Austin-based Stanford Alum Sam Chang and the Stanford Club of Austin are finalizing the headcount for a pre-game dinner party near the game site, the afternoon of the Cardinal's game at Texas. Email Sam (spamchang@gmail.com) to get on the list if you haven't already.
Also be aware that if you stay in Austin through Saturday, you needn't miss watching the Stanford-Oregon football game. The same organization is planning a game-watching party and all are welcome; email Sam for details.
If you plan to attend the pre-Thanksgiving game at UConn, you can order tickets right now for $22 from our Women's Basket office. Call the office (723-0284) or email Eileen Roche (eroche@stanford.edu) with your request.
As noted in the preceding post, UCLA is playing in an 1,800-seat venue this year, and no single-game tix for Stanford's New Year's Eve game at UCLA will be sold. If you have clicked-through to buy a "Mini-Plan" at the UCLA ticket sale site, you may have noted that it appear to be selling you specific seats by row and number. Not so! Wally Mersereau talked to the UCLA ticket folks and:
The ticket office rep told me the row and seat numbers are meaningless and are just a quirk of the computer system. I was told that no one, including season ticket holders, have reserved seats. I was told the doors at the Wooden Center will open one hour before game time. If you are there when the doors open and are fleet of foot you can sit in the seat of your choice wherever it may be.
Waiting in line to pick up will-call tickets might make you a loser in this foot-race. Do as Wally did; call the UCLA central ticket office at 310/825-2101 and order your tickets to be mailed to you.
Wally Mersereau has been shopping ahead for away-game tickets and reports:
The UCLA women's basketball team will not play in Pauley Pavilion this season because it is being rebuilt. The team will play in the John Wooden Center, a student recreation facility that is diagonally opposite Pauley, on top of the underground parking garage that is entered from Sunset Boulevard at Westwood Plaza. The Wooden Center has limited seating.
Here is the UCLA page. Collins Court is a gym with pull-out bleachers and a capacity of 1,808. Wally continues,
I just learned this morning that single game tickets will not be sold for the Stanford-UCLA game at the Wooden Center. To get a seat you have to buy at least a Mini-Plan ticket good for 5 games that costs $29... Single game tickets for UCLA will go on sale on October 4, but not for Stanford and some other "big" games.
According to the NCAA, UCLA in 2010 had average attendance of 1,689. The Stanford game would no doubt pull more than the average; hence, they are likely to fill this small facility. On that basis, it is probably smart to order tickets ahead.
On the other hand this game is on Saturday Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve; many students will be off-campus. And, the sight lines in a small gym are short, so it wouldn't matter much if you were in the top row corner. On the other hand, $29 isn't so much on top of the other costs of a trip to L.A. Here's where to order tickets.
Stanford alum Sam Chang and others in the Stanford Club of Austin are planning a pre-game dinner meet before the Stanford-Texas game on Friday, November 11th.
If you are planning to make this trip and want to join in, email Sam directly (spamchang@gmail.com).
The FBC Travel page has been updated with fresh info for 2011-12! The general info has been refreshed (big surprise: airport parking costs $1 more than last year). Also, logistics info and travel suggestions for the first two trips (Texas, and UConn/Xavier) have been added.
By Wally Mersereau
South Bay, the team with Stanford players in the summer Pro-Am league at Kezar Pavilion, was short two of its Stanford players on Saturday, July 23. Taylor Greenfield was present on the bench, but not suited up. Joslyn Tinkle was not present. I do not know the reason Taylor did not play or why Joslyn was missing. Alex Green, the sixth freshman, who is recovering from an ACL injury was again sitting on the bench as she has all season, quietly supporting her teammates.
Joslyn has been the team’s dominant player, averaging about 30 points per game, while snagging rebounds, blocking shots and providing leadership. She was sorely missed on Saturday. The team had no one to replace her scoring and defensive contributions. The team was down to 7 players in this first play-off game against the San Francisco team which has several Cal players, including Natasha Vital, Talia Caldwell and Lindsay Sherbert, and the brilliant freshman Brittany Boyd. Boyd again was outstanding, doing everything well, while always displaying great confidence. She will be a real asset for the Bears.
Bonnie Samuelson was back after missing the two games last weekend. Stanford was represented on the South Bay team by Bonnie, Amber Orrange, Jasmine Camp, Erica Payne and Markisha Coleman.
