Beaver Bashing in Corvallis

By Wally Mersereau

My hunch that Stanford would be ready to dominate in its rematch with Oregon State proved correct. The Card struggled to a 7-point win at Maples in the first meeting of these teams. But there was no Stanford struggling tonight at Gill Coliseum. The defense was strong, shooting was good, ball handling was deft and the team took care of the ball.

The Cardinal jumped out to an early lead and was up 15-5 after 10 minutes. At the half it was 36-16. Oregon State played Stanford evenly during the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Card bore down to end the game 78-45.

Eight Stanford players had more than 12 minutes on the court. Nneka had 16 points at the half and ended with 27 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 30 minutes. She left the game with 10 minutes to play. Chiney had foul problems in both halves and was limited to 21 minutes, during which she scored 10 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and had 2 assists and 2 blocks.

Joslyn was a rebounding machine, snagging 14 to go with 7 points and 2 assists in 34 minutes. Her overall defense was excellent, as was that of the entire team. Toni also had 34 minutes and made 9 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.

Three-point shooting was good for Stanford tonight with the team making 10 of the long shots at a 45.5% rate. Toni and Bonnie both had three and Lindy and Sara both had two. It was especially nice to have Bonnie be successful after her recent drought and for Sara to get a pair, plus another basket, in only 9 minutes. It was also nice to have Lindy hit her threes.

As a team Stanford had 22 assists and 7 turnovers compared to OSU’s 10 assists and 15 turnovers. Rebounding was fairly close with Stanford leading 35-32. The Cardinal had another good effort at the free throw line, making 10 of 12 for 83.3%. The Beavers made 5 of 8 free throws for 62.5%.

The all-male officials seemed to have lost their whistles in the first half and there was lots of wild, rough playing under the baskets. The officiating seemed better in the second half.

Oregon State has no stand-out player, but continued to get good contributions from many players. The Beavers played good defense, made a stalwart effort to the end, but were out-classed.

Attendance was about 2,500 on a gray, cool and drizzly day. A large OSU pep band with six tubas played an assortment of tunes, including a rousing national anthem. One OSU male cheerleader held a small female aloft on one upraised arm. Fan participation events were fast-paced with multiple contestants, which made them more entertaining than usual.

This was an enjoyable and satisfying game for Stanford fans. On the other hand, Oregon State fans were rather muted as any hopes for an upset evaporated early.

Oregon Events TBA

Just a reminder, here is the schedule for Oregon events this week:

7pm Thursday 2/16, game at OSU in Corvallis. Here is a Google map of Corvallis showing Gill Coliseum.

Friday 3:30pm in the lobby of the Eugene Hilton (map link): Tea With Tara, An informal coach's talk. Hang around in the lobby after, maybe somebody will have a suggestion where to go for supper. Note: Parking at the Hilton is underground and is charged at $2/hour. Weather and your health permitting, it should be possible to park on the streets within a few blocks. There is a vast car-park structure a block away at 7th and Olive but in Google street view I can't read the sign at the entrance, so don't know if it is available or at what price.

Saturday approximately at 11am, pre-game brunch with the Eugene Alumni group. This will take place at a new brew pub, the Wild Duck at 1419 Villard St (another google map link there). This is easy walking distance to Knight Arena.

Saturday 1pm, game with OU in Matthew Knight Arena (another Google map, there)

I still have a few OU tickets, call my cell 650-387-3645 now or in Eugene to get them.

Planning for the PAC-12 Tournament

The PAC-12 tournament approaches: bigger and longer and even more of a challenge for the obsessive fan than last year! Hereinbelow find all the info you need to deal with it.

First, the games. They are to be played over four days: Wednesday March 7th through Saturday March 10th. The women play four games Wednesday and four on Thursday at USC's Galen Center, and then semi-final and final games on Friday and Saturday at the Staples Center. Remember last year's nail-biting final against UCLA?

