Thursday wrap-up

All three of my personal holy trinity of basketball played yesterday, and while overall it was a down day, there were some positives to come out of the day. Ironically, they all mostly came out of the Wahine game. So let’s start with them.

After winning two of three on their most recent homestand, including perhaps one of the best games I’ve seen them play in a couple of years in a 69-56 win over Utah State, Na Wahine hit the road to take on Louisiana Tech. La Tech of course is no where near the powerhouse they were in the 80s and 90s and even early 2000s, but they still boast the reigning WAC player of the year in Shanavia Dowdell and the potential to be among the conference’s upper echelon.

When I remembered to open up Gametracker for this contest, Na Wahine were up 7-2, which I immediately had to share with STAN. For a moment, I entertained thoughts of Hawaii pulling off another upset in Ruston. The excitement was brief though, as the next time I checked Gametracker, the Lady Techsters were suddenly up 35-12 on Na Wahine. Oops.

Now, the ‘Bows went scoreless for more than 8 minutes in the first half, and La Tech did outrebound Hawaii 49-27, but there were indeed a few positives to take away, I promise. Even with that big first-half drought, Na Wahine actually shot pretty evenly to the Lady Techsters, going 25-62 from the floor and 6-20 from 3 to La Tech’s 26-61 and 6-21. Where the Lady Techsters hurt the ‘Bows offensively was at the free throw line, making 17-of-21 freebies to Hawaii’s 6-of-10, nearly the difference in the 75-62 final score.

Most promising though was that the Wahine kept the turnovers under 20, giving the Lady Techsters just 17 extra possessions, while Tech actually turned the ball over 21 times. While 17 turnovers may seem like a lot for good teams, consider that Na Wahine were averaging 20.4 turnovers/game going into this matchup, while their opponents were coughing up the ball just 15.2 times per game.

Also positive was the play of Allie Patterson off the bench, who led Na Wahine with 18 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes of play. This follows up an 11-point, 4-rebound performance against Utah State and an 11-point, 6-rebound performance against Nevada. Personally I’m rooting for Allie to make a return to the starting lineup as she is quickly becoming one of the most consistent performers for Na Wahine.

Not long after the Wahine game wrapped up, it was time to open up Gametracker for the Stanford-Oregon State game. The Card started 6-for-6 from the floor, and apparently I didn’t learn my lesson from jinxing Na Wahine, as I commented that maybe Stanford would just shoot 100 percent from the field for the game. The Card made just 2 of their next 16 shots, and luckily went 4-for-4 on layups in the last two minutes of the half to lead the Beavs by just two at the break.

Stanford did eventually pull away from OSU late in the second half and go on to win 63-47, but Jeanette Pohlen, who’s been battling a sprained ankle, wound up playing 27 minutes in the game off the bench. Maybe her ankle is well enough to play on, but just on Wednesday Michelle Smith reported Pohlen’s ankle was still swollen, and I was hoping JP would get some extra rest heading into Saturday’s game at Oregon. The Ducks love to run-and-gun and have a seriously dangerous press, and Stanford will need Pohlen to combat the pressure and push the ball and get the Card some early scoring opportunities.

Finally, the Lady Vols were wearing their Lady Fools hat at Georgia once again, losing a close one 53-50 thanks in large part to some stupid play down the stretch. Tennessee ripped a page out of the Wahine playbook, committing 23 turnovers, none bigger than Angie Bjorklund losing the ball with the Lady Vols down one and 21 seconds remaining in the game. Things don’t get any easier for the Lady Vols either as they head to LSU next.

Addendum: And moments after I criticize poor Angie, I saw this report that she’s losing her starting slot to little-used reserve Sydney Smallbone against LSU. (via @Mickie_1) I guess Pat Summitt is taking the loss pretty seriously.

Australia must be a bird, cause she’s sure got some wings!

I just came up with the most awesome worst lede ever for a preview for this Sunday’s Stanford-Tennessee matchup.

–

Comparing Stanford to Tennessee is like comparing Appels to oranges.

Lady Vols rock your socks!

