Spring Break
1:20 a.m.
Just as a reminder, to get all of the liveblogging action from Hartford, check out http://blogs.dailycampus.com/category/womens-basketball/. Click ‘previous entries’ at the bottom of the page to get all of those great, great words, written well before I knew what I was getting in to.
Life at the Hilton during Big East Tournament week is a lot like those Sportscenter commercials from the mid-90s. On consecutive nights, I’ve ridden elevators with one Ms. Stringer, one Mr. Hillsman and one West Virginia basketball player I think I correctly identified.
Tonight tops all that.
I was fortunate enough to meet up with Mountaineer Man in the elevator. It wasn’t a long meeting or anything - basically me recognizing him and some idle chit-chat - but it was most awesome because the Mountaineer Man divulged that his trademark beard is absolutely real.
Yet another reason you’ve got to love West Virginia. They go ALL out. I doubt the guy in the UConn mascot has four legs for realz.
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We’re down to the final game here at the Big East tournament, and it will be the No. 1 seed UConn taking on a surprise opponent, No. 7 Louisville. You can catch the game at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, and the DC blog will be begin its coverage some time around 5:30 or 6.
Since there’s only one game - and since I’m under a very loose deadline, what with there being no paper - I expect to blog fairly often. Hopefully all goes according to plan, because the internet problems of Saturday seem to be under control.
Without further adieu, let’s talk about the Maya Moore Memorial Bests of Day 3 (new readers, make sure to check out the Days 1 and 2 editions so you’re up to date):
Day 3 MVP: Angel McCoughtry, Louisville. The junior wins her second MMMB MVP award on the basis of her 24-point output in Louisville’s upset win over West Virginia. Every time the Mountaineers tried to cut it close, McCoughtry would come up with a big play of some sort, none bigger than her 16-footer with 1:12 to go, expanding UL’s lead to three possessions and salting the game away.
If Louisville can somehow pull out a win over UConn Tuesday, she’s the obvious choice for tournament MVP. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but there it is. Just remember that the Daily Campus blog had it first on Saturday night.
Interestingly enough, McCoughtry was quoted by the Louisville Courier-Journal as saying “we can get to the Big East tournament championship” after UConn’s 92-71 win over Louisville in January. So she’s a prophet, as well.
Team of Day 3: UConn. This may be very repetitive if what I think is going to happen Tuesday, happens. But UConn is simply playing a different game and, as Geno Auriemma said, it would be very surprising for them to come out flat after two focused - if sloppy at times - demolishings of NCAA Tournament teams.
Play of Day 3: Lorin Dixon’s phenomenal layup in the waning moments of UConn’s 74-47 win over Pitt. It was one of the most spectacular plays of the weekend, despite it having no real impact on anything. Any time you have a 5′4 (on stilts) point guard going up and under to avoid getting her shot blocked, and still converting, it’s gotta be the best play of the day. Even Skittles Mowins seemed impressed.
Also, regarding the Brandie Radde play that won Play of Day 2, apparently the Louisville Courier-Journal sees what it wants to see, because they changed the playmaker from Radde to Lauren Terry. My first instinct was that the play was made by Radde, and then it was later confirmed by video. So nyah, LCJ.
Pep Band of Day 3: This is getting tough to pick, because once you’ve seen the pep band perform one day, you’ve seen their routine. So I’ll go with Pittsburgh, who dusted off “Jenny (867-5309)” with a pep band twist.
Fan of Day 3: It’s gotta be the “THAT’S NOT RIGHT” kid (see UConn-Pitt liveblog). Such comedy at such a young age.
Honorable mention as always to the USF Bull Man, who is sticking it out here in Hartford despite the Bulls’ elimination Sunday night. It still cracks me up when the arena gets quiet and he starts chanting “U! S! F!” Apparently, he’s become something of a legend among the fans sitting around us.
Also, dishonorable mention to the young kid who took my pen ostensibly to get an autograph and never returned it. Do you not know who I am, kid? I am a sports writer! People are scared of me! I drive…I drive…I DRIVE AN OLDSMOBILE INTRIGUE!
Also, if anyone would like to lend me a pen so I don’t have to steal one from the Hilton, that’d be cool.
Amusing Press Conference Moment of Day 3: I’m liking Louisville coach Jeff Walz the more I hear him. During games, he’s probably the loudest coach I’ve ever been around. How he keeps his voice amazes me. I don’t think he’s been at a press conference with a full complement of vocal cords. At the conferences he’s got my kind of humor - complete and utter sarcasm at all times - and it takes a few meetings to really understand that.
“We throw it up and miss it quite well,” Walz said. “You can’t call many plays that have Brandie Radde airball a 3 to the other side of the rim, have it bounce to Candyce, pass to Patrika and she makes a 3. I don’t know if you knew, but that was a set play.”
Very fun. I can only imagine the sarcasm to come when he speaks with Geno Auriemma.
Amusing-only-to-me mascot run-in of Day 3: The mountaineer man, as explained above. My life is a fairy tale to many.
That should just about wrap it up for Monday night. I’ve lost track of time, but apparently it is Tuesday and we are just hours away from UConn-Louisville.
My opinion? I don’t get paid for opinions (mostly), but it seems as if Louisville’s success has come because they’ve outrebounded their opponents by a great margin and McCoughtry has done just enough to win. However, they haven’t played a team as big and athletic as UConn, with a player who can go step-for-step with McCoughtry (that’d be one Maya Moore, who one can assume will have a chip on her shoulder after such a lousy game).
Also of worry for the Cardinals? Check out McCoughtry’s stat line after a great 9-for-13 night against St. John’s in the quarterfinals:
vs. Rutgers — 20 points, 25 FG attempts
vs. West Virginia — 24 points, 18 FG attempts
Total – 44 points, 43 FG attempts
Yes, McCoughtry is Louisville’s best player and yes, she’s going to get her points. But when people talk about why Louisville has come up short against the big teams, here’s why. Against great offensive teams, every one-and-done jumper by McCoughtry could be a four-point swing. You can’t win games when your dominant scorer is shooting erratically.
