Women's Notebook: McCallie Is Stanford's Nemesis

Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie, pictured right, is 3-0 in her last three head-to-head coaching matchups with Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.

Of course, that streak goes a ways back.

McCallie's Maine team defeated the Cardinal 60-58 in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament in 1999.

And in 2005, McCallie's Michigan State team defeated Stanford, 76-69, in the Elite Eight in Kansas City.

Then last season, as the Duke coach, McCallie's Blue Devils defeated Stanford in an early-season contest in Durham, 56-52.

"It's always different and those have all been really close games," McCallie said. "I take every game as a unique experience. Sometimes things happen that way. But it is pretty funny, to think about Maine and Michigan State and Duke. I chuckle about it, because Tara is such a great coach and a great person. She's such a cool cat, a really good coach, and it's always been a battle.

"And I think this is one of her best teams."

VanDerveer also remembers three close losses. But it's probably not as funny to her.

"I guess it's me," VanDerveer said. "But I'm planning on coming to the game. It's not our team, they'll be fine."

This is the first time, by the way, Duke has ever played in Palo Alto.

And then there's Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who is setting the table for next week's showdown with No. 2 Stanford by ... throwing a big wet blanket on the whole thing.

He called the game a "no-win" situation for his team.

"They are playing two really good teams, or three really good teams maybe before us," Auriemma said. "So they'll be worn out if we [beat] them. If they beat us, it's because we were poorly prepared by our schedule."

Geez, Geno, way to sell it ...

Elena Delle Donne made her home-court debut for Delaware on Friday night and it was by all standards a very successful debut.

Delle Donne scored 26 points, to go with six rebounds in a 67-50 win over Navy. The game drew 3,040, the largest crowd for a home opener in the history of the women's program and the second-largest crowd ever for a game that was not scheduled as a double-header with the men ...

The awards for the worst losses last week go to Maryland, and Cal's loss to San Jose State. No sooner had Maryland cracked the Top 25 for the first time this season. The 67-75 win was Towson's first over Maryland in 34 years.

Out West, meanwhile, the Spartans were 1-7 coming into the game and Cal hadn't lost to them since 1982, a run of 18 straight wins.

The win was San Jose State's first over a ranked team (Cal was No. 22 last week) since 1983 ...

More details are emerging about the incident at Missouri that resulted in the arrest and suspension of two Mizzou basketball players. The male cheerleader involved in the incident, identified as Justin Short, has also now been suspended. Amanda Hanneman's mother spoke to the Columbia Tribune, saying that her daughter and teammate Jessra Johnson were defending a friend.

Hanneman and Johnson are Missouri's leading scorers and they were arrested after the incident in the early hours of Friday morning. Both were released on bond and Missouri coach Cindy Stein has suspended them indefinitely, issuing an apology to the community about her players' involvement in the incident.

The four students involved in the incident are friends, Hanneman's mother Betsy told the Tribune. She said the four of them were out at a bar before returning to Short's apartment. An altercation developed after another of Short's roommates complained about noise. Betsey Hanneman said Short got into a physical altercation with Hanneman and Johnson's friend and that the two players were defending their friend against Short.

Short has had no comment and there's no indication when the two players will be reinstated ...

Keep an eye on TCU. The Horned Frogs upset unbeaten Texas A&M this weekend and have played a difficult schedule already that included Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina State. TCU is 7-1 with its second win over a ranked opponent, both Big 12 foes. The first was a 74-69 win over Kansas ...

The folks are Oregon were starting to wonder what a team's gotta do to get a little respect. The Ducks are 8-1 and are the second-leading scoring team in the nation (89.6 points per game). But the schedule has been light and the only major conference foe Oregon has faced this season -- Wisconsin -- accounts for its only loss so far. Oregon got eight votes in this week's AP poll and Wednesday's game at Georgia Tech will be an important measuring stick.

Randoms: Virginia's Monica Wright needs 145 points to unseat Dawn Staley as the Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer ... Stanford center Jayne Appel became just the third player in the history of the program to collect 1,000 rebounds Sunday against DePaul. Appel needs 143 rebounds to break the school career record, held by Nicole Powell ... There are indications that USC guard Jacki Gemelos, who has suffered four ACL injuries and has not played in three college seasons, may not be ready to play until February.