Okay. I’m done. But wow. Something the Prez and I have in common!
Upsets
#12 Albany stuns #5 Florida in comeback NCAA tourney win
The mini-dynasty being built by Katie Abrahamson-Henderson at University of Albany was missing just one thing: a NCAA tournament victory.
No longer.
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.
Portland Press Herald: Carter helps Albany secure upset
Imani Tate and the Albany Great Danes weren’t going to have senior Shereesha Richards’ record-setting career end while sitting on the bench.
And not even an official’s scoring error that gave Florida an extra point was going to stop them.
#10 St. Bonaventure over #7 Oklahoma State, 65-54.
Tulsa World: OSU falls to plucky St. Bonaventure
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.
Each time, the Bonnies had an answer.
The State/AP:
St. Bonaventure didn’t know whether it would be invited to the NCAA Tournament when the field was announced, and chances seemed slim.
On Friday, the Bonnies showed they belonged.
#9 Auburn over #8 St. John’s, 68-57.
Al.com: Freshman Janiah McKay guides Auburn into 2nd round of NCAA Tournament
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.
Defense leads Auburn women to NCAA Tournament win over St. John’s
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.
#9 Kansas State over #8 George Washington, 56-51.
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.
Close:
#7 Tennessee over #10 Green Bay, 59-53. It took a second half surge to secure the win.
#6 West Virginia over #11 Princeton, 74-65.
#5 Mississippi State over #12 Chattanooga, 60-50.
A good showing
#4 Michigan State over Belmont, 74-60.
Not so close
A horrible first quarter doomed the Black Knights. #4 Syracuse over #13 Army, 73-56.
Not close
Raining threes, #6 Depaul floated over #11 JMU by 30.
Did they play the full fourth? #2 Arizona State over #15 New Mexico State by 22.
Nice first quarter…#3 Ohio State over #14 Buffalo by 19.
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.
#3 Louisville over #14 Central Arkansas, 87-60. Great first quarter for the Sugar Bears, not so good second.
Really not close:
#2 Oregon State over #15 Troy by 42.
#1 Baylor over #16 Idaho State by 3o.
#1 South Carolina over #16 Jacksonville by 36.
Charlie’s Quick Dish: Five observations from opening day
Games I’ve got my eye on tomorrow:
Duquesne/Seton Hall
Purdue/Oklahoma
South Dakota State/Miami
Colorado State/South Florida
Utah (Pac12) runs over Montana State (Big Sky), 95-61.
FGCU (A-Sun) soars over Bethune-Cookman (MEAC), 78-51.
Temple (American) snufs out Drexel (A-10), 74-66.
Quinnipiac (MAAC) mauls Maine, 90-44, for their first post-season win in program history.
Fresno State (MW) over Santa Clara (WCC), 59-53.
Some fun games tomorrow:
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
UCLA women’s basketball Coach Cori Close learned from a legend, John Wooden
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.
Awful Announcing: ESPN BROADCASTING GAMES REMOTELY SENDS A BAD MESSAGE FOR NCAA WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
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.
From the NY Times: Changing the Rules of the Women’s Game, With the Hope of Altering the Interest Level
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.
Nylon Calculus: Visualizing WNBA history
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).
No. Why WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne wants to lower the rims from 10 feet
From the .com: Senior Watch: Top WNBA Draft Prospects in the NCAA Tournament
Hello! LA Sparks hire Flint native Tonya Edwards as assistant coach
Whoa. Sanchez out as UNM Lobos women’s basketball coach
Following up on some high school news: Rutgers Prep has arrived as a true state power
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.