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Cal make their move towards Pac 10 title The Cal Bears men's team went out and did what they had to do last weekend. Knock off the hard charging Washington Huskies and beat Washington St. and get back in front of the race for a Pac 10 regular season title. The Bears had their way with Washington, winning 93-81 behind 33 points from point guard Jerome Randall. Jamal Boykin added 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Bears victory. Saturday against Washington St. was a different story. Cal still won the game, but they had to claw their way to the 86-70 victory. Cal was down 11pts at the half against the Cougars. Washington St.rode the hot hand of Klay Thompson's 23 first half points to keep a double digit lead for most of the first half. The Bears put more effort into guarding the sweet shooting Thompson, holding him to just five points in the second half. Patrick Christopher had 19 points and Jamal Boykin added 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win. The Bears (17-8, 9-4 in the Pac 10) are now one game ahead of an Arizona St. team (18-8, 8-5 in the Pac 10) that still has a game to play in Berkeley Feb. 27th. If the Bears do not slip up before then, they have a trip to play the Oregon schools this week, then that game will be for the Pac 10 championship. St. Mary's could not get it done up in the great Northwest. A tough loss at Gonzaga was followed by an even tougher loss at Portland Saturday.The loss to Gonzaga was bad, but at least it was the Zags. St. Mary's could still make the WCC championship game, lose to Gonzaga and still have a chance to stake into the NCAA's. Of course the Gaels have designs on winning the WCC and earning their spot in the Big Dance. Getting Gonzaga away from home will be a big help. The Zags just don't lose much at home and they should St. Mary's why in their 80-61 win. For the second year in a row the gaels followed a loss at Gonzaga with a loss at Portland. This time it was in overtime 80-75 and it might have forced the gaels to win the WCC Tourney out right to have any shot at making the Big Dance. St. Mary's has just three games left plus the WCC Tourney to make things right.
USF KNOCKS OFF ZAGS ON THE HILLTOP It was bound to happen. The Gonzaga men's basketball team had won 28-WCC league games in a row, but coming off a come from behind victory over Santa Clara Thursday night Zags head coach Mark Few must have been try to make sure his team stays on point and did not look past a Dons team that has been playing better lately. Down once again at the half, this time to a team that was being led by a senior and not a freshmen like Thursday night against Santa Clara and the Zags were not able to hold off the Dons in San Francisco. Doir Lowhorn is that senior leader on USF and he led the way for the Dons with 22pts. It was Lowhorn who put the game away in overtime with back to back trey's and USF won 81-77, upsetting the 13th ranked Zags. The Dons Angelo Caloiaro sent the game into OT when he hit a three with 32.8 seconds left in the game. Nobody else could score and USF was on their way to their first victory over Gonzaga since 2005. That is not bad in a conference where some teams have not beaten Gonzaga in over ten years. The Dons improved to 8-14, 3-4 in the WCC while Gonzaga is now 17-4, 6-1 in the WCC. The one team who is the happiest is St. Mary's who continued their hot start by thumping Loyola Marymount 85-67 Saturday to complete a two game sweep of the LA schools. St. Mary's bested Pepperdine on Thursday night and the are now neck and neck with the Zags at 6-1 in the WCC with one more chance to grab the lead in the WCC. The two teams play Feb. 11th at Gonzaga in what could be the biggest game of the year for the Gaels, if they win. They have to like their chances and they will head into the game a perfect 8-0 on the road this year. St. Mary's hosts Santa Clara (Feb. 4th) and USF (Feb. 6th) before heading off for three in a row on the road. After Gonzaga the Gaels face a Portland team they beat 77-72 in Moraga and then San Diego Feb. 18th. The Stanford men's team took a couple of beat downs in the Desert over the weekend. Stanford has not won a road game all season and at 4-5 in the PAc 10 that will be their down fall if they do not get their act in gear when they hit the road. The Cardinal have four more road games left this season beginning with Thursday nights clash at UCLA. After playing USC Saturday Stanford will be home for the Washington schools before heading up to Oregon to play OSU and Oregon. The Cardinal have five games left at home. If Stanford can win at least two games on the road and four games at home the Cardinal will finish in the top half of the Pac 10. Stanford has a chance to save their season. They have beaten all four teams they have left on the road. A road sweep of their four remaining contests away from home and the Cardinal will get a pretty good seed in the Pac 10 Tourney, as long as they take care of business at home as well. It has been the Landry Fields (22pts) and Jeremy Green (20pts) show for Stanford this year. but the two made just 14 of their combined 39 field goal attempts against Arizona St. as the Cardinal fell behind quick in the 88-70 loss. Arizona St used a 21-0 run in the games opening 3-minutes to jump out to a 30pt lead. The lead would stretch to 54-17 at one point in the first half. Guard Ty Abbott was the man for ASU netting 22pts in the first half on 6 of 6 shooting from three point land. Abbott finished with 29.
St. Mary's bounces back from Zags loss to beat Portland St. Mary's got back on the ball Saturday night to beat Portland 77-72 in a key WCC tilt in Moraga. The Gaels almost let this one get away. Leading the whole game and up 65-53 with just four minutes to play, St. Mary's had to do everything they could to hold off the Pilots.
Portland has been picked by many to finish second behind Gonzaga in the WCC. The Gaels still have their eye on first place, but getting sweep at home by two of the leagues top contenders is not a good recipe for success. Omar Shaman put the Gaels on his back in the second half scoring 24 of his 28pts after the break. The Gaels as a whole shot 70% in the second half and they needed every bit of it to win. St. Mary's was out rebounded for the second game in a row. Portland's rebounding edge (35-28) helped led to 18-second chance points for the pilots. The Gaels did a good job of D-ing up the Pilots guards, but once again a big man got loose against St. Mary's. Against Gonzaga freshmen Elias Harris the Gaels could do little to stop the young forward who finished with 31pts and 13-rebounds in the Zags win Thursday night. This time it was Robin Smeulders who gave St. Mary's fits. Smeulders went for 29pts and eight rebounds. The Gaels were able to hold Portland by going eight for eight from the free throw line the final thirty seconds of the game. Mickey McConnell was made all four of his down the stretch and finished with 17pts. Next up for St. Mary's is a home game against San Diego Jan. 21st before heading down south to face up start Pepperdine who have gotten off to a 3-0 start in WCC play. Stanford sweeps LA Life is not so bad after all for the men's basketball team at Stanford. The Cardinal made it two wins in a row, knocking off UCLA at home 70-59.
Landry Fields is finally starting to get a little help. Fields has done it all for Stanford this year. He has been the Cardinal's only scoring threat, averaging 22pts a game. Jeremy Green has stepped his game up since the start of the Pac 10 season. Green, a Sophomore guard, has hit for twenty or more in two out of the first three Pac 10 games of 2010. 23pts were wasted in a 92-66 thrashing at the hands of the Golden Bears. Stanford took their lumps and learned their lesson, picked them self up off the floor and held off USC by a point, 53-52. Green had 17 in the win over USC and he topped that with 30pts against UCLA. The win improved Stanford to 2-1 in the Pac 10. That is good for a three way tie between Cal, Stanford and Oregon atop the Pac 10. Pre season favorite washington is in last place at 1-3 in conference play. Guess who the Cardinal play next. At Washington Jan. 14th.
