Connecticut Huskies Look to Make History Tonight at Women's Basketball Championship: "A few more wins and Connecticut is set to become the second team to run through two straight seasons as the No. 1 team in women's basketball. The Huskies are No. 1 in The Associated Press women's Top 25 for a 42nd straight time over a two-year span after receiving all 40 first-place votes from the AP's media panel."
The consecutive win streak record seems like the bigger deal here. Should be a great game tonight.
Following up on c-dog's post about UConn's beatdown of Notre Dame, I'd say this UConn team reminds me most of the 2002 version. That team had the best starting five in women's history - Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash, Tamika Williams and Asjha Jones - but not a lot of depth. Everyone kept wondering what would happen if they got in foul trouble or had an off game. That talk continued right up to the championship game, which they won.
C-dog, you should see this team if you get the chance. I took Ivy and a friend to Gampel for the North Carolina game and even though it was a blowout, I could tell we were witnessing something special. You need to see Maya Moore in person before she graduates. Sooner or later you're going to wear some UConn colors to Duke. Might as well warm up with the women's game.
Watching the Huskies go all Ben Grimm ("It's clobberin' time!") on Notre Dame, I'm a little nostalgic for the 2001 and 2002 teams: Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Tamika Williams, Jessica Moore, Kelly Schumacher ... so many talented players it's unbelievable. Taking nothing away from the current stars, Maya Moore & Tina Charles are clearly as talented as any of my old favorites; I just don't get to see this team or listen to the golden tones of Joe D'Ambrosio describing their exploits on the radio the way I could those teams, so these ESPN & CBS national games are my only chance to get to know today's players.
I'd really like to get to the MLK Day game vs. Duke. The thought of setting foot on that campus kind of skeeves me out though. On the other hand, it would be fun to throw the gear on and glare at the Dukies.
ESPN's Top College Hoops games of the decade: The 2004 win over Duke on the way to the National Title, and the 6OT loss to 'Cuse in the 2009 Big East Tourney were the first to leap to mind and they're in there.
Duke 68, UConn 59 - UCONN | Men's Basketball: Ouch. That was ugly. Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, and Stanley Robinson are all fantastically talented atheletes but are going to have to learn to play together much more effectively if this year's squad is going to have any chance of doing anything this year. This much talent shouldn't look like a middle-of-the-pack team.
In other women's b-ball news, Rutgers guard Epiphanny Prince decides to skip her senior year, play in Europe and then go to the WNBA. She's not the first womens player to do this, but it's not really common. The money (in Europe anyway) is certainly tempting. And she probably better get a few years in the WNBA before it goes under. As a UConn fan, I'm happy to see her go both because she was a thorn in the Huskies' side and I really hated her name, spelled correctly here and pronounced "Eeee-piphanny." Seriously, it drove me crazy. Rutgers loses her and graduating center Kia Vaughn.
It doesn't matter if this were a 7-, 27-, or 107-game series. Michigan State is better than Connecticut.
I don't like arguing that the team that just lost might be the better team. Last night, to be clear, Michigan State was the better team. Over a 7 game series, or more, do I think Michigan State would have the best of UConn? No. What I saw out of UConn last night was two players who are alternately brilliant and frustrating being their frustrating selves and one player who is consistently solid, play like his inconsistent peers. Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker are electrifying when they are playing within themselves; they were terrible last night. Robinson in particular tried to run the break like a guard and finish in traffic on his own ... which is not his game. I jumped off my barstool twice yelling for him to find Price on the break and both times I sank back in frustration as he loped into waiting defense and flailed at the basket, giving the ball back to MSU for them take it the other way for easy scores. Back breakers. Walker was much the same. Now, his game includes those elements Robinson's does not: speed, dribbling, and going to coast to coast. But he was forcing it last night. When he got the ball and ran, he had tunnel vision and tried to finish every play. I kept looking for him to leave the ball for a trailer but he never did. Walker and Robinson have these issues and we've seen this from them before so there was no real surprse there. A. J. Price is the guy who is usually more consistent but was not very good last night. He also seemed to think he needed to force plays in the lane that just weren't there. With three MSU defenders around him, arms pyramiding over him in the lane, he kept forcing it up instead of wrapping around to Thabeet or Adrien standing a few feet away -- unguarded.
