Subscribe to Full Court PressSpotlight on the Pac-12: Stanford Still the Team to Beat as Conference Season Tips Off
Photo Caption: Can Nneka Ogwumike lead Stanford to its 12th-straight Pac-12 Conference title? The odds look good for the No. 4 nationally ranked Cardinal, who have lost just once, to No. 2 Connecticut, thus far, and Ogwumike is Full Court’s pick for Pac-12 Player of the Year.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Stanford Athletics Media Relations
By Morris Phillips
Correspondent
In the inaugural spin of conference play for the reconstituted Pac-12, the order of things in women’s basketball is simple: There’s Stanford and—until someone disrupts the apple cart—there’s Stanford again.
How rare and difficult has it become to beat Stanford?
Only one current Pac-12 coach, June Daugherty of Washington State, and one current Pac-12 player, fifth-year senior Regina Rogers, entering conference play have done it.
It appears that even the 11-year run of conference championships isn’t enough for the Cardinal. Tara VanDerveer’s squad doesn’t just win every year, they win every night. Stanford has won 57 consecutive games against Pac-12 competition, 53 of those by double digits.
“There’s a commitment at Stanford to win every game,” Washington’s new coach, Kevin McGuff said.
| 1. |  | STANFORD CARDINAL |
Last year’s Record: 33-3 overall, 18-0 in-conference; Pac 10 Championship; NCAA Semifinals
2011-12 Record: 11-1 overall, 2-0 in conference
National Rankings: No. 4/4
Just in case somebody’s thinking it won’t take an Athenian effort to topple Stanford, in the last conference loss for the Cardinal, on January 18, 2009, Cal’s Alexis Gray-Lawson scored played 40 minutes, scored 37 points and committed just two turnovers in the Golden Bears’ 57-54 win.
For trivia buffs, Rogers was a freshman at UCLA when she played 12 minutes and scored four points in the Bruins’ 69-56 win over Stanford on January 4, 2008. June Daugherty last beat Stanford, 77-72, as Washington’s coach on December 22, 2005. Daugherty has lost 25 of 29 meetings with Stanford in her coaching career, and she’s winless against them in her current role as head coach at Washington State.
So thin is the list of Stanford conquerors, we’ve put together a list of Cardinal close-call All-Stars currently competing in the Pac-12. It’s not a much lengthier list.
- Arizona’s Reiko Thomas scored 14 points in 35 minutes off the bench in a 70-67 loss to Stanford in 2009.
- UCLA’s Markel Walker scored all 10 of her points in the Bruins’ second-half rally in a 71-67 loss to Stanford in 2010.
- With only two players, we needed a ringer. Morgan Warburton—Utah’s first-year video coordinator—had 20 points and four rebounds in the Utes’ 81-77 double overtime loss to Stanford in 2007.
- McGuff’s our coach, but not since he’s been at Washington. McGuff watched Jeanette Pohlen race the length of the floor for the game winner in Xavier’s 55-53 loss to Stanford in a 2010 NCAA Elite Eight meeting.
“If we were able to put together a 40-minute effort against them, it could have been a different story,” former UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell said after departing the conference for the head post at LSU without ever beating the Cardinal. “It’s those lapses that allow Stanford to consistently pull out games.”
So what of this year? Does Stanford have what it takes to continue its dominance of the reformulated conference?
While this may not be VanDerveer’s best-ever team, it may not make any difference. This year’s version is ranked No. 4 in both major national polls and features All-American and Naismith watch-lister Nnemkadi Ogwumike. No other conference team currently ranks in the Top 25 in either poll.
Stanford is young, but extremely athletic and deep, despite the loss of freshman point guard Jasmine Camp.
“We’re always working hard to improve individually and collectively,” VanDerveer said. “For us, especially, we have six freshmen and one of them is out for the season (Camp) and another is out indefinitely (Alex Green). And those players have to grow and improve.”
Eleven years after their Pac-10 (now Pac-12) championship streak began, the Cardinal never appear concerned with the score and they never let up. So until someone meets Stanford at the top of the escalator, they’ll once again be scooting toward the league’s automatic NCAA bid without many obstacles on the horizon.
So the overwhelming evidence points to making Stanford the pick as conference favorite.
| 2. |  | CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS |
Last year’s Record: 18-15 overall, 7-11 in-conference; sixth-place Pac-10 finish
2011-12 Record: 9-5 overall, 0-2 in conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
The runner-up berth is considerably less clear, but, for sake of argument, let’s say California with its potential and athleticism. Lindsay Gottlieb, the Golden Bears’ first-year coach, has plenty of talent including a pair of breakout stars in 6-2 Gennifer Brandon and freshman point guard Brittany Boyd.
