Lady Griz vs UCLA in Spokane!!!!

[bpcats]

UCLA Coach played for and was an assistant under Pat Summit for a number of years. Considering where that program was when she took over a few years ago, it is miles ahead.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

I gotta believe the Lady Griz are VERY happy with this game.

UCLA averages only
65 points a game... shoots 27% on threes... 65% of Free Throws

Plus it will be a TOTALLY Lady Griz Home court...

I am not calling for an upset, but of any of the teams they could have played, this is the one the Ladys should have chosen.

Oh BTW Stanford is in Spokane also, so I bet UM gets a little help from Stanford.... thanks Tinks!

http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/teamcume.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very Happy?
UCLA is really good, and was leading Stanford for part of that Pac-10 tournament game.

UCLA's women's basketball team was mildly disappointed to learn Monday that much of its March Madness experience could be spent in one town. But the Bruins weren't complaining.

UCLA is seeded third in the Spokane Regional of the NCAA tournament and could play as many as four consecutive games in Spokane, Wash. The Bruins play Montana on Saturday night in a first-round game at McCarthey Athletic Center and wouldn't mind hunkering down in eastern Washington for an extended period. "I think that will be good not to have to travel," senior guard Doreena Campbell said.

UCLA (27-4) was put in the same regional as Pacific 10 Conference champion Stanford (29-2), which is seeded No. 1 and bidding to make its fourth consecutive trip to the Final Four. UCLA had hoped that its record and strength of schedule would warrant a No. 2 seeding. The Bruins' only losses were to Louisiana State and Stanford, which beat them three times. The selection committee awarded the No. 2 spot in Spokane to Xavier (28-2). "Whatever their criteria, it must have been something that we didn't do," UCLA Coach Nikki Caldwell said. "You can't dwell on it or change it. …You have to move forward and be ready to compete in Spokane and be ready to accept the challenges that are ahead of us. "That's what March Madness is about."

If the Bruins defeat Montana (18-14), they could play a second-round game against hometown Gonzaga (28-4), which opens against Iowa (22-8). UCLA gained tournament experience last season at Minneapolis when the Bruins, seeded eighth, defeated North Carolina State and lost to Nebraska.

The experience, Caldwell and players said, should serve the Bruins well. "We've learned what it means not to be happy to just have your name called on Selection Monday," Caldwell said. Montana earned its berth by winning the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Grizzlies are led by sophomore forward Katie Baker, who averages 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0315-ucla-womens-basketball-20110315,0,7200913.story

 

[griz8791]

Very Happy?
UCLA is really good, and was leading Stanford for part of that Pac-10 tournament game.

+1. Choosing my words carefully here, it isn't the 1980s, or even the 1990s, anymore. The bright spot is that the LG just won 3 consecutive games against the best competition in our conference. What we really need is some analysis from the experts comparing and contrasting UCLA to any of the teams the LG just beat in the Big Sky tourney.

P.S. I already know UCLA is way better than any of the teams we just beat. I'm hoping for more detail than that.

 

[Grizbacker1]

2 weeks ago there wasn't an HONEST person around who had the Lady Griz even making the Championship game of the BSC, so this is all gravy in my opinion. The Lady Griz are the BSC Champions, and that banner they hang in Dahlberg isn't going to have the UCLA score on it. Until UM puts the resources into basketball to recruit outside Montana and Washington, don't expect the ladies to win at this level. You would puke if you knew the difference between UM and Gonzaga in terms of institutional support.

 

[Paytonlives]

Very Happy?
UCLA is really good, and was leading Stanford for part of that Pac-10 tournament game.

My point was that of all the teams UM might have played... Stanford, Baylor, Conneticut, Tennessee, Duke, Texas A&M...

Ill take UCLA... and I bet Robin would say the same thing

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

2 weeks ago there wasn't an HONEST person around who had the Lady Griz even making the Championship game of the BSC, so this is all gravy in my opinion. The Lady Griz are the BSC Champions, and that banner they hang in Dahlberg isn't going to have the UCLA score on it. Until UM puts the resources into basketball to recruit outside Montana and Washington, don't expect the ladies to win at this level. You would puke if you knew the difference between UM and Gonzaga in terms of institutional support.

I wouldn't be surprised if Katie Baker, Kenzie De Boer, and Alyssa Smith are the last out of state recruits for quite some time. Maybe forever if the budget keeps shrinking.
Lady Griz have 3 more scholarships available, but from reading the article on the one recruit signed (haley Vining), those three scholarships will be saved until next year when there is going to be a larger pool of players that can play at the level Montana plays.