The Spartans earned the victory last night and will give UNC trouble, but probably not that much trouble.
Galling. After all the Big East did this season, it's ACC and Big Televen in the Finals.
All is not lost. There is still a UConn team in a Final Four marching towards a championship. And I'm confident they'll seal the deal.
UConn Draws No. 1 Seed In The West -- Courant.com - Louisville and Pitt are also #1 seeds. Amazing. But, I think the committee got it right. I've been lowballing my expectations for the Huskies but I'm starting to waver and think this really could be another great year for them. It's not that I think they're looking better -- still not as good as the 1999 and 2004 teams -- but nobody else looks like they're head and shoulders above everyone else either. I think Memphis and UConn could've gone 1-2 without it being that big of a deal. I haven't looked at the full bracket yet, so I could be looking to revise this post shortly, but I suddenly see a future beyond the Sweet Sixteen for this year's edition.
Big Game Coming The UConn Women, ranked #1, face off against North Carolina tonight at 7 on ESPN2 in the annual MLK day game. A good chance to see the Huskies if you haven't yet.
Unfortunately for UConn, which had been cruising all season, they have lost freshman starter Caroline Doty for the season to the dreaded ACL tear. Not too long ago, UConn had arguably the greatest freshman class. Elena Delle Donne, perhaps the most touted recruit in women's basketball history, lost her passion for the game and is currently playing volleyball. Heather Buck caught mono and has redshirted the season and now Doty's injury leaves Tiffany Hayes as the lone representative of the class.
Deep, UConn is not. But they do have the best guard in Renee Montgomery, the best center in Tina Charles and the best player in Maya Moore.
UConn dismantled its last real challenges in Oklahoma and LSU, but North Carolina is far better than them. They're a deep and fast team playing at home. That said, UConn has more experiece to draw on and the one player in Moore who can single-handedly win a game for you. If you're not in NC, it should be fun to watch on TV, especially if you're sick in bed like yours truly.
Nutmeg News The All-Bad Edition So everyone has probably seen the video of the hit and run in Hartford of Angel Torres. If you type "Hartford" into YouTube search, about four of the suggestions lead you to it. Nothing else you'd want to see in Hartford, I guess. Or you probably saw it on your local news. (So no, I don't feel like linking to it.) What's shocking is after two cars race into the wrong lane and one of them hits the 78 year old nobody does much of anything for forty seconds or so. None of the bystanders reach him and not one of the ten passing cars stop. Of course it's the existence of video that turned Hartford into the latest example of man's inhumanity to man.
Colin McEnroe, as usual, has the thing worth reading about this. Sometimes, we want to believe the worst about ourselves. Or hey, not ourselves, we're good people. I'm talking the worst about people who live in cities. There's a reason the legend of Kitty Genovese (referenced by Colin) has lasted for so long. Ånd if you think none of this has anything to do with race, you're welcome to visit the Hartford Courant's reader forums, which have gotten pretty ugly, even by Internet standards. So ugly that Mayor Perez has complained to the Courant. Meanwhile, the police chief has complained about our "toxic relationship with ourselves." Okay guys, maybe you could do something better with your time, like catch a hit and run driver or something.
I won't excuse the people in the video who do nothing except to point out that four people called 911 within a minute, a fact being dropped from almost all reports.
Forgive me for thinking this is mostly an excuse to call blacks and Hispanics "sub-human" and "savages." I don't remember this rhetoric being quite this heated for the college students responsible for the fatal hit and run of a 19 year old. Heck, the parents chipped in after the fact to help cover it up so you have some man's inhumanity to man there too and for longer than 40 seconds.
