 at that point. Candice came out for good with 3 minutes left and UTEP went on to score 54 against the scrubs. Maybe if Tara had left Candice in, she would have tied or beaten the record of 50.

As it was, Candice topped her previous NCAA-best performance of 34 points from 2006, against Florida State. It was the third most points scored in women's tournament history and the most since Sheryl Swoopes had 47 in the 1993 championship game for Texas Tech. Her performance tied Kate Starbird's school record and was the highest scoring tournament game ever by a Stanford player. Lorri Bauman of Drake has the all-time record of 50, set in 1982 against Maryland. Dang, Tara, couldn’t you have let her play those last 3 minutes? Cissy Pierce got in the last 6 minutes, her last time on Maples court, too.

They play Saturday TBD.

And, oh, Cal lost a heart breaker just moments before. Their player tried to signal for a time out, and the Cal assistant coach called it as well (a no-no, as only a player on the court or the head coach can call it) and the refs called Cal for traveling instead. That gave the ball to George Washington in the final seconds and they shot an airball. But Cal did not take care of business. The timeout/traveling cal laws a bad on, to be sure, but Cal let them shoot and they did not grab the rebound, either. GW put it back for the win at the buzzer. Remember what I said about great teams playing intensely for the whole 40 minutes. Stanford, you listening?

5:49 PM *Ring, ring*

R: Are you watching this game?

C: No, don’t tell me, don’t tell me! I set my Tivo to watch it later.

R: Jayne is …..

C: DON’T TELL ME!

R: She is killing it.

C: I don’t want to hear. I want to watch it later.

R: Well, you ain’t got nothing to worry about, we have doubled their score.

C: Ahh, stop it……What about Candice?

R: She is okay.

C: Just okay?

R: Just okay.

C: How is the crowd? Is it very crowded?

R: Not very crowded.

C: Darn, I wanted the place to be packed.

R: I know, it is too bad there are not more people. That will just bring the critics out that no one cares about women’s basketball.

C: Okay, I have to get dinner on the table. Thanks for the update.

9:53 PM 8Ring, Ring*

R: Hello?

C: Oh my gosh, you were so right about Jayne. She was unstoppable.

R: She could score at will, couldn’t she.

C: Yes, and she won the tip off! It was funny, the first play, the person guarding Jayne was fronting her with no help behind, and Jayne put her hand up and they threw it to her and she had an easy path to the basket for 2. The announcers said they can do that all day. Then, Stanford was trying to hit three’s and were missing and were down 6 to 5. The announcers said why weren’t they feeding it inside? Cleveland State didn’t have anyone over 6 feet tall. After a time out, Tara must have pointed that out and then they kept hitting her and she could score at will. Even did a reverse lay up. She made it look easy.

R: I know, why didn’t the Cleveland State adjust sooner? They went to a zone after the half and limited her, but by then it was too late.

C: I know, I love the stat at half time, Cleveland State 22, Jayne 29. She outscored the whole team by herself in the first half.

R: I think she broke her own personal record of 30 for a game.

C: Yeah, she finished with 33 after sitting out most of the second half. Think if she would have played the whole game.

R; Isn’t Cleveland State from your neck of the woods, Ohio?

C: It’s funny, I never heard of them. But I love their back story. They won only 8 games last year and were picked to finish last in their conference. They ended up winning 19 games, WINNING their conference, and got to the NCAA’s for the first time ever.

R: It makes me kinda sorry they had to meet Stanford in the first round.

C: I know, I love that this coach was able to turn them around. It is rare to see such a drastic change in women’s basketball.

R: Did you see Candice’s technical?

C: At first I missed it, as I was peeling potatoes for tomorrow.

R: You were peeling potatoes?

C: Well tomorrow is Easter. I need potatoes for potato salad and mashed potatoes. I looked up and thought the ref called a time out.

R: Yeah, I wasn’t sure what had happened.

C: But good thing I had Tivo, I rewound it and watched it again. I was surprised they called it. Candice was fouled going to the basket and she threw her elbow backwards as if to say, get off of me. She didn’t make contact. But a ref whistled her right away. The network cut to commercial not knowing what happened. When they came back they showed the replay and had obviously done their homework during the break. They said that the rule says if a play takes a swing at another player, irregardless if it touches anyone, they get an automatic technical. And she did swing her elbow.

R: I bet Candice wasn’t used to that. Usually she smiles and all the calls go her way. I think that was her first ever technical. 

R: They play the second round Monday night at Maples. Wanna go?