There is no way Louisville can survive with McCoughtry coming up empty on so many possessions, and it’s not likely that they’ll be as successful on the offensive boards against the Huskies. UConn is so ridiculously efficient on offense that Louisville is going to have to match them basket for basket and hope to hit a couple big shots late.
So the prediction will be UConn 86, Louisville 73. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Louisville try some sort of gimmick to slow the game down, but it doesn’t seem like they’re efficient enough to try it. Perhaps they can win if they can force the tempo out of control.
No matter what happens, stay with us at the Daily Campus blog for the final liveblog of the tournament, as I strive to achieve my goal of 10,000 words. War and Peace? Move over.
KM, signing off. Good night from Hartford, the city which pretends it cared about hockey years ago.
10:30 p.m.
It’s all over, and Louisville wins it 67-60. A tough loss for a West Virginia team that could have been looking at a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament if they had made the Big East final. It’s especially tough for the many upperclassmen on WVU, who were six points away from a Big East title in 2006, and now they won’t get a second chance.
For the Cardinals, Angel McCoughtry will get a chance to face down Maya Moore, who edged her for Player of the Year. The team will get a chance to become one of the most improbable Big East champions since Boston College in 2004.
After 10 games, more than 30 hours of liveblogs, and 10 coaches headed off the podium with their heads down, it’s come down to this: Connecticut. Louisville. Tomorrow night at 7 on ESPN2. Make sure you’re with us on the Daily Campus blog tomorrow.
For now, I’ll be headed to the press conferences, and I’ll wrap up Day 3 in a bit, once I return to the Hilton.
10:26 p.m.
The comeback got halted by a tremendous shot by Angel McCoughtry, who hit a trademark 16-footer with the shot clock expiring and 1:12 remaining in the game, giving Louisville a 65-57 lead.
West Virginia had cut the lead to 62-57 after a LaQuita Owens 3, and had a chance to pull within 3 or 4 with about two minutes to play, but Owens and Chakhia Cole each missed an open 3-pointer. It looks like Louisville will advance for a rematch with UConn, who beat the Cards by over 20 in front of 19,000 at Louisville in January. The only question is by how many points.
It’s 66-60 Louisville with 10 seconds to go.
10:17 p.m.
We’ve got a stunning comeback in progress here at the XL Center. Louisville has led by 21 at more than one different time, but West Virginia has clawed back within 60-54 with under three to play.
The Mountaineers got a bad break when Angel McCoughtry missed a pair of floaters in the lane, but WVU couldn’t get the rebound. Louisville has the ball with 13 on the shot clock and 2:38 on the game clock. One more stop and another WVU bucket and things could get very interesting.
9:53 p.m.
Louisville has led by as many as 21 here, as West Virginia has come out flatter than a raccoon in Pat Summitt’s house (I can get more mileage out of that joke…just watch me). It was 41-21 at half, but it looks like Mike Carey (”If you shot 8-for-24 in the first half … you might play for West Virginia”) has turned things around. The Mountaineers are starting to knock down some shots and have cut the lead to 10, 50-40, with 11:19 left.
Chakhia Cole, who does not look exactly like a 3-point sharpshooter, has hit a couple in the last two minutes to narrow the gap. The Mountaineers are making a game of this, and they’ll have a couple free throws out of the timeout. So you don’t want to go anywhere, because we might have ourselves a stew cookin’.
Couple things: Geno Auriemma, you totally made my life by referring to Skittles Mowins’ love of the delicious fruity candy while your mic was on on the XL Center’s closed-circuit TV channel. Don’t think I wasn’t there.
HOMER ALERT! The West Virginia radio guy, who looks like a bit of an old-timer with all due respect, just pointed to an open West Virginia player in the corner behind the 3-point line. Amazingly, the WVU players were looking at that guy, made the pass, and the Mountaineers converted on the triple. You win tonight’s copy of Bernard Goldberg’s thick tome on liberal media leanings, Bias. Congratulations.
Also, the Louisville band’s faux-dixie tune while spelling out C-A-R-D-S is kind of growing on me. I suppose I could live with it if the Mountaineers’ tremendous band must go home.
8:56 p.m.
Well, West Virginia’s hanging in. Louisville’s lead expanded to 27-7 after Radde’s third 3-pointer (hero once more?), but the Mountaineers have stepped up the defensive intensity and are finally showing signs of life on offense. Meg Bulger’s 3 cut the score to 27-14 with 6:59 to play.
Louisville upset West Virginia in last year’s quarterfinals, and so far they’ve been the aggressors. West Virginia has settled for far too many jumpshots, and while they’re going to need to hit a few to get back in the game, there’s still far too much time left to be a jumpshooting team. It’s not WVU’s game anyway.
8:40 p.m.
So here’s a bit of a surprise: Louisville leads West Virginia 18-3 about four minutes in, behind four points from Chauntise Wright and a couple of perfect 3s from Brandie Raddie. Louisville is showing signs of being the token “hot for three days” tournament finalist, but obviously we have a long way to go. The Cards are playing a perfect game thus far.
For the record, Geno Auriemma does not “give a [thing of candy beans]” about Maya Moore’s streak ending. He went on to say that had she gotten the 10 points and played lousy, she would have felt lousy about it and he would have felt “cheap”. There were other sarcastic sentences and a couple other moments of profanity, but really, what’ s aGeno Auriemma press conference without one?
Back with more on game two, and perhaps a little more on the first game, later.
7:56 p.m.
And Lorin Dixon’s sweet mid-air-adjusted layup closes it out for UConn, who wins it in impressive fashion: 74-47 over the No. 5 seeded Panthers.
