As a result of the ongoing problems, her WNBA side, the Seattle Storm, was without the superstar for three consecutive seasons, leaving a pockmark on her legacy there.
Even so, the 34-year-old will be remembered as one of basketball’s best players with a wide-ranging skill set that made her an unstoppable scoring threat, a tenacious rebounder and a dominant defensive presence.
She had been named on Australia’s Opals extended squad for Rio, but recent fitness testing and medical advice convinced her she should not continue playing.
“It really is so surreal retiring here where it all began 19 years ago,” Jackson said. “Today I’m announcing my retirement from the love of my life, basketball. Two years ago I hurt my knee playing in China … my knee ended up degenerating really, really fast, I got arthritis pretty quickly and since then I’ve had multiple surgeries.”
‘Today I’m announcing my retirement from the love of my life – basketball,’ she said, the emotion evident in her voice.
‘It took me all over the world, gave me friendships that will last forever, so thank you for everyone for being here… for giving me this opportunity to say goodbye.’
She managed to do something with her sport that no other Australian has ever replicated. She dominated in the United States.
In a country that prides itself on garnering the best talent from across the globe, to join some of the most competitive, and successful, leagues of all-time; Jackson reigned supreme.
“She became Australia’s crown jewel,” former Australian Boomers coach, Brett Brown, told foxsports.com.au.
Lauren Jackson’s father played basketball for Australia. So did her mother.
Growing up around the sport and playing from an early age, she seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of her parents.
But at 12, Jackson’s performance at a Country Cup suggested that maybe she didn’t want that life. Her parents twigged and told her she didn’t have to keep playing.
Jackson’s response should go down in the folklore of Australian sport, given she is arguably the best basketballer the nation has ever produced.
She went to her room, sat at her computer, and – as the story goes – typed: “From this day on, nothing will stand in my way.”
Lauren Jackson did many things well on a basketball court, but hiding her emotions wasn’t one of them. In between celebratory smiles, Jackson was full of entirely too much frustration caused by the injuries that ultimately forced her to retire from basketball this week at age 34.
If you were building the ideal basketball player in a lab, you might want to start with Jackson. At 6 feet, 6 inches, the Australian legend was one of the tallest players in the WNBA throughout her 12-year career, yet she was also one of the league’s most dangerous outside shooters. Jackson’s combination of skills drew comparisons to NBA star Dirk Nowitzki, but Nowitzki couldn’t match Jackson — the 2007 defensive player of the year — in terms of impact at both ends of the court.
So, yah, you (and the rest of the world) didn’t have this Final Four penciled in ANYwhere. (OK, maybe EIGHT of you did. Showoffs.) How. Cool. Is. That?
FWIW: Interesting a game at Bridgeport – the UConn fans were more nervous than the two teams. It was a fine, rough-and-tumble game… and a far cry from the rout of last year. Kudos to Aston/Texas for learning and growing from that not-so-fun experience. That being said, every time the Longhorns inched closer, the Huskies nailed a three, and so punched their ticket to Indy.
Favorite moment of the Bridgeport regional (in two parts): 1) Seeing Holly Rowe on the sidelines again 2) watching the camera guy assigned to her taking a selfie with her.
For three decades, any chatter about women’s basketball on the West Coast has usually started and ended with Stanford.
While the Cardinal are still among the elite programs in the country – as evidenced by their run to the Elite Eight – it’s Oregon State and Washington that are headed to the Final Four in Indianapolis and providing validation that women’s basketball out West is more than just what is happening at Stanford.
”We’re all seeing how good the Pac-12 is. It surprises me a bit how surprised I think people are across the country,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said over the weekend. ”You listen to just the general narrative of the Pac-12 and people are surprised, surprised Washington could beat Maryland. We’re not. We’ve played against them.”
Goliath is coming to a place so steeped in the legend of David that someone made a movie about it.
Even so, it will take more than running the picket fence of “Hoosiers” fame, Hollywood’s version of slinging a stone, to stop this Connecticut women’s basketball team in its pursuit of perfection — yet again.
She stood on the line with seven seconds left in the game, and a chance to give Oregon State a three-point lead against Baylor. Beavers junior guard Sydney Wiese wasn’t thinking about the fact that she’d missed one of two free throws 26 seconds earlier. Nor was she saying to herself, “This is for the Final Four. You absolutely MUST make these.”
Instead, the word that went through Wiese’s mind was this: driveway.
Katie Collier loves her long blonde hair. Of course, when Collier learned she had contracted a form of cancer, the first question she posed to doctors had nothing to do with the possibility of losing her hair during chemotherapy.
“That was my second question!” Collier recalled with one of her frequent laughs.
Collier’s first question was a tad more serious: “Am I going to die?”
Five years after doctors told she would never play basketball again because of leukemia, and four years after her first season of college basketball was delayed a year by major knee surgery, Collier is the starting center for the Washington Huskies.
“This is pinch me stuff; there are no other words for it,” said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck as his second-seeded Beavers advanced to the first Final Four in school history after upsetting top-seeded Baylor, 60-57, to win the Elite Eight in the Dallas Regional on Monday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Someone had better notify the Indianapolis Newcomers Club: The Beavers now head to Indiana, where they will join two other Final Four debutantes, fourth-seeded Syracuse and seventh-seeded Washington, along with the overwhelming favorite and overall top seed in the tournament, reigning champion University of Connecticut, in the national semifinals on Sunday, April 3.
Maybe Stewart is too close to fully appreciate it right now. On the surface, she is perfect. She is so good and does things so effortlessly that sometimes it looks as if she’s not trying hard enough.
Auriemma, in fact, believes she’s not trying hard enough. He’s always on her about her defense. It’s been that way for four years. If she were an infant learning to speak, she’d swear that “Stewie, Get In Your Stance” was her name.
That’s what actually led to her recent icy spell with Auriemma. Around midseason, she gave up three straight baskets to a player who Auriemma claims was at least 4 inches shorter than Stewart. The game, mind you, was a blowout.
That doesn’t matter, he says. “You can either go through life now and say, ‘Well, we won by 40,’ or you can say every night, ‘I owe it to myself and to all these people who are coming here and my teammates and everybody to live up to my expectations.’
Now, I get it. UConn has been dominant. Historically, women’s basketball has lacked parity. But this was a #1 vs #16 seed matchup. This is exactly what is supposed to happen, which is why we care about upsets, it strays from the norm.
I looked but I couldn’t find anyone saying the same after #1 Kansas beat #16 Austin Peay 105-79 or #1 Oregon beat #16 Holy Cross 91-52. It wasn’t a story. It was predictable. Everyone moved on.
But maybe the most upsetting about this narrative being pushed is that there’s been a ton of upsets for the women this year. In the same way it started out as the year of the 12 seeds on the men’s side, it mirrored that on the women’s side.
That was the main theme for the University of South Dakota women’s basketball team on Tuesday, a day after the Coyotes learned they would be hosting a high-major team in the WNIT.
That’s right, Oregon will be playing at the DakotaDome tonight (Wednesday) in the 7 p.m. semifinals.
It’s certainly not the first high-major team to play in Vermillion, but it’s one of the most notable.
Thursday, 8om, ESPN2: Michigan v. FGCU IN Fort Meyers
The Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball has made no secret about its motivation this postseason.
FGCU felt spurned by the NCAA tournament selection committee. As a result, the Eagles are taking their frustration out on the rest of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
I go see a couple of games live. I zip up north to visit with my mom. And I come home to hear about your sad-azzed attempt to get some kind of attention. Honey, you need to get a hobby… like stamp collecting or needlepoint.
I guess the difference between now and your drivel from 2010 is that the best coach in the history of women’s basketball basically told you to shut up and then a respected basketball announcer followed suit. (We’ll see if a Connecticut writer will come to your defense a second time).
Dan’s reasoning was a swing and miss. But he raised a point that is hard to argue: That most of the nation doesn’t care about the women’s tournament. Perhaps that’s hard to fathom in Connecticut. Travel with the Huskies, though, and you’ll discover he’s right.
And yet Shaughnessy has been identified as a misogynist by some in the women’s basketball intelligentsia. Their moral outrage is as myopic as Shaughnessy’s rationale.
Umm, Mikey, I think YOU missed the point.
Sure, there’s often a knee jerk reaction to columns that criticize women’s basketball because they’re often not actually critiquing, but mocking what they don’t know. And, as in Danny-boy’s case, his opinion drew a lot of criticism from “the women’s basketball intelligentsia” (can I get a t-shirt that says that?) because not only was he saying he disliked something he didn’t know, but he was spouting “facts” that were drop dead wrong — and a reflection of so much of the crap that clue-free misogynists throw at the women’s game.
So, Mikey, we’ll stop alienating “potential fans who haven’t yet discovered why the women’s game is worthwhile by being whiny, proprietary foofs” when writers who profess to be professionals stop being fact-free idiots.
Because it’s those writers who, by continuing to add to reams and pixels of bullcrap that is written against the women’s game, are misinforming and turning away “potential fans who haven’t yet discovered why the women’s game is worthwhile.”
Hey, there’s plenty to poke at in the women’s game. And I promise, I’ll be the first one to forgive a “Lady Husky” reference or a “Pat Sumit” (maybe) error if the content reflects a level of thoughtful analysis.
When Danny-boy writes it, send along a link, wontcha Mikey?
The N.C.A.A.’s policy of providing no financial reward for victories in the women’s basketball tournament is emblematic of another problem: Athletic administrators and overseers treat college sports like a commercial venture. If men bring in the money, the thinking goes, then men should get the money. (Well, some men — the coaches, conference commissioners and athletic directors, but certainly not the players themselves.)
This reasoning is faulty on two levels. First, the men’s tournament may have higher ratings and sell more expensive tickets, but the women’s tournament is also a moneymaker: It is broadcast by ESPN and sells out many games. Even by conventional commercial standards, the men shouldn’t get $1.56 million per victory while the women get nothing.
Second, college sports are not supposed to be treated as purely commercial activities. The N.C.A.A. constitution considers college sport an amateur activity with redeeming physical, social and educational value. There is no clause in Title IX that says “except if one gender generates more revenue than the other.”
For 11 scary minutes Thursday night, a red-hot TCU team looked as though it might run the UTEP women’s basketball team right out of the Don Haskins Center in the third round of the WNIT.
There were two groups of people who had no intention of letting that happen: the Miner players and 7,024 screaming fans.
It was a bitter taste, once again for the Bobcats.
Ohio didn’t anticipate the outcome of its postseason. It didn’t expect to lose to Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. It didn’t expect to play in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). It didn’t expect to make it to the Sweet Sixteen round of the WNIT.
And going into today, Ohio didn’t expect to lose to Temple, 75-61. But Thursday night in Philadelphia, the Bobcats did.
Northern Iowa (MVC) and South Dakota (Summit) battled quarter to quarter. It was the Coyotes who grabbed the 1-point win, 51-50. They await the winners of the Hilltoppers/Billikens game.
The theory being thrown around in the University of South Dakota locker room on Thursday night was that the DakotaDome does not want to see these ladies leave the house just yet.
On Sunday night the Coyote women’s basketball team will play what is technically the fourth last basketball game in DakotaDome history this season. It is so because USD defeated Northern Iowa 51-50 to move into the quarterfinals of the WNIT.
The Coyotes added UNI to a list that included Creighton and Minnesota with a victory that had 14 lead changes. The increasingly rare movements on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter were fueled almost exclusively by scrappiness and a fully engaged home crowd.
NCAA: Wow, those blowouts on the men’s side really hurt the game…
We have reached the Sweet 16 stage of the women’s tournament, and predictably, all of the No. 1 seeds remain alive. But the opening rounds did see a pair of No. 2s—Maryland and Arizona State—get knocked off on their home courts by plucky No. 7 seeds (Washington and Tennessee). The conferences expected to do well have been successful: The Pac-12, the No. 1 RPI conference all season, has four teams (Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, Washington) in the Sweet 16 for the first time in tournament history. The SEC, the No. 2 RPI conference, also has four teams alive, including Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee. Three teams (Florida State, Notre Dame and Syracuse) represent the ACC (No. 4 RPI). The pre-tournament prediction of all four No. 1 seeds landing in Indianapolis stands, but let’s take a look at the upcoming games.
Bad timing: You’ve got to give Texas A&M coach Gary Blair credit. He could have taken the easy way out and not suspended senior forward Courtney Williams, A&M’s second-leading scorer, and reserve guard Shlonte Allen for an undisclosed violation of team rules the day of the Aggies’ first-round game against Missouri State. They remained suspended and the Aggies lost 74-56 on Monday to Florida State.
She’s very much aware of life’s little blessings, but there is a huge one out there … and Tammi Reiss is only too happy to acknowledge it.
“I’m just going to say this now because our kids have no idea,” she declared earlier this week. “But as far as Dawn goes, thank God she won’t be on the court. Thank God she’s not playing.”Nurse In A Good Place At The Right Time For Huskies By Rich Elliott
Reiss, the Syracuse University assistant — the one with the hair and the wardrobe, which makes her distinguishable from her boss, Quentin Hillsman, who only has the wardrobe — was speaking of Dawn Staley.
Or, as Reiss describes her, “The greatest point guard of all time. Period.”
Staley, an all-time great player at Virginia, credited him for taking a more long-lasting approach toward improvement instead of looking for quick fixes.
“I think for anyone that’s playing this game the sky is the limit. When you do things the right way, you open up doors that historically were closed to the upper echelon of programs,” said Staley, in her eighth season at South Carolina. “I think Q’s done a great job at staying the course. And that’s what you must do.
What has become for Washington star guard Kelsey Plum the perfect player-coach pairing almost didn’t come together.
A McDonald’s All-American from Poway, Calif., Plum had already signed a letter of intent with the Huskies and she was just a few months away from moving to Seattle when she was blindsided by the abrupt departure of then-UW coach Kevin McGuff in April 2013.
She remembers getting pulled out of a high-school class to be told of the news: McGuff’s leaving for Ohio State.
“She’s not your prototypical point guard,” Neighbors said, matching his team’s upset of the tournament against Maryland with the understatement of the tournament. “We run a lot of our action through her in the half court. Kelsey will bring the ball up court, and then she throws it to Chantel. And Chantel makes those reads. There is not a more instinctive passer in the country.
“I’m not saying passing post; I’m saying passer, period.”
It’s through her that Plum and senior forward Talia Walton get the shots they need.
“She plays basketball like a chess player,” Neighbors continued. “She’s a couple moves ahead of all of us, including me.”
The leading scorer on the Kentucky women’s basketball team that will compete at home (sort of) Friday night in a round-of-16 game in the Lexington Regional was almost a one-and-done player, in the gravest sense.
In contrast to the men, and especially the Kentucky men, the women’s college game is where the stars stick around to write a running narrative along with a competitive legacy. In the case of Makayla Epps, the Wildcats’ 5-foot-10 junior guard, the story’s hook is a family history that was proudly made, a tragedy that was narrowly averted and a career that has since flourished.
Notre Dame and Stanford aren’t looking at Friday’s game as a rematch, even though they’re meeting in an NCAA women’s regional semifinal for the second straight season.
