We’ll get going in a few minutes!!!

 

 

1. Stanford (15-1, 6-0). The new entrants in the Pac-12 didn’t prove to be much of a challenge for the Cardinal, who blew through Utah and Colorado. Joslyn Tinkle is coming off of late and coach Tara VanDerveer is happy to have another scorer not named Ogwumike.
2. Cal (13-5, 4-2).  The Bears have righted the ship since the Pac-12 opening sweep in Los Angeles. Back to winning games they should win and out-rebounding pretty much everyone.
3. Gonzaga (15-3, 4-1).  A tough day at home against St. Mary’s results in the program’s first home loss since 2009. Kelly Graves is hoping it will “refocus” his team.
4. USC (9-6, 4-1).  The Women of Troy are figuring things out, winning four straight since losing to Stanford in the conference opener. The win snapped a four-game losing streak to UCLA in the Southern California rivalry game. Ashley Corral passed Cheryl Miller as the program’s all-time assists leader.
5. Arizona State (11-5, 2-3).  The Sun Devils barely snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating Oregon in Eugene. Next up are home games against Utah and Colorado.
6. UCLA (7-9, 2-3). Injuries continue to plague this season. Freshman Moriah Faulk, who played in 15 games off the bench and provided perimeter scoring, injured her leg last week against Arizona State.
7. St. Mary’s (14-5, 5-1). Following the lead of their men’s team, the Gaels posted their first win over Gonzaga since Paul Thomas took over as head coach, defeating the Zags in Spokane for the first time since 2002. Alex Carbonel making an early case for WCC Player of the Year.
8. Fresno State (13-4, 1-0). Coach Adrian Wiggins won his 200^th career game as a head coach and the Bulldogs are 7-0 in WAC season openers after defeating Nevada. FSU has won eight of nine.
9. San Diego State (12-4, 2-0). The Aztecs have won eight straight, including this week’s overtime road win over UNLV, a battle between the top two teams in the Mountain West Conference this season. Courtney Clements has scored at least 20 points in five games this season.
10. Washington State (9-8, 3-2). One of only four Pac-12 teams with a winning record in conference play thus far, the Cougars took a step backward by losing at home to the rival Huskies.

1. Stanford (13-1, 4-0). Saturday’s Oregon State win was not a good look for the Cardinal, who are struggling to get more production from their guards while the Ogwumike sisters carry the scoring load. Next up are first-time Pac-12 meetings on the road against Utah and Colorado.
2. Gonzaga (14-2, 3-0). The Zags have won nine in a row and get out of their first conference road trip with a pair of decisive wins against Pepperdine and LMU.
3. USC (8-6, 3-1). The Women of Troy showed a lot by going on the road to sweep the Arizona schools. Five players scored in double-figures in the Saturday win over Arizona. Next up, the rivalry game against UCLA on Saturday.
4. Cal (11-5, 2-2). The Bears followed up a tough weekend in LA with a home sweep against the Oregon schools. Chalk it up to winning the games they should win. Saturday’s 90-point effort against Oregon was Cal’s highest-scoring game of the year.
5. Arizona State (10-4, 1-2). This was not the way to prove that the Sun Devils are contenders to be among the top teams in this conference. ASU is shooting a conference-worst 26.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
6. UCLA (7-8, 2-2). The Bruins beat the Sun Devils, but the fact that they don’t have a winning record keeps them below the ASU in these rankings. Still, it was an as-good-as-one-can-hope-for weekend for Cori Close’s team in the desert.
7. Washington State (9-7, 3-1). A one-point loss to Colorado puts the first blemish on the Cougars’ conference mark, but this kind of start is still a sign of very good things in Pullman.
8. San Diego (10-3, 1-0). A 17-point win over St. Mary’s is an emphatic move to establishing the Torreros as the second-best team in the WCC.
9. Fresno State (11-4). A nailbiting loss to UNLV is the second-to-last game on the non-conference schedule. A game against Seattle U on the 11th puts the finishing touch on the preseason. The defeat ended a run of six straight wins.
10. St. Mary’s (11-4, 2-0). The Gaels have to pick up after the San Diego loss, which ends a seven-game win streak, and find the bright side after a career-high 24 points from Alex Carbonel.