It was a closely matched and excellent game. South Bay was ahead 51-47 at the half. In the second half South Bay increased its lead to 13 points with 11:00 minutes remaining, but then its lead began to shrink. South Bay led by only 3 points at the 8:00 minute mark and the game was tied with 7:15 left. South Bay trailed by 5 with 2:00 to go, but managed to battle back to end the regulation game tied at 92-92. Jessica Kellogg, formerly of San Jose State, was a great clutch player for South Bay.
With 3:00 remaining in overtime and the score 94-94, Erica fouled out, the third South Bay player to do so, leaving only four players available. Despite being short a player on the floor, South Bay still had a chance with 30 seconds left and the score 94-97. The final score was 95-100 and South Bay’s season ended.
It seems clear that if Joslyn had played South Bay would have won and moved on in the play-offs. In her absence, Bonnie had her finest game, making 6 of 7 three-pointers, including her first four attempts and ending with 30 points. Bonnie made all but one of her free throws. Amber was the second-high scorer with 14 points, all in the first half.
Amber and Jasmine are fast. Jasmine plays fast most of the time. Amber tends to amble down the floor, but she can take off like a rocket when she decides to do so. Both are fearless around the basket, undeterred by taller players. Amber had several good passes today.
Erica had a relatively poor game, troubled by fouls, but provided some excellent defense as always.
Bonnie will benefit from time in the weight room and coaching encouragement to play more aggressively, but she is an outstanding 3-point shooter, a nice specialty.
This was an above-average Kezar season for Stanford fans. There was the high number of freshmen to observe. There was the rare presence of a junior in Joslyn, who has never looked better. The quality of play by South Bay was above average and its games were fun to watch. In short, Kezar provided an interesting and encouraging preview of the incoming freshman class and of an improved Joslyn Tinkle.
Next up: the start of official practice in October.
By Wally Mersereau:
South Bay, the Stanford proxy team, played at Kezar twice this weekend to make up for the first week of the season when South Bay could not field a team because Stanford’s summer school had not begun and the student-athletes had not arrived.
This week’s Saturday game on July 16 was attended by a goodly number of Stanford fans, by Kezar standards--perhaps as many as 25. They were treated to the most shared scoring yet by the Stanford players. The final score was South Bay 98—East Bay 65. East Bay ended the game with a 0-5 season record, putting it exclusively in the cellar and out of the playoffs. South Bay’s league-leading record at game’s end was a nice 4-0, the only undefeated team in the league.
My scorekeeping for Saturday gave Joslyn Tinkle 33 points, followed by Jasmine Camp with 13, Amber Orrange with 12, Erica Payne with 9, Markisha Coleman with 7 and Taylor Greenfield with 6. Markisha plays with abandon at Kezar and does quite well at the point.
Bonnie Samuelson did not participate in either of this weekend’s games, probably because of her uncle’s recent death.
As point guards, Amber and Jasmine were either a little off in their passing on Saturday or East Bay was more nimble than most teams have been in disrupting their passes. Amber and Jasmine also had some passing problems on Sunday, but played well otherwise.
I thought Sunday’s July 17 game was the most exciting of the season, although it produced South Bay’s first and only loss with a final score of 87-91. The winning team was Mission Rec, the Kezar team with experienced veterans who have playing time together. Mission Rec is led by Toni Russell (a Kezar veteran who has played in Europe), Amanda Lassiter (with WNBA and Europe experience) and KiKi Moore (formerly Washington State, now Fresno State). Only about a dozen Stanford fans were present on Sunday.
South Bay got off to a good start leading by 12 points or so in the first half, but let its lead dwindle to 47-43 at the half. South Bay built its lead back to 12 points in the second half, but Mission Rec slowly came back, pulling to within one point with 4 minutes remaining and tying the score with 2 minutes to go. The regulation game ended in an 84-84 tie. The overtime period was tied 87-87 with 1:30 to go, then Mission Rec got up 87-89 with 30 seconds remaining. At that point I thought an official made a wrong call on an out-of-bounds ball, turning the ball over to Mission Rec and depriving South Bay of a chance to tie or pull ahead. Late in the game I thought Mission Rec combined its greater experience with more fire in the belly to will itself to the tie and then to the win, aided by the unfortunate out-of-bounds call.
Erica Payne had a great game on Sunday. She is an aggressive player, always in the mix. While continuing her stellar defensive play, she scored 24 points, just behind Joslyn’s team-leading 28 points. Amber finished with 11 points on Sunday.
