[teejers1]

The 21-22 season will culminate in the 25th Anniversary of (in my opinion) of the most difficult loss I ever witnessed as a follower of Stanford Women's Basketball. Only as this season (with all of the positive expectations) has started to come closer did my thoughts return to those vaunted days of 1997-98. I was in Row M behind the Stanford bench for that game and had never watched the video until a few weeks ago. For those who are interested I am including a low quality YouTube link. The game was very physical and afterward coming across Kate Starbird's parents outside the area, Kate's Mother's only comment was that she was glad Kate hadn't gotten injured. We all were too numb to have thought about anything else. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgWiUh_27u8

Also, I vaguely remembered a Sports Illustrated article that had appeared prior to the tournament about Jamila Wideman. I recalled the impact of the writing as much as the content. I found a copy and am including a link. Hopefully, it is accessible. 

https://vault.si.com/vault/1997/03/17/ou...ssing-gift

Jamila (again in my opinion) was the best point guard Stanford has ever had (yes better than Jennifer Azzi and others) and the 1997-98 team one of the best. Unfortunately, the referees hadn't realized that tall women can actually block shots and not foul, but that's a topic for another conversation.

Announcers properly noted that officials did a 180 when it came to blowing the whistles between 1H and 2H (which is horrible).  “You could run over people in the first half without a foul being called and now they’re calling touch fouls.”

The 5th foul on the ODU big was a bad call;
The 4th foul (charge) on Folkl was a bad call;
The foul that led to ODUs first 1 and 1 was a bad call (barely any contact by Smith 30 feet away from hoop);
The block against Jamila was close (we got the and-1);
The fifth foul on Folkl was atrocious;
The foul on Scott’s block was looked bad, too; and
The fourth foul on Scott dubious, but the ODU player missed front end of 1 and 1 (which allowed Stanford to tie at end of regulation).

Charmin Smith – so clutch on those FTs late in regulation.

Stanford had their chances at end of OT - and were aided by ODU's missed FTs.

Helluva game, btw.

And Folkl was so freaking good: 18 points on 8-8 shooting and 10 boards (she must have been the most efficient scorer in Stanford women’s hoops history).  Jamila was nails in 2H and down the stretch.  And Starbird carried the team in 1H (and had a great drive and dish in OT).

One add: upon re-watch, the play that really hurt was when ODU had the ball and called a timeout with about 6-7 seconds left on the shot clock after a possession was going nowhere. They inbounded the ball near midcourt in ODU's frontcourt and Panecheiro (sp?) took the ball near half court left and dribbled to the top and down the right side of lane for a layup. That should NOT have been that easy a bucket for ODU at a critical juncture near end of regulation. But if Folks isn't fouled out, I think Stanford holds on for the W. That was a terrific team.

[teejers1]

The 21-22 season will culminate in the 25th Anniversary of (in my opinion) of the most difficult loss I ever witnessed as a follower of Stanford Women's Basketball. Only as this season (with all of the positive expectations) has started to come closer did my thoughts return to those vaunted days of 1997-98. I was in Row M behind the Stanford bench for that game and had never watched the video until a few weeks ago. For those who are interested I am including a low quality YouTube link. The game was very physical and afterward coming across Kate Starbird's parents outside the area, Kate's Mother's only comment was that she was glad Kate hadn't gotten injured. We all were too numb to have thought about anything else. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgWiUh_27u8

Also, I vaguely remembered a Sports Illustrated article that had appeared prior to the tournament about Jamila Wideman. I recalled the impact of the writing as much as the content. I found a copy and am including a link. Hopefully, it is accessible. 

https://vault.si.com/vault/1997/03/17/ou...ssing-gift

Jamila (again in my opinion) was the best point guard Stanford has ever had (yes better than Jennifer Azzi and others) and the 1997-98 team one of the best. Unfortunately, the referees hadn't realized that tall women can actually block shots and not foul, but that's a topic for another conversation.

Announcers properly noted that officials did a 180 when it came to blowing the whistles between 1H and 2H (which is horrible).  “You could run over people in the first half without a foul being called and now they’re calling touch fouls.”

The 5th foul on the ODU big was a bad call;
The 4th foul (charge) on Folkl was a bad call;
The foul that led to ODUs first 1 and 1 was a bad call (barely any contact by Smith 30 feet away from hoop);
The block against Jamila was close (we got the and-1);
The fifth foul on Folkl was atrocious;
The foul on Scott’s block was looked bad, too; and
The fourth foul on Scott dubious, but the ODU player missed front end of 1 and 1 (which allowed Stanford to tie at end of regulation).

Charmin Smith – so clutch on those FTs late in regulation.

Stanford had their chances at end of OT - and were aided by ODU's missed FTs.

Helluva game, btw.

And Folkl was so freaking good: 18 points on 8-8 shooting and 10 boards (she must have been the most efficient scorer in Stanford women’s hoops history).  Jamila was nails in 2H and down the stretch.  And Starbird carried the team in 1H (and had a great drive and dish in OT).

One add: upon re-watch, the play that really hurt was when ODU had the ball and called a timeout with about 6-7 seconds left on the shot clock after a possession was going nowhere. They inbounded the ball near midcourt in ODU's frontcourt and Panecheiro (sp?) took the ball near half court left and dribbled to the top and down the right side of lane for a layup. That should NOT have been that easy a bucket for ODU at a critical juncture near end of regulation. But if Folks isn't fouled out, I think Stanford holds on for the W. That was a terrific team.