C: Heck yes! It will be our last chance to see Candice live. I hope we get a ball from that game!

The announcements of the brackets take place today, live, at 4 PM on ESPN. Stanford will be filmed live. I set my Tivo. Around 6 PM, R calls me asks what happened. I forgot to watch, so I turn on the tape. 

The first image they show is of smilin’ Candice Wiggins! I kid you not, right there on National Television. Then some other players I don’t care about, then they go right to Stanford highlights. Then they say Stanford was the only number one seed to fall to a number 16 seed  (and they show the tears). Then they say something such as, will the Cardinal be number one again tonight? Then they cut to a live picture of Stanford, right in the very lounge we got to see yesterday! 

And who is on the middle of the couch? None other than Candice Wiggins! The team is all wearing their black warm up suits, sittin’ on the black leather couches we touched, and the only other person in there is Tara, sitting right next to Candice! (her fave) Tara is wearing a red sweatshirt so she sticks out a little in that sea of black. I describe the scene to R, and notice Jayne is sitting on Tara’s other side, and she is talking and laughing and whispering to Jillian Harmon, even thought the camera is on them and she is on live TV!. Always laughing and talking. 

R asks me what seed they got. They start with everyone else. I am glad I have this on Tivo. I start fast forwarding. They go through all of the other three brackets. Then they show Stanford and Maryland. Will Stanford get the last number one seed? Back in a moment. Ahh! Then back to Maryland and Stanford. Maryland gets the number one seed, Stanford gets the seconds seed in the west. Maryland is jumping up and down, Stanford is shocked and silent. It is just as Amy Tucker predicted. Maybe having a live camera in their faces was not such a good idea. They keep cutting back and forth from happy Maryland to unhappy Stanford. I have never seen Candice frown. It is such a deep one, too. I tell R Tara looks like she could spit nails out of her mouth. Jayne still whispers to Jill (once a school girl…) but not as happy as before. 

They ask Tara if she is disappointed? She says diplomatically that she is happy to be in the tournament and playing. Then she said not a lot of the selection committee, based in the east, gets to see much of Stanford. She hopes her team will do well, and that then everyone will get to see Stanford. Little jab, said with a straight face (spitting nails). 

Stanford plays Cleveland State at 5:30 PM Saturday at Maples. 

Okay, how powerful is the Stanford women’s basketball team? Well, they got UCLA coach Kathy Olivier fired.

Okay, here’s the real story. When C and R saw UCLA coach Kathy Olivier had resigned, we thought there must have been pressure from her AD because her team was beat by Stanford in the semi finals of the PAC-10 tournament. I mean, come on, UCLA only got to 30  points with 5 minutes to go, that in and of itself should get a coach fired. But we got the real story by going straight to the horse’s mouth, none other than Tara VanDerveer herself…. (uh, not that we are calling Tara a horse or anything…oh dear, let’s start over again.) 

So I asked R if she would like to go to the Stanford shoot-a-thon, a clever fund-raiser where the Cardinal faithful can watch the women shoot, and then pledge money per shot they make (or if you are poor, like C and R, give a flat donation). Tours of the locker room are also promised. We are here to watch the fun.

When we get to Maples, the Fast Break Club has a raffle where you can purchase tickets and guess which class will do the best in made shots and lay-ups. We bet on the seniors. There are only 2, but one of them is Candice. Then they have a cup for each player and you can put in a ticket to the player you think will make a half court shot. We get 5 chances. C puts one in Candice’s cup. R puts one in Jayne’s. I think, Hannah Donaghe can make some crazy threes, so I put one in her cup. Then we put another in Candice’s and another in Jayne’s. We are nothing if not predictable. 

Then Tara gets on the microphone welcoming us and encourages us to “visit”. Did she just say visit? Can we walk around and talk to the players? Heck, we don’t have to be asked twice. The first group we walk towards is Jillian Harmon and, well, I don’t know, it was Jillian Harmon. She sees us coming and turns to us. We talked to her in the fall at the soccer game and I was in the locker room earlier in the season, so she must recognize us (as the stalkers we are). The first thing I say is “New Zealand?” She laughs and says, “Yeah, it’s true.” 

We chat about her possibly being in the Olympics. She asks how we found out about that. The internet, baby. Wonder if she ever reads C and R? 