St. Mary's stays on track, sweep Bay Area rivals over the weekend The St. Mary's men's team showed no let down in the face of their annual showdown with Gonzaga (Jan. 14th 8pm) by knocking off USF and Santa Clara on the road to open the 2010 WCC season. The Gaels took care of business both nights, blasting USF 83-62 before heading down the Peninsula to get past Santa Clara 80-72. St. Mary's used runs of 14-3 and 9-2 to open up a 33-18 first half lead. Down 41-27 at the half, Santa Clara 15-2, 2-0 in the WCC, went on a 13-5 run to cut the Gaels lead to 46-40 with just over 15-minutes to play. They could get co closer the rest of the way. Center Omar Samhan led the way for the Gaels with 24pts and 9-rebounds. Forward Ben Allen added 16pts and eight rebounds to St. Mary's cause. Robert Smith had 23pts to lead Santa Clara (8-11, 0-2 in the WCC.) WCC Basketball is off and running The Bay area will be alive with college basketball this weekend as the WCC regular season jumps off. St. Mary's, USF and Santa Clara will each play the next two days and each want to start the league season on a roll.
They will take a trip around the bay, playing at USF Jan. 8th before heading over to play at Santa Clara Jan. 10th. Road wins are always big and when they come in league play it is like winning two games. The Gaels have gotten off to a 13-2 start. They have not missed Patti Mills who bolted early for the NBA. Omar Shaman has been the most improved player in the league by leaps and bounds. He lost over 15-pounds the past off season and the result has given Shaman the endurance to play at a high level for a long time. That helps on offense because you can move a get better position to score. It helps even more on defense because Omar can be active and move his feet to stay in front of his man. When you get tired to tend to reach for steals which leads to cheap fouls and time on the bench. Santa Clara has a tough couple of games coming up. San Diego hits town first Jan 8th. The Bronco's are 8-9 and they must put together a couple of wins in a row to give their season some life. The Bronco's best win was against Fresno St. 74-67 and they lost 67-64 to a decent UNLV team. Kevin Foster leads the team scoring 19pts a game. The Bronco's have won the last two games in the series. Santa Clara ended San Diego's season last year. The Bronco's won 80-69 win in last year's WCC Tournament quarterfinal game on March 7th. San Diego could be a wild card in the WCC this year. They got the services of guard Brandon Johnson back this year after he got hurt last season. One of the best players in the league, Johnson makes San Diego a regular season champion contender this year. USF has one of the top scorer in the WCC, forward Dior Lowhorn. Lowhorn drops in just over 18pts a night, but he will need some help if the Dons are to make it back to the top half of the WCC standings. Kwame Vaughn is second on the team in scoring, 13pts a night but nobody else scores more then eight points a night. That has got to change if the Dons are going to turn around a season that has started out 5-10. The league season brings new life. It is a chance to start over and make a run at the Big Dance in March. That fresh start begins tonite for the WCC.
Stanford women pound Cal in Pac 10 tilt The Stanford women's basketball squad was much too strong for the Cal Bears down the stretch and the Cardinal went on to win 79-58. Cal hung around for he first half keeping Stanford from getting off one of the patent runs.
Stanford still had the lead over a Bears team that had trouble of their own scoring points. Cal's nine first half turnovers helped prevent Cal from gaining any kind of an advantage. The Cardinal used the Bears sloppy play to go on a 14-2 run opening up a ten point lead late in the first half. Cal was point guard Alexis Gray-Lawson hit a three at the end of the half and she became the ninth player in Cal women's basketball history to reach 1,500pts for a career. The Cardinal led just 35-24 at the half. Stanford opened the second half by pounding away at the Bears by going down low on offense and shots began to fall for the Cardinal. Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 24 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to lead the way for Stanford who improved to 11-1, 1-0 in the Pac 10. the Bears fell to 6-6, 0-1 in the pac 10. Freshmen forward DeNesha Stallworth continued her strong play with 12pts, seven rebounds and three assists for the Bears. #2 Stanford Women dominate #3 Tennessee 12/19/09 -- It was a bi-coastal clash of the titans as the No. 3 Tennessee Lady Vols came out West to face #2 Stanford Cardinal. Stanford (9-0) demolished Tennessee 67-52 and gave them the first blemish on their 9-1 record. "I want to be loud and clear Stanford was by far the best team on the court for today," legendary Coach Pat Summitt stated. "They looked like a final four team. The gave us a blue print, we just got to use it." The last time Stanford beat Tennessee was two years ago in Palo Alto. This win evened out the Cardinal's home record against the Vols to 5-5. However, Tennessee has a lopsided 21-5 series overall lead between these giants. Stanford jumped out to a 30-18 half-time lead, despite having their leading scorer, sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike (19 ppg.), on the bench with foul trouble for most of the first half. The Cardinal women set the tone early with intensity on defense and aggressive rebounding. They held the Vols to 21-percent shooting in the first half and under 33-percent for the game. Stanford was very physical on the blocks outrebounding Tennessee 44-34 in the contest, which included 14 offensive boards. The Vols got of to a quick 11-4 lead out of the gates. Then the Cardinal went on an 11-2 run to take the lead 15-13. Reserve guard JJ Hones, who finished with 10 points, capped off the run with a three pointer at the 8:07 mark of the half. Stanford never trailed the remainder of the game. Guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude took up some of the slack in the first half scoring all 8 of her points, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Stanford moved the ball well on offense and got everyone involved as they had 4 players in double figures and 14 assists as a team. Conversely Tennessee played one-on-one ball all day and took poor shots. "We only had 4 assists in this game," Coach Summitt complained. "That may be an all-time record at the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball Team." The Vols center Kelley Cain led the team in assists with 2. The Vols leading scorers, sophomore Shekinna Stricklen (16 ppg) and junior Angie Bjorklund (14 ppg), shot 5-of-16 and 4-of-12 respectively, for a combined 32-percent. "I'm not sure that we have players getting into the practice facility and putting up the shots," Coach Summitt surmised. "The shooting doesn't all fit." The Cardinal didn't have a great shooting night from the field either, connecting on only 39-percent. But their physicality got them to the foul line where they shot 78-percent on 18-of-23. Ogwumike ignited the second half finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds, 4 offensive. Her aggressive play got her to the line 10 times. Cardinal senior center, Jayne Appel, also battled down low and finished with a game-high 14 rebounds to go with 3 blocks and 10 points. It was 6-4 swing Kayla Pederson who paced the Cardinal scoring a game-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added 8 rebounds. With 4:45 remaining Stanford extended their biggest lead of the game to 18 behind a Kayla Pederson jumper, she played all 40 minutes. Stanford is in the midst of a hectic pre-conference schedule. This is their second straight blowout of top 10 teams. They are coming off the heels of a 71-55 win over then No. 7 Duke. Stanford now embarks on the biggest test of the season taking a trip to Connecticut to face No. 1 UCONN Lady Huskies on Wednesday (12/23) night.
Stanford women take care of business against Depaul The Cardinal women got in a little warm up if you will with a 96-60 pasting of Depaul Sunday afternoon at home. It's not that Stanford, ranked second in the country, overlooked Depaul. With #7 Duke, #4 Tennessee coming to town this week and a trip to play at #1 UCONN in the next seven days a game against Depaul could have been an after thought. 24pts from Nnemkadi Ogwumike and a 19-0 run at the end of the first half and start of the second turned close game into a rout. Stanford center Jayne Appel chipped in with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Cardinal now 7-0. Appel became just the third player in Stanford women's basketball to grab 1,000-rebounds when she pulled one down less then two minutes into the game. She joined Nicole Powell (1,143) and Val Whiting (1,134). Photo's click here
Stanford, Cal women look to go far this year They have gotten off to good starts, both Stanford and Cal will hold the flag for bay area women's basketball this year. The Stanford women have started out 6-0 and they have been putting up big numbers to justify their #2 national ranking.
