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In 2002, the
University of Maryland Terrapins won the men’s NCAA basketball
championship. In the same year, with a lot less notice, the women’s
team hired Brenda Frese as their head coach. In her first year, the
team compiled an unimpressive 10-18 record. Her first major recruit
was the Israeli-born Shay Doron. Later, All-American Crystal
Langhorne turned down offers from Tennessee and Connecticut because
she wanted the challenge of building a program rather than going to
an established program.
The program-building reached fruition when the Terrapins, who
entered the season ranked only #14, won the 2006 women’s NCAA
championship.
After a tournament featuring nail-biters and buzzer-beaters, the
championship game looked at first like dullsville. Duke jumped out
to an early lead, led by 10 points at the break and by as much as 13
points in the second half. Their twin towers, 6’7” Allison Bales
(the all-time NCAA tournament leader in blocked shots) and 6’6”
Chanté Black, along with defensive player of the year Lindsey
Harding looked to be repeating their performance from their
semi-finals blowout of LSU.
Just as they shut
down LSU (and tournament) leading scorer Seimone Augustus, they did
the same to Crystal Langhorne. Langhorne, who scored 23 points
against North Carolina in their semi-final, had only 4 pints at the
break. The Terrapins, trying to re-make their offense on the fly,
were remarkably inept. First-year point guard Kristi Toliver looked
like the world’s worst ball-hog, throwing up bad shot after bad
shot, missing 8 shots in the first half.
But Frese heard the Duke team celebrating at half time. The outraged
coach reported to her team, ”The game is not over and they are
celebrating!,” telling them they had 20 good minutes left to play.
And the Terrapins came back. Not like lions. Like turtles. As Duke
star Monique Currie put it, “They just slowly crept up on us and
took the lead.” Driving the lane, making passes, hitting free
throws, getting open for shots. Chipping away.
At 6:12 in the
second half, Doron tied the game with a pair of free throws. The
neutrals in the crowd were now solidly behind the comeback kids. And
when Toliver – the daughter of an NBA referee who grew up watching
Michael Jordan – hit a Jordanesque 3-pointer to tie the game with 6
seconds left, with Bales (more than a foot taller) in her face, the
game was essentially over. Maryland had not lost in overtime all
year and they were not going to start now. The Terrapins missed only
one shot in the extra period, sinking all 6 free throws, to wrap up
the second-biggest comeback in women’s NCAA history.
Notes: Seimone Augustus was held scoreless in the first half
of the LSU/Duke semi-final for the first time in her career. ...
North Carolina had only two losses all season, both to Maryland. ...
Maryland joins Connecticut, North Carolina and Stanford as the only
school to win both men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships.
Only Connecticut won both in the same year. ...
The all tournament team included Most Outstanding Player Laura
Harper (Maryland), Alison Bales (Duke), Monique Currie (Duke),
Erlana Larkins (North Carolina) and Kristi Toliver (Maryland). ...
Duke’s Gail Goestenkors has the dubious distinction of having the
most NCAA tournament wins without winning a title. Duke has been to
the championship game three times and lost all three times. ...
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was elected to the national
basketball Hall of Fame.
The WNBA draft was held April 5, the day after the championship
game. LSU’s Seimone Augustus was the #1 pick, followed by Cappie
Poindexter (Rutgers), Monique Currie (Duke), Sophia Young (Baylor)
and Lisa Willis (UCLA). ... Maryland has no seniors among their top
7 players, so will be returning the same team that won this year’s
championship. Will they be the only team aside from UConn and
Tennessee to repeat, or was 2006 a once-in-a-lifetime magic season?
Stay tuned. …
“Fear the Turtle. They’re young, they’re good, they will be just
as good next year.” – Trey Ling, ESPN
Sweet 16
Those who slammed
the bracketing have shown they had a point. Ohio State was only the
6th #1 seed to be eliminated in the first 2 rounds of the women’s
tournament, the first since 1998. Boston College, however, dislikes
the Cinderella label; they have now played in 3 of the last 4 Sweet
16’s.
Meanwhile, what were the networks thinking? They showed the Duke
34-point blowout of USC in its entirety, while giving only glimpses
of Boston College’s upset of Ohio State.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the best conference of all?
The ACC was ranked #1 in the country, and ACC teams Boston
College, Duke, Maryland and North Carolina make up ¼ of the Sweet
16. The SEC has three entries, Tennessee, Georgia and LSU. The Pac
10, like Rodney Dangerfield, complains that they get no respect.
