NEW
PHOTOS BOTTOM LINE ABOVE
2010 NCAA champs (l) and the UCONN mascot
Jonathan Husky relieving himself of the Stanford mascot, the big tree
(redwood?)
UCONN'S
LADY
HUSKIES' WEBSITE
WATCH
MAYA HIT A ZILLION SHOTS AT NEW STREAMING LINK (THANKS BONEYARDER!)
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/allaccess/
REMATCH RAINED OUT
DO THEY PLAY IN THE RAIN?
So who's going to win the basketball shoot-out this year?
UConn
Women Visit White House Tomorrow
Auriemma: Learn
Something New Every Time
By JOHN ALTAVILLA,
jaltavilla@courant.com
7:11 PM EDT, May 16, 2010
WASHINGTON —
UConn women's
basketball coach Geno Auriemma, his players, coaches and an entourage
of family and VIPs will make a sixth visit to the White House this
afternoon in celebration of a seventh national championship.
These pilgrimages, which began at the Clinton White House after the
first title in 1995, have become as sentimental as family vacations.
Faces have changed on both sides of the handshake line. But the thrill
hasn't.
"It never gets old and it never is anything but exciting," Auriemma
said. "You are getting to meet the president of the United States, the
leader of the free world, someone who represents all we believe in as
Americans. It's every kid's dream who lives in the country to meet
their president.
"And as someone who has had the opportunity a number of times, I can
tell you that you learn something new every time you go down there. You
find out a little more about how important it is that you celebrate
these kinds of things [championships]."
It certainly was new for Auriemma in 1995. His persona was still
evolving and such occasions were unique and somewhat intimidating. But
he soon found something to laugh about, as he usually does.
"The first time we ever visited the White House, I remember being
shocked when I initially walked in to meet President Clinton," Auriemma
said. "The first person I saw was a kid [Jim McGettigan] I'd gone to
college with [at West Chester] who was a Secret Service man.
"I'm thinking, 'Holy moly, what are the chances of that? One minute I'm
playing poker with this guy watching Monday Night Football and the next
minute he's guarding the president.'
"He didn't need to throw me up against the wall and frisk me because
he'd already taken enough of my money."
After six of UConn's seven championships, the Huskies have been feted
by the president; a ritual now commonplace in the meshing of American
sports culture and politics.
The championships have spanned the presidencies of Bill Clinton (1995
and 2000), George W. Bush (2002, 2003 and 2004) and Barack Obama (2009,
2010), although the 2000 team, UConn's second champion, never got to
the White House because of scheduling difficulties.
"It's a lot of fun to go to the White House," said Connecticut Sun
guard Kara Lawson, who has attended White House ceremonies with the
WNBA champion Sacramento Monarchs in 2006 and U.S. Olympians in 2008.
"You feel like you have exclusive access to the president. You are on
stage with him. You feel special. It's just a cool thing to have a
private tour, have some breakfast, hear the band playing. Even going
through security and getting your IDs is memorable. How many people get
to do something like that in their lives? You bring your camera and
have people take pictures for you. Amazing."
Auriemma recalls that every experience for his program was unique.
"Each president had has a different approach," Auriemma said.
"President Clinton was so laid-back. He spent a lot of time with us,
the players, the coaches, and the traveling party on an individual
basis.
"President Bush was more businesslike; this is what we're going to do,
this is how we're going to do it.
"But there was one year when President Bush's daughter, Jenna, was in
some sort of trouble in the newspapers. I remember him walking through
and shaking hands and asking me how everything was. I said, "Mr.
President, everything is great, but I think the only thing harder than
being president is raising daughters.
"Before he walked away, he turned around and said, ''You got that
right.' I told him I had a daughter named Jenna who was the same age as
his daughter and I think I know what you are going through. You could
see at that moment that he had stopped being President Bush and had
become just his Jenna's dad."
During some years, the Huskies have had to share the stage with other
collegiate champions. In 2004, they were there with the UConn men's
team after the first and only concurrent national championships by one
school. But after the 2009 championship, they were alone with
Obama on a hot, steamy day.
"What struck me the most about that day was we had to wear our dress-up
clothes on the trip to Washington," said Sun guard Renee Montgomery, a
first-team All-American on UConn's undefeated champions. "We were
usually allowed by the coaches to wear casual clothes on trips, but not
that day. It was dress-up the whole way there."
The formality eventually led to UConn's only loss of the season.
"President Obama turned around to the players and said he thought he
was a pretty good player and they said, 'Yeah, we heard that,' "
Auriemma said. "Then he said, I hope you guys win another championship
next year, but I could probably beat some of you guys right now.
"Some of our players said, 'I wouldn't say that if I were you.' The
next thing you knew, the coats were off and off we went.'
Obama walked the players down to the private basketball court he had
built after his election and challenged them to a game of PIG, a
shorter version of HORSE.
"I actually had the chance to talk to the president the entire way on
our walk down to the court," Montgomery said. "He told me he'd been to
a Chicago Sky game. … And he told me about his two daughters and how
happy he was to support the WNBA. He knew a lot about basketball and it
was easy to talk to him about it. It wasn't exactly like he had to
force anything. It was exciting to walk and talk to the president."
But all dressed up, it wasn't easy for them to match the president's
jumper. He won easily.
"His form was really weird for a lefthander," Tina Charles said. "But
he could really get those shots down."
But the Huskies want a rematch today, and Obama should be warned they
mean to restore their reputation.
"Let me tell you, [Obama] had a better chance of winning the
health-care reform battle than he does beating our guys this year,"
Auriemma said. "He got his one victory, he's not getting another."
"I'm bringing warmups for my players. No more high heels, tight
blouses. And you know what else? No secret service guys with guns will
be allowed near the court.
"Really, who's going to make shots when guys with guns are looking at
you and thinking, 'You better lose.' You have no chance."
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford
Courant
Last
year's parade...this year the parade will be held on Sunday, April 18,
2010 at 3pm at the Capitol (not on television live that we could find,
so we have no story for you)
Statement
of
Governor M. Jodi Rell on UConn Women's Basketball Championship
Governor
M.
Jodi Rell today issued the following statement after the University of
Connecticut won the NCAA women's national championship and recorded the
first ever back-to-back undefeated seasons in women's college
basketball:
"The UConn women had us all on the edge of our seats last night. They
showed fans in Connecticut and the entire nation that the path to
perfection requires incredible teamwork, talent, and of course, the
finest coaching staff in the country. Congratulations to these
outstanding young women, Coach Auriemma and his entire staff for a job
very well done. They have made us all tremendously proud yet again."
Sports Dynasties: UConn Women
Part Of The Club
Hartford Courant
By DOM AMORE
April 18, 2010
Geno Auriemma isn't exactly sure what defines a dynasty. How many
years? How many championships?
But he knows they exist.
"I remember growing up in Philadelphia in the '60s, and people would
ask, 'How's your basketball team?' You'd say, 'Pretty good,' but not
really.
"They'd ask, 'How's your baseball team?' You'd say, 'Pretty good,' but
not really. Or 'How's your football team?
"And you'd think, 'How are we going to beat the Celtics? How are we
going to beat the Dodgers or the Yankees? And you realize, there is
something different about those places."
Dynasty may be the most misused term in sports. By definition, it is a
"sequence of rulers from the same family or group," and suggests
supremacy spanning generations.
"I don't know what the proper time frame would be," Auriemma said.
"Teams win two championships now and they call it a 'dynasty.'"
The UConn women's basketball program would certainly qualify for
anyone's list, having won seven national championships since 1995,
which, by the nature of college athletics, means dozens of different
players have been involved. More to the point, since 2000 they have won
six, including stretches of three in a row and two in a row. Plus,
there is the 70-game winning streak in 2001-03 and the 78-game streak
that started in 2008. The Huskies' second consecutive perfect season
will be celebrated in a parade through downtown Hartford today.
The Yankees, who won 29 American League championships and 20 World
Series between 1921-64, have long been considered the gold standard of
sports dynasties. Their dominance included two owners, the Ruppert
family before World War II and the Dan Topping/Del Webb group from 1945
to 1964, seven different managers, including Miller Huggins, Joe
McCarthy and Casey Stengel for long stretches, and several distinct
cores of players built around superstars Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe
DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.
Since 1964, the Yankees' success has been more sporadic, but the
franchise has been in seven of the last 14 World Series, and won its
27th championship in 2009. There is a lineage that seems unbroken in
the Bronx.
"I think more about the tradition than of a dynasty," said Joe Girardi,
the current manager. "You think about the players that played before
you, and the level they played at, and the managers who managed before
you, and the level they managed at. And you think about the
expectations that go with that."
The word "expectation" is sprinkled throughout any talk of a dynasty,
or playing for one. Said Curtis Granderson, one of the new Yankees,
"People told me coming here, it was going to be different. These people
are ready to win right now."
"You go into [most] arenas and you see a ton of banners," Auriemma
said. "Then you go into Pauley Pavilion [at UCLA] and you just see
[11]. It kind of lets you know that, if they don't win a national
championship, they're not interested in jumping up and down. They
expect to hang banners there."
At UCLA, the men's basketball team won 10 championships in 12 years
under John Wooden during the 1960s and '70s, including 88 consecutive
wins between 1971-74, the record Auriemma's team will try to break next
season. Wooden stressed the principle that his team was competing
against itself, establishing its own standard.
"Be the best at whatever you undertake," Bill Walton, one of the
signature stars of that UCLA era, once said of the Bruins' philosophy.
"Don't worry about the score. Don't worry about image. Don't worry
about the opponent. It sounds easy, but it's very difficult."
Dynasties, too, must disregard the elements and obstacles of all kinds
to maintain themselves. The Green Bay Packers set the standard for NFL
dynasties during the 1960s, with five championships, including the
first two Super Bowls. Twice, in the 1962 NFL championship game in New
York, and the famous "Ice Bowl" against the Cowboys in Green Bay in
1967, they had to win in freezing weather to keep their run alive. By
coming from behind to beat Dallas, the Packers became, in the words of
Steve Sabol of NFL Films, "a team for the ages."
Bob Skoronski of Derby and Fairfield Prep played on those Green Bay
teams.
"One thing Vince Lombardi instilled in us," Skoronski told The Courant
in 2008, "was that you had to play in all kinds of weather. You had to
be ready to play in all kinds of conditions. That's what it takes to be
a champion."
And when dynasties end, they die hard. The Patriots won three Super
Bowls in a four-year span, and were going for a fourth — and an
unbeaten season — in February 2008 when they lost to the Giants. The
last Yankees dynasty, four titles in five years, ended in the ninth
inning of the seventh game of the 2001 World Series, when the Arizona
Diamondbacks scored off Mariano Rivera.
"You just want to squeeze every ounce you can out of it," said Andy
Pettitte, a Yankee from 1995-2003, and since 2007.
Dynasties can lift their sports, or their league. UConn and Tennessee
have brought new awareness to women's basketball. The Celtics, who have
won the most championships (17) in NBA history, lorded over the league
from 1957-69, winning 11 times in 13 years as the league's popularity
was burgeoning.
Playing for such a group, naturally, sets one apart. Playing for the
Tennessee's women's basketball team, which won the last of its eight
national titles in 2008, Kara Lawson knew everyone in Knoxville was
always watching.
"I'd stop at a traffic light," she said, "and people would stop
alongside me and roll down the window. I'd think maybe they were lost,
but they'd want to let me know they recognized me and wished me good
luck. People are always watching to see how you carry yourself, how you
represent the team and the history."
Swin Cash, who played on UConn championship teams a decade ago, says
she feels "blessed" to have been part of something that began before
she came to Storrs, and has continued. She looked up at the banners in
Gampel Pavilion this past week and said, "I think when I bring my
children and my grandchildren here one day, they will appreciate it,
and I'll appreciate it maybe more than I do now."
Neither the dynasty nor its uniform can make the player, Auriemma says.
It must always be the other way around. Derek Jeter says he never calls
a free agent to sell him on playing for the Yankees; only those who
covet the challenge of playing for a dynasty need apply.
"Some people come here and think, just because they put on a
Connecticut uniform, they're a Connecticut player," Auriemma said.
"It's more about the players who recruit you than about who you
recruit. It has to be in you. You have to look up at all the banners
and say 'That's in me.' And then the uniform becomes a Superman's cape."
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
NATIONAL
CHAMPIONS: Geno Auriemma: Greater Expectations
Hartford Courant
April 11, 2010
University of Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma's team
won its second consecutive national championship Tuesday in San
Antonio. On Friday, Coach Auriemma talked with Peter B. Pach, associate
editor of the editorial page, about the title game, the team's 78-game
winning streak, the future and whether he is still having fun. This
contains excerpts from that conversation.
Connecticut fans are still enjoying
Tuesday's national championship victory. You said the disastrous first
half, when the Huskies scored only 12 points, left you speechless. Did
you find your voice in the halftime locker room?
You know, coaches are really in charge of finding answers and providing
solutions for players, and 99 percent of the time you know exactly what
to say and how to say it and get your point across. Sometimes you know
whatever it is you're saying, the players don't interpret it. Their
minds are so shellshocked. It's not that they aren't listening.
I know how to communicate with these kids and nothing's working. How am
I going to register with these guys?
I just asked a series of questions so they could get involved. "Is this
way we played all year? What did we do all year? Are we attacking?
Playing five on five? Why don't we go back to being who we are? If
we're going to lose, at least let's lose our way. Don't let this be our
last defining moment." We talked it through.
We've played the worst half humanly possible and we're only down eight
points. When we went out, I knew the first five minutes [of the second
half] were going to decide the game.
We had three or four minutes of really good stuff happening. And the
sun was shining. Apropos that it was Easter weekend, somebody pulled
the boulder from the cave and Maya [Moore] emerged.
Now you and the team have navigated
two perfect seasons, where does it leave you? How do you define success
going ahead?
One of the hardest things that a coach and a player and a team has to
deal with is the aftermath of success. Losing means finding a greater
resolve, a better work ethic. Winning is the hardest thing to come back
from. Winning at this magnitude creates an impossible scenario, if you
define yourself now as wins and losses and streaks. Now, when failure
does come, as it inevitably will in the fifth, seventh or 10th game
next season, dealing with that will be the biggest key. Not judging
ourselves on the outcome of the game.
As long as we're playing in the final game, I'm happy. It's going to be
very difficult for these kids to accept anything other than winning.
Imagine our sophomores, they've played 78 games in college and have
never lost.
As long as they are keeping score, I want to win. The longer this thing
goes the more improbable it becomes, the more you start to feel, "Wow."