Watched Tennessee top Rutgers, 59-46, to win its seventh national title today! Nicky Anosike had another huge game, pulling down 16 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end! Sid Spencer finally hit a few shots (though she was still just 4-12) and Shannon Bobbitt had some big 3-pointers to seal it. It took 10 years, but Pat Summitt finally won her seventh title. The legend of Rocky Top grows!

And with the Lady Vols win, I routed STAN 123-80. Double bonus!

Heart of the Game

Lady Vols are going to the national championship game! I have to admit, I had my doubts when Carolina went up 12 midway through the second half, but Tennessee came back to win by six! I’ve said all season, for the Lady Vols to win, Sid Spencer and Nicky Anosike have to play well. Spencer didn’t shoot well tonight (but who did?), but Anosike was huge. Everyone always goes on about how athletic and guardlike UNC’s Erlana Larkins is, but Anosike is no slug, quick with good hands and can dribble — not to mention she’s 6-4. She was all over the place defensively today — five steals and four blocks! –and really picked up the team in the first half when Candace Parker went to the bench with two fouls early.

Unfortunately, Ivory Latta didn’t cry (or they didn’t show it if she did). But boy was it satisfying to laugh at the little prick, especially after she flexed her biceps and posed after getting fouled when the Heels looked like they were running away from the Lady Vols. haha, who’s stronger now, bitch.

Lady Vols now face Rutgers for the national title on Tuesday. I kinda want to take the day and watch the game live. They don’t need me at the BOP meeting, do they?

Oh and the Lady Vols victory tonight means I beat STAN, 91-80, in our head-to-head brackets. woohoo! I can take an additional 32 points if the Lady Vols win the title and really blow STAN away. hehe

As I was waiting for the game, I watched Heart of the Game, the documentary that follows Seattle’s Roosevelt High School girls basketball team through six seasons. Absolutely loved this film. And not just because they show footage of one of our all-time favorite Wahine, Natasja Allen, almost single-handedly leading the South Kitsap Wolves over the Rough Riders at the end of the first season. It was a tremendously moving movie, and watching these intelligent, compassionate teenagers grow and evolve brought hope to this old cynic.

The film follows the story of Bill Resler, a slightly goofy and eccentric college tax professor who looks like he should be playing Santa Claus at the mall, as he suddenly becomes a high school basketball coach and leads the Rough Riders to success, and point guard Darnellia Russell, who must battle the gauntlet of socioeconomic obstacles and institutionalized sexism and racism as she helps lead Roosevelt to glory.

While Resler and Russell are clearly the focal points of the film, I was also touched by the story of Devon Crosby-Helms, who revealed after her playing days that she had been sexually assaulted by her private coach, Tony Giles. It was interesting to see the contrast between Resler, who while coming off as slightly goofy, clearly cared about developing his players into well-rounded young women, and the predatory Giles. It was also interesting since I stopped Heart of the Game to watch the Pokey Chatman-less LSU Tigers take on Rutgers in the national semis (and then went back to the movie when the Scarlet Knights started blowing out the Tigers). Reading that Seattle Times story I linked above, I was sad to see Lindsey Wilson, who also appeared as a minor character in the movie, defend Giles, who has a long history of statutory rape. According to the Times, when Crosby-Helms came forward about this MAN raping her when she was a teenage girl, “instead of supporting Crosby-Helms, many of her old teammates and their parents called her a liar.” But when it’s alleged that Pokey Chatman, a WOMAN, had an improper relationship with a player (who at least was of age), everyone just seems to assume it’s true. hmmm.

My favorite moments in the movie: 1) When Resler lies on the floor to console a player who missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer in the game that would have sent them to States in the second season; 2) When the team decides they want to defy the WIAA and have Russell play with them as a fifth-year senior; 3) When Resler decides to play everyone in the state championship game because they all supported Russell, even if it means the team could lose the game; and 4) When, in the final seconds of the championship game, one of the shorter players volunteers to have the tall freshman go in for her because they need a rebound.

Anyway, I highly recommend this film, even if you aren’t a sports fan. It’s much more than a basketball movie, full of drama, compassion, and yes, heart.