Click on this link to view a one-page PDF of the men's and women's brackets, covering 22 games in four days. Or, just click on the following image to see the schedule for the eleven games of the Women's bracket:

Presuming Stanford is the #1 seed, the Cardinal will first play at noon on Thursday, then go on to a noon game on Friday and, one hopes, 11:30 am on Saturday. But a true basketball aficionado wants to see all the games, eight hours of them on Wednesday and on Thursday. Bring a cushion!

If You Can't Go

If you can't make the trip, this year you can still see all the games. Note in the bracket above, that the semi-final and final games are on FSN. But also, all of the preceding games are, the PAC-12 says, to be streamed live on the Pac-12 YouTube Channel. So you could possibly watch all eleven women's games from home. You could even watch the post-game press conferences. (Shut-ins take note.) Hopefully you don't have a bandwidth cap on your internet.

Tickets

As it was last year, the PAC-12 wants you to buy an all-session tournament package ticket that gives you an assigned seat at the Staples Center for all men's games, and gets you general admission to all women's games. There has been some confusion on this point, but the online FAQ is pretty clear:

You will have general admission to women's games and a reserved seat for men's games with your combined ticket for each session at STAPLES Center.

You can now buy tickets for individual "sessions" at this Ticketmaster page. However, each session costs $35. To see all the (possible) Stanford games you would need to buy three sessions (Thursday first session, Friday first session, Saturday final) which comes to just $5 less than you would pay for an all-session package from this Stanford sales link. For $110 you get men's-game seats in the furthest reaches of the Staples Center, up among the bats and owls, but if your main interest is the women's games, who cares?

Getting There

The trip starts with getting from the Bay Area to L.A. in time for the first games on Wednesday afternoon. You may plan to return on Saturday the 12th following the end of the Women's final about 2pm, or stay around for the men's final ending around 6pm (in which case you'd probably want to stay over and return on Sunday).

There are plenty of flights available, all costing around $150. Three nonstops from SJC get in to LAX in time for Wednesday's games, and also four nonstops returning after 6pm Saturday. There are seven nonstops from SFO that work, but only two return flights after 5pm Saturday. Delta has two flights out of OAK Wednesday morning and two Saturday evening returns. (As always, Hipmunk.com is a good tool for finding flights; but it doesn't cover Southwest, which has several suitable flights also.)

Or, you can drive. With two drivers trading off and minimal stops, it's about 7 hours Palo Alto to the Galen Center, only a couple of hours longer than the door-to-door air travel time. Forty gallons of gas, $150; two additional motel nights, $180—about the same as the air fare for two people. Plus you don't need a rental car in L.A.

Or—and now for something completely different—you can take the Amtrak Coast Starlight between San Jose and L.A. Union Station. Travel time about 11 hours each way, so go down on Tuesday, come back Sunday; round-trip price with senior discount: $88. Not bad at all!

L.A. With No Car?

Perfectly possible, as long as you plan to spend most of your time inside an arena. Select a hotel in walking distance of the Staples Center and you can travel to the Galen Center easily by bus or cheaply by taxi. Here's a map:

View Larger Map

Click on "view Larger Map"; the Galen Center is at letter A, Staples at B.

Here is a map of hotels near the Staples Center:

View Larger Map

Again, click View Larger Map to see them all.

In previous years the PAC-12 has hosted teams in the Wilshire Grand; however that hotel is now closed for reconstruction. We have no info on where teams are being housed. Uber-fan Wally Mersereau has already booked at the Marriott near Staples Center and says they are full or nearly so, already.

Waltzing to a win over the Wildcats

By Wally Mersereau

Q. What happens when the top team meets the bottom team in the Pac-12?
A. The top team wins—and wins big. Like 40 points big.

The seemingly self-evident truism of top team over bottom team was proven on Saturday afternoon in Tucson when the Cardinal waltzed over, around and through the Wildcats 91-51. Stanford paced itself nicely, scoring 20 points more than Arizona in each half.