Brandon is the knock off version of Ogwumike with her leaping ability and explosive play. The junior missed 16 months with a stress fracture injury that would have tested the resolve of the most determined student-athlete. But she’s back with a signature performance against Ohio State (24 points, 24 rebounds) under her belt.
Cal has dropped close calls to nationally ranked opponents, Rutgers (70-73), Texas (60-61) and Ohio State (75-77). With two out of three of those losses coming on the road, the Bears controlled the glass in each contest and missed enough free throws in each loss to want to kick themselves. They also own a quality win (59-50) over former Cal coach Joanne Boyle’s Virginia squad, a team whose stock has been rising.
The “quality” losses have the Bears on the cusp of the Top 25, but with Stanford as the only catapult left on their schedule, Cal might need to win at least 14 conference games to catch the attention of poll voters the rest of the way. And the Bears have an unfortunate tendency to suffer extended scoring droughts which they will have to overcome to get that job done.
“In women’s basketball there’s that degree of inertia: Once you’re in, people think you should be in, and until you get in, it’s a little bit tougher. But we take that on ourselves to put ourselves on the forefront of people’s minds and we have to do that with our play,” Gottlieb said.
| 3. |  | USC WOMEN OF TROY |
Last year’s Record: 24-13 overall, 10-8 in-conference; fourth-place tie, Pac-10 regular season; postseason WNIT runner-up
2011-12 Record: 6-6 overall, 1-1 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
USC is another Pac-12 team that has flirted with the national rankings. Like Cal, USC is blessed with top-100 recruits, but they need to show that the talent can mesh into a well-rounded team.
USC may be deflated with the loss of Jacki Gemelos to another season-ending ACL injury, but the Women of Troy can regain their breath with bigger contributions from freshmen Alexyz Vaioletama and Ariya Crook.
Michael Cooper’s third year figured be the one in which the Trojans finally broke through for an NCAA bid, but then they dropped five of their 10 non-conference games, including the definitive “bad loss” to Arkansas State (56-58). The Trojans have one quality win to their credit, a 58-51 victory at Gonzaga, a team that has popped in and out of the national rankings over the course of the early season.
USC was blown off the court (80-58) by No. 3 Notre Dame in the Bahamas, and suffered a near-rout at Nebraska (50-68). In a heartbreaking 70-71 loss to defending champion Texas A&M, the Trojans evidenced improved ball handling, rebounding and defensive intensity. Their ability to score with Ashley Corral bombing away and Stefanie Gilbreath slashing to the hoop can’t be disputed. Now USC just needs to come along in the other facets of the game.
USC’s early conference schedule won’t help its NCAA Tournament push. They open with a pair of home games against the Bay Area conference favorites before road games at contenders Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA. If the Trojans can are to accomplish that breakout season, they’ll have to avoid falling below .500 in these first five Pac-12 contests.
| 4. |  | ARIZONA WILDCATS |
Last year’s Record: 21-12 overall, 10-8 in-conference; fourth-place tie, Pac-10 regular season
2011-12 Record: 11-2 overall, 0-1 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Arizona hopes to be the most upwardly-mobile conference team without actually moving out of the conference. The Wildcats finished tied for third-fourth place last season, and a predicted fourth-place finish this year could result in an NCAA Tournament bid. The Cats are currently 11-2 and carrying a lot of steam into conference play. If they can add at least 12 conference wins, they should be in the NCAA Tournament mix, especially if those 12 wins include an upset or two.
Niya Butts’ squad has a high-scoring, inside-outside combo in guard Davellyn Whyte and sophomore post Erica Barnes. The pair combined to make just eight of their 23 shots against UNLV on Wednesday, but the Cats held on for a 62-58 win that gives them their best season-start since 1999-2000.
“If I would grade our nonconference games by record, I’d give us an A, but on performance and execution, probably a C. We’re reacting well in some areas, and poorly in others, and mostly depending on the day. We need to be more consistent and balanced,” Butts said after the UNLV win.
| 5. |  | ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS |
Last year’s Record: 20-11 overall, 11-7 in-conference; third-place finish, Pac 10; first-round loss to Temple in NCAA TournamentN
2011-12 Record:10-2 overall, 1-0 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Despite a coaching change as former assistant Joseph Anders has assumed the head coaching duties on an interim basis for Charli Turner Thorne, who is on an unpaid voluntary sabbatical after 15 years in the head coaching position, the Sun Devils haven’t missed a beat. ASU stayed in the game with nationally ranked Rutgers, suffering a 52-59 loss in a Puerto Rico Thanksgiving Tournament, but lost to DePaul earlier this month by a substantially wider (55-73) margin. They have no really bad nonconference losses, but neither do they have any real quality wins to point to in their NCAA Tournament resume. In their final preconference tuneup, ASU dropped Texas-El Paso, 47-45, with the Miners shooting just 32.7 percent from the field and committing 19 turnovers.