In my opinion, based on the five Kezar games to date, the three best, always hustling, freshmen are Amber, Erica and Jasmine. I think these three have the best chance to make it into the Stanford rotation this fall, probably joined by Bonnie because of her 3-point shooting ability.
So the Kezar regular season ended with Mission Rec and South Bay having identical 4-1 records, but because Mission Rec beat South Bay it became the winner of the regular season and will not play again until August 6 when it will meet the survivor of the playoffs among the 2nd to 5th place teams on July 23 and July 30. The good news is that South Bay is now in the playoffs and will continue to play. South Bay’s next game will be at 2 pm on Saturday, July 23.
Stanford fans will have a least one more opportunity to see the freshmen, plus Joslyn and Markisha, do their best to make it into the championship series against Mission Rec. If you haven’t enjoyed Kezar’s laid-back ambiance, give it a try. You’ll be glad you did.
By Wally Mersereau
Despite a couple of problems to overcome, the predominately Stanford South Bay team kept on winning on July 9 in the Kezar summer league. The final score was 96-68 over the Golden State team that had a couple of incoming Cal freshmen. The game was closer than suggested by the score, with South Bay only up by a point or two with 8-10 minutes remaining. Golden State only had 6 players (to South Bay's 9 players) and probably got tired. South Bay did a lot of fouling and Golden State did well with free-throw shooting and that kept the game as close as it was until near the end. At the half South Bay led by 44-40.
Jasmine Camp collected four fouls, which limited her playing time. Markisha Coleman had three or four fouls.
The most surprising South Bay problem was Bonnie Samuelson's shooting. By my count she made only one of twelve 3-point attempts. Her misses were not particularly close, but she kept firing away. Bonnie played well otherwise, making a couple of lay-ups and passing and rebounding well.
My vote for outstanding defensive player of the game goes to Erica Payne who had a great second half. During one stretch she seemed to be a one-person defensive team, stopping Golden State on possession after possession with blocks, steals and rebounds.
Amber Orrange and Jasmine Camp again did really well as point guards with Amber perhaps doing just a tad better overall. Both passed very well, often deceptively. Amber was two for two from the 3-point line and Jasmine was one for two. Amber drove for a basket, Jasmine drove for three.
Joslyn Tinkle didn't seem as dominant as in the first two games, but still scored 34 points, including two out of three 3-point shots. She was followed by Amber and Jasmine with 14 points each.
The early Fourth of July sparklers lighting up Kezar Pavilion on July 2 were the incoming Stanford freshmen. They all played well in their second summer-league game. Last week I was able to rank the four newcomers who played. This week I just have to say they all played well and all looked good. Joslyn Tinkle out-shone them all by a healthy margin as she did last week. At Kezar it's hard to tell how good Joslyn really is. She has been head and shoulders above the freshmen, literally and figuratively, in the first two games. As a junior she should be a lot better and she is. Joslyn has been doing everything remarkably well and is the go-to player on the South Bay team. But we all know about Joslyn.
Of greater interest are the freshmen.
This was Erica Payne's first game. She did not play last week because of an ankle injury. There was no hint of any ankle problem today. Erica played aggressive offense and defense whenever she was on the floor. She seemed to get to the right place at the right time and often battled for the ball. She made some nice passes and shots.
Amber Orrange is a lefty. I didn't notice that last week, but she relies on her left hand for mid-range and long-range shots. Amber looked very good at point guard. She made two driving baskets and her passing was crisp.
Jasmine Camp played twice as well as she did last week. She is fast and quick. I like her style of play. She stayed close to her assigned player on defense. She also made two driving baskets. I thought Amber and Jasmine were equal at point guard today.
I ranked Taylor Greenfield last among the freshmen last week, but she was more assertive this week. She played aggressively on defense, shot well and did as well as any of her frosh teammates.
Bonnie Samuelson didn't shoot much last week and was somewhat inconspicuous on the floor. This week she had some open shots and made four 3-pointers. She was more in evidence at other times too. Bonnie looks like a dependable 3-point shooter if she gets open.
There was better teamwork for South Bay today. They actually appeared to be running plays. There were a number of passes to cutting players, screens were set and there were several multiple-pass plays.