UConn will advance to the Big East championship game for the fourth straight year, and will face the winner of the upcoming West Virginia/Louisville game. Stay with us here on the DC Blog, as we’ll let you know what goes on with that game. I’m off to get a handshake from Agnes Berenato.
7:47 p.m.
For the first time I can ever recall, fans did not give Maya Moore a standing ovation as she left for the final time in a game. That’s probably because they’re a bit upset with Geno Auriemma.
You see, Moore has scored in double figures in each of the Huskies’ first 31 games, the first freshman to have such a streak and the longest since Diana Taurasi did it from 2002-2003.
With 3:49 left, she appears to be done for the day with seven points. And so, mild uneasiness in the crowd. UConn’s got this one wrapped up, 68-40 with 3:49 to go.
7:36 p.m.
Not much to report here, as UConn leads 62-36 with 7:56 to go. Though we do have a Fan of the Day candidate, the kid behind me yelling that “THAT WAS NOT RIGHT!” after Tina Charles threw away a pass to Renee Montgomery. No, son, that was not right. Reminds me of that one “Real Men of Genius” commercial, Mr. Sports Fan Heckler or something similar. Back later.
7:26 p.m.
The UConn band is getting bored and is therefore begun its “dribble, dribble, dribble, pass, AHHHHHHHHH” routine. That’s when you know the game is over. Also, when Cassie Kerns gets in the game, you know it.
UConn leads 58-33 with 11:28 and the only real storyline left for this one is whether Maya Moore’s career-beginning streak of double-figure points will continue. She has 7 points and 3 fouls thus far, and hasn’t been the same aggressive offensive player since she was taken down by Epiphany Prince a week ago tonight. Not that it’s mattered, as UConn has more than enough to take down the Panthers and advance to tomorrow’s championship.
Renee Montgomery has come back to take the UConn scoring lead with 15.
Back at the next media timeout.
7:06 p.m.
Utter domination by UConn in the first half. The Huskies lead, 44-22 behind 11 points Tina Charles and 10 by Ketia Swanier. It’s about as lopsided as the score indicates.
UConn’s held Pittsburgh to 9-for-37 shooting, and while the Panthers have 13 offensive rebounds, they have just five second-chance points. No Pitt player has more than five points; the Huskies have five players with at least seven.
UConn is shooting 56.7 perecent from the field (better than their 54.5% mark from the free-throw line) and is looking rather unbeatable.
Simply put, this UConn team (a team minus a pair of starters, mind you) is on a different level from normal teams. It’s becoming ever clearer, if you don’t mind me getting all ‘Big Picture’ on you, that there is a wide gulf of separation between the top six or seven teams and everybody else.
Tennessee, LSU, Rutgers, UConn, North Carolina and maybe Stanford and Maryland. One of those teams will be your national champion. I’m pretty confident in thatIt’s likely that at least three will make the Final Four, if not four. There are teams that can compete with this group on any given night, but no one would, say, win a best-of-3 series against them.
Keep in mind, Pittsburgh is a team that has a legitimate chance to make it to the Sweet 16. They are getting absolutely destroyed by UConn right now. Say what you will - the game’s in Hartford, Pitt’s tired playing their third game in three days - but it’s not like this happened before. UConn beat Pitt in their place, in front of a large crowd, by 26. Trust me on this.
More during the second half.
6:33 p.m.
Maya Moore is an amazing player to watch. On UConn’s last possession, she was the strong side rebounder on a Renee Montgomery 3. When Montgomery’s shot hit the back of the rim and bounced to the other side of the court, Moore was there to sky and bring down the rebound. She’s a heads-up player and the fact that she’s here for three more years blows my mind.
Moore has two fouls, but Geno Auriemma’s showing a lot of confidence in Moore’s discipline by leaving her in. Also, it’s easy to play a little looser when you have a 21-point lead on the fift-best team in your conference in the first half. That’s where we’re at: UConn 33, Pittsburgh 12 with 4:38 to go.
6:23 p.m.
At the second media timeout (10:44 to go in the first half), UConn’s expanded their lead to 20-7 behind the 3-point shooting of Renee Montgomery, who has seven points.
Marcedes Walker is the only Panther to get anything going as of yet. She’s got five of Pitt’s 7, but the Panthers are going to have to get something out of Winn, Zellous and Stewart. Even getting contributions from two of the three might not be enough. Pittsburgh is already in a deep hole - they’ve already called two timeouts in the first 10 minutes - and UConn looks focused and on a mission.
Back with more.
6:12 p.m.
We are live here at the XL Center for the semifinal tussle between the Panthers of Pittsburgh and the Huskies of Connecticut.
Starting lineups:
UCONN (30-1, 15-1 - G. Auriemma): PG Ketia Swanier, SG Renee Montgomery, SF Maya Moore, PF Kaili McLaren, C Tina Charles
Pittsburgh (22-9, 10-6 - A. Berenato): PG Mallorie Winn, SG Shavonte Zellous, SF Sophronia Sallard, SF Xenia Stewart, C Marcedes Walker
The Huskies dominated these two teams’ last matchup in Pittsburgh last month, jumping out to a huge halftime lead and getting the entire Panther team in foul trouble in the opening 20. The final score of that game was 90-64, in Pittsburgh. It remains to be seen whether the Panthers will be similarly unready when they play in front of a partisan UConn crowd in Hartford.
Right now, early returns are that yes, yes they are. The Huskies lead 11-3 at the first media timeout, holding Pitt to a Marcedes Walker free throw and a Walker putback layup. Maya Moore still doesn’t seem to have her shot back yet, but as of yet they haven’t needed it.
Pittsburgh started slow against Notre Dame yesterday, and coach Agnes Berenato remarked that if they did it again against a better team, they’d get blown off the court with no chance to come back in the second half. We may see how prophetic Berenato is tonight.
5:25 p.m.
