The landscape of college basketball in the Bay Area looks fairly different since last season ended.
Tara VanDerveer is no longer the coach of the Stanford women’s team, retiring following an unparalleled career. Jerod Haase was fired after eight seasons of coaching Stanford’s men’s team. The Bay lost a lot of talent, headlined by Aidan Mahaney transferring to UConn and Kiki Iriafen departing for USC.
Oh, there’s also the fact that Cal and Stanford are now in the ACC, set to clash with the likes of Duke and Kentucky.
Here’s how the Bay Area’s college basketball teams fared on the first day of the season:
(San Jose State’s women’s teams and San Francisco’s men’s team will play their first games of the season on Tuesday)
Stanford (women’s) def. La Moyne, 107-43
Kate Paye, who has the unenviable task of replacing one of the best coaches in college basketball history, didn’t have to sweat much as Stanford cruised to a blowout win against La Moyne of the Northeast Conference.
After seldom playing in her first two seasons, redshirt junior guard Jzaniya Harriel finished with career-high 24 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Elena Bosgana also enjoyed a career-high 19 points despite playing just 15 minutes, while sophomore forward Nunu Agara matched her career-high of 18 points.
Christian Babcock has the full story here.
Stanford (men’s) def. Denver, 85-62
Paye isn’t the only new basketball coach down on The Farm. Kyle Smith began his tenure as Stanford’s new head coach with a decisive 23-point win over Denver, the program’s 14th consecutive win in a season opener.
Leading the way for the Cardinal was guard Oziyah Sellers, a transfer from USC who was born in Fremont and raised in Hayward. Seller, the program’s first undergraduate transfer since 2009, totaled single-game career-highs in points (24) and rebounds (7) while recording two steals and a block.
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Senior forward Maxime Raynaud, the reigning Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year, totaled a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double while also totaling a career-high six assists. Graduate guard Jaylen Blakes, a transfer from Duke, totaled 12 points and matched his career-highs in assists (six), steals (three) and blocks (two) while junior guard Benny Gealer poured in …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