I don't care [whether we' re talking about] the state of women's
basketball or sports — to be able to do it that many times in a row is
mind-boggling. What your record is isn't what's going to determine
whether you are a great team. Stanford is a great team. If you lose 10
games and win a national championship, you are a great team. I don't
expect perfection in everything we do, I just want our effort to be
perfect.
With all the noise surrounding the
78-game winning streak, are we missing part of what is going on down on
the court or in practice?
Sometimes you read articles and you hear people talking and it becomes
number-obsessive. They won 78 in a row. This is the largest margin.
Maya Moore only needs 10 points to break Lew Alcindor's record. It all
becomes numbers, numbers, numbers. You lose the beauty of the play and
miss the work ethic. Sometimes that gets missed by the fans or the
people watching.
Outsiders speculate on the increased
pressure that each win generates — how you and your players will deal
with it. There's an implicit suggestion that you have to do something
different as an unbeaten season progresses. Do you?
No. We didn't do anything different. Not one thing changed throughout
the whole thing. Every game day was the same, every locker room. Not
one thing changed: players' body language, attitude. Having said that,
Tuesday night was the first time during the entire streak that I felt
the kids on the floor were feeling the pressure of the moment: "My God,
we're playing for the streak. Maya Moore can't hit a shot."
So maybe all the demons we'd fought off came crashing out of this cage
and you could see it on their faces. I was stunned. I just put my hands
out and said, "What are we going to do with these guys?" They would
just look at you with these blank stares. How can somebody so good all
of a sudden not be able to do what they are good at? We go 11 minutes
without scoring.
Whenever you go into a game, I conjure up 50 scenarios. What if we
can't do this, what if, what if? And you have a solution to just about
all of them. Never in my wildest, craziest imagination did I think we
would go 11 minutes without scoring. This wasn't something we talked
about.
Are the things fans and sports writers
discuss the same as the things you think or worry about?
I don't think the fans, the writers, anyone else views what's going on
and why it happens in the same way that we do. On our end, we see it
from: I know this particular player, I know their strengths, I know
what this lineup looks like, I know why someone isn't getting the
shots. Someone might say, "Why isn't Maya getting the ball more?" We
know why. Because you don't see what's going into that play. Kelly
Faris didn't score in the semis or finals. She was the third most
impactful player in those games. But she didn't score a point. She was
doing things that were unnoticed.
The attention on the streak puts you in the odd position of having to
defend winning every game, which is the goal of any coach and team. Is
this what led to you speaking out about the need for more schools to
treat their women's programs seriously and build up the competition?
Any time someone separates themselves, like our team has, you are going
to get asked what's up with the rest of the game. Like when Tiger
[Woods] came along. When the Yankees came along, the Celtics. Can't
anybody else win? What I was trying to say is that some people have the
ability to do it and they do it. If you don't, that's fine. What's
criminal is if you do have the resources to maximize your program and
abilities, that's what is going to keep the game down. Schools have the
resources but don't want to do it. Every school on the men's side is
trying to get to the NCAA finals.
Were you really serious about quitting
in December if the team is still unbeaten?
The schedule we have next year is so difficult. If we win our first 15
games, I'll be a basket case thinking, "How in God's name did that just
happen?" There's just no way that's happening. I'm a realist. I know
exactly what it is and how fragile it is. Tuesday night was a perfect
example of it. These kids aren't machines. They have their ups and
downs and emotions.
What could have easily happened [in Tuesday's game] is that you never
recover and you are stunned. You just stop here and feel sorry for
yourself. Having won the game the way we won it, Tuesday night was
probably more rewarding and indicative of a person's spirit. It's easy
— if you make every shot. When you are going there and you are fighting
against elements you didn't know you'd have to fight against, it's so
much better.
Is this still fun?
That's the hardest question there is to answer. Is it still fun? For
me, fun has had to be redefined. I've had to really, really look hard
and think deep to change what fun is and make it apply to me. Because
I've gone from 25 years ago — could we win more games than we lost? —
to now — we are never the underdog. Now we can't do something no one
expected us to do.
You have to define fun in a completely different way. Fun has changed
for me. It's really rewarding when I see some of the things kids are
capable of doing. No matter what I do anymore, it's expected. Where's
the fun in that? You're supposed to. We're not paying you to lose. I'm
being judged, every night we play, by the product we're putting out on
the floor. I'm watching coaches get fired because they've made the NCAA
tournament five years in a row but they didn't win enough.
We're judged constantly on our performance. I've turned all that into I
love it when my players play great. Not a winning streak. When I woke
up Wednesday morning, not one thing was different in my life. But Maya
Moore, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, their lives are getting better every
day. They are in the moment and they are enjoying the moment. You, as
the person in charge, are providing the opportunity.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford
Courant
Four Off The
Floor
Hartford Courant
— RICH COPPOLA, FOX61
April 11, 2010
Memories. It's funny, as time goes on I remember less about the games
and more about things that happened off the court. Four episodes stand
out.
•Maya Moore amazes me. Terrific player. Never takes a play off, even in
practice. Never takes a question off, either. You can almost see the
wheels turning when a question is asked. I asked her about that. Sure,
Maya is a scholar-athlete. She is also someone who feels that it would
be disrespectful not to be honest and forthright. If you care enough to
ask, she cares enough to answer the best she can. That brings us to the
head coach.
•Media sessions with Geno Auriemma are always worth the price of
admission. Geno is a wiseguy. Cocky? You don't get to his level without
some ego. He's also very entertaining. He cuts down his players then
builds them up.
I asked him his favorite Final Four site. He began his answer by
listing every city the Huskies have visited during their championship
runs. Just when you think a sarcastic answer is coming, he'll show how
much respect he has for women's basketball. No one is bigger than the
game. Not Geno, not Pat Summitt. Those are Geno's words.
•All around San Antonio, we saw a sea of blue and white. UConn fans
everywhere. Nothing new, but you realize how much Connecticut folks
love their team, how much joy they get from chanting, "Let's go
Huskies," even though there are no Huskies around.
• Just to be on the safe side, some fans visited the church at the
Alamo.
You can never have enough good karma, can you?
Hoop
is much larger at the White House than at the Alamodome.
Cardinal O’Hara grad
Gardler savors UConn years
The Delaware County Daily
Times (delcotimes.com), Serving Delaware County, PA
By TERRY TOOHEY,
230terry@gmail.com
Saturday, April 10, 2010
If Meghan Gardler finds herself shooting baskets with President Barack
Obama again, the two-time All-Delco from Cardinal O’Hara will make sure
she has the proper footwear this time.
Gardler was one of the lucky Connecticut players chosen to shoot hoops
with the president when the Huskies were invited to the White House
after winning the NCAA Division I women’s national championship last
spring.
The only problem was, Gardler was wearing sandals, not sneakers.
“I didn’t think we would be going out on the court,” Gardler said. “If
we get invited back, I’ll make sure to bring basketball shoes with me
this time.”
Gardler and the Huskies can count on another invitation to visit the
White House after winning their second straight national championship
with a 53-47 victory over Stanford last Tuesday at the Alamodome in San
Antonio.
Gardler could have gone somewhere else and had a more productive
individual career, she averaged 10.7 minutes and 2.6 points in 130
games for the Huskies, but she wouldn’t have had the chance to shoot
hoops with the president.
Nor would she be a bit of a YouTube sensation for fixing her hair on
the court and then draining a 3-pointer in UConn’s 60-32 romp over West
Virginia in the Big East championship game.
We’ll let ESPN’s Beth Mowins and Rebecca Lobo describe what happened.
“Connecticut in control and not only do they want to win, they want to
look good doing it,” Mowins says at the start of the 41-second clip
that has received nearly 1,900 hits on YouTube.. “Here’s Rebecca Lobo.”
“Beth, you know things are going well when Meghan Gardler comes (down)
on the possession and her hair gets a little bit messed up,” Lobo says.
“She takes the bobby pin out of her hair, puts it in her mouth, fixes
her hair, puts the bobby pin back in and is able to get her hands set
and is ready in time to drain the three. Ya gotta love it.”
“Setting the hair and the feet for the 3-pointer,” Mowins says. “Hey,
you can’t have your hair a hot mess if you’re going to be on national
TV.”
Her teammates were not surprised. Neither was anyone else who knows her.
“If you know me, my hair has to be perfect,” Gardler said. “I can’t
explain it. It was just a random thing. I’m an idiot.”
Gardler can laugh about the incident now because it’s one of the
treasured memories she will take with her when she graduates from
Connecticut next month with a degree in English.
She had a career any player would envy.
All the Huskies did in Gardler’s four years in Storrs was go 146-6
overall, 63-1 in the Big East, win four straight conference titles,
reach the Final Four three consecutive years, win back-to-back national
championships and the final 78 games of her collegiate career.
Back-to-back 39-0 seasons. Not a bad way to end a career.
“It still hasn’t hit me yet,” Gardler said. “I don’t know if it ever
will. We went through so much in the early part of our careers that to
finish like that is amazing.”
Even more astonishing is that for Gardler, it nearly didn’t happen.
She wanted to continue the family tradition and go to Saint Joseph’s.
However, according to Gardler, the Hawks did not have a scholarship
available. Most of the other teams probably backed off because
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma put a scholarship offer on the table
midway through her junior year at O’Hara.
That early scholarship offer turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“Going to Connecticut was the best thing for me,” Gardler said. “I did
play a lot. I averaged like 15 minutes a game this year and I had a
chance to play for maybe the greatest team ever. As a player, you can’t
ask for more than that.
“If I had gone somewhere else, my life would have been so different.
Looking back, I wouldn’t trade the experience I had at Connecticut for
anything in the world.”
Justice: Huskies cool under pressure
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
April 7, 2010, 12:16AM
SAN ANTONIO— Maya Moore's team was in disarray. Confused. Seemingly
vulnerable. Where had mighty Connecticut gone?
From the beginning of this NCAA Tournament, there'd been one lingering
question about the Huskies. What would happen to them in a close game?
Would they still play fast and free, with poise and confidence?
Or would all that stuff fly away on a night when shots didn't fall, and
the other team made a few plays? In their 77-game winning streak, not
one game had been decided by single digits, and the Huskies won their
first four tournament games by an average of 47.
On Tuesday night, with a second straight national championship on the
line, they got into a real game. Shots clanged. Offensive plays broke
down.
“We finally felt the pressure,“ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after
his team rallied for a 53-47 victory over Stanford to finish its second
straight perfect season.
First, though, a word about the team that didn't resemble UConn. The
Huskies scored 12 points in the first half and shot 17 percent. Yes,
you read those numbers correctly.
They trailed by nine at one point in the first half and by eight at
halftime. They missed 16 straight shots and went almost 11 minutes
without a field goal during one stretch.
This only became the perfect stage for their greatness. They finally
played a terrible half of basketball, finally gave an opponent hope.
And they made imperfect look perfect.
They were rescued by the best player in women's college basketball.
Moore made play after play. She slid into the lane for baskets, knocked
in jumpers, and when Stanford finally blinked, when Stanford finally
got a case of nerves, UConn turned another game into a clinic on
defensive pressure and offensive patience.
Moore did what Michael or Kobe would have done. When nothing else was
working, she lifted her team, and once things got rolling, they rolled
fast.
Moore scored 23 of UConn's 53 points, and in a game in which the
Huskies shot just 33 percent, in a game that frustrated them more than
they'd been frustrated in the last 730 days, they won anyway.
“That's why we're champions,“ Moore said. “We rise to the occasion. And
we love big-time games and big-time shots. We're on cloud nine right
now.“
So, yes, UConn can survive a close game. That's 78 in a row since
losing the national championship game to Stanford two years ago. That's
back-to-back perfect seasons and seven national championships for
Auriemma.
“It's what great players do,“ Auriemma said. “And they do it at the
most pressure-packed times. Maya is a great scorer. And you get that
reputation by scoring points under pressure.“
Auriemma was asked the other day if Uconn's dominance was good for
women's college basketball. He took exception to the question, said it
was gender-biased.
“If this was a men's team, no one would be asking that question,“ he
said. “I don't remember anybody asking questions about, you know, when
Tiger was winning every major, is this good for golf? Can't anybody out
there beat this guy? No, they couldn't. He was too damn good. Well,
everybody all of a sudden had to get better. So you either get better
or you just keep letting people win.
“We're the team that everybody loves to hate. We're the Yankees, we're
the Celtics, we're the Montreal Canadiens, we're the Russian hockey
team before 1980. But everything goes away at some point. Everything
changes. And when the change comes, it will be because somebody's paid
attention to what we're doing and said, you know what, that's how I'm
going to do it. I'm going to knock those guys off.“
Sure, UConn is good for women's college basketball. Even casual sports
fans know that Uconn is pretty good, and surely they tune in to see
just how good and to see if this is the night the streak ends.
Stanford had 20-13 lead a minute into the second half. And that was
pretty much that. Moore hit a jumper. Then another. That was the
beginning of a 16-2 run, one in which Moore made 11 of Uconn's 16
points.
“'You can't have any fear, any doubts,“ Moore said.
“We all recognized that we weren't ourselves, and we just had to leave
it in the locker room. That's what we did.“
The Huskies stretched the lead to 16 with 2:39 remaining, and when it
ended, Auriemma was standing there passively on the sideline, arms
crossed, expression revealing nothing. Afterwards, they
celebrated and tried to put it in perspective and began talking about
doing it again.
“People are going to expect us to win a national championship because
we've got Maya Moore,“ Auriemma said. “And I would say good. So do I.“
UConn skeptics can
shut up now
By Steve Rushin, Special to CNN
April 7, 2010 12:56 p.m. EDT
Editor's note: Steve Rushin, a
former Sports Illustrated writer, is the author of a new novel, "The
Pint Man," published by Doubleday. Visit his Web site at
http://www.steverushin.com/ or follow him on Twitter
Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) -- Few
defending champions in sport have had as much to defend as the
University of Connecticut women's basketball team. On Tuesday night,
the Huskies successfully defended their title (beating Stanford 53-47),
their winning streak (78 games) and themselves (against the charge that
they're "bad" for women's basketball).
They are so much better than every
other team, goes the argument of various scribes, yakkers and bloggers,
that they've made a mockery of the game. Never mind that these very
pundits have mocked the game for years. Perhaps that's UConn's real
crime: It's made a mockery of others' mockery.
I know. I once mocked women's
basketball -- and thank God I did. After I'd written a single line
casually ridiculing women's basketball in the pages of Sports
Illustrated, a woman confronted me in a bar in New York. She asked me
how many games I'd attended before forming my low opinion of the sport.
