Title inspired by the soundtrack playing inside the empty Greensboro Coliseum a couple minutes ago.
Welcome back to Greensboro, N.C., for tonight’s live coverage of the formerly-known-as-East Regional final. It’s No. 1 UConn and No. 7 Rutgers in the matchup that has been anticipated since March 17, when the brackets were announced.
Tonight’s game is for dominance, Big East pride, the upper hand in women’s basketball’s best active rivalry, and more importantly? A trip to Tampa and a date with Stanford in Sunday’s national semifinals.
As games I’ve been in attendance for go, it don’t get no bigger than this.
We’re about 2+ hours away from gametime (9:07 p.m., ESPN), so lineups will come in due time, possibly along with thoughts on the Tennessee-Texas A&M game at 7.
By the way, just to get some miscellaneous thoughts out there, I put a little bit of a “last will and testament”-type thing, but since it’s more personal, self-reflecting (and much less funny and thereby less entertaining to anyone who isn’t me), it’s after the jump. Just a few thoughts I’ve been thinking with gametime fast approaching.
Back within the next two hours or so.
Shocking news from Greensboro: Geno Auriemma has announced his retirement effective Wednesday morning, citing family issues, the school announced in a press release. Associate head coach Chris Dailey will retire as well, leaving assistant Jamelle Elliot to coach next week’s Final Four should UConn advance. The school will make a decision on the open position following the conclusion of the Huskies’ season.
The entire release, after the jump.
“I respect Pat Summit’s knowledge of the game and how perspective and keen she is. And this is just another example of that.”
That would be one Geno Auriemma, speaking of a certain coach who voted for him as Coach of the Year. Good stuff.
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News-wise, another Media Day has come and gone without any big-time shockers. We do know the starting lineups (barring late-injuries), and again, no surprise.
It’ll be Zurich, Carson, Ajavon, Prince, Vaughn for Rutgers; for the Huskies, we’ll see Montgomery, Swanier, Moore, McLaren and Hunter.
Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery (”I’m fine. 110 percent.”) both practiced Monday and should be ready for Tuesday’s game. All indications are that they’re just going through the normal bumps and bruises of a season, and specifically a tough game with Old Dominion yesterday.
Also, for those of you who still have VCRs and/or stopwatches, Tuesday’s game will officially tip at 9:07 p.m. on ESPN. It will be just after Candace Parker shoots seven more free throws than the entire opposing team to help lead Tennessee past Texas A&M.
Other miscellaneous notes:
–The DC’s own Brittany Perotti had a chance to talk to Tina Charles today - get this - in the Greensboro Coliseum’s “Video Arcade Lounge.” Yes, lest you think that the players have it all easy, what with their 6 a.m. practices and NCAA-provided meals, they’re stuck playing those awful “Cruisin’ USA”-ish driving video games. You know those times you go to a bowling alley or a boardwalk arcade and that’s all they have? It’s awful. Give me skee-ball, or, as Lorin Dixon was reportedly playing, air hockey.
Anyway, make sure to check out Brittany’s feature on Tina (in addition to Tim’s regular preview of the game) in the paper or on the main site tomorrow.
–Geno Auriemma is really a big softie at heart. He was asked by a Hartford Courant reporter what he would remember about this team regardless of the result of tomorrow’s game. Here’s his response, delivered in a very solemn, soft and deliberate tone:
“Probably I would carry some images back with me when they leave. Of Ketia being able not only to take a shot like she did [a huge 3-pointer in the waning minutes] against LSU – and make it, which she never could’ve done four years ago. The way Charde’s playing right now, which I didn’t think was possible. How far Brittany’s come in four years, which I didn’t think was possible. And the picture of Mel sitting there, with tears in her eyes in Syracuse, knowing that her career was over. Regardless of what happened, short of lifting the national championship trophy, I don’t think anything would be more powerful than those things.”
Maybe it doesn’t come though in the words, but being in the room, if you needed more proof of the love and devotion that Auriemma has for his team, here you go.