CANCELLED! BLOGGER UNDER THE WEATHER. SORRY.

Happy New Year! Some 2012 shuffling has broken out now that the conference season has begun!

1. Stanford (11-1, 2-0). It was not the prettiest weekend ever, the Cardinal gutting out an off-night to win at USC and then having an easier time against UCLA, but its clear that the Cardinal are still the class of this conference. Sophomore guard Toni Kokenis playing better ever since big game against Tennessee.
2. Gonzaga (12-2, 1-0). The Zags had a great holiday tournament in Vegas, defeating Georgia and Dayton and got the WCC schedule off on the right foot. A definitive move into the No. 2 spot with seven straight victories. Next up a road weekend in LA against Pepperdine and LMU.
3. Arizona State (10-2, 1-0). The Sun Devils soundly defeated rival Arizona to open the Pac-12 schedule and snap a six-game Wildcats win streak. This is still not a team that can put a lot of points on the board and they will be tested with the L.A. teams coming up this week.
4. Cal (9-5, 0-2). Big step backward for a Bears team that was on the verge of the national rankings before getting swept by UCLA and USC. Cal averaged 54.5 points in those two games and were 22 of 39 from the free-throw line.
5. USC (6-6, 1-1). The Women of Troy are scrambling to collect enough wins to get NCAA Tournament eligible. The loss to Stanford didn’t help, but the decisive win over Cal was an indication of the level this team is capable of playing.
6. UCLA (6-7, 1-1). A split against the Bay Area schools was a strong start for the Bruins considering the injury issues. Markel Walker’s 11-point, seven-rebound game is a promising sign.
7. Fresno State (10-3). Five straight wins for the Bulldogs, who move on to face UT-Arlington on Tuesday and then UNLV on Friday.
8. Washington State (8-6, 2-0). A double-overtime victory over Oregon State gave the Cougars a road sweep to open the Pac-12 schedule, the program’s first-ever conference road sweep for the first time since 1994-95.
9. St. Mary’s (11-4, 2-0). The Gaels opened WCC play with a big win, defeating BYU in Moraga to end the Cougars 10-game win streak. SMC has won six in a row.
10. San Diego (9-3). No shame in a one-point loss to No. 13 Texas Tech on Friday. Saturday’s game against St. Mary’s will be a very good one.

Live blog from Stanford-USC Pac-12 Opener coming up at 7 p.m.!

As the injuries mount, the conference season has arrived.

The list is long and painful and it started before the season began. A short list of the key Pac-12 talents who have missed significant time or will not be on the floor with their teams to start conference play.

USC – Jacki Gemelos (knee) out for season

UCLA – Jasmine Dixon (Achilles) out for season, Atonye Nyingifa (knee) out for season, Markel Walker (thumb) missed 7 games

Oregon – Amanda Johnson (thumb) out 4 weeks

Stanford – Alex Green (Achilles) out for season, Jasmine Camp (foot) out for season, Mikaela Reuf (foot)

Washington – Kristi Kingma (knee) out for season

Arizona – Candice Warthen (foot) out for three straight games, return unknown

Utah – Chelsea Burns (knee) out for season; Brittany Knighton (knee) out indefinitely; Ciera Dunar (knee) out indefinitely.

While there are a plethora of teams with strong records heading into conference play, the strengths of schedule, in some cases, have been less than impressive.

The Pac-12 is ranked No. 5 in this week’s RealTime RPI, the lowest among the BCS conferences.

Stanford, frankly, looks like a runaway favorite and it is the Cal Bears who have emerged as the most solid-looking No. 2.

Here’s a team-by-team preview heading into the historic first weekend of Pac-12 play.

 ARIZONA

Non-Conference Grade: B.

Outlook: The Wildcats have a great record at 9-1, the program’s best start since 1999-2000, but a strength of schedule that ranks No. 208 in the nation this week. So the question has to be asked…are the Wildcats ready to compete against the top-tier teams in the Pac-12? There is ample talent there with the backcourt of Davellyn Whyte, the league-leader with 28 3-pointers and Shanita Arnold, but there is also a hole to fill inside the paint. Sophomore Erica Barnes is playing well, while Candice Warthen is working through a foot injury, she has missed three straight games and her time could be limited early in the conference season.