My armpits burst into flames, and I said that I'd never actually been
to a women's basketball game.
She invited me to one, and 23 months
later, I married that woman, Rebecca Lobo, who won a national
championship with an unbeaten UConn team in 1995 and a gold medal at
the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and who helped to launch the WNBA in 1997
as a member of the New York Liberty.
I'm not saying critics are wrong:
Perhaps UConn is bad for the sport, the way Secretariat was bad for
horse racing when he won the Belmont by 31 lengths, or the way the
Beatles diminished pop music by releasing 20 No. 1 hits, or the way da
Vinci's diversity of talents -- artist, engineer, inventor, etc. --
rendered the Renaissance irredeemably dull.
Or perhaps exceptional talent and
overriding excellence, over time, raises the level of everyone in its
proximity, in which case this UConn team might be the best thing that
ever happened to women's basketball.
True, when the Huskies play, the
outcome of every game is known in advance, much as the outcome of every
Perry Mason case was known in advance. The fun lay in seeing how the
inevitable victory happened -- in watching the genius at work. People
knew going in that Houdini always escaped. They still watched, because
the next time he might not. And so it goes for the Huskies, who trailed
20-12 after a hideous first half Tuesday night before slipping the
padlocks and swimming to the surface, triumphant.
People who play and appreciate
extraordinary basketball recognize this dominance as an end unto
itself. "UConn has too many weapons," Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin
Durant said on Twitter last week. "Best team ever in sports?"
Not many people can answer that
question knowledgeably, because most people don't watch women's
basketball. It can't help that the women's final is played between the
men's national championship game and the Masters golf tournament. It's
a subordinate clause between a giant pair of parentheses.
Pity, because the 2009-10 UConn
women are surely one of sports history's most dominant teams, one for
whom losing is unfathomable.
"What if the UConn women lose?"
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn asked on Twitter during the
tournament. "I hope not, because that means the end of the world is
near." He pleaded for the Huskies to save the planet -- or as Flynn put
it: "Win for Humanity."
Of course, the Huskies are not
saving mankind. Or womankind. Or womynkind. Women's teams, unlike
men's, are somehow required to carry the flag for their entire gender.
They're "empowering our daughters," they're sneaker-shod suffragettes.
The UCLA men's team that won 88 consecutive games in the early 1970s
weren't striking a blow for wearers of headbands or mutton-chop
sideburns. The Chicago Bulls dynasty of the '90s was not empowering the
rainbow-haired.
Men's teams play and are appreciated
on their own merits. We should be able to do the same with the UConn
women. They don't have to be heroines or feminist icons. The epithet my
wife most often uses to describe herself is "tall chick." That's what
the UConn women are: Women -- some tall, some not -- playing very good
basketball.
It's pleasure enough to watch a
bunch of shiny new parts working together, efficiently, toward a
devastating end: the kind of beauty you see in a combine harvester as
it threshes a field of wheat.
The opinions
expressed in this commentary are solely those of Steve Rushin.
Moore
Leads Connecticut to Women’s Title
NYTIMES
By HARVEY ARATON
April 6, 2010
SAN ANTONIO — Sometimes, the best coaching tactic is a desperate plea
to a team’s best player. Stand up. Do something. Show us the way.
After a half of basketball to disremember in the N.C.A.A. women’s
final, Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma sounded the alarm to Maya Moore
and the rest of his unbeaten Huskies on Tuesday night after a
first-half snooze on the national championship stage. Moore rose first,
to the moment of need and then to the level of her reputation as the
best player in the women’s college game.
With Vice President Joseph R. Biden watching at the Alamodome, Moore
assumed the role of commander-in-chief. Moore, a 6-foot forward, scored
18 of her 23 points in the second half, as Connecticut (39-0) rallied
from an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Stanford, 53-47, for its
78th straight victory and its second straight unbeaten season.
After the game, Auriemma climbed the stage in the center of the court
for the trophy presentation and went straight to Moore, hugging and
thanking her for delivering his seventh national title.
“Maya is obviously the best player that you can think of when you need
points, so when she’s making shots, the team feels like, ‘Wow, we can
accomplish anything,’ ” he said.
The first half might have set the women’s game back a couple of
decades, with both teams shooting at a staggeringly inept pace.
Connecticut’s salvation and second-half hope was that while its
first-half percentage — 17 percent, or 5 for 29 — was laughable,
Stanford’s, at 8 for 31, was abysmal.
Still, Auriemma watched his team go 10 minutes 37 seconds without a
point, finishing on the short end of a 20-12 halftime score.
“To be honest with you, and you know me, it was one of the few times I
was speechless,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life
and all my years at Connecticut. We were just so out of it and we just
talked about slowing everything down, getting a little better movement,
get some better screening, being a little more patient. And then Maya
just made some huge shots.”
Defended by Stanford’s rising sophomore, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Moore
credited the Cardinal for “getting us out of our rhythm.” Auriemma’s
astonishment aside, Moore said it was too early to worry, much less to
panic. When Stanford took a 2-point lead over Connecticut in a
regular-season game in December, the answer was a 30-6 Huskies spurt.
“We knew a run was coming,” Moore said.
It began with her grabbing a long rebound in the lane, squaring up from
15 feet and burying a jumper. On the Huskies’ next possession, she
ball-faked Ogwumike, stepped inside and banked home a jumper from the
right wing. A 3-pointer by Moore gave UConn its first lead, 23-22,
since the 13:32 mark in the first half. Then she leaked out after Tina
Charles as Charles blocked Ogwumike under the rim and then dropped in a
fast-break layup for a 27-22 lead.
While Moore was high-stepping her way forward, Jayne Appel, the
Cardinal’s 6-4 center, was limping through an 0-for-12 shooting
nightmare on a bum right ankle that felt worse after she went down in a
heap under the Stanford basket early in the second half. Appel took a
painkilling injection and returned a few minutes later, but her night
did not improve.
“You could correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never seen her go 0-fer,”
Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said. “She was in a lot of pain. And she
just kept going at it. But the ball was not dropping for her.”
Appel, a shadow of the all-American who scored 46 points in a
tournament game last season and had battled Charles across the years in
national competitions since they were 11, was unable to elevate and got
her shot blocked several times by Charles, who had six in the game.
With Appel laboring, Connecticut’s man-to-man defense sagged into more
of a zone when the ball went below the free-throw line. Ogwumike paid
the steepest price.
“I mean, yeah, they were sagging,” she said. “And it was as if every
time I went into the block and tried to make a move, there was always
someone there waiting for me. They were sagging off our other posts and
there was a lot of help-side.”
In plain English, that translated to 11 points for Ogwumike after her
38-point effort in a semifinal victory against Oklahoma. The Cardinal
needed more. While Connecticut improved its second half shooting to
48.3 percent, Stanford continued firing away like cross-eyed
gunslingers, finishing at 26.5 percent for the night. On defense,
Ogwumike had the chore of dealing with Moore, no enviable task once the
momentum had turned.
“They were screening each other more, so it caused a lot of franticness
because we were switching,” Ogwumike said. “So I think that’s how she
kind of got off.”
Aroused by Moore, Charles began playing tenaciously inside and the
sophomore guard Caroline Doty scored all 8 of her points. But when all
was said and done, Moore was the story, the best player making chicken
salad out of the first-half slop.
“She’s the best player in the game right now and she’s better than a
lot of professionals, too,” VanDerveer said.
The bad news for Stanford and everyone else is that Moore, a junior, is
not going anywhere. However much Auriemma doesn’t want to hear it, the
focus will be on whether Connecticut can break the 88-game winning
streak set by U.C.L.A.’s men’s team from 1971 to 1974.
“Please, let us enjoy this one,” Auriemma said after his raising his
record in national title games to 7-0, even as perfection never looked
so imperfect.
On Bench, a
Link to Auriemma’s Past
NYTIMES
By HARVEY ARATON
April 6, 2010
SAN ANTONIO — Bud Gardler would like to say that he always knew Geno
Auriemma had what it took to be a legend in his own time, but such
unmitigated praise would require suppressing his acerbic side. And as
Auriemma, a chip off the old coach, said, “He’s not exactly Mr.
Sentimentality.”
Suffice to say that Gardler, who coached Auriemma at Bishop Kenrick
High School in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown, Pa., four decades
ago, was thrilled when Auriemma called to offer his daughter a
scholarship to Connecticut. A 6-foot senior forward, Meghan Gardler
would have played much more than she has at Connecticut by signing with
Gardler’s alma mater, St. Joseph’s. But where else was she going to be
part of last season’s unbeaten national champion that defended
perfection Tuesday night by defeating Stanford, 53-47, in the
championship game.
And under what better circumstances might Bud Gardler have continued
his long friendship with Auriemma than by having his daughter keep it
in the extended family and play for Papa Geno?
“Was Geno a great high school player?” Gardler said. “No. But he was
one of those total gym junkies.” His daughter, he said, was an
all-state player at Bishop O’Hara High School — where Bud Gardler
coached boys basketball until two years ago and still teaches English —
but more of a utilitarian overachiever than a Tina Charles-like star.
When Gardler was a high school junior, her team played Charles’s Christ
the King powerhouse from New York. In hot pursuit of Charles, Auriemma
was impressed by the way Gardler got after Carrem Gay, who was also
being recruited nationally and went to Duke.
“A week later, Coach called and offered me a scholarship,” Meghan
Gardler said.
No leap of logic was required to suspect that Auriemma was doing his
former coach and old friend a favor. Auriemma would argue that Meghan
Gardler, as an accepting role player, was part of the alchemic mix
required to build a great team. Better yet, she was the unlikeliest
recruit in America that would chafe at his Philadelphia wit and the
wisdom.
“I knew his sarcastic humor, his demeanor, because I’d known him all my
life,” Meghan Gardler said. “And he’s kind of like my dad, anyway, so
the things he’d say to us in practice I’d already heard at home. When
he’d say something mean or sarcastic, you just take the positive out of
it and let the rest go in one ear and out the other.”
Her earliest memories of Auriemma include gifts of Connecticut jerseys
for her and her sister — hers with Shea Ralph’s name on the back and
her sister’s with Svetlana Abrosimova’s. Over the years, there have
been many family get-togethers at the Jersey Shore — “we rent, Geno
owns,” Bud Gardler said. Most popular were Wednesday wing nights at a
local pub or basketball games in which Auriemma continued his fruitless
crusade to successfully guard his old coach, a 6-foot guard who played
college ball in the 1960s. The insults would fly, Meghan said,
especially when some of Bud Gardler’s other former players were around.
But below the surface, the relationship between her father and Auriemma
is all about respect. “My father always said that years ago Geno always
spoke about him like he was John Wooden and now Geno talks to him like
Geno’s John Wooden,” Meghan said.
In the women’s game, that is who Auriemma has become, Bud Gardler said.
“I mean, 77 in a row, it’s just amazing,” he said.
As a senior this season, with her team blowing out most opponents,
Meghan Gardler averaged 13.5 minutes, 4.4 points and 2.8 rebounds. She
started two games, in her hometown at Villanova and on Senior Night
last month in Storrs, Conn. Escorting her out to receive her framed
jersey were her father and her mother, Mary.
In the emotion of the moment, everyone’s Philadelphia facade came
crashing down. Auriemma and Bud Gardler gave each other a big man hug.
NEW UNIFORM MORE COMFORTABLE OR LESS? Photo from fan
in Dayton area, supplied on BY.
THE
2009-2010 SEASON UNFOLDED -
ON BOTH CPTV
AND NATIONAL TV; DAY blog: Check scores: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/scoreboard
Different
streak, different UConn team. These Huskies have more weapons than 2003
group, including two candidates for national player of year
By Vickie Fulkerson, Day Sports
Writer
Article published Mar 3, 2010
South Bend, Ind. - Last time, the
number was 55.
UConn broke Louisiana Tech's
NCAA record 54-game women's basketball winning streak on Jan. 18, 2003,
with a victory over Georgetown in Hartford ... and coach Geno Auriemma
didn't make it to the press conference because of a headache.
Then came Monday night, when
deep in the confines of Notre Dame's Joyce Center, where a sold-out
crowd just finished watching the Huskies win their 69th game in a row -
one short of the NCAA record 70 they ended up with in 2003, well,
Auriemma's head hurt.
"We just won this game and I
got a huge headache and there's no reason for it," Auriemma said with a
laugh.
UConn, which completed its
second straight 30-0 regular season and saw senior center Tina Charles
become the program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the same
day against Notre Dame, will get its next chance at history in the
upcoming Big East tournament.
The Huskies play either No. 8
Providence, No. 9 Syracuse or No. 16 Seton Hall in the quarterfinals at
2 p.m. Sunday, vying for win No. 70.
UConn put together
back-to-back perfect regular seasons during both streaks.
Auriemma said this encore
doesn't feel nearly as stressful as the first one. In 2003, the Huskies
were following a 2002 team that went 39-0 and boasted four first-round
picks in that year's WNBA draft. In 2003, the Huskies had one
All-American (Diana Taurasi) but that was enough.
"It was Diana against the
rest of the country," Auriemma said Monday night.
"It was really a grind. This
one has not felt that way because there hasn't been that constant
attention, people constantly asking about it and struggling to score
points. We just go play the games and see what happens."
Auriemma said there was a
great deal that was unknown coming into this season. The Huskies were
39-0 again in 2009 with the program's sixth national championship. And
they graduated All-American point guard Renee Montgomery.
But rather than one great
player like Taurasi, the Huskies have two national player of the year
candidates in Charles and Maya Moore, both All-Americans, and five
starters who scored in double figures against Notre Dame. Sophomores
Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty have filled in for Montgomery by
committee.
"I knew this season would be
harder than last," the coach said. "There were so many unknowns going
into the season. Those unknowns have kind of taken care of themselves."
The team will take a couple
days off before resuming practice Thursday. The Big East all-star teams
will be announced Thursday, followed by the player of the year
announcement on Friday, the first day of the tournament at Hartford's
XL Center.
"It's going to be good,"
UConn senior Kalana Greene said of the time off. "It's been a long,
long season, a tough season. People don't think that it has been hard
on our bodies, but it is because we practice more than we play and our
practices are hard. We'll just try to regroup and get healthy and get
mentally prepared.
"Starting next week it's
over. It's all done and this doesn't matter. We need to focus on being
1-0."
Auriemma seconded Greene's
notion that it's not easy to accomplish the things UConn has, with a
little piece of history seemingly added to the annals every day - even
though he said it's hard to think of all the mind-boggling numbers he's
read about lately involving points, rebounds and streaks.