I was much more impressed with the Stanford freshmen in their second game. Maybe they had more confidence and were a bit more comfortable playing together. I rank all of them equal today. This was an enjoyable and encouraging game to watch. Oh yes, South Bay won 111-81 over San Francisco which was dominated by Cal players. Cal has a great incoming freshman in Brittany Boyd from Berkeley. She is good at everything, has lots of confidence and was the best player for San Francisco, even outplaying Natasha Vital.
Stanford players showed up for the first time at Kezar today to play on the South Bay team. Those present were Joslyn Tinkle, Amber Orrange, Jasmine Camp, Bonnie Samuelson, Taylor Greenfield and past player Markisha Coleman. Because of a shortage of players for opposing Bay City, Markisha played for that team. Erica Payne was a no-show with an injured ankle.
About 15 or so Stanford fans attended.
Bonnie Samuelson made about 80% of her pre-game three-pointers, but took very few shots during the game.
This was a typical sloppy, but enjoyable, Kezar game. Bay City took a healthy lead of 11-12 points in the first half, led by Brittany Spears (formerly Colorado), Jessica Kellogg (formerly San Jose State) and Amber White (Utah State). Markisha played very well, especially on drives to the basket.
Joslyn led a South Bay resurgence in the second half, allowing SB to take the lead for the first time with 10 minutes remaining. After that the lead went back and forth until SB finally wrapped it up in the last couple of minutes to win 85-81.
Not surprisingly, Joslyn was the best of the Stanford players with good blocks and rebounds and with a variety of scoring shots, mostly spin moves and hooks. Joslyn also made about three 3-pointers. Amber and Jasmine alternated at the point. They handled the ball well. Amber was aggressive with lots of drives to the basket and a nice pull-up jumper. She probably was the second high scorer from Stanford. Jasmine made a few baskets, including at least one three. Bonnie scored maybe three times from behind the line. Taylor did well on rebounds, but shot little.
Based on this first viewing I would rank the freshmen in this order: Amber, Bonnie, Jasmine, Taylor. None of the freshmen looked like starters. Neither Amber or Jasmine looked close to challenging Toni Kokenis at the point.
I thought this was the team that deserved a national championship. It entered the first Final Four game relatively healthy. It had experience. Texas A&M seemed like a preferable opponent for the semi-final game rather than Baylor--no Griner to have to deal with. I came to Indianapolis to see my first Final Four because I thought this would be the time.
There was a good send-off from the Crowne Plaza hotel by maybe 250 Stanford fans, the band, the Tree and four Dollies. A two-motorcycle police escort with sirens led the team bus to the arena. Somewhere between 800 and 1,000 Stanford fans attended the game. There was an Edy's ice cream concession at Conseco Fieldhouse. The stage was set.
I have seen every Stanford game this season. I can attest that Texas A&M presented the most effective defense Stanford has faced. The Cardinal initially appeared rattled by the tight defense and was down by 7 in the first half, but fought back to take a 4-point lead at the half, 27-23. I thought and said it could have been worse. Stanford had ended the half with a little momentum.
The second half went much better for Stanford through the first 15 minutes with the Cardinal generally having an 8- to 10-point lead. But the lead was never a comfortable one and team fouls began to climb. With 4:20 left the Stanford lead was down to 5 and Chiney fouled out. With 3:41 left the lead was down to 3. Stanford managed to get up by 4, 58-54, with 2:23 remaining. At the 1:33 mark the lead was one. With less than a minute to go the game was tied and then A&M was up by one. Nenka's two free throws reversed the lead to 60-59 Stanford. At some point Mel fouled out. A&M made a lay-up with 19 seconds remaining and it was 60-61. Nneka's quick lay-up made it Stanford ahead 62-61 with 9 seconds left. A thrilling win seemed likely--but no, it was not to be. With 3 seconds left A&M made a final lay-up to win 62-63. A desperation down-the-court Stanford heave on the inbound was picked off by A&M and it was over.
Nneka was the only Stanford player that could deal with the A&M defense to score an amazing 31 points, along with 7 rebounds. Jeanette was the only other player in double digits with 11. Kayla and Chiney were both held to 4 points. Kayla grabbed 10 rebounds which may have been enough to give her a new careeer rebounding record.
Seven Stanford players had 11 minutes or more, with the biggest surprise being Mel's 27 minutes, during which she scored 8 points. Kayla played the entire game, Nneka and Jeanette had 39 minutes and Mikaela had 20 minutes. Chiney's foul problems limited her to 19 minutes. Toni was ineffective and played only 4 minutes. Another surprise was that Joslyn did not play at all.