Both teams say their rosters have changed since their last matchup, making it hard to read too much into Notre Dame’s 81-60 victory in the 2015 Oklahoma City Regional semifinal. They’ll meet again Friday in the Lexington Regional semifinal.
“I think we’re both kind of two different teams,” Notre Dame guard Lindsay Allen said.
Numbers can portray a telling — even compelling story.
And looking at the numbers, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team should be considered a heavy favorite to win this weekend’s NCAA regional at Lexington, Ky.
If UConn didn’t exist, maybe the women’s college basketball world would be wondering: Can anybody stop Notre Dame?
The past two seasons, the Irish lost in the NCAA final to the Huskies, and most observers expect the same matchup in this year’s championship game in Indianapolis. The Irish, who won the national title in 2001, also reached the final in 2011 and ’12, losing to Texas A&M and Baylor, respectively.
Fourth-seeded Stanford would love to throw a wrench into the works for the top-seeded Irish when they meet Friday night in the Lexington, Ky., Regional semifinals.
Throughout the season, the metrics kept saying the Pac-12 Conference was the best in the country.
When it came time to back it up in the NCAA Tournament, the Pac-12 delivered.
Pac-12 teams will make up 25 percent of the Sweet 16 when the women’s regional semifinals get started Friday. No. 2 seed Oregon State, No. 3 seed UCLA, No. 4 seed Stanford and No. 7 seed Washington all advanced through the first weekend of the tournament, giving the Pac-12 four teams in the final 16 for the first time in conference history. The league had never advanced more than three teams beyond the first weekend.
The Lady Vols plan to throw different defensive looks at Mitchell and guard her ”by committee,” coach Holly Warlick said.
”If she gets close to the bench, I’m going to maybe trip her, I’m not sure,” she said, smiling. ”No, I watched her in high school. She’s got a great gift. She knows the game. The ball is a part of her hand. I haven’t seen too many, male or female, come around like her.”
Another body blow took the breath away from the Ohio State women’s basketball team on the eve of their NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup tonight against Tennessee.
Senior guard Cait Craft suffered a broken left hand in practice this week, which ended her career with the third-seeded and already short-handed Buckeyes.
“Freak thing,” coach Kevin McGuff said. “I really feel badly for her. She is such a great kid, and as a senior, she has put so much into getting us to this point it’s really disappointing for her that she can’t play. It’s a tough break, but it’s ‘next-person-up.’ ”
Tennessee didn’t need a detailed scouting report to reveal the biggest problem Ohio State will present in Friday night’s Sweet 16 of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. It’s as obvious as Kelsey Mitchell’s stat line.
The Buckeyes 5-foot-8 sophomore guard is averaging 26.3 points per game, has made 40.3 percent of her 308 3-point attempts and has hit 84.6 percent of her free throws.
The stat line becomes even more troublesome for Tennessee when it checks the rearview mirror. As well as its defense has played overall this season, it has been victimized by outstanding individual performances in a number of its losses.
Tina Thompson considers Imani Boyette one of the most complex basketball players she has ever met.
Thompson, the former WNBA star who’s in her first season as a Texas assistant coach, casts a large shadow, even over Boyette, the Longhorns’ 6-foot-7 center. In turn, Boyette admits she challenges any coach aspiring to teach her the game. Yet their bond is sealed with mutual respect.
There’s a different vibe surrounding Florida State’s women’s basketball team.
Head coach Sue Semrau knows it.
The Seminoles (25-7) went into College Station, Texas, and – after shaking off some rust against Middle Tennessee – dominated host Texas A&M in a 74-56 second-round victory. Semrau said she saw a new fire in the eyes of her players when the Seminoles hammered the Aggies.
The green wristbands have become a standard wardrobe accessory for the Baylor women’s basketball team.
“Eight is Not Enough” reads the team motto selected by coach Kim Mulkey, a pointed, painful reminder of consecutive NCAA tournament losses in the regional finals, a.k.a. the Elite Eight.
If his career ended today, Doug Bruno would still go down as one of the greatest women’s basketball coaches of all time.
Since he was named head coach at his alma mater in 1976, Bruno has led DePaul to 21 NCAA tournament appearances, including 14 in a row.
On Sunday, the Blue Demons earned a spot in the Sweet Sixteen for just the fourth time in program history after upsetting Louisville 73-72 on their home court.
It’s an enormous feat, but one more win would mark an historic occasion – DePaul’s first ever berth in the Elite Eight.
Basketball Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor drawls on and on in superlatives when asked about Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut women’s basketball juggernaut.
Hey, Van, is UConn the most dominant team in sports today?
“Ain’t no question about it,” Chancellor says, by telephone from his Houston home. “There’s nobody else today to compare ’em to. I’d have to go back to the 1927 New York Yankees or John Wooden’s great men’s team at UCLA. That’s how good they are. They are so much better than everyone else in the sport.
Sophomore guard Kia Nurse underwent her own battle last month. Her focus was not in the right place in a team-first system. It was on scoring. And when she suffered through a scoreless outing at Tulane Feb. 3, her reaction was unexpected for a player wearing a UConn uniform.
“We’re trying to teach our players to kind of act your age,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Like when you’re 15 don’t walk around and act like you’re 20. And when you’re 20 don’t act like you’re 15. So in that Tulane game she acted like a junior high kid. It was embarrassing. Because she shot the ball poorly she became a mess on the bench and everybody saw it. It’s not how you act at Connecticut. And I think it hit her pretty good.’’
The best thing going in basketball isn’t North Carolina or Kansas or Virginia or Michigan State. It’s not even Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, at least for the next couple of weeks.
I’ve lost you already, haven’t I? You’re thinking this must be a joke. Or maybe it’s a trick question.
What could possibly be better than all of that?
How about this: A team that’s too good for its own good. A team so untouchable that we take its success for granted. A team that has no peer or rival, which ends up making it less interesting to the masses.
The legendary women’s basketball team at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, is the focus of a documentary film being produced in Denver. And the Flying Queens are candidates for team induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, with voting Friday and an announcement to be made at the Final Four next week.
Alice “Cookie” Barron and Kaye Garms, teammates with the Flying Queens at a time when they were on their way to a 131-game winning streak, are ecstatic over learning their place as pioneers in women’s basketball hasn’t been forgotten.
“It’s wonderful that they are looking back into the history of women’s college basketball,” Barron said.
The 2017 NBA All-Star Game is due to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Silver should announce as soon as possible that this game needs to be moved unless the state legislature overturns its new law set to go in effect April 1 “blocking local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to gay and transgender people.”
The law was passed as a direct response to the City of Charlotte for passing an ordinance to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people from being discriminated against by businesses. Outrageously, the North Carolina legislature scheduled an extraordinary special session—the first time they have done so in 35 years—to annul the Charlotte ordinance before it went into effect. It’s remarkable how quickly lawmakers leap to actually do their jobs when the work involves stripping people of their rights. It is also stunning how all of the Dixie paeans to local control and states’ rights go out the window when it comes to issues such as these.
At some point, be it next week, next month or next season, Bob Boldon said everyone is going to finally realize how special a player Kiyanna Black has been for the Ohio University women’s basketball program.
Black, meanwhile, is hoping for one more special performance to keep Ohio’s season alive.
Amy Williams jokingly admits to ‘torturing’ herself on the bus ride home from last Sunday’s win at Minnesota.
She re-watched film from a game back in mid-November.
Her University of South Dakota women’s basketball team had suffered a 21-point loss at Northern Iowa that day, but Williams needed a refresher. Her Coyotes, after all, will host Northern Iowa tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. in the third round of the WNIT.
The Horned Frogs (18-14) will visit UT El Paso at 8 p.m. Thursday in the WNIT’s Round of 16. UTEP (28-4 and 18-0 at home), the Conference USA regular-season champs, spent much of the season hoping for a long run in another postseason tournament before being upended by Old Dominion in the CUSA tourney.
TCU made a first-round exit in the Big 12 tournament but is now one win away from the longest postseason run in program history, in just coach Raegan Pebley’s second year.
The Hofstra women’s basketball team slayed another power-conference giant Tuesday night in its run through the WNIT, knocking off the University of Virginia 65-57 at the Mack Sports Complex to advance to the team’s first WNIT quarterfinal since 2007.
“What a phenomenal win, not just for Hofstra but for the CAA,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey after the game. “It’s a proud moment to be coaching these women here.”
Motivated by being left out of the NCAA tournament, the Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball team continues to make the most of its postseason appearance.
For the third game in a row, FGCU’s offense looked unstoppable at times Wednesday in the third round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The Eagles used 11 3-pointers and a 27-point third quarter to ease past Tulane, 73-61.
Thank you, Candice Wiggins. Appreciate your game, your spirit, your outspokenness… and the fact that you inspired coach VanDerveer to dip – oh so gently – into the snark.
I’m inspired by it. The way it nourishes. Soothes.
I have an insatiable need to be in it. The sun refuels me. I find guidance and answers in its warmth.
After a beautiful morning workout on the beach on March 2, I went back to mom’s house in the San Fernando Valley to journal. Writing is therapeutic for me, and has become a significant part of my life.
What I wrote initially shocked me. But at that exact moment, a ray of sunlight gracefully passed through my mom’s kitchen window and onto my face in a comforting, almost poetic way.
I took a deep breath, and felt overwhelming relief.
That wasn’t a coincidence, I thought. It was reassurance.
I knew what I’d written was final:
“I’m retiring from professional basketball.”
‘ice’s words reminded me to go searching for another basketball wordsmith, Sherri Coale. From the Desk of…
Coale often shows her appreciation by hand-writing notes. She estimates she’ll write 50 per week. Often, she tasks herself this whenever there is free time. Bus trips or flights are important moments to find the space and clarity to craft these messages.
“I just think it’s one of the biggest little things you can do, and anybody can do it. I have lived just long enough to receive the rewards from having done it. It’s so easy. I spend about 20 minutes a day. I keep a running tally of whom I’m going to write. I’m getting new-wave if I kind of keep it on my phone now. I kind of keep it in a notebook in my purse but I’m trying to transition over to the phone. It’s funny if that’s always in the back of your mind, how many people you know just that you need to appreciate or a fan has been diagnosed with cancer and needs a boost, but these things come across and I write them down not to forget. I refill this caddy probably every two weeks. I go through a lot of notecards.”
Write Space & Time (WHY, oh Oklahoma SID folks, is it so hard to find these…. and their archived versions?) CHASING 20 YEARS, November 2015
Ah to be in the right place at the right time…blessed, I continue to be! In 1996, I was coaching ball in a black and orange sweatbox at Norman High School. In the spring of that year, about two miles across town as the crow flies, the University of Oklahoma began its search for a head women’s basketball coach.
We were still tired jawed from smiling about our second state championship when a group of folks from the community showed up at the tacky precipice of my Lady Tiger Locker room to tell me they thought I ought to throw my hat in the ring at the University.
I laughed at them and asked them if they had been drinking or if they were just flat crazy. I remember how they didn’t laugh back. And I vividly recall starting to sweat. I was eight months pregnant with my second child, I loved my life and my work, and, God, I loved my girls. People think I’m joking when I say even considering the possibility was difficult, but it was.
Just as courage isn’t an absence of fear, but rather a willingness in the face of it, service isn’t just giving what someone else needs, it’s giving what only you can. Gifts laced with pieces of the giver have the power to lift and buoy and rally. They dig a trench for underground connection—the kind that changes people. And thus the gift never stops giving.
As the women’s basketball program at the University of Oklahoma, our team and staff have a broad platform from which to serve.
This past week, our last week of holiday break before the spring semester began, we jumped on that platform every day to try to impact our community as deeply and as broadly as we could.
And, considering the news out of Belgium and Turkey and… something from Anne Frank:
It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I’ll be able to realize them!
The Terrapins started slowly, caught up in the second, then stumbled badly in the third. Washington, behind the super (will she leave for the W?) Plum held off the Maryland in the fourth… Though, when Brene Moseley nailed that three with 32 seconds left… gulp. But, the Huskies free throw shooting held steady. They claimed the upset and a spot in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001.
Of all of her key plays Monday night, none sent Washington women’s basketball guard Kelsey Plum into the same life-affirming giddiness as her game-sealing pass to Talia Walton.
Honestly, you’ll never really know… but you’ve got to believe that having the second leading scorer on the court would have made a difference for Texas A&M. No do-overs, as Florida State used a dominant first quarter to demoralize the Aggies and glide to a 18 point win.
Florida State saw the epic comeback of the Texas A&M’s men over Northern Iowa on Sunday night, and the Seminoles were not about to let the Aggies do the same thing to them on Monday night.
With a 21-point lead down to just 10 points with two minutes remaining, senior Adut Bulgak implored her teammates not to let up.
“I was like, ‘Yo, they’re creeping up on us. Get to work,’ ” she said.
Almost an upset: Stanford over South Dakota State
‘Ware the Wabbits indeed. Lili Thompson came to Stanford’s rescue with a last second and-1 to get the win. Coach Tara will look at the box score (10 of 22 from line) and just shake her head. South Dakota State will probably kick a wall.
UCLA had a Jordin-free early run to put them up over South Florida… and then it became the Canada v. Williams extravaganza. Their hug at the end of the game said it all… the Bruins hold off Bulls’ upset dreams.
What a great effort by Teri Moren’s Indiana team. They went toe-to-toe with in-state behemoth and kept the Irish honest. Plenty for the Hoosiers to be proud of and build on (they only have ONE senior) Plenty for coach McGraw to work on.
If Monday night’s second-round match-up against ninth-seeded Indiana is any indication, it will not be an easy road to the Final Four for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team. But in the end, the Irish did what they usually do, which is to say they prevailed, 87-70.
An 8-point second quarter doomed the Sooners against the Wildcats. Yes, Kentucky came away with the win, but they’ve got to be concerned about Epps and her (sprained?) shoulder.
As a reward for its best regular season in 12 years, the Texas women’s basketball team was allowed to spend the first week of the NCAA Tournament using its home baskets.
But that didn’t mean the Longhorns had to let their visitors near them.
The tournament’s most impressive win came on Monday when No. 7 Washington knocked off No. 2 Maryland on the Terps’ home court. This wasn’t just a No. 7 seed upsetting a No. 2 seed, though: Maryland was a top-5 team all season and plenty of people believed it would end up Indianapolis for a third consecutive Final Four.
WNIT:
Tulane (American) over Georgia Tech (ACC)
Tulane started slowly but surged in the second to snatch the lead away from Georgia Tech. The Green Wave held on for the 64-61 win.
Florida Gulf Coast University (A-Sun) over Wake Forest (ACC)
FGCU did their best to put the game away in the first quarter and kept Wake Forest at arms’ length through the rest of the game. Eagle’s win, 67-48.
St. Louis (A-10) over Ball State (MAC)
Up one at the half of a low scoring game, the Billikens and Cardinals went neck and neck through the second half. In the end, St. Louis had just enough to win, 59-55.