–C. Vivian Stringer showed a little bit of playfulness today during her press conference. I know, I’m shocked too. Talking about why she looked so upset during RU’s win over George Washington, she said, with the first smile I think I’ve ever seen from the Scarlet Knights boss:
“You start to have a breakthrough headache. My head was killing me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. But you know what, your players will say ‘calm down, it’ll be OK.’ How you gonna smile when you see that going on? You’re supposed to smile? About what? 40 minutes left to go in the whole season? Calm down?”
–As expected, the feature matchup in tomorrow’s game should be Essence Carson v. Maya Moore. Carson, the Big East’s defensive player of the year, gave Moore all she could handle in Piscataway. She’ll be guarding the Big East player of the year “probably a lot,” Stringer said.
Stringer credited RU’s triangle-and-two defensive set for holding Moore to “just” 15 in the first game in Piscataway, though most of those came on late 3’s at the end of the game with UConn trailing.
–Lots of talk about the rivalry, comparisons to UConn-Tennessee, etc. The Rutgers players seemed a little non-plussed about the whole thing, though the UConn players felt free enough to say they thought Rutgers was a big and special game.
Both coaches said the rivalry was an excellent thing and hoped that the women’s game could develop more like it.
And lastly, a few Auriemma quotes on various subjects:
–On Brittany Hunter:
“There’s no amount of pain that can keep her off the court at this point. But our trainer is doing a great job keeping her off the court after 15 minutes. And I agree with that. I don’t want her to help us win some games and then not be able to walk afterwards.”
–Auriemma on the late start:
“I think sitting around until 9 is probably the worst thing in the world when you’re trying to figure out what to do all day long. I know that it can’t come soon enough for our guys.”
–And finally, Auriemma had a few choice words for the NCAA selection committee, while on the subject of playing a team they know so well in the tournament:
“There’s less preparation time [needed] because you know the majority of the stuff they’re going to run. But it’s hard beause you know what they’re gonna do and it’s hard to play against … it’s unusual in the NCAA tournament for you to be playing a team you know. I can’t thank the NCAA selection committee enough for making sure that we’d be matched up with a team we know, and making sure two Big East teams can’t make it to the Final Four.
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Well, it looks like that will do it from Media Day. The auxiliary stuff is over, and we’ll be back sometime before game time Tuesday night for the fourth NCAA tournament liveblog. In the meantime, enjoy NCAArmageddon (trademark!) on the women’s side and the Chalkgasm of the men’s tournament. Sometimes, Cinderella needs to learn to get the hell out of the way.
As for predictions? LSU overcomes UNC in their backyard, Maryland runs through Stanford, Tennessee dominates Texas A&M.
And this game? Renee Montgomery scores 17, Maya Moore gets 16 and UConn wins 72-62. You may be able to read that in the (N.J.) Home-News Tribune (www.thnt.com) tomorrow (as part of a feature wherein the HNT’s reporter went around asking various UConn reporters for their thoughts on the game), but you heard it here first.
So long from the Coliseum, where if it rains any harder, I won’t need to shower tomorrow morning.
Welcome back to the Greensboro Coliseum, where we are sitting back and watching some Opening Day baseball. Or, at least, we will be until about 1:45, when players and coaches from the State University of New Jersey will be made available to the media. Then, at 2:45, all of us will be speaking with the players and coaches from UConn.
Any interesting quotes, happenings and et ceterae will be dutifully reported here. As will updates on Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery.
4:27 p.m.
And that will do it for the Sweet 16 in Greensboro. Rutgers takes the victory, 53-42. The Big East championship game we never got to see will take place in Tuesday’s Greensboro Regional final. It’s likely these will be the only two Big East teams standing after today, and it’s guaranteed that the Big East will have a presence in the Final Four.
It’s sad to see some of the fans of the smaller, Cinderella-ish schools go, but at the same time, we’re 3/4 of the way to NCAArmageddon (trademark!). None but 1’s and 2’s involved so far. I expect Tennessee to complete the top-seed sweep, while Duke and A&M should be excellent.
And hey - Tuesday gives us an Elite Eight matchup between bitter rivals, some of the best players and two of the best coaches in America. What more could you want from March Madness?
Also, if you don’t mind me putting some explicit opinion here: The banks of the old Raritan suck. And I was born about 30 minutes north of that particular river. Oh, and on the way back to the media room, the Scarlet Knight gave me a slap on the shoulder. Does that mean I have seven years’ bad luck now?