The Lady Cardinals have been just as good on defense. They have only giving up more then 60pts once and that was in a 81-66 win over a good Rutgers team on the road. The schedule is about to heat up for Stanford. Photo By Rene Galindo They are on the eve of their biggest home stretch of the season with a six game home stand that starts the day after Thanksgiving when Stanford hosts Utah Friday at 1pm. WCC powerhouse Gonzaga comes calling Nov. 29th and they are followed by Depaul (12/13),#10 Duke (12/15) and finally #6 Tennessee (Nov. 19) will make the trip out to the West Coast for what could be a NCAA Tourney preview. Stanford will have one more test before the start of the Pac 10 season. Stanford will head East to face off with the top ranked team in the land right now, UCONN. Stanford's offense has put a lot of pressure on other teams which in turn helps the Cardinal defense. Teams rush through their sets and put up a lot of forced shots. The Lady Cardinal's entire starting squad ia averaging in double figures led by Kayla Petersen's 18.8pts a game. Nnemkadi Ogwumike (above) is second, dropping in 17.8 a game. Starting center Jayne Appel is right behind them at 16.5 and she tops the team in rebounding pulling down 10.3 a game. The Cal Bears are trying to past the losses of their leading scorer from the past three years (Ashley Walker), their starting center (Devanei Hampton) and make it back to the big dance. Cal is 2-1 after getting pounded by #12 Baylor 69-49 at home Sunday. Their schedule does come close to matching Stanford's. The Bears will not face a ranked team until the start of the Pac 10 season. Guess who will be waiting for the Bears. Stanford, down in Palo Alto.Cal is being led by a super frosh, DeNesha Stallworth who is tops on the team in scoring (14.0 per game), field goal percentage (57.1%) and three point shooting (66.7%). Point guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, now a senior, is the leader of the team and she must make Cal go because the Bears are very young. They have seven true freshmen on the team and they will need to grow up in a hurry if they are to challenge Stanford for the Pac 10 title this year.
Bay area college hoops jumps starts season After one week of the NCAA basketball season one thing is clear. It is going to be an up and down season for Bay Area college teams. The Cal Bears headed out to the Big Apple only to get pounded by a decent Syracuse team 95-73. It was not what the Bears had in mind after sweeping their first two games of the season against Murray St. and Detroit-Mercy. Point guard Jerome Randall had 25pts, making 5 of 9 three point shots. He also had a game high six turnovers and even though Cal had just two more turnovers then Syracuse the Orangeman had 10 steals to Cal's four. Next up for the Bears in Ohio St., a 77-73 loser to North Carolina in the other semi final game of the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. The St. Mary's Gael's have not missed a beat with Patty Mills leaving early for the NBA draft. The Gaels are 2-0 after polishing off San Diego St. 80-58. Gaels head coach Randy Bennett came up on another great import from Down Under. Freshmen Matthew Dellavedova has been off the charts. He is tied for the team lead in scoring (18pts a game) with Mickey McConnell. The future looks bright for the Gaels. They have eight freshmen on their roster right now with only three seniors. The Stanford Cardinals have started out the 2009-10 season 1-2 after a last second shot by Oral Roberts Roderick Pearson 83-81 in the first round of the Cancun Classic at home Tuesday night. The Cardinals own a 70-53 win over Cal Poly to go along with a 77-64 loss to San Diego. Landry Fields has been everything for Stanford, scoring 25pts a night so far. He will need some consistent help if the Cardinal are going to compete in the Pac 10 this season. Guards Drew Shiller and Jeremy Green will be a big part of Stanford winning or losing this year. They will have to play big in order to take some of the heat of Fields. Freshmen forward Andy Brown from Mater Dei (Santa Ana) is hurt and could miss the entire season. He was being counted on to put in work down low on the blocks. Stanford host Florida A&M Nov. 21st at 1pm before taking off to play at Virginia Nov. 24th. Stanford, Cal open 2009 with wins while San Jose St. gets pounded For both Cal and Stanford 2009 opened up great. The Bears entertained a Maryland team that beat Cal last year while Stanford and San Jose St.hit the road for their first games of the season. Stanford got a 11 of 23, 193-yard,zero turnover performance from freshmen starting quarterback Andrew Luck and 121-yards rushing from tailback Toby Gerhart in their 39-13 victory over Washington St. in the Pac 10 opener for both teams. Gerhart got Stanford on the board with a one yard run the first time they had the ball. Washington St.came right back down the field, but their drive stalled at the Cardinal one and they missed a short, 23-yards field goal. Luck would throw for his first touchdown pass of his career when he hooked up wide split end Chris Owusu on a pitch and catch that went for 63-yards. Owusu scored twice.The second time he found the end zone was on a 85-yard touchdown on a kick off return that gave Stanford a commanding 29-10 lead in the third quarter. Former De La Salle (Concord< Ca.) quarterback Kevin Lopina started for Washington St. and he threw for a five yard touchdown pass to Jared Karstetterearly in the second half to close the Cardinal lead to 22-10. The California Golden Bears played like they are ready to make a move at a Pac 10 conference title. They manhandled Maryland 52-13 at home Saturday night. They were led by tailback Jahvid Best who opened the scoring with a 73-yard touchdown jaunt in the first quarter. Added a two yard run the next time Cal had the ball. Jahvid came into the game with questions about his hurt toe, but he answered those with a 10-carry, 137-yard game. After three carries Best had over 100-yards rushing and two TD's. The Bears have been looking for better play at quarterback and that is what they got from starter Kevin Riley. Riley finished the game 17 of 26 for 298-yards and four TD's. The Bears defense was even better. They did not let Maryland into the end zone until late in the third quarter and Cal holding a 45-6 lead. San Jose St took one on the chin Saturday down in LA against the 4th ranked USC Trojans. Few gave San Jose St. much of a chance to knock off the powerful Trojans. San Jose St. got on the board first when they took advantage of a USC fumble to convert on a short field goal and a 3-0 lead. It was all USC after that. USC started a true freshmen (Matt Barkley) at quarterback and it took him a little while to get going. San Jose St. held Barkley and USC at Bay the first four times they had the ball. Two fumbles and two punts were all USC could muster against San Jose St's. D in the first quarter. USC would get their game going behind a rushing attack that amounted for 343-yards and four touchdowns. The Trojans running game made sure that Barkley would not have to carry the team with his arm. San Jose St. started senior Kyle Reed under center, but back up Jordan LaSecla also saw a lot of action against the quick and hard hitting Trojan D. The two combined for 109-yards passing. The Spartan rushing game was not much better. Patrick Perry has 14-carries for 48-yards to led San Jose St. Next up for the Spartans is their home opener against Utah next Saturday night.