It was a nice sunny day for basketball and Stanford completed its desert sweep before a paltry crowd of about 1,000 fans on the University of Arizona campus (don’t believe the official attendance of 1,831).

Unlike the ASU game, Stanford did not have to battle back in this one. The Card jumped off to a 10-0 start and led 51-31 at the half. Playing time and statistics were shared much more broadly than against ASU. All 11 players played and 10 had 12 minutes or more.

Joslyn led all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes. Chiney also had a double-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks in 22 minutes. Nneka had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal in 22 minutes. Toni had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 5 steals in 28 minutes. Amber had 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 20 minutes.

It was good to see Amber put the ball in the basket five times. Off the bench, Erica was noteworthy with 6 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block in 14 minutes.

The 3-point shot returned to the Stanford repertoire with four players contributing long baskets. Joslyn made 3 of 4, Toni and Taylor each made 2 of 6 and Lindy made 1 of 3. Bonnie was cold on this pleasantly warm day, shooting 0 of 5 in her 17 minutes on the floor, but most just narrowly missed.

Team-wise, Stanford did better than Arizona in free throws with 79% to 71%, led in rebounds 47 to 34, led in assists 19-8, had 9 turnovers to 13 and led in steals 8 to 4.

Sarah Boothe was the only injured player to make the trip to the desert. Mikaela, Jasmine and Alex stayed home.

As a reward for traveling to games in Arizona, Stanford fans get free parking and free programs at both venues. That may not quite offset travel costs, but it helps a little.

Widely worn by Arizona fans were red T-shirts reading on the back: “We’re nuts for Butts”. This ringing endorsement has not benefitted head coach Niya Butts this season and certainly did not aid her in any discernable way on Saturday afternoon.

Tough Triumph in Tempe

By Wally Mersereau

With great effort and determination Stanford pulled out a hard-fought win over Arizona State 62-49 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe on Thursday night. It was a sloppy, but great game. ASU interim head coach Joseph Anders said before the game that Stanford would have to earn every step, every bounce and every catch. He couldn’t have been more right. It took everything Tara and her team could bring forth to overcome the battling Sun Devils.

Neither team played well in the first half, which ended with a 28-28 tie. At that point Nneka had 11 points and 7 rebounds, Chiney 7 points and 6 rebounds.

With Tara’s half-time adjustments, Stanford built a 6-point lead in the second half, only to have the Sun Devils fight back to a 40-40 tie with 12 minutes to go. Stanford then exploded in a 20-2 run in the next 9 minutes to go ahead 60-42. The sisters combined for 13 points during that run.

The final sister stats were: Nneka with 22 points, 16 rebounds, 1 block and a steal in 36 minutes and Chiney with 20 points, 16 rebounds and 2 steals in 37 minutes.

Toni played her heart out and pushed her body to the point of exhaustion. She had 7 points, 6 assists and 3 steals in 39 minutes, but her stats don’t tell the story. She was superb, always playing well, running the team from the point even when she was worn out.

Lindy had only 1 point and 1 rebound in 24 minutes, but she also was a vital contributor. I would not have taken away one of her minutes. Amber had no points or rebounds, along with 2 assists, 3 turnovers and a steal in her 12 minutes. Stanford clearly played better tonight with Toni at the point and Lindy at the 2.

Taylor made Stanford’s only 3-point shots—three of them. The first two were close together and came at a crucial time in the first half to help catch up with the Devils. Her third 3-pointer was during the 20-2 run. Taylor played with poise in her 26 minutes, ending with 10 points and 4 rebounds.

Joslyn also was vital for this game, ending with only 2 points, but 6 rebounds and a block.

Both teams had excellent defensive efforts. ASU had only 10 players, all of whom played at least 8 minutes. Kali Bennett of ASU, a 6-5 redshirt senior, was much improved over previous years. She ended the game with 9 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks and 2 steals. Kali is a banger and she got banged up in the second half, first with a nose injury which required a prominent bandage and then a painful hip injury that took her out of the game with 5 minutes remaining. She would have caused more problems, but fouls kept her on the bench for extended time in the first half.

