means something.Inside Mills Pond Park, its easy to see why. Dozens of parents beamed with pride as their kids ran sprints and worked through dr

STANFORD, Calif. -- Even in November, Tara VanDerveer prepares her team for March by scheduling tough games and treating them like NCAA Tournament matchups.Crisp ball movement and balance carried Stanford.Brittany McPhee scored a career-high 28 points, Erica McCall added 17 points and six blocked shots, and No. 11 Stanford avenged a home loss against Texas from two years ago by beating the eighth-ranked Longhorns 71-59 on Monday night.McPhee shot 11 for 15 and had seven rebounds, while McCall had five boards and blocked five of her shots in the first half as Stanford (2-0) shot 54.9 percent to overcome 20 turnovers and spoil Texas season opener.Our team really focused. This was like an NCAA Tournament week. It was awesome, VanDerveer said. Im really proud of how people worked and Im really excited for the good things that we did and well go right back to work and get ready for Gonzaga and clean up some of those rebounds, some of those turnovers.VanDerveer, the Hall of Fame coach beginning her 31st season at the school and 38th as a college coach, moved 18 victories away from joining the late Pat Summitt as the only womens coaches to reach 1,000 career wins.After the Longhorns cut Stanfords lead to 52-47 on Joyner Holmes layin with 3:10 left in the third quarter, McCall quickly answered on the other end and Alanna Smith scored the next time down as the Cardinal capitalized on Atkins turnover.Smith, a sophomore from Australia, had her family in the stands visiting. Her father, Darren, was asked during one timeout what insight he had for the team -- and his response was a good one.Get Brittany McPhee the ball, he said, smiling.Brooke McCarty, the leading returning scorer for Texas after she averaged 11.8 points last season, had 20 points and Ariel Atkins had 14.It was an eye opener today, McCarty said. We kind of have to take that and roll with it. We just got outplayed and we got beat.A junior guard with 11 career starts over her first two college seasons, McPhee is taking on a bigger role for VanDerveers young team. And Texas, which beat Stanford the past two seasons, didnt have an answer for her accuracy.The Longhorns ended the Cardinals 28-game home winning streak with an 87-81 overtime win at Maples Pavilion on Nov. 20, 2014, when Stanford was ranked sixth and Texas No. 10 -- the programs first win over a top-10 team in almost six years. It marked the first meeting when both teams were in the top-10.That year, Stanford couldnt make it two in a row after beating No. 1 Connecticut 88-86 in overtime three nights earlier to snap the Huskies 47-game winning streak.Then Texas won again last season in Austin, 77-69.Stanford was too much this time.When you get beat sometimes all you do is talk about what your team wasnt good at but I would say that midway through the second quarter they really broke our defense down, Texas coach Karen Aston said. Were young and a little bit immature and I thought that we started panicking a little bit. We missed some free throws and our confidence got rattled a little bit at the end of the first half and we werent able to recover from that.BIG PICTURETexas: The Longhorns held a 38-32 rebounding edge but were just 6 for 14 at the free throw line. They lost a season opener for the first time under fifth-year coach Aston (4-1). ... Aston coached her 300th career game. She is now 190-110 starting her 10th season as a college coach and 89-47 in her fifth season leading the Longhorns. ... Texas started the season on the road for only the second time in the past 13 years.Stanford: McCall was one off her career high in blocks. She had three blocks in a season-opening win against Cal Poly on Friday and now has nine through two games. I love blocked shots, she said. ... The Cardinal are 15-4 at home against top-10 teams over the last 10-plus seasons and 139-7 at Maples since 2007-08.UP NEXTTexas: The Longhorns host Houston Baptist on Wednesday morning in their home opener, an 11 a.m. local time tipoff for the programs annual 40 Acres Field Trip game for middle-school students from around Texas and a day that includes educational activities.Stanford: The Cardinal have another tough opponent Friday at home against West Coast Conference power Gonzaga, winner of 11 of the last 12 WCC regular-season titles and picked to do so again. Elie Okobo Suns Jersey Jamal Crawford Jersey . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. http://www.officialsunsfanstore.com/jamal-crawford-suns-jersey/ . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Deandre Ayton Jersey . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. Charles Barkley Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Mark Richts arrival comes without fanfare. Around 100 kids are scattered across the football fields at Mills Pond Park, black mesh jerseys and white helmets with a familiar U logo (adjusted slightly from the bottom to form an H) labeling them as Hurricanes, but the appearance of the real Canes head coach hardly creates a stir. Parents continue chatting along the sidelines and in the parking lot, some underneath tents to shield from raindrops. Only a few of the coaches take notice, former Miami players who knew Richt would be visiting.This is a big change from Richts old surroundings back in Athens, Georgia. There, he knew everyone. For 15 years, he was the most famous man in a small town where Bulldogs football was the center of the universe. Now, he and his wife, Katharyn, can walk from their home in Coconut Grove, down palm-tree lined streets to eat dinner at a busy restaurant without ever being recognized. Its nice to finally be anonymous from time to time, but Richts visit to this park is about making introductions, about being noticed.The kids here range from