Welcome back to the XL Center for Day 3 of the monstrous Daily Campus liveblog. If you’re new, I’ll be bringing you updates every so often during tonight’s Big East semifinals. First up will be No. 1 seeded and No. 1 ranked UConn, as they take on No. 5 seed Pitt in about a half-hour. I’ll be back then with starting lineups and some pregame observations.
But first, dinner.
12:40 a.m. — It’s been a long day. For those of you reading, I do thank you. Please spread the word (tell a friend! then have each of you tell a friend!), so that I can brag to all my friends that dozens of people have read my words.
Time to wrap it up before a nice, 10-hour sleep. It is Spring Break, after all.
First, Monday’s semifinal matchups, with all games on ESPNU:
[1] Connecticut vs. [5] Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
[3] West Virginia vs. [7] Louisville, 8 p.m.
Next, the Maya Moore Memorial Bests of Day 2:
Named after the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball, naturally.
Day 2 MVP: Marcedes Walker, Pitt - the senior center scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to key the Panthers’ biggest win likely ever, a 64-53 upset of No. 4 Notre Dame in the day’s first game. Walker’s layup put Pitt ahead for good, part of a game-ending 13-2 run.
Honorable mention to Xenia Stewart of Pitt, who hit a pair ginormous 3-pointers in the second half; the first broke a 41-41 tie, and the second basically iced Pitt’s victory by extending their lead to 56-51 with 50 seconds remaining.
Team of Day 2: Louisville. Not only are they the second-most popular team in Connecticut after their upset of Rutgers, but they showed that they’re a threat to anyone that can’t match Angel McCoughtry’s firepower. Given the right matchups, I think this Louisville team could surprise some people. For tonight, though, McCoughtry and fiery, sarcastic coach Jeff Walz will be sleeping easy, with Mountaineer dreams dancing in their heads.
Play of Day 2: I’ve got to go with the play that seems underappreciated by everyone else - Louisville’s Brandie Radde Lauren Terry Brandie Radde (Ed.: I’ve been notified that I misidentified the player responsible for that play. Apologies. Ed., part 2: Dag Louisville Courier-Journal. I’m sticking with my story.) making the extra effort to put a hand on the ball as it traveled out of bounds. Given the alternative (Rutgers inbounding underneath its own basket), that this play got lost in the shuffle is a little disappointing. So don’t feel left out, Brandie Lauren Brandie. Radde Terry Radde’s play forced Epiphany Prince to take 3 or 4 seconds to drive, then force a shot into Angel McCoughtry’s hands.
Pep Band of Day 2: West Virginia. For reasons stated above, I love the Mountaineer band. They’re total dorks (which, if you knew me, you’d know is a high compliment) and they don’t care. They’re also by far the most creative I’ve seen in the Big East.
Honorable mention goes to DePaul (yesterday’s winners), who left the XL Center in tremendous fashion with an awesome swing jazz song to close out their day. The hundreds of fans who were in the process of leaving the arena stayed behind to hear the excellent trumpet playing, and gave the Blue Demon band a nice round of applause. Good stuff.
Fan of Day 2: The young lady from South Windsor who won a $50 gift certificate by hitting seven free throws. Seriously, I apologize for my incredulity at seeing a 10-to-12 year old girl in one of these things. I was wrong.
I would say ‘don’t spend all the money in one place,’ but that’s kind of the point of a gift card.
Amusing Press Conference Moment of Day 2: Not a lot to choose from here, as it was a pretty ordinary day in the press room. The winner’s probably Mike Carey, the Jeff Foxworthy-lookalike/soundalike coach of West Virginia. After Olayinka Sanni said (paraphrasing) that the Mountaineers would have a good shot at beating Louisville if they concentrated on McCoughtry, Carey shot back (after Sanni and the other players were gone):
“I have a bit more concerns than Yinka does,” Carey said, a bit incredulously. “They’re pretty damn good.” It got a chuckle from the assembled media, for what it’s worth.
Amusing-only-to-me Coach Run-in of Day 2: Technically, this happened late Saturday night, but whatever. Got a chance to share an elevator with Syracuse’s Quentin Hillsman, who is staying on my floor apparently for the duration of the tournament. Q didn’t seem amazingly confident about getting into the NCAA Tournament, but he seemed rather at ease about losing in the first round. Well, not at ease, but it seemed like he knew better days were ahead. And they likely are.
That’s coach/escalator-ride #2, if you’re counting.
Once again, thanks for joining us at the Daily Campus blog. I’ll be back around 5:00 for full coverage of the UConn/Pitt game, and then the WVU/Louisville game. This is, as far as I know, the only liveblog of a major women’s college basketball conference tournament. It’s a badge of honor.
KM, signing off. Good night from Hartford, and if you’re a Rutgers beat writer, be careful. These wacky Connecticut roads are dangerous at night.
10:12 p.m. – Final score - West Virginia 64, South Florida 42. We’ve got our four semifinalists, and thus the fun part of the tournament is concluded. Now, we move on to serious business beginning tomorrow at 6 p.m. It’s been cool to hear all the different fight songs, but now we go on to determine the Big East champion. Hint: It’ll probably be Connecticut. (But that’s editorializing)
As the West Virginia band just yelled out, “MORE PER DI-EM! clap clap clapclapclap”. Indeed. Back to wrap up after the press conferences and after I make my return to the 19th floor of the Hilton.
10:02 p.m. — South Florida’s closed the gap sort of, to 59-37, with 3:40 to play. I’m really only writing this post to comment that this will be the South Florida baton twirler ’s final performance tonight. I may not know your name, but I’ll always remember your skills with the baton.
There’s really no way to word that sentence so that it doesn’t come across badly. I tried them all. Sorry, Ms. Baton Twirler.
In addition, to the West Virginia band member who randomly screamed out, “NBC30 IS CONNECTICUT’S NEWS LEADER!” while a USF player shot a free throw, you’ve got the early lead for Fan of the Day.