Stanford had twice the rebounds as did ASU, 48 to 24 and that was a major difference. Stanford had three 3s (all by Taylor) to ASU’s two. Stanford was 68% at the free throw line, ASU 70%.

Attendance was not up to previous years. Only 2,000 turned out, including Kayla Pedersen’s and Nicole Powell’s parents.

Despite the sloppy play, I was pleased with Stanford belatedly putting the hammer down and coming away with a challenging win on the road. This game was really hard and the win was well earned.

Spokane Is Not a Post-Season Lock

A lot of us have been assuming that Stanford would play the first and second rounds of the post-season in Spokane. That's a casual assumption based on a couple of trips to Spokane for regional games in recent years. Who can forget beating Maryland there in 2008? Or the tough opposition of first, North Carolina, and then Gonzaga and Courtney Vandersloot last year? Lots of Spokane memories.

But those were regional games, 2nd- and 3rd-rounds, or Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games, if you prefer.

This year the games in Spokane are 1st- and 2nd-rounds, and they aren't at the arena but rather hosted by Gonzaga. That's why ESPN analyst Charlie Creme doesn't think Stanford will play there. What he says will make more sense if you first look at this full 2012 bracket with its sites (speculatively) filled in. The locations for the games are set, but which first-round site feeds to which regional is Creme's speculation.

... The Cardinal have grown accustomed to having a West Coast spot, often their home gym, to open the tournament. But this year, they are going to have to really travel and might be disadvantaged in the second round... The only way for the Cardinal to remain within two time zones of home would be Spokane, but that could possibly mean a rematch of both the 2011 NCAA tournament and this year's regular season with Gonzaga. Both are prospects the committee tries to avoid.

Everything Charlie Creme says is speculation. He's trying to second-guess the notoriously opaque decision process of the NCAA selection committee, always a tricky thing.

Bottom line? Stock up on black "Fear the Tree" shirts, in case (as Creme speculates) we end up at an arena full of crimson-clad Sooners. Don't book any travel until after Selection Day. And then buy tickets through Stanford, so as to sit with other fans.

Order Cal Tix by Phone

Stanford plays at Cal on Sunday March 4th at 6pm. At a recent "Behind the Bench," Eileen Roche said there would be a booster bus, but that there were no plans for buying a block of tickets for fans.

It is possible to order Haas Pavilion tickets online from the Cal online boxoffice...

However! — as two recent buyers have found, the best seats the online sales form can offer are in sections 4 and higher. Section 1 is behind the visitor bench. Section 17 is directly across from it. (And anyone who's gone to one of these games remembers that the Haas ushers are quite strict about where you sit.)

If you call the Cal ticket office directly at (800) GO BEARS (800-462-3277) you can ask for reserved-seat tickets in section 1, 2, or 17—and at least as of today, you can get them.

New Year’s Eve in Westwood

By Wally Mersereau

A fast-paced 77-50 win over UCLA was a nice way to end the year and set the stage for a romp to Stanford’s first Pac-12 conference title. Especially because the Bruins had picked off Cal two days earlier 60-55 in the same venue.

Because Pauley Pavilion is being reconstructed, the game was played in the adjacent Wooden Center on the UCLA campus. The UCLA ticket office had told me all seating was general admission, but this was incorrect and half of seating along one side of the court was reserved, apparently for Bruin season ticket holders. Wooden has a capacity of only 1,800. Seating is on all four sides of the court in benches that go eight rows high. There is a single concession stand.

I arrived at 12:50 pm to find a long line of well over a hundred waiting for the doors to open at 1:00 pm. By the time I got inside all of the top row seats which let you lean back against the wall were taken so I took an aisle seat on one of the plastic-topped benches. The benches are slightly contoured, making them a little more comfortable than the upper level benches in Maples.