kindergarten to junior high, some frames too small for the oversized helmets strapped to their heads and a few more who might fit nicely with the walk-on linemen on Richts roster at Miami.Bennie Blades, the organizer of this youth league and a former All-American at Miami, motions to one of the boys at the end of a line of older kids stretching along the sideline of one of the fields. Hes the biggest of the group, pushing 6 feet and maybe 200 pounds.You see that big boy? Blades shouts at Richt. Hes 9 years old.Richt grins, shakes his head.Slowly, some of the older kids begin to take notice of the guy in the green Miami T-shirt snapping photos with their coaches.Thats the coach at The U, one says to his friend, but both boys are too nervous to approach Richt.Others arent so reticent. One boy pulls out his phone and shows Richt videos of his game tape. Richt watches politely then snaps a selfie with the kid.Theres a kid who attended Richts camp during the summer at Miami, where attendance wasnt quite as high as initially hoped, but the kid loved it. Hes glad to see Richt again.Another approaches confidently and informs Richt hes a kicker. He used to play soccer but found he was much better at booting field goals.Theres talent here, and thats what drew Richt to Mills Pond and more than a dozen other parks around Miami in the past few months. Each Thursday, he hops in the car, drives to another stop -- sometimes with an assistant coach or two; sometimes with a few players -- and he sells Miami to kids who werent born the last time the Hurricanes were relevant on the national stage.The next superstar recruit is here somewhere, and Richt wants him at Miami.He watched running backs go through Oklahoma drills and cheers them on with a repeated atta boy for each one. He shakes hands with parents, says hes glad to meet them. He takes pictures with anyone who asks. Every new fan matters if the Hurricanes want to keep building, expanding.By the end, Tolbert Bain is ecstatic. Hed helped create this plan to overlap Richts presence at Miami with Miamis presence in the community. Bain played at Miami and is involved in area youth leagues. He knew it would be a perfect fit.Itll take time for the plan to bear fruit, but Bain sees it, off in the distance. The kids at this park and the others Richt has visited, theyll be the ones on the field when Miami is really back .Whats Nick going to say? Bain jokes with another coach, referring to Nick Saban, the Alabama coach whos swiped his share of South Florida talent in recent years. Nickll be complaining about this.***It wasnt so long ago that Miami didnt need a sales pitch from the coach. The U used to be cool, its roster filled with local talents who grew up dreaming of becoming Hurricanes. Howard Schnellenberger, who coached Richt in college, called it The State of Miami, a virtual wall built around the area that insured anyone who was good enough to play for The U wanted to go there.In the past decade, however, the wall has come down. Saban and Jimbo Fisher and Jim McElwain poach a hefty contingent of the areas best players. Until this year, Richt was doing it for Georgia.When Richt takes center stage, more than 100 youth players and their families eyes focus on him. He says he wants to build a relationship with the community, wants them to know he was involved.And the other reason Im here is a selfish one, he says. Its called recruiting.This gets a big laugh from the parents, but the kids are transfixed.When he asks later how many want to play college football, every one raises his hand. Richts read the papers. He knows youth football is on the decline other places, but not here.Then Richt polls his audience again. Whats the first thing hes looking for in a recruit?The kids yell out what they assume he wants to hear: Grades.No, Richt grins. First thing I want is talent.This gets an even bigger laugh from the crowd, but hes serious.Richt knows Miamis history. Hes from Boca Raton, Florida, and he played at Miami. His old teammates still call him Boca, even if he hadnt been a regular there in three decades before taking this job in December.When Richt was at Miami, he shared a depth chart with Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde. The year after his departure, Bernie Kosar started at QB. And in the two decades that followed, more NFL talent flowed through the Miami locker room than any school in the country.Then came the decline. Miami joined the ACC in 2004 and is yet to play for a conference championship. In the 1980s and 90s, the Hurricanes were a constant foil for the blue bloods of college football. Now, theyre on a six-game losing streak to rival Florida State, this Saturdays opponent (8 p.m. ET, ABC ). The U on the helmet used to mean something, but in recent years, former Miami stars have publicly lamented the direction of the program and been forced to the periphery, voices unheard inside the football offices.What the program lost was the sense of ownership, said Luther Campbell, a musician, youth coach, mentor and unabashed Miami fan. [At Miamis peak], it was personal. Everybody felt ownership in it. It became our team. It was Miami -- all of Miami.Theres something unique about The U in that way. The campus, the university, the football program -- its part of the fabric of the city. For kids growing up in neighborhoods from Boca Raton to Liberty City, The U is the homme team.ddddddddddddThis is the citys team, the purest representation of South Florida in the sports world, said Manny Diaz, Miamis defensive coordinator and son of the citys former mayor. We love the Heat and the Marlins and the Dolphins, but more often than not, their players come from other places. Miami football represents the skill level of South Florida. Thats our grass roots.So Richt came up with the plan -- not just to inundate the high schools in a desperate attempt to find