What a way to finish the year and get ready for Pac-10 Conference play. The eighth-ranked Cardinal will know one way or the other if they are contenders for the national title, or pretenders to the crown.
What Fourth Ranked Xavier Brings to the Court
Size, and plenty of it. Seniors Ta'Shia Phillips (6-foot-6) and Amber Harris (6-5) can bang inside with the best of them. Stanford senior Kayla Pedersen (6-4) and Cardinal junior Nnemkadi Ogwumike (6-2) need to play their best against the Musketeers or risk losing the battle of the boards.
A modicum of revenge. Xavier (10-1 after losing at No. 3 Duke last week) will long remember the missed opportunity in last year's NCAA Regional final at Arco Arena in Sacramento. Stanford guard Jeanette Pohlen raced the length of the court in 4.4 seconds to lift the Cardinal into the Final Four with a layup at the buzzer.
What makes it worse is that Musketeer guard Dee Dee Jernigan missed a pair of wide open layups in the final 12 seconds that might have clinched the game. Xavier has moved on from the setback but there's certainly some feeling of unfinished business for Harris, Phillips, senior guard Special Jennings, junior guard Tyeasha Moss and sophomore guard Katie Rutan, the returning players who saw action in that contest.
Stanford (7-2) beat San Francisco in its last game, giving Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer her 800th career win. The Cardinal lost at DePaul and Tennessee in their previous two games. A lack of depth at the post position and no true point guard proved to be weaknesses in the losses.
The Musketeers, who committed 30 turnovers and still lost by a single point to the host Blue Devils, are a true test for Stanford, which has won its last 50 games played at Maples Pavilion.
Starters Pedersen, Pohlen and Ogwumike and reverse Joslyn Tinkle are the four Cardinal players back from the 55-53 victory over Xavier last year.
The Top Ranked Huskies Are Simply The Best
This will be a rematch of last year's NCAA national championship game, in which Connecticut struggled from a halftime deficit to beat the Cardinal, 53-47, and win its second straight national title.
The Huskies (11-0) haven't lost a game since Stanford beat them in the national semifinal game in 2008. Connecticut's win over Florida State last week was its 89th consecutive, the longest streak in college basketball, men or women, history.
Connecticut is an overwhelming favorite to beat Pacific, in Stockton, on Tuesday for No. 90 before heading to Maples Pavilion on Thursday.
Maya Moore, the Huskies' senior 6-0 forward, is arguably the best female player on the planet right now regardless of the level. Against Stanford last year, she took the game over in the second half and personally lifted Connecticut to the NCAA title. She scored 23 of the team's 53 points.
Juniors Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty (out for the year with an injury) and sophomore Kelly Faris are the others who played in the national championship game last year and who return this season.
The foursome accounted for 38 points and 26 of the Huskies' 49 rebounds. Stanford's foursome of Pedersen, Pohlen, Ogwumike and Tinkle accounted for 40 of the team's 47 points and 34 of 49 rebounds.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma has to be considered the best women's coach on the planet these days. He simply refuses to allow anything less than the best effort out of his players.
The brash, theatrical coach, who also heads the U.S. Olympic women's team, speaks his mind, which endures him to some and frustrates others. He may not be as politically correct as the lords of basketball might like but he is good for the game.
The UConn-Stanford game is already sold out. There's at least four, and likely more, future All-Americans who will compete on Thursday.
Visiting 'The Farm' and Maples Pavilion
Stanford has hosted four games in which it played the top-ranked team, and has won twice, beating Tennessee in 2007 and Purdue in 1998. The Cardinal lost to Tennessee in 2005 and 1993.
The Huskies are making their third trip to Stanford and their first since 1993. UConn has yet to win on the Cardinal home court, losing by 19 in both 1993 (ranked fourth at the time) and 1988.
Auriemma and VanDerveer, the 1996 U.S. Olympic team coach, have coached against each other on 11 occasions. UConn leads the series, 6-5.
VanDerveer won two national titles (1990, 1992) before Auriemma won the first (1995) of his seven NCAA titles.
Rick Eymer - I have written for The San Mateo Times, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and am currently working part-time as an assistant sports editor at ...
Join the Conversation