"Sometimes we make it look
easy," Auriemma said. "I just admire these kids coming to play every
night. It's pretty impressive if you ask me."
All
UConn all the time
DAY (Fulkerson) BLOG
February 28, 2010
So it was a UConn kind of day.
I woke up. Watched the first
episode of "The Climb: UConn’s Quest for Perfection" on YouTube.com (it
aired yesterday on ESPNU, which I don’t get on my cable), saw Tina
Charles finish with 33 points and 15 rebounds on Senior Day in Hartford
and came home and packed to go to Notre Dame tomorrow.
My favorite part of the ESPN
show was UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s quote, one that could be used as
the mission statement for the program, which has now won 68 games in a
row and has six national championships:
"We’re not coaching girls’
basketball here for sure and we’re not coaching women’s basketball.
We’re coaching basketball," Geno said.
"So what’s the difference?
‘You’re being demeaning toward women’s basketball.’ I am. Did you ever
watch a women’s basketball game? You see how many layups they miss? How
many times they throw the ball away? Why? I don’t know. Cause it’s ‘my
bad.’ ‘It’s all right sweetheart, we’ll get the next one.’
"Well, if that’s the way you
were raised and that’s how you want to play, then go somewhere else."
Also, in segments taped by
UConn seniors Kaili McLaren and Jacquie Fernandes, we learned that at
some point this season, the Huskies all piled on the team bus … and
accidentally left national player of the year Maya Moore at a
restaurant.
There will be three more
segments of the show, which should also be fun to watch.
Not sure quite how to
describe Tina’s performance, which got her within 13 points and five
rebounds of setting UConn’s all-time scoring and rebounding records,
which should both come Monday at Notre Dame. I guess to sum it
up, all you need to know is that Tina picked off Rebecca Lobo, Kara
Wolters and Diana Taurasi on the scoring list in the 84-62 win over
Georgetown, all former national players of the year.
There doesn’t seem to be any
kind of pressure affecting this team. The players insist they’re taking
things one game at a time. They even sang a little in Saturday’s press
conference.
Tina did receive her second
technical foul in the last two weeks against Georgetown. Last time,
against St. John’s, she was called for a technical for hitting a St.
John’s player in the face, when in watching the replay it appeared
Charles hit the player with her follow-through. Someone brought the
technical up to Tina after the Georgetown game.
"I thought Caroline would
have more technicals than me," Tina said of Caroline Doty, sitting to
her left. "I said, ‘And one.’ It was kind of miscommunicated where I
was looking when I said it."
Finally … unbelievable
history on the line at Notre Dame on Monday. UConn is playing for its
69th straight win, in pursuit of the NCAA record of 70, and Tina is
going after Nykesha Sales (scoring leader) and Lobo (rebounding
leader), all on national TV.
More from South Bend.
Until then …
PROVIDENCE GAME (r..)
OMG...Kaili got even for me, said
Meghan, having had her septum deviated earlier in the game - you go
girl! Meanwhile...Maya still upset that she knocked over the
water bottle and sent the pens and pencils flying on a rear-side line
table, saying "Did I replace everything just so?" Senior Day at
XL Center v. Georgetown, left.
OMG ...
Oklahoma's OK
DAY
Vickie Fulkerson
Article published Feb 16, 2010
So I spent all day in
Oklahoma texting people back home things like, "Oh, my God, this is
awesome," beginning with my lunch at country singer Toby Keith’s
restaurant. (There’s an American Soldier special, "courtesy of the red,
white and blue.")
Then I got to the Lloyd Noble Center
on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. And that didn’t disappoint
either.
With the day designated as Pack the
House Pink, with proceeds going to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, every
seat in the 12,000-seat arena was draped with a pink T-shirt. It looked
just as festive before the game as it did when the 11,865 fans arrived
and put the shirts on.
The fans screamed Oklahoma to a
second-half lead.
Said UConn’s Maya Moore of the
crowd: "We knew we had to stick together."
Of course, Moore had
something to do with silencing the crowd, scoring 14 second-half points
as top-ranked UConn (26-0) upped its winning streak to 65, inching
closer to the 70 straight victory mark that stands as the NCAA record.
The final score was UConn 76,
No. 11 Oklahoma 60, no different than the outcome in the other 64
games, all of which the Huskies have won by double figures. This one, however, featured six lead
changes.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma barely
subbed, playing his four starters for at least 33 minutes each.
UConn’s Kalana Greene fouled
out for the first time in her career.
Maya picked up her second
foul early.
Geno said he saw a little bit
of former UConn All-America point guard Renee Montgomery in Oklahoma’s
Danielle Robinson.
UConn turned it over more
than its opponent for the second straight game (15-12).
Things got interesting.
And the nationally televised
game had a big-time atmosphere.
How often do you drive across
a college campus and pass a football stadium which seats 82,112 fans to
watch a team that has won seven national championships, then pass a
1,000-seat softball stadium built for a team that has been to five
Women’s College World Series? And then you get to the basketball arena
where 11,000-plus fans are screaming for a team that made it to the
Final Four last year. Cheering. Booing.
There was a sign on press
row, by the way, that warned reporters there would be pyrotechnics used
in the pregame introductions and that it might be a good idea to
temporarily relocate.
Oh, my God. Sorry. But it was
awesome.
B
I G E A S T C O M P E T I T
I O N U N D E R W A Y
Just another day at the office,as UConn commutes to Philly to play
Villanova...
IF KIPLING HAD BEEN AT THE GAME...
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and turning it over,
If you can trust yourself when all people doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too, since you know you're good...
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, like some other folks do,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and make the put-back
And win, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your winning streak;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Presidents--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all people count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With forty minutes worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be NUMBER ONE!
-Rudyard Kipling (slightly
changed)
N U M B E R O N
E A G A I N S T N U M B E
R T W O . . . D E C E M B E
R 2 3 , 2 0 0 9
WITH THE 2000 TEAM AND RENEE WATCHING...
What a game!!! We especially liked the first half, when Stanford
could do no wrong...but they only were ahead by one basket! It
was clear that the second half would be different (there was a lid over
the hoop at one end, and in the second half, that became Stanford's
problem!!! NYTIMES reports below: on
the game; about Maya and the Rhodes
Scholarship possibilities.
UConn 80, Stanford 68: Cupcakes
Polished Off, UConn Gets Serious
NYTIMES
By JERÉ LONGMAN
December 24, 2009
HARTFORD — Geno Auriemma gathered his players recently and announced
that the cupcake part of Connecticut’s schedule was over. The Huskies’
remaining regular-season games would be to win the Big East women’s
title and to answer challenges against such powers as Stanford, Duke,
North Carolina and Oklahoma.
“About time,” the reserve forward Meghan Gardler said.
The first real test came Wednesday as second-ranked Stanford took a
2-point halftime lead over the top-ranked Huskies and threatened their
48-game winning streak.
The danger ended quickly, though, in an 80-68 UConn victory fueled by
23 points from Maya Moore, a hounding defense and a relentless fast
break.
The final score hardly described UConn’s second-half dominance before a
sellout of 16,294 at XL Center. The win suggested that the Huskies
(10-0) could be headed to a second consecutive undefeated season and a
seventh national title.
Since losing to Stanford in the 2008 national semifinals, UConn has won
every game by double figures. On Wednesday, a 44-44 tie ballooned to a
72-50 lead before Stanford (9-1) rallied in the final, inconsequential
minutes.
Moore struggled with her jumper after two early fouls and reached
halftime without a rebound or an assist. In the second half, she
displayed her usual mastery and delivered 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4
assists in 18 minutes.
The Huskies repeatedly challenged Jayne Appel, Stanford’s 6-foot-4
center, dumping the ball inside to Tina Charles (20 points, 12
rebounds), storming the lane and tightroping the baseline. Forward
Kalana Greene added 17 points and 9 rebounds.
UConn pressed Stanford early in the second half, shredding its triangle
offense, then hit the boards and the gas pedal.
“They went to the basket,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said. “They
don’t care if you get in the way or not, they’re going in there.
They’re head and shoulders above us. They play at a different pace than
anybody.”
UConn Star Has an Eye on Oxford
NYTIMES
By JERÉ LONGMAN
December 24, 2009
HARTFORD — Maya Moore of Connecticut is a first-team all-American on
the basketball court and in the classroom, which means there are points
to be scored, averages to be kept and scholarships to seek on more than
one level.
At the urging of her academic advisers, Moore, a 6-foot junior forward
who is the consensus best player in the country, said she was
considering applying for a Rhodes scholarship. If selected for 2011,
she would be the most prominent basketball player chosen since Bill
Bradley in 1965 and Tom McMillen in 1974.
“I don’t think you can say that one aspect of my life built my
perspective,” Moore, 20, said in an interview before scoring 23 points
as top-ranked UConn defeated second-ranked Stanford, 80-68, here
Wednesday. “It is a combination of my faith, my family, the people I’ve
met at Connecticut and understanding that basketball is a platform for
something bigger than the game, helping people, touching people’s
lives. You can do that internationally with basketball.”
Of the 12 athletes chosen among 32 Americans as Rhodes scholars for
2009, two played women’s basketball in college — Caitlin Mullarkey, who
also played soccer and ran track at Swarthmore; and Lindsay Whorton, an
all-Missouri Valley Conference player at Drake. Rebecca Lobo of UConn
was a candidate in 1995.
Moore, who has a 3.7 grade point average in sports media and promotion,
could not say exactly what broadened her perspective in college. But
she noted that she had traveled internationally with USA Basketball,
playing in Serbia and in Slovakia. In November 2008, she got out of
practice early and sprinted to a lecture by the author and poet Maya
Angelou — after whom she was named because her mother admired Angelou’s
work.
“She represents so many things, not just for African-Americans, but for
our country,” Moore said at the time. “I think of her like a Barack
Obama — one of the first icons for us.”
Moore later met President Obama when UConn traveled to the White House
after winning the 2009 national title with an undefeated season. She
was named both the national player of the year and a first-team
academic all-American.
“I felt a deeper appreciation for the founders of this nation,” Moore
wrote in a blog post after visiting the White House. “We truly do live
in an amazing country. Actually walking where some of our great leaders
have walked gave me chills! Meeting President Obama was as enjoyable as
advertised, and he left an inspiring impression on us all.”
The fact that the president took time to shoot a few baskets with the
players “made me remember what life is all about,” Moore wrote. “It is
about investing in people and having faith that the love you impart on
them will somehow make the world better than it was.”
She said she had not yet considered whether she, too, might be
interested in a political career, as were Bradley and McMillen, who
served in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives,
respectively. Still, reflecting on her trip to the White House, Moore
said, “When you have those type of experiences, you start thinking
bigger than yourself.”
The application process for a Rhodes scholarship is complicated and
arduous. Geno Auriemma, the UConn coach, said that for Moore to be a
serious candidate, she must find a deeply felt subject to study at
Oxford. She might have to delay her entry into the W.N.B.A., where she
is expected to be the first pick in the 2011 draft. But it is a summer
league, and Moore said she thinks she could juggle her academic and
athletic responsibilities.
“Does she have a passion for one thing that will take her in that
direction, like, ‘I want to be the greatest writer ever; I want to get
my Ph.D. in this and I think this is the one thing that consumes my
life’? ” Auriemma said. “I think you have to have a single-mindedness
in order to do that. Some people do and some don’t.”
A chance to play in the 2012 Olympics could also play a factor in her
decision, although Moore might find herself in an accommodating
position. Auriemma will coach the United States women’s team at those
Games, which will be held in London.
Still, athletes can feel tremendous pressure when applying for a Rhodes
scholarship, Auriemma said. They excel at their chosen sports because
they are in control and are often able to influence the outcome of a
game. They become more vulnerable when putting their futures to a vote
of a panel of judges.
“The chances of getting turned down are greater than being accepted,”
Auriemma said. “You’ve got to be willing at the end to maybe be
disappointed. Some of the great ones don’t like to put themselves in a
situation where they can’t control the outcome. On the court, the
scoreboard is the only vote that counts. But for these kids to put
themselves in a situation of applying for a Rhodes scholarship takes
courage. They have zero control. I admire anyone in that position. If
Maya wanted to, I would do everything in my power to help her see it
through.”
Whether Moore applies or not, and is accepted or rejected, she seems to
have an insatiable appetite for knowledge and expertise of all sorts,
said Kalana Greene, a teammate. “If there is an opportunity out there
to get something, she goes and gets it,” Greene said. “She’s a great
communicator. She can talk to anyone. We always crack on her, ‘Maya
you’re not good at everything,’ but really she is. She’s even a good
drummer. She can listen to any song, gather the beat and she has it.”
UCONN 1999-2000 HONORED
AT STANFORD GAME DECEMBER 23, 2009 (r.): Renee in the stands,
(notice who she is sitting among) itching to get on the floor and sink
a 3 (first half)!!!
CPTV's UConn Broadcast Schedule
for 2009-2010 (Subject to Change)
RE: CPTV's
carriage of the Georgetown /BE Game Of The Week. It WILL be on
CPTV. Each year we have been granted rights to carry the UConn BE Game.
We will be carrying the ceremony live from the XL with Meghan (Culmo)
and Beth Mowins. When the Senior Day/Night game is a CPTV production,
the ceremony always begins at the scheduled game time and the tip is
pushed back In this case, that won't happen so the ceremony will start
at approximately 11:37am. I want to make sure folks tuning into the
game don't miss this. Below is our UConn day schedule:
9:00am - Geno Show with special guests Bob Joyce and Kara Wolters
10:00am - A Tribute To The Class of 2010
11:30am - Senior Ceremony - live from the XL
12:00pm - UConn vs. Georgetown
2:15pm* - A Tribute To The Class of 2010 replay
3:30pm* - Witness To Perfection: UConn Women's Basketball 2009
*time approximate
Full UConn WBB:
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-baskbl/sched/conn-w-baskbl-sched.html
(Games
completed in italics)
Tuesday, November 10 at 8pm
The Geno Auriemma Show: You Make the
Call (live call-in show)
Saturday, November 14 at 2 pm
vs. Northeastern (Gampel Pavilion)
Friday, November 20 at 7:30 pm
at Holy Cross
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the
game at 7 pm)
Friday, November 27 at 7:30 pm
2009 WBCA Classic Tournament - UConn
vs. Hofstra (Gampel Pavilion)
Saturday, November 28 at 7:30 pm
2009 WBCA Classic Tournament - UConn
vs. Richmond (Gampel Pavilion)
Sunday, November 29 at 4:30 pm
2009 WBCA Classic Tournament - UConn
vs. Clemson (Gampel Pavilion)
Thursday, December 3 at 7:30 pm
vs. Vermont (Gampel Pavilion)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the
game at 7 pm
Thursday, December 10 at 7 pm
vs. Hartford (XL Center)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the
game at 6 pm)
Sunday, December 20 at 6 pm
vs. Iona (Gampel Pavilion)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the
game at 5 pm)
Monday, January 4 at 7 pm
vs. University of South Florida (XL Center)
Thursday, January 7 at 7:30 pm
vs. Cincinnati (Gampel Pavilion)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the game at 7 pm)
Wednesday, January 13 at 8 pm
at Marquette
Tuesday, February 2 at 7 pm
vs. West Virginia (XL Center)
Wednesday, February 10 at 8 pm
at DePaul
Saturday, February 13 at 5 pm
vs. St. John's (Gampel Pavilion)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the game at 4 pm)
Saturday, February 20 at 1 pm
vs. Providence (XL Center)
(The Geno Auriemma Show precedes the game at 12 pm)
Saturday, February 27 at 12 pm
vs. Georgetown (XL Center)
(The Geno Auriemma Show at 10 am precedes A Tribute To The Class of
2010 at 11 am)
THANK YOU, BONEYARD!
