The best women's college basketball team in the country is coming to The Pavilion on Friday night and you need to be there, you need to pack the place and you need to be loud. It's as simple as that.
That team is the Stanford Cardinal, currently perched atop the AP and USA Today Coaches polls. Can you imagine the frenzy if Indiana - the top-ranked men's team right now - came to town this weekend? We need that same environment ready to welcome the Cardinal.
It won't be the first time the best college team in a sport has come to UC Davis. I mean, shoot, in 2004 the men's water polo team played No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA - on the same day! Two years later, top-ranked USC won the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship right here at Schaal Aquatics Center. Notable moments indeed.
But basketball holds our nation in its hands with its March Madness and, on the women's side, Stanford making it to the Final Four is about as assured as me going back through the Thanksgiving buffet. By the way, it's five straight times and counting. Not me and the buffet, but Stanford and the Final Four.
The Cardinal, with their Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, won NCAA titles in 1990 and 1992 and have been to the title game twice in the past five years. This program oozes of excellence.
No. 1 teams just don't make trips to the homecourts of mid-majors, which makes this visit all the more interesting. Stanford's visit, part of a three-game agreement with UC Davis that ends next season, is the exception rather than the rule.
"We've developed a history with Stanford since we entered D-I," said second-year women's coach Jennifer Gross. "We have such a tremendous amount of respect for the way they do things."
It's a mutual respect that has been parlayed into five games since 2007, including a memorable matchup at Maples Pavilion two seasons ago in the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies' Princeton-style offense is anything but run-of-the-mill which is why the Cardinal like to face it. In the end, Stanford will be better prepared for its annual national championship try. Heck, Gross even went down to The Farm once to help teach it to Stanford.
That's what you call mutual respect.
But this visit is different. It's the first time the Cardinal have come here ranked No. 1. Stanford did win 76-51 on Hamilton Court when it was No. 2, but the general consensus at the time was there was No. 1 UConn and then everyone else. In 2010, the Cardinal ended the Huskies' unfathomable 90-game winning streak and then put an end to defending NCAA champion Baylor's 42-game run almost two weeks ago.
No. 1 indeed.
If you polled 1,000 college basketball players, 99.99% of them would say Stanford's going to win Friday night. The other 00.01%? They'll be wearing Aggie blue and gold and trying to give the Cardinal fits with their back-door passes, crisp screens and, hopefully, accurate shooting.
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| Former Aggie guard Hana Asano was on Hamilton Court the last time Stanford came to UC Davis in 2009. (Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise) |
"Wer'e going to try and give them our best in every category," Gross said. "We know we're going to have to do that because they're No. 1 for a reason."
But Gross, whose own team by the way has been to three WNIT's besides its NCAA appearance, isn't about to concede the court.
"We go into every game to compete to the best of our ability and you hope you come out on top," she said. "The things we've been talking about with our team this year is we're not going to back down from anybody. And we're going to improve, and we're going to compete and we're going to get after it."
Check the all-time ledger between the schools and you'll see UC Davis with an 8-6 advantage although Stanford's had the upper hand in the past six.
The Aggies come into the weekend after going 2-0 at Houston Baptist's tournament last weekend, an event that led senior Cortney French to Big West Player of the Week honors. It's a young UC Davis team, in fact five true freshmen are on the roster along with just two seniors.
But life is all about opportunities. That was the message football coach Bob Biggs delivered to his troops in 2009 when they headed up to play No. 5 Boise State. Take advantage of this chance, he told them, because just about every other college football player in the country would love to trade places with you. You never know when life will hand you a golden opportunity. The Aggies gave the Broncos all they could handle in a 34-16 defeat, one of the closer wins in Boise State's perfect 14-0 season.
Opportunity also threw itself at tiny NAIA school Chaminade University in 1982 when it hosted No. 1 Virginia and mighty 7-foot-4 center Ralph Sampson in Hawaii. The Silverswords posted what's regarded as the greatest college basketball upset ever. In the pre-internet, pre-24 hour news cycle era, no one believed the 77-72 final score.
Friday is an opportunity and Gross and her Aggies are ready to embrace it.
"We're fortunate that a team like Stanford does respect our program and will come back because they know the kind of environment that Davis has to offer," she said of the community and the fans. "All of that together, that's the experience of a lifetime, to be able to compete against the best.
"I don't know how many teams are on Stanford's schedule. Whatever the amount of time that they're No. 1, that's the number of teams that get that opportunity. We're going to make the most of it."
Don't let a familiarity with Stanford cause you to miss out because if you miss the Cardinal this year, you'll have to wait two years for the Aggies to host another powerhouse.
That's when UConn comes to town.
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"AGGIE SPORTS UPDATE" MAKES ITS DEBUT
While we're on the subject of "No. 1", next Tuesday marks the first edition of "Aggie Sports Update" on KSAC (105.5 FM). It's the next stage in UC Davis' parternship with the local radio station that's in its second year airing our men's basketball games.
So, what's this new show all about? Try interviews with coaches and student-athletes, recaps and updates on all 23 Aggie teams, and ticket and prize giveaways.
Hosted by longtime Aggie broadcaster Scott Marsh, with help from KSAC's Coach Phil Getman, the 30-minute "Aggie Sports Update" will air every Tuesday through basketball season at 6:30 p.m., except for holiday breaks on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
If you're not near a radio, you can catch a live stream on www.ucdavisaggies.com which will also archive all shows for on-demand listening later on. Plans for podcasts and maybe some show expansion could be down the road as well.
First up next Tuesday will be Aggie men's basketball coach Jim Les and women's coach Jennifer Gross to give fans updates on their seasons and their programs. Pieces are still coming together but we're excited about this new level of partnership with KSAC which has become a strong supporter of Aggie Athletics in a very short amount of time.
What do you want to hear on the show? What do you want to know? Drop us a line or leave a comment.
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THE MOST BURNING QUESTION IS HOT
Actually, I know of something you want to know and that's who our new football coach is going to be, huh?
Well, for all of you that have asked me, think I know, or plan to ask me, the simple answer is:
I don't know.
But as Director of Athletics Terry Tumey told me, "It might be YOU!"
Then we'd all be in trouble.
Mike Robles is Assistant Athletics Director who still remembers Chaminade's legendary upset of Virginia 30 years ago.... and still doesn't believe it.
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