The only thing that has eased the pain slightly as I write this is that Notre Dame beat UConn in the second game 72-63. So no #1 seed will be in the championship game on Tuesday. Two semi-final upsets. The anticipated Stanford-UConn rematch will not happen.
And so the dream has ended abruptly in Indianapolis. It was great while it lasted, it just didn't last quite long enough. Once again: so near and yet so far.
If you are going to Indianapolis for the Final Four, note the following activities that occur on Saturday:
All the above take place at the Conseco Fieldhouse, the venue for the games as well. Click that link for arena information including floor plan. Here is the official NCAA event schedule.
On Sunday 4pm-6pm there is a reception and band send-off at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Click here for more info and the address to request a reservation.
The recommended bar and watering hole for Stanford fans is the Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grille at 7 East Washington Street.
What a difference a game makes! There are wins and there are wins. Two nights ago I was wrung out after the down-to-the-end battle with North Carolina with Jeanette making only one basket from the floor. After this game, along with all of the Stanford fans present, I was thrilled, happy and had plenty of energy. At the trophy presentation the words were: "The trophy for the Spokane Regional is presented to Stanford University along with an invitation to the Final Four in Indianapolis". No sweeter words could have been spoken. How amazing that this team is going to its fourth consecutive Final Four!
It was especially satisfying for this win over Gonzaga to end in such a dominating manner. All over Spokane were signs reading "Good luck, Lady Zags" and "Go Zags". 11,000 locals packed the Spokane Arena and roared in anticipation before the game. An article about Courtney Vandersloot in today's Spokesman-Review came close to having her walking on water. She is a truly outstanding player who can do just about everything. In the first half she was unstoppable, making 21 points this way and that. But in the second half Courtney made only 4 points and her team made only 8 of 34 shots.
There was a nice send-off of the team from the Davenport Hotel (they stayed in the old hotel this time) with the band, Dollies and Tree performing before a line of clapping players and a good representation of fans. The news of Tennessee's loss to Notre Dame was learned by smartphone just at the opening tip-off of the game and that put Cardinal fans in a good mood. Nneka, as usual, got the opening tip and Stanford scored first. Slowly, Stanford pulled ahead. The lead was one after 4 minutes, 8 after 7 minutes, 10 after 10 minutes. Then Gonzaga battled back, led by Courtney, narrowing the lead to 5 points with 6 minutes to go. At the half Stanford led 47-38. At that point Nneka led Stanford scoring with 15 points to Courtney's 21.
The second half was all Stanford. With 16 minutes to go the lead was 16, it grew to 20 with 12 minutes left and to 23 with 7 minutes remaining. The final score was a sweet 83-60, with Mel making a pretty floating lay-up just before the end.
The box score is not available as I write this, but in this game minutes played were mostly by the starters. Toni came off the bench first, then Joslyn, then Mikaela. Jeanette had a few wild passes in the first half and Tara sent Mel in to replace her just before the half ended. My impression is that the starters played almost all of the second half. There was no reason to replace them as they shut down Gonzaga while scoring and rebounding at will.
Jeanette had five 3-pointers to bring her season total for threes to 93, breaking Krista Rappahahn's Stanford record by two. Lindy and Kayla added more threes. At one point Kayla had four straight rebounds and she had more as she nears the season rebound record. If Nneka wasn't scoring or rebounding, Chiney was. Nneka led Stanford scoring with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Chiney had 18 points and 15 rebounds. Jeanette had 17 points and Lindy 11. Kayla's totals are not available to me now, but she was everywhere, doing everything. There was nothing hesitant about the team tonight. They played with confidence and great determination. There were a few mistakes, but they were far outweighed by stellar playing, individually and collectively. This was a great team performance, unfazed by the 98% Gonzaga capacity crowd. And certainly Tara and her crew did an outstanding job, especially with half-time adjustments.
The All-Regional Team was announced at the end of the game: Italee Lucas of North Carolina, Courtney Vandersloot, Kayla, Chiney and Nneka with Nneka being named MVP.
I was expecting to greet the team when it returned to the Davenport, but learned that it headed straight for the airport after the game for a charter flight home.
And so it is off to the Final Four once again. How sweet it is! May the good times continue.
