Stanford Picked To Win Pac-10 Women's Basketball Title

Cardinal are the Pac-10's preseason favorite for the eighth straight year

Oct. 22, 2007

STANFORD, Calif. - Seven-time defending conference champion Stanford has been voted as the favorite to win this year's Pac-10 women's basketball title, according to the Pac-10 preseason coaches' poll.

The Cardinal, which received eight first-place votes and totaled 79 points in the poll, have now been the conference's preseason favorite for the past eight seasons since the poll's inception in 1998-99. In 2006-07, Stanford finished with a 29-5 overall record and a 17-1 mark in Pac-10 play, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, before falling to Florida State, 68-61, in the round of 32. It was the 20th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the Cardinal.

This season, under the guidance of head coach Tara VanDerveer in her 22nd year at Stanford, the Cardinal return nine letterwinners, including three-time Kodak All-American guard Candice Wiggins and 2006-07 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Jayne Appel.

Coming off of their best season in program history and an appearance in the Elite Eight, the Sun Devils tallied 71 points to place second. The Golden Bears were tabbed to finish third with 68 points, followed by USC with 56 in the fourth-place slot. UCLA grabbed 44 points to place fifth, while Washington took sixth-place with a total of 41 points. The Huskies were followed by Oregon (34), Arizona (31), Oregon State (16) and Washington State (10).

Arizona State finished a close second at 16-2 in league play, while also becoming the Pac-10 team to journey deepest into the postseason and breaking the single-season school record for wins (25) with 31 overall victories. Under 11th-year head coach Charli Turner Thorne, ASU has posted 20 or more wins five times in the last seven seasons.

California, led by Pac-10 Coach of the Year Joanne Boyle and Pac-10 Player of the Year Devanei Hampton, finished with a 12-6 Conference record that placed them third, while their 23-9 overall record earned them a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Four Pac-10 teams qualified for NCAA postseason Tournament play in 2006-07, marking the fourth consecutive season that four or more conference teams have advanced to the tournament.

Stanford opens up play in the 2007-08 season with an exhibition contest Saturday, Nov. 3, at 12 p.m. hosting the Chico State Wildcats. The Cardinal will then open up regular season play Friday, Nov. 9, in New Haven, Conn., taking on the Yale Bulldogs at 1 p.m. Pacific.

Following are the results of the preseason coaches' poll; coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams (points 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first place votes are in parentheses):

2007-08 PAC-10 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' POLL

Team Points (First-Place Votes)
1. Stanford (8) 79
2. Arizona State (1) 71
3. California (1) 68
4. USC 56
5. UCLA 44
6. Washington 41
7. Oregon 34
8. Arizona 31
9. Oregon State 16
10. Washington State 10