Then we make our way around the gym. Jayne is always talking and laughing and goofing off. I make R spend extra time with Candice. Tara VanDerVeer comes out of the locker room and I spy her out of the corner of my eye coming right behind us. She passes us and stops to say hello and thanks for coming out. Okay, we can’t pass up this moment. I ask her about Kathy Olivier (remember the start of this blog?) Was she fired because Stanford beat them so badly. 

No, said VanDerVeer, she said Kathy just got tired of UCLA not putting any effort or money into the women’s program. She just had had enough. Whoa, take that UCLA. And I am glad I didn’t put that all over the blog she was fired for the bad game against Stanford. We continue our chat and she couldn’t be more courteous. What a class act. 

Then we wander around and Amy Tucker comes up and talks to us. Thanks us for supporting the team. R asks her if she ever has aspirations to be a head coach. She sincerely says she likes where she is. We talk about where Candice will go in the WNBA draft (third or fourth behind Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowler, maybe Tasha Humphries, then her), Candice’s chances of making the Olympics (thought they were long shot, but was invited to China in April, so looks better and better each month), and where Stanford might fall in the NCAA seedings (she thinks second). She tells us ESPN is coming here to film the team live during the selection process. We tell her that is neat, and she says it can be mixed blessing because if you don’t get the ranking you want, you look disappointed on national TV (is this a prediction?) Really fun talking to her and she is so knowledgeable. 

Then the team divides itself in two and they have a three point shooting contest, complete with trash talking. Both teams have made a line of players, each with one ball, to hand it down the line to the shooter so she can get as many shots as possible. On Candice’s side, she is the one to hand it to the shooter, of course. After the first shooter, Candice chases after a ball and someone else tries to take her place next to the shooter. The shooter pushes the newbie out and says only Candice hands the balls to the shooter. Heck, if I was shooting, I would want the surest hands handing me the ball, too. Morgan Clyburn, all 6 foot 4 inches of her, is on the other team and is tearing it up in the threes. She ends up tied with Candice. So it is a second round shoot out, Morgan vs. Candice. Candice sank about 8 in a row in the first round, she's got this. Good thing we didn't bet on it. Morgan destroys Candice. Unbelievable! 

Then they line up for the half court shot. Oh yeah, we have tickets on this. Come on Candice, come on Jayne! All the players miss, although some of them are pretty cute in how they jump to heave the ball. Second round, Candice, Jayne, miss. Then Hannah. Come one, Hannah, I bet on you. Swish! The team pounds her back. (weighing less then my 17-year-old daughter, she is like their little mascot). I tell R, you know I’m winning this! The lady in charge brings over the cup with Hannah’s picture. She looks in and says, “Ye of little Faith, there’s only  2 tickets in here!” You know it’s me, I say again. Number 89, yep, it’s my number. I win a chance to have my picture taken with either Hannah or the team. 

I walk over and tell Hannah, “I just want you to know that there were only 2 people who bet on you and I was one of them.!” We high five! The photographer asks if I want just a picture with Hannah or the team? Hannah, I love ya, but this is one of the best teams in the last few years and are going to go far, and it has Candice and Jill, possible Olympians and a future WNBA star. I go for the team. The photographer writes down my email and I hope I hear from her because I really want this picture! 

I hope they do well this year.

Okay, we are excited for Candice, as she has a chance to lead her team deep into the NCAA play-offs, end her career at Stanford, get drafted by the WNBA and maybe represent her country at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Not a bad summer for a 21 year old. The we saw this little item. Ex-Stanford player Claire Bodensteiner and Jillian Harmon have a shot at going to the summer Olympics this year too, only it’s with New Zealand!

The coach of the New Zealand National Team, called the Tall Ferns, incidentally, was contacted out of the blue by Claire. She is living in London and working as a teacher after graduating from Stanford last year, but had heard about a New Zealand team and wondered if she could pick up a professional contract. 

It turned out Bodensteiner was born in Christchurch making her eligible for the Tall Ferns. They had to check her out with former US Olympic coach Tara VanDerveer, of course, and she gave Claire rave reviews. 

How nice for head coach Mike McHugh. Then Claire said there was this other girl, currently at Stanford, who she thought had New Zealand citizenship. Okay, I love this part, here is McHugh talking, "The next day this girl calls me and says she's a junior, a starter, her name is Jillian Harmon and her mum held a Kiwi passport." Harmon had a New Zealand passport as a child and got it renewed. 

Can you imagine, hello New Zealand coach, my name is Jill, and I am tall and I play for this team called Stanford. I start most games! I can shoot and rebound and play great defense. Can I please play for your team? Cracks me up. But the coach sounds smart in saying she is just what he needed. 