9:48 p.m. – If you had South Florida plus-29, YOU’RE LOSING! Sorry, I just wanted to write to get that joke in. It’s 52-22 with 11:39 left and now my main objective for the rest of the night is to find a way to interview the USF Bull Man. Believe me, I’ll keep you posted.
9:39 p.m. — This is turning nearly as ugly as the UConn-Cincinnati men’s game was earlier. And to think I had a ticket and was considering going. Yeesh.
Anyway, it’s 45-17 with 17:40 to go, and it’s all but assured that West Virginia will complete the semifinal field. This has been the least competitive game of the tournament thus far, but at least we’re 8 games in before we can say that.
The assorted Connecticut media remaining here crowded around a small TV in the media room to see LSU choke away the SEC title to the Empire from Knoxville. I’d say it’s unfair that Tennessee gets to play their whole tournament in their home state, in a place called the Sommet Center, but then I realized where I was sitting.
Scattered updates between now and the end of the game, followed by my wrap-up post to take you through Monday morning. Stay with us - West Virginia leads 45-20 with 15:57 left.
8:58 p.m. — Back courtside for our fourth and final quarterfinal between #3 West Virginia and #11 South Florida. The winner, of course, gets #7 Louisville in tomorrow’s 8 p.m. semifinal.
West Virginia became one of the all-time Cinderellas in 2006, advancing to the Big East title game as a #12 seed. South Florida’s not quite as good a story yet, having defeated an inexperienced #6 Syracuse team in overtime last night. Still, it will be a daunting task for South Florida to beat West Virginia, most of whose players (plus a twice-injured Meg Bulger, the Big East freshman of the year in 2003, on an apparent bionic knee) played on that 2006 team.
Indeed, things are going to form right now. The Mountaineers are up 26-11 with 7:39 to go in the first half. More updates from this game as they occur.
But first, a little sampling of the Rutgers press conference. You could probably guess this, but the players were a little distraught.
”Louisville won,” Matee Ajavon said. And that’s all she said. Pretty much every Rutgers player restricted their answers to about one sentence. Credit to Essence Carson for taking charge and fielding most of the questions. That’s what a leader does.
In other news, C. Vivian Stringer thought Epiphany Prince was fouled on the final play of the game, which is no surprise. But a very morose press conference for the Scarlet Knights, as well as all of the New Jersey beat writers who will be traveling down I-95 tomorrow afternoon.
Also, before I go, massive props to West Virginia, which is annually my favorite fan section. Their fight songs (both of them) kick all kinds of ass, as do their live Mountaineer Man mascot. And they do the Count from Sesame Street after every made free throw? I’m sold. You can read more of my love for those wacky Mountaineers (and their 2006 run) at http://www.dailycampus.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=799463e2-f85c-48fe-ae73-8cf9d86021a2. It’s the piece I’ve written that I most enjoy.
Back with more around halftime.
7:57 p.m. — Unbelievable - Radde’s play saves the game for Louisville. Prince gets to about 25 feet away, prepares to launch a shot, and gets it stripped by McCoughtry.
Louisville wins, 57-56, and the defending Big East champs, as well as the second-largest media contingent, are going home after one game. Incredible.
According to the UConn fan behind me, that win was for slamming Maya to the ground. Rutgers gets a hearty boo from UConn fans, which is probably a bit of unnecessary salt in the wound. Unless I missed something in the corner, which is possible.
You’re going to want to keep it right here in order to get the postgame reaction. You can bet C. Viv is going to have something to say about it.
7:55 p.m. — We have got a shocker just seconds away in Hartford. Rutgers had the ball with 24 seconds left, Essence Carson took about a 14-foot jump shot and missed. Rashida Juniadt got the rebound, but had it taken away from her by Deseree Byrd for a tie-up. Louisville possession with 5.8 seconds left.
On the inbounds pass, Louisville threw it long and it was headed out of bounds before a brilliant play by Brandie Radde (I think), who touched it just before it gets out of bounds. As a result, Rutgers will have to go 94 feet in 4.4 seconds, rather than inbounding it under their own basket.
7:46 p.m. — What a game this has turned out to be. Angel McCoughtry hit a dynamite shot, just an absolute rainbow to put Louisville up 53-51 with a couple to play. Rutgers came back to retake the lead on an Epiphany Prince 3 with 2:51 to play. Candyce Bingham caught an absolutely beautiful pass over everyone’s heads for an easy layup and a 55-54 Louisville lead with 1:47 left.
Then, Essence Carson stole a McCoughtry pass for an easy layin with 57 seconds left. But then, Bingham came back with another layup off a fantastically unselfish pass from McCoughtry.
We’ve got 32 seconds left, Louisville leading 57-56 and the defending tournament champions and No. 2 seed is on the ropes with about 75 percent of the crowd rooting for the red and black (opposed to the red and white). Could be a big story here in Hartford.
7:25 p.m. — When I said it was good for Rutgers that the refs were letting play go, I guess I should have mentioned Kia Vaughn, Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon’s three fouls. Ah well.
I had a longer thing written up, but this internet is really angering me in so many ways. Suffice it to say that Louisville leads, 42-41 with 10:21 to play.
Angel McCoughtry has had 2 3-pointers barely rim out. A little better luck and Louisville could be well ahead right now.
If the Cards are leading late, perhaps they’ll get a lift from the 5,000 temporary Cardinals fans wearing blue here.
Also, allow me to add that Skittles Mowins is interested in the Illinois-Purdue Big Ten championship game. It’s 48-46 Illinois at last check, if you are too.
6:51 p.m. — Welcome back to the XL Center. Sorry for bumping you, Justin, but it’s 38-10 for the UConn men and that’s just unnecessary.
I’d have been earlier, except that I was being wined and dined by the venerable Frank Litsky of the New York Times and the someday-venerable John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant. One of my life rules is that any time you can talk to a guy who interviewed Hank Stram (look him up, kids), you do it.