From a moderator of that board, on
August 13, 2009:
...Some information from NCAA.org
(a) August 1 through September 15,
2009: Quiet Period
(b) September 16 through October 6,
2009: Contact Period
October 2-4, 2009: Evaluations
permitted at nonscholastic women’s basketball events.
(c) October 7, 2009 through February
28, 2010, [except for (1) and (2) below]: Evaluation Period
(1) November 9-12, 2009: Dead
Period
(2) December 24-26, 2009: Dead
Period
(d) March 1 through April 1,
2010: Contact Period
Definitions:
Contact
A contact occurs any time a coach
has any face-to-face contact with you or your parents off the college's
campus and says more than hello. A contact also occurs if a coach has
any contact with you or your parents at your high school or any
location where you are competing or practicing.
Contact Period
During this time, a college coach
may have in-person contact with you and/or your parents on or off the
college's campus. The coach may also watch you play or visit your high
school. You and your parents may visit a college campus and the coach
may write and telephone you during this period.
Dead Period
The college coach may not have any
in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead
period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during
this time.
Evaluation.
An evaluation is an activity by a
coach to evaluate your academic or athletics ability. This would
include visiting your high school or watching you practice or compete.
Evaluation Period
The college coach may watch you play
or visit your high school, but cannot have any in-person conversations
with you or your parents off the college's campus. You and your parents
can visit a college campus during this period. A coach may write and
telephone you or your parents during this time.
Official Visit
Any visit to a college campus by you
and your parents paid for by the college. The college may pay the
following expenses:
• Your transportation to and from
the college;
• Room and meals (three per day)
while you are visiting the college; and
• Reasonable entertainment expenses,
including three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest.
Before
a college may invite you on an official visit, you will have to provide
the college with a copy of your high school transcript (Division I
only) and SAT, ACT or PLAN score and register with the NCAA Eligibility
Center.
Prospective
Student-Athlete
You become a “prospective
student-athlete” when:
• You start ninth-grade classes; or
• Before your ninth-grade year, a
college gives you, your relatives or your friends any financial aid or
other benefits that the college does not provide to students generally.
Quiet Period
The college coach may not have any
in-person contact with you or your parents off the college's campus.
The coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this
period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this
time. A coach may write or telephone you or your parents during this
time.
Unofficial Visit
Any visit by you and your parents to
a college campus paid for by you or your parents. The only expense you
may receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a
home athletics contest. You may make as many unofficial visits as you
like and may take those visits at any time. The only time you cannot
talk with a coach during an unofficial visit is during a dead period.
Verbal Commitment
This phrase is used to describe a
college-bound student-athlete's commitment to a school before he or she
signs (or is able to sign) a National Letter of Intent. A college-bound
student-athlete can announce a verbal commitment at any time. While
verbal commitments have become very popular for both college-bound
student-athletes and coaches, this "commitment" is NOT binding on
either the college-bound student-athlete or the school. Only the
signing of the National Letter of Intent accompanied by a financial aid
agreement is binding on both parties.
© The National Collegiate
Athletic Association
WNBA
ALL-STAR GAME: Auriemma's
Prints Are All Over This Day
Courant.com
Jeff Jacobs
July 26, 2009
STORRS — Sorry, my mistake.
UNCASVILLE — Five of the 22 WNBA All-Stars played at UConn. If you're
keeping score in Knoxville, Tenn., that's 22.7 percent of the best
players in the world.
Swin Cash, Class of 2002, was named
Most Valuable Player and set an All-Star Game record Saturday with 22
points in the West's 130-118 victory.
Rebecca Lobo, Class of 1995, was
named to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
And during a halftime ceremony
honoring the 2008 Olympians, Geno Auriemma, the coach of the 2012 team,
got the biggest ovation of the day from the sellout crowd of 9,518 at
Gampel, oops, Mohegan Sun Arena.
"It's a WNBA event," Sue Bird said.
"But I think UConn might have taken over."
Bird had 16 points and 10 assists
for the West, while Diana Taurasi had 18 points, Charde Houston scored
16 and, man, we hate to sound provincial, but UConn's fingerprints were
all over this celebration of women's basketball.
"Coach's fingerprints are all over
everything," corrected Lobo. "I brought up all the UConn All-Stars to
Diana, and she said, 'It's all because of The Man.' If he had never
become the coach at UConn, you wouldn't have any of this happening.
"It's great to be a Husky today.
Best program in the country."
You say this and still plan on being
in Knoxville next June for the induction?
"People are very nice to me there,"
Lobo said. "I hope Coach Summitt invites me over. I hear she makes a
mean whatever the drink is. I know she'll save me from any wild
raccoons, too."
Coming off a third perfect season
and with a seventh national title on the horizon, you don't need the
vinaigrette to realize these are the salad days of UConn basketball.
There will be at least four, possibly five or six and — good grief — a
long shot of seven Huskies among 12 U.S. Olympians in London.
"People always tell me the impact
Connecticut basketball has had," Auriemma said. "I kind of shrug it off
and move on. A day like today makes you sit back and for the first time
get a sense what it means to the world of basketball in college, in the
pros and the Olympics."
Auriemma had the 2002 starting five
over to the house Friday night. It was the first time they had all been
together in seven years. Auriemma said he was flooded by memories.
"We were hoping Renee and Maya would
show up," Taurasi said. "We were a little disappointed. We wanted to
play 2-on-2 in the backyard.
Bird and Taurasi, of course, had
gone on ESPN earlier in the day and Bird told the world the 2002 team
would beat the 2009 team nine out of 10 times by an average of 15
points. Auriemma offered no rebuttal.
"I kept telling this year's team
that they beat you by 20 every night," Auriemma said. "I said it to try
to motivate them. But Sue, D and those guys, they think even 10 years
from now no one will ever be able to beat them. And they're right. As
good a team as we had this year, as great a group of guys we had, I
don't think there'll ever be at team like that 2002 team — ever."
Now he was on a roll. He wanted to
talk about Lobo.
"I don't know anybody's done more,
or had a bigger impact on women's basketball in the last 25 years,"
Auriemma said. "The average person in America who didn't know anything
about women's basketball knows Rebecca Lobo and what she did in college.
"She hasn't changed one bit since
high school. She was the girl next door. I don't think anybody could
have handled what happened in her college career the way she handled
it. ... She's unsurpassed as a person. Smart, talented, kind, generous,
a mom. ... She's on the board of trustees at UConn. She's great on TV,
married to a great guy."
He wanted to talk about Taurasi and
her DUI.
"Diana is the best player in the
world," Auriemma said. "I spent a lot of time talking to her about a
lot of things. Rebecca hasn't changed. Diana hasn't changed. When Diana
was in high school the reason everybody wanted her was she was a
carefree spirit, lives life to the fullest. That's why people love her.
That's why she's the player she is.
"This time it got the best of her.
She's at the stage right now where this is the best she's ever played,
the best she has ever looked physically. An incident like this can make
you even better. It forces you to make some changes to who you are.
We've all been in the situation where something bad could happen. Some
of us got caught. Some of us didn't. This is going to turn into a good
thing for her. I really believe that."
He talked about Maya Moore's knee
injury. She's fine. He talked about how Tina Charles used to be a
little kid in a big girl's body and now she's a big kid in a big girl's
body. Her doubts, he said, are gone.
And he talked plenty about Cash,
about how injuries cost her a chance to return to the Olympic team in
2008, and how if he has anything to say about it she'll get her shot at
2012.
"I was talking to Swin about how
much she has grown," Auriemma said. "Sometimes injuries, her back, her
knee, take a lot away from you and you never regain your form. She's
actually a better player now than before she got hurt."
And, just think, when she showed up
in Storrs, she was ...
"A diva," Auriemma said. "She was
very competitive and very much wanted a lot of the attention. Rightly
so. That's probably why she beat out all those other guys to start. She
has a more calculated aggression now, before it was wild, spontaneous.
She's become a mature pro. I'm really proud of her."
And, yes, he couldn't resist
sticking a needle in somebody's eye.
"There are a lot of people in that
Women's Hall of Fame who aren't nearly as good as the guys I coached
who aren't in," he said. "Take in consideration where it is and who
gets involved in voting. ... Jen Rizzotti should be in. Kara Wolters
should be in."
Never satisfied. Always pushing.
"How many more years can you do
this?" he said. "I've been thinking about that. It ends for everybody
at some point ... but not yet."
And on this day? Not even close.
Copyright ©
2009, The Hartford Courant
Watch
Tina tonight (July 12) at 7PM http://www.sportzu.tv/
From
the UCONN website...July 11, 2009
BELGRADE, Serbia - University of
Connecticut senior Tina Charles (Jamaica, N.Y.) erupted for 28 points
and 18 rebounds to lead the 2009 USA World University Games Team to an
83-64 win over Russia in the gold-medal game on Saturday at the 2009
World University Games.
Charles posted her third
double-double effort over the USA's eight games and registered
double-figure points for the seventh time over those eight games.
Charles shot 11-of-16 from the field
and 7-of-8 from the free throw line while playing just 21 minutes, en
route to her 28-point, 18-rebound effort.
"I just wanted to go out and play
the way I know how to play," Charles said. "I treated this like it was
a national championship game or a Big East Conference championship
game. I know everybody worked hard, everybody wanted to win, and that's
what was always on my mind."
She posted averages of 14.1 points
and 7.1 rebounds over the USA's eight contests at the World University
Games.
UConn rising sophomore Tiffany Hayes
(Lakeland, Fla.) chipped in three points and two rebounds in 16 minutes.
Connecticut junior Maya Moore
(Lawrenceville, Ga.) also was a member of the gold-medal winning squad,
but did not see any action after suffering a sprained knee during
training.
The USA dominated the glass,
outrebounding Russia 52-32 and scoring 22 second-chance points to
Russia's four.
For the tournament, the USA squad
posted a perfect 8-0 mark and won those games by an average of 29.0
points.
Also today, Australia (5-2) defeated
Czech Republic (4-3) 88-77 to take home the bronze medal.
USA Basketball women's teams have
participated in 15 World University Games tournaments and collected a
record seven golds, six silvers and one bronze medal. Since 1973, the
first year the USA women competed in the WUGs, the United States has
compiled an 89-15 record.
http://www.politico.com/largevideobox.html?bcpid=1243705446&bclid=1201016315&bctid=21208793001
After ceremony, President Obama shows UCONN his
basketball court. All enrolled in "Diplomacy 101" for
3-credits, UCONN, playing in high heals and dresses, loses to the
President in a game of "h-o-r-s-e-" - shortened to
"p-i-g" for this event. Thanks to all whose photos we use, and
especially to CT's very own king of the 4th estate, below, here in a
D.C.
outpost for those at the top!
Check out the sharp dresser from the Courant!
It was a day I will never forget
Hartford Courant
By John Altavilla on April 28, 2009 10:44 AM
Allow me to begin by saying that I met Helen Thomas Monday, the grand
dame of the White House press corps, who has covered every president
since JFK and can be found in a front row seat at every presidential
press conference.
Ms. Thomas will be 89 on Aug. 4 and when I arrived at the White House
Monday with Courant photographer John Woike, she was sitting at her
desk, well-dressed with red lipstick, reading the New York Times. Some
one asked me if I would like to meet her. Uh, duh?
I walked up to her, extended my hand and said, "Ms. Thomas, I am John
Altavilla of the Hartford Courant. This is my first time at the White
House and I am here to cover the President's reception for the UConn
women's basketball team, which won the national championship this
season.I am happy to meet you"
Ms. Thomas looked up, took my hand, smiled and said, "John, it's a
pleasure to meet you. It's a lot better than the alternative."
Shaking hands with Helen Thomas was like shaking hands with American
political history. In that one moment I was connected to JFK, LBJ and
Nixon. I can't quite describe it. The only moment I can
equate it to in my career as a lowly sportswriter was the time I walked
into the restroom at Yankee Stadium and Joe DiMaggio was standing at
the next stall. What can you possibly say at that moment
that makes any sense, has any gravity, preserves your dignity?
"Good morning, Mr. DiMaggio?," I said.
He nodded. Good enough for me.
Monday was, without question, the greatest day of my professional
career. Until then, covering David Cone's perfect game for the Yankees
on Yogi Berra Day had that honor. No more. Seeing the White
House from afar, from behind the iron gates on Pennsylvania Avenue, is
one thing. Being on assignment there, having access to the grounds,
being in presence of the President, is an entirely different matter.
A couple of impressions.....
Despite what some people believe, journalists are depended on to
be level-headed and bi-partisan, not to allow personal feelings or
sentiments interfere with or cloud judgments. That is all well and
good. When you are standing behind a rope and the President
of the United States walks ouf of a door and stops 10 feet in front of
you for the first time, everything they teach you in Journalism school
temporarily is suspended. I was in awe. I wanted to shake his hand. I
wanted to tell him that my son, who is in fifth grade, wanted me to say
hello to him and to ask him to bring peace to the world before
Christmas.
I couldn't, of course - that's what the rope was for. Only those in
UConn private traveling party, sitting in front of the ropes on folding
chairs, got that privilege.
It was a blistering hot afternoon and the White House asked John and I
to report to security at least an hour before the schedule 2 p.m.
ceremony. We arrived at noon, uncertain about what we'd confront.