Stat of note: The Wildcats rank second in the conference with 79 made 3-pointers so far this season.

Quotable: “We haven’t been as consistent as I’d like,” Niya Butts said. “I would like us to try to put 40 minutes together if we could.”

ARIZONA STATE

Non-Conference Grade: B-

Outlook: The Sun Devils are 8-2 – their only two losses to ranked teams. ASU is playing the usual lock-down defense, but are looking for offense. Senior guard/forward Kimberly Brandon leads ASU with 9.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The Sun Devils busted out for a season-high 83 points against Army before the holiday break.

Stat of note: The Sun Devils lead the Pac-12 with an average of 7.0 blocks per game.

Quotable: “I had no idea difficult it would be,” said interim head coach Joseph Anders. “I am standing in the gap for Charli (Turner Thorne) and looking forward to her return. Nothing prepares you for the totality of responsibility of guiding a program and young ladies and doing our best to hold up the standards that Charli has worked so hard to build.”

 CAL

Non-Conference Grade: B+

Outlook: The Bears look to be the strongest contender to be the No. 2 team in the conference after a tough preseason slate in which the Bears lost three games to ranked teams (Rutgers, Texas and Ohio State) by a combined six points. The biggest win was a victory in Hawaii in Joanne Boyle’s Virginia team. Forward Gennifer Brandon is on her way to a breakout season after sitting out 16 months with an injury. She’s averaging 10.7 rebounds per game and is capable of providing some good offensive punch in the paint. She is also a large part of the reason that Cal ranks third in the nation in rebounding margin. Freshman Reshanda Gray, the Bears’ leading scorer, is a strong candidate for league Freshman of the year.

Stat of note:  The Bears have pulled down an average of 47.5 rebounds per game and a total of 570 rebounds in 12 games.

Quotable: “There’s no question about it, we can go 10 deep on a regular-basis,” said Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb. “We can play a style that lends itself to up-tempo or aggressive play and we don’t have to worry about foul trouble or fatigue.”

 COLORADO

Non-Conference Grade: B

Outlook: Yes, the Buffs are 11-0 (the last unbeaten team in the conference), but with a strength of schedule ranked 331^st in the country, it seems like a time of reckoning might be coming. Chucky Jeffery has been the bright spot in Colorado’s early season so far with five double-doubles and three 20-point plus games.

Stat of note: The Buffs are 11-0 for only the third time in program history. The last time was 1992-93.

Quoteable: “It’s a lot of work (coming into a new conference), but it’s exactly the same as what we experienced as a staff last year I the Big 12,” said Buffs coach Linda Lappe. “The other good thing is that with six new coaches in the conference, that makes us all on a pretty even playing field.”

 OREGON

Non-Conference Grade: C-

Outlook: Losing Amanda Johnson is a tough blow for the Ducks, who will be without their top player for at least a month after she fractured her left thumb on Dec. 11 vs. Denver. She will spend a total of four weeks in a hard cast and then will be re-evaluated. In the meantime, the Ducks need to find somebody to replace the 20 points and 11 rebounds a game she was providing. The Ducks, who have lost four of six heading into the Pac-12 schedule, will find that the level of competition once conference play starts jumps substantially.

Stat of note: The Ducks have yet to win on the road this season.

Quotable: “There’s a whole new world coming up for all of us with the start of conference play and I won’t be as naïve to it as perhaps I was in the past,” said Oregon coach Paul Westhead.

OREGON STATE 

Non-Conference Grade: B

Outlook: At 7-2, the Beavers are making the best out of an improving situation. Scott Rueck has recreated this program and is relying heavily on junior college transfers this season. There are six new players on the Beavers roster, five of them from the JC ranks. Freshman guard Ali Gibson has scored in double figures in seven games so far this season.

Stat of note: OSU ranks second behind Stanford in scoring margin, winning by an average of 20.3 points a game.

Quotable: “What I’ve liked is that the returning players have set the tone for us,” OSU coach Scott Rueck said. “I would say that it has gone how we had hoped up to this point.”