Western Kentucky (C-USA) over Tennessee-Martin (Ohio Valley)
A monster second quarter gave Tennessee-Martin a 9-point halftime lead over Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers roared back with a 25pt third and held off the Skyhawks to earn a 64-57 win. WKU’s Tashia Brown scored an efficient 32 pts (11-22).
UTEP (C-USA) over Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
It was a battle (is it me, or can you describe a LOT of the WNIT games like that?) but the Miners dug deep and got the win.
Monday night’s game was a battle of two talented mid-major teams who deserved NCAA Tournament bids, but instead they took their frustrations out on each other in a hard fought, 74-68 UTEP win in the second round of the WNIT Tournament.
Utah (Pac12) over Gonzaga (WCC)
Four quarters of 20+ scoring (on the Gonzaga’s home court!) guaranteed the Utes moved in to the next round. Yup, something good is happening in the program under coach Roberts.
Oregon (Pac12) over Fresno State (MW)
The Ducks overwhelmed the Bulldogs, 84-59. Makes you say, “If not for those @&$^%@! ACLs.”
You can have football’s power play of three yards and a cloud of dust, or baseball’s power standard of the three-run homer.
When it comes to his power game in basketball, Oregon coach Kelly Graves will take three-pointers and a blur named Maite Cazorla any day of the week.
Hoping fans have notice the quality of the play and coaching across these Tourney Teams. I’m so encouraged… am I evil, peeking ahead at next year and thinking “Wide. Open.”? Am I hopeful, thinking the NCAA committees will meet to not just discuss the rules of the game but the rules of the selection process? It’s a conundrum, I know, on how to give the mid-majors the respect that they deserve. BUT, it’s worth some serious, creative thought, dontcha think?
DePaul wasn’t sure where it was going on the first possession of a second-round game against Louisville, confusion on the tip resulting in an over-and-back violation, but the Blue Demons know where they’re going now. The Sweet 16 awaits after a 73-72 win.
The Blue Demons found their bearings and roared to another hot first half in the tournament, then held on for dear life against the Cardinals and most of a crowd of 7,515 in the KFC Yum! Center.
“We’re not sitting completely engaged in the process, as I always tell them. You can’t cheat it.” Coach Walz discussed his team’s performance, “You cheat the process, you’re going to get beat. It might work for you for a while, but eventually it’s going to catch up with you. And that’s really what took place tonight.”
Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz presented his team two options heading into Sunday: Play better defense and move on to the Sweet 16, or pack up this season and start immediately working for the next.
The No. 3 seed Cardinals received the message too late in the going to salvage their NCAA tournament run…
A contest that included 51 fouls ended with an official review. Just not the review Michigan State desired.
The officials met at the scorer’s table as Mississippi State’s band played its fight song after a 74-72 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans laid sprawled across the court in the disappointment of defeat.
Mississippi State’s Breanna Richardson had made a grand total of two 3-pointers this season before catching a pass and launching a 20-footer in the most important minute of her team’s most important game.
There was never any hesitation. It looked good the entire way.
It went in.
And it was the defining play in fifth-seeded Mississippi State’s victory over No. 4 seed Michigan State.
“I couldn’t be prouder today,” Mississippi State women’s head basketball coach Vic Schaefer. “We played a heck of a basketball game against an unbelievable opponent, Michigan State. They are a tremendous basketball team, well coached. They are resilient and tough. “I say all of that and our kids were a little bit more. I couldn’t be prouder of the toughness our kids showed today.”
Upset 3: Tennessee over Arizona State. A Phoenix Grows In Arizona?
The Lady Vols summoned their best team effort of the season. They looked nothing like a No. 7 seed in a 75-64 NCAA tournament victory over No. 2 seed Arizona State at Wells Fargo Arena.
Diamond DeShields scored a game-high 24 points for Tennessee (21-13), which shot 51.8 percent from the floor (29-for-56) and never trailed after the first quarter.
A little less than a month after it looked as if Tennessee’s season was going down in infamy — with the possibility of the Lady Vols not making the NCAA tournament for the first time — they are instead headed back to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16.
Tennessee has experienced a lot of lows in 2015-16, so the Lady Vols had to relish Sunday’s 75-64 upset of No. 2 seed Arizona State on the Sun Devils’ home court at Wells Fargo Arena.
For the 34th time in the 35-year history of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, the Sweet 16 will include the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Coming in as the underdog, the seventh-seeded Lady Vols (21-13) won at second-seeded Arizona State (26-7) in the second round Sunday, 75-64, behind Diamond DeShields’ 24 points.
“Any time we had any kind of miscue, they took advantage of it in any way,” said ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne, whose team fell to Florida State in the Sweet 16 in 2015. “We did not play our best basketball. It was a great challenge and a fun game.”
No upset (but you were thinking it): Ohio State over West Virginia, 88-81
Ohio State made it to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in program history, but it took a huge effort from the Buckeyes sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell. No surprise there: She specializes in that.
Mitchell scored 45 points as the No. 3 seed Buckeyes held off No. 6 seed West Virginia 88-81. It was the fourth-highest total in an NCAA tournament women’s game, following Drake’s Lorri Bauman with 50 in the 1982 Elite Eight, Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes with 47 in the 1993 championship game, and Stanford’s Jayne Appel’s 46 in the 2009 regional final.
Ohio State has a special basketball player that many are taking for granted. Sophomore Kelsey Mitchell is rewriting the Buckeye record books and somehow flying a bit under the radar on the greater OSU sports landscape.
It would be a lie to say Mitchell is doing it quietly, as she is quite well known by those who follow women’s hoops. But, compared to the big revenue sports, Mitchell’s media footprint isn’t nearly what her talents merit.
The Ohio State women’s basketball team nearly limped into the NCAA tournament following a pair of excruciating end-of-the-season overtime losses, a semifinal exit from the Big Ten tournament and an untimely injury to senior guard Ameryst Alston.
The odds of advancing deep in the NCAA tournament are usually unfavorable to teams that have problems pile up in March, but the Buckeyes have been resilient despite facing adversity. On Sunday afternoon at St. John Arena, the pressure was at its peak with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
Despite a back-and-forth struggle with sixth-seeded West Virginia, the Mountaineers eventually fell victim to their plethora of turnovers, with the 27th and final one pounding the nail in their coffin.
“It’s hard to guard somebody when they keep coming at you,” said WVU coach Mike Carey. “It puts a lot of pressure on the referee because she comes right at you. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do as a defensive player. I don’t know, just stop? Hopefully they charge, but I don’t know what you’re supposed to do.
“We can’t let people go to the line 22 times. I’m not saying they were bad calls, I’m not saying that. It’s just tough to defend when someone comes straight at you off a drive.”
“A lot of people didn’t believe we would make it this far,” senior Shereesha Richards said. “And we have we beat the odds. And it’s sad that we lost but we have accomplished so much this year and there’s more positive to look on then there is negative.”
The magical season for the University at Albany women’s basketball team has ended, and with it the careers of seniors Shereesha Richards and Erin Coughlin.
Syracuse overcame a sluggish start and forced UAlbany into 23 turnovers Sunday afternoon en route to a 76-59 victory over the Great Danes in a second-round game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in front of 3,832 at the Carrier Dome.
As seeded: Oregon State over St. Bonaventure, 69-40 (though the first half was if-ish for the Beavers).
It was over when: The Beavers scored the first seven points of the third quarter to quickly push its lead to 38-21. That only foreshadowed the dominant period to come for OSU, outscoring the Bonnies 21-4 as its advantage grew to as many as 27 points when freshman reserve Taylor Kalmer drilled a three-pointer in the final minute of the period.
“What a night,” OSU coach Scott Rueck said. “We’ve been waiting for this and for the opportunity. I’m so proud of this team. I couldn’t be happier for them.”
The memory of a painful second-round loss to Gonzaga at Gill last season was a source of motivation for OSU the entire season.
“It feels better this year for sure,” said senior guard Jamie Weisner, who scored a game-high 23 points. “I think last year at this time I was in the locker room crying. It was over.
It was a grind early, as Oregon State shot terribly to start the game, making only 4 of their first 15 shots, including missing 7 in a row at one point, and though the Beavers never trailed, they only opened a 5 point, 13-8 lead when Marie Gulich got a put back basket at the buzzer.
But there were 2 key takeaways from the early going. Oregon State got balance, with points from 4 starters, Ruth Hamblin, Gabriella Hanson, Sidney Wiese, and Jamie Weisner in their first 4 baskets. It was an indication of the balance that would strain St. Bonaventure all evening.
With Nina Davis open in the middle, everything went just as planned for the Baylor women. and they are going to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the eighth year in a row.
Davis scored a season high-matching 30 points, and freshman post Kalani Brown had 16 points as the Lady Bears beat the Auburn press all night while avoiding being trapped in an 84-52 victory Sunday.
Baylor didn’t waste any time in ending all hope for an Auburn upset Sunday night.
The top seeded Lady Bears scored 19 of the first 21 points as Auburn lost 84-52 in a 2016 NCAA Tournament second round game at the Ferrell Center. The loss represented the largest margin of defeat for Auburn throughout the entire 2015-16 season.
Didn’t think she’d leave that red cape home this time of year, did you?
As she has throughout her career, South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell saved the Gamecocks’ day in a 73-47 rout of Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
The one they call “Superwoman” took over when SEC Player of the Year A’ja Wilson was on the bench with two quick fouls in the first quarter, scoring 16 first-half points and directing USC once more into the Sweet 16.
One by one, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley took her five seniors out for rim-rattling ovations from a crowd of 10,048.
“Because we’re playing our best basketball,” Staley said Sunday night after a 73-47 rout of Kansas State in a second-round NCAA Tournament game, “we afforded ourselves the chance to be able to salute and honor our seniors in that manner.”
We knew it was going to be a long shot. South Carolina came into this one with one loss all season, to top-ranked UConn (a game they lost by only 12 points). The Lady Gamecocks are GOOD, talented and well coached. And, thanks to NCAA venue procedure for women’s basketball, they even get to play at home. So the deck was already stacked.
That K-State was only down by five at the end of the first quarter was actually fairly impressive.
WNIT:
Ohio (MAC) over Virginia Tech (ACC), 64-57… reminder, the Bobcats won the regular season title…and this is their second WNIT win. Ever.
It’s a well-known fact that Rachel Banham has had one of the best careers that you can have, and that she alone can cause problems, but South Dakota wanted to prove that they were a formidable force, too.
They did just that, and now the Coyotes have a chance to get some revenge for an early-season loss against Northern Iowa.
Tulane v. Georgia Tech, 7PM
Wake Forest v. Florida Gulf Coast, 7PM
Ball State v. Saint Louis, 8PM
Tennessee-Martin v. Western Kentucky, 8PM
Arkansas State v. UTEP, 9PM
Utah v. Gonzaga, 9PM
Fresno State v. Oregon, 9PM
Philadelphians had little to cheer about in the winter of 1932. Over 250,000 people—a quarter of the workforce—were unemployed, many more were working part time, and thousands had lost their savings with the collapse of several banks. For black Philadelphians, the Great Depression was even worse. Only 13 percent enjoyed full-time employment, 45 percent were unemployed and 42 percent worked only part time. More than one-third of black families were on poor relief, and in one African-American neighborhood, two-thirds of the homes had no indoor plumbing and half had no central heating
But that February and March of 1932, amid the economic gloom and real suffering, black Philadelphians were gripped by a basketball tournament to determine the best African-American women’s team in the city, as well as the nation. The local black newspaper perhaps exaggerated in promising the matchup between the Germantown Hornets and the Philadelphia Tribunes would make the city “forget the Depression,” but the same ad was surely correct in describing the series as a battle between “two of the greatest girl players in the world”: Inez Patterson of the Tribunes and Ora Washington of the Hornets.
With one round down and five to go, what else did we learn from Saturday’s 16 games?
1. Texas A&M and Florida State earn another chance to live up to expectations
Ranked among the top baker’s dozen of teams in the nation in the preseason, Texas A&M and Florida State took the court in November with no worse than Sweet 16 expectations.
They will meet Monday in the second round of the NCAA tournament, which means only one will get to the Sweet 16. For stretches Saturday, it wasn’t clear either would get even that opportunity.
FiveThirtyEight: These Are The Only 4 Teams With Any Chance Of Beating The UConn Women
Washington Mystics fans know the legacy of Chamique Holdsclaw, the WNBA great who left her mark on D.C. The former #1 overall pick recently returned to the area to discuss her current work as a mental health advocate.
A new documentary, “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw,” chronicles her rise to stardom and struggles with mental disorders, providing a platform to discuss the impact of mental health issues in sports. The film won Best Documentary Film honors at the 2016 DC Independent Film Festival.
Hayley Milon caught up with Holdsclaw to discuss her journey.
Down by as many as 16 points and with their star player fouling out with 6:18 remaining, UAlbany rallied to stun Florida 61-59 Friday afternoon in an NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament first-round game at the Carrier Dome.
Time and time again Friday night, the Oklahoma State women’s basketball team made a run at St. Bonaventure in their first-round Women’s NCAA Tournament game at Gill Coliseum.
Behind a career night from Janiah McKay, Auburn advanced to the Round of 32 at the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday with a 68-57 win over St. John’s in Waco, Texas.
McKay, a freshman point guard, poured in a career-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and dished out three assists for the Tigers in the win.
A fantastic defensive start for the Auburn women held up for the remainder of the evening, and it has them bound for the second round.
The ninth-seeded Tigers gave up just six points in the first quarter and Auburn’s patent defensive press forced 25 turnovers to frustrate No. 8 seed St. John’s, ultimately to the tune of a 68-57 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at the Ferrell Center.
Kansas State second-year coach Jeff Mittie entered the year hoping to move the program forward. He and the Wildcats took a big step in that direction Friday with their first NCAA Tournament in four years.
At least for a game, life without injured senior guard Ameryst Alston worked out well for Ohio State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at St. John Arena.
The third-seeded Buckeyes ended the first quarter with a 22-1 run and powered past 14th-seeded Buffalo 88-69 to advance to a second round matchup Sunday against sixth-seeded West Virginia.
TCU v. Eastern Michigan, 8pm EST Drake v. Northern Iowa, 8pm EST IUPUI v. San Diego, 7pm EST Villanova v. Hofstra, 6pm EST Michigan v. Bucknell, 2pm EST
Cori Close played basketball for UC Santa Barbara and was an assistant coach for 18 years at three different universities before taking over as UCLA‘s coach in 2011.
But her roots at UCLA run deep and are personal.
UCLA was her first stop as an assistant, and it was there she met John Wooden, who became a mentor and confidant.
ESPN (and other sports networks) have been broadcasting more and more sporting contests from the studio rather than sending announcers to game sites. This has become an increasingly popular trend for the networks to save every penny they can while the price of poker goes up, up, and up thanks to soaring rights fees. While this has traditionally been done with international soccer over the years, we’ve seen it happen with much more frequency for college basketball and college football recently.
This is NOT just the women’s NCAA tourney. If you haven’t been paying attention to ESPN’s irrational exuberance you’ve missed a big story.
Last spring in Indianapolis, the N.C.A.A. women’s basketball rules committee focused on ways to increase the sport’s appeal.