Cal, Stanford and San Jose St all have big plans in 2009 The Bears are getting all the hype, San Jose St. returns a lot of depth and Stanford is starting a freshmen quarterback, but they all expect to get to a bowl game this year. San Jose St. might have the hardest road to a bowl berth. They open up against USC and their hard hitting defense. San Jose St. will get a first hand look at the Trojan's freshmen sensation, QB Matt Barkley. Barkley locked down the starting job right out of high school and the Spartans will be trying to spoil his party. San Jose St. head coach Dick Tomey will wait until game time to choose between Kyle Reed and Jordan La Secla. I have a feeling Tomey knows who he wants to start, but not naming a starter makes USC prepare for both, adding extra work for them. No matter who starts they will have to deal with the USC defense, which is always good. The Spartans have a good young running back in Brandon Rutley who rushed for 356-yards and three touchdowns as a true freshmen last year. He added 748-yards on kick off returns to give him more then a thousand yards of offense his first year in college. San Jose st. will get some experienced help from wide receiver Kevin Jurovich who returns after playing in only two games last year. The Spartans have one of the best Defensive ends in Carl Ihenacho who led the nation in tackles for loss before a thumb injury hampered him during the second half. He still finished eighth with 18.5 tackles a loss with seven sacks. San Jose St. will be starting two new cornerback's who will get tested early against USC.The Spartans started out 5-2 last year before limping home 1-4. Their offense was much to blame. The Spartans were last in the WAC in scoring (18.7 points per game) and yards (282.8 yards per game) in 2008. You have to move the ball. Moving the ball leads to more points and just as important keeps your defense off the field letting them rest up. The schedule is a lot tougher early this year then last. After USC the Spartans host #19 Utah Sept. 19th followed by a short ride down El Camino to play at Stanford the week after that. San Jose St. has a problem which depth. Their first string is good enough to play against most teams, but when players get tired or hurt sometimes there is a drop off in talent when the second string comes in. Winning one out of the first three would be good. Two of three might get San Jose St. ranked. All three and they are in the top 20 for sure. 0-3 could happen with the schedule San Jose St. has to open up the season. If they can score some points they should win one of the three and make that run at a bowl game. Utah is also starting a freshmen quarterback so the Spartans might be able to advantage of some freshmen mistakes in their first two games. Cal is looking to ride the back of a running game being led by Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen into BCS Bowl bid. Best is one of the best back in the nation, but he comes into the season opener against with a lingering toe problem. Kevin Riley is back and will start at quarterback against Maryland Saturday night when Cal kicks off their season. Who he will throw to is another story. The Bears do not have much experience at wide receiver. On defense the bears will need to replace three linebackers who started last year. Mike Mohamed will step up in the middle of Cal's defense. The bears will need a big year from lineman Derrick Hill and Tyson Alualu. After opening the season at home against Maryland the Bears host Eastern Washington before a road trip Minnesota. Cal will then play through the toughest part of the season when they play at #16 Oregon followed by a home game against #4 USC and then at UCLA. The Bears will know were they stand before Halloween. Stanford has gone from 1-11 in 2006 to 5-7 last year in the two year head coach Jim Harbaugh has taken over. They have a great chance to improve on that 5-7 record, but they might need a little luck to do it. As in Andrew Luck, a redshirt freshmen from Houston's Tedford High. He has won the starting quarterback position. The Cardinal will have the services of tailback Toby Gerhart. A two sport star, gerhart almost took his 1,136-rushing yards and 15-touchdowns to the baseball diamond where he is highly rated. Cardinal fans can thank god he also loves football. Stanford has a chance to get off to a hot start in 2009. They travel up to Washington St. to open the season. WSU was horrible last year and Stanford pounded them 58-0. Nothing is a sure thing and with a new, young quarterback under center, Stanford can't afford to take anybody for granted. A trip to play at Wake Forest week two is followed by their first home game Sept. 19th against San Jose St.
St. Mary's takes care of business on Bracket Buster Saturday The Gaels put themselves back on the map with a 75-64 win over #21 Utah St. in Moraga. It was St. Mary's third win in a row and it looks like they have rebounded from losing point guard Patti Mills to a broken hand.
Diamond Simpson ended his home career with a victory that was topped off with a monster slam that will be a part of the media highlight film for years to come. Diamond also had 18pts and seven rebounds in the win, but it was the play of Mcconnell that kept a smooth flow to the gaels offense. That is something that was a problem when Mills first went out, but Mickey has been looking better and better each game he plays starting at point guard for Mills. The win helps St. Mary's at large possibilities if they do not win the WCC Tourney in Las Vegas and get the automatic bid to the Big Dance that comes with it. If Utah St. goes on to win the WAC Tourney, they are regular season champs, it will help St. Mary's. If the Gaels reach the WCC Championship game it looks good for them. They would want to stay on the opposite side of the bracket of Gonzaga. The Gaels can beat them, but why not have to face them until the championship game. St. Mary's three game win streak has put them in position to grab second place away from Portland. The Gaels still need help from Santa Clara or San Diego who both play Portland to get second. You get a two round bye in the WCC if you place first or second during the regular season. The Gaels would love to set up a situation where they have to win one game to make the championship game and the bid to the NCAA's that should come with it. The gaels close out the season with games at Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Cal and Stanford both lost up in Oregon last week. The Bears were an ice cold 3 of 20 from three point land in their 65-54 loss to Oregon St. This is from what was the nation's beat three point shooting team. The Bear's came into the game hitting 45.8%. Theo Robertson led the way for Cal with 14pts. Cal will have a hard time finding out where they played worse in the second, on offense or defense. Cal shot just 27% in the second half to help erase a 11pt first half lead. They made matters worse by letting Oregon St. make 17 of their 24 second half shots (70%). Plenty of room for improvement and the Bears had better improve if they want to make some noise in the NCAA's this year. The Bears missed a chance to move ahead of both Arizona St. (9-4) and UCLA (9-5), in the Pac 10. Washington leads the conference with a 11-4 mark. Cal is now in fourth place with four games to go before the Pac 10 Tourney. Stanford's Pac 10 road woes continued with their 68-60 loss at Oregon. Stanford, now 0-7 in Pac 10 road games this year, became Oregon first win in Pac 10 play. The Ducks came into the contest 0-14 in the Pac 10. Stanford (15-10, 4-10 in the Pac 10) were led by Landry Fields 19pts. The Cardinal would have to win the Pac 10 Tourney down in LA to make the Big Dance, but a bid in the NIT os not out of the question. You have to finish over .500 to have a shot at getting into the NIT and Stanford has four games plus a Pac 10 tourney game left to play. If they lose all five then Stanford would not deserve a bid to any post season tournament. Two wins and I am sure the NIT would love to have Stanford on board. Stanford wants to win them all, go on a deep run in the Pac 10 Tourney and make the NCAA's. A sweep of the LA school's this week would be a good idea. UCLA hits town Thursday followed by USC Saturday and then two games in Arizona next week. If Stanford makes the NCAA's, they will have earned it over the last two weeks of the season. The Arizona schools are two of the hottest in the Pac 10 right now and the Cardinal will have to get over the troubles they have had on the road in the Pac 10 this year to extend their season.