 STANFORD

Non-Conference Grade: A-

Outlook: The Connecticut loss is the only black mark on the Cardinal’s non-conference season. The high points including road wins over Texas and Xavier and home victories over Gonzaga and of course, Tennessee. But it has not been an easy preseason for Stanford, still working on settling into rotations on the floor and now dealing with season-ending injuries to their young guards. Nneka Ogwumike is the best player in the Pac-12 by a wide margin and sister Chiney Ogwumike is probably the second-best. If Toni Kokenis can consistently provide offense from the point guard spot, the Cardinal could go another season without a conference loss.

Stat of note: Stanford have won 57 straight games against conference opponents dating back to 2009.

Quotable: “I am really looking forward to playing Utah and we haven’t played Colorado in a long time. I like the new look that we have as a conference,” Tara VanDerveer said. “I think it will bring extra excitement.”

UCLA

Non-Conference Grade: B-

Outlook: This season may turn out to be a huge comedown for the Bruins after finishing second to Stanford in each of the past two years. Injuries are devastating this team, contributing to the four-game losing streak headed into Pac-12 play. First it was the preseason loss of Jasmine Dixon to an Achilles injury. Markel Walker missed the first seven games after recovering from thumb surgery and now the team’s emerging go-to player, Atonye Nyingifa is out for the year with an ACL. Cori Close’s first season as the UCLA coach is going to be a supremely challenging one.

Stat of note: The Bruins rank 12^th in the conference in scoring at 63.0 points per game.

Quotable: “I’ve told our team to embrace the struggle,” Close said. “We are trying not to focus on what we don’t have, which could have been a lot of days. We are going to discover some of our other strengths and bring those to the forefront.”

USC

Non-Conference Grade: C

Outlook: The Women of Troy scheduled tough and paid for it. They head into conference play with a 5-5 record and will have to scramble to a very good Pac-12 record to get to the NCAA Tournament. There is no shame in losing to Georgia or Notre Dame or Texas A&M. But losing to Arkansas State. That’s the kind of thing that keeps you out of the field of 64. USC looked like the No. 2 team in the conference when the season started, but the loss of Jacki Gemelos to a knee injury that ends her college career is a big one.

Stat of note: The Women of Troy rank 10th in the league in both scoring offense and scoring defense.

Quotable: “We are already weather-tested,” coach Michael Cooper said of his team’s tough schedule. “The key is going out on to the road so we can understand what it takes. That’s what it’s about. We want to become a good team.”

UTAH

Non-Conference Grade: B-

Outlook: The Utes lost four games during the preseason – all on the road and by a total margin of 19 points – and they could very well be a top 6 team in the conference. But injuries have done major damage to the depth on the roster despite the return of four starters. Sophomore forward Michelle Plouffe leads the Utes and ranks seventh in the Conference with 15.8 points per game. She is the highest-scoring underclassmen in the league. Center Taryn Wicijowski is averaging more than 14 points a game as well.

Stat of note: The Utes led the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 51.5 points a game heading into the conference season.

Quotable: “We have defended well and we continue to get better at that,” said Utes coach Anthony Levretz.

WASHINGTON

Non-Conference Grade: B-

Outlook: The Huskies are no doubt improving, entering conference play on a five-game win streak, but this teams doesn’t look to have the make-up of a squad with a chance to finish in the top half of the conference standings. Losing Kristi Kingma for the season was a tough blow. A team with seven freshmen is going to have a hard time making headway against the top teams in the conference. The Huskies will be looking for signs of progress more than W’s in the standings.

Stat of note: Center Regina Rogers is making 71.4 percent of her shots from the field.

Quotable: “We have a lot of places where we have to grow to feel like we could compete at the top,” said Huskies coach Kevin McGuff.

WASHINGTON STATE 

Non-Conference Grade: B

Outlook: June Daugherty challenged her program this non-conference with a schedule that included seven straight road games, three ranked teams and the Cougars, while they didn’t win any of those games, showed themselves to be an improved program, perhaps the best team since Dougherty arrived four years ago.

Stat of note: Washington State’s scheduling includes 23 games against teams that advanced to the postseason last year.