We were cleared quickly by security and walked up the sidewalk to the
left of the main entrance of the White House. Protesters were gathered
outside the gates, as usual. A marine in formal dress, wearing white
gloves and a vacant stare, was watching sentry in front of a building,
indicating President Obama was inside. John and I walked into the
media room, which is where Presidential press secretaries hold those
informational sessions you see all the time on television. I had always
imagined it to be a huge conference room. Nope, it was no larger than
the media room we work at the XL Center - but it was air conditioned
and there was no pizza.
I wore a grey suit, blue shirt and purple tie because I was under the
impression that when you were formally in the presence of the
President, such attire was required. Nope, many of the photographers
and reporters there had polo shirts on.
Only the media staffers working the event were formally dressed. Still,
I am happy I made the decision I did. I like to get dressed up; if
you've seen me at games, you know that already. I didn't want to
embarass myself, my newspaper or the UConn basketball program, both of
whom I was representing, by showing up in khakis and boat shoes.
It was not an easy process getting credentialed to cover the event. The
White House has a "pool" of reporters and photographers that routinely
cover these "meet-and-greets" and then distribute video and photos to
the world. The Courant asked for additional access and not until late
Saturday afternoon was it granted by the White House.
Still, having credentials to cover an event like this didn't mean you
could walk where you wanted to. Vistors are cleared to be in only very
specific areas. You always had to be aware of where you were. Media
personnel were there setting up ropes, holding you back with open
palms, telling you - nicely as can be - where you could go, when you
could go there and when you should be back. You do not question their
instructions.
After the President made his remarks, he invited the team to his
basketball court for an impromptu game of P-I-G. This was what John and
I were hoping for, a spontaneous event, an inside look. Not Monday,
unfortunately. The pool reporters, John and I, were not allowed to walk
with them. Only the White House photographer and UConn's personal
photographer were allowed to go, which explains why photos of the
President taking jump shots are not where John and I had hoped they
would be.
After it was over, John and I were allowed to wait for the team inside
one of the ornate holding rooms inside the White House. We walked down
a grand hallway, looked at the portraits and statues, peeked inside a
few rooms. Unbelievable. And after our interviews were over, our
shirts drenched with sweat, we returned to our hotel, had ice coffee,
filed our photos and stories and then drove seven hours home.
All in a day's work - the best day of my professional life.
Obama Shoots Hoops With UConn Women’s
Team (out-takes from the event)
DAY
Published on 4/28/2009
Championship ceremony is a White House standard for sports teams.
Shooting hoops with the president, now that's something to remember.
Moments after Monday's event in front of the South Portico, President
Barack Obama hustled the University of Connecticut's women's basketball
team over to the outdoor half-court, away from reporters and cameras.
The president, a former high school player and avid fan who still plays
pickup games, prevailed in a brief, impromptu game of P-I-G with a few
of the players.
”He was pretty good from 17 feet,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “His
shot's a little unorthodox, but it goes in ... He's got a little bit of
that swagger.”
Renee Montgomery, a senior guard, said Obama only missed one shot and
that he sank a final fadeaway shot from off the court.
After about 10 minutes, Obama walked back to the White House with his
sleeves rolled up and his suit jacket slung over his shoulder.
UConn dominated women's college basketball this season, going 39-0 and
beating opponents by an average of better than 30 points. They capped
the season earlier this month in St. Louis with a 76-54 victory over
Louisville. It was UConn's sixth national college championship.
”Under coach Auriemma's leadership, this Huskies program has redefined
excellence again and again,” Obama said. The president also praised the
academic achievements of the players.
The team gave Obama a basketball signed by the players and a UConn
jersey emblazoned with “1” and his name on the back.
”Number one - that's what I'm talking about,” Obama said.
UConn Women's Basketball Team Visits
President Obama At The White House; President Obama Welcomes
UConn Women To White House
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA
3:32 PM EDT, April 27, 2009
WASHINGTON
The national champion UConn women's basketball team was honored by
President Barack Obama in a formal ceremony at the White House on
Monday.
Arriving about 10 minutes late, the president spoke for about five
minutes and congratulated the undefeated Huskies on their sixth
national title as well as their academic achievements.
"Congratulations to Coach Geno [Auriemma]," he said, "on this wonderful
season that took place as a consequence of these wonderful athletes."
In return, Auriemma and the team presented Obama with an autographed
basketball and a UConn jersey with the No. 1.
"I won't wear it right now," he said, "but I will when I'm playing."
That may have been sooner rather than later as the president then
hustled the team off to the White House basketball court, out of sight
of the media. Cheers could be heard from the court that had been
converted from a tennis court by the Obama administration.
The team arrived in Washington in the late morning and was given a tour
of the White House before being honored by the president.
The
team and their day in the sun in downtown Hartford; at the
Capitol.
The
victory lap around the park and then the Capitol steps at the portico
UConn Parade Draws 25,000
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA
April 20, 2009
Everybody loves a parade, especially one on a perfect Sunday in honor
of the only perfect team in college basketball this season.
That's why an estimated 25,000 spilled onto the streets around the
Capitol, six deep behind the barricades along virtually the entire
route, to show the UConn women how much they appreciated the effort
that produced a 39-0 season and sixth national championship.
But coach Geno Auriemma, recently selected as coach of the 2012 U.S.
Olympic team, knows there are much different emotions in other parts of
the country.
"The one thing that we get a kick out of, whenever we have these
parades, is that the doctor's offices in Tennessee are filled with
people who get sick — and [at] Rutgers and Louisville and North
Carolina, too," Auriemma told the crowd at the post-parade rally at the
Capitol.
"When we see you out on the streets, wait a little until you tell us
about the hotel rooms you have in San Antonio [the site of next year's
Final Four] or that you already have your tickets. Hold off on that
until maybe September. Let the players and staff enjoy the summer
knowing we don't have to think about another game, another tournament.
"Let them enjoy it, because I don't know how we're going to be able to
go 39-0 next year. ... The only reason I say that is, if we win every
game we play next year we'll be 40-0."
The team, its coaches and support staff rode a double-decker bus that
snaked along the route.
"Nothing against the people in Minnesota [where she will play in the
WNBA], but this is exactly why I don't want to leave Connecticut,"
guard Renee Montgomery said. "I didn't know what to expect from the
parade, but whatever that was, this day exceeded it."
Once the team was at the Capitol, the crowd cheered, breaking into
chants of "USA, USA" to honor Auriemma.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell told how the team impacted the state and its leader.
"During the winter, when the weather wasn't the greatest and we had a
lot of things on our minds at the state Capitol, we would be looking
for little diversions every once in a while. We got it," Rell said.
"I do have to tell you, there were a couple of moments there when I had
to leave the room when I was watching the games. I knew they would be
wonderful, but my heart was beating a little too fast, the agita was
setting in. Then I'd come back in and we'd be up by 10 points.
"I want to tell the team how proud we are of them, and not just because
of the way they mowed down their opponents. They represented
Connecticut in the best possible way. When these ladies stepped out on
the court they were always prepared and poised. They have two things
that are so important: respect for the game and respect for their
opponent. And that showed."
Auriemma, who had returned from a recruiting trip just three hours
before the parade, wanted the crowd to know how much its outpouring of
affection was appreciated.
"We've heard a lot today, leading up to this, about being perfect and
what it means when you do that. We're far from perfect, believe me," he
said. "We don't think of ourselves in that way. But today was a perfect
day because you made it a perfect day for these kids.
"I know they've never experienced anything like this. I know they were
probably wondering who would be here, what it would be like, how would
I feel before and after it. As much as we did during the season, this
was the cherry, the perfect ending to their season. And I can't thank
you enough for doing it."
And thank you for
great photos online at the Boneyard!
Boneyarder in the news...LINK TO WEDNESDAY, APRIL
15, 2009 NORWALK HOUR ARTICLE HERE
HOW
DID WE DO IT? Relive the season here.
GENO
CRITIQUE.
Started the
2008-2009 season with
13
players...down to 10...and back up to 11 (Cassie Kerns is over
mono)..."David v. Goliath" (l.) and victory!
Big East Champs, Senior Night 2009 and
"we're number one" or else Caroline is making a point about coaching
tips...a monster game and all shots taken went in...almost!
A national championship would merely meet expectations
Dave Solomon, New Haven Register Sports
Columnist
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 7:04 AM EDT
HARTFORD — This is supposed to be one of the sweetest moments for the
University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, and I wonder,
sometimes, if expectation and excellence have stolen some of the
hard-earned joy.
Along the poignant stops toward an inevitable national championship,
the Huskies have dominated at every turn, beaten nationally ranked foes
by ungodly numbers, claimed the regular-season title without once
winning by less than a double-figure margin, and they stand on the cusp
of one of the greatest seasons in women’s basketball history.
Yet, outside the hardcore 10,030 at the XL Center, does the
rank-and-file UConn fan appreciate the magnitude of UConn’s achievement
— or have they become numb to the anticlimactic nature of the Huskies’
continuing superiority?
Does a Big East tournament title, once the second highest-prized jewel
in the collection, get its appropriate due, or a mere pat on the back
while we focus on the only prize that seems to matter up ahead.
"I know there’s no way we can reach the expectation level we’ve
created," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma following the Huskies’ 75-36
breeze to the league title over fifth-ranked Louisville Tuesday night.
"We almost have to play a game like this every night now. If I were one
of the other coaches around the league who were asked a hundred times
if anyone could beat us and why are they even showing up ... I would be
really upset and start to feel it’s disrespectful.
"So now we come out and do what we did tonight ... and the expectation
level’s where in the first round of the NCAA tournament, it’s 100-0 at
halftime.
I just don’t know how we can match the level of expectation that’s out
there. So I don’t talk about it. I try to kind of enjoy it in a way
they appreciate it. And as long as they’re having fun, which they did
tonight. I love the way they were celebrating. That was important,
because they’re not taking it for granted. They had a great time
celebrating."
The greatest shame in all this UConn greatness would be if they/we were
unable to bask in the accomplishments along the way. Sometimes it’s
hard to watch because, as Louisville coach Jeff Walz said after the
game, "It’s 9:35 now, and the game was over at 7:20."
But that doesn’t mean accomplishments like Tuesday night should be
taken for granted. They’re still special, even if the ultimate measure
of UConn 2008-09, will occur in St. Louis.
"I think it’s all about St. Louis," Auriemma said. "But judging by the
crowd reaction today, I thought they were pretty involved and pretty
celebratory in a lot of ways."
But those are the hardcore fans that would cheer for 100-0 before the
first media time out. What about the average fan?
"I’m sure the average guy out there who watches TV or reads the
newspaper or goes on the internet is thinking ... and I’ve said this
... the only bigger reaction than celebrating a national championship
is going to be the reaction if we lose the national championship.
That’s going to be a huge story. Wow. I can’t believe they lost. How’d
they do it? Bad coaching. Bad Maya Moore. Bad Renee Montgomery. Bad
playing. Not focused."
Come to think of it, winning a national championship may not even be
sufficiently treasured outside the family. Let’s hypothesize for a
moment that these same two teams meet in the national championship
game, a real possibility when you’re talking about the prohibitive
favorite and a likely No. 2 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. Would
beating Louisville a third time — after beating them by 28 and 39
points, respectively, produce the thrill a national championship so
richly deserves?
That attitude could have affected Auriemma and his team a long time
ago, but the UConn coach has safeguarded the innocence of youthful
exuberance by taking it off the table. "It can (take some of the fun
away), if you let it," Aureimma said. "When I was younger, I used to
worry about that. I used to worry about what people are going to think
if this doesn’t work out. What’s the perception going to be? Now, I
could care less. I look at my players. I see how they’re reacting to
what we do, and I just go right at it. Nothing else matters anymore.
I’m too old."
He’d be tearing his hair out otherwise, and that we know, wouldn’t be
too cool.
I guess as long as the coach, his team, and the UConn faithful are OK
with beating everyone by a mile; as long as they’re celebrating all the
right achievements along the way toward greatness, then the
expectations don’t really matter.
Unless, as he said, they go unfulfilled.
UConn
women win 15th Big East tournament title
DAY
Published on 3/10/2009
Hartford — Maya Moore scored 28 points
and top-ranked UConn cruised to its 15th Big East tournament
championship with a 75-36 victory over No. 5 Louisville on Tuesday
night.
When the sensational sophomore walked off the floor with eight minutes
left, she had single-handedly outscored Louisville 28-27. Moore was
selected the tournament’s most outstanding performer.
The Huskies (33-0) have now won four of the last five conference
tournament titles and enter the NCAAs unbeaten for the fourth time in
school history. UConn went on to win the national championship in 1995
and 2002. In 1996-97 they lost to Tennessee in the regional final.
UConn’s road to a sixth national championship will begin on March 22 at
home in Storrs as the Huskies host the first two rounds of the NCAA
tournament.
All-Big East forward Angel McCoughtry was held to nine points to lead
Louisville (29-4).
Oh,
Say Can You See?
DAY
By Vickie Fulkerson
Published on 3/1/2009
Maya Moore said she was nominated for the job by UConn coach Geno
Auriemma.
He brought up the fact at dinner one night that whomever the best
singers on the team were should perform the national anthem on Senior
Night, which was Saturday. Most of the players thought he was kidding.
But Maya, joined by Kaili McLaren, sang the anthem a cappella Saturday
before 13,372 fans at the XL Center in Hartford, making an emotional
night even more so for women’s basketball seniors Renee Montgomery,
Cassie Kerns and Tahirah Williams.
Cassie said she noticed a few people next to her were missing as the
anthem was about to be performed.
“Did you see my face?” Cassie said later of her disbelief.
“For our seniors; that’s the only reason we did it,” said Maya, who
sang in harmony with Kaili. “There’s no way we would have voluntarily
done that.”
Maya said the last time she sang in public was in church when she was 4.
“OK, I remember twice singing in church,” she said.
Apparently, the duo practices occasionally.
“In the moments when we are in the cold tub (in the training room)
after practice,” Maya said. “(And) we are a musical team, so we
are always messing around in the locker room.”
As for Renee, she swears freshman Tiffany Hayes was supposed to sing as
well.
Renee called for an investigation into the matter Saturday night, after
the top-ranked Huskies safely defeated Seton Hall 81-50 to clinch their
17th Big East Conference regular-season championship and third straight.
But Geno wasn’t buying the theory that Tiffany could have been a
participant. He said he’s heard her sing.