NCAA Tourney spots are on the line as college hoop heats up Cal and Stanford split last weekend. The Cal men picked themselves off the ground to come back and beat Stanford after trailing by as much as 22pts in the first half. Stanford made just about everything they put up at first against Cal. The Cardinal's hit 9 of 12 from behind the arc in the first half. Stanford shot 67% from the field in the first half and just 33% in the second half. Call it good defense or simply Stanford could not keep up the pace they were on in the first half. Anthony Goods, Landry Fields and freshmen Jeremy Green combined for 31pts in the first half. Green was 3 of 3 from three as the Cardinal led 50-36 at the break. It was all down hill for Stanford after that. The Bears opened the second half with a 16-3 run to get back in it. Cal junior Patrick Christopher led the Bears with 21pts, but it was they play of freshmen Jorge Gutierrez who brought a lot of defensive intensity to the Bears in the second half. With the win Cal, 19-6, 8-4 stayed in the upper half of the Pac 10 and they are in line for an at large bid to the Big Dance if they can close out the season with at least three wins in their last six regular season games. It does not get any easier for the Bears who still have games against #17 UCLA and #14 Arizona St. They also play Arizona who just might be the best team in the Pac 10 right now and an Oregon St. team that beat Cal this season. They came, they won and they went home. That would be the Gonzaga men's basketball team who stayed on top of the WCC basketball world for another year. They got past what could be their toughest WCC test by outlasting St. Mary's before slipping by San Francisco two days later. The Zags have clinched another WCC regular season title and they will wait and see what happens in the NCAA's. Their head coach, Mark Few knows his team has a lot of work to do if they are going to make a long run in the big dance. "We have to cut down on our mistake's going forward. It has been a problem this year and we are not as tough as we need to be sometimes. We need to do a better job of rebounding to go far in the tourney this year." said Few after the Zags beat St. Mary's
The Gaels lose their force in the great northwest It was not a good weekend for the St. Mary's men's team up in Washington and Oregon. It looked great at the start of the Gaels game against WCC rival Gonzaga. Guard Patti Mills was lighting up the score board, scoring 18-first half points with ease and then it happened. Mills broke some bones in his hand when he fell trying to dribble by a Zags defender. Away went the game against the Zags in the second half, but in the next game against a good Portland squad, St. Mary's jumped out to a 24-14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half. No Mills, no problem. The Gaels were playing D and running their offense well. Just when it looked like St. Mary's was going to keep the train rolling Portland went on a 22-3 run to close out the half. The Pilots would go up by as much as 22pts in the second half before winning 84-66. The Gaels went seven minutes without scoring during the Portland's run. Scoring points will be the Gaels biggest problem, but they can't let that come over to the defensive end. All you need to play good defense is hustle and getting back on defense. It helps to play D when the opponent has to get the ball out of the basket, but you can still play good D no matter what. Portland now looks like the team that will challenge Gonzaga for the WCC regular season title. Portland (15-7, 6-1 WCC) is the best three point shooting team in the WCC, making over 60% of their three's in league play. They hit 11 against St. Mary's making 11 out of 18 from behind the arc. It was a good weekend for San Jose St. Santa Clara and USF. They all one on Saturday. USF got their first win in conference play when they beat Loyola Marymount 73-53 at home. Forward Doir Lowhorn led the way with 23pts and 14-rebounds for USF now 9-13, 1-6 in the WCC. It was a battle of last place teams. LMU (1-22, 0-7 WCC) might have seen their best chance to win in the WCC this year pass them by. San Jose St. got their head above water by beating Louisiana Tech 53-51 on the road. The Spartans improved to 1-10, 5-5 in the WAC. Adrian Oliver scored 15pts in the win. Santa Clara got got 19pts and 17-rebounds from center John Bryant in a 64-52 win over Pepperdine. The Bronco's are now on a four game winning streak improving to 11-13, 3-4 in the WCC.
Stanford, St. Mary's get big wins over the weekend in bay area college basketball The Cal Bear's men's basketball team, fresh off being ranked in the top 25 for the first time since the 2003-04 season went down to the Farm and lost to their dear friends at stanford 75-69 in Pac 10 play Saturday. Forward Lawrence Hill scored a career high 25pts on 11 of 15 shooting from the field. In fact, three players Montgomery recruited to Stanford, Hill, Anthony Goods and point guard Mitch Johnson were 20 for 32 from the field. Montgomery left Stanford to coach the Golden St. Warriors their freshmen year and they finally got a chance to pay him back for bolting on them like he did. It is not often that you make more field goals, have more rebounds and dish out ten more assists and still lose to somebody.That is what happen to Cal. Both teams made more shots then they missed, but Stanford outscored the Bears 9-2 from the free throw line. Only one player from Cal even saw the charity stripe. Jamal Bokin was the only Bear to shoot a free throw against Stanford. He finished the game 2 of 3.
Stanford takes it on the chin as Pac 10 season starts The Stanford's men's team got down to the business of trying to win a conference title when they hosted the 17th ranked Arizona St. Sun Devils Friday night in Pac 10 opener's for both. The start of Pac 10 play did not go well for the Cardinal who realized how much they are going to miss the Lopez twins (now in the NBA) in the middle of their defense. ASU center Jeff Pendergraph had a field day down low, scoring most of his 31pts on dunks and lay ups. Stanford had no answer for him in the first half when Pendergraph went 21 of those points. Who would of thought that James Harden, the best player in the conference and it's leading scorer, could be held scoreless at the half with his team leading 43-30 against 10-0 Stanford. ASU would win 90-60 mainly because Harden played like a true superstar, making sure everybody got involved. James finished the game with 17pts and a career high 10-assists. Stanford did not do themselves any favors by going 2 of 18 from three point land and making just 24 of their 64 field goal attempts (.375%). Stanford got the wake up call many thought would come. The Cardinal's played a ranked team for the first time all season and even those they have played a few teams that have a good chance to make the NCAA's, a ranked team was a step up in class. Forward Lawrence Hill led Stanford with 14pts on 6 of 11 shooting, but he got little help. Anthony Goods and Landry Fields were a combined 5 of 25 from the field and 1 of 9 from behind the arc. Stanford still played their way back into the game midway through the second half, but the bricks started flying from Stanford and ASU pulled away. The talent is there at Stanford, the have a 111-66 blowout win over 10-4 Texas Tech and Stanford needs to get back to that kind of an effort if they are to compete in the Pac 10 this year. More click here
Cal, Miami set to take over San Francisco The Emerald Bowl returns bigger and better after landing the California Golden Bears and Miami Hurricanes to play Dec. 27th in the City by the Bay. The Emerald Bowl is thrilled to host Cal and they know their fans will be grateful to be able to watch them play one more time without having to travel very far. With the Hurricanes blowing into town to take on the Bears the game will be a colorful match up of two good teams. Miami is not the juggernaut of old, but they are a good young team that seems to be back on the rise. The Bears head into the game trying to end 2008 on a good note. Cal was in the running for a spot in the Rose Bowl just a few weeks ago, but losses against Oregon St. and USC put the Bears season in perspective. A fast start slowed down, but it did not go into the free fall of last year. Part of the reason was the running of Javid Best. Best, a sophomore from Richmond was at his best when the Bears needed him the most. A two game road trip to USC and Oregon St. produced two losses and it left Cal with a 6-4 record with Stanford looming ahead in the Big Game. Bet would burn Stanford for 201-yards rushing, 35-yards receiving and three total touchdowns in the Bears 37-16 win. Javid really cut loose the next week against winless Washington. Best would rush for a school record 311-yards and four TD's in the Bears win. He comes into the Emerald Bowl as the hottest running back in the nation. Miami comes into the Emerald Bowl 7-5, but riding a two game losing streak after loses at Georgia Tech and North Carolina St. A five game winning streak put Miami in position to make a bowl game. They were 7-3 before the two game losing streak and they thought a New Year's bowl game was in their near future. They are thrilled to be heading out to the west coast to take on the Bears in San Francisco. the 'Canes are running a two quarterback system right now. Robert Marve and Jacroy Harris are both freshmen and they have had mixed results. Harris has thrown for 10 TD's to just six interceptions, while Marve nine TD's and 13-interceptions. Their running game has not been much better. Graig Cooper leads the team in rushing with 778-yards. Miami is one of the youngest teams in the country and the emerald Bowl could be their jumping off point to a shot at a national championship in a couple of years. Miami Head coach Randy Shannon has his team heading in the right direction. Their late season slide could have been due to all the freshmen and sophomore's who were starting getting tired. With three weeks to rest up the Hurricanes will be ready for a Cal team that ended the season on a up note. Best's 1,394-yards were 8th best in the country in 2008. Like Miami, Cal has used two quarterbacks all season long. Kevin Riley, a sophomore, has out played senior Nate Longshore throwing for over 1,300-yards with 14 touchdowns to just six interceptions. Cal's defense has, at times, been a pleasant surprise for head coach Jeff Tedford and the Cal Fans. Led by their line backing core, the Bears rank second in the Pac 10 in points allowed. They give up just over 20pts a game, but that is far behind league leading USC who only allow 7.8pts per contest. Cal picked off a Pac 10 best 23 passes this season.