The major changes approved at the meeting provided a face-lift this season. Notably, the two 20-minute halves were changed to four 10-minute quarters in an attempt to improve the flow and quality of games.
Then in January, the W.N.B.A. revamped its playoff system, eliminating conference alignments and creating single-game eliminations through the first two rounds.
Women’s basketball is entering a pivotal time to entice a national audience.
Yesterday, at FiveThirtyEight, I waded into the discussion about a gender gap in basketball analytics with a report on the scarcity and fragility of data in women’s college basketball. I received a lot of comments about how the lack of public data in women’s basketball, both college and the NBA, is a reflection of a lack of demand. The argument was that if there was an audience for the data than leagues and media companies would provide it for their fans and customers.
Frankly, I think that perception is backwards. An increase in data sparks curiosity and drives demand.
BTW – Data fuels the fantasy leagues. (Something the W needs to have, because it fuels interest in the ENTIRE league).
The Rutgers Prep School girls basketball program is no stranger to success, having won 10 state Prep B titles and five Somerset County Tournament championships during head coach Mary Klinger’s 32 years at the helm, a run that’s earned her 519 career victories. But when the decision was made for the Argonauts to join the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association prior to the 2013-14 season, perhaps the biggest draw was the opportunity for the tiny Franklin Township school to show the rest of the state that Rutgers Prep was perfectly capable of running with the big dogs.
Less than three years later, with the program’s first sectional and group titles already in hand, the Argonauts have not only proven that fact, but thanks to a special group of players who have progressed as individual athletes and teammates, Rutgers Prep is well within striking distance of the state’s most prestigious hoops prize.
A college basketball game without a band present … it’s just not the same, is it? Drake’s women’s team was facing that, though, for its WNIT opener Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa. The school is on spring break, and the Drake band members aren’t on campus.
However, Drake got a capable substitute: The Kansas band was in Des Moines for the Jayhawks’ NCAA men’s tournament game Thursday afternoon.
As for the games:
The band helped! Drake (MVC) over Sacred Heart (NEC), 95-59.
Road-weary UT Rio Grande (WAC) got swept away by TCU (Big12),97-73.
Arkansas State (Sun Belt) chomped on Southern (SWAC), 68-45.
It was a tight one, as short-handed Nebraska (Big10) fell to Northern Iowa (MVC), 64-62.
Ball State (MAC) went on the road and topped Iowa (Big Ten), 77-72.
And I swoop! Tennessee-Martin (Ohio Valley) came back to defeat Memphis (American), 79-73. It’s the programs first post-season win since 1999.
Dayton (A-10) fell to Western Kentucky (C-USA), 89-72.
San Diego (WCC) escapes Northwestern (Big 10), 69-65. The Wildcats scored 8 in the first and 35 in the fourth. Coach must be banging his head against the wall.
No, really, remember when they stunk? IUPUI (Summit) over Central Michigan (MAC), a tough program,63-55.
Bucknell (Patriot) over Akron (MAC), 74-70. The Bison are the first team from the Patriot League to ever win a game in the WNIT, while also posting the program’s first victory in a national postseason tournament.
“We have had a lot of great things happen this year, but to get a postseason win is pretty sweet,” said Bucknell head coach Aaron Roussell. “It’s a great accomplishment for our program and our league, and a huge feather in the cap for this gritty team. I am incredibly proud of them.”
Oregon (Pac12) over Long Beach State (Big West) by 8.
After all the waiting and working and wondering, Oregon coach Kelly Graves finally got the glimpse of his team’s future that he’d been looking for the past two weeks.
And he liked it so much that Graves told his rejuvenated Ducks to go play couch potatoes for a day like the rest of America as their reward.
Welcome to March Madness, ladies. WNIT style.
Nice showing against a program that in no joke: Marshall (C-USA) falls to Ohio (MAC), 76-68.
Eastern Michigan (MAC) led wire to wire, and eked out an away win over Saint Mary’s (WCC), by one, 74-73.
Graduate transfer Chanise Baldwin’s ffensive rebound and put back with 1.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter lifted the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team to a 74-73 victory over Saint Mary’s College in the opening round of the WNIT Thursday, March 17. The Eagles led by as many as nine, but needed Baldwin’s late game heroics to propel the Green and White into the second round of the tournament.
In a back-and-forth battle, it was Abilene Christian (Southland) who blinked first. UTEP (C-USA) won, 66-62.
Asked to remember the last time they talked on the phone before they found out they would be matched up in the NCAA tournament, both Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer and University of San Francisco coach Jennifer Azzi came up with the same answer.
“Probably just a few weeks ago,” Azzi said.
“Not that long ago,” VanDerveer confirmed. “We talked about some things she was dealing with.”
Bonnie and Karlie Samuelson, both of whom played at Stanford, are as responsible as anyone for making Lou the player she is.
“When I was younger, I wanted to be just like them, so that’s where it all started,” Samuelson said. “But once I got older, all I wanted to do was to be better than them.”
Every year, I hear the same thing. “There are no Illinois teams in the NCAA tournament.”
And for the past 14 years, all those who have said that have been wrong.
Why, oh, why, do Illinois residents overlook the DePaul Blue Demons (25-8), who’ve achieved a berth in the NCAA Women’s Tournament for 14 CONSECUTIVE YEARS… also, their 21st overall appearance since 1990?
4 Florida Southern v. 1 Lubbock Christian (March 22, 1pm) 2 Anchorage-Alaska v. 7 Francis Marion (March 22, 7pm) 1 Virginia Union v. 1 Bentley (March 22, 3:3o) 2 Grand Valley State v. 7 Pittsburgh State (9:30)
The big shockers were seeing #1 Union, #1 Azusa Pacific and #1 Limestone go down in the first round. #1 Ashland feel in the second round. #1 Emporia State lost in the 3rd round.
Division III’s Final Four is scheduled for March 19th, Capitol University, Columbus Ohio.
Amsberry’s Nine will do for a working title. Wartburg College’s surprise run into the NCAA Division III women’s basketball Final Four has the makings of a green-lit sports movie.
The plot is a season salvaged off life support by a group of athletes that had moved on before reuniting to accomplish an ambitious goal.
The script has more than final credits left to be written.
For the past two years, Tufts had gotten it done at home in the postseason. The Jumbos had qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the NESCAC championship, earned home court advantage and fought their way through dominant first-round wins and overtime thrillers alike to reach the NCAA Div. III championship semifinals, the Final Four.
This year was different. Tufts fell by one point in a heartbreaking loss to Amherst in the NESCAC championship but still earned an at-large bid.
If Amherst head women’s basketball coach G.P. Gromacki hadn’t been persistent when reaching out to junior twins Ali and Meredith Doswell during the recruiting process, no telling what he would be doing this weekend.
There will be no chitchat from the UAlbany women’s basketball team during the pregame meal at the NCAA Tournament in Syracuse. That’s not how coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson runs her team. She says she handles her basketball program like a business. So a gathering other teams might use to celebrate and relax she considers a working dinner.
Scouting reports come complete with a cover page announcing the team’s philosophy going into that game. For Duke in last year’s tournament it was: “fight and toughness”; for University of North Carolina in 2013: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.”
Later this week, the pregame meal will be served up with a quiz, as always. Each Great Dane is asked to recite details from the player she has been assigned to scout.
“Our duo has turned into a trio,” said three-time All-Big 12 forward Nina Davis, who with national assists leader Niya Johnson helped the Lady Bears reach regional finals the past two seasons.
And a pretty good trio with former Duke transfer Jones healthy and getting ready for her first NCAA game with top-seeded Baylor after being the MVP of the Big 12 Tournament that the Lady Bears won for the sixth consecutive season.
The JMU women’s basketball team got one step closer to its NCAA tip-off
It was all smiles as the team hopped on the bus to catch their flight to Louisville on Wednesday morning. The Dukes then practiced at Bellarmine University shortly after arriving in the city where they’ll begin their tournament run.
This is the team’s third straight year in the NCAA tournament. The players said this year they are determined to bring a win back to Harrisonburg.
Pennsylvania: 10th-seeded Quakers look to upset No. 7 Washington
The Quakers fought tooth and nail to emerge victorious from a historically competitive Ivy League. Now they need to get through the rest — and the best — of the nation.
Aerial Powers is arguably the best to play women’s college basketball at Michigan State.
Powers is five points from becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer, and 13 points shy of surpassing her own single-season scoring mark. She is the only player in program history to be All-Big Ten three times.
The redshirt junior so talented she might be starting her final run with the Spartans in the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless of how Maryland fares in the NCAA Tournament, this squad will always be remembered by coach Brenda Frese for its ability to shine in the face of adversity.
BTW: A shout out to Debbie Antonelli and Beth Mowins for all the hard work they put in laying the foundation for LaChina’s podcasts via “Shootaround with Beth and Debbie.” If you’ll remember, Debbie and Beth started their podcast independently, went over to the WBCA, then brought their work over to ESPN. SO – thank you to them and CLICK on LaChina and company to show ESPN you’re interested.
Suzy Batkovic has been named the 2015/16 Wattle Valley WNBL Most Valuable Player after another dominant season in the front court for the JCU Townsville Fire.
Following a three-peat of MVP awards from 2012-14, Batkovic has made history with her fourth award, equalling Lauren Jackson in first place on the all-time WNBL MVP list.
Speaking of Australians:Bank Spirit star Kelsey Griffin will bypass the 2016 Women’s National Basketball Association season in an attempt to win Australian Opals selection.
Ooooooo, history! Photo Vault: Women’s basketball had long journey. Of course, what I know is that the “source” is abouteducation.com but the actual source is the timeline I put together way back in 2004. But, hey, as long as folks are recognizing history….
He offered Tuesday to email or call the boss of anyone who wanted to come to the game but couldn’t because of work. He’s already had 100 or so fans take him up on that, including someone in the mayor’s office.
”Whoever sends me a note on Twitter or on Facebook – if they give me their boss’ email – I’m writing them a note asking if they can make the ballgame,” Walz said in a phone interview Wednesday.
The Huskies are sharp, because they share a common goal and have rallied around each other. They are in sync. They are focused.
“The difference between last year and this year, last year we were happy to be there,” junior Kelsey Plum said. “It was a cool accomplishment after having not been in the NCAA tournament for a long time.
“We were just so excited about the whole thing, we lost focus in the game. This year, we’re not just happy to be here. We’re trying to do something with it.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma jokes that when the trio now known as ”The Big Three” first arrived on campus, he wasn’t sure they should play as freshmen either.
Stewart, he said, had unbelievable talent, but was often lackadaisical, because things were too easy for her. Jefferson, he said, had no grasp of running an offense. Her idea of playing point guard, he said, was to run at full speed until she ran into something.
Tuck was the best of the three in practice, but that didn’t always translate to games.
As BYU’s women’s basketball players, assistant coaches and supporters reacted excitedly when the Cougars received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last Monday, head coach Jeff Judkins stared stoically at the large screen, realizing the task that lies ahead.
It was almost LaVell Edwards-like, which is fitting, because Judkins is having the kind of success that the legendary football coach had in Provo in the 1980s and ’90s, albeit in a sport mostly out of the national spotlight.
“He doesn’t get the credit he deserves,” BYU guard Makenzi Pulsipher said. “He’s such a good, nice person, but he’s also a really, really good coach.”
During a recent practice at UCLA, one of the Bruins players commented out loud about point guard Jordin Canada, “She’s our all-conference player, let’s just get it to her.”
And Canada cringed.
“Her shoulders went in, and she looked uncomfortable,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “She didn’t like it. But at the same time, when the lights brighten, she’s at her best.”
Jennifer Azzi’s expression — an ear-to-ear grin — didn’t change when she saw that her USF team was matched against her alma mater Stanford, during Monday’s NCAA selection show.
Azzi knows how these things work — Azzi against her mentor Tara VanDerveer is the kind of story line selection committees love. She knows how often basketball can bring one full circle — such as when the Tennessee kid won a national championship with Stanford back home in Knoxville in 1990.
What’s the old cliche, if they didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all?
The Syracuse University women’s basketball team is living proof of that. The Orange have had their best regular season in program history. Syracuse went to the ACC championship game and received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, again, its best ever.
The high seed means the Orange are rewarded with one — possibly two — home games for the first two rounds of the tournament. And when does the NCAA Tournament committee (with help from ESPN) have Syracuse playing.
Friday at 2:30 p.m. Right after the Syracuse men’s game. A weekday afternoon when the majority of local people are working or in school.
For Cluess and Godsey, that made last Monday twice as sweet. They understand better than most the challenges midmajor programs face in facilities, recruiting and financing when competing against major conferences for players as well as victories.
“It’s so hard for one team to make it, let alone two, especially in a conference our size,” Cluess said.
This time last season, the Missouri women’s basketball team was sitting around coach Robin Pingeton’s house, eyes glued to the television during Selection Monday. They were on the outside looking in.
While watching other teams celebrate their success, the overall mindset of the team was, “That’s going to be us next year,” according to senior Morgan Stock.
Seconds after the UNC Asheville women beat Liberty on Sunday at Kimmel Arena to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament, some of the first people on the floor to celebrate with the women were members of the Bulldogs’ men’s team.
It was a scene that didn’t surprise those close to the program.
There is a closeness between the teams and it begins with the coaches.
Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick and Nick McDevitt can’t help but run into each other several times a day because their offices are separated by a conference room, which they share along with a printer.
They wouldn’t want it any other way. McDevitt is a fan of Kirkpatrick and her staff and Kirkpatrick feels the same way about the men’s coaches.
“Suzy and I got to be good friends back then,” said Newbauer, who was an assistant at Georgia at the time. “My sister almost went to Michigan State and instead went to Indiana, so I’ve known Suzy since my first year in women’s basketball. I’ve just been really good friends with her since then. We were texting each other about, ‘Wouldn’t that be great if we wound up in the same place?’ But I didn’t think we would be playing them.”
As a self-identified Conference Generalist, I take great pleasure in tracking programs raising their profiles. Marshall was one such story: A Different `Long Season’ for Daniel’s Herd
Marshall makes its first trip to the Women’s NIT with a visit to longtime rival Ohio on Thursday night, and riding on the bus with the Herd as it heads up the road this evening is an attitude that has carried Coach Matt Daniel’s team all season.
It’s not where you start; it’s where you finish.
When Marshall opened the 2015-16 season back on Nov. 13 with an out-of-breath, 104-101 triumph at Morehead State, eight of the 12 healthy players on Daniel’s roster were in their first game in a Herd uniform. Six were freshmen … and Marshall had been picked to finish 10th in the 14-team Conference USA race by Daniel’s sideline peers.
Four months later, the Herd (21-11) has more wins than all but one team (24-5 in 1986-87) in the Herd women’s hoops history dating to 1969-70. Marshall has only its third postseason bid in its major college era, which dates to 1981-82. And while finishing tied for sixth in the C-USA standings, the Herd won a school-best 11 C-USA games (regular season and tournament) in its 11 years in the league.