Anyway, because of that, I missed the first 10 minutes or so of the third quarterfinal game between #2 Rutgers and #7 Louisville. As regular readers of the blog/newspaper can attest, I don’t care much for Rutgers. I’ll try to be objective as possible, but … THAT WAS A TRAVEL ON KIA VAUGHN! COME ON REF!
What was I saying?
Ah, yes, Rutgers is leading, 26-25, at halftime. It’s been a scrum-tastic game. There have been more loose balls and players on the floor than any game I’ve seen recently. It’s been a dog fight. Frankly, the fact that there were fewer than 20 fouls called so far is a huge benefit for Rutgers; it means their strategy of beating the opponent up on defense can proceed in the second half.
Louisville’s forced Rutgers to win the game with outside shooting, as they are just doing everything legal under Connecticut law to keep Kia Vaughn, Rashidat Juniad and Epiphany Prince’s wild drives from beating them. Another pleasant byproduct of this has been 10 offensive rebounds for the Cardinals.
Louisville’s shooting 32 percent (compared to Rutgers’ 45 percent), but their 10 offensive rebounds have allowed them to stay in it.
Angel McCoughtry has nine for Louisville, but she’s taken 13 shots to get there and has looked flustered at times. She’s going to have to step up and play like an All-American, especially if she can’t get help from Candyce Bingham (2-for-8), the only other real scoring threat on the Cardinals.
The winner of this game gets the winner of West Virginia/South Florida, to take place about 30 minutes following this game.
Stay with us for second half updates from the XL Center.
4:20 p.m. — With UConn’s second team in, DePaul’s narrowed the scoreline considerably. It’s now 86-67, and UConn-Pittsburgh will be the first semifinal Tuesday night. That will do it for the Session 3 liveblog. Please do join us at 6:00 for the second half of our quarterfinal quadrupleheader, when it will be No. 2 Rutgers taking on No. 7 Louisville, followed by No. 3 West Virginia taking on No. 11 South Florida.
See you in 100 minutes.
4:04 p.m. – Mercifully, this second half is going fairly quickly. We’ve got 7:57 remaining and it’s 78-48 UConn, following a couple of easy transition layups by Lorin Dixon and Renee Montgomery. DePaul is totally out of sorts and have just been bludgeoned by a UConn team that looks as focused as they did Monday against Rutgers.
This might be a trend to watch - even if you get UConn the first time (which only Rutgers, Syracuse and DePaul have done), they seem to learn from their mistakes and don’t repeat them. It’ll be interesting to see if this is also the case for a team that UConn destroyed the first time - keep this in mind for tomorrow’s matchup with Pittsburgh, who UConn beat, 90-64 in Pittsburgh.
Stay with us for the rest of this one, because really, what else do you have to do on a Sunday afternoon?
3:57 p.m. — And now it’s beginning to get a little out of hand. UConn leads, 68-43 after a 9-0 run, and the only thing the Huskies need to do in the remaining 11:41 is to make sure their players stay healthy.
Barring a miracle, UConn will be taking on Pitt, whose coach Agnes Berenato is standing right behind me shaking the hands of various supporters, much like she does the press. I bring this up again because it’s quite weird, in a good way.
It’s pretty clear that when the Huskies are on, there’s not a lot of teams that can even compete with them, much less beat them. For the last 8:46 of the first half and the first 8:19 of this one, UConn has been ‘on’, playing with that extra little bit of energy, or whatever you want to call it.
3:49 p.m. – And all order is restored to the world. Renee Montgomery’s hit a couple of 3s and is now in double figures with 10 points, while Moore also knocked in a 3 and a crazy-athletic offensive-rebound tip-in to give her 12 points. The Huskies have led by as many as 21, but right now DePaul has crept within 59-43 with 14:58 to play.
On their last two possessions, Missy Mitidero and Caprice Smith hit 3-pointers. I think UConn will take that every time, as long as Quigley (12 points, subsituted out at the last timeout) doesn’t get open looks.
Stay with us.
3:28 p.m. — It’s halftime, and UConn is playing a bit more like the team you’d expect from the regular season. The Huskies lead, 44-29, despite the fact that two of their big three (Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery) have just 9 points total. Of course, Moore being a total rebound hog, she leads all players with 9. Charles has 7, and the Huskies are outrebounding DePaul 32-18 (including 15-5 on the offensive glass).
Tina Charles has 14, Charde Houston has 8, Ketia Swanier and Moore both have 7. For DePaul, it’s pretty much Quigley and Naughton and not much else.
Other notable stats: UConn is just 2-for-8 from 3, but 6-for-9 from the 3-point line. In addition, after starting 5-for-24, the Huskies finished out the half at a 65 percent clip on 20 shots.
DePaul is 11-for-32 (1-for-9 on 3s), which is just the opposite of their game. No DePaul player has more than three rebounds.
Finally, to the young girl who made seven free throws during a halftime shooting game (she couldn’t have been older than 10 or so, and she defeated a fully-grown woman representing DePaul), congratulations: Geno Auriemma’s recruiting letter will be in the mail when you get home. She’s already as good a free throw shooter as Tina Charles, and she was about 4-foot-8, so it could happen.
3:10 p.m. — It looks like we’ve got a bit of a mixed Char Char today. The good: a couple of pretty driving layups off the glass, plus a nice offensive rebound putback. The bad: a bunch of turnovers/poor decisions, and two fouls.
UConn leads 32-23 at the 3:21 mark, as they’ve gone on a nice run. Renee Montgomery is absolutely shutting down Allie Quigley. Quigley has taken 3 uncontested shots, and she’s made them all. On nearly every other shot, Montgomery has harassed her and forced her to change her shot in mid-air. Just a great job thus far, and without Quigley, the burden of scoring has to go to Deirdre Naughton, who’s scored in double figures. DePaul will simply need to score more if they want to stay in this game.
