Lady Griz vs UCLA in Spokane!!!!

[GrizBBIsKing]

...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....

Sure helps to become a better player and coach yourself having been coached by one of the best coaches (Pat Summit of Tennessee).

 

[OldtiredGRiz]

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.

Doesn't Shannon Cate (sorry, too lazy to look up the spelling of her married name) have 3 daughters? If so, I'm hoping those gals are potential Lady Griz players.

 

[EverettGriz]

Cate-Schweyen.

And you would think with the athletic genes in that family (Schweyen was a wildly succusful decathalete at that other school, where he was an All-American) that coaches would already have LOI's in their children's hands.

 

[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

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:

Bite me...

ORIGINAL QUOTE!
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.

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

An interesting aside here, FWIW, is that the Washington Lady Huskies defeated Portland St only by a score of 51 - 50 in Seattle 14 Nov 2010. Washington [whose two top scorers, both juniors by the way, are also from the State of Washington: Krista Kingma 15.6 pt/g from Mill Creek and Regina Rogers 10.0 pt/g from Seattle] lost to UCLA twice. 48 - 60 in Seattle 31 Dec 2010 and 42 - 60 in LA 03 March 2011. I don't know if there could be a comparative considered; wouldn't be too bad if the LG lost to UCLA only by twelve points, that playing in Spokane 'may' just be a home-court environment for the LG; with the expectation that Gonzaga would just love to see the LG upset UCLA. Just how young the LG are could bold well for future NCAA Tournaments.

By the way, nine out of thirteen players for the Washington Lady Huskies are from the State of Washington as well.

It probably wouldn't hurt to mention that Kenzie DeBoer was the MVP in the annual Washington-Oregon women's All-Star game after her senior year in hs; the equivalent to what Montana does with Wyoming every year, with eight players in the game that had Division I signings at the time. I thought back then that was quite a recruiting coup for the LG; still do.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

UCLA women try to concentrate on task at hand — beating Montana
Third-seeded Bruins play Big Sky Conference winners Saturday and don't want to take them for granted as they play close to home in Spokane, Wash. Potential future opponents include Gonzaga, Stanford.

... Gonzaga probably will be waiting in the second round.

And Pacific 10 Conference champion Stanford almost certainly will advance to the Spokane Regional final.
However, UCLA cannot concern itself with either potential opponent unless it gets past Montana in the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The third-seeded Bruins (27-4) play 14th-seeded Montana (18-14) on Saturday at Spokane, Wash.

Bruins Coach Nikki Caldwell has had a few days to study tape of Montana, which won the Big Sky Conference tournament. Montana got off to a 3-8 start and entered its conference tournament having lost three of its last four games. But Montana defeated Idaho State, Northern Colorado and Portland State to earn the Big Sky's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. "I see a team that is going to be inspired to play," Caldwell said Wednesday after practice at Pauley Pavilion. "We're going to have to not take them for granted. Just because they're not from one of the BCS conferences, you still have to respect your opponent."

The Bruins depart Thursday for Spokane and will practice Friday. If they win their first two games, they will return to Los Angeles on Monday night. They would then travel back to Spokane on March 24 for a regional semifinal March 26. UCLA wasn't thrilled with an NCAA tournament selection committee that did not reward it with a No. 2 seeding, placed them in the same regional with Stanford, and also put them on course for a matchup against Gonzaga on Gonzaga's home court.

Montana also will enjoy something of a home-court advantage against the Bruins at the 6,000-seat McCarthey Athletic Center. "Obviously, just making the tournament was big in itself, but we all were deep down praying that it would be at Spokane so we could have our friends and family and fans come over," Montana senior forward Sarah Ena told the Missoulian this week. "We're used to playing in the Spokane area, so it makes traveling easier. That was definitely a big relief when we saw our name under the Spokane bracket." Montana Coach Robin Selvig told the Missoulian: "It's Spokane — family, friends, home court basically. Just logistically that's a nice thing. "We've got ticket problems because Gonzaga doesn't hold that much. We may have a couple thousand fans.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

from an earlier article in the LA Daily News:

... Nikki Caldwell brought a certain panache and flair to the women's basketball program. Anyone who can stomp and pace the baseline in 5-inch Bebe pumps without stumbling earns immediate respect. Caldwell had UCLA's attention before she uttered a command or physically showed her players how to box out during practice.

During her introductory news conference three years ago, a cell phone rang and interrupted the event. It belonged to one of her new players, and Caldwell sent a trademark stare in the team's direction. Things would be different with her. And for UCLA, that's winning.

Caldwell had UCLA on the brink of defeating Stanford in the final of the Pac-10 Tournament at Staples Center on Saturday but the upset came up just short. The Bruins held a nine-point halftime lead with a patient offense and solid interior defense early but succumbed to the Cardinal's pressure defense and productive transition offense in a 64-55 loss. UCLA has lost only four games this season - three of those were at the hands of Stanford and the other to LSU - but Caldwell has UCLA primed to take the Bruins deep into the NCAA Tournament. That's not something the men's team can say after a ghoulish loss to Oregon in the quarterfinals of the same tournament.