Possibly back later tonight for a wrap-up, but otherwise I’ll be checking in sometime tomorrow for Media Day #2 here in Greensboro.
So long.
4:18 p.m.
George Washington is up against it now. Essence Carson hit a huge 15-footer and was fouled. She converted the free throw and Rutgers leads it, 49-42 with two to play. The Colonials just went 0-fer on their last two possessions, and a three possession game with under 2 to go is not where you want to be. Especially againtst Rutgers.
Officiating has been pretty badly one-sided against GW, but to Rutgers’ credit, they are playing exactly how the refs will let them. The Colonials haven’t adjusted.
It’s 50-42 Rutgers with 1:38 remaining.
4:08 p.m.
Rhetorial question: how can a team whose entire defense is based on pushing, pulling and hammering the opposition into submission like Rutgers have four less fouls called on it than a smaller team like GW? Don’t answer that.
But it’s at least part of the reason Rutgers has turned a three-point game into an eight-point lead with under 8:00 to play.
Rutgers has just three (four just as I write this) fouls called on it, and they’ve gotten the benefit of the doubt on a couple of borderline plays that probably should have been called on the Scarlet Knights. Ah well, when you’re the underdog, you have to make your own breaks.
As an aside, I am totally digging George Washington’s anthropomorphic and eponymous mascot.
And there’s a sequence that sums up this game: GW gets four straight points to pull within 42-38 and commits a hand-check to put Rutgers in the bonus. Five and a half left.
4:00 p.m.
Back courtside here, and Rutgers is in command of this game, leading George Washington 40-30 with 11:53 to go.
The Colonials drew within 33-30 on a 12-footer with about 13 left, but a couple of well-run offensive possessions by Rutgers led to a few open looks and seven straight points.
Winner gets UConn, and the Colonials are going to need a few stops, shots and breaks to get back in it.
2:50 p.m.
A couple things before I head off to write my notebook (featuring RU-GW! Injuries! Lorin Dixon! Hilarious Geno quotes!) for Monday’s paper, which you should definitely check out. As well as our other fine content, of course.
—Rutgers has jumped out to a 9-6 lead on George Washington. No surprise there. Winner gets UConn Tuesday night at - ugh - 9:30 p.m. Are you kidding me, NCAA/ESPN? There’s a regional in Oklahoma City featuring potentially a Central time zone team; and there’s a regional in Greensboro featuring two Northeast teams. Yeah, clearly, you want to start the East Coast game at 9:30 so it ends near 11:30. Ridiculous.
—Correction for worried UConn fans. Tina Charles DID injure her left shoulder late in the second half, but the right shoulder is the one with the scars from surgery last spring. Auriemma said both Charles and Renee Montgomery should be ready to go Tuesday, barring any misfortunes. Montgomery twisted her knee and should be OK, though she may wear a protective sleeve Tuesday.
Back courtside in about 45, hopefully.
2:03 p.m.
Final score: UConn 78, Old Dominion 63. The Huskies advance to the Elite Eight for the third straight year. ODU gets a nice, well-deserved round of applause from the fans here in Greensboro. Great effort from the overmatched Monarchs.
I’ll be back after the press conferences to join the Rutgers-George Washington game in progress, as well as bring you updates on the conditions of Charles, Montgomery and the rest of the locker room.
Stay here.
2:00 p.m.
And now it appears as if Renee Montgomery tweaked her left knee. In a scramble for the ball. The point guard was slow to get up, but got a quick check from the UConn trainer and appears to be OK.
UConn leads it 78-61 with 1:00 to play and I’m sure the Huskies will be thrilled to get out of this game with everyone as healthy as possible, no matter what the score.
1:53 p.m.
UConn leads 76-59 with 2:30 to play, but the bigger story is that Tina Charles is off the court with a shoulder injury.
She went up for a layup at the 3:45 mark and was either fouled or blocked. Either way, she grimaced in pain and held her surgically-repaired left shoulder before being helped off. She’s done for the day, obviously, and she’s still tenderly holding her shoulder/arm close to her body when she walks.
This would be an enormous loss with a potential Elite Eight game against Rutgers two days away.
1:38 p.m.