Actual March Madness, aka What the Hell’s Going On in Women’s Basketball?

It’s that time of the year again, when every basketball fan suddenly becomes an expert, driven crazy — and often angry — by the frenzy of basketball games and ever-increasing importance of each contest. It’s the time of year when I too become an expert and usually spend a good week fussing and stewing over the Wahine getting snubbed by the NCAA yet again, or in more recent years, fuming over some worthy midmajor like Gonzaga getting snubbed or La Tech getting in on name alone or Tennessee getting stuck in the damned hardest region yet again.

But this year, the NCAA tourney is barely on my mind. Heck, I almost forgot it was Selection Monday yesterday until STAN IM’d me about some team that made it in or didn’t make it in (I’ve totally forgot already). It’s not that the NCAA Selection Committee hasn’t given us its usual share of things to complain about. (Where’s Montana, Ball State, Southern Illinois? And why is Tennessee stuck in the damned hardest region yet again?) No, this year there’s been so much unfortunate news concerning women’s basketball that the sport itself seems like a distant afterthought.

First, of course, there is the really big story, the one that all by itself has completely overshadowed the NCAA tourney: LSU coach Pokey Chatman abruptly resigned allegedly due to allegations of an improper sexual relationship with a former player or players, reported by Chatman’s long-time teammate, colleague and assistant Carla Berry in February, according to unnamed sources. I wish I could say I was above the media’s gossip frenzy that has sprung up around this story, but I’m not. Since STAN first left me a voicemail Thursday afternoon about the above story broken by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, I have read *every* story and column related to Pokey Chatman and LSU that I can find online. I swear, I’ve read more in the last five days than I did throughout library school. Part of me of course is incensed at the coverage (they wouldn’t write so much about it if a male coach slept with a woman player!), and part of me worries that this all just reinforces the lesbian-as-predator stereotype in women’s sports. But sadly, a huge part of me is always searching for just a hint of publicized lesbianism in sports that I’ve latched on to this story, eagerly awaiting every sordid detail. (So who was the player? Who else might be gay?) Unfortunately, you know somewhere in Happy Valley Rene Portland is saying “I told you so.” (And Portland can still coach after that? I’d call *that* improper conduct.)

Not as big and scandalous but still juicy is the story of Mr. Coach P. biting a police officer in a Florida airport. Apparently, Michigan State head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s husband went nutso when airport security lost their luggage and wouldn’t find it without the baggage claim stubs they had thrown away. Mr. Coach P. then began emptying out a rubbish can and when a police officer questioned him, he allegedly swung the trash can at the officer and bit his finger when he tried to handcuff him. Now, I can’t blame Mr. Coach P. for getting upset at an airport, what with all luggage shipped to the opposite end of the world from where you’re going and the insane regulations that are supposed to “protect” us, but it’s still generally not acceptable to throw rubbish cans around in public. Especially not when your wife coaches a top 25 basketball team.

The final big distracting story is not one of scandal but one of sadness. After nearly 40 years and 900 victories, Jody Conradt resigned as head coach of the Texas Longhorns after UT failed to make the NCAAs for the second consecutive year. It’s really hard to blame anyone for the ‘Horns’ tough times — a young Texas team has been plagued by injuries the last two years — but the highly respected Conradt, who is second in Division I wins only to Pat Summitt, is taking responsibility and stepping aside as ‘Horn herder. Conradt has not only done so much for women’s basketball in her 38 years, she was the anti-Rene Portland, once actually saying she would welcome lesbian players on her team (and not for the same reasons Pokey Chatman would) (ouch, low blow). Conradt was a true class act and will be missed.

So, what about that Dayton region? Tennessee gets defending national champs Maryland, Oklahoma and low post monster Courtney Paris, Big Ten powers Ohio State, and Middle Tennessee State, winners of 26 in a row? Don’t think you can distract us from the fact that you stuck Tennessee in the damned hardest region yet again.