“You can’t take Tiffany out in public,” Geno said, shaking his head
with mock seriousness. “You know how some people have a face for radio?
Tiffany has a voice for privacy.”
Student-athletes
to be honored
Hartford
Courant
By John Altavilla
February 23, 2009 3:08 PM
At halftime of tomorrow's UConn-Villanova game the other noticable
strength of the No. 1 UConn women will be revealed when their nine
Dean's List students will be honored along with all the other UConn
student/athletes who achieved academic merit for the fall semester.
Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Kalana Greene, Meghan
Gardler, Tahirah Williams, Jacquie Fernandes and Heather Buck will be
honored, along with Jess McCormack, who back in New Zealand awaiting
surgery on her Achilles.
--------------
CT press row interviews Caroline Doty - at left is New London DAY,
fourth from right, Hartford Courant; Lorin Dixon races bigger
North Carolina players up the court. #20 honored.
Take a letter: UConn is in a different league
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, February 16, 2009
STORRS, Conn. -- There's no point in ridiculing the Pitt
women here this morning. That would be piling on after their 95-42 loss
to No. 1 Connecticut yesterday. Really, there's nothing to say that
coach Agnus Berenato didn't mention in her postgame talk to her team.
She went to each player, pointed at the front of her jersey and said
they all "let down Pitt."
On national television, no less.
"I told them I need to write a letter of apology to
chancellor [Mark] Nordenberg and [athletic director] Steve Pederson,"
Berenato said. "But I also told them I'm going to write in that letter
that we will be ready for [Villanova] Wednesday night so they had
better get on board behind me and be ready for what I'm going to throw
at 'em in practice."
It won't be pretty.
Then again, it won't be anything like what Connecticut threw
at Pitt.
Going in, Berenato called the matchup at Gampel Pavillion "a
game that will show us where we really are at." An hour before tipoff,
she said she truly believed the Panthers could compete, perhaps even
win if everything went their way and Connecticut stumbled a bit. "Maybe
I was delusional ... " she said afterward.
Maybe?
That's not so much a knock at the Pitt program, which has
made remarkable strides under Berenato. Last week, it won at Rutgers
for the first time. In December, it beat then-No. 8 Maryland by 29
points for a win against the highest-ranked opponent in school history.
Last season, it went to the NCAA tournament's Round of 16 for the first
time. The season before that, it made its first NCAA tournament
appearance and earned its first win.
It's to the point that Pitt might be the second-best team in
the Big East Conference. We'll know more about that after that game
against Villanova at the Petersen Events Center.
But as far as Pitt has come, it has a million times that far
to go to catch Connecticut. It's as if Connecticut plays one game at an
extraordinary level and Pitt plays a different game, a lesser game.
Connecticut is 25-0, has been ranked No. 1 since the preseason and has
won its games by an average score of 87-54. It has won 24 in a row
against Pitt by an average of more than 35 points.
And now 53?
In Year 6 of Berenato?
"They do that to everybody," Berenato said.
Not that it eases the pain, but ...
"I wonder how [coach] Sylvia Hatchell feels at North
Carolina. UConn went there and won by 30," Berenato said. "I wonder how
they feel at Oklahoma. They got killed by UConn ...
"UConn is just awesome. They're not going to lose to anyone.
The only way they lose is if they overlook somebody or beat themselves."
Connecticut might be too good for the sake of women's
basketball. By the first television timeout yesterday, ESPN2 must have
been wondering why it was doing the game. Connecticut led, 18-3, and
Berenato already had called two timeouts. "It was almost embarrassing,"
she said.
Almost?
"I think we hurt the women's game today," Berenato said. "We
just didn't compete."
That's the real shame. The women's game is fighting to be
accepted by a discerning sports public. Routs like this don't help.
People want to see competition. This game offered none.
Same as almost all of the Connecticut games.
That doesn't mean the Connecticut excellence isn't amazing to
watch. It might be the most athletic team in college basketball, men
included. Pitt had no answer for the quickness of senior point guard
Renee Montgomery, who joined such illustrious Connecticut names as Swin
Cash, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on the school's Wall of Honor in an
emotional ceremony before the game. It couldn't deal with the strength
of All-America candidate Tina Charles inside. It barely could get off a
decent shot against Connecticut's relentless defensive pressure.
The afternoon's only drama? Would Pitt stay within 50 points?
Ah, no. And would Connecticut score 100? Surprisingly, no. You have to
think it could have rung up 125 if it had really pushed it.
"Seeing Connecticut in person, they're special," Berenato
said. "You've got to recruit better players to compete with them and,
even then, I don't know for sure. North Carolina has All-Americans.
Oklahoma has All-Americans ...
"[Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma] doesn't recruit. He just
reloads."
Now, Pitt must regroup. It will be interesting to see if it
is up for the challenge against Villanova. Certainly, Berenato will be
ready. Her enthusiasm is irrepressible. But what about her players?
Where are their heads going to be? It isn't easy getting whacked by 53.
There is some good news, though.
Villanova is no Connecticut.
No team that Pitt will play the rest of the season is
Connecticut.
Hey, on days like this, you take your comfort where you can
find it.
Doty's loss tremendous
for UConn
CTPOST
By Rich Elliott, STAFF WRITER
Updated: 01/20/2009 01:13:44 AM EST
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Caroline Doty's impact had been sizeable for the
UConn women's basketball team this season. Just a freshman, she started
each of the first 17 games and provided the top-ranked Huskies with
grit and moxie.
But as Doty tried to control a pass from Maya Moore in transition with
27.9 seconds remaining in the first half Saturday against Syracuse, the
click she heard in her left knee was unmistakable. She knew that she
had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee for the second
time in 16 months.
Doty has experienced a whirlwind of emotion over the last couple of
days. Yet, as she sat on the UConn bench prior to Monday's showdown
against No. 2 North Carolina she was in good spirits and poised to
provide her teammates with as much support as possible.
``The past couple of days it's been kind of like a roller coaster,''
Doty said. ``I'm trying to stay as positive as possible, but just the
fact that it happened kind of brings me down sometimes. But my
teammates and coaches have been doing a good job of keeping my spirits
up. So I'm feeling pretty good.'' Surgery has been scheduled for
Thursday.
Doty said her parents, her twin brother, Kevin, and her grandparents
were all in attendance at the XL Center Saturday. And after undergoing
an MRI at a local hospital, she was met by each of her teammates in her
hotel room. They came bearing cakes, hugs and plenty of moral support.
``My ACL is gone,'' Doty said. ``It's completely torn. But it's
different because I didn't tear any other ligaments so it feels a lot
better. I can put weight on it. I can walk. Not normally, with a limp.
It's different, but it's curable. I can do the surgery earlier than I
did last time. And I guess it's better.'' Doty first suffered an ACL
tear during a soccer game Sept. 7, 2007. She had surgery Oct. 23 of
that year.
Doty was averaging 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 23.9
minutes for the Huskies this season.
She was third on the team with 30 made 3-pointers and in minutes.
``It was tough, especially after the hard preseason we all went
through,'' Doty said. ``The Big East just started. Everybody was saying
how Big East time is a huge part of the season. It's fun. I was looking
at the Big East tournament. I was looking at this game. I was looking
at the NCAA tournament. I was looking at everything in the future.
Then, again, I thought I have three more years. I'm still young. I
still have a lot of time to play.''
No. 1
Connecticut Routs No. 2 North Carolina
NYTIMES
By VIV BERNSTEIN
January 20, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With a 17-0 record and a margin
of victory of 24.8 points a game, the Connecticut Huskies have done
little to disprove that they are the No. 1 women’s basketball team in
the country. On the other hand, with just one ranked opponent on the
schedule to date, the Huskies perhaps had not faced enough challenges
to provide a definitive answer.
So the annual match with North Carolina, ranked No. 2 and also 17-0
entering Monday’s game, was the first real test for Connecticut and an
opportunity for the Huskies to show they belonged atop the polls.
Done.
And they made it look easy with a 88-58 blowout of the Tar Heels at the
Dean E. Smith Center. Renee Montgomery scored 21 points and Maya Moore
added 19 points and 11 rebounds for Connecticut. The Tar Heels never
found a way to slow center Tina Charles underneath. She had 17 points
and 12 rebounds.
Italee Lucas had 15 points for North Carolina.
Connecticut ended North Carolina’s 76-game home winning streak against
nonconference opponents dating to 2001. The Huskies also gained a bit
of revenge against a Tar Heels team that had won three of the four
previous meetings between the teams, including a victory in Chapel Hill
in 2007. Connecticut won last year’s meeting.
The margin of victory was even more surprising given the Huskies were
without the starting shooting guard Caroline Doty, who sustained a torn
anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in a victory against
Syracuse on Saturday and is out for the season. Doty, a freshman, was
averaging 8.6 points a game and had scored 17 points in the first half
against Syracuse before the injury. She will have surgery Thursday.
Lorin Dixon, starting in Doty’s place, had 14 points.
The Tar Heels were not at full strength, either. North Carolina lost
the 6-foot-3 starting forward Iman McFarland with an ankle sprain.
McFarland, who was averaging 5.1 points and 5.6 rebounds, was in
uniform but spent the game on the bench.
Connecticut started quickly, building a 15-4 lead four minutes into the
opening half. North Carolina chipped away at the advantage but never
managed to overcome it. The Tar Heels closed to 6 points behind before
the Huskies pulled away to a solid double-digit advantage the rest of
the way.
Ahead by 46-30 at the half, Connecticut used a 12-4 run to start the
second half to push the lead to 24 points.
UConn
women: Buck will sit out season
By Carl Adamec, Manchester Journal Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 11:32 AM EST
STORRS — Heather Buck made the defensive play of the day in the
University of Connecticut women’s basketball team’s practice on
Tuesday. She blocked a layup by All-American Maya Moore that brought an
outburst from her teammates and a slap on the back from assistant coach
Shea Ralph. Practice will be the only place the 6-foot-3 freshman
center from Stonington will receive applause this season. Buck, who has
not played a regular season game for the top-ranked Huskies due to
mononucleosis, will redshirt and retain four years of eligibility.
“I’ll have a year of practice, playing in the system, and still have
four years to play,” Buck said after the workout at Gampel Pavilion as
UConn wrapped up preparations for today’s game against Hartford at the
XL Center. “It’s good for the nursing program that I’m in. Most
programs are five years, this one’s four. I have the opportunity to
condense it and do graduate work or spread things out.
“Sure, you want to come in and play. But it’s not like I’m losing a
year entirely. I’m still getting four years to play and it will be a
higher quality of play, hopefully. That’s the whole idea. So it’ll be a
better four years.”
Buck will continue to practice and can travel with the team.
She played eight minutes and had three rebounds and a block in the
exhibition opener against Stonehill College on Nov. 6. Soon after she
reported not feeling well and was diagnosed with mononucleosis.
She returned to practice Dec. 2 but lagged behind her teammates in her
conditioning.
“It was getting more and more clear every day that she’s not going to
be ready to play,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Once you get to a
point where you haven’t played to this point, it almost doesn’t make
sense to go ahead and try and catch up. I’ve talked to her, talked to
her parents about it, and I think it’s in her best interests.”
Ralph used a redshirt year for the 1997-98 season after re-tearing the
anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in August 1997.
“I’ve talked to Heather a little bit about it and what I told her was
that it’s important to use this time to get better,” Ralph said. “It’s
not a time to sit back and be in a watch mode. Practice is crucial for
her. This is almost like a free year so it’s important for her to come
here every day and challenge herself to get better and learn.
“The day she gets back out on the court for games is going to come and
it will come sooner than she thinks. A lot of times, people wish they
had more time. I don’t want Heather to wish she had worked harder. She
has to use this time wisely.”
Buck was counted on to add some depth to the Huskies’ frontcourt behind
Tina Charles and Kaili McLaren. Even if something happened to one
of those juniors, it’s not likely that Buck would be pressed into
action and lose the redshirt.
“I don’t know if you can tell her she likely won’t play, but be ready
in case something happens,” Auriemma said. “It’d be unfair.”
After the season-ending injury to Nykesha Sales in late February 1998,
Ralph offered to give up her redshirt opportunity — she had been
cleared to play a month earlier — but Auriemma declined it. Buck
will make the best of her situation.
“I want to try and learn everything I can about everything,” Buck said.
“I want to be able to watch a play and know it. I’m going to do extra
workouts to get stronger and in better shape and ultimately work on my
quickness. Fixing my shot is what we’re working on now. It’s only good
for me.”
No.
1 Connecticut 106, No. 4 Oklahoma 78
CBSSports.com wire reports
Nov. 30, 2008
STORRS, Conn. -- Renee Montgomery had a career-high 30 points and
matched the Connecticut record with 13 assists to help the top-ranked
Huskies rout No. 4 Oklahoma 106-78 on Sunday night. Montgomery,
who got the first double-double of her career, tied the assists record
set by Laura Lishness in 1991 against Seton Hall.
Maya Moore added 27 points and 12 rebounds and Tina Charles had 18
points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for UConn (5-0). Freshman Caroline
Doty scored a career-high 18 points, going 6-for-6 from behind the
3-point line.
Danielle Robinson had 19 points and Ashley Paris added 17 points and 13
rebounds for Oklahoma (4-2). Courtney Paris had 14 points and 14
rebounds for her 98th straight double-double, extending her NCAA
record. It was the first time Oklahoma gave up over 100 points
since losing to Connecticut, 102-80, in the NCAA regionals in 2000.
UConn
top recruit Delle Donne won't play at Storrs
DAY
Posted on Aug 16, 6:44 PM EDT
STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Elena Delle Donne, the Huskies's top recruit in
its 2008 class, has decided not to enroll at the University of
Connecticut, coach Geno Auriemma said Saturday.
The 6-foot-5 forward, who also was courted by Tennessee before
committing to UConn, "has decided not to play college basketball,"
Auriemma said in a brief statement released Saturday by the university.
"Everyone at UConn would like to wish Elena the best of luck," he said
in the statement.
Delle Donne, 18, was named the nation's top female player this spring,
winning the Naismith National High School Player of the Year based on
her career at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del.
She averaged 30 points and 11 rebounds in the 2008 season, despite
missing 10 games because of mononucleosis. She was also Delaware's
all-time leading scorer for boys and girls with 2,475 points.
She would have been the third consecutive national player of the year
to attend UConn, following Tina Charles in 2006 and Maya Moore last
season.
She came to UConn in June for summer school, but left after two days to
return to Delaware. Delle Donne told ESPN at the time that she needed a
long break for problems that go beyond basketball.