Arizona State figures to look and perform differently from other Pac-12 teams in that they have size and experience along with a real defensive mindset. Now they hope those qualities will set them apart in the conference standings as well.
The Sun Devils won 11 conference games last year but lost standouts Dymond Simon and Becca Tobin. There probably will be a drop-off in performance this year, but not a significant one with defensive stalwarts Kimberly Brandon and Tenaya Watson returning.
It won’t be pretty, but the Sun Devils figure to be successful in conference play.
| 6. |  | UCLA BRUINS |
Last year’s Record: 28-4 overall, 16-2 in-conference; second-place Pac-10 regular-season and tournament finishes; second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Gonzaga
2009-10 Record: 6-7 overall, 1-1 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
UCLA’s not bad, but they just don’t figure to overcome a host of barriers that probably will keep them on the periphery of the conference race. In addition to the loss of head coach Nikki Caldwell who left at the end of last season to take the helm at LSU, leading scorer Jasmine Dixon has been lost for the season with an Achilles injury and Markel Walker just returned from thumb surgery.
The Bruins are a team with plenty of talent and a new, but clearly capable, head coach, but their brutally ambitious schedule hasn’t helped them, with losses to Tennessee (64-85), Temple (53-59), LSU (41-58), Baylor (50-83) and West Virginia (54-63) so far. Their best win has been an 84-43 rout of Loyola Marymount, and that’s not going to mean much to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
New head coach Cori Close isn’t conceding anything, but UCLA’s early conference schedule—like USC’s—figures to have them taking on more water before they can bail themselves out. Look for the Bruins to gel in February with a late rush heading into the conference tournament.
| 7. |  | COLORADO BUFFALOES |
Last year’s Record: 18-16 overall, 6-10 in Big 12 conference; eighth-place Big 12 regular-season finish; loss to USC in postseason WNIT quarterfinals
2011-12 Record: 12-0 overall, 1-0 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Colorado women’s basketball enters the Pac 12 with a proud tradition of 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, six Sweet Sixteens and three trips to the Elite Eight. The Buffs are the conference’s lone remaining undefeated team, but they’ve feasted on an RPI-friendly schedule and open the conference with five of their first seven games on the road. The Buffs figure to come back to earth but Linda Lappe, the Pac-12’s youngest coach, knows what she’s doing and what her team’s facing. That will help.
Chucky Jeffrey will help as well. CU’s top scorer got it done in the school’s final year in the Big 12 and she figures to pick it up immediately in the Pac-12. The keys to improvement for the Buffs will be in the hands of 6-3 senior Julie Seabrook and 6-2 freshman Jen Reese. The inside duo needs to compliment Jeffrey and take it personally that the Buff’s high-scoring guard currently leads the team not only in points, but also in blocks, steals and rebounds.
| 8. |  | WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS |
Last year’s Record: 8-23 overall, 6-12 in-conference; seventh-place tie Pac-10 regular season
2011-12 Record: 8-6 overall, 2-0 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Washington State is a true breakout team under Coach June Daugherty. Unfortunately, an unforgiving league may not give the Cougs a big enough stage to display their growth. WSU loves to run and dump the ball in the corners for early-opportunity threes from Ireti Amojo. If Jazmine Perkins and Sage Romberg can lift their shooting percentages from distance, this strategy could really start cooking.
One thing’s apparent: Washington State has talent, experience and depth. If they can combine that with good fortune and win some close games, look out. Daugherty has them thinking they can do it and their narrow-loss at home to Top-Ten Louisville (71-75) was an eye-opener.
| 9. |  | UTAH UTES |
Last year’s Record: 14-16 overall, 7-9 in Mountain West Conference; fourth-place tie Mountain West regular-season finish, first-place Mountain West Tournament; first-round loss to Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament
2011-12 Record: 7-5 overall, 0-1 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Utah holds the distinction of being the league’s fourth NCAA Tournament qualifier from a year ago, as the automatic seed from the Mountain West Conference. Of course, sneaking up on TCU in the Mountain West tournament might not be as big a feat as surviving home-and-home contests with California and Stanford. However, the Utes don’t visit Los Angeles in the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule == a fact that might not help recruiting, but could help them in the conference standings.
Iwalani Rodrigues and Taryn Wicijowski are the big names here with both young players transitioning into team leaders for Coach Anthony Levrets. The 6-3 Wicijowski is coming off a redshirt year due to an ACL tear, but has played well thus far. Rodriques had 26 points and a career-best six three-pointers in Utah’s win Wednesday night over Utah Valley.