 

[GrizLA]

Very Happy?
UCLA is really good, and was leading Stanford for part of that Pac-10 tournament game.

+1. Choosing my words carefully here, it isn't the 1980s, or even the 1990s, anymore. The bright spot is that the LG just won 3 consecutive games against the best competition in our conference. What we really need is some analysis from the experts comparing and contrasting UCLA to any of the teams the LG just beat in the Big Sky tourney.

P.S. I already know UCLA is way better than any of the teams we just beat. I'm hoping for more detail than that.

Frankly, I think UM was given a generous seeding and hope they can make it pay, but UCLA was not treated well by the NCAA. They should have been a 2 seed and sent to the SE and Xavier sent to Spokane...alas, I think the whole women's tourney is even more a set up for the favorites than the mens! The folks back east would love to see Stanford beaten by UCLA...they want a Tenn-Conn match..nothing new here except for upsets that could mess up those plans. Would love to see UM do that, but UCLA is very, very good in all areas. The UM team does take and make more 3 pt shots than the Bruin women..not that it means much...UM is just too slow and too lax with ball passing from the admittedly VERY little I saw...and like Pitt a few years back, all UCLA has to do is double team and trap....UM doesn't seem to have a clue, yet, how to break that...solve that, and who knows what can happen...heart and desire can accomplish a lot...

 

[griz8791]

...and like Pitt a few years back, all UCLA has to do is double team and trap....

This is exactly what concerns me. Unfortunately, any more it isn't just Pitt and UCLA, but pretty much every team seeded higher than 12th in just about every region.

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

Until UM puts the resources into basketball to recruit outside Montana and Washington, don't expect the ladies to win at this level. You would puke if you knew the difference between UM and Gonzaga in terms of institutional support.

Talking about Gonzaga it may interest you to know that 8 out of 15 players on their roster are also from the State of Washington; which also includes their top three scorers: Courtney Vandersloot @ 18.6 pt/g from Kent, Wash., Katelan Redmon @ 17.3 pt/g from Spokane and Kayla Standish @ 16.6 pt/g from Ellensburg, Washington. Gonzaga is rated 20th in the latest AP Top 25 Poll and #19 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Also there's a player on the roster for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers that's from Spokane by the name of Angie Bjorklund that's played in 27 games, starting 21 and averaging 11.1 pts/g. Tennessee is rated 4th in both the AP and ESPN/USA Polls.

UCLA also has a Christina Nzekwe from the State of Washington and they're rated 7th.

You might cover up your blatant smirch and sneer of the players coming out of the State of Washington, 'GB1,' by citing budgetary constrains but Gonzaga isn't doing that badly that you can say that many of the top players coming out of the State of Washington can't handle the level of play it takes to compete in the NCAA.

By the way, both Lexi Bishop and Eryn Jones that play for the Portland State Vikings are from the State of Washington as well; Spokane and Lynnwood, respectively. Jones the 2011 BSC MVP.

 

[bobaloo]

Maybe Selvig's eye for talent is getting a little fuzzy. He does wear glasses.

 

[bpcats]

Historically the Lady Griz do a great job with their zone defense slowing down teams and executing their game plan when playing in the tournament. Where teams from our conference struggle with is usually with the speed/size combo on the front line.

Where the Lady Griz may be in trouble this year is that your team is talented but very young especially at the guard positions.

Teams like Stanford have players that range from 6'-6'5".

I do know that there is none better in the Big Sky at developing players. The amount of improvement in this years team was fun to see.

 

[Cuervohola]

Maybe Selvig's eye for talent is getting a little fuzzy. He does wear glasses.

I wouldn't think so... Maybe after 800 wins he will get to relax a little...

 

[GrizLA]

Maybe Selvig's eye for talent is getting a little fuzzy. He does wear glasses.

The game has changed for the women drastically since Selvig began. Montana and the Big Sky teams are perfect for Div 2...their is a major split between them and the usual athlete magnet schools...He has a huge number of "wins" and is deservedly respected, but, most of the wins came playing some not so good teams, year in and year out....I often wonder if it is hard to recruit women to a team coached by a man. I know Connecticut is a huge success but success breeds success in the Eastern basketball world...I do know, that the new coach at UCLA is one of the best man or woman, coaches in the country and has taken a very down team to where it is now....

