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Ring Of Honor

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Sweet 16 preview
Round One Review
Women's preview

It has been said that women’s basketball is too predictable. The top seeds nearly always advance, often by big margins. There are too few Cinderella’s and too few thrilling endings. In this tournament, with all the #1 and three of the #2 seeds in the Elite Eight, was there any point in even playing the games? Why not just name the top eight teams and have them play? Were there any reasons to even watch? 

Not being David Letterman, I can’t stop at 10. Here, in no particular order, are Top 11 reasons to watch the Women’s NCAA tournament of 2005. 

1. Ivory Latta’s killer crossover. North Carolina's Latta reminds me of Tim Hardaway in his young days. Undersized at 5’6” and absolutely fearless, with an ankle-breaking crossover, blinding speed, precision passing and a shot that she can hit from anywhere on the court, including well beyond the NBA 3-point line.
2. Super fresh(wo)men: Stanford’s all-everything Candice Wiggins. Georgia’s co-Freshman of the Year Tasha Humphrey. North Carolina’s 6’4” and still growing center Erlan Larkins. Tennessee center Nicky Anosike. Rutgers’ sharp-shooting Mattee Ajavon. All these women should be around another three years to entertain hoops fans.
3. Cristi Greenwalt (Texas Tech): Early in the year she broke her ankle. When she was nearly ready to return, she was diagnosed with skin cancer and had to undergo surgery and daily chemotherapy. Again nearly ready to return, she was involved in a rollover car crash and spent two days in intensive care. She still came back to play in the Sweet Sixteen. You go girl!
4. Baylor: The men’s team was rocked by the murder of Patrick Denehy. That tragedy was soon compounded by the scandal of the coach telling players to lie to law enforcement, slandering Denehy as a drug dealer, in order to cover up his own improprieties. Meanwhile, the women were a bright light, quietly building a top ranked program. The tandem of Soffia Young and Steffanie Blackmon led second-seeded Baylor to the Elite Eight for the first time in their history.
5. Katie Feenstra: The previously unknown Liberty center was the only player in the NCAA to lead her team in scoring, rebounding, blocks and field goal percentage. Her star lost a bit of luster when she was ineffective in the Sweet Sixteen, but she had little help and her team was hideously overmatched. Feenstra has not yet said whether or not she plans to play in the WNBA, but if she does she will probably be a first-round draft pick and hopefully contact with the wider world will broaden her horizons.
6. The stars: LSU’s Seimone Augustus, perhaps the best player in the country. Her teammate, premier point guard Temeka Johnson. Janel McCarville’s bone-rattling picks for Minnesota. Duke All-American Monique Curry. Krtistin Haynie’s triple double for Michigan State. It’s not just Tennessee and UConn anymore.
7. Stanford-Connecticut: Only the second time that the defending champion and the #1 seed have met in the tournament.
8. UConn’s bench: Sixth woman Ashley Battle could start on any team in the country. Another super fresh(wo)man, Charde Houston, who broke Cheryl Miller’s all-time California high school scoring record with 3837 points. Wilnett Crockett and Mel Thomas are also solid subs on what may be the deepest team in the NCAA.
9. Coaches: Pat Summitt (Tennessee), Tara VanderVeer (Stanford), Geno Auriemma (Connecticut), Andy Landers (Georgia), Vivian Stringer (Rutgers), Marsha Sharp (Texas Tech), Gail Goustenkors (Duke) and all the others who coached women’s basketball before it was on national television, before there was any women’s professional league, before the job carried any cachet at all, just because they loved and wanted to teach the game.
10. The possibility of double championship: Can there be a repeat of Connecticut’s double titles of last year with Michigan State and North Carolina still alive in both the men’s and women’s tournaments?
11. Academic All-Americans: Laurie Koehn, Kansas State, Tiffany Mor, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Kristal Tharp, Liberty, Steffanie Blackmon, Baylor, April Calhoun, Minnesota, Jamie Carey, Texas and Liz Shimek, Michigan State kept the “student” in student-athlete.

