March 16, 2011

Postseason Info Guide | Tournament Central Live Audio

NCAA DIV. I WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

First and Second Rounds

First Round

(16) UC Davis (24-8) vs. (1) Stanford (29-2)

March 19 • 3:30 p.m. • Maples Pavilion (7,233) • Stanford, Calif.

www.ucdavisaggies.com • KDVS (90.3 FM) • ESPN2

Second Round

UC Davis/Stanford winner vs. (8) Texas Tech (22-10)/(9) St. John's (21-10) winner

March 21 • 6:30 p.m. • Maples Pavilion (7,233) • Stanford, Calif.
www.ucdavisaggies.com • KDVS (90.3 FM) • ESPN2

OPENING TIPS: UC Davis makes its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship tournament when the 16th-seeded Aggies take on top-seeded and second-ranked Stanford on Saturday afternoon... The Aggies are making their third trip to the post-conference tournament postseason since becoming a Div. I program in 2007-08 after also going to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) in 2008 and 2010... They've been to three Big West Tournament finals in their first four Div. I years, making "the third time's the charm" the signature in 2011... UC Davis captured the Big West Tournament as the fourth seed, upsetting third-seeded UC Riverside (44-39) in the semifinals at Honda Center in Anaheim, and then toppling top-seeded Cal Poly (66-40) in the championship... The Aggies have posted back-to-back 20 win seasons and have their most wins since capturing 25 in 1998-99... The Aggies are playing Stanford for the fourth consecutive season and the third time in Maples Pavilion, and for the first time in the postseason during that span... A No. 16 seed has only beaten a No. 1 seed one time in the history of either the NCAA Men's or Women's Tournament - that coming in 1998 when Harvard upset host Stanford... UC Davis brings a season-long six-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, its longest run since capturing seven in a row during the early part of the 2009-10 Big West season... This season marks the final one for Sandy Simpson whose 33-year coaching career - 14 as UC Davis head coach - comes to a close at the year's end... ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH Jennifer Gross, the starting point guard for Simpson on his 1996-97 team, will become head coach starting next season... Simpson announced he would step aside from coaching prior to this season... The Aggies enter the tournament ranked 10th nationally in turnover margin (5.47), 17th in three-pointers (7.4) and 26th in steals (11.2)... While a newcomer to the Div. I postseason, UC Davis enjoyed marked success at the Div. II level, reaching 12 NCAA Tournaments in 14 seasons from 1986-1999, including a 1997 Elite Eight berth when Simpson led it to a program-best 29-3 record.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. STANFORD: This weekend marks the 13th all-time meeting between Stanford and UC Davis with the Aggies holding an 8-4 series advantage... UC Davis won the first eight games of the series between the 1971-72 and 1977-78 seasons... The Cardinal won 94-55 in 1979-80 and have captured the three most recent matchups: 62-41 in 2007, 84-49 in 2008 and 76-51 in 2009, the latter game the only one of the trio played on Hamilton Court... P Paige Mintun led UC Davis with 14 points and six rebounds in the first matchup and is the only Aggie on the active roster to appear in all three games... W Heidi Heintz has played against Stanford as both a member of UC Davis and her former school, the University of San Francisco, scoring six points and dishing two assists during the Dons' 96-61 loss in 2007... She had six points against the Cardinal in last season's matchup.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. TEXAS TECH & ST. JOHN'S: UC Davis has never played either Texas Tech or St. John's... The Aggies did visit Big East Conference member Seton Hall last season, losing 58-54 and haved played Big 12 member Kansas State each of the past two seasons, losing both.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINAL: Stanford enters the tournament with a 61-game home winning streak and a 23-game winning streak overall... Among its wins was a 71-59 victory over top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 30 that ended the Huskies' record 90-game winning streak... The Cardinal's prolific lineup is led by four players who are scoring in double figures: F NNEMKADI OGWUMIKE (16.4), G JEANETTE POHLEN (15.2), F KAYLA PEDERSEN (12.9) and F CHINEY OGWUMIKE (12.9)... Pedersen adds a team-high 7.9 rpg. while the Ogwumike sisters each average 7.8... The Pac-10 champion Cardinal were well-represented on the all-conference teams with Pohlen named the Player of the Year, Chiney Ogwumike selected Freshman of the Year and the legendary TARA VANDERVEER the Coach of the Year... Pedersen, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike were picked for the All-Pac-10 first team... Stanford is ranked among the top 10 Div. I teams in eight statistical categories, including FG pct. (.391, 3rd) and FG pct. defense (.331, 4th,), scoring margin (25.1, 4th) and scoring (79.9, 5th).

