After four
days sitting on the couch next to me watching games, my new
kitten Orlando has become a fan of women’s basketball. After
all, a male cat of quality is not threatened by a woman of
equality. Which brings me to …
Man, Oh
Man: When will the English language catch up to women’s
basketball? I hear about man-to-man defense, guarding one’s
man, staying with one’s man or alternately leaving one’s man
to double, big men, sixth men and today I heard that UConn
does a great job of staying between their man and the rim.
All this without a man on the court. I’m sorry; the term
“big man” does not generally conjure up images of ponytails
and bosoms.
Coaching, Coaching: Pro coaches often take the fall for
their teams’ mishaps, sometimes unfairly. But in college the
coach must be responsible for a team’s miscues at critical
moments in big games; the players are students, by
definition and the coach has to be the teacher. USC was in
position to upset #1 seeded Michigan State. USC’s Brynn
Cameron hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 17 seconds
left.
On the
ensuing possession, Jamie Funn blocked the shot attempt by
MSU’s Kelli Rohering. Funn could have called time out, but
did not and the ball was stripped from her hands. In the
ensuing scramble, players from both teams hit the floor
before Camille Lenore of USC got her hands on the ball.
Again, no time out was called and Michigan State’s Rene
Haynes pulled the ball from Lenore’s hands to hit the
game-winning lay-up. With three seconds on the clock, USC
still had a chance, but had trouble in bounding the ball and
turned it over. Three miscues, three times they should have
called time. USC had two timeouts left that they never used.
What were they holding them for, next year? USC coach Mark
Trakh said, “We deserved to win the game.” Yes, coach, your
players did. Why didn’t you have them call time?
At least
USC’s miscues were in the heat of battle. There was no such
excuse for Kansas State’s display of hideous clock
management. Down by three points with 25 seconds left in a
game in which K State’s Lori Kuenn had just set a new
all-time NCAA record for 3-point shots, KSU had two options:
go for the quick two and then foul, or try a three. They
held the ball until only five seconds were left on the game
clock, and then shot a two-pointer. They had five seconds to
foul, get the ball back, and then try a 3. The misplay cost
them an upset at the hands of Arizona State.
Cinderella: It’s official. Liberty University is the
Cinderella team this NCAA. The 13th seeded
Liberty had been to eight previous tournaments but never won
a game. The Big South conference as a whole had never won a
game before Liberty upset #4 seeded Penn State in the first
round. In their second round match-up, DePaul (#5) had gone
on a 16-0 run to take a six point lead after being down 10,
but Liberty answered with a 21-3 run to score their second
upset of the tournament. They are only the second #13 seed
to get to the Sweet Sixteen. Liberty Chancellor Jerry
Falwell may be inclined to credit the big guy upstairs, but
more credit is due to the big girls from overseas and one
very big girl from the Midwest. A Lithuanian graduate
assistant at Liberty had the idea of tapping her home
country’s remarkable basketball talent. NBA fans know the
names of Sarunas Marciolionus (Warriors), Aryvdas Sabonis
(Blazers) and Zydrunas Ilgauskus (Cavaliers). Some day names
like Rima Margevicute may be
equally well known. With three Lithuanian women and the
phenomenal 6’8” Katie Feenstra, the Lady Flames were just
too much for DePaul to handle. After the game, Feenstra was
asked why she, who could have gone anywhere in the country
to play college ball, chose Liberty. Feenstra replied, “Look
at us! Why not?”
Which brings me to…
The Collar: Michigan State just averted an
upset. # 4 Notre Dame was up by 13 points against #5
Arizona State but ended up losing big, 87-65. However, the
collar for the second round choke best fits DePaul. DePaul
barely missed being the chokers of the first round when they
lost a 20-point lead, surviving in a one-point victory over
Virginia Tech. They were handed a gift when Liberty knocked
out #5 Penn State, leaving them with only a 13th
seed to beat to get into their first ever Sweet Sixteen.