Bodensteiner will come to camp in April to try and make the team. McHugh will then pick 12 players for the Olympic test tournament in Beijing, but has asked for dispensation to take Harmon as the 13th player. So looks like Jill is on the team! Summer will be so cool, man!

Congrats to Stanford for winning it's fifth Pac-10 tournament title and an automatic NCAA tournament berth. Here's all you need to know how the game went, with about 8 minutes left.....Cal 24, Candice 28. Yes, Candice had more points alone then the whole cal team for most of the game, until she was taken out for subs. Don't believe me, Cal had just 15 points at half time. Candice finished with 30 and Cal finished with 35. C and R, and their entourage, who scammed free seats in row 3 (long story, but it's who you know, baby), kept the countdown to when Cal would break 30. In Sunday's semi-final against Stanford, it took UCLA 35 minutes in to the game (they got 30 with 5 minutes left). We watched the clock tick past 5 minutes, then with 4 minutes left in the game, Cal finally, finally got 30 points. The final score was 56-35, but it was an embarrassment for Cal.

How did Stanford do it? Well, they drew up the ol' Courtney Paris double team on Cal scorer Devanei Hampton. Jayne did most of the work fronting her, but Candice would often come over to help when ever Hampton touched the ball, and their lead scorer could only muster five points. She has nothing to be ashamed of, as no one on her team scored more than 6 points. Can you believe that? Stanford left the perimeter shooters open, and they missed badly.

We have been watching Stanford all year, and they have that predictable center to guard hand off play at the top of the key. About once a game, the center keeps it and a guard, usually Candice cuts to the basket and the center bounce passes it backwards to the basket and the guard picks it up for an easy lay up. You only get that once a game. You make the other team look bad and whoever is guarding Candice will take care not to let that happen again. During the finals, Candice did it not once, not twice, but THREE times! On the third time, she beat her player so bad that she didn't even chase after her. Another Cal player, Alexis Gray-Lawson, coming from the foul line, turned and ran full tilt at her. Candice saw her coming but did not change her speed. Candice layed it up as the contact happened in the air. The ball went in and Candice went sprawling, and the ref called a foul against Lawson. Instead of being mad, Candice stayed spread out superman-style on the floor and slapped the ground with both hands and both feet, but instead of looking like a four-year old's tantrum, she slapped in joy and her smile was a mile wide. Ya gotta love Candice!

Speaking of which, Candice was chosen tournament MVP. A bunch of other Stanford players got all tournament honors, but the night belonged to Candice.

I am going to hate when this goes to LA next year.

So the PAC-10 tournament started this weekend. This is to crown a PAC-10 champion. Which is weird, because Stanford already won it, due to Cal choking miserably at the end, thank you very much. One bonus of winning the PAC-10 tournament is the winner automatically gets in the NCAA tournament. Wait, Stanford is already in it on the virtue of its win lose record and being ranked, I believe, 6^th in the nation right now. Why do they hold this tournament again? 

Anyway, here is a day by day break down of C and R’s tournament experiences. And we remember we better enjoy this while  we can, as the tournament is moving to LA next year.  What, you didn’t know that the other teams cried boo hoo, playing in San Jose is like giving Stanford a home game each time, so let’s move it. Never mind that San Jose is geographically in the middle between Washington State and LA. And, oh, instead of rotating it to the different schools to make it more fair, they are going to play the games in LA, which is like giving TWO teams, UCLA and USC, home games.

Friday.
The slate of games do not look very exciting, Oregon vs. Washington State. However, C and R are very excited to be volunteering for Brandi Chastain’s Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, or BAWSI. The organization strives to create programs through which women’s athletes bring health, hope and wholeness to our community. BAWSI has invited 425 girls to the HP Pavilion in San Jose to practice basketball skills and drills with some of the PAC-10 women athletes. 

C is official photographer and R is an official greeter. She is to greet the girls as they come off the bus and keep them in order. C clicks away on her 2 cameras. There are so many news organizations and camera crews. Volunteers helping little third through fifth graders playing basketball makes good news. Fox Sports Network is going to put them on National TV. R greets her girls and is told she is to stay with them throughout the day to make sure no one gets lost. R reports they are very spirited. 