It happens at the start of every athletic competition. Typically after the national anthem and player introductions, and often overlooked as one of the unwritten rules of the game. It’s the coaches’ handshake, a brief meeting a midcourt that will have a deeper meaning for Yolett McPhee-McCuin Friday.
When the head coach of the Jacksonville University women’s basketball team shakes the hand of Dawn Staley, she will see more than the opposition, she’ll also see a mentor and a friend.
“Dawn Staley is someone that I mirror my program after,” said McCuin. “Not every step but definitely the how and the why. How to build a program and why we do what we do?
“I don’t think any of us were expecting this in the beginning of the season, so the fact that we’re even here is so exciting,” senior Emilie Gronas said. “From the preseason, we could feel this was a different team with a lot of new faces. A lot of people didn’t expect us to do as great as we did.”
But after playing in other postseason tournaments in each of the last seven seasons, Duquesne didn’t have any preseason intentions of receiving another WNIT bid.
The Dukes broke record after record this year, setting program highs for wins (27) and conference wins (13) while earning a share of the Atlantic-10 regular-season title. Now, all of those accolades come second to achieving an ultimate goal.
If you’re filling out your bracket for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and want some statistical background to the broader forecasts, you have a slew of options. Start at Sports-Reference.com: powerful search tools; team rankings for anything from pace to point differentials adjusted for strength of schedule; and player pages with stats such as usage percentage, win shares and Box Plus/Minus. Ken Pomeroy’s site offers more detailed and adjusted team rankings and a wide array of individual player metrics. For $100 a year, Shot Analytics delivers detailed spatial analysis of shot selection, including weighted shot charts.
If you’re looking for similar information to help you fill out an NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket, you’re out of luck.
Mirts, who played college basketball for Missouri, appreciated the challenge of not being able to recruit players for high school basketball, instead developing the young women in her district.
“You get what you get and you try to make a masterpiece out of it year in and year out,” she said.
In addition to her coaching achievements, Watkins holds a special place in Campbell athletics history. She was the school’s first female athletic scholarship recipient after graduating from nearby South Johnston High School in 1975. She was a member of that school’s 1974 North Carolina state championship team.
She served as team captain of the Lady Camels basketball team as a senior and captained the softball team for three years. Despite suffering an injury in her final season, Watkins was named MVP of the 1978-79 team and selected as Campbell’s Outstanding Female Athlete.
In a flash, anxiety became joy. Belief morphed into reality. The slow steady rise from obscurity to respectability validated in an instant. The free T-shirts that read “Duquesne’s Going Dancing” transformed from wishful thinking to truth in advertising.
Welcome to the madness, Dukes. You too, Central Arkansas, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Iona. The NCAA women’s basketball tournament isn’t just for the blue bloods anymore.
All five programs will make their NCAA debuts this weekend after earning their first-ever tournament berths, a watershed moment for schools who have spent the last three decades relegated to watching the madness play out on TV without them.
Missouri (21-9) is making its first trip to the tournament in 10 years, while BYU (26-6) is in March Madness for the third straight year and fourth time in five seasons. The Tigers lost their final two regular season games before falling 47-45 to Auburn in the SEC Tournament on March 3.
“I am happy [with the seeding],” said BYU coach Jeff Judkins. “I think we got what we deserved. I think if we had won the [WCC] tournament, we would have been a little bit higher, but I feel really good about playing Missouri. I have seen them play a little bit and it will be a good matchup for us.”
In the days leading up to Selection Monday, Iona women’s basketball head coach Billi Godsley made it a point to not pay any attention to the bracket predictions.
Seeing how her players reacted to when Kentucky’s opponent was revealed on ESPN’s selection show, it’s pretty obvious they didn’t do the same.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme had projected Kentucky to face off against Iona in his last bracketology update. Iona’s players let out an “oohh” when it was revealed that No. 3 Kentucky would play No. 14 UNC-Asheville at Lexington, Kentucky.
“It’s exciting to go to Lexington, but we have to focus on the first two games and do our job on those,” Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said. “We have to be all business and I am sure the seniors will take care of that. Being a No. 1 seed takes a lot of work. This team makes it look easy, but they put in a lot of work all season. So does the staff.”
All year long, the Baylor women have worn green bracelets with the inscription of a message that has carried them this season: “eight is not enough,” referring to the team’s back-to-back Elite Eight exits in the 2014 and ’15 NCAA tournaments.
The Lady Bears are back in the big dance, and the path to their goal of a Final Four appearance has been paved. Now they just have to stay alive to get there.
It hasn’t been a great two days for South Carolina basketball and the NCAA Tournament selection committees.
A day after the Gamecocks’ men’s team was snubbed by the tournament, USC’s women’s team was placed in the Sioux Falls Regional. While the Gamecocks earned their third straight No. 1 seed and open the NCAA Tournament at home, they would have to play the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds in South Dakota, should they advance.
“It’s pretty surprising, but at the same time, we’re not on the committee. We weren’t in a room, so we don’t know what was behind it,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “But we got to do our job. Our job is to open up on Friday night and take care of our business.”
A year after winning only three SEC games, the Auburn women’s basketball team is going to play on the sport’s biggest stage for the first time since 2009.
“Playing UConn defines the word challenge. In the history of all sports, one could really give a good argument that UConn women’s basketball team is the most dominant ever in the history of sports,” said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. “You’re not talking about one or two titles, you’re talking about 10 national titles. “We’re really happy for the opportunity and the challenge. This is an exciting moment in these young women’s lives no matter what happens in the game. We’re just going to take this one possession at a time, prepare the same way we always do, but obviously this is a major David vs. Goliath scenario. I know our players will give everything they have on that court. It’s about the process and the journey and going to play Connecticut is something they’ll be able to tell their kids and grandkids that they did.”
Michigan State women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant had her team watch the selection show together last year and see their team not make the NCAA Tournament.
A chip on their shoulder? That’s an understatement.
“I was on the team last year, and I know how disappointing it was to watch a selection show and know that we weren’t going to come up,” junior guard Tori Jankoska said. “Coach Merchant told us that this wasn’t to punish us, but to show us where we should be and we need to see ourselves next year.”
“I would have loved it for our fans,” Walz said of the regional assignment in a phone interview after the selection, “but we have to win the first two games first. I’m not really big on getting ahead of myself. We have to come out and get ready to play the 2:30 game Friday. Hopefully a lot of businesses downtown can just do a half day of work and let their employees come to the game.
“It’s one of those things we knew could happen. I completely understand. If the committee wanted to put Kentucky in Lexington, it makes sense. Unfortunately for our fans, it’s not as easy of a drive — or a flight — trying to get to Dallas.
“Obviously, it’s good to be home,” said Orange coach Quentin Hillsman, who is taking his team to its fourth straight NCAA party. “That’s all we wanted to do is have our opportunity to play home. We didn’t really care who it was. We just wanted to have a home game and be able to play in the Dome in front of our fans. We’re just excited that we’re not packing our bags and going in the road.”
If Syracuse wins two games it will gladly break out the luggage. Success in the Dome means advancement to the Sweet 16 in Sioux Falls, S.D., and a possible showdown against No. 1 seed South Carolina. Syracuse has never reached the Sweet 16.
It is just past 10 a.m. the morning after another big victory, but things are not going well for one of the greatest women’s basketball players of all time. Dawn Staley’s regular pickup game with a collection of managers, graduate assistants and South Carolina compliance officials has suddenly become less friendly than just a few minutes earlier when she was gathering everyone for a group selfie and joyfully screaming to hype herself up.
Nobody is running harder at both ends of the floor than Staley, the fireball point guard for three Olympic gold medal teams, three Final Four teams at Virginia and six WNBA All-Star games. But at 45, she relies less these days on her quickness and passing than making sure the background music in the gym is right.
“We need Beyonce!” she yells as a manager goes scurrying to his iPod with Staley’s team suddenly behind 15-6.
Less than 24 hours after the men’s selection committee got pounded by media and fans alike for its selections, seeding and geographical placement, the women’s committee took its turn. Unlike their counterparts on the men’s side, the women’s committee got it right.
Not that the committee needs my validation, but this group doesn’t leave much to be criticized. My last projections produced two misses, but neither is worth quibbling over. The teams that got in were just as worthy as those that didn’t. So this year, I forgo the usual critique with some observations and explanations.
3. Ivy League. For the first time ever, the Ivy received an at-large bid when Princeton was given one of the last two spots in the field. Ironically, this comes one year after many felt a 30-0 Tigers team was underseeded at No. 8 and one year before the Ivy League goes to a four-team tournament — and not the current regular-season champ — to decide its automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The NCAA tournament is a series of 63 questions that leave us with a single answer to the question: Which team will be national champion? But first, here are five more questions to prepare for the start of play.
The NCAA selection committee always tries to downplay talk of conferences, and focus instead on individual teams. But for everyone else, seeing how the various conferences fare is a big part of the fun. Or disappointment, depending on how it goes.
Every year, you’ll hear coaches say the same things about how tough their conferences are, regardless of whether that’s quantifiably true. It’s what they are supposed to say.
But in this NCAA tournament, the fates of two conferences in particular might be very much in the spotlight.
Have you joined the Women’s Tournament Challenge yet? Sign up, then make your picks. es.pn/1UtY3IP
Don’t forget, there were other Committees workin’ hard: Round One Matchups Announced for 2016 Postseason WNIT. For me, the WNIT is a great time to get some answers about just how “good” a team outside of their conference. Some really intriguing matches that include teams we’ve been keeping an eye on all season….
Wednesday, March 16 Milwaukee at Minnesota
Creighton at South Dakota
Wright State at Michigan
Alabama at Tulane
Thursday, March 17 UC Riverside at Gonzaga
Long Beach State at Oregon
Eastern Michigan at St. Mary’s
UTRGV at TCU
Southern at Arkansas State
Abilene Christian at UTEP
Sacred Heart at Drake
Northern Iowa at Nebraska
Ball State at Iowa
Little Rock at Saint Louis
UT Martin at Memphis
Dayton at Western Kentucky
San Diego at Northwestern
IUPUI at Central Michigan
Bucknell at Akron
Marshall at Ohio
Elon at Virginia Tech
Liberty at Villanova
Harvard at Hofstra
Georgetown at Rutgers
Virginia at VCU
Mercer at Georgia Tech
Wake Forrest at Charlotte
Bethune-Cookman at FGCU
Friday, March 18 Montana State at Utah
Santa Clara at Fresno State
Maine at Quinnipiac
Temple at Drexel
It feels like the Sugar Bears have been knocking on the door of the NCAA tourney for a while now ( five straight losses in the Southland Conference Tournament dating back to 2011) Finally, it opened. The Bearkats did. not. make.it. easy. Truly a valiant effort by the #7 seed who was playing its fourth game in as many days. Central Arkansas pulled away in the fourth for a 69-62 win.
“I’m so proud and happy for this team,” said Central Arkansas head coach Sandra Rushing, who had 8 NCAA appearances in 10 seasons at Delta State in Division II, but is taking a team to the Division I tournament for the first time. “They have worked extremely hard all year long, refused to lose, and found a way to win.”
“When the game started to get away from us in the third quarter and they started to pull away, my thought was ‘if we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose with the people who got us 21 wins,’” Jacksonville coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “We’ve had games this year where I’ve done that to prepare us for this situation.”
“The legacy is complete,” said Love, the senior who was part of the 2-28 team in Kirkpatrick’s first year. “We beat the beast. But what a game they played. What a hard-fought win by us. I’m so happy for this team.”
Added Khaila Webb, ‘Nobody believed in us except for us. We were picked to finish eighth, but we knew we could do it. I’m just so proud of everyone on this team.”
“Every run they made, we had an answer,” Harper said. “We scored right away, usually got a couple of baskets, and put them right back in the same spot. Sometimes we don’t always make it pretty, but we find a way to be successful.”
Coach Sal Buscaglia has a sign in his office that says simply: “Believe”.
Even when his Robert Morris team was in the midst of a losing streak in January, the Colonials never lost hope. Now they’re headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.
“I told them believe in our system and we’ll take you to the promise land,” Buscaglia said after Robert Morris beat Sacred Heart 56-51 on Sunday to win the NEC Conference Tournament championship. “We started winning games toward the end.”
With Sunday’s win, Buscaglia will have one last chance to get a first NCAA Tournament victory.
So much of the bubble movement took place a week ago as the power-five conferences were playing their conference tournaments, but this Sunday provided that last bit of intrigue and what is now a big question for the committee: Florida Gulf Coast.
The Eagles, unbeaten in league play and the Atlantic Sun’s No. 1 seed, lost in their tournament final to second-seeded Jacksonville. Most years that would have been it for FGCU. Most years the No. 71 RPI team from the 29th-rated conference would not even be up for discussion.
Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was the last person up the ladder after UAlbany defeated Maine 59-58 in the championship game. She cut the rest of the net off the hoop and then swung it over her head, motioning for the fans to cheer louder.
She’s the architect of a program that this week will play in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year, an achievement that was all but impossible to imagine when she was hired on April 19, 2010.
Coach Abe, as she’s known, arrived with a surprisingly simple blueprint: Build strong women, she often says, and you can build a winning basketball team.
But the culture change she brought and winning basketball that followed were hardly so simple. There were doubts to overcome off the court and challenges on the court.
This is how UAlbany became a women’s basketball powerhouse.
Video: These are two SNY specials on UConn. I post them not to celebrate the Husky program, but to remind coaches and athletic directors that building a quality program takes time, thought and attention. You don’t always get to got to the Big Dance (ask Maine)… or the WNIT… or garner a winning season. But there are steps you can take…
The Syracuse women’s basketball team greeted a small woman in a light-brown knitted hat and a blue SU basketball shirt standing behind the bench after a game in the Carrier Dome on Dec. 6. Each player shook her hand as she supported herself with a black cane in her left hand. They all uttered just two words: “Thank you.”
The woman was Muriel Smith, Syracuse’s first women’s basketball and field hockey head coach, who died on March 1. She was 87. Smith led the women’s basketball team to a 57-33 record from 1971-1978 and the field hockey team to a 22-16-7 record from 1972-1977. She was a gold medalist in the National Senior Games — a fierce competitor, yet still kind and gracious. She was a coach, teacher and trailblazer for women’s sports.
There are no teams in America right now that believe in themselves more than the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State University.
And that belief has worked wonders.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, all but counted out ahead of the Conference USA Championship, proved critics wrong Saturday night in Birmingham securing a rare sweep of the conference tournament.
The men, who were battling through injuries late in the season, fought their way past skeptics and with a pair of Reggie Upshaw free throws as the Blue Raiders took their first C-USA tournament crown in school history.
Though the women closed out the season on a three-game win streak, they were also counted out by pundits when it came to bringing home a championship.
Under the new policy, student-athlete transfers who are ineligible to re-enroll at any of their previous colleges or universities will be automatically deemed ineligible to receive athletic aid from a Pac-12 university and cannot join any university team or participate in their activities.
The transfer policy will apply only to student misconduct issues such as assault, harassment, academic fraud, and other violations of campus behavior conduct policies. It will not apply to academic performance reasons unrelated to misconduct.