They took a six-point second half lead, only to lose.
Best Wishes to: Charel Allen. The Notre Dame
freshman tore her ACL in the middle of the second round game
and had to be helped off the court. One picture worth a
thousand words: Her Notre Dame teammates clustered around
coach Muffin McGraw during a time-out while Allen, unable to
stand, sat on the bench alone, hiding her tears behind a
towel.
Marquee Match-up of the Sweet
Sixteen: Has to be
Stanford and Connecticut. UConn may be “only” a #3 seed.
Their seven losses this year may exceed their total for the
past three years combined. Coach Geno Auriemma can no longer
tell opponents, “We have Diana [Taurasi]; you don’t”. But
UConn is the three-time defending national champion until
someone takes the trophy from them and they are not going to
give it away. Both teams came into the tournament hot. UConn
had won five in a row and 8 of 9. Stanford has not lost a
game in 2005. Both won their first two games easily. Both
are brilliantly coached and extremely well prepared. This
really should be a Final Four game, but the mistaken
perception that the Pac-10 is an inferior conference meant
Stanford, with the country’s #1 ranking, got only a #2 seed
in the tournament. The rap on Stanford has long been that
they can’t beat the best teams. Now is their chance to show
they can.
The Name Game: After four days of hearing
broadcasters getting tungle-tanged, I give you the
all-jawbreaker team:
The
all-jawbreaker school has to be Liberty, with a roster that
includes Rima Margevicuite,
Roli-Ann Nikagbatse, Karolina Piotrkiewica, Egle
Smigelskaite and Daina Staugaitiene.
Coolest names
of the tournament: Cherish Stringfiled, Vanderbilt
Lindsey Wisdom-Hylton, Purdue
Lady Comfort, Temple
And finally
…
Summitt
of Coaches: With Pat Summitt first tying, then breaking,
Dean Smith’s record for all-time victories in NCAA
basketball, naysayers are falling all over themselves to try
and disparage her record. I am reminded of those who tried
to argue, 30 years ago, why Hank Aaron’s breaking Babe
Ruth’s home run record did not “really” count. (In fairness,
Summitt has not had any death threats like Aaron did,
probably because being a woman means she is taken less
seriously.) But Aaron did not merely edge out Ruth; he
shattered the record, just as Summitt may easily win another
100 or more games. Earth to chauvinists: no one wins
880 games and six national championships by fluke. I’ve
heard that Summitt’s record does not equal Smith’s since
there is less competition in women’s basketball. But men
play plenty of cupcake teams, and this was even truer during
Smith’s tenure. The most absurd argument is that Summitt has
an unfair advantage because she can pick and chose the best
of the prep players for Tennessee. The reason that
outstanding coaches have their picks of the best players is
that they have built outstanding programs that the best
players want to be part of! That “argument” makes about as
much sense as saying that Stanford’s record for academic
excellence is unfair because the best students want to go
there.
When
women’s collegiate sports became part of the NCAA, this
meant more money, facilities and exposure, all positive. But
it also meant that increased money and prestige made
coaching women an attractive job for men. Since the opposite
is not true, opportunities for women declined. It is
considered “natural” for a man to be an authority figure
over women, and no one can disparage the achievements of
coaches like Auriemma or Georgia’s Andy Landers. But for a
woman to coach men’s teams would be unthinkable; the players
would be considered unmanned. Now that Summitt has reached
880 wins, she has gotten the backhanded compliment that she
is “good enough” to coach men. Summitt is good enough to
coach men, women or extraterrestrials, but she is where she
belongs. While it may be amusing to think of Summitt in the
NBA going nose to nose with Rasheed Wallace – a
confrontation that would probably leave Wallace meekly
saying “Yes, ma’am!” – for once PTI got it right. Women
deserve great coaches. To paraphrase the great and gracious
Aaron, no one needs to forget Dean Smith. They just have to
remember Pat Summitt.
