And now, the game that has Stanford fans jubilant, unless it has them very, very scared.
Few observers gave Xavier much of a chance against Stanford: XU needed OT to beat Temple in the A-10 tournament, and they beat Vanderbilt last week by just one point.
Stanford, on the other hand, hadn't been challenged since January in L.A.: the Cardinal beat Pac-10 teams by 20+ points routinely, and they made Georgia look like a high school team.
So who would have thought that Xavier could come within half a second of beating Stanford and winning a trip to the Final Four?
But that's just what the Musketeers did in Sacto. XU played the Cardinal even almost all night, getting Appel in foul trouble and keeping the score super-low. Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips, together, have to be the best posts Stanford has faced since their visit to Hartford last year.
Coach McGuff praised Stanford's offensive sets before the game, then watched those sets collapse: so did Michelle Smith, who liveblogged it. Stanford shot 25% for the first half.
With a few minutes to go, Appel fouled out. XU took a series of one-possession leads as Stanford's usual suspects couldn't make shots. Honestly, there were minutes at a time when it seemed like both teams had simply forgotten how to put the ball in the hoop.
But rarely-used frosh Joselyn Tinkle completed a jump shot. XU's guards missed layups, got O-boards, missed layups again. The Cardinal took a time out with 4.4 (coach TV made sure of that) seconds still on the clock. And then Jeanette Pohlen ran the length of the court for a lay-in, sending her team to their tenth Final Four.
Kayla Pedersen tried to credit "divine intervention." Coach TV, lovably, dissents: "Personally, I think God has better things to be doing," she said.
For Xavier, it's a heartbreaker. Ohio fans figure out what went right and wrong.
For Stanford, it's great, yet disturbing. "Someone asked the other day, 'Do we need a close game?' and I said no," coach VanDerveer recollected. "But now that we've won a close one, I'd say this can really help us."
Few observers gave Xavier much of a chance against Stanford: XU needed OT to beat Temple in the A-10 tournament, and they beat Vanderbilt last week by just one point.
Stanford, on the other hand, hadn't been challenged since January in L.A.: the Cardinal beat Pac-10 teams by 20+ points routinely, and they made Georgia look like a high school team.
So who would have thought that Xavier could come within half a second of beating Stanford and winning a trip to the Final Four?
But that's just what the Musketeers did in Sacto. XU played the Cardinal even almost all night, getting Appel in foul trouble and keeping the score super-low. Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips, together, have to be the best posts Stanford has faced since their visit to Hartford last year.
Coach McGuff praised Stanford's offensive sets before the game, then watched those sets collapse: so did Michelle Smith, who liveblogged it. Stanford shot 25% for the first half.
With a few minutes to go, Appel fouled out. XU took a series of one-possession leads as Stanford's usual suspects couldn't make shots. Honestly, there were minutes at a time when it seemed like both teams had simply forgotten how to put the ball in the hoop.
But rarely-used frosh Joselyn Tinkle completed a jump shot. XU's guards missed layups, got O-boards, missed layups again. The Cardinal took a time out with 4.4 (coach TV made sure of that) seconds still on the clock. And then Jeanette Pohlen ran the length of the court for a lay-in, sending her team to their tenth Final Four.
Kayla Pedersen tried to credit "divine intervention." Coach TV, lovably, dissents: "Personally, I think God has better things to be doing," she said.
For Xavier, it's a heartbreaker. Ohio fans figure out what went right and wrong.
For Stanford, it's great, yet disturbing. "Someone asked the other day, 'Do we need a close game?' and I said no," coach VanDerveer recollected. "But now that we've won a close one, I'd say this can really help us."
posted by Stephanie at 6:14 AM