A plethora of basketball

Big women’s basketball day today. I got my little e-mail reminder on Thursday that Tennessee-Connecticut was on today and was gearing up for that when STAN told me there was actually a tripleheader today starting at 7 a.m. That was a little early for me, but I agreed to wake up for Coach P. and Michigan State at Maryland at 9. Totally not worth it. The Spartans had their asses handed to them on a platter by the Terps. Which made me particularly sad because Maryland is one of those cowardly ACC teams that schedules weaklings for the preseason. I was so rooting for State to show the world that the Terps have just been feasting on cupcakes, but I guess they really are as good as everyone claims they are. At least they’re not as disgusting as North Carolina.

Oh, one thing I thought was amusing from the Maryland game. The announcers kept talking about how many people they gave national championship rings to — not just the players from last year’s championship team, but also every player who played under coach Brenda Frese, and even some random, probably famous guy that I didn’t recognize, just because he’s a big supporter of the team. Is Maryland super rich or something? If the Wahine ever won the national championship, I’d want a ring too for being a long-time fan, but I know UH wouldn’t be able to afford that. Their budget would only allow them to give all their players plastic rings from the toy machine at Zippy’s. And if they can scrounge up a few extra nickels, maybe the coaches can get one too.

Anyway, so once that wrapped up, it was on to the highlight of the day, what the media has been calling THE game in women’s college basketball. It was kind of ugly offensively at first, but then Candace Parker started getting a bunch of touches and Sid Spencer and Shannon Bobbitt caught fire from outside the arc. I like Bobbitt at the point — small and scrappy and maybe one of their best true points in recent years. Anyway, the Lady Vols had a 12-point lead at the break, which they quickly extended to 18 early in the second half. When Parker came up with the ball in the open court, even I, the person who likes carefully designed, methodical offensive sets, was yelling “dunk it!” And she did, and damn if it wasn’t 100 times more impressive than the “dunk” by UNC’s Charlotte Smith back in 1994. (Or was it ’95.) (Those are the only two women’s dunks I’ve seen personally.) On the very next possession, the Lady Vols got another steal and Parker showed off her smarts by passing the ball to Nicky Anosike for the easy layup to put Tennessee up 18!

But my excitement was rather short-lived. The Lady Vols started going away from Parker on the offensive end, and on the defensive end they couldn’t contain UConn posts Brittany Hunter and Charde Houston. The Huskies came all the way back to tie the ballgame at 60, and I was spouting off my usual things about the “Lady Fools” and “this can’t be a Pat Summitt-coached team.” But finally Spencer hit a shot in the second half, and they did go back to Parker, and she came up big for the Lady *Vols* as they topped the Huskies, 70-64, in Hartford.

Tonight the Wahine hosted Louisiana Tech. La Tech has to be by far the dirtiest team in the WAC. The Lady Thugsters were seriously beating up the skinnier Wahine tonight, but it was the ‘Bows who were getting called for a lot of “fouls” in the second half. At one point in the first, La Tech’s own Doctor of Thugonomics Shan Moore and skinny Wahine Saundra Cariaga were chasing down a ball heading out of bounds. Cariaga, she’s fast, yeah? so she was winning the race, so Moore brutally shoved Cariaga into Press Row. Moore was called for a regular foul. I thought an intentional foul or a technical would have been more appropriate. Hell, don’t they fine people for fighting in pro leagues? But I was totally proud of Tanya Smith cause she was bumping down low with the Lady Thugsters after that.

Anyway, on to the actual *basketball*. The Wahine actually led by as much as 11 in the first as the Lady Thugsters’ starting lineup was a tad on the small side, and the Wahine bigs feasted in the paint early. But then La Tech brought in their big thugs to start assaulting the ‘Bows underneath, and combined with poor shooting by the Wahine guards, the ‘Bows went down by as much as 21 in the second. Bolla went to the bench, and behind the likes of Amber Lee, Dita Liepkalne and Megan Tinnin, the ‘Bows worked their way back, pulling to within 10, 57-47, on Tinnin’s 3 off a La Tech turnover with 2:20 remaining. Not that I thought the Wahine would come back and win, but it was good to see what could possibly be next year’s starting lineup put together a little run. The Lady Thugsters proved solid from the free throw line down the stretch and held on for the 64-53 win.