players for the Class of 2017 but to build a bridge to the future. Hes playing a long game.That, too, is a statement. Richt had sworn hed never coach anywhere after Georgia. Why would he want to? Hed put down roots. But when he was shown the door after a 9-3 season in 2015, Miami came calling, and the lure of his other home -- the place he grew up -- was strong.Were either in or were out, he told Katharyn, and if were in, its going to take a lot of juice.Some observers wondered how much juice Richt had. At 56 years old, hed already spent a lifetime in coaching, and a devout Christian, he had passions beyond football.For Richt, there was no question. He wasnt riding off into the sunset. He wanted to build something again, and these park visits are a reminder hes in it for the long haul.Id do this either way, Richt said of his park trips, but in my view, its building for the future. I plan to finish my coaching career [at Miami].Its been 33 years since Richt was Boca. Its been 13 years since Miami won 10 games. And it might be 10 more years before some of these kids send their tape off to Richt, hoping hell see enough talent to offer them a scholarship to The U. But whos counting?The way Campbell sees it, Richt has always been a Miami guy, and The U has always been the place Miami kids wanted to play.Its more like a house with the lights off, Campbell said. People know the house is there, but they dont know if anybodys home. Coach Richt is just cutting the lights back on.***Richt has plenty to do around Miamis football offices, to be sure. Hes back calling plays, something he hasnt done routinely in a decade, and hes selling the program to boosters, too. Miami needs the money, needs improved facilities like the indoor practice field that will break ground soon. Richt donated $1 million of his own money to get that deal done.But its more than football for Richt. Hes a man of faith and family and, here in Miami, he feels a little distanced from both. Two days after the Mills Pond Park visit, Richts Hurricanes would travel to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech. Katharyn had gone early. Georgia, in so many ways, is still home. Richts entire family still lives in Athens. During his first spring on the job at Miami, Katharyn was finishing a nursing degree at UGA, and Richt was living alone in an efficiency lent to him from former school president Donna Shalala. His kids, whod been fixtures in the halls at Georgia during weekly Family Night festivities, are all grown, living their own lives now (though his oldest son, Jon, is on staff at Miami as QBs coach).There was nobody waiting for me at home, Richt said, so I just stayed busy with work.The church programs and charity work hed prioritized in Athens hadnt lost importance to Richt, but now hes 700 miles away and has an entirely new community in need of attention.One of the reasons youth football remains so popular in Miami is because those parks are the safest spots for so many of these kids. Just a few minutes after Richt arrived, Blades got a call on his cell phone. Thered been gunshots reported not far from the park -- probably nothing to worry about. The kids here are safe.Tyler James has been playing youth ball for four years. Hes already a huge Miami fan. Canes wide receiver Stacy Coley goes to his church, and hes given James a signed poster and encouraged him to stick with football.Its life skills, teamwork, partnerships, James mother, Tiffany Warren, said. His team looks out for him.Shes flipping through photos of her sons last game on her cell phone, a Miami Hurricane umbrella at her side. Football, for their family, means something.Inside Mills Pond Park, its easy to see why. Dozens of parents beamed with pride as their kids ran sprints and worked through drills. One mom sold pink Hurricanes towels in an effort to raise money for a breast cancer charity. As the clouds over the park cleared, a rainbow appeared -- stretching from one football field to the next, and Richt stopped and admired the beauty.He wants to point these young fellas in the right direction, Bain said. Every time you turn on the TV here, all you see is shootings, and its young guys who are involved. Hes looking to do something to inspire them, keep them out of trouble.In his speech to the kids, Richt did, in fact, preach the importance of grades. That was No. 2 on his list. First he wants to see the talent, then the grades. Theyll need both.And whats the third thing? Richt said, initiating a new round of murmuring from the assembled masses. Did I hear someone say attitude?Attitude, one of the kids yelled out, as if it had just occurred to him.This pitch is easy. The kids want to learn. They want to be inspired. Richt sees that.In this crowd, one or two of these kids will grow up big and fast and strong. And just maybe, theyll remember the time Miamis coach came to visit them at the park, and theyll want to play for him. The rest of them -- they could be anything. Richt hopes theyll remember his visit, too. He wants them to be something that matters, not another name on the TV news when something awful happens in these neighborhoods.Richt asks the kids to take off their helmets, wrap arms around their teammates and pray, and a number of parents shake their heads in approval and offer a smattering of Amens.At Georgia, all of this made Richt a divisive figure. Sure, hes a man of faith ... but visiting a park during a game week? Maybe he was just too nice a guy for the job, too concerned with things outside football. Those notions hovered over Richts entire tenure in Athens.Still, Miami fans here have faith -- in the Canes, in the neighborhood talent, in the guy who they believe has finally righted the ship.The kids all line up around Richt and frame a U with their hands, just as cell phone camera flashes pop in all directions, the kids all yell in unison: Go Canes. ' ' '