2:58 p.m. — This might be one of those days for UConn. Allie Quigley is lighting it up, hitting a couple of long jumpers in the last minute or so. DePaul’s had a couple chances to take the lead, but DePaul seems to get a little impatient when they pull so close.
UConn leads, 19-17 at the 8:21 mark.
2:52 p.m. — This is a worst-case scenario for the UConn offense; jump shots aren’t falling, Charde Houston is missing layups and turning the ball over, Maya Moore’s only made field goal is a putback on the offensive glass.
The good news for UConn fans is that the Huskies lead, 12-7, as their defense is simply carrying them right now.
Ketia Swanier, who has been D’ing up Deirdre Naughton, just let her get loose for a moment and she just hit a 3 to pull DePaul within five, 11:51 to play in the first half.
2:43 p.m. — It must be something about Sunday, but we’ve got another sloppy, low-scoring game early here. UConn leads it, 6-2, but they haven’t looked good doing it. The Huskies, and Renee Montgomery in particular on Allie Quigley, are playing tenacious defense. The Blue Demons’ only field goal (they’re 1-for-9) came on a garbage putback by Erin Carney.
If UConn plays with intensity like this for 40 minutes on defense, they’ll be tough to beat by anyone. Of course, if Maya Moore shoots 0-for-4, as she is right now, it’ll be tough to outscore anyone.
Ketia Swanier drives for an uncontested layup right past the entire DePaul defense, and just like that it’s 10-2 UConn with 14:05 to go in the first. Timeout DePaul.
2:33 p.m. — And welcome back to the XL Center, for quarterfinal #2. This match-up features the No. 1 seed (and No. 1 in the country) UConn taking on No. 9 DePaul.
STARTING LINEUPS:
DePaul (20-10, 8-8), coached by Doug Bruno:
G Allie Quigley, G Missy Mitidero, G Deirdre Naughton, F Natasha Williams, C Erin Carney
UConn (29-1, 15-1), coached by Geno Auriemma:
G Ketia Swanier, G Renee Montgomery, F Maya Moore, F Kaili McLaren, C Tina Charles
This should be a good one. As I’m sure you remember, DePaul was 1.2 seconds away from pulling a stunner last Saturday in Chicago. Can they duplicate that feat? Allie Quigley is going to have to play a whale of a game to make it happen in front of a very partisan crowd in Hartford. The winner gets No. 5 seed Pittsburgh in tomorrow’s first semifinal. Stay with us.
2:00 p.m. — That’ll do it. Pittsburgh 64, Notre Dame 53 is your final. The Panthers will advance to tomorrow’s semifinal at 6 p.m., against the winner of UConn and DePaul.
I’ll be back in about 25 minutes with your regular UConn liveblog (see below). Starting lineups, witty observations, the works! Stay here.
1:55 p.m. — It looks like it will be 1-and-done for the Fighting Irish, as Mallorie Winn’s hit a couple free throws here to give Pitt an 8-point lead with 0:35 to play.
Shame for Muffet McGraw, whose team has had a bad week (they lost to St. John’s Monday) since ascending to a top-10 ranking. Also, shame for the leprechaun, who dressed in that ridiculous suit for nothing.
Stay with us in case something crazy-go-nuts happens.
1:50 p.m. — Another tight game here in Hartford. Notre Dame got down as much as five, but rallied back to take the lead at 49-48. Mallorie Winn’s hit a few big shots, but Marcedes Walker’s layup with 1:36 left gave Pitt a 53-51 lead.
After a stop, Xenia Stewart hit the shot of the day, a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 56-51 lead. Notre Dame couldn’t convert on its next possesssion and right now, Pitt is very much in the driver’s seat for pulling a minor upset over the fourth seed and the No. 9 team in the country.
Pitt will be inbounding the ball with 0:36 left, up by 5, and the next foul will put them at the line for 1-and-1.
Charel Allen has 17 for Notre Dame, but it’s been the Xenia and Marcedes Show for Pitt; they have 29 combined.
1:20 p.m. — You know, if they fixed the various internet troubles, I wouldn’t have to complain about them. Hello everyone, welcome to the XL Center and quarterfinal day here at the 2008 Big East women’s basketball tournament. We’ve got 4 very interesting matchups today, with some fantastic players and the cream of the crop playing today.
Our first match-up is currently in progress, and it’s #4 seed Notre Dame edging #5 Pittsburgh, 32-29 with 13:09 to play.
The story of the first half was Marcedes Walker. As she went, so went the Panthers. A couple stupid, early fouls (both on offense, including a totally blatant elbow on a rebound) led to her riding the pine. Pitt had nearly a dozen possessions that ended in turnovers or poor shots and decision making, and Notre Dame took leads of 14-2 and 17-6.
Pitt coach Agnes Berenato put Walker back in with two fouls, and she responded nicely, converting a pair of 3-point plays as part of an 11-0 Pitt run to even the score. Since then, it’s been almost literally basket-for-basket. Since the 17-17 tie, we’ve had nine lead changes, with the largest lead being three until a quick 7-0 Notre Dame run.
As I was writing this, Pitt immediately went on a 5-0 mini-run, and had a fast-break 2-on-1 opportunity to take the lead, but Mallorie Winn missed a chippy. Notre Dame leads, 35-34 with 11:08 to go.
Notre Dame’s band is very impressive, playing a bunch of songs you wouldn’t think would sound by a pep band. I’m talking about you, Cascada’s “Every Time We Touch” And you’ve gotta love that little leprechaun. He’s hilarious, like Nick Cannon.
Stay with us all day, as we’ll be here to cover all four games, including the impending showdown of a rematch between No. 1 UConn and No. 9 DePaul.
KM
Sunday, 12:06 a.m. — Back on Floor 19 here in Hartford, to wrap up what was a highly entertaining first round of the 2008 Big East tournament.