Meanwhile, the Mark Twain House and Museum is in financial trouble, despite some recent state grant help. The Twain house is much more than just a house he happened to live in. Twain designed it and the house remains imbued with his personality and life story. It's a literary and architectural landmark. I've taken the tour three times now and each one was different (except for the "tainted money" line, which was included on all three). Most of the trouble comes from a visitor's center built a few years ago. It is impressive, but seems in size and design better suited to a convention center and it's probably a monster to heat, even in reasonable times.
There are also layoffs and news page reductions coming at the Hartford Courant, which does not currently exactly overflow with news coverage.
Also, what the Courant calls "possibly the state's single most recognizable product" (Hey, not an insurance form!), the United Technology spacesuit, will now be made in Texas by a deep sea company with no space experience. Thanks for forty years of problem-free performance, too bad you HQ in a blue state. At least the company that won the bid isn't named Halliburton Space & Sea.
Also making us sad around here is the news that UConn recruit and national player of the year Elena Delle Donne has left the summer program after two days to return home. I take the statements at face value that this has nothing to do with UConn or her teammates. I'd guess that if she plays basketball it will probably be for UConn. While it would be a shame for someone so talented to give up the sport, you just have to wish her the best and hope things work out for her.
Meanwhile, Dodd looked like he wouldn't be a VP candidate, now maybe he will be. I like Dodd and he certainly didn't get a chance to shaw what a good campaigner he can be during his bid, still I'm not sure what he adds politically to the Obama ticket. Connecticut is certainly in Obama's column and Dodd is nothing if not a Beltway insider. Still, I think he'd be a far better campaigner than the miserable performance turned in by our other senator in 2000. I was rooting for Webb, but that's not to be.
I will be posting even less than usual around here because I'm going on vacation for the week. Any wonder why?
Husky Time I'm listening to the Celts on ESPN Radio hearing how easy Ray Allen makes it look easy and how Rip Hamilton swishes shots most players in the league wouldn't even try and I think it's time to celebrate the Huskies a little ...
Difference between men's and women's basketball? Besides dunking (men) and passing (women)? The O.J. Mayo/USC scandal involves thousands of dollars, flat-screen TVs, airline tickets and stuff like that. (Pat Forde at ESPN even calls for USC to be stripped of a team for a year.)
The most important thing I want to see right out the gate is Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery healthy. They both left the floor injured during UConn's sweet sixteen win over ODU. UConn has been saying they're fine, but that's probably what they'd say if they were banged up. They "practiced," but did they practice with other players or a stationary bike? Having already lost two starters during the season, UConn can't afford this.
The other storyline for UConn fans is the end of Brittany Hunter and Charde Houston's careers. Hunter, troubled by a chronic sore knee, turns in amazing stat lines - 9 pts/6 rbs/2 blk 11 min - and won't be able to play basketball after this. Houston has been alternately electrifying and horrible. She's been great for the last handful of games, even got the MVP of the Big East tournament. Hunter can leave everything out there and Houston can erase all those "what if" stories.
Rutgers isn't that deep either, and they play a shovey, grind it out, aggressive (trash-talky) sort of defense so officiating will also be key.
The biggest story seems to be "Just how good can Maya Moore be?" At this point, the only comparisons that make sense are Taurasi (best ever) or Lobo (taking a program to another level - and UConn already is at the top tier). Believe the hype. And since she's come through every time I've typed it, I'll type it again - if you haven't watched Moore play, here's your chance.
(Update: Did I mention Ketia Swanier? On a night when absolutely nothing went right, the Huskies come back from 14 down to win. Rutgers is not a team I'd like to spot 14. As an optimist, I'm going to regard this as a get-it-out-of-your-system game. Too bad for ESPN both this and Tennessee's game were fairly ugly. Tennessee should thank the NCAA. No way they'd be in the Final Four if they were facing Rutgers last night. I thought UConn was the top seed overall.)