"When coach Nikki first came in, I was just intimidated," senior guard Darxia Morris said. "I was like, she came from a top-notch school (at Tennessee), especially under Pat Summitt. But we were excited."
UCLA's turnaround has been quick and true in Caldwell's three seasons as coach. The Bruins, ranked No. 7 in The Associated Press poll, shelved the mediocrity that engulfed the program. The Bruins are winning recruiting battles and have such solid footing they have the goods to take on Stanford for the top recruits now.

Just like Caldwell has been in Westwood.

If she were on "American Idol," they'd gush about her star quality. When she's on her motorcycle riding for cancer awareness, you see her big heart. And when she's on a local television set analyzing basketball games, you feel her knowledge and love for the game. And when you're in her huddle, you can't help but own that confidence.

The belief she's instilled at UCLA has had more impact than any gameplan she's drawn up. She has UCLA believing it can win a championship, and she found that belief was finally embodied with her players in a double overtime win at Notre Dame in November. "The team last year would've lost that game," Caldwell said. "We wouldn't have gone to overtime. But you could see it." It was her confidence in their eyes.

"They hadn't been around someone like me or my staff," Caldwell said. "They respected my staff and where we came from but they didn't know what to expect. `Who is she? I've seen her pedigree, and I know about coach Summitt at Tennessee.' They associated her with us, and that's a good thing."

Caldwell was an assistant on Tennessee's championship teams in 2007 and 2008. Then she came to UCLA and brought that swagger with her. UCLA should earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when the seedings are announced Monday. "We should be a lock for a No. 2 seed," Caldwell said. "Just look at our RPI and three of our four losses came to the No. 2 team in the country." UCLA lost against Stanford on Saturday, but the Bruins' program is back. And that's winning.

Doing it in style - and in five-inch heels - is a bonus.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

Jasmine Dixon

March 9, 2011


A panel of Pac-10 women's basketball media members who cover the league voted UCLA's leading scorers Jasmine Dixon and Darxia Morris onto the 15-member All-Pac-10 team. Both were also selected to the All-Pac-10 team by the coaches.

Dixon, who was also named to the media's All-Defensive team, is tied with Morris for the team lead in scoring (12.2 ppg). Dixon also leads in rebounding (7.1 rpg), blocks (15), field goal percentage (.535) and steals (2.3). She was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 and the Naismith Trophy Midseason Top 30. UCLA is 47-9 since she joined the active roster last season after transferring from Rutgers.

Morris is tied with Dixon for the team lead in scoring (12.2 ppg), double-figure scoring games (20) and 20-point games (three). Morris has twice earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors and has been the Bruins' leading scorer in a team-best 11 games this year. She became the 25th member of UCLA's 1,000-point club on Feb. 10 and currently has 1,075 career points.

The media selected senior Jeanette Pohlen of Stanford as the Pac-10 Player of the Year, Stanford forward Chiney Ogwumike as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, USC's Briana Gilbreath as the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer as the Coach of the Year. The media also selected a 15-member All-Pac-10 team, a five-member All-Defensive team and a five-member All-Freshman team. It is the second year of the Pac-10 media awards and are in addition to the Conference awards voted on by the league coaches, which were announced on Tuesday. The panel included local and national media members.

Darxia Morris

Feb. 28, 2011

UCLA senior guard Darxia Morris (Pasadena, Calif.) was named the Pac-10 Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 21-27 after leading the No. 11/9 Bruins to a road sweep at the Arizona schools and a clinch of second place in the Pac-10 standings with a 24-3 overall and 14-2 conference record. The wins also gave UCLA a school-record 12 road wins on the year.

Morris scored 13 points in both games and totaled seven assists, three steals and zero turnovers. In the 74-70 win at Arizona, Morris had crucial plays down the stretch, hitting a big three-point shot with 1:18 to play to increase a tight UCLA lead to 66-61. She then had a steal, which led to a free throw by teammate Doreena Campbell to make it 67-61 at the 54-second mark. In the win at Arizona State, Morris had 11 second-half points as the Bruins pulled away to defeat the Sun Devils, 61-45. Her offensive burst sparked a game-changing 20-2 run that turned a 28-28 game into a 48-30 Bruin advantage. Morris averages a team-best 12.6 points per game and has a team-leading 53 steals.

This is Morris' second Pac-10 Player of the Week honor this season and in her career.

Doreena Campbell

March 8, 2011

In a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, UCLA senior guard Doreena Campbell (Alexandria, VA/Thomas A. Edison HS), junior forward Jasmine Dixon (Long Beach, CA/Long Beach Poly HS) and senior guard Darxia Morris (Pasadena, CA/Muir HS) earned first-team All-Pac-10 Conference honors. Additionally, Dixon and Morris were named to the All-Defensive honorable mention team.

Campbell becomes just the fourth UCLA player ever to earn All-Pac-10 honors all four years in her career, joining Noelle Quinn, Nikki Blue and Maylana Martin. Campbell earned her second consecutive first-team distinction this season, was a second-team honoree in 2009 and an honorable mention pick in 2008. She is averaging 8.9 points and 3.1 assists per game this season and currently ranks 15th on UCLA's all-time scoring list with 1,238 points and ninth on the assist list with 407. She recently became the fourth Bruin to record at least 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists for a career, joining Quinn, Blue and Ann Meyers.