The Great Debate |
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Who will win the women’s Pac-12 tourney? |
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Stanford’s lineup gives them advantage |
Cal’s better offense, stats give them edge |
 The similarities between Cal and Stanford are surprising. They share the Pac-12 regular season championship, both have only lost two games. Both are one and two in nearly every relevant statistical category, both teams have multiple star players and both could win the Pac-12 tournament. However, Stanford has Chiney Ogwumike. Ogwumike was unanimously awarded the Pac-12 Player of the Year, and she leads the conference in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. She is arguably the most important player on Stanford’s roster and in the Pac-12. While a player of Ogwumike’s caliber gives Stanford an advantage, Stanford also boasts one of the best lineups in the country. Helping Ogwumike on the defensive end is Joslyn Tinkle, who leads the league in blocked shots with 57 on the year. Amber Orrange is a key piece for Stanford and ranks third in the Pac-12 in assists. The team rounds out with good contributors and bench players. Defense wins championships, and Stanford’s is staunch. The Cardinal hold teams on average to 51.9 points per game. Tinkle leads the league in blocked shots, but Ogwumike isn’t far behind. The two combine with Mikaela Ruef to create one of the best defensive frontcourts in the country. Combined with Stanford’s defense is the team’s offense. Stanford is second in the league in scoring with 71.4 points per game. While Cal is first in the league in scoring, Stanford is only .4 points per game behind. The Cardinal win games on average by 19.6 per game. It is difficult to take anything out of the two games played during the regular season between Stanford and Cal. In the first game Stanford beat Cal by nine points in Berkeley, Calif. Only five days later Stanford lost to Cal by 12 points. Because of the short time period between the win and loss, nothing can really be drawn from who is more likely to win the tournament. However, Stanford will have the easier path to winning the Pac-12 tournament. Stanford is the No. 1 seed and will have to play the winner of the Arizona State/Washington State game. Stanford beat both teams by 20 or more during the regular season. Cal will play the winner of the Oregon State/USC game. In the first game against USC, Cal needed to go into overtime to pull out the victory. In the most recent game, Cal was only able to win by eight points. While Cal did blow out Oregon State in their first matchup, they only beat the Beavers by two less than a week ago. Comparatively, Stanford beat USC by nine and 24 and beat Oregon State by 20 and 37. Stanford is going to win the tournament for a number of reasons. Stanford has the easiest route to the championship of all the teams. The Cardinal has the best player in the league, and has great role players as well. Finally, Stanford has been the most dominant team in all of the Pac-12 and will continue the team’s play into the championship game. |
 Women’s basketball in the Pac-12 has been under the reign of Stanford for almost four years, but that time is over. Both Stanford and California are 17-1 in conference play this season, but it will be the Golden Bears who unseat the Cardinal in the Pac-12 tournament that begins this Thursday. Both team’s conference losses have come against each other, but the key is in the game stats. In the Cardinal’s win on Jan. 8, they squeaked out a tough nine-point win even though they outshot Cal 50 percent to 30 percent. In the rematch six days later, the Bears kept their shooting percentage at about 30, but stepped up their defense in holding Stanford to a 35 percent clip. In beating the Cardinal by 12 points in Palo Alto, Calif., Cal led by as many as 16 points. The loss snapped Stanford’s 81-game conference winning streak and surely filled the Cal players with confidence that they can hang with the Cardinal when they play gritty and aggressive basketball. That confidence is all a good coach needs in her team to have to compete with the best. California head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who was named the Pac-12 Women’s Coach of the Year on Monday. In her second season at Cal, Gottlieb led the Bears to their first-ever regular-season Pac-12 title, claiming a share with Stanford. The 17 conference wins they had this year is a school record, and 27 total victories ties the most ever for the program. Cal also has the edge in many key statistical categories, beginning with the turnover margin. Turnovers are often regarded as one of the strongest indicators of the way a team controls the game, and the Bears force nearly three more turnovers than they commit per game. Brittany Boyd is a major contributor to that stat as she averages nearly three steals a game. That means more possessions for Cal and even if they are held to a low shooting percentage as in the two regular-season meetings, they’ll have more chances to score more points. As we all know, the team that scores more points wins. Offensive rebounds are also vital to a team’s success, and Cal averages nearly five more O-rebounds per game than Stanford. In fact, the Bears hold the edge in rebounding margin as well, outrebounding their opponents by almost 12 per game. With that wide of a margin, they should have no problem repeating their victorious performance against Stanford, even if the Bears are outshot. Add to all of that the fact that Cal has the slightly more potent offensive unit, and the Bears have more than enough ability to control the ball against the defending Pac-12 champions. They can also take confidence in knowing that Stanford’s only other loss this year came to national powerhouse Connecticut. The Cardinal also beat Baylor, then ranked No. 1 in the nation, so the Bears know they can hang with the best. Sometimes in a one-game, winner-take-all scenario, confidence can be the difference maker. |
The Great Debate: Who will win the women’s Pac-12 tourney?
March 6, 2013
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jogos de vestir • Mar 20, 2013 at 1:59 pm
I don’t create a bunch of responses, but i did a few searching and wound up here The Great Debate: Who will win the women’s Pac-12 tourney? | The Daily Utah Chronicle. And I do have 2 questions for you if you do not mind. Is it only me or does it seem like some of the remarks appear like left by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at additional sites, I would like to follow anything fresh you have to post. Could you list of every one of your social sites like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?
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