First, here is Sunday’s schedule, with all games on ESPNU:
[1] Connecticut vs. [9] DePaul, 2 p.m.
[4] Notre Dame vs. [5] Pittsburgh, 12 p.m.
[3] West Virginia vs. [11] South Florida, 8 p.m.
[2] Rutgers vs. [7] Louisville, 6 p.m.
Next, here is a short list of Bests after Day One of the tournament; I’ll try to do this for the remaining three days and if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to divulge:
Day 1 MVP: Angel McCoughtry, UL - the junior took over the Cards’ game against St. John’s, scoring 25 of Louisville’s 63 points. She was sidelined with foul trouble until the 8-minute mark of the second half. She came in with Louisville up 42-38. They ended up winning 63-47. McCoughtry scored most of her points in the last 8 minutes. Case closed, for me.
Team of Day 1: This one will be very easy to give out as we move towards the final rounds of the tournament. Today’s TotD is South Florida. They pulled out a gutty win over Syracuse in overtime, thanks to some great play by Jessica Lawson, Shantia Grace and Jazmine Sepulveda. They’ll be the tournament’s lone Cinderella hope, and they get to play the 2006 Cinderella, West Virginia, Sunday.
Play of Day 1: Take your pick - either the banked 3 by Shantia Grace to give USF a 2-point lead with 1:40 left or the banked 3 by Erica Morrow with :06 in regulation to tie it.
Pep Band Of Day 1: DePaul. Marquette’s berets were no match for their powerful, Rube Goldbergian chants.
Fan of Day 1: USF Bull Man. Obviously, and especially because his team won. Honorable mention (because she’s technically not a fan) to the fantastically talented USF baton twirler, who will return once more (at least).
Amusing Press Conference Moment of Day 1: Syracuse’s student beat writers getting their side story idea (on Syracuse’s switch to man-to-man defense in the second half) getting just destroyed by coach Quentin Hillsman. “We didn’t play man-to-man,” Hillsman said. Ouch, guys. I’ve been there.
Runner-up goes to Agnes Berenato, just for saying the phrase “Don’t be dissin’ me”. Mad props, Ms. Berenato. Mad props.
Finally, I’d like to welcome you to join us just before noon Sunday for another monstrous liveblog. I hope someone out there’s enjoying this, because this takes a lot more effort than you might think.
KM, signing off. Good night from Hartford, and don’t forget to set your clocks ahead tonight.
11:10 p.m. — Dadgum internet. Final score, in a shocker: South Florida 68, Syracuse 67 (OT).
Quite a fun little game, exactly what March Madness is all about. In case you didn’t see it, here’s the last few possessions:
Jess Lawson comes up with a clutch offensive rebound and putback to give USF the one-point lead with 1:40 left in OT. USF is able to hold the ball and run down the clock before Syracuse gets it back with under 30 to go. Tasha Harris rushes a 3-pointer with 8 seconds to play, misses it, and Portia Grant comes up with the rebound and gets fouled.
Grant misses the front end of a 1-and-1, Syracuse gets the rebound and calls timeout with 5.2 seconds left. They inbound to Chandrea Jones, who dribbles to halfcourt before bouncing the ball off her leg. She recovers, but is forced to hoist a 45-footer as time expires. It looked like had a chance, but bounced off the win, giving the No. 11 seeded Bulls the upset win.
Whew. South Florida advances to play West Virginia Sunday at 8 p.m.
Back, after I get some packing done, with a bit of a wrap-up of an entertaining first round here in Hartford.
10:20 p.m. — So here’s an amazing sequence - Sepulveda misses 2 FTs, Syracuse turns the ball over, Grace makes one of 2, putting USF up, 63-60 with 27 seconds left. Syracuse for some reason holds the ball for a 3. Erica Morrow, Syracuse’s best shooter, gets about an inch of space, takes a 3 and banks it off the glass. I’ve never seen two banked 3-pointers within the span of a minute like that, before.
South Florida fails to convert on their final possession and we are headed for five more minutes. Bonus basketball here at the XL Center, tied at 63-63.
10:14 p.m. — Shantia Grace hits an absolutely ridiculous banked 3-pointer from the right side of the key. Amazingly, USF takes its first lead (62-60) since it was 6-5 about three minutes in. Syracuse turns it over on their next possession and Jazmine Sepulveda is fouled. She’ll go to the line for 2 with 1:21 remaining, with USF up by 2 and primed to pull a huge upset.
10:10 p.m. — Syracuse has been holding the Bulls at bay for most of the last 10 minutes, expanding their lead to as much as 10 (51-41 with 11:11 left). However, once USF began playing more disciplined offense - especially Shantia Grace (21 pts, 9 ast) - they got some easy buckets. Erica Morrow’s been the big gun for Syracuse, hitting big shots every time the Bulls got close, but she hasn’t had any opportunity to shoot in the Orange’s last few possessions.
Syracuse leads, 60-57, with 3:04 remaining.
Keep it here, updates should be coming more frequently as we get down the stretch.
9:46 p.m. — Well, how about that: South Florida pulled within a couple, going on a 10-0 run fueled by the shooting of Grace and Jazmine Sepulveda. But a couple of poor defensive plays by the Bulls led to a wide-open 3 by Erica Morrow and a wide-open and-one layup for Fantasia Goodwin. It’s 42-35 Syracuse with 14:00 left, and things are getting a bit more interesting. Even the Bull Man is standing up.
9:27 p.m. – Syracuse leads 33-23 at halftime, despite shooting 11-for-30. It could have something to do with 8 offensive rebounds and a +12 rebounding margin. The Bulls simply don’t have enough offensive firepower outside of Grace (9 points), who has been largely held to being a long jumpshooter.
The Orange have looked rather sloppy at points, throwing wild passes over everyone’s head and generally seeming a little