The UConn women get a chance to avenge their only loss tonight against Rutgers - 7, ESPN2. Also, the Big East regular season title is on the line.
Of course, UConn is lucky to be in this position after being down 17 versus DePaul and winning on Maya Moore's steal with 7 seconds left and Ketia Swanier's bucket with 2. I wrote this game off as lost about six times. I happened to be at a party and had to turn so I couldn't see the TV. I only started watching when I noticed people intensity level picking up near the TVs. She's come through every time I've said it so once again - if you haven't seen Maya Moore yet, check out tonight's game.
Big Game Coming UConn Women play #6 LSU tonight at 7 on ESPN2. UConn's one loss came in their last big game, versus Rutgers, but I'm looking to the Patriots and saying it's better to have a regular season loss. (UConn regained the number one ranking after Tennessee had two losses - although one counts as a clock-assisted win.)
LSU's a great team, making four of the last Final Fours. They knocked UConn out last year - Tina Charles has been keeping a picture of LSU's Sylvia Fowles in her locker since then. If you haven't caught Maya Moore yet this season, check out tonight's game. She's poised to break Svetlana Abrosimova's record for freshman scoring, Diana Taurasi's record for consecutive games in double figures and Rebecca Lobo's record for "Freshman of the Week" honors. That's the company she's in already. Update: Well, that was quite a game. Not to overlook Moore's 29 pts. or Charles' 18, but McLaren's 11pts/12reb combined with solid defense was crucial and Swanier was clutch. If they can bring this game for Rutgers, and the tourneys, they'll be fine.
Bleech I have to say, as Patriots fan, I was worried right from the start. Brady seemed off with his passes and unable to slide away from the rush like he often does. And the rush was relentless. Standing for so long, 7-3 seemed to tempt an upset. Stupidly, I wasn't worried during the Eli scramble and bomb/helmet catch by Tyree. I saw the ball touch the ground and thought, "It's under two minutes. You can't demonstrate control of the ball with your helmet. That's getting overturned." Also stupidly, I wasn't worried earlier during the same drive when Eli fumbled and somehow recovered it with his legs and we didn't get the call. "That's okay," I thought. "They're not moving it downfield and we'll get the next call." No and no.
I was worried when I should have been happy and happy when I should have been worried. Also sober when I should have been drunk.
Making matters worse, many people are thrilled with the Patriots' defeat because of how jerky Red Sox fans have been. Makes it hard for us Yankees/Patriots fans.
Can't complain too much considered up until last night I've been following two perfect seasons. Go Huskies.
Another Hurt Husky Mel Thomas' torn ACL means the end of her UConn career. Sad and bad. Knicknamed "Baby Shea" early in her career for her tendency to hit the floor after loose balls, Mel was fun to watch and a great contributor. She finishes fourth in UConn history for three pointers and over 1,000 points for her career. The floor leadership, assists and hustle will also be missed.
A month ago it was like a sportswriting mandate that the phrase "national championship" had to appear in any article about UConn. They were blowing out quality teams by 40. Now, without Kalana Greene and Thomas and with Hunter's knee acting up more than usual, they get to be a #1 ranked underdog. First big test will be the annual Martin Luther King Day game. This year it's North Carolina. Catch it if you can. Thomas will be getting a ball for going over 1,000 points. Expect about a five minute (and well-deserved) standing O.
The Moore the Merrier For those of you who couldn't watch UConn win the Paradise Jam championship let me just say UConn is very, very good. Also fun to watch. They dismantled then #4 Stanford and #9 Duke (74-48!) and neither game was really that close. UConn ran them right off the court and freshman Maya Moore, named tournament MVP, appears to be everything advertised. Watching her in just four games, I'm already trying to calibrate where she'll land in the pantheon of UConn greats. Catch 'em if your TV or court gets 'em.
Orange You Glad to See Me? I'm a little surprised by this. LSU's a top program as well ... but everybody marked UConn v. Tennessee on their calendar. I did anyways. Looks like they'll only dance in March for a few years.