The future is bright for the Utes with their young roster, but the challenge is to arrive a year ahead of schedule. The dismal attendance at the Huntsman Center doesn’t give Utah much of a home-court advantage, which is a real shame since the building is one of the few left that boasts an extensive NCAA tournament history.
| 10. |  | OREGON STATE BEAVERS |
Last year’s Record: 9-21 overall, 2-16 in-conference; 10th-place Pac-10 regular-season finish
2011-12 Record: 10-3 overall, 1-1 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Oregon State finished dead last in the conference a year ago, so there is nowhere to go but up for the Beavers. Oregon State is currently 10-3 (already exceeding their total wins in 2010-11) and playing well, which is the last thing you would expect given the upheaval in their program over the last two years.
But Scott Rueck has talent, a bit of depth and balance, and a real knack for getting his players to leave it all on the court. What needs to improve is the shooting of Sage Indendi and Alyssa Martin, who have struggled thus far, despite their impressive track records. A 20-point loss to St. Mary’s in their final nonconference tuneup suggests this team needs an overhaul, but really they just need to stay the course and let the chemistry on the court continue to develop.
| 11. |  | WASHINGTON HUSKIES |
Last year’s Record: 11-17 overall, 6-12 in-conference; seventh-place tie, Pac-10 regular season
2011-12 Record: 8-4 overall, 0-2 in-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
Washington’s Kevin McGuff has one of the nation’s most efficient scorers in 6-3 redshirt senior, center Regina Rogers, a fifth-year senior who has seen her game grow due to her commitment to better physical conditioning. But McGuff didn’t accept UW’s generous offer to leave Xavier and take on a major rebuild in Seattle by being the type of coach who praises; instead, he is a coach who continually pushes for excellence.
McGuff says of Rogers, “She’s a good kid. She can continue to get better.”
McGuff probably could say and will say that about a bunch of his players. The Huskies lost all-conference guard Kristi Kingma to injury before the season started, which officially makes this a year to grow and gel. But given this coach’s track record (nine consecutive NCAA appearances at Xavier), the trajectory of the program should be at a steep angle.
| 12. |  | OREGON DUCKS |
Last year’s Record: 13-17 overall, 4-14 in-conference; ninth place, Pac-10 regular season
2011-12 Record: 9-5 overall, 1-1 i-conference
National Rankings: Not nationally ranked
No team or coach wants to finish twelfth, but that’s the reality of college basketball’s move to bigger—and supposedly better—collectives. Oregon hasn’t won enough recruiting battles or sustained what success they’ve had under Coach Paul Westhead.
Unfortunately, Westhead’s high-octane system doesn’t look good or smart when it doesn’t produce wins. The veteran coach of the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball needs Christmas to come sooner than 360 days from now, and he needs somebody to put a big-time scorer/rebounder under his tree.
For now the team must hope the absence of leading scorer Amanda Johnson isn’t a prolonged one.
Full Court’s Postseason Award Predictions
Pac-12 Player of the Year: Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford
Of course. The nation’s consensus second-best player is easily the best player in this conference. What’s of greater significance is that she may be the best to play at Stanford for Tara VanDerveer.
Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year: Kali Bennett, Arizona State
The Sun Devils aspire to be the best defensive team in the conference, and Bennett is central to that mission. The 6-5 senior blocks shots, rebounds and has 15 steals to date as well. Every quality defensive team needs an anchor in the middle and Bennett plays that role for ASU.
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year: Brittany Boyd, California
Boyd has ascended to a starting spot in a crowded Golden Bears’ backcourt and now she’s attempting to take charge of the team on the court at Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s behest. Boyd is a quality free-throw shooter so she can’t afford any more meltdowns like the one she had against Ohio State where she missed eight of 10 freebies in a two-point loss.
Pac-12 Coach of the Year: Tara VanDerveer, Stanford
Who cares how many times the legendary coach has won this award? It’s still a comfortable fit especially since the Cardinal continue to perform at a high level every night despite having few, obvious challenges. It’s no wonder the great Stanford program seems to be getting better and better.
Up This Week
Thursday, January 5th
| USC @ Arizona St. | 5:30 PM | Tempe, Ariz. |
| UCLA @ Arizona | 6:00 PM | Tucson, Ariz. |
| Colorado @ Washington | 7:00 PM | Seattle, Wash. |
| Utah @ Washington St. | 7:00 PM | Pullman, Wash. |
| Oregon @ Stanford | 7:00 PM | Stanford, Calif. |
| Oregon St. @ California | 7:00 PM | Berkeley, Calif. |
Saturday, January 7th
| Colorado @ Washington St. | 1:00 PM | Pullman, Wash. |
| USC @ Arizona | 1:00 PM | Tucson, Ariz. |
| Utah @ Washington | 2:00 PM | Seattle, Wash. |
| Oregon @ California | 2:00 PM | Berkeley, Calif. |
| Oregon St. @ Stanford | 2:00 PM | Stanford, Calif. |
| UCLA @ Arizona St. | 3:00 PM | Tempe, Ariz. |
Originally published Sun, January 01, 2012
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