Quotable: “As a team, I feel like we’ve found our identity,” Daugherty said. “We are committed to getting stops and getting into our running game. We have been able to use about 13 players a game, and that energy has been paying off for us.”

Predicted order of finish

1. Stanford
2. Cal
3. USC
4. Arizona State
5. Arizona
6. Washington State
7. UCLA
8. Utah
9. Oregon State
10. Colorado
11. Oregon
12. Washington

 

1. Stanford (7-1).  Tuesday night’s game against Tennessee is a big litmus test for the Cardinal, who need to prove that they can generate offense outside of the Ogwumike sisters, who are carrying the scoring load thus far. The freshmen guards – Amber Orrange and Jasmine Camp – are going to be called on against the Vols. Will they answer?
2. Cal (8-3).  The Bears get credit for degree of difficulty, their three losses all to ranked teams by a total margin of six points. Gennifer Brandon could be a breakout start in the Pac-12 this season if Saturday’s 24-point, 24-rebound effort against Ohio State was an indication.
3. Arizona State (7-2). A missed opportunity for the Sun Devils to come up with a better showing against DePaul on the road. They out-rebounded DePaul – playing without standing Keisha Hampton, but couldn’t generate enough offense to come out with the upset. That is the concern against the top teams in the Pac-12.
4. Gonzaga (8-2).  The Zags have an interesting week coming up with games in Las Vegas on Monday and Wednesday against Georgia and Dayton. The first game, in particular, will be a good check on where they stand.
5. USC (4-5).  The Women of Troy has not done it the easy way so far this season and very nearly pulled off a very big upset of Texas A&M in College Station on Sunday. But now they await news on the knee injury to Jacki Gemelos, which could be a tough blow right before the start of conference play with Stanford and Cal on the way into town.
6. UCLA (5-4). Two straight losses for the Bruins against two very strong teams in LSU and Tennessee. What does that say about where UCLA sits on the verge of the start of the Pac-12 race? Work to do, particularly on the offensive end, where UCLA averaged 52.5 points in those two games.
7. Fresno State (9-3). Kiki Moore, the transfer from Washington State, is averaging 17.5 points a game so far this season as the Bulldogs put together a very nice non-conference stretch. They have won eight of nine, the only loss to Stanford.
8. Arizona (9-1).  The Wildcats continue to plow through their schedule on the way to the Pac-12 schedule, when the real measurement of progress will come.
9. San Diego (8-2). A win over Cal Poly sends the Torreros into the holiday break tied for the second-best start in program history and the best since 2006-07.
10. St. Mary’s (7-4). The Gaels snuck out of Seattle with a one-point win and now continue the Northwest swing with a set up games against Oregon State and Oregon that will be good measures of how well they are playing heading into the WCC schedule.

 

This close.
Three shots in the final seconds and not one of them falls.
The Cal players looked stunned in the moments after the buzzer sounded on their 77-75 loss to 12th-ranked Ohio State at Haas Pavilion on Saturday.
Three losses this season. All to ranked teams. By a combined total of six points.
This one might have been more brutal than the others because it happened at home, it happened after the Bears battled back from a 14-point halftime deficit against the unbeaten Buckeyes, because it seemed like if they had played only a minute of two longer, the Bears would have finished the job.
“I think this was a litmus test that told us that we are not quite there yet, not quite where we want to be,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “We want to be an elite team. We want to be a top-10 team. We want to be where Ohio State is and where other teams are now. We’re not quite there yet, but it does feel good to know that is within reach.”
The Bears look fast, deep, aggressive and talented. Brittany Boyd and Reshanda Gray are dynamic, impact freshmen. Layshia Clarendon, Eliza Pierre play with the confidence of veterans. Gennifer Brandon, with her 24 points and 24 rebounds, plays as if her last name should be Ogwumike.
They look like a strong candidate to be the second-best team in the Pac-12 with the conference season just a week or so away.
They look like they are this-close.

Tags: Gennifer Brandon, Lindsay Gottlieb

Join me for a live blog of one of the biggest games in the Bay Area this season. It’s going to be a big couple of days with Tennessee coming into town on Tuesday.