 

[Proud Griz Man]

Selvig ... has a huge number of "wins" and is deservedly respected, but, most of the wins came playing some not so good teams, year in and year out....I often wonder if it is hard to recruit women to a team coached by a man. I know Connecticut is a huge success but success breeds success in the Eastern basketball world...I do know, that the new coach at UCLA is one of the best man or woman, coaches in the country and has taken a very down team to where it is now....

Bruins' coach Nikki Caldwell has UCLA off to its best women's basketball start in 30 years.

December 11, 2010|Bill Plaschke
I am scanning the office shelves of the hottest college basketball coach in Los Angeles.

Nikki Caldwell's UCLA women are off to their best start in 30 years, and I tell her I'm trying to find things that are indicative of her personality. I am check out the autographed basketballs, the team photos, the inspirational books, then she notices me staring for the longest time at an unusual pair of shoes. "So I guess you think those leopard pumps are pretty indicative, huh?" she says with a laugh.

Busted. OK, look, I'm trying very hard to make this strictly a basketball story — Caldwell is hot because her team has won 18 of its last 20 games dating to last season — but it's impossible to ignore the Hollywood story. Caldwell is more than a coach, she's a personality, owning the cameras while stalking the sidelines with a swagger not been seen in women's college hoops around here since Cheryl Miller.

"She has this kind of roar demeanor," says senior guard Doreena Campbell. "It's like, you know she's there."

Imported here three years ago from that women's college basketball temple known as Tennessee, Caldwell has taken a moribund operation and goaded it into a top 10 national ranking with a 7-0 record entering Sunday afternoon's game at St. Mary's. Last season, the Bruins lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament. This season, they seem destined for at least the Sweet 16, which is more than her team's male counterparts can claim. In a town where women's college hoops have been mostly snoozing for 20-plus years, her basketball coaching alone would be a great story.

But there's more. There's at least five inches more, that being the height of the heels on the 30-odd pair of pumps that compose what Caldwell calls "my coaching shoes." "You've got to have great pumps," she says. "That's just what you do as a woman." If her Bruins aren't playing her trademark defense, those pumps pound. "We see her stomping the floor with those shoes and we're thinking, how does that not hurt?" Campbell says. The heels complement game-day clothes that are sometimes picked by a former player who serves as her stylist, with Caldwell surely being one of the few coaches in any sport who is approached after games not only by autograph seekers but modeling agencies.

Nikki Caldwell, recognized as one of the nation's top assistant coaches during stints at Tennessee and at Virginia, is putting together an impressive head coaching resume as well as she prepares to begin her third year in charge of the Bruin program after being named the Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year for 2009-10.

Her second Bruin team finished with 25 wins, the fourth-most in school history, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After a mid-January setback in conference play, the Bruins lost only to NCAA runner-up Stanford (twice) and No. 4-ranked Nebraska, two No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds, while winning 15 of its last 18 contests. The squad matched the school mark for conference wins in a season with 15, while taking second in the Pac-10. It also set a school record by limiting opponents to 57.5 points per game.

Her 2009 Bruin team completed her inaugural campaign with a 19-12 record and tied for fourth place in the Pac-10 Conference. The 19 wins matched the number for the 10th-best total in school history. The total of 13 home wins tied for the second-most in school annals.

In five seasons, Nikki Caldwell quickly showed why Lady Vol Head Basketball Coach Pat Summitt wanted her back at Tennessee as an assistant coach.

When Summitt found an opening on her staff in the spring of 2002, there was little doubt who she would approach to fill the position. Caldwell, a former Lady Vol guard from 1990-94 and a UT graduate assistant in 1998-99, had quickly earned an outstanding reputation as an assistant coach to Debbie Ryan at the University of Virginia from 1999-2002. Caldwell was lauded as an excellent floor coach and a rising star among college recruiters.

After a solid first year back with the Lady Vols, Caldwell was named as the Lady Vol basketball recruiting director in the spring of 2003 following the departure of Associate Head Coach Mickie DeMoss to Kentucky as the new head coach. To those who know her ability as a recruiter, it came as no surprise. In the fall of 2003, Caldwell, along with Summitt and fellow assistant Holly Warlick, recruited and signed perhaps the most prolific freshman class in women's basketball history. UT welcomed six 2004 high school All-Americans, including three 2004 Players of the Year, to the Lady Vol roster for the 2004-05 season. In 2007, the WBCA named Tennessee the best recruiting school in the nation. As a former Lady Vol player, Caldwell understands both the system and the expectations of the Tennessee program. That combination has proven to be a valuable asset to the Lady Vols' team and coaching staff. Furthermore, as a former high school recruit of Warlick, Caldwell has an even greater insight into the Tennessee recruiting process.