Cassidy Chretien got the start tonight, her first for the ‘Bows. I wondered if it was cause they were playing La Tech. She played a good 22 minutes, dishing out four assists. She’s a good passer and has an uncanny sense of where her teammates are on the floor.

At one point, the Wahine actually had triple towers on the floor! Smith, Brittany Grice and Iwona Zagrobelna all took the court after the first timeout of the game. I’m not sure if it was intentional or if Grice or Zagrobelna accidentally came in for 43 (Tambini) instead of 33 (Smith). It was nice though, cause at that point, La Tech’s only big was 6-2 finesse player Ty Moore. (But who’s your small forward?) Tech put in their set of thugs soon after that.

The cheerleaders came out during halftime and did their little routine as they’re headed to nationals soon (don’t get banned from Disneyworld!) At the beginning, all the guys were lined up, waiting for their music cue. But it was taking kind of a long time, so some of the guys were yelling “Go ‘Bows!” and smiling and pointing at folks in the crowd and doing other cheerleaderly type things. Then the music started, and the row of guys did a backflip into a twist thing all at once — except for the guy at the end of the row, who was still smiling at the crowd. He had to run back to catch up with the guys before their next move. Between that and a few dropped girls here and there, I hope they’re getting in a few more practice sessions before nationals.

In other basketball news, Portland State’s Kelsey Kahle only scored seven in a loss to Montana State tonight, snapping her streak of 19 consecutive double-digit scoring games. awwww. She’s still awesome though.

Checking out the national scene

‘Tis the season for women’s basketball on TV. Caught a couple of games on the ESPN family of networks today. First up was Clemson-Vanderbilt. For some reason, I thought this game started at 1 p.m., so when I turned the channel at 12:30, I found I’d missed the first half of the first half. Vandy looked pretty good today, Carla Thomas and Liz Sherwood were absolute forces inside, and Caroline Williams impressed me as a shooter. I love the Commies, and it’s good to see them working their way up the rankings again. Maybe I’ll break out my Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball hat again.

Oh, hey, I didn’t know our Texas Tech Lady Raiders were ranked this week. Course, after losing to Stanford and Fresno State (!). they probably won’t be ranked anymore. As I was watching the Clempson-Vandy game, out of the corner of my eye I saw the Stanford-TTU score go by, and thought, hey, was that a ranking in front of TTU? And it was! They’re No. 23 in the coaches poll and No. 25 in the AP poll. For now.

(We beat a ranked team! We beat a ranked team!)

So the big game of the day of course was No. 4 Tennessee at No. 2 North Carolina. The one preseason matchup for North Carolina against an actually good team (well, Arkansas wasn’t bad). Anyway, UT came out firing and led early, but around the 10-minute mark in the first, Carolina stepped it up (that seems to be their time to come alive). UT didn’t help itself either, going super cold from the floor. Sid Spencer was 2-13 from the floor! I think Tennessee is better than last year, but they’re going to need Spencer and Nicky Anosike to step up consistently in support of Candace Parker if they want to go far. UNC won by 13 today, and now will return to overwhelming the Northeast Carolina State Southern Tech Christian A&Ms of the world.

Tennessee on the other hand has two more schools on their preseason schedule that are currently ranked (George Washington and Texas). They’ve already beaten ranked Stanford, UCLA (at the time), and Arizona State. They’ll make nonconference jaunts once conference season begins to play top 10-ranked UCONN and Duke. And the SEC boasts ranked teams Kentucky, Georgia, Vandy and LSU. That means the Lady Vols could play a total of 12 ranked teams this season (and they play Vandy and Georgia twice). How is that for crazy strength of schedule? It’s why I have tremendous respect for Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols. They’re not afraid to play the best cause they know it’s the only way to get better. Sure, they might notch a few more losses in the preseason than UNC does playing cupcakes all the time, but in the end hopefully they’re better for it. Outside of conference, the only ranked teams UNC will play are Tennessee and UCONN. Their next four matches are against Wofford, West Carolina, South Carolina State and Coastal Carolina. We have less respect for the Tar Heels.

