What have we learned after one weekend of the college season?Brittney Griner is a freshman. OK ... that's a little obvious. But we might forget that as we are distracted by the dunking. When Griner picked up four fouls early in the second half against Tennessee, it was a needed jolt of reality. Freshmen, well, they have a tendency to foul at inconvenient times and with maddening frequency. Keeping Griner on the floor may be a bigger challenge for Baylor than breaking in a load of young players.
Jayne Appel isn't 100 percent. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said as much about her senior center, who is coming off offseason knee surgery for the second year in a row, after the team's win over Rutgers, the end of a very good starting weekend for the No. 2 Cardinal. Appel finished with 11 points against the Scarlet Knights on 3 of 10 shooting, and 12 rebounds. But VanDerveer sounds concerned.
"She has no ups," VanDerveer said. "She doesn't have spring."
On a related note: Her younger sister, Chiney, may have gotten all the publicity this week, signing her letter of intent with Stanford as the No. 1 recruit in the nation, but Nneka Ogwumike is the name you need to know right now. The Cardinal's sophomore forward is going to have a bust-out year. In Stanford's two-game road trip, she scored 46 points and pulled down 19 rebounds.
Connecticut is 70 points better than Northeastern and LSU is 73 points better than Centenary. Really, what else is there to add?
Michigan State has some work to do. The Spartans will lose their No. 10 ranking, and in fact may have lost their ranking entirely after a 77-74 loss to Dayton on Friday night. It doesn't get easier. Next up is the home opener Thursday against Notre Dame.
Rebuilding NC State is going to take a little time. Kellie Jolly Harper made her coaching debut for the Wolfpack in strong style, her team defeating Florida International 87-71. But on Saturday the host team fell to Vermont and Harper may have been a little effusive in her praise of the opposition.
"I'm not at all into moral victories," Harper said after the game. "But we played bad and still had a chance to win against a great basketball team."
Don't count out Andy Landers. Georgia used to be a Final Four regular. But in recent years, the Lady Bulldogs have drifted under the radar and out of the conversation. Last year was the first season since 1980-81 that Georgia went unranked the entire season. But a good home win over Oklahoma on Sunday may be an early sign of resurgence behind seniors Porsha Phillips and Angel Robinson.
The Pac-10 loses games it shouldn't. The conference wants to be taken seriously. The Pac-10 wants folks to see there's more than Stanford and everybody else. But they don't always help themselves. There's no way that UCLA, a program with a chance at significant forward momentum under second-year head coach Nikki Caldwell, should be opening with a loss to Illinois State. And then Washington loses to Portland State. Not good for the RPI or perception.
WORTHY OF NOTE: Ohio State's Jantel Lavender got the 39th double-double of her career Sunday against Bowling Green ...Texas A&M is 3-0 all-time against Duke ... Notre Dame broke the 100-point mark for the first time in seven years ... Cal also reached 100 on Sunday for the first time since 1996. The Bears defeated Idaho State 100-43.
On Tuesday, San Antonio, the site of the 2010 Women's Final Four, will host a four-team gathering to mark the start of the season. Tennessee will take on Texas Tech and Connecticut will face Texas, a pair of robust early season matchups. But the event of the night? What happens when Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma run into each other in the hallway?
Too good to miss.