For once, my estimate of actual attendance and the official count closely agreed. I guessed there were about 1,500 there and the official attendance is 1,426. There were at least 100 Stanford fans present, twice as many as at the Thursday night USC game.

Only 9 Bruins were suited up to play, with 5 injured players on the UCLA bench. Unlike USC, there was no band and only a scratchy recording of the UCLA fight song was played when that team took the floor. One encouraging sight was Mikaela jogging across the floor before the game to get practice balls indicating some mending of her injured foot.

Wooden shows only the score with no display of player numbers or points. The announcer gave the count of personal fouls when these occurred, but no report of cumulative points scored by individuals.

As a suggestion that the game was not going to go UCLA’s way were three Bruin fouls in the first 90 seconds. And, unlike the USC game where the Trojans kept narrowing Stanford’s lead in both halves, this game provided a steadily expanding Cardinal lead. With 11:30 remaining in the first half, Stanford was up by 3, with 5:30 left in the half up by 8 and at the half the score was 40-23.

The second half was more of the same as the Stanford lead grew to 19, then 25, then 32 with 4 minutes left in the game. All Stanford players got on the court and 10 players had more than 11 minutes each.

The Big Three of Nneka, Chiney and Toni led the way with a combined total of 44 points. Both Nneka and Chiney had double-doubles with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Nneka and 15 points and 11 rebounds for Chiney. Stanford’s free throw shooting improved from 59% at USC to 70% today. But Cardinal 3-point shooting was dismal, connecting on only 2 of 13 attempts for 15%, with Toni and Sara getting one apiece.

UCLA played aggressive defense, occasionally pressing and trapping, but it could not contain Stanford. Stanford topped UCLA in rebounds 49 to 27. The Cardinal had 19 assists to 14 turnovers, while UCLA ended with a mere 5 assists to 11 turnovers. This game was Stanford all the way, ending with a decisive win that puts Stanford at 2-0 in conference play.

USC Plays Tough at Home

By Wally Mersereau

It was a sloppy, hard-fought battle at the Galen Center on Thursday night with Stanford able to prevail in the last 8 minutes. Up to that point the game could have gone either way.

Stanford built a 12-point lead in the first half only to have USC cut it to 3 points at the half, 33-30. USC held close for most of the second half, achieving a 41-41 tie with 12 minutes left, then taking a small lead. With 8 minutes left Stanford was up only 46-44. Stanford then went on a 8-0 run to get the score to 54-44 with 4 ½ minutes left. In the ending minutes USC outscored Stanford 9 to 7, but it wasn’t enough for the Women of Troy, with Stanford hanging on for a final score of 61-53.

Senior point guard Ashley Corral had a great game for USC, ending with 21 points. Christina Marinacci had 12 points and 9 rebounds, Briana Gilbreath had 7 points and 12 rebounds. USC made 71% of its free throws. Stanford made an embarrassing 59% at the line with Chiney reverting to her free throw funk, making only 4 of 9. Nneka did well at the line with 7 of 8.

Tara used 10 players, but only 6 had more than 10 minutes—the starters plus Bonnie. Bonnie made her first two 3-point shots, but then missed her next 3. She contributed respectable defense, including a block.

Stanford was led by Nneka with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Stanford could not have won without her. Toni continued her stellar play with 15 points and 3 steals. Chiney achieved a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

This was a thrilling game, but it didn’t bring out USC fans. My guess at total attendance is 1,000, including about 50 or so Stanford fans. All seating was general admission and the most expensive ticket was $7. Parking in the adjacent garage was $10.

The LA Times continues to give almost no coverage to women’s college basketball. Today the Times gave a preview of the USC and UCLA men’s games that were played in the Bay Area, but gave only one line to the local USC and UCLA women’s games with nary a comment. In contrast, the New York Times devoted more than half a page to the Texas A&M women today.

Cindy and John Pohlen attended. Lisa Leslie had a front row mid-court seat. Ros Gold-Onwude was doing the KZSU commentary and went over for a half-time chat with Lisa. Several former Stanford players were there, including Krista Rappahahn.