Carolina makes me blue

I don’t have March Madness. I have March Sadness.

The Lady Fools looked very foolish today as they had their asses handed to them by the single most annoying team in the country, North Carolina.

i. hate. north carolina.

I think I’m going to boycott NCAA women’s basketball until Ivory Latta goes away. Although if someone makes her cry, I will watch the replays of that over and over again. Maybe Duke will make that conceited little prick drop to her hands and knees and bawl.

i. hate. ivory latta.

Tennessee may have been the team of the nineties, but I’m starting to doubt if they’ll ever win a national championship again. Sure, Candace Parker is great and all, but as today proved, she can’t do it all by herself.

But maybe next year she’ll get a chance to make Ivory Latta cry.

God is a UConn fan.

I set my alarm for 7 this morning to watch Tennessee-Rutgers in Sweet Sixteen action. Way too early to be up on a Sunday morning, but the Lady Vols are worth it. So I turn on the television and in my groggy state of half-sleep I await the UT-Rutgers tipoff.

Then there was a loud distant BOOM! and the TV and fans and dining room light go off.

Shit. Of course the power would go out just as the basketball game I woke up early for was starting. The explosion did also wake me wide up, and I went outside to see if I’d see a burning telephone pole or something. (Alas, nothing so dramatic.)

I went back inside, grumbling about the annoying outage, and went into the bedroom. There I realized that the clocks were on, the DVD player lit up, and the red light glowing on the surge strip. I decided to try the TV. Sure enough, it went on. I went back out into the living room and tried the TV and the lights. Still out. It was the strangest power outage I’d ever seen, but decided not to complain and just take advantage of the power in the bedroom.

So I’m watching Tennessee-Rutgers in the bedroom, and the Lady Vols are just starting to pull away from the Lady Knights in the second half behind Candace Parker and Shanna Zolman. All of a sudden, there’s another loud BA-BOOM! and the cable goes out. (The TV was still on but showing nothing but snow.) Grrr.

Our power came back on to the whole house around 9 a.m. or so. Cable’s still out though. This means we can watch a grand total of ONE channel (KGMB 9). They had the UConn-George Mason boys game on and I was watching it for a bit hoping that they would show at least a final score from the UT-Rutgers game. They had a little crawl that popped up every few minutes, but all it listed was the tip time of some later boys game. I was so annoyed. They cut into the women’s action to show highlights of the boys games, but the boys can’t even afford to give the women a teeny bit of space to show a final score? Yeah, we don’t need Title IX anymore.

So, thank goodness for the Internet. Yahoo! let me know the Lady Vols finished off the Scarlet Knights, 76-69. And argh! I just saw the score for Purdue-North Carolina on Yahoo!, 57-55 Boilermakers with 6:31 remaining! Damn you, Oceanic!!!

Addendum: Poopy. The UNC-Purdue game just went final. Tar Heels 70, Boilers 68. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Lady Vols screwed again

So I only got UNC as far as the One seeds go. I forgot about Ohio State — I probably would’ve picked them over UConn, though the fact that I forgot about them probably says something (who’s in the Big Ten?). The NCAA selection committee obviously didn’t share my concerns about giving One seeds to two schools from the same conference as Duke also was awarded a One seed. LSU rounded out the top seeds. The selection committee chair kept emphasizing that Oklahoma and Tennessee had too many losses — y’know, four instead of the three that Duke and LSU have. I still think though if you look at how Oklahoma finished the season, the Sooners earned a One seed, and Tennessee might have had four losses, but they play the toughest schedule in basketball. And did I mention that Duke lost two of their last three?

Adding to the insult, not only is Tennessee a Two seed, they’re the Two seed in North Carolina’s region! And Rutgers is the Three seed! The selection committee chair defended that decision with the whole geographically closest argument. That money-saving move is the stupidest thing the NCAA has ever done. The whole tournament isn’t about having the best teams meet in the finals, but about trying to make the most money. And the NCAA expects us to take those “Most of us will be going pro in something other than sport” commercials seriously.