Their teams rolled in the first round, but only Stanford survived
the second.
“The Dunk”: A lot of attention has been focused on
Tennessee’s Candace Parker dunking twice in her first round game.
Perhaps too much? As Pat Summitt said, the dunk is the least
impressive part of her game. Parker is a ball handler, rebounder,
3-point shooter and defender, all of which taken together do more to
win games than two dunks. They were fun, they are a high percentage
shot, but they are not the whole story of the tournament.
Mercy, mercy: Should there be a mercy rule in college
basketball? In the pros, definitely not. If a professional team is
losing by 40 or more points, they are doing something wrong. But
when a bottom seed is being rocked by a top one in the NCAA, should
the game be called? Does anyone really benefit from Tennessee
beating Army 102-54 or Duke clobbering Southern 96-27? Just a
thought.
Marquee match-up: Stanford vs. Oklahoma. Attention will focus
on the two rising stars, Stanford’s Candice Wiggins and Oklahoma’s
Courtney Paris. The two are among the leading scorers in the first
two rounds, Wiggins at 27.5 ppg and Paris at 28.5. Both have Bay
Area ties. Both are the daughters of pro athletes (Padres outfielder
Alan Wiggins and 49ers offensive lineman Bubba Paris). Despite the
attention paid Wiggins and Paris, the teams are more than just their
stars. Stanford is more experienced but Oklahoma has the deeper
bench. Both feel they have something to prove. And each wants
desperately to beat the other.
The collar goes to UCLA. They looked to be pulling off a
minor upset (#5 over #4) against Purdue, but missed 15 consecutive
shots down the stretch en route to a loss.
Coaches’ Corner: 25 Cheers! Coaches Andy Landers (Georgia),
Kay Yow (N.C. State), Vivian Stringer (Rutgers), Tara VanDerveer
(Stanford) and Pat Summittt (Tennessee) were coaching when the
women’s tournament began 25 years ago, and are still coaching today.
Special mention goes to Vivian Stringer, who earned her 750th career
win with Rutgers’ defeat of TCU in the 2nd round. Vivian Stringer,
née Stoner, grew up in Pennsylvania, the daughter of a coal miner,
praying daily that he would return home alive from the mines. Her
father became disabled and died when she was 21. Her daughter Janine
was left unable to walk or speak after spinal meningitis and her
husband John Stringer died of an unexpected heart attack. The
hall-of-fame coach has taken 3 different teams to the Final Four.
She was named Coach of the Year four times and was listed by Sports
Illustrated among the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports. The
C. Vivian Stringer Coaching Award is presented annually to a woman
who has experienced outstanding achievement as a coach. As Stringer
herself says, “This game wasn't for the faint-hearted.”
Who’s hot: Tasha Humphreys, Georgia. The supposedly
undersized Humphreys averaged 23.5 points and 12 rebounds in the
first 2 rounds. Seimone Augustus, LSU. Last year’s Player of the
Year is topping 20 ppg.
Who’s not: Michigan State’s Victoria Lucas-Perry shot 19 % in
2 games. Purdue’s bench managed 1 point in their 2nd round game vs.
UCLA.
Fearless Prediction: Facing off for the Final Four: North
Carolina/Tennessee; Boston College/Maryland; Duke/Connecticut;
Louisiana State/Oklahoma.
Tournament Preview
This is the
Silver Anniversary of the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. Who
will bring home the gold?
Cleveland Regional
# 1 seed:
North Carolina, 29-1, only loss in OT to Maryland
Other
powerhouses:
Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA
Player to watch:
Ivory Latta, North Carolina point guard. The ACC Player of the Year
who leads the team in scoring and assists is often compared to Allen
Iverson: undersized, emotional and high-energy.
Most likely
Cinderella:
Bowling Green.
The Falcons enter the tournament on a 19-game win streak, making it
into the top 25 for the first time in 12 years. All five starters
have played at least 2 years together, and the team has increased
its win total every year under Coach Curt Miller.
Sentimental
favorite:
Army. This is the first time any of the military academies’ women
have made it to the dance. Head coach Maggie Dixon did not take the
job until October, against everyone’s advice.
Best off-court
story:
Army Coach Dixon’s brother Jamie is coaching Pittsburgh in the men’s
NCAA, making them the first brother-sister duo to coach in the men’s
and women’s tourneys in the same year
The skinny:
By far the toughest of the four regions. A lot of teams, and their
fans, are up in arms over the stacking of so many elite teams in one
bracket. The winner of this region will either win it all or be so
beat up they will collapse in the Final Four.