C and R get to see Brandi Chastain (C makes R pose with her and takes their picture together!) C and R also get to see the Stanford players who came out to help. Kayla Pederson (C congratulates her on winning PAC-10 player of the year), Jeanette Pohlen, Ashley Cimino (bad back and all), Hannah Donaghe (she looks taller in real life), and recovering knee surgery women Michelle Harrison and Melanie Murphy. Mel has a ton of enthusiasm. C makes R pose for a pix with Michele Harrison! (pics to follow soon) 

Saturday.
After all that hard work with the kids, BAWSI is sponsoring a Ladies Night Out. From 5:30 to 7:30, Ladies get to meet, greet, drink and eat in their own private clubhouse. C and R and half of their basketball league is there. C hands out Mardi gras beads. If you were really nice, C gave you one of the special “blinky” jester necklaces (yes, that was me on the dance floor with the blinking necklace!) C and R gamble for chances at Raffles prizes and they win about 15 tickets. 

I think Stanford played a game in there somewhere. They were playing right outside the clubhouse doors, but C and R were too busy gambling and eating their money’s worth. We would ask for reports. Heard Stanford doubled Oregon’s score. Heard the “Big Three” of Candice, Jayne and Kayla were dominate and combined for 52, scoring Stanford's opening 31 points. The afore mentioned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Kayla Pedersen added 22 points. (Another Cardinal player didn't score until J.J. Hones' three-pointer with one minute left in the first half). Jayne Appel was eight of eight, a  tournament record. Heard Stanford played their subs at the beginning of the second half. Cissy Pierce got  a lot of minutes. Heard Tara did NOT use Jillian Harmon even thought she warmed up. Smart move. 

Then the moment we had been waiting for, the awarding of the raffle prizes. Come on big money! The first prize given away is won by our friend S. She works for State Farm and C has relentlessly hounded S to get the team free tickets to the championship game on Monday. She finally is able to. The prize she wins is….2 free tickets to Mondays game! Oh man, everyone else won money to Cheesecake Factory and Nordstrom’s! And to make matters worse, later on that night when examining the tickets, they are tickets to Fridays game., The game that already happened! They are worthless. Oh well, at least she still has her other free tickets. 

Sunday
Well, C and R were able to score free tickets for this game from the head of BAWSI. Sweet. It is UCLA. They beat Stanford once this season. C is worried about this game. To make matters worse, Candice does not score a single point the first half. The game is rough and the refs are not calling much. However, Stanford pays incredible defense and UCLA, as a team, cannot buy a basket. Stanford is killing them. Midway through the first half, who comes in but Jillian Harmon. The Stanford partisan crowd cheers loudly. That is, everyone except C and R. They are worried she will re-injure her stress fracture and then be lost for the games that really matter, the NCAA playoffs. Later C and R learn that

VanDerveer had been hesitant about using Harmon, and  two of her assistants talked her into it, thinking it might be good to get Jill some court time before the NCAA tournament. Hmmm. 

At the half, I am not kidding, it is Stanford 34, UCLA 16. No UCLA player had more than four points at this point. How did Stanford ever lose to this team? 

At the start of the second half, Candice starts connecting, and even cherry picks for an easy layup. She is happy and that gives her even more confidence to score. At one point, she scores and gets the foul cal and she does her trade mark jumping up and down and fist pumping. It is hard not to catch her enthusiasm! She ends up with 13 after being pulled for the subs. 

The game seems to get rougher, and the non-calls seem to reward really rough play. Candice went down at least three times. At one point Cinnamon has the ball under the a basket, the UCLA player feel down, and grabbed and held her leg. We watch Stanford’s score climb and realize UCLA has not even broken 30 points. They finally get to 31 with 7 minutes left in the game. Now that is sad. See again why they are not filling the seats for this tournament. All Stanford starters are out, and UCLA can finally hit some shots, and their press garners a lot of turnovers, which is a little scary, our second team cannot beat their first team. The final score is 78-45. 

On to the finals. Now C is worried that they are meeting Cal for the third time. Cal is going to come out gunning (and we saw them in the stands scouting the Cardinal.). Then R points out that Cal has not been playing well in this tournament. Cal had a hard time with Oregon, only beating them 60-67, then they squeaked by 65-61. C sure hopes R is right.

Jillian Harmon thinks she is healed enough to play in the PAC-10 Tournament. I hope Tara VanDerVeer is smarter than that. Stress fractures need time to heal. A lot of time. Running and jumping before it has healed is bad. Really bad. And if Jill plays this weekend and re-injures herself, that that will really be bad for the play-offs. We don’t want another early round exit. 

