I was hoping for a larger crowd and was pleased to see a really good turnout of 4676 fans. This brought more energy to the setting, especially since the Band was not in the house.

Lacie was out of her walking boot and dressed. She played but only eight minutes. Maya, DiJonai and Mikaela are still out.

Here are some random thoughts and observations:

Each opponent will present different challenges that will test your ability to match up. Two years ago in the NCAA second round FAU's tallest player was 5'11". They put up fifty three point attempts. Ohio State is guard centric thus relying on speed. Tennessee is tall. Their entire lineup has height and length. There has been much hand wringing over Ashten not receiving a lot of minutes against Ohio State. The answer for me is matchups. That game was not a good matchup for her. Tennessee, however, would be. I expected that she would play and play a lot she did. She scored inside and face up shooting. She rebounded, ran the floor well and was a force on defense. Her stamina is still an issue but not unexpected.

Give Hailey an inch and she'll take the drive to the basket. So smooth, so much fun to watch. Her pull up jumper only adds to the headache for the opposition.

Fran plays so much bigger than her 6'1" frame. She surprises players who think they have an open shot.

Odd moment in the game. Tennessee is on the fast break after a miss and Jordon Horston is running wide, looking at the ball carrier. Referee Lisa Jones is running to occupy her spot on the baseline ahead of the play when Horston trips herself up by catching up to the unsuspecting Jones. Horston goes down, uninjured, as the pass came her way. Ball sails out of bounds, Stanford ball.

Speaking of officials, Kellie Harper was displeased enough to voice her opinion to one of the refs and earned herself a technical foul.

Kiana scored her 1000th career point in this game. It was good to see her get into the scoring groove after a rough stretch.

Stanford's defense was terrific. The changing weak side help kept Tennessee off balance and in one possession Stanford blocked three shots to force a shot clock violation.

Another issue that I have read about is a question about why Alyssa is receiving so much playing time. I think the answer is rather straight forward, Tara trusts her. Why. For starters Alyssa knows the offense. She's not a great scorer, true, but she knows where she has to be and when. If her three point shot is on in any particular game, mores the better. Same holds true on defense. She understands scout team defense and is just a really smart player. Case in point when she saved a ball going out of bounds by swatting it off a Tennessee player. In reality I think we all know that if DiJonai were healthy Alyssa would be coming off the bench. Depth is a beautiful thing.

Go Card!