College hoops set to start in the bay area This could be a wide open race for the best basketball team in the bay area this year. The St. Mary's men's team have have the top spot. With the graduation of Candise Wiggins from Stanford, the Cal women could be the best. St. Mary's has just about everybody back from a 22-7 team that made it to the NCAA Tourney. Point guard Patti Mills made a name for himself in the Olympic's over the summer and forward Diamond Simpson, now a senior, could lead the Gaels to a WCC title this season. The Cal Bears women's team is a deep, experienced squad that had their great season ended abruptly in the first round of the NCAA Tourney last year. More click here
Spartans bounce back on the road, Cal and Stanford win It was quite a weekend for the three major college football teams in the Bay Area. San Jose St. and Cal held on to win while Stanford got what looked like a day off in their 58-0 pasting of Washington St. Washington St. is playing for just one thing after falling to 1-8, 0-6 in the Pac 10, are they the worst team in league history. Stanford had their way with the wayward Cougars. Stanford tail back Toby Gerhart had himself quite a game despite only playing half the game. Gerhart rushed for 132- yards on 22-carries and four touchdowns. The Cardinal used a first quarter field goal to break the ice. It was only a 10-0 score after the first quarter. Washington St. is normally down by 21 at this point, so maybe they though the they had a chance in this one. Gerhart scored three TD's in the second quarter to put the game away. The Cardinal are now 5-4, 4-2 in the Pac 10 with games against Oregon, USC and Cal still left on the schedule. San Jose St. got a great game from their back up QB Myles Eden. Starter Kyle Reed was held out because of a sore tailbone and Eden stepped in to lead the Spartans to a 30-24 road win over Idaho. Eden was 23 of 31 (295-yards passing) and two TD's, both to wide receiver David Richmond (eight receptions, 138-yards). Richmond's second TD made it 30-10 San Jose St. with a few minutes left in the third quarter. The Spartans had to recover an onside kick with 2-minutes and 40-seconds left in the game before they could secure the victory. The Spartans gave up14, 4th quarter points to Idaho. San Jose St. improved to 6-3, 4-1 in the WAC and with Fresno St's shocking loss to Louisiana Tech, the Spartans are now alone in second place in the WAC. Yonus Davis rushed for 48-yards on 10-carries. He got San Jose St. on the board with a 1-yard run in the first quarter. That score tie the game at seven and it started a 30-3 Spartan run. Cal's Nate Longshore came off the bench to throw for 136-yards , one TD and more importantly, he had zero turnovers. That was the difference in Cal's 26-16 win over #21 Oregon. Cal, 6-2, 4-1, lost starting quarterback Kevin Riley who was shaken up after being hit at the end of a long quarterback scramble in the first quarter. This game was a homecoming for Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and safety T.J. Ward. Masoli played high school ball at Serra (San Mateo) and San Francisco City College before transferring to Oregon. Ward played high school football at De La Salle. Masoli came into the game as the reigning Pac 10 offensive player of the year, but the Bears were able to shut him down for most of the game. A Riley interception led to a Ducks TD. Oregon marched right down the field before Masoli finished off the 4-play, 46-yard drive with a 17-yard TD run. Oregon would not score again until the third quarter and by that time it was 19-6 Cal. Cal's D was the story of the game. They overcame four Bears turnover's. Javid Best (16-carries, 93-yards rushing) has been playing with a hurt elbow. The speedy tailback busted loose for a 50-yard gain on the game's third play, but he fumbled at the end of the run. T.J. Ward recovered the fumble. Best would lose two fumbles in the game and fellow running back Shane Vereen lost another. Oregon came into the game averaging over 470-yards of offense a game, but Cal held them to 290 Saturday. Cal's win set up yet another game against USC with a berth in the Rose Bowl on the line. The two play each other next Saturday in LA and the winner will be in the driver's seat as the Pac 10 play winds down.
San Jose St. gets past UC Davis 13-10 Davis almost did it again. The Aggie's lead the whole game, but a touchdown pass from Kyle Reed to Kevin Jurovich on 4th and goal from the 17 with eights seconds left in the game.
Photo by Perci Bastinany Reed played in a football game for the first time in four years after going to Cal coming out of McClymonds High in Oakland. Reed was upset when he was put third on the depth chart at Cal and he transferred to San Jose St. last year. He found himself third again this year after training camp, but he got his chance with San Jose St. 10-0 in the third quarter and going nowhere. Reed wasted little time showing he belonged, hooking up with Terrence Williams for a three yard TD on his first drive. Reed finished 14 of 18 for 132-yards, two TD's plus he was the Spartans leading rusher with 28-yards. He came in and made plays. Head coach Dick Tomey wasted little time naming Reed as the starter for San Jose St. next game, a a road game at Nebraska Sept. 13th. The Spartans will need to get their running game going if they are to have a chance against the Cornhuskers. San Jose running backs combined for only 30-yards rushing against Davis. You have to give Reed a lot of credit for the way he handled himself during the training camp after he learned he was again third on a depth chart. He did not whine and when he got his chance, shined when his team needed him the most. Cal gets the Best of Michigan St. This one turned into a track meet. the Cal Bears shook off the rust of last years poor finish and beat Michigan St. 38-31 in Berkeley Saturday. The Bears got a big game from their running game. Tailbacks Javid Best (24-carries, 111-yards, one TD) and Shane Vereen (9-carries, 101-yards, one TD) helped control the tempo against a Michigan St. team that refused to lay down. The Bears jumped out to a 17-7 halftime lead. The third quarter saw the flood gates open as each team began an assault on the end zone. Their were six touchdowns scored in the second half, three by each team. Cal starting quarterback Kevin Riley was 17 of 24 for 202-yards and two TD's. Nate Longshore, last years starting QB, was awful in his brief time under center. He was 3 of 5, but he threw two interceptions, including one that was returned 31-yards for Michigan St's first points of the game. Despite never trailing in the game, Cal could not put St. away until Vereen busted loose on a 81-yard touchdown run with 4-minutes left in the game. That made it 38-24 Cal. A Brian Hoyer to Mark Dell 29-yard touchdown pass closed out the scoring. Dell burned Cal's D for 202-yards receiving and the one TD. Stanford steps up and beats Oregon St. 36-28 The Stanford Cardinal got their season off to the best possible start. They won their season opening contest, beat a bowl winning team team while starting the Pac 10 season 1-0 in front of the home crowd. Stanford scored points as well, which the home folks also want to see. The Cardinal beat USC and Cal last year, but they were just 2-6 in their other games. Stanford got a boost from tailback Toby Gerhart who rushed for 147-yards and two touchdowns. Gerhart returned from a season lost to a knee injury a year ago. Stanford got help. Oregon St. turned the ball over four times in the second half. The last was a fumble that turned into a touchback late in the game with Oregon St. driving for the tying touchdown. Beavers wide receiver Darrell Catching's looked like he was about to go in for a potential tying touchdown with seconds left in the game when Stanford's Taylor Skaufel knocked the ball out of Catching's hands at the Cardinal one yard line. The bounced into the end zone and then out of bounds. Touchback Stanford.