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RED RAIDERS: Texas Tech enters the weekend with a 22-10 record but after a 16-1 start, has gone 6-9 while finishing with an 8-8 mark in the Big 12.... Among their final six wins was a 56-45 upset over current No. 3-ranked Baylor on Feb. 19... The Red Raiders have just one player scoring in double figures in F/C KIERRA MALLARD (12.1) while her 7.2 rpg are also a team-best... F/C TEENA WICKETT (9.8) and G CASEY MORRIS (9.8) are also scoring near the double-digit plateau... G MONIQUE SMALLS averages 3.7 assists per game while Mallards' 1.9 blocks per game rank her 45th.. Smalls also contributes 2.7 steals, 37th-best nationally... Texas Tech is receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

A QUICK LOOK AT ST. JOHN'S: Like Texas Tech, St. John's is also receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, sitting first among the teams in "others"... The Red Storm finished 9-7 in the Big East standings, tying for seventh with Syracuse and Georgetown... G SHENNEIKA SMITH and F DA'SHENA STEVENS pace St. John's in scoring, averaging 12.8 ppg. and 12.1 ppg., respectively... Stevens is tops in rebounds (6.5) while Smith is close behind (6.1)... The Red Storm are allowing opponents to shoot just 30.2 percent from the field and score just 57.2 ppg... G AMANDA BURAKOSKI has 47 of the team's 97 three-pointers and is making them at a 42.3 percent clip... St. John's averages 63.3 ppg.

MID-MAJOR RANKINGS UPDATE: UC Davis moved back into the top 20 of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 this week after capturing the Big West Tournament title... It's currently ranked No. 19... The Aggies have been a mainstay in the rankings throughout the season, debuting after the opening weekend and reaching as high as No. 8... They've been the highest ranked Big West team throughout the season.

ALL-BIG WEST TEAMS ANNOUNCED: The league announced its postseason awards on Mar. 7 and the Aggies had three honorees... P Paige Mintun became the first three-time all-conference first-team honoree in team history, W Heidi Heintz earned second-team recognition for the second straight year, and W Vicky Deely was named honorable mention as well as "Sixth Woman of the Year."

WHAT'S IN A NAME: With a relatively new life in NCAA Division I comes more attention from national media and, as a result, more media outlets referring to UC Davis in a number of different manners. Simply, the university is either "UC Davis" or "University of California, Davis"... Incorrect references we have seen in media outlets: California-Davis, Cal-Davis, U.C. Davis, Cal St. Davis, Davis State and U.C.-Davis... The Aggies thank you for helping them make a new name for themselves on the field only... And, safe to say, no periods and no hyphens anywhere in the name... Whew.

BIG WEST TOURNAMENT RECAP: The Aggies captured their first-ever Big West Tournament title last week, beating fifth-seeded UC Irvine (72-45) at home, and third-seeded UC Riverside (44-39) and top-seeded Cal Poly (69-45) at Honda Center in Anaheim... P Paige Mintun averaged 16.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg to earn MVP honors while H Heidi Heintz averaged 9.0 ppg and 6.3 rpg to also earn distinction on the all-tournament team... The Aggies had a particularly tough day in the semifinals, beating UC Riverside despite shooting just 29.6 percent (16 of 54) from the field... They missed nine shots in and around the basket during the first half while shooting 22 percent, and were just 2 of 13 (.154) from three-point overall... It was the Aggies' lowest winning total since beating UC San Diego 40-22 in 1975-76.

REACHING 20 WINS/DIV. I ERA: The Aggies have won 20 games in a season for the second year in a row, for the second time in four seasons as a Div. I program and for the fourth time under head coach Sandy Simpson... UC Davis is 75-49 (.605) since moving to Div. I, launching its new era in 2007-08, finishing 19-12 and becoming just the second team in Big West history to advance to the title game in just its first year of membership... The Aggies have also been to a pair of Women's National Invitational Tournaments (WNIT), losing at Gonzaga in 2008 and in overtime to eventual champion Cal last year.

SUCCESS AGAINST TOUGH SCHEDULE: Another challenging slate of games has not deterred UC Davis this season which already owns wins against the Pac-10 (Washington State), SEC (South Carolina), Ivy League (Yale), Big Sky (Sacramento State), Missouri Valley (Wichita State) and WCC (San Francisco, Pepperdine, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara)...The Aggies have also faced then-No. 15 UCLA of the Pac-10 and Kansas State from the Big 12, both in this year's NCAA Tournament.

SIMPSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson announced in October that the upcoming 2010-11 season will be his last in order to spend more time with his family... Simpson, in his 14th season, has a 251-152 (.623) overall record and is the program's all-time leader for wins... He has been coaching for 33 seasons overall including a tenure as an assistant at UC Davis prior to becoming head coach... Simpson led the Aggies to a program-best 29-3 record as interim coach in 1997 as UC Davis finished third at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Championships... Associate head coach Jennifer Gross, who played on the 1997 squad, has been named as Simpson's replacement on a permanent basis beginning next season.

STANFORD AND SIMPSON, THE PREQUEL: HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson is officially 0-3 against Stanford but he does "own" a 71-60 victory over the Cardinal during the 1977-78 season... While at a tournament at Cal State Stanislaus, he assumed sideline duties after then head coach (and mentor) PAM GILL-FISHER was unable to coach the game because of illness... Simpson, a young assistant just starting out, took over for that one game, directing UC Davis to the win.

AGGIES HOT FROM BEYOND THE ARC: UC Davis has broken its school record for three-pointers in a season for the second consecutive year, canning 237 over its 32 games played... The previous mark was 206 which eclipsed the previous mark of 189 in 2006-07... The Aggies made a season-high 14 (of 28) during a 102-62 win at San Jose State, have eight games with at least 10, and during a three-game stretch against UC Irvine, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara during midseason posted three straight double-digit efforts, finishing with 32 in that span... They are currently ranked 17th nationally, averaging 7.4 pg... Among NCAA Tournament teams, UC Davis is sixth.

AGGIE-CARDINAL DONAGHE CONNECTION: HANNAH DONAGHE, a member of the Stanford team, is injured and currently not playing... Her sister, HAYLEE, was a standout player for UC Davis between 2006-10, finishing her career fourth with 227 steals... The sisters faced off briefly when the Aggies and Cardinal met at Maples Pavilion in 2007 but injuries to both prevented any further on-court battles in the two subsequent games.

AGGIES FINISH WHERE THEY WERE PICKED: With a veteran lineup, it was no surprise that UC Davis was picked by the media during the preseason to win the Big West Conference championship this season... The Aggies received 16 of 25 first-place votes and 210 points, out-distancing Cal Poly (183 pts) and UC Riverside (182) for the top spot... UC Davis entered the conference tournament as the fourth seed after a 10-6 league mark but eventually came full circle to prove the media correct by winning the tournament title.

AGGIES MOVE UP IN RPI: UC Davis jumped 22 spots in the final NCAA RPI, entering the postseason at No. 101... They are only one of 21 teams with at least 10 road wins in the top 101... UC Davis is 10-5on the road, 12-5 when neutral-site games are mixed in... It's the Aggies' highest number of road wins since capturing 11 during the 1998-99 season when they were 25-4 overall.

HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE: The Aggies have enjoyed a distinct advantage while playing on Hamilton Court the past two seasons, going 23-6 (.793) during that time... Included was a 13-game home winning streak - ranked among the top 16 active at the time - that was snapped on Dec. 31 by Cal State Fullerton, 58-56... UC Davis has won 20 of its past 22 home games overall.

FREE THROW SHOOTING ON THE RISE: UC Davis entered the conference season shooting just 63.2 percent from the line, uncharacteristic for a program that shot 74.2 percent last year... But they've come on since then, shooting 72.5 percent over the last 20 games including a healthy 77.1 percent during the current six-game winning streak... G Blair Shinoda (.846), W Heidi Heintz (.889) and P Paige Mintun (.786) have been especially effective as of late.

COME ON LET'S STEAL AWAY: The Aggies have consistently ranked among Div. I's leaders in steals throughout the season and enter the postseason ranked 26th overall and 11th among NCAA Tournament teams... They opened the year with at least 10 steals in their first seven games - including a season-high 21 against Washington State, and averaged 14.1 entering the Big West season... UC Davis has reached double-digits in swipes 19 times so far.,, Individually, W Samantha Meggison is averaging a team-best 1.9 pg.