With battery problems mostly solved (at least for the last 8 minutes or so of the game), we’re back. UConn has been dominant in the second half - they lead 73-47 with 7:31 to play.
Old Dominion’s T.J. Jordan cut UConn’s lead to 43-36 with a 3 on the Monarchs’ opening possession. Maya Moore then answered with a 3 a few seconds later, which kicked off a 20-1 run over the next 5:40.
The HUskies have been playing back and forth for the rest of the game, and now the only questions are whether the backups will get in and if Moore (who has 23) can set the all-time Big East freshman scoring record with another bucket.
It looks like our stay in Greensboro will continue, as will UConn’s. I can see flashes of the November 43-point UConn win. At times, ODU has been unable to keep up with the Huskies’ pace and athleticism. And whereas they were able to get a few offensive rebounds and convert, there’s been very few second-chance opportunities that I can remember.
UConn leads it by 24 with 6:04 left.
12:33 p.m.
Huskies lead it, 33-26 with 7:15 to go in the first half.
In the file of “Maya Moore, freshman,” chalk this one up: she got stuffed taking a 3-point shot, then she forced a pass to Brittany Hunter which led to a jump ball.
Old Dominion hanging close thanks to Tiffany Green, who’s scored 6 of ODU’s last 8, and a couple nice defensive stops. The Monarchs are missing an incredible amount of layups or they might be leading right now.
And the Old Dominion section breaks out the old “We Are” chant. It works for Marshall, Penn State and maybe St. John’s. But just no. No, ever. The ODU fans are loud, and are just destroying UConn in the “best fans” category right now.
But the scoreboard shows the Huskies up by 7.
12:21 p.m.
Apparently power outlets in Greensboro don’t have to be attached to anything. So my battery may be running low as we get near halftime, just as a heads-up.
UConn leads, 23-14, with 11:44 to play in the first half behind a little seven-point spurt by Maya Moore, an acrobatic layup from Ketia Swanier on a pass from Moore, and a pair of Tina Charles free throws(!). The Huskies are their normal crazy-efficient selves on offense, and Old Dominion hasn’t had the firepower to keep up yet. They’ll have to really start making some tough shots if they want to keep within striking distance.
The Huskies are shooting 10-for-17, ODU is at 6-for-17 as of the timeout.
12:12 p.m.
Clearly, these are two different teams from November, when UConn defeated ODU in the Virgin Islands, 86-43. The Lady Monarchs are a worthy No. 5 seed and then some. So don’t be too surprised to read that UConn leads, 8-7, with 15:44 to go in the first half.
The Huskies are moving into the paint early and often, and it’s resulted in a couple early lay-ups. Old Dominion, outmatched in the paint, is keeping with UConn thanks to some nice transition offense (though they have missed a few chippies, something can’t afford to do) and a nice 3 by Jazzmin Walters, who is possibly the smallest D-I basketball player I’ve ever seen.
Tina Charles is in at the 16:00 mark, for those of you wondering.
Back with more as the situation calls for.
12 p.m.
Welcome to the unfortunately half-filled Greensboro Coliseum on this fairly chilly Sunday morning in North Carolina. It’s just about noon, which means we are just moments away from tip-off for this regional semifinal between #1 UConn and #5 Old Dominion.
Two notes before we get to the starting lineups:
-Tina Charles will not start for the third consecutive tournament game. Auriemma will go with McLaren-Hunter in the frontcourt.
-There are a HELL of a lot of Old Dominion fans here. Yes, some of them are wearing red and waiting for the 2:30 game, but the ODU fans are loud and boisterous. That’s really all you can ask for from a small school. Plenty of UConn fans here, as well, but it’s at least 55-45 ODU. Or at least it sounds that way.
Everything’s just about set to go. I’ve got some of the butterflies, as I imagine the players do.. This is what it’s all about - tournament time, one-and-done, do-or-die.
STARTING LINEUPS
#1 UConn (34-1): PG Ketia Swanier, SG Renee Montgomery, SF Maya Moore, PF Kaili McLaren, C Brittany Hunter
#5 Old Dominion (31-4): PG Jazzmin Walters, SG T.J. Jordan, SF Shahida Williams, PF Meghan Pym, C Tiffany Green
Back during the game.
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