Final Four
representative:
Tennessee. Pat Summitt is mad. ’Nuff said. Watch out.
Albuquerque Regional
# 1 seed:
Ohio State, 28-2, losses to Purdue and Louisiana State
Other
powerhouses:
Baylor, Maryland
Player to watch:
Sophia Young, Baylor. Last year’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player
was Big 12 Player of the Year this season and is Big 12 career
leader in points and rebounds.
Most likely
Cinderella:
Florida. The Lady Gators pulled off upsets of Tennessee and
Louisiana State in the last two weeks of the season, becoming the
first unranked team to beat the Lady Vols on their home floor in 22
years.
Sentimental
favorite:
Baylor, the
defending champion. They came from apparently nowhere to win it all
last year. Senior Sophia Young would love to close her college
career with another ring.
Best off-court
story:
Florida’s Sarah
Lowe missed the first two games of the season to interview for a
Rhodes scholarship.
The skinny:
If Cleveland is the toughest bracket, Albuquerque is the softest.
Many were surprised that Ohio State got a #1 seed. Could be a fun
bracket because of chances of upsets.
Final Four
representative:
Maryland. They have some of the top young talent in the country. All
five starters averaged double figures. Their only three losses this
season were to teams that were ranked #1 at the time the games were
played and they are the only team to have beaten North Carolina.
Bridgeport Regional
# 1 seed:
Duke, 26-3, lost twice to North Carolina, lost to Maryland in the
ACC Tournament semifinals
Other
powerhouses:
Georgia,
Connecticut, Michigan State
Player to watch:
Monique Curry, Duke. She returned for a 5th season to try
and win a title and is 5 assists from becoming the first ever ACC
player to total more than 2000 points, 800 rebounds, 400 assists and
200 steals.
Most likely
Cinderella:
Temple. Coach Dawn Staley has turned the team around in a few short
years, but they have not had much success yet in the NCAA’s. Forward
Candice Dupree has been compared to both Tim Duncan and Lisa Leslie.
Doesn’t get much better than that.
Sentimental
favorite:
Connecticut.
Love them or hate them, the Huskies put women’s college basketball
on the map and for many are still the face of women’s basketball.
Best off-court
story:
Marist forward
Fifi Camarra spoke no English when she arrived from Guinea 6 years
ago. She will graduate this spring with a degree in social work.
The skinny:
Some intriguing first round match-ups, including Temple/Hartford,
USC/South Florida, and Kentucky/Chattanooga. But the top four seeds
are clearly head and shoulders above the competition.
Final Four
representative:
Duke. They have
more depth than ever before, including ACC Defensive Player of the
Year Lindsey Harding. They have been among the elite for years and
are mentally tough.
San Antonio Regional
# 1 seed:
Louisiana State, 27-3. Losses to UConn and Florida; lost to
Tennessee in the SEC Tournament
Other
powerhouses:
Oklahoma,
DePaul, Stanford
Player to watch:
Courtney Paris, Oklahoma. The 6’4” 18-year-old has 30 consecutive
double-doubles, fitting since she’s a twin. She needs only 3
rebounds to become the first ever NCAA player score 700 points, grab
500 boards and block 100 shots in a season.
Most likely
Cinderella:
North Carolina State. The Wolfpack played one of the toughest
schedules in the country and reached the semifinals of the ACC
Tournament before losing to North Carolina. Their poor (62 %) free
throw shooting could sink them, however.
Sentimental
favorite:
Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters are one of only 2 teams, along
with Tennessee, to have played in every women’s NCAA tournament.
They won the first ever women’s NCAA title. And they are from
Louisiana, which still gets the sympathy vote.
Best off-court
story:
In 2002, her
Washington teammates used CPR to save the life of then-freshman
Kayla Burt when she suffered cardiac arrest. Burt, now a senior,
played with a defibrillator implanted in her chest. Unfortunately,
in January the defibrillator shocked her heart after discovering an
arrhythmia, ending her playing days.
The skinny:
The
attention will be focused on the two stars, LSU’s
Seimone Augustus
and Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, but it is how well the others on
those teams play, especially Louisiana State’s Sylvia Fowles, that
could determine who goes to the Final Four.
Final Four
representative:
Oklahoma. They
led the Big 12 in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Chelsi
Welch is the best free throw shooter in the conference and Erin
Higgins one of the best 3-point shooters.
Coda:
Penn State head coach Rene Portland has insisted her program never
has had and never will have any lesbians. Her just reward: Penn
State is not in the dance.
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