Forward Melissa Baptista poured in a game high 23 points to lead the way, as Tufts held off a comeback attempt by the University of Scranton in the fourth quarter to collect a hard fought 57-48 victory in the Quarterfinals of the 2016 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday in the John Long Center. With the victory, the Jumbos (now 27-3 on the year) advance to their third consecutive Final Four, which will be played next Saturday in Columbus, Ohio on the campus of Capital University. Scranton ends the season with a 30-1 record with the defeat.”It was a really fun game for me to be a part of and coach,” said Tufts head coach Carla Berube after the win. “Scranton brought it. When they tied the game up in the second half, I knew our team was going to have to dig deep and find ways to get stops and keep composed, and we were able to do that.”
In its most closely contested game since December, the Thomas More women’s basketball team kept its unbeaten season alive and advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four with an 88-72 victory over visiting Washington (Mo.) on Saturday.
The Saints’ average margin of victory this season is 39.3 points, but they led by just six going to the fourth quarter Saturday.
For the first time in three years, the Amherst College women’s basketball team is back in the NCAA Division III Final Four.
Amherst earned a trip to Columbus, Ohio, Saturday following a 78-50 triumph over Rochester in an Elite Eight game at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Amherst outscored Rochester 26-10 in the third quarter to pull away.
“What an outstanding pace – I’m tired and I didn’t even play,” Amherst coach G.P. Gromacki said. “I am proud of them.”
Wartburg is in courtesy of Kailey Kladivo (who could have been competing in the Division III indoor track and field championships). This is the Knights’ first trip to the Final Four.
Six weeks ago, it looked as if Norfolk State forward Amber Brown might die after suffering a diabetes-related stroke and three cardiac arrests.
On Saturday, the 20-year-old from Atlanta sat courtside at Echols Hall watching her Spartan teammates rally from 14 back only to fall four points shy against Morgan State. She snapped pictures with her iPhone, texted at a furious pace, ate a hot dog from the concession stand, giggled with her best friend and accepted handshakes, hugs and even flowers from fans who repeatedly told her how much they prayed for her during the 40-day ordeal when she was hospitalized.
UB Women’s Basketball wasn’t supposed to here, at least not with this group of women.
After going from one of the deepest frontcourts in the conference in January 2015 to one of the youngest teams in the country by October 2016, the Bulls weren’t supposed to advance to the MAC Semifinal for the second straight year and third time in school history.
Even after upsetting them twice in the regular season, the eighth-seeded UB wasn’t supposed to beat frontrunner Ohio, sitting on a bye in the quarterfinal.
In today’s 88-87 win over fifth-seeded Akron, who beat Buffalo twice in the regular season, the Bulls weren’t supposed to hang with the Zips’ desired pace and outside shooting. They weren’t supposed to hit the half within two – or the final quarter within a single – possessions after Akron came out blazing from three. (The Zips would finish with 15 made threes). And they certainly weren’t supposed to survive losing sophomore point guard Stephanie Reid to her fifth foul midway through the third quarter.
“It was all part of the process,” Karaitiana said. “Not just for this year, but the last four years. This is what we worked for, and I’m really proud of the outcome.”
Karaitiana was named tournament MVP after averaging 15 points per game. She shot 6 of 13 from the field to help second-seeded Hawaii earn a measure of redemption after losing the Big West title game last year.
“We were in this game last year and got the result we didn’t want,” she said. “We came into this game more prepared and knowing what we need to do and took care of it on the floor tonight.”
Alabama State, representing the SWAC. No surprise, for a conference that had a three-way tie in the regular season, the final game was edgy affair.
“We knew it was going to be a war,” said Lady Hornets coach Freda Freeman-Jackson, who became the first SWAC coach to lead a team to consecutive tournament titles. “Southern is always a championship-caliber team. We knew we had our work cut out.
Before the hugs, before the smiles and cries, and before the trophy-hoisting, picture-posing and net-cutting, the Idaho women’s basketball team had to come to a realization: This could be the end.
Trailing Idaho State by three at halftime Saturday in the Big Sky Conference tournament title game, the Vandals understood they were 20 minutes away from falling short of their season-long championship aspirations.
The seniors didn’t want their collegiate careers to end. The freshmen didn’t want their magical debut season to conclude with heartbreak. The coaches didn’t want the work their players put in all year to not pay dividends the way it had in the past.
Aprill McRae and Christina decided to transfer from VCU because they believed head coach Tarrell Robinson’s vision for winning a championship at North Carolina A&T State University. Dana Brown had the same aspirations when she transferred from UNC Wilmington.
Courtney Powell decided to play one more season of college basketball as a graduate transfer for the same reason. Perhaps the most inspiring story comes from fifth=year guard Adriana Nazario’s decision to play one more year – despite having graduated and despite having knee problems – in an effort to give this whole winning a championship thing one more try. Their decisions paid off.
JMU (27-5) will bring a 20-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament. The run includes three wins over the Dragons (19-13), who were looking for their first league title since 2009.
Gwathmey, the CAA Player of the Year, made half of her 18 shots, collected four rebounds and, at the end, absorbed a meaningful hug from her appreciative coach.
“A very special moment,” Brooks said.
“It meant a lot because this is what we work for,” Gwathmey said. “It’s definitely the way you want to go out your senior year, especially winning three in a row.”
It’s the program’s first ever back-to-back conference tournament titles, fourth NCAA Tournament bid and the first consecutive NCAA Tournament bids since 1987 and 1988.
“Going into this game, they kind of ruined our Senior Night,” said senior Sasha Weber, who was named tournament MVP. “Personally, that was a little bit of fuel for me. I know Shanice (Davis) and Abby (Scott) too being seniors. And they snapped our undefeated streak. Especially getting down at 20 at home, we knew coming into this game, a championship game, we had to start off strong and keep up the intensity up.”
“This group of young ladies has just accomplished so much with 99 wins over four years at this level is incredible and they just continue to do what it takes,” Magarity said. “Janae McNeal and the junior class with Aliyah Murray and the Morris twins [Destinee and Daizjah], as well, and I consider my coaching staff the best in America. It’s the best coaching staff I’ve ever had and I’ve had some pretty good coaches.”
He also couldn’t have had many better players than Mina1q. The senior guard – Army’s all-time leading scorer – served in her customary role of scoring when the team needed it most. She scored half of her team’s 20 first-quarter points, including a jumper to conclude the period. By game’s end, she had scored a game-high 25 points, including 4 of 8 from beyond the 3-point line.
“Sometimes I get caught up in watching them play, instead of coaching them,” Insell said. “They are such a joy to watch, and a lot of people didn’t give us the credit we deserved.”
Troy, representing Sun Belt. Known for their offense, Troy’s win came down to… defense. In the last 20 seconds, a score by Ashley Beverly Kelley followed by a win-saving block by Caitlyn Ramirez – capped the journey of a program’s revival.
Head coach Chanda Rigby inherited a two-win program in 2012, and now just four years later the Troy women’s basketball team is the 2016 Sun Belt Tournament Champions after a 61-60 over Little Rock at Lakefront Arena on Saturday.
Troy will make the second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and its first since 1997.
“Our overall goal and theme was faith, faith was our motto,” Rigby said. “I felt more out of sync and more out of the groove in this game than probably any game we’ve played the second half of the year. It was a bad feeling, but the faith – we just kept saying to keep it close.
“And of course, what happened at the end was nothing that the coaches called. I believe it was Ashley Beverly Kelley’s faith in the end that she could get the ball in her hands and pull us ahead, and I think faith is what made Caitlyn go up for the blocked shot that sealed it in the end.
As their similar records might have predicted, the Missouri State and Drake game was a back-and-forth affair. The Bears pulled away in the fourth to secure the 65-61 win.
Sunday games (DID YOU SPRING AHEAD?) that will secure the final guaranteed spots in the Tournament:
Southland: Central Arkansas v. Sam Houston State, 12:30PM. The Sugar Bears are the heavy favorite, but we’ve see what THAT means this tourney season…
Big South: Liberty v. UNC Asheville, 2PM. Liberty has been the traditional power in the conference, but the Bulldogs have undergone a huge transformation under coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick (3 years ago = 2 wins).
MVC:Missouri State v. Northern Iowa, 3PM. This ought to be a great match up between teams with similar records. They split their regular season games. (BTW, UNI’s Tanya Warren should be on AD’s “poachable” list… and in case you’ve missed it, “Hello, coach Kellie Harper!”)
Horizon:Green Bay v Milwaukee, 1PM. Year after year, teams come at the Phoenix, and year after year they get turned back. Last time these two teams met, it was a 23-point loss for the Panthers.
That’s the phrase that comes to mind as I scan yesterday’s results… so many good teams upset and, suddenly, the season crafted to reach the NCAA’s is done.
ODU (17-16, 10-8) continued its unexpected tun in the C-USA, surprising UTEP (26-4, 16-2 C-USA) with a strong fourth quarter.
The Lady Monarchs, who began the season 1-6 against a rugged schedule, are a win from returning to the NCAAs for the first time since 2008. They have not made a conference tournament final since they lost to James Madison in the Colonial Athletic Association championship in 2010.
“We knew coming into this game it was going to be tough, and we had to own our identity, which was passion, rebounding and defense,” Barefoot said. “Our offense has been flowing and we’ve been feeling really good about that, too.
For the first time in school history, the University at Buffalo women’s basketball team will play for a Mid-American Conference championship after upsetting 5th-seeded Akron, 88-87, in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament on Friday afternoon.
“I’m just so proud of this young team,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “They’re resilient, I tell you. We’re getting better. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re going to enjoy this moment for sure.”
“I thought this was a great women’s basketball game today,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “When I got the opportunity to come to Troy, one of the things I wanted to do was carry on my style of being sold out to try and make women’s basketball more exciting.”
Sam Houston (13-17, 7-11) knocked Stephen F. Austin (18-12, 12-6) out of the Southland, 78-70.
Sam Houston (13-17) was tenacious inside, outrebounding the Ladyjacks, 42-27, led by 13 from Angela Beadle, who was one of four Bearkats in double-digits with 15 points. She also added her 1,000th career rebound and has 1,003. The Kats shot 49 percent from the field, the fourth-best mark of the season.
“I am very excited for Beadle,” Sam Houston head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “At the end of the game, we leaned in to each other and said, ‘way overdue.’ There are a lot of great things that this game means to us. First of all, it’s a big rivalry, and second of all, we were able to advance to the next round. These ladies work hard and I am ecstatic.”
“It was a tough game for us,” UND coach Travis Brewster said. “Really have to credit Idaho State. They came out and took it to us right away. From start to finish, they did a good job of pushing the tempo.
“We came out flat and battled back. But they answered every time we had a run.”
A little Big West Heartbreak: UC Davis spoiled UC Riverside’s perfect run in conference play, 81-72.
For the first time in nearly three months, UC Riverside couldn’t find a way to get up. The shorthanded Highlanders have held off bigger and more physical opponents this season, players essentially willing themselves to make it to the buzzer before exhaustion took over.
A little Patriot Heartbreak: We won’t get the Finals we expected. Joe Logan’s Loyola team pulled off a HUGE upset, holding off a furious comeback attempt by Bucknell, 66-53.
“I give great credit to Coach (Joe) Logan, his staff and his players. They played great in all aspects of the game,” Roussell said. “We just didn’t have it tonight and they played very well. Marshall and Smith were fantastic and the rest of the team really fed off them.”
As Lerma drove to the top of the lane, she found the outstretched arms of the Panthers’ Stephanie Davison in front of her.
Lamar slipped in from the left side and knocked the ball free to let the Panthers avoid becoming the first top seed to lose in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tourney since 2009.
“She is one of the best defensive players in the league and she was on the all-defensive team for a reason. She has such quick hands,’’ Bradley coach Michael Brooks said. “We gave the ball to our player who had been making great plays for us. It was just a great defensive player making a great defensive play.’’
Yes, it was a battle, but the Chippewas overcame Eastern Michigan, and are now one win away from the Big Dance.
“I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but this team, they’re coachable,” Guevara said. “I can’t say that sometimes the best players that we had in the past, you know, were like this and totally bought in.”
Someone new will rule the MEAC: North Carolina A&T over Hampton, 63-54.
The win was vindication for an Aggies (18-11) team who came into the 2016 tournament with three straight losses in the semis. The win also snapped the Aggies’ six-game losing streak to the Pirates. N.C. A&T will make their first championship game appearance in seven years as they face Coppin State approximately at 4 p.m., Saturday at Scope Arena. The Aggies will be after their third MEAC tournament title and their first in seven years. The Aggies are 2-4 in MEAC title games and 0-2 in MEAC titles games versus Coppin State with losses to the Eagles in 1991 and 2008.
“We talked Wednesday about us having advanced to the semifinals three years in a row and we didn’t want to make it a fourth year in a row where we didn’t win and get to the championship game. I thought we found a way to win in the fourth quarter. I’m so excited for our seniors.”
“Whew!” said Albany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson who, with her team trailing by five at halftime, made sure the Great Danes knew what they needed to do.
“I just said, ‘We’ve got to get the ball to Shereesha and we’ve got to get the ball to Imani (Tate),’” she said. “That’s what we did and they really went to work.”
Chinn’s dismissal comes after he admitted to university officials that he had violated NCAA bylaws regarding impermissible benefits provided to a student-athlete.
The University of North Florida and its former women’s basketball coach Mary Tappmeyer have announced a settlement in Tappmeyer’s sex discrimination and retaliation claims associated with her termination from UNF in March 2015.
UNF will pay Tappmeyer $1.25 million to settle her claims, according to attorneys representing Tappmeyer.
She left the program as the only women’s basketball coach UNF had ever known.
A decision about Kelsey Minato’s future is coming.
She was recently named the Patriot League Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. Last week, Minato broke the league’s all-time scoring record. She has scored more points than any woman, or man, who has ever played in the Patriot League.
In April, the 5-foot-6 guard will try out for the Women’s National Basketball Association. If she is drafted into the league or signs as a free agent, Minato can delay her commitment to serve five years in the U.S. Army. Remember David Robinson, the NBA superstar from the Naval Academy? Robinson served two years of active duty before he was eligible to begin his professional basketball career.
The disparity between NBA data — even data across all male sports — and WNBA data is glaring. Data for the WNBA is relegated to basic information: points, rebounds, steals, assists, turnovers, blocks. While worthy of being noted, those are the most rudimentary numbers in our game.
Data helps drive conversations, strategy, decision making. But data on its own isn’t terribly interesting. It needs context. It needs a storyteller. Data helps tell the story of a player, a team, an entire career.
There’s a need to value data in the WNBA because there’s a need to value the stories of our league. Think about baseball, for example, or men’s basketball. Fans, players, executives and media value stats and information because it helps to tell a story that many are already invested in. And if they’re not already invested, then it gives them a reason to be. It helps GMs make decisions. It informs contract negotiations. It enables player development.
It sparks barroom debates to last a frigid and barren Russia winter.
A Debbie Antonelli special in the Southland as Lamar upset Houston Baptist in double OT, 98-95.