So Stanford is 1-0 in Pac-12 play, but it was a worrisome win, as road games often are.

Good seats at University of Oregon

Thanks to our helpful rep Jason at OU, we have a commitment that our block of seats at Matt Knight Arena will be in section 102, behind the visiting bench. Here's the floor plan.

Three people have signed up so far; keep it comin'!

OU Brunch and Ticket Buy

Fan Brunch Before OU Game

The Cardinal play Oregon in Eugene at 2pm, Saturday February 18th

Prior to that game, Andrew Nelson and others of the Eugene alumni group will host a brunch for visiting fans at a local restaurant convenient to Knight Arena. No booking or prepayment is needed for this, but we would like an idea of how many are coming -- see below!

Group Ticket Buy

We will pre-purchase a block of seats for this OU game. (For the OSU game of Thursday evening, 2/16, buy at the door.)

To participate in the ticket buy, please request your seats by email to travel (at) stanfordfbc.org soon, but at any rate no later than the Washington game of January 21st. Whether or not you want tickets, use the same email address to say if you plan to attend the pregame brunch in Eugene.

Hopefully we'll have tickets to hand out at the "Behind the Bench" after the UCLA game of February 12th.

11s no jinx in Texas

By Wally Mersereau

On the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011 the Stanford women, with the eyes of Texas upon them, won their first official game of the season in Austin. They won it without Nneka who was out with some kind of “upper body injury”. They did it with important contributions from two of the freshmen. And they did it with Tara using 12 players, including 5 freshmen. It was not a pretty win, but it was a clear and important W.

Seven players had 21 or more minutes, including freshmen Taylor with 29 and Amber with 25. Taylor started the game, showing that her start against Vanguard was not just an exhibition oddity.

The first 6 minutes of the game were essentially a tie. Stanford took the lead and kept it with 8 minutes left in the first half. At the half it was Stanford up 35-30. Mikaela played for the first time this season—a total of 9 minutes.

Texas really stepped up its defensive pressure in the second half and maintained it to the end of the game. Stanford withstood the pressure well, although its lead shrank to 4 points with 13:30 left in the game. After that Stanford pulled itself together and kept control of the game, ending with a final score of 72-59.

On this Veterans Day, important veteran playing came from Chiney, Joslyn, Toni, Lindy and Sarah. Two outstanding freshman performances were provided by Taylor and Amber.

Chiney had a double-double in her 26 minutes, despite early foul trouble. She was high scorer with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Amber with 25 minutes and Joslyn with 23 minutes each scored 14 points and had 6 rebounds. Joslyn finished the game with 4 fouls. Toni scored 10 points and had 2 rebounds in 25 minutes. Taylor had 9 points and 2 rebounds in 29 minutes. Lindy’s stats were not impressive, but her play was. Sarah scored 6 points and had 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.

This was a hard-fought game with the outcome not certain until the last 5 minutes. Texas is a strong team and deserves its #24 ranking. Interesting comments from Texas fans seated behind me were that Chiney was the best player on the floor and that Tara is not afraid to substitute.

What were some of the lessons learned? Not having Nneka makes a big difference, but not a fatal one. Chiney is a leader and was able to rise above her early foul trouble to finish strong. Joslyn is truly much improved this season. Lindy and Toni can come through under pressure. Taylor and Amber both are excellent all-around players who did exceptionally well in their first real tests.

Tara substituted more freely than she usually does. She used eleven players in the first half.

Improvement is needed in rebounding and free-throw shooting, along with Nneka’s return to health.

Official attendance was 4,700, but my estimate was 3,500. Somewhere between 35 and 50 Stanford fans were there, including Taylor’s parents and an enthusiastic group of Amber’s family members. The win was satisfying and the trip to Austin worthwhile. This Stanford team needs lots of improving, but it is a good one--and this should be an enjoyable season.