Sweet 16 Recap

Stanford 76 Connecticut 59

Connecticut had won 20 consecutive tournament games, with their last loss in the 2001 Final Four. Stanford had won 22 games and had not a single loss in 2005. The marquee match-up, for most of the game, resembled a pair of Rottweilers with their teeth in one another’s throats, neither able to do what it wants, and neither letting go. Both defenses forced the opponent out of its comfort zone. Stanford started the game with 6-for-7 shooting, but finished the half going 1 for 10 with 10 turnovers as UConn took a six-point lead into the break. In the second half, the Cardinal did a better job of recognizing mismatches and of taking care of the ball. Stanford had a five-point lead when back to back 3-pointers by Susan King Borchardt and Candice Wiggins built the first double digit lead for either team. Not one of the current Huskies had ever lost a postseason game. Now they have.

LSU 90 Liberty 48

This was no contest. LSU jumped out to a 17-point lead and never looked back. In the first half, All-American Seimone Augustus had more points (18) than the entire Liberty team (16), and Liberty also had 16 turnovers. LSU’s speed had the Lady Flames looking like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist." While their heads spun, LSU’s shooters kept hitting wide-open 3's. Katie Feenstra was held to only nine points after averaging over 25 in her first two games.  

Duke 63 Georgia 57

The first half was a back-and-forth battle, but in the second half Georgia was held to only one field goal and two free throws the last 6:27 of the game. Down by two points with 1:27 to go, Alexis Kendrick was fouled but missed both free throws. Monique Curry’s shot put Duke up by four points with 26.6 seconds left. Curry was only 2 of 8 in the first half but ended with 16 points and 12 rebounds. 

Baylor 64 Minnesota 57

This looked at first like it was going to be another blowout. Six minutes into the game, Minnesota had scored only one point and did not get their first field goal until the 12:44 mark. But April Calhoun’s 3-point shooting and Janel McCarville’s defense brought the Golden Gophers back to within three at the half. Minnesota took the lead early in the second half, but their scoring stalled midway through. An offensive rebound and put back by Sophia Young gave Baylor the lead for good.  

North Carolina 79 Arizona State 72

In a game of runs, North Carolina jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Kyran Loney hit a 3-pointer to begin a 13-0 ASU run. Arizona State doubled the score at 20-10, but the Tar Heels responded with a run of their own to take a four point halftime lead. North Carolina’s speed controlled the tempo throughout. Late in the game, ASU had chances to tie on three consecutive possessions, but got only two missed shots and a turnover. Loney and Kristin Kovesdy, who combined for 25 first half points, had only two between them in a second half where their team shot only 30%. North Carolina’s Ivory Latta scored her 1,000^th career point late in the game.  

Tennessee 75 Texas Tech 59

This was a disappointment as it was hoped Texas Tech would be more competitive. But the Lady Vols controlled very aspect of the game on both ends, scoring almost at will and totally disrupting the Raiders’ offense. Texas Tech point guard Erin Grant had only fives assists and six turnovers. A side note: after Pat Summitt’s 880^th win, it was announced that the court at Tennessee would be re-named The Summitt. Incredibly, or maybe not so, some talking heads are saying that this will hurt the Tennessee men’s program recruiting.  

Rutgers 65 Ohio State 58

The only upset of the Sweet Sixteen was a low-scoring defensive battle. Ohio State had droughts of 9:15 in the first half and 6:25 in the second. What kept them in the game was Rutgers’ lack of scoring punch. But whenever the Scarlet Knights absolutely had to have a basket, Cappie Pondexter was there, finishing with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists.  

Michigan State 76 Vanderbilt 64

This was a tale of two halves. In the first, Vanderbilt behind point guard Dee Davis controlled the game. They shot 52%, with Carla Thomas out-playing MSU’s mammoth center Kelli Roehring. The Commodores took a 37-30 lead to the break. In the second half, MSU came out aggressively, forcing three quick turnovers. The Spartans took the lead on a signature play: Lindsay Bowen missed a 3-pointer, but Roehring got the rebound. She missed the put-back, got her own rebound and scored. This typified the second half for Michigan State, as they beat Vanderbilt to every loose ball, every rebound, steal and hustle play.