“It was definitely a gritty win,” LU coach Robin Harmony said. “I think our young kids decided it was time to win one of these close games. These kids grew up today.”
Top dogs James Madison and UTEP got attention-getter battles in their quarter finals match-ups. JMU’s trip to the CAA championship got easier because Hofstra got upset by Northeastern (!), 65-54.
I told ya the Horizon was interesting: Valpo upset Detroit, 94-91. (Happy Debbie!)
Good win for coach Barefoot and the ODU program – they defeat Charlotte, 57-54, and move into the C-USA semis.
Well, well.. remember when I was saying “Look at the Herd!” and everybody looked and then that tripped them up? (Well, they have won the most games since ’86-87 season). They regained their footing and pulled off a huge upset: Marshall 66, Western Kentucky 63.
“We just keep growing up,” said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. “I’m very proud of our resiliency as a group. We were very balanced on both ends of the floor. Anyone who knows me, know I like to play cards, so we always talk about winning at least 21 games and hitting BLACKJACK and I’m happy to say we have accomplished that.”
Mountain West Final: Fresno State v. #22 Colorado State, 3PM. If the Bulldogs win, they could pop some bubbles…
American East Final: Maine v. Albany, 4:30PM ESPNU
C-USA Semis: ODU v. UTEP, 11AM, Marshall v. Middle Tennessee, 1:30PM
MAC Semis: Buffalo v. Akron, Eastern Michigan v. Central Michigan (classic rivarly game), 2:30PM
MEAC Semis: South Carolina State v. Coppin State, 12PM, Hampton v. North Carolina A&T, 2:30
Sun Belt Semis: Troy v. Arkansas State, 12:30PM, UL Lafayette v. Arkansas-Little Rock, 3PMEST
SWAC Semis: Texas Southern v. Southern (classic rivalry game!), 1PM, Grambling State v. Alabama State, 7PM
CAA semis: Delaware v. JMU, 1:30, Drexel v. Northeastern, 4pm
WAC semis: Utah Valley v. New Mexico State, 3PM, CSU Bakersfield v. UT Rio Grande Valley
Big Sky Semis: Idaho State v. North Dakota State, 3:00PM, Idaho v. Eastern Washington, 5:30PM
Big West Semis: UC Davis v. UC Riverside, 3PM, Long Beach State v. Hawai’i 5:30PM
Patriot Semis: Lehigh v. Army, 5PM, Loyola (MD) v. Bucknell, 7:30PM
Just a note about bubbles and popping…Honestly, I know what the numbers say about some teams, and that means they should go in.. and it’s probably the best, fairest way to make the decisions. But dang, choosing between a team of top quality players that have stumbled through the season v. a bunch of high quality players that have kicked ass through the season? No brainer for me.
Double ouch: Ohio has ruled the MAC. No such luck in the quarterfinals, as Buffalo stunned’em with authority, 72-60. Clearly, getting a day of rest was a killer in the MAC: Toledo fell to Akron (by 2), Ball State got run over by Eastern Michigan… CMU was the only “rester” who needed a 15-point comeback to escape into the semis, 66-62, over Western Michigan.
Owie: Top seed Bethune-Cookman (18-12, 12-4) got bounced in the MEAC quarters by South Carolina State (13-15, 7-9), 56-48.
Towson (7-23, 3-15) pulled the upset over William & Mary (15-15, 6-12) in the CAA, 71-65.
The Owls of Rice (9-21, 7-11) surprised LA Tech (14-16, 9-9) in the C-USA second round, 72-67.
Familiarity breeds upset. In the NEC, it was Robert Morris (19-12, 11-7 NEC) over Bryant (18-13, 14-4 NEC), 72-59, to advance into the finals.
Phew! It was not looking good for UT Rio Grande… but then they outscored Chicago State 21-6 in the fourth and came away with the 60-52 win to move into the WAC semis.
I think Debbie Antonelli should champion the Big Sky. Eastern Washington and Sacramento State battled toe-to-toe, with the Eagles overcoming the Hornets, 100-97.
Not even coach Wendy Schuller knew what to expect this year from the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team.
Except that the Eagles would work their tails off and make her proud.
For a decade-and-a-half, the Eagles have been doing just that for Schuller, who’s on the cusp of a second straight 20-win season going into Wednesday’s night’s quarterfinal game against Sacramento State in the Big Sky Conference tournament.
This year’s 19-11 overall record has been earned the hard way, with only five returning players following the offseason departure of seven athletes. Last year’s 21-12 campaign was quickly forgotten by the media and coaches, who picked the Eagles to finish sixth and ninth, respectively, in the Big Sky.
Zakiya Saunders started counting on her right hand but couldn’t quite get through all of the fingers on her left one. She finally took her dad’s word for it.
Ten homes, Master Sergeant Vincent Saunders calculates, including a few areas multiple times. That was childhood for the University at Albany women’s basketball team’s point guard.
Now, the junior ranks as one of the best passers in the country. Third nationally in assists per game, Saunders has been influenced by a lifetime of required travel.
“I notice everything,” Saunders said, flashing a sly smile that slightly lets you into her carefully scrutinized world.
Maine held the America East’s best player, UAlbany’s Shereesha Richards, in check, making her a nonfactor in the Great Danes’ offense. Richards scored just eight points — only the fourth time she has not scored in double figures this season.
Richards is not going to say there was anything special Maine did against her in that game.
“In my head, from that last game, everything just fell for them,” Richards said. “There are days when things just go for people. There is a lot of stuff we could have done better in that game.”
As a mid-major conference, America East has had its collective work cut out for it in terms of maintaining relevance in the national picture.
This season, with University at Albany and University of Maine leading the charge, the league ranks 16th out of 32 conferences in the Rating Percentage Index, jumping from last season’s rank of 23rd.
America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen said it is a testament to the overall caliber of basketball and the tough scheduling being done by conference programs.
Say this much for the impending dynasty of Southeastern Conference women’s basketball: South Carolina made sure to celebrate properly Sunday, taking no championship for granted.
After the No. 3-ranked Gamecocks wore down Mississippi State 66-52 to win their second consecutive SEC title, players reveled in the moment. They took turns gathering confetti to throw at each other, got on the Veterans Memorial Arena floor to make confetti angels, and many of them posed for pictures with the SEC trophy.
“This is what we live for,” said sophomore forward A’ja Wilson. “You got to enjoy the moment while it’s here.”
For three weeks, Jennie Simms was in limbo, unsure of when or if she would be allowed to play this season for the Old Dominion women’s basketball team.
She was suspended in late November for an incident involving teammate Ije Ajemba during a tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Simms won’t talk about the specifics, but does remember the aftermath.
The players were banished from practice, games, team meetings and even from hanging out in the locker room with teammates.
“It was a difficult time,” Simms said. “I had to pray a lot, to try to keep my mind where it should be.”
Simms and Ajemba worked out together during that time, ate together and studied together. “We didn’t separate,” Simms said. “Instead, we came together.”
“It has been such an honor to be a part of HWBB (Harvard Women’s Basketball)” Tummala said. “The program has taught me so much about myself, providing me with the tools to go out in the real world and be successful. More importantly, I have made life-long friends in my teammates and coaching staff, and have cherished the opportunity to play here every single day. I will forever be grateful.”
However, the journey has not been easy. Though Tummala considers herself her biggest critic, both on and off the court, she reveals that the greatest hurdle was acceptance from her South Asian community. Specifically, it was difficult for them to accept her decision to play basketball competitively.
Chasing sectional titles has been a trend since Whalen took the helm, as the Purple Roses captured two consecutive titles and three out of the last four entering Tuesday night’s tilt.
But the coveted three-peat wasn’t to be, as the Argonauts (28-1) opened up a 44-32 lead on seventh-seeded St. Rose (25-5) after the third quarter, before earning the lopsided victory and avenging a semifinal round exit at the hands of the Purple Roses a season ago.
The win topped off Klinger’s season nicely. In January of this year, she earned her 500th win.
It’s funny—I hadn’t really thought about it,” said Klinger. “I’m not big on personal milestones—I’m more about the team and the kids. After our 499th win, I started thinking, ‘Wow, 500, holy cow, that’s a lot!’ What it really got me thinking about were all the kids that had played for me, and I thought that was really cool because it brought back a lot of memories of terrific kids, and it was neat to think about them again.”
Klinger is no stranger to success, and this milestone adds to a career full of accolades. The 2015-16 season marks Klinger’s 32nd year as head coach of the girls’ basketball program at Rutgers Prep (and her 19th year as athletic director for the school); in her time she has won 10 NJSIAA Prep B State Championships and four Somerset County titles for the Argonauts, and has earned numerous Star Ledger and Courier News Coach of the year awards. Her career record is 500-228.
And though she did, briefly, try her hand outside the basketball world, it didn’t take her long to realize where she belongs, and the continued success has certainly proven her correct.
“I was in the business world for a year and thought, ‘This is not me,’” Klinger said. “Sports and athletics were such a big part of my life, and the thought that it wouldn’t be for the rest of my life was naïve thinking. I’ve always wanted to coach. I’ve always been a student of the game, I’ve always been interested in helping others achieve goals. Did I think I would be in one place for 32 years? Initially, not. But as I grew up in the community, it was a no-brainer for me. I love Rutgers Prep and I love being part of this community.”
“It needs to be talked about because it’s there, but for some reason it’s not really spoken about that much. The men … they do get trolled, but it’s just always following us.”
And the comments are different — people trash-talking male athletes aren’t telling them to wear less clothing or to worry about domestic duties. Delle Donne believes that increased coverage will help the public realize that female athletes are not here for you to ogle or demean. They are here to compete.
“I think the best way [to change it] is continuing visibility and getting eyes on our game and the product that we put out there. That’s the biggest way to get people to speak about the game and our talents, instead of always just being like, ‘Oh, a female basketball player … ’ I’m a basketball player.
Head women’s basketball Coach Yolanda Moore is about to complete her second season of coaching the team. Moore is also a motivational speaker and wrote a book entitled “You Will Win If You Don’t Quit”. Before coming to Southeastern she coached the LSU Eunice women’s basketball team to their first conference championship. Before coaching, Moore was a women’s basketball analyst for Fox Sports South in 2005 and for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2007. She had a very successful playing career finishing as a three-time All-Southeastern Conference post player at Ole Miss and was inducted into the Sports Ole Miss hall of fame. Moore also won two WNBA championships in the inaugural years of the WNBA.
“Every single time we go out, everybody’s gunning for us, so you never have an opportunity to not have a good game,” said 36-year-old forward Tamika Catchings, who was on the last three gold medal-winning U.S. teams. “They all play their best games against us. You want to be the country, you want to be the team to take the USA out.”
While each summer will still be occupied by the inevitable major tournaments locked into the cycle, there is much more room for those players not involved to now move Stateside.
The Qualifier windows have seemingly expanded the scope for the WNBA to have a more eclectic demographic and hopefully with that, broaden the appeal further around the globe – something which fits neatly into the accessibility offered by technology nowadays.
I’m no bracket expert, so I’ll defer to Charlie who, in the end, defers to the Selection Committee… but DePaul’s loss popped a couple of bubbles and so, methinks, did the Dons stunning upset of BYU. “No. 6 seed San Francisco rallied from a 15-point first-quarter deficit, took its first lead with 17.2 seconds left and held on to knock off the Cougars, 70-68.
“Wow. What a game. Our team fought so hard tonight,” said USF coach Jennifer Azzi. “BYU’s an incredible program, an amazing team. When you get down 10-0 you go, ‘Oh no.’”
Not that Azzi was necessarily surprised by what her team was able to do.
“You do have to have luck to get to this point,” she said. “This is what we’ve wanted for years. So I don’t think any of us are actually shocked by it because it’s been what we’ve been working towards. But certainly, the stars have to be aligned.”
Longtime readers of the WHB know we’ve been tracking Jennifer Azzi’s effort to rebuild the San Francisco program. Clearly, the Dons have gotten better under her leadership… but the WCC is (as ye longtime readers know) no joke. There’s Gonzaga, then BYU, then Saint Mary’s and now Santa Clara… so breaking into the NCAA is bloody challenging. But, her team met the challenge and are going dancin’ for the first time since 1997.
The former point guard for the Utah Starzz of the WNBA outcoached ex-Utah Jazz forward Jeff Judkins at the end of a game that left Azzi “absolutely, honestly, speechless right now,” she said.
The Dons took down each of the WCC’s top three seeds in reverse order — and less spectacular fashion as they went along, actually. USF’s run began with Taylor Proctor’s banked-in 3-pointer to force overtime against San Diego, then the Dons topped Saint Mary’s and BYU by two points each.
Summit Final: It was a tight battle between the South Dakotas. In the end the Jackrabbits upset the Coyotes, 61-55. That’s SDSU’s 7th trip to the NCAA in the last 8 years. BTW: A total of 8,647 fans packed the Denny Sanford Premier Center on Tuesday afternoon, setting a record for a women’s Summit League championship.
The Princeton women’s basketball team has lost seven Ivy League games in the last seven seasons. Penn won its second Ivy title in three seasons Wednesday night at Jadwin Gym, beating the Tigers, 62-60, in a game the Quakers led from late in the first quarter until the final two minutes. Penn gave up the lead for exactly 15 seconds, got it back on a three-point play from Anna Ross, the most skilled player on the court, and held it to the wire.
“As I just told my players you don’t get these opportunities too many times in sports to celebrate something like this,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “I just talked about some space being at the Palestra for them.”
Big East Final: I know the ESPN blurb says “St. John’s wins Big East title for 1st time since ’88” and it’s great for the Red Storm and New York basketball… but the headline is a bit disingenuous, dontcha think? (Yes, I’m still bitter the Old Big East is gone.) BUT, kudos to Creighton and congrats to St. John’s – ya took down the top dog and then earned a spot at in the Dance.
“Honestly, we’ve been playing pretty good, and I wish we could just keep playing,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “You hate to stop and take a break, for fear that you can’t get back to where you just finished these last two or three weeks, because we’ve really played good basketball.”
Alexis Jones, who scored 16 points for the Lady Bears, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player after averaging 15.7 points and 7.7 assists in three games. Beatrice Mompremier scored 15 points, and Niya Johnson added 11 for Baylor (33-1), which swept the conference’s regular-season and tournament titles for the sixth consecutive year.
“If we play defense the way we played it tonight, we’re always going to have a chance,” Auriemma said. “Then how much we win by depends on how many shots go in for us.”
The shots were going in for Samuelson in the second quarter and she finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Freshman nights like this make UConn fans dream that, yes, Samuelson has what it takes to be the next great player. “Stewy is obviously a lot more gifted, she can do so many more things,” Auriemma said. “But Lou has a different way of doing kind of the same things. The thing I like is if you challenge Lou really, really hard she responds. Those are the ones who usually turn out to be really good players, the ones who early on when you get after them they don’t wilt. They come of stronger.”
Oh, boy, opponents must love reading they have to look forward to.
There are seasons when conference tournaments add some intrigue — if not downright doubt — about the projected No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. But this was not one of those years.
For all practical purposes, UConn, South Carolina, Notre Dame and Baylor had their top seeds wrapped up for the Big Dance even before any of them tipped off in their respective league tournaments.