Bay area College football looks for a rebound in 2008 Cal, Stanford and San Jose St. all have high expectations for the 2008 season. Stanford wants to build on their wins over Cal in the big game and USC in their biggest game of last year. The Bears want to get back to where they were at one point last year, playing for the number one ranking. That might be tough this year. A lot of things fell into place for Cal as they climbed as high as second in the nation last year. San Jose St is looking to keep their momentum going and get back to a bowl game this season after slipping to 5-7 last year. The Spartans won the New Mexico Bowl in 2006. Javid Best, Cal's ultra quick tailback looks healthy again after hurting his hip in a game against USC last year. San Jose St. caught a break when 1,000-yard rusher Yonus Davis was granted a medical redshirt giving an extra year of eligibility. Best took a couple of good shots last week in a Cal scrimmage, getting hit for the first time since getting hurt and he came through just fine. Look for Best to replace DeSean Jackson in the excitement department. The Bears were two minutes away from the number one ranking in the nation last season before an Oregon St. comeback sent Cal's season into a downward spiral. The team fell apart with players going after one another harder then the other teams they played. Tedford has tried his best to try and restore order Cal must replace their top three wide receivers from last year. Florida transfer Nyan Boateng will try to become the number one option for either senior Nate Longshore or sophomore Kevin Riley, the two QB's trying to win the starting spot in 2008. On defense, Cal returns seven starters from a team that gave up 26pts a game last season. San Jose St. must find a way to replace graduated quarterback Adam Tafrails. Cal transfer Kyle Reed broke his foot during the off season, setting his progress back. Myles Eden has caught the eye of head coach Dick Tomey and he could be in line to start the season under center. Getting Yonus back will be a big help. Davis broke his foot in the second game of last year and he missed the rest of the season. The Spartans return 13 starters from last season and they will be counted on to get over the 5-7 record of last season in an effort to get back to the 9-4 record of 2006.
OSU to look elsewhere for new coach Bill Grier guided his San Diego men’s basketball squad to a WCC Tournament title and a first round win over UCONN in the NCAA Tourney in 2008. That made him a hot commodity as a head coach. Grier will remain at USD after turning down an offer by Oregon St to become their new head coach next season. Grier was the second WCC head coach to turn down an offer from the more high profile Pac 10. St. Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett did not try and pursue the vacancy created at Cal when their head coach, Ben Braun, was let go after 12-seasons at Cal. Coach Bennett has guided the Gaels to a pair of NCAA appearances in his short time in Moraga and the Bears were thought to be interested in him, but they went out and hired former Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery to coach the Bears. Montgomery took over a Stanford team in 1986 that had not gone to the NCAA Tourney since 1949. They became staples in the tourney during Mike time on the Farm.
Stanford marches on A 28, second half outburst by center Brook Lopez helped Stanford advance to the Sweet 16 by beating Marquette 82-81 in an overtime thriller in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tourney. The win was sealed when Lopez, held to just two first half points, caught the ball down low and turned to make a ten foot jumper that hit the rim then the backboard before dropping through the hoop. Brook's shot gave Marquette only 1.3 seconds to make something happen. They did not helping Stanford cured their first round problems and they will now face Texas in the Southwest Regional semi final's, otherwise known as the Sweet 16. It has become the bench mark for a very successful season. Making the NCAA Tournament is nice, but if you do not win a game in the tourney you can look like a charity case. Just ask the Cardinal, who have been ousted in the first round of the past couple of times. Against Marquette, the Cardinal survived the loss of their coach, Trent Johnson, who was slapped with two technical fouls late in the first half and ejected. Assistant coach Doug Oliver took over and he kept it simple. Find Brooke Lopez. Stanford was done by as much as 11 in the first half closed the gap to 36-30 at the half. This was a game of runs and Stanford went on a 18-6 run of their own to go up six with 11-minutes left in the game. Foul trouble to their two big big, Brooke and Robin Lopez slowed down Stanford. The twin towers had to sit four over four minutes in the second half with three fouls each. Marquette took advantage, racing to a six point advantage with six minutes left. Stanford made up the six little by little until a Robin free throw with eight seconds left forced overtime. Jerel McNeal did his best to help Marquette win the game in overtime. He hit three trey's in the extra period, but the last one with 2-minutes left in overtime made it 81-80 Golden Eagles and it would be the last points Marquette would score in the game. Stanford's Mitch Johnson would finish off a great game at the point with assist number 16 on Brook's game winner. That was the second most assists in one game in NCAA Tourney history. More click here
St. Mary's light's it up down south The St. Mary's Gaels were never hotter then they were Monday night in their 100-64 win at Pepperdine. The Gaels hit a school record 17 three pointers in the win.
The Gaels jumped out to a 21-6 lead and never looked back. Diamond Simpson was perfect from the field hitting all five of his shots and both of his free throw attempts scoring 13pts and pulling down 13-rebounds. Todd Golden continued to play well scoring 15pts and dishing out 10-assists. The Gaels were 17 of 29 from behind the arc against the Waves and they are now 23-3, 10-1 in the WCC. St. Mary's steps out of conference Feb. 23rd when they host Kent St. in a bracket buster game for NCAA hopefuls. Next Monday San Diego comes to Moraga giving the Gaels a chance to pay back the only WCC team to beat them this year. USF gets another win for Eddie USF got career high's from Danny Cavic 25pts and Vince Polakovic 20pts in their 73-60 win over Portland Monday night. WCC leading scorer Dior Lowhorn added 14pts in the win. USF lead by as much as 14 in the second half before Portland made a game of it, taking a brief lead, 51-50 with seven minutes left in the game. USF outscored Portland 23-9 the rest of the way. Santa Clara rode the big back of center John Bryant to a win over Loyola Marymount to cap off a sweep of the LA schools over the weekend. Big John had a career high 36pts to go along with 15-rebounds against Loyola. The Bronco's led 32-19 at the half. The second half is where Big John made his mark, scoring 23 of Santa Clara's 34pts. San Jose St. tops Utah St. 70-67 The San jose St. Spartans got a career high 21pts from second year forward Chris Oakes in their win over Utah St. (18-9, 8-4 WAC). It was the second win in a row for San Jose St., now 12-13, 4-8 WAC.
Stanford sweeps Arizona schools while Cal drops to 9th in the Pac 10 It was not a good weekend if you follow Cal men's basketball. The boys got swept in two games they could have won leaving them all alone in ninth place in the Pac 10. The Cal women are a different story. They are rolling along at 15-2, 3-0 in the Pac 10 as they get ready to face #5 Stanford down on the Farm Jan. 26th. The Lady Bears are healthy for the first time all season after center Devanei Hampton returned from injury. Hampton lit up Arizona St. for a career high 28pts in the Bears 64-51 win over their league rival last week. It was Cal's first win at ASU since 1999. The Bears raced out to a 16-0 lead and they led by as much as 33-10 late in the first half before ASU went on a 11-1 run to close out the half. Cal missed 9 of their first 11 shots in the second half and ASU got as close as 40-36 before Hampton scored five points in a row to get Cal back on track. # 7 Stanford tuned up for their game against #9 Cal by sweeping the Arizona schools over the weekend.
St. Mary’s heads into conference play on a roll The Gaels got a much needed boost towards a possible berth in the 2008 NCAA Tournament later this year. They are a gaudy 14-2 on the eve of their WCC league opener, a home game against cross bay rival Santa Clara at 5pm Saturday.