 

[EverettGriz]

major split between them and the usual athlete magnet schools

While this may be true, it's no different on the men's side. Certainly one cannot argue that any Big Sky team is stealing athletes away from (the real) UNC, Duke, Texas, Kansas, etc.

 

[OldtiredGRiz]

major split between them and the usual athlete magnet schools

While this may be true, it's no different on the men's side. Certainly one cannot argue that any Big Sky team is stealing athletes away from (the real) UNC, Duke, Texas, Kansas, etc.

Good point. It's a reality that is nearly impossible to get around. When I watch the Lady Griz this year, I find myself wondering how the team would be different if Jocelyn Tinkle had stayed home. But no matter if it's a men's or women's team, the top notch recruits are almost always going to head to the marquee programs. Then again, one of the things I love about being a Griz fan is the lack of the spotlight. Most of the country's sports fans have no clue what UM is all about, so in a sense we have our own little treasure to have and hold.

 

[AZDoc]

major split between them and the usual athlete magnet schools

While this may be true, it's no different on the men's side. Certainly one cannot argue that any Big Sky team is stealing athletes away from (the real) UNC, Duke, Texas, Kansas, etc.

Good point. It's a reality that is nearly impossible to get around. When I watch the Lady Griz this year, I find myself wondering how the team would be different if Jocelyn Tinkle had stayed home. But no matter if it's a men's or women's team, the top notch recruits are almost always going to head to the marquee programs. Then again, one of the things I love about being a Griz fan is the lack of the spotlight. Most of the country's sports fans have no clue what UM is all about, so in a sense we have our own little treasure to have and hold.

Driving home from work last night I was thinking that same thing. For all the accolades that Tink gets for recruiting...he didnt score the gem recruit (even if for the ladies) keeping his own Jocelyn in Missoula Obviously I'm kidding because a chance for a NC is always winning out...but if only she was a lady griz.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

Very Happy?
UCLA is really good, and was leading Stanford for part of that Pac-10 tournament game.

My point was that of all the teams UM might have played... Stanford, Baylor, Conneticut, Tennessee, Duke, Texas A&M...

Ill take UCLA... and I bet Robin would say the same thing

You didn't say "considering alternatives like Stanford, Baylor, Conneticut,
Tennessee, Duke, Texas A&M..."

OK. Robin will say he is happy to be in the tourney, but I'll bet that Robin tells you he is not VERY HAPPY with the UCLA matchup. UCLA gave Stanford a tough game last sunday. :shock:

 

[cclarkblues]

Driving home from work last night I was thinking that same thing. For all the accolades that Tink gets for recruiting...he didnt score the gem recruit (even if for the ladies) keeping his own Jocelyn in Missoula Obviously I'm kidding because a chance for a NC is always winning out...but if only she was a lady griz.AZDoc

Perhaps we will get daughter #2.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Until UM puts the resources into basketball to recruit outside Montana and Washington, don't expect the ladies to win at this level. You would puke if you knew the difference between UM and Gonzaga in terms of institutional support.

Talking about Gonzaga it may interest you to know that 8 out of 15 players on their roster are also from the State of Washington; which also includes their top three scorers: Courtney Vandersloot @ 18.6 pt/g from Kent, Wash., Katelan Redmon @ 17.3 pt/g from Spokane and Kayla Standish @ 16.6 pt/g from Ellensburg, Washington. Gonzaga is rated 20th in the latest AP Top 25 Poll and #19 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Also there's a player on the roster for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers that's from Spokane by the name of Angie Bjorklund that's played in 27 games, starting 21 and averaging 11.1 pts/g. Tennessee is rated 4th in both the AP and ESPN/USA Polls.

UCLA also has a Christina Nzekwe from the State of Washington and they're rated 7th.

You might cover up your blatant smirch and sneer of the players coming out of the State of Washington, 'GB1,' by citing budgetary constrains but Gonzaga isn't doing that badly that you can say that many of the top players coming out of the State of Washington can't handle the level of play it takes to compete in the NCAA.

By the way, both Lexi Bishop and Eryn Jones that play for the Portland State Vikings are from the State of Washington as well; Spokane and Lynnwood, respectively. Jones the 2011 BSC MVP.

Great info! I don't follow WBB at all, like not even one game, so I had no idea how many great players were from WA.