But there might have been just a little uncertainty raised about how they would play in the NCAA tournament if one of them had looked a little shaky these past few days. That didn’t happen.
In progress conference tourneys had a couple of early upsets:
C-USA– First Round: North Texas (11-18, 5-13), who got our attention early in the season, faltered down the home stretch. That stop them from taking down Florida Atlantic (14-16, 6-12), 79-74. It’s the program’s first post-season win since 2011-12.
“I’m ecstatic to get a good team win,” head coach Jalie Mitchell said. “If you look at the stat sheet, it’s pretty balanced and everybody stepped up and did something to help us advance. Everything that we did helped us to get to this point”
C-USA – First Round: There’s lots of really upsetting news swirling around Florida International (5-25, 2-16). But, under interim head coach Tiara Malcom, the managed to pull it together and surprise Texas San Antonio (10-19, 6-12), 61-56.
Tomorrow games:
NEC Semis: Hello, old friend! Bryant v. Robert Morris; Sacred Heart v. St. Francis (PA)
Mountain West Semi: New Mexico v. #22 Colorado State
A-Sun Semis: FGCU v. old rival Stetson; upstart Jacksonville State v. South Carolina Upstate
Iona left nothing to chance, stifling the Q’s offense and pushing forward to earn their first MAAC Championship and a trip to the Big Dance. If you collect names, the MVP was Marina Lizarazu.
Upsets in the Big East:
A huge fourth quarter propelled St. John’s of #18 DePaul, 75-66.
They will face another upset-eer, Creighton, who stomped all over Seton Hall, 77-56.
What’s up today/tonight
Summit: Not surprisingly, it’s a South Dakota affair. The Coyotes dispatched Oral Roberts and the Jackrabbits eliminated Omaha. The game is at… 2pmEST?
They arrive at the final weekend of the season, on the sport’s biggest stage bearing certain qualities.
They are often experienced. They have played in and thrived on challenging schedules. They have frequently experienced setbacks that have become the motivational impetus to achieve. Final Four teams play defense. And they can score inside and out.
I remember feeling the blade slice across my hand, the blood starting to slowly stream through the tear in my disposable glove. I was working in the prepared foods department at Whole Foods in Los Angeles.
Why? I wanted to learn how to cook. I had also been working shifts at a 24 Hour Fitness, so whenever I needed a gym, being an employee meant I could go for free.
But back to my hand. I probably needed stitches, but the only thing I could think was, I’m glad it’s not my shooting hand.
How I survived that summer is beyond me. Grace, perhaps. At first, I was rehabbing a torn ACL and working minimal hours. Eventually, I was beginning the day at one job and finishing it at the other. I’d wake up at 5 a.m. before starting a five-hour shift at the gym, then drive through traffic — L.A. traffic, no less — to do a couple of hours of rehab. Then I’d jump back in my car and drive over to Whole Foods, where I’d work until midnight before heading back to the gym to get in a couple of hours of cardio, lifting and shooting. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
To me, there was no excuses. Why would someone do all this? Because since I was two, I have had a ball in my hand.
Mercer tried to crawl back in the fourth, but Chattanooga was too much for them. Mocs over the Bears 65-57. It’s their fourth SoCon title in a row. Keep an eye on both these teams next year – especially Mercer – there was only one senior on the court.
Sheer artistry. UConn in March (& April) over the last four years is just basketball at its best. Play after “Wow!” play. Defensive rotations that are smooth, switching and smothering an opponent. This year the Huskies feature a defense with 6-4 Katie Lou Samuelson at the top of the arc, and 6-5 Breanna Stewart blocking shots in the paint.
The opening minutes of Sunday’s American Athletic Tournament semifinal game were not quite perfect. UConn actually turned the ball over on its first possession. The Huskies followed that with nine buckets on the next nine possessions.
On edit: To be clear, I’m not dismissing the quality of the play by the victors. I just want to highlight that there are a big handful of teams giving it their all – and playing quality ball – outside of ESPN’s view. Take a moment to read about ’em. Or, if you’re in the area, catch a game.
AAC: #UConn v. #20 USF. The Bulls are playing the Huskies for the third time this season. If Kitija Laksa, conference Freshman of the Year, can’t return from her high ankle sprain, it’s tough to see a different result.
Big 12: #4 Baylor v. #6 Texas. Last time, the Bears mauled the Longhorns by 26. The previous time, by 13. Has Texas gotten tougher?
Looking ahead:
Ivy: Tuesday features Princeton v. Penn for a trip to the Big Dance. We’ve had our eye on this game since for.ev.er.
America East: We’ll have to wait until Friday for the 1/2 matchup between Albany and Maine. The Black Bears got a battle from Stony Brook, while Shareesha Richards led the Great Danes to a 36pt wins. Richards’ 33-point performance helped break her own Albany single-season scoring record of 694 points set last season. Richards is averaging 23.5 points per game.
First, Minato returns for her second appearance on the podcast; her first was a freshman when she left the California sun for upstate New York, following a family history of military experience. Fast forward four years, and Minato is now the leading scorer in the history of the Patriot League, breaking Molly Creamer’s record last night. On senior night, Minato became the first active player in Army West Point women’s basketball history to have her number retired and raised to the rafters.
The Black Knights finished the regular season 26-2, tied with Bucknell for top spot in the Patriot League and the top seed in the conference tournament due to tie-breakers. That means they will host all of their tournament games, where they are 14-0 for the season. They are a senior heavy team, and have been to either the WNIT or NCAA tournament each year of their careers.
April Robinson’s three-pointer with 22.3 seconds remaining sent the third-seeded Duquesne Dukes into their first-ever Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship with a 56-52 victory over second-seeded Saint Louis in a hard-fought second semifinal Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.
“On a day where we didn’t shoot the ball well, we played against a very good team and found a way to win,” said Duquesne head coach Dan Burt. “There were so many unheralded performances by our group. Now, we get to play a team that beat us earlier, and to me has a top five draft pick. What greater challenge could you have this time of year?”
So overpowering has top-seeded Maryland been lately that Northwestern’s Joe McKeown, the coach of the Terrapins’ opponent in Saturday’s Big Ten women’s basketball tournament semifinals, conceded he may have to resort to a special defense called “HTM” simply to have a chance.
“You know what HTM means?” McKeown said. “Hope They Miss.”
For almost three quarters, the Cal Golden Bears looked poised to pull a third straight tournament upset.
But foul trouble for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Kristine Anigwe, and the fatigue of a third game in as many days would prove to be too much to overcome in the closing minute, in a 73-67 UCLA victory in overtime.
And though Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said the best feeling is the celebration that comes with a win, there’s something valuable about the heartbreak of a defeat.
The Bruins (24-8) have plenty to celebrate with their first tournament title since 2007 when they took the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship for their lone NCAA appearance until now. The same team that lost six straight earlier this season, including the first two OVC games, now has won 16 of 17 and six straight as they wait to hear where they will play next.
“It’s kind of an indescribable feeling …,” McCabe said. “We get to go to the NCAAs, we get to go dancing. It’s just an incredible feeling and to know that your hard work has paid off is really rewarding and exciting to think about the challenge that we have on our hands next.”
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s basketball team clinched the No. 2 seed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament by knocking off the WAC Champion New Mexico State University Aggies, who had previously been undefeated in WAC play, 66-55 on Saturday at the Pan American Center. This is the highest conference tournament seed in program history.
About The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature on Dec. 7, 2012, in a historic move that combined the resources and assets of UTPA and UTB, and, for the first time, made it possible for residents of the Rio Grande Valley to benefit from the Permanent University Fund. The institution will also be home to a School of Medicine and will transform Texas and the nation by becoming a leader in student success, teaching, research and healthcare. UTRGV enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine will open in 2016.
Their first meeting was a lopsided affair won by UCR, 90-43, but that didn’t stop the two programs from showing a touch a class in their last regular season game of 2016.
In the opening tip-off senior Annelise Ito was on the floor for the first since time her tearing her acl four weeks ago. She was joined by Rejane Verin, and seniors Brittany Crain, Akilah Martin and Tahvia Morrison in the starting lineup.
Verin was allowed to control the tip out of bounds so that Ito could substituted out of the game to cheers from an appreciative crowd.
The Big South tourney will be interesting, as Presbyterian upsets Liberty and Longwood upsets Gardner-Webb.
The last time the Bearcats won a conference tournament game senior guard Kim Albrecht was still in her senior year of high school.
Albrecht scored a team-high 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting (2 of 6 on 3-pointers) to earn the fifth-seeded Binghamton University women’s basketball team a spot in the America East Conference semifinals with a 49-41 win over the fourth seed University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the quarterfinals in the Events Center on Saturday night.
“No one on this team has won a playoff game,” Albrecht said. “It’s the greatest feeling in the world. This is what we’ve worked towards all year. There’s really nothing better, and it means everything to this team. To be picked ninth and finished tied for the third and win a playoff game when we’re the lower seed. It’s just huge.”
Liz Wood arrived at the University of Maine as part of an unprecedented, nine-member freshman class on the women’s basketball team.
In the last four years, that talented and diverse group has helped transform the Black Bears into an America East championship contender.
It is Wood who has been the unquestioned leader during the resurgence by coach Richard Barron’s team, which takes a 24-7 record into the America East quarterfinal against New Hampshire at noon Saturday at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.
The Temple women’s basketball team has seen other squads in the Owls’ athletic department family do wondrous things in the American Athletic Conference since the school year on North Broad Street in Philadelphia got under way last fall.
The footballers gained national attention, won The American East Division and went to a bowl game after falling short of one with a little more prestige in the conference title game.
Fran Dunphy’s men’s hoopsters ended up claiming the top seed in this coming week’s tourney after the women’s is completed on Monday night.
So maybe it was time for Tonya Cardoza’s women’s hoopsters to put their claim on some notoriety in conference competition, especially with a nice prize attached to the effort.
“We can beat anyone,” promised junior center Briana Day, celebrating her team’s relentless refusal to wilt despite losing a 12-point lead to the Cardinals, whose only previous loss this calendar year came to Notre Dame, 66-61 on Feb. 7.
The Fighting Irish will look to cement their place as the second-best team in the land — behind three-time defending NCAA champion UConn — while, win or lose Sunday, Syracuse probably will be hosting first- and second-round games of the NCAA tournament in the Carrier Dome.
While the ACC tournament semifinals were played without a team from North Carolina for the first time Saturday, here’s what hasn’t changed.
Notre Dame, the conference empress since joining a league dominated by Tobacco Road schools three years ago, extended its reign to 56-1 in the ACC by eliminating fourth-seeded Miami 78-67 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Headier still, the victory puts the Irish in the 30-win-and-likely-more column for the sixth consecutive season; the last time the Irish failed to reach those heights was 2009-10 when they won 29 games.
These are indeed heady new days in Pac-12 women’s basketball. The tournament championship will be played Sunday at Key Arena and for only the second time in 14 years, Stanford won’t be taking the floor.
In fact, on Saturday night, the Cardinal were already at home, braving the rain in the Bay Area rather than an opposing defense in the semifinals. And that has never happened.
After nearly two decades of having Tara VanDerveer’s team serving as the standard-bearer, the name brand for an entire coast, the Pac-12’s rebranding has become complete over four days in Seattle.
Mississippi State slowed the Tennessee train at the SEC women’s basketball tournament, but a bigger locomotive is still coming down the tracks.
Top-seeded South Carolina, looking downright scary Saturday, will take on No. 3 seed Mississippi State for the championship and accompanying NCAA automatic bid Sunday (ESPN, 2:30 p.m. ET). The Bulldogs will be underdogs, but they kind of relish that. It’s just the program’s second trip to the SEC final — the other was in 2000 — and it’s a milestone for them to get this far again.
If Mercer can get it done against Chattanooga, it will make history. The Bears have never reached the NCAA Tournament as a Division I program, although Mercer did have some strong seasons in the AIAW back in the 1970s and early 1980s, and it reached the NCAA Division II Final Four in the 1984-85 season.
“Mercer has a great history, AIAW when Sybil Blaylock played,” said [head coach Susie] Gardner, who led Austin Peay to the NCAA Tournament in the 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. “Back in the day before the NCAA, they were one of the top teams in the country. I’m just glad that we’ve been able to do it. I’m happy for the players. I’ve done a few things as a coach and a player, but these guys, they’ve worked so hard that I’m just happy that they get to experience the joy that they feel right now and how happy that locker room is.”
Myth No. 1: Arizona’s women’s basketball team can’t attract fleas.
On Senior Day, 2004, Arizona drew 5,003 to watch the Wildcats beat Oregon. In the previous month, the Wildcats drew crowds of 4,350, 4,111 and 3,507. They would go on to win the Pac-10 co-championship.
Myth No. 2: Arizona’s women’s basketball team has never won a game that meant anything.
On Jan. 12, 1998, the No. 9 Wildcats broke Stanford’s 48-game Pac-10 winning streak when Reshea Bristol swished a three-pointer at the buzzer. The Cardinal had won 22 consecutive games against Arizona.
The crowd of 3,010 rushed the court at McKale Center. UA coach Joan Bonvicini did a full-on dive onto the pile of celebrating bodies at midcourt.
BTW, cranky about ESPN’s “new and improved” game stats? Try this site: Stat Broadcast
The Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball team dethroned the defending national champions Thursday.
The Blue Devils beat previously undefeated Johnson County 63-56 in the NJCAA Division II, Region VI title game at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan. Kansas City Kansas, 29-3, lost two of its three regular-season games against the Cavaliers, 31-1, the No. 1-ranked team from wire-to-wire this season.
This is the 20th anniversary of all 5-on-5 girls basketball championships in our state. In 1995, Oklahoma crowned its last 6-on-6 champion, the last state in the union to have tournaments for the three-players-per-side, no-crossing-midcourt game.
Ask players now about playing that way, and they look like their heads might explode.
“I dunno how they did it,” said Mendell, Lamer’s backcourt trap partner.
For three Sioux Falls women who made basketball a big part of their lives, there are few things that compare with playing the sport in college or professionally. The highs, the lows, the emotions are all intense when shared with others working toward the same goals of improving skills and winning games, they say.
“It’s hard to replicate. Basketball is a unique experience,” says Amy Mickelson Brecht, who played for a championship Brookings High School team and went on to earn a starting position her junior and senior years at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated in 1990. “There’s a lot of emotional ups and downs … a lot of rewards.”
Time on a team leaves a lifelong impression, says Olympia Scott, a retired WNBA player and Stanford University standout who lives in Sioux Falls with her husband and three children.
“It’s really shaped who I am,” Scott says. “You have the opportunity to get tremendous results from your hard work.”
Flattened! The Horned Frogs should have known better than to look past the 0-18 Jayhawks (considering what happened on their Senior Night). Kansas is the winner, 81-64 and moves into the quarterfinals.
Noticing some other last-game-of-the-regular-season-senior-night (?) upsets: Idaho State over the Vandals, Weber State over Eastern Washington, North Dakota over Montana State… time to refocus, y’all.
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