UConn officials said the brief statement Saturday will be Auriemma's
final comment on her departure, "in an effort to respect the privacy of
Elena and the Delle Donne family."
TRUE GRIT - WHAT WE NEED NOW...
If this is true, let the
season begin - Shea's back!!!
Shea Ralph named UConn
assistant basketball coach
DAY
Posted on Jul 7, 3:36 PM EDT
STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Former University of Connecticut standout Shea
Ralph is returning to Storrs to become assistant women's basketball
coach.
Ralph was the captain of the Huskies when they won the 2000 national
championship. She finished her college career eighth on UConn's
all-time scoring list and in the top 10 in assists, steals and field
goal percentage.
The WNBA's Utah Starzz chose Ralph in the 2001 draft, but a knee injury
cut short her pro career. She served the past five season as assistant
women's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
Ralph will replace Tonya Cardoza, who was recently named head coach at
Temple after 14 years with the Huskies.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma says he's looking forward to Ralph bringing
the same passion to the coaching staff that she brought as a player.
FROM THE 2007-2008 SEASON:
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN (THANK YOU ROY RODGERS AND TRIGGER) -
WOOF!!! (SEE MASCOT JONATHAN AT TOP)
2007-2008 picture story from the Big East (top) season final
game and shirts through net-cutting in Greensboro to Coach holding back
a tear..to two winner pix plus 2 pix with shirts/hats.
The
defense that beat the Lady Huskies (explanation supplied via a post on
the UCONN Huskies forum)
Loss tough on
UConn seniors
Waterbury
Republican-AmericasTuesday,
April 8, 2008 5:24 AM EDT
 |
|
TAMPA, Fla. --- The future for the
UConn women's basketball team looks bright given the wealth of
returning talent and the impressive recruits coming in.
The most difficult part of Sunday night's loss to Stanford in the
national semifinals, according to coach Geno Auriemma, was the
heartbreak senior Mel Thomas felt after the game.
With the team struggling to make shots, Thomas -- the Huskies' best
perimeter shooter -- squirmed on the bench, She wore a pained
expression on her face that was more heartfelt than the one she showed
in Syracuse in January when she found out she had torn her ACL and that
her season was over.
Anxious and restless throughout Sunday's game, she was one of the more
emotional players in the postgame locker room.
It was difficult for her to watch her team struggle and not be able to
help, but she composed herself afterward to explain she wouldn't have
wanted to spend the last four years anywhere else regardless of how
things ended for her.
“You can't look back and regret everything,” Thomas said. “I can
honestly say that I gave it everything I had. I didn't even get to play
at the end of this year, but there's nothing I could've changed. I gave
it everything I had every single day
“I don't even know how to put it into words what it's meant to play
here. I think I've grown as a person. I've learned so much and it's
just been an experience that I'll never forget. Being with your
teammates every single day, they're like my family. Even people that
graduate, they're still part of it. You can come back and it's still
like you're a part of this family. So it's going to be hard to not be
around that every single day.”
Kalana Greene took the loss harder than she thought she would, because
she felt helpless, as well, but she also knew that unlike Thomas she
has two more years at UConn.
“When you are sitting there and you are watching and there is nothing
you can do about, it's the worst thing,” Auriemma said. “You sit there
and it just tears you up. Mel doesn't have any more opportunities, and
it is a shame it has to happen that way. For Kalana, I told her we will
be back.”
A look ahead: Thomas' college career may be over but
her playing career likely is not. Her immediate plans are to rehab
until the fall and then play overseas to boost her stock as a WNBA
player for next summer.
She may not have to wait that long, however.
Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault said that Thomas is a good enough
shooter, that WNBA team might actually take a chance on her in this
year's draft in the third round.
The draft is Wednesday afternoon in Tampa.
Swanier's rise: UConn senior Ketia Swanier may have
played her way into the WNBA with the last third of the season she had.
Her growth as a player has also positioned her to be drafted late or at
least earn free agent invitations to teams that need a dependable
backup point guard
“I'm excited,” Swanier said. “I feel like who wouldn't be excited to be
able to get that opportunity. I just feel real blessed.”
Houston uncertain: Charde Houston's athleticism and
offensive skills could make her better suited for the pros than
college. In a draft deep with power forwards, however, her
inconsistencies may cause her to slip into the second or third round,
but she is expected to get drafted.
Houston said Sunday she wasn't sure if would return home with the team
or remain behind for the draft. She wanted to talk to her parents
before deciding what to do.
Hunter finished: Brittany Hunter said that while she
might be able to continue playing professionally, she has dealt with
her knee problems enough and wants to move on. Even if she gets
drafted, she won't play next season. Instead, she plans on being a
player agent. She already has started a partnership with several
lawyers based in Hartford and will stay around Connecticut the next few
years to help grow the agency and develop contacts.
Recruits on the way: Next year's recruits Elena Delle
Donne and Tiffany Hayes were both in town to play in the WBCA High
School All-America game, and both said they have already enrolled in
the first summer session of classes at UConn.
Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 guard from Wilmington, Del., and the No. 1
recruit in the nation, said she will be in Storrs by June 2 for the
first day of classes. Tiffany Hayes, a 5-10 guard from Winter Haven,
Fla., will be there June 4 because she doesn't graduate high school
until June 3.
“I'm real excited,” Hayes said. “I'm going to have great teammates next
year. I can't wait. I'm willing to come in and do whatever my team
needs me to do. And I'm really ready to play.”
Delle Donne said she is ready for the college experience to begin.
“I definitely worked on my strength and my speed and things I'm going
to need a lot more in college,” Delle Donne said.
The two other members of next year's recruiting class are Heather Buck,
a 6-5 center from Stonington High, and Caroline Doty, a 5-10 point
guard from Fort Washington, Pa.
Huskies planning to return
Norwalk HOUR
April 8, 2008
Connecticut left its first trip to the Final Four in four years saying
not good bye, but see you later.
The Huskies failed in their attempt to win a sixth national
championship, losing to Stanford on Sunday. However, with seven key
players returning and a stellar incoming class, the future looks bright.
These Huskies (36-2) lost just one game during the regular season,
despite losing two starters to injury, and returned to the Final Four
for the first time since 2004.
"I think compared to the last couple years, we accomplished a lot, and
I think we proved to ourselves what we really have in us," said senior
Ketia Swanier. "There was a lot of growth. We improved ourselves a lot.
I think we have always had it in us, but we showed it this year."
Swanier, and fellow seniors Mel Thomas, Brittany Hunter and Charde
Houston are done. But UConn will return seven underclassman who played
significant minutes, including the game's newest star, freshman
All-American Maya Moore.
"Nobody on this team had ever been (to the Final Four)," said Moore.
"Now we have that experience. We've accomplished that experience and
now the bar is higher, and we have to make it to another Final Four,
and another semifinal, and hopefully another championship."
Moore began the year on the bench, but moved into the starting lineup
in December after junior guard Kalana Greene suffered a season-ending
knee injury. Moore averaged almost 18 points a game, and was in double
figures in all but two games. The 6-foot forward helped lead the
Huskies to the Big East regular-season and conference tournament titles
and became the first freshman — male or female — to win conference
player of the year. She was just the second freshman in history to be
named a first-team All-American.
"Maya Moore is going to be a four-time All-American," Stanford coach
Tara VanDerveer said.
The Huskies also have two third-team All-Americans coming back,
sophomore center Tina Charles, who averaged more 14 points and nine
rebounds a game and junior Renee Montgomery who also averaged 14 points
and put up double figures in 26 of her final 30 games.
Montgomery was forced to switch from point guard to shooting guard in
January after the Huskies second major knee injury of the year took out
senior sharpshooter Mel Thomas.
"I think Renee is as good if not better than any guard in America in
every area, Auriemma said. "Renee is probably going to benefit the most
from people coming back.
Those people include Greene, who can play either guard or forward and
was perhaps UConn's best defender before being hurt.
Connecticut also signed another top recruiting class, led by national
high school player of the year Elena Delle Donne.
The 6-4 Delle Donne showed off her skills in Tampa this weekend, being
named the most valuable player at the WBCA High School All-America
game. She had 17 points, while another UConn recruit, guard Tiffany
Hayes scored 18, despite fighting off the flu.
"Somebody asked me, 'What are you going to tell the players?"' Auriemma
said Sunday night. "I'm going to tell them we'll be back here next
year, you can count on that."
Back in the Final Four: UConn rallies
to beat Rutgers in regional
final
By Jim Fuller, New Haven Register Staff
Posted on Wed, Apr 2, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The long-awaiting odyssey to the Final Four looked
as if it would have to wait for another year for the UConn women’s
basketball team.
Coming out with the same sense of nervous anxiety that plagued them in
an Elite Eight loss to Louisiana State a year ago, UConn was on the
verge of falling one game shy of the program’s ninth Final Four
appearance for the third straight season before the Huskies mustered up
a championship spirit some questioned they possessed.
Hitting 14 straight free throws down the stretch, UConn rallied to post
a 66-56 victory over Big East rival Rutgers in the Greensboro Regional
final at the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday night.
UConn’s Maya Moore, who struggled all game long to free herself from a
myriad of Rutgers defenders, curled off a screen and made a big
3-pointer with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to play to break a tie at 49. It
was the last field goal the Huskies made, but it was enough to propel
them to their ninth Final Four.
“I feel like it has been hard because the last two years the way we
have lost has been so bad, especially for me,” Montgomery said. “It has
been hard.”
It certainly was hard Tuesday night.
Trailing by 14 points three times in the first half and down by seven
points in the second half, the Huskies rallied to take their first lead
on a Kaili McLaren basket with 6:46 left.
Tina Charles had a block on the next Rutgers possession and was fouled
by Epiphanny Prince. Charles made the front end of the one-and-one to
make it 49-46 with 5:40 to go.
The lead lasted only another 24 seconds as a 3-pointer by Prince tied
the game.
The Huskies used a 12-3 run in the final 4:54 of the first half to
slice a 14-point Rutgers lead to five.
It took them just 1:46 into the second half to draw even.
A jumper by Rutgers’ Matee Ajavon put Rutgers up by seven before
Montgomery sandwiched two free throws and a jumper around a Ketia
Swanier 3-pointer.
But if UConn thought Rutgers was going to wilt, it was mistaken.
Ajavon made a 3-pointer, and after Vaughn rattled home a short jumper
in the lane, Essence Carson kept Rutgers’ next possession alive by
soaring over UConn’s Charde Houston to corral an offensive rebound.
Ajavon made the Huskies pay by making a jumper to give the Scarlet
Knights a 41-34 lead with 12:41 left.
In a back-and-forth slugfest, UConn answered as a jumper by Charles, a
Moore steal and layup, and a Swanier 3-pointer pulled the Huskies back
within two points.
The Huskies started the game a little tight and out of rhythm. With the
perimeter trio of Swanier, Montgomery and Moore missing 10 of 12 shots,
the Huskies shot 5 for 15 from the field in the first 12½
minutes.
Rutgers capitalized to take a 14-point lead on three occasions.
When Kia Vaughn scored with 4:55 left in the half, the Scarlet Knights
led 29-15 and were in danger of running the Huskies right off the court.
But Vaughn and Matee Ajavon each lost the ball out of bounds underneath
the Rutgers basket on consecutive possessions.
An offensive rebound putback by Houston and steal and layup by
Montgomery with 2:35 left in the half allowed UConn to cut the lead
under 10 for the first time since it was 15-8 with 12:37 to play.
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer had seen enough and called a timeout.
However, the break did little to slow the Huskies’ surge as UConn
scored six of the last nine points of the half.
Houston sandwiched baskets around an Ajavon jumper to pull the Huskies
within 32-25 with 58 seconds remaining. Montgomery followed with a
steal and was fouled to give UConn a chance to hold for the last shot.
Kaili McLaren posted up and scored on a sweet power move in the low
post with 2.4 seconds left in the half to make it 32-27. Brittany Ray,
who was a surprise starter for Heather Zurich, just missed a
desperation heave from midcourt at the buzzer.
The Huskies went into the halftime break only down five even though
Montgomery, Moore and Swanier were a combined 3 for 16 from the field
and combined for just nine points.
Carson, the three-time Big East defensive player of the year, proved
she can play well on the offensive side of the floor as well. Carson
followed up her career-high tying 25 point effort in a win over George
Washington on Sunday by making her first five shots en route to scoring
12 first-half points.
Swanier and Montgomery had 15 points each, McLaren 10, Charles nine
points and 12 rebounds and tournament most outstanding player Moore
seven for UConn (36-1).
Ajavon had 18 points, Carson 12 and Vaughn for Rutgers (29-7).
Moore named regional MVP; Swanier the hero
By ROGER CLEAVELAND Republican-American
April 2, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Maya Moore was named the Greensboro Regional MVP
and Renee Montgomery was named to the All-Regional team, but both
agreed that senior Ketia Swanier was the Huskies' most valuable player
in Tuesday's regional final game.
Swanier shot 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 53.8 seconds of
the game and made two critical three-pointers in the second half to
rally the Huskies' from a 14-point deficit.
“I wanted to shout it right then when they announced my name, 'Ketia
deserves the MVP.' She's my MVP. She was a great player throughout this
tournament for us, and the way she knocked down those free throws was
huge tonight. She's been a floor general for us especially the last
quarter of the season.
Maya is the Woman
of the Hour ... But Seriously, a Raccoon?
DAY
Vickie Fulkerson
Published on 3/7/2008
Trying to figure out the most interesting tidbit for today … UConn’s
Maya Moore becomes the first freshman in the history of the Big East
Conference to be named Player of the Year? Or Tennessee coach Pat
Summitt injures shoulder while chasing away raccoon?
I guess you have to give it to Moore, who is the most utterly polished
freshman you’ll ever meet. And that’s before she even gets to the
basketball court.
Moore has a chance to get a few national player of the year votes, as
Tennessee All-American Candace Parker was ousted as SEC Player of the
Year by LSU center Sylvia Fowles. And UConn beat LSU, with Moore
outscoring Fowles 29-26.
She’s just exciting to be around. Diana-like.
And there’s only more to come.
As for the other thing, this is a serious story from ESPN.com. Imagine
the fodder this could give Geno? Not that he needs any. Pat is already
the chairman of the Evil Empire. She canceled her team’s series against
UConn.
And now, an encounter with a raccoon, that invaded her deck Wednesday
night while she was out walking her dog?
If UConn and Tennessee both make it to the Final Four in Tampa?
Oh, the possibilities.
FROM 2005-2006
THIS SAYS IT ALL - the highs and lows of college basketball...