MINTUN SWATS WAY TO SCHOOL RECORDS: P Paige Mintun has her named entrenched on several career charts at UC Davis but it's at the top of one - blocked shots... The senior post has blocked a school-record 150 shots, including an Aggie-record 56 this season... She broke the previous mark of 119 held by P KENDALL GREENE during the Aggies' January win at Pacific, has gone past P JANAE HENNING's single-season mark of 49 from 2000-01, and against Pacific at home in February, tied the single-game school record with seven.

JURIC REBOUNDING HELP: P Lauren Juric is averaging 3.6 rpg overall but has come on strong during the Aggies' current six-game winning streak... She's averaging 6.8 boards, had 11 against UC Irvine in the first round of the Big West Tournament - one off her career high - and added nine at Cal State Northridge... She's had six in three other games... Impressively 19 of her 41 rebounds during that span - 46.3 percent - have come on the offensive glass including 8 of her 11 against UCI.

STICKING WITH WHAT WORKS: UC Davis has gone with the same starting lineup in 26 of its 32 games - W Heidi Heintz, P Paige Mintun, W Kasey Riecks, W Samantha Meggison and G Hana Asano... Only injuries and/or illness have caused the Aggies to alter the lineup... The current streaks are impressive... Heintz has started all 64 games of her Aggie career, Mintun has started the last 50 and Meggison has gotten the call in all 32 this year... Riecks started the first 73 games of her Aggie tenure before being sidelined prior to the conference opener this year while Asano had a string of 62 straight snapped prior to the final regular-season weekend earlier in March.

DEELY ENJOYING BREAKOUT SEASON: W Vicky Deely entered the 2010-11 season with 16 career three-pointers but has become a primary offensive weapon for the Aggies, especially beyond the arc... The sophomore has drained a team-high 64 three-pointers, had a career-high five against UCLA, Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine, and has canned four twice - including the Big West championship against Cal Poly... She's shooting 40 percent from long distance, ranking her 33rd nationally, and in mid-December was ranked as high second among all Div. I shooters at 52.5 percent... She's second on the team in scoring (11.1), third in rebounding (4.2) and makes 78.1 percent from the line... Deely opened the year by leading UC Davis in rebounding each of its first give games... She had eight boards in four of those games and averaged 7.6 during that span.

SPEAKING OF DEELY: W Vicky Deely enjoyed one of the most prolific 10 minutes of court time a player can have when she helped UC Davis pull away from UC Irvine on Jan. 29, 91-72... Deely, who had two points in the first half, scored 23 points during 10 second-half minutes while making all five three-point attempts, all six free throws and finishing 6 for 6 from the floor overall.

MINTUN LEAVING ON TOP: P Paige Mintun will end her Aggie career as one of the greatest post players to have played in the program... Her name is on four of five major career lists including scoring (1,365, 4th), rebounding (602, 8th), steals (159, 8th) and blocks (159, 8th)... She is also the only three-time all-conference first-team honoree in team history.

MODEL OF CONSISTENCY: Much of the Aggies' success this season comes from the consistent play of P Paige Mintun who has been in the starting lineup every game for the first time in her career... She has produced, stringing together a career-long 17 straight double-digit scoring games as well as 23 of her past 24 games... Mintun had her lone double-double - the fourth of her career - with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Cal State Northridge in January.

1,000-POINT SCORERS: Both P Paige Mintun and W Heidi Heintz joined an exclusive club this season by going over the 1,000-point mark for their careers... Mintun did so emphatically, popping a straightaway three against Saint Mary's in December, while Heintz - who scored a shade over 500 points at San Francisco, her previous school - went over late in the game at UC Santa Barbara in January.

NCAA POSTSEASON HISTORY: UC Davis is in its first NCAA Div. I postseason but enjoyed a long run in the Div. II playoffs between 1986-1999... The Aggies visited the West Regional 12 times - including 10 straight - during that time, compiling a 12-9 overall mark... Their most success came in 1997 - with Sandy Simpson serving as interim - when they swept through the regional and advanced to the Elite Eight, finishing third.

PERFECT AGAINST THE WCC: UC Davis went 4-0 against the West Coast Conference this season, beating San Francisco, Pepperdine, Saint Mary's and Santa Clara and have won nine straight against the conference over the past three seasons... The Aggies' last loss to a WCC team was at Gonzaga in the 2008 Women's National Invitational Tournament.

ON THE AIR AND ON THE INTERNET: All UC Davis games are simulcast on www.ucdavisaggies.com and KDVS (90.3 FM)... Pregame shows begin 15 minutes prior to tipoff... Live stats for all home games, as well as most road matchups, are also available by visiting www.ucdavisaggies.com.