St. Mary’s went on the road and beat Fresno St. 77-68 behind 17pts and six rebounds from Jr. forward Diamond Simpson. St. Mary’s only two losses were at So.Illionis and Texas and winning road games, especially out of conference games, looks good on a teams resume when they are trying to get a ticket to the Big Dance. Over 9,000 fans packed into the Save Mart Center and the Gaels responded to the hostile environment by taking a 37-24 halftime lead. Center Omar Samhan chipped in with 13pts and 12-rebounds as the Gaels exploited Fresno St. inside. St. Mary's won the rebounding battle 41-24 and they led by as much as 17 in the second half before Fresno St. made a run to make it close. Fresno's Bryan Harvey hit back to back three's to make it a 54-48 Gael's advantage before St. Mary's Ian O'Leary and Patrick Mills hit three of their own to spark a 8-0 Gaels run that put the game away. Could this be the year St. Mary's gets past Gonzaga and win the WCC regular season title. They have finished second the past few years and they look like they have the talent and depth to give Gonzaga a run for the title. The Zags enter conference play 11-4 with wins against Georgia and at Virginia Tech and UCONN. Their four losses are all against NCAA Tourney type teams, #8 Washington St., #11 Tennessee, at Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Zags are being led by guards Matt Bouldin and Jeremy Pargo. They are also working forward Josh Heytvelt back into the rotation. Josh, a talented but troubled player, was arrested and kicked off the team after he was stopped while driving impaired and booked for drug possession. After the top two, it seems to be a wide open race for third place in the WCC. Santa Clara has come back down to earth after starting the season out 7-3. Six of those wins came on the road. The Bronco's enter conference plat 8-7 after losing 62-59 to San Jose St. Monday night. That is not the way new head coach San Diego might the dark horse in conference play. They showed they can play with anybody in the conference after heading out to hoops country and beating Kentucky in front of over 19,000 strong at Rupp Arena.
Beavers end season on a good note Senior tailback Yvenson Bernard also had a going away party at the expense of Maryland. Bernard rushed for 177-yards and one TD, carrying the ball 38-times. He could of had two scores, but he fumbled at the Maryland one yard line.
It was almost like he was passing on some sort of torch because freshmen James Rogers scooped up the ball and scored what proved to be the winning score with ten seconds left in the third quarter. Yvenson finished his colligate career as the sixth all time leading rusher in the history of the Pac 10. Rogers ran for 115-yards of his own and he caught a short touchdown pass in the first quarter for Oregon St's first points of the game. The Beavers defense was nasty against the run. The first three quarters saw Maryland produce a grand total of two yards rushing. Oregon St. came into the game was the nation's second ranked run defense. Maryland had only 19-yards rushing in the game and they did not score in the last three quarters of the ball game. Their two scores came through the air. QB Chris Turner threw for 205-yards and he connected with Isaiah Williams and Darrius Heyward-Bey to give Maryland a 14-7 first quarter lead. This was Oregon St's seventh win in their final eight games of the 2007 season and it was their fourth straight bowl win under their head coach Mike Riley
Stanford stuns top ranked USC in La La Land No way did anybody really think that Stamford could come into Los Angeles and beat USC. They were 40pt underdogs for crying out loud. They started a QB that was making his very first start in college. Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining Saturday night, giving the Cardinal a 24-23 victory over No. 2 Southern California. That set off a party in Palo Alto that has not stop yet. The team was greeted by a few thousand fans when their bus got back to Stanford a couple of hours after the game. Pritchard got the start when T.C. Ostrander had seizure last week. T.C. is okay and so are the Cardinal after watching Pritchard throw for 130-yards and the game winning TD. The Cardinals defense was solid the whole game, making USC work for just about every thing they got. USC QB Josh Booty was 24 of 41 (362-yards) and two touchdowns. Booty broke his finger in the second quarter and then he proceeded to throw four interceptions the rest of the game. Head coach Pete Carroll new his starting QB was hurt at half time, but he stayed with him. Stanford played great defense. They forced five turnovers, four interceptions, and they had a goal line stand at the end of the first half. USC lead 9-0 at the half but it could have been 16-0 if Stanford's D did not hold on 4th and 1 with eight seconds left in the first half. The Cardinal D got the upset ball rolling in the 3rd quarter. Safety Austin Yancy made his first career interception and ran 31 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter to make it 9-7 USC. Wopamo Osaisai return Booty's final pick 18-yards to set up Sanford for the game winning drive at the USC 45. Pritchard was two of six passing on the final drive, both completions came on 4th down. The first one was a 4th and 20 that he hit Richard Sherman for 20 and a half yards and a first and ten at the USC nine. UCLA dashed a lot of people dreams of Notre Dame going winless in 2007. The Bruins welcomed back So Cal QB and one of the top rated high school players of 2007 in Jimmy Claussen out of Oaks Christian. Now starting as a freshmen at Notre Dame, Claussen scored his first touchdown and he got his first win in front of the home folk. Jimmy's TD came rushing and not passing like a quarterback is known for. It came in a win and as Notre Dame fans know, those are hard to come by these days. It took a lot of help from UCLA themselves who had to throw a third string walk on into the game after the first two QB got hurt. Starter Ben Olsen hurt his knee in the first quarter and McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the pride of Balboa HIgh in San Francisco, got his chance to play. It did not go as Bethel-Thompson would have liked. He had a touchdown pass dropped in the 20-9 loss, but he did throw four interceptions and he fumbled three times. He only lost one of them, but you can't throw away plays like that. UCLA as a team turned the ball over seven times, giving the Irish great field position. Notre Dame took advantage of the short field's to put up the most points that they have scored all season. The Bruins have a bye week to get ready for the Cal Bear's at home. UCLA will head into the game 3-0 in the Pac 10 and the game could go a long ways towards a Rose Bowl Berth. USC is now behind UCLA, Cal and Arizona St. in the Pac 10 standings. The Bears still have to play each of those teams so if they can get by those three they will have earned their lofty rankings.
San Jose St. in the thick of the WAC race After losing their first three games by a combined score of 115-17, San Jose St. has come back to take three straight and they have scored at least 23pts in each of their wins.
Next up for them is a home date with league favorite Hawai'i Friday night. Their is a four way tie atop the WAC standings with Hawai'i (3-0), Fresno and San Jose St. (2-0) and Boise St. (1-0). This is money time for San Jose St. After Hawai'i the Spartans travel to Fresno and Boise St. The Spartans got some help in the running game in their 28-20 win over Idaho. James T. Callier rushed for 93-yards on 31-carries and San Jose St. rushed for more then one hundred yards in a game for the firs time all season. They will have to keep that up if they are to compete with the big boys of the WAC the next three weeks. QB Adam Tafralis has heated up as the season has gone along. he was 22 of 30 for 302-yards and two touchdowns against Idaho last week. Kevin Jurovich caught 10 passes for 161 yards to become the first Spartans receiver with back-to-back games of 100 receiving yards or more in five years Kevin has emerged as Tafralis' go to man in his first year as a Spartan. Replacing two wide receiver's who are now in the NFL has been tough, but David Richmond ( 29-catches, 423-yards three TD's) and Jurovich (37-catches, 521-yards three TD's) have filled the void well in the last three games. San Jose St. three wins came against teams that had a combined record of 3-15 and UC Davis has two of the wins. It is a good sign that San Jose St. wins the the games it should. Before head coach Dick Tomey got there, the Spartans would lose those games as well. Now, before a national audience the Spartans get a chance to shine.
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Stanford forced 22-turnovers in the way in what was their best defensive performance of the season.
Wins early always add up to something good at the end of the season when everything is on the line. St. Mary's has the most to gain this weekend.
Stanford has topped 100pts twice and they scored 99pts in a win over Pepperdine. 
Mills back up Mickey McConnell had Patti's back, scoring 22pts on 6 of 6 from the field on senior night at McKeon Pavilion. 
St. Mary's handled a team that it beat 79-74 just two ago, Patty Mills led the way with 18pts as St. Mary's stayed in a first place tie with Gonzaga. 
