March 5, 2013

Pac-12 Awards and All-Pac-12 Teams

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike became the first player to sweep the Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards and Tara VanDerveer was voted John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the 13th time Tuesday as the conference announced its regular-season honors and teams.

Senior forward Joslyn Tinkle and sophomore point guard Amber Orrange were named to the All-Pac-12 Team for the first time in their respective careers, joining Ogwumike, a junior forward who was also named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

Colorado's Arielle Roberson was voted Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. The conference awards and teams were voted by the conference coaches.

The selections of Ogwumike, Tinkle and Orrange to the All-Pac-12 Team give Stanford a total of 61 All-Pac-12 first-team selections.

It is Ogwumike's first Pac-12 Player of the Year award, second straight Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year selection, third straight nod to both the All-Pac-12 and All-Defensive Teams. Stanford players have now captured the Pac-12 Player of the Year honor 17 times and the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award thrice.

Bolstering her case for national player of the year with the honors, Ogwumike is the only player in the country to rank in the national top five in scoring (22.9 ppg - third), rebounding (12.7 rpg - fifth), field-goal percentage (59.1 - second) and double-doubles (24 - second) through the most recent NCAA update on March 4. As of the end of the regular season she is on pace to become the first player to win the Pac-12 Triple Crown, currently leading the conference in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage on top of her loop-leading 24 double-doubles.

Ogwumike has already set a slew of Stanford and Pac-12 records this season. On Feb. 24 she grabbed a Stanford single-game record 24 rebounds, breaking the previous mark of 23 set by older sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike against Oregon in 2009-10. Chiney's 27 points made for her 52nd career double-double, surpassing Nnemkadi's Stanford career mark of 51.

Her performance also made Chiney Stanford's sixth member of the 1,000-1,000 Club as she passed the 1,000-rebound mark against the Ducks during her record-setting effort. Back on Nov. 11 at Santa Clara Ogwumike scored her 1,000th-career point.

This past Saturday at Washington State, Chiney again passed Nnemkadi in the Stanford and Pac-12 record books, grabbing 13 rebounds to bring her season total to 381, eclipsing her older sister's record of 376 set in 2009-10. Chiney's total of 24 double-doubles through the end of the regular season also stands as a Cardinal single-season record.

The Cypress, Texas native has not limited her standalone performances to the West Coast. Ogwumike has flexed her muscles against some of the best the rest of the country has to offer. Over 10 games this season against Top-25 teams, she has averaged 21.3 points and 11.3 rebounds while shooting 53.5 percent as Stanford has gone 8-2, including a 71-69 victory over then-No. 1/1 Baylor on Nov. 16 in Honolulu. That record also includes victories at SEC powers South Carolina and Tennessee, where in Knoxville Ogwumike grabbed 19 rebounds to set an opponent record at Thompson-Boling Arena.

On the other side of the court Ogwumike, who along with Rosalyn Gold-Onwude (2010) is one of two Cardinal players to earn the conference's top defensive honor, has blocked 51 shots and made 48 steals, both second on the team.

Joslyn Tinkle, the Pac-12 leader in blocks per game, earned her first nod to the All-Pac-12 Team

For the third straight season, and 13th overall, VanDerveer was voted by her peers as the top head coach in the conference. This season VanDerveer has guided a young Cardinal team to a 28-2 overall record, a No. 4 national ranking and its 13th consecutive and 22nd overall conference regular season crown. On Nov. 19 after defeating then-No. 1/1 Baylor in Honolulu and capturing the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic, VanDerveer and the Cardinal were voted No. 1 in both national polls for the first time in eight years and held that top spot for six weeks.

It is the 14th time that Stanford has claimed the coach of the year honor, as Amy Tucker and Marianne Stanley shared the award in 1995-96 while VanDerveer was on sabbatical coaching the U.S. Olympic Team.

Tinkle earned the first nod to the All-Pac-12 Team of her career following the best season of her Cardinal tenure in 2012-13. The Missoula, Mont. native followed up her breakout junior season, in which she averaged 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, with a season in which she is averaging 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds with a Pac-12-best 1.90 blocked shots per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from behind the arc.

Defensively, Tinkle's team-leading 57 blocks have helped the Cardinal defense to a record-setting pace in which the defense is currently holding opponents to Stanford season-low records of 51.9 points per game and a field-goal percentage of 31.6.

Her senior season has included a pair of double-doubles as well as strong efforts against Top-25 opponents Baylor (11 points, four rebounds), Tennessee (10 points, three rebounds), UCLA (16 points and six rebounds on Jan. 18, 10 points and nine rebounds on Feb. 17) and Colorado (13 points and six rebounds on Jan. 6, 16 points and five rebounds on Jan. 27).

Against Oregon State on Feb. 22, Tinkle etched her name into the Stanford record books by becoming the Cardinal's 34th member of the 1,000-Point Club.

Amber Orrange followed up her 2012 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honorable mention with her first All-Pac-12 Team nod

Also earning her first All-Pac-12 Team nod is Orrange. Following up on her Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honorable mention a year ago, Orrange was given the reins to the Cardinal offense from the start in 2012-13 and has run the show since.

The speedster from Houston ranks second in the Pac-12 with a 1.71 assist-to-turnover ratio and third with 4.33 assists per game. Yet she has proven all season that she can do damage shooting the ball as well, averaging 10.2 points a game and hitting 46.7 percent of her field-goal attempts, including 11-of-28 3-point attempts.

Stanford's top perimeter defender, Orrange bolsters the Cardinal defense with a team-leading 48 steals and is fourth on the team with 3.2 rebounds per game including 80 on the defensive glass.

No. 4/4 Stanford (28-2, 17-1 Pac-12), which shared the conference title with No. 5/5 California, earned the top seed at this week's Pac-12 Tournament, set to be held March 7-10 at KeyArena in Seattle. The Cardinal, which has won 9 of 11 conference tournaments including the past six in a row, received a bye into Friday's (March 8) quarterfinal round, where at 6 p.m. it will take on the winner of Thursday's contest between No. 8 seed Washington State and No. 9 seed Arizona State. Friday's contest will be shown nationally on the Pac-12 Network.