In case you missed it, Jill has been out the last 6 games with a stress facture in her foot, and has been  working hard to rehabilitate it. Get this, she has been using an underwater treadmill a zero-gravity treadmill! Geez, Stanford, got money?! LOL. 

In the games she has been gone, Stanford has gone to a three guard set and not looked so sharp on offense. Jill is the kind of player that brings so many intangibles to the game. Her hustling and her rebounding have been sorely missed.  We were already missing Michelle Harrison and Melanie Murphy, and now I hear Cinnamon is out (Ashley Cimino). She has a back injury. Doesn’t that only happen to old men who play weekend golf? I hope it is not serious, as that can have the potential to linger a long time. 

Anyway, we need her for the NCAA playoffs. Will Tara be disciplined enough not to use her this weekend? Stay tuned. 

Congratulations to Candice Wiggins for becoming the first player in conference history to earn a third Player of the Year honor,  to forward Kayla Pedersen for winning the Freshman of the Year award, and to Head Coach Tara VanDerVeer for winning the Coach of the Year award. Additionally, Stanford players earned 11 nods on the various All-Pac-10 teams. 

She needed 14 to tie, 15 to break the record and she got 24. The record, of course, is Lisa Leslie's PAC-10 conference record of 2,414 , set in 1994. And the  “she” is Stanford all around superstar Candice Wiggins. She passed the record on a base-line drive with 1:25 to play before halftime and was fouled by WSU's Sabrina Shired in the process. After making the free-throw, naturally, play was suspended to honor Wiggins and she was given the ball she set the record with. Fans and both teams applauded her. That’s pretty cool for the opposing team to do that. 

"That's a tremendous accomplishment and it could not happen to a better person, a better basketball player, a better leader," VanDerveer said. "I've never coached anyone that I've enjoyed more than working with Candice. I'm very happy for her and very proud of her."  

Oh, there was still more ball to play. Never much suspense, Stanford beat Washington State 74-52.Wiggins hit three 3-pointers and finished 5-for-7 from behind the arc for the game. She also had five rebounds and six assists. 

"I think today was just about playing relaxed," she said. "A lot of times you can try to do too much or press. I just was really relaxed and let the game come to me." 

Cal Lost!

Cal Lost.
I can’t believe it, Cal lost. 

Cal has lead the PAC-10 hunt. Stanford got those quick, stupid losses in LA early on, and Cal was in the drivers seat. Cal stayed focused and kept winning. Then they faced Stanford on Stanford’s court and lost, not by a little, but by a lot. Coach Joanne Boyle said not to panic, wait ‘til we get ‘em on our court. Then came the game on Cal’s court. And Stanford, lacking Jillian Harmon, which has been a HUUUUGE blow for the Cardinal, looked terrible. Candice couldn’t buy a basket and yet Cal couldn’t win. They had 2 attempts in the final 8 seconds to win, and they couldn’t. Coach Joanne Boyle said not to panic, really, but could ya finish an important game?! So now they were faced with co-regular-season-champions, but at least it would be something they had never won. And they lost to Washington. Granted, maybe holding Stanford close in one half gave the Huskies some confidence. Or maybe they got to try out their new defense against Stanford and perfected it against Cal. They beat Cal 74-66. Now Stanford gets the regular season title outright, and first seed in the PAC-10 tournament.  What can Coach Boyle say now? You really, really need to finish important games? 

With 2 games left in the regular season, Stanford faces 2 PAC-10 foes. First up is Washington. Now, Stanford has not just won, but dominated the last 4 meetings with Washington, winning by a little less than 30 points each time. So, by playing a lesser opponent, means Stanford struggled. It was only 38-36 Stanford at the half. To the Huskies defense, they used a scrappy defense and aggressive rebounding to stay even in the first half. But a game’s got 2 halves. 

JJ Hones said they got yelled at during half time to rebound better, so she just figured the best way to solve their rebounding problems was to make all their shots. She scored 16 points, Candice came alive, and Stanford went on a 12-0 run to start the second half. The  Huskies shot just 28 percent and scored only 17 second-half points, and Stanford ended up winning 73-53. Jayne Appel scored 12 and Kayla Pedersen added 11 as Stanford won their 14th straight. 

Speaking of Wiggins, she scored 22 (another favorite number of mine). That puts her at the even figure of 2,400. She needs 14 to tie and 15 to break Lisa Leslie's conference record of 2,414. Wiggins had another sluggish start (see last Cal Game) to make 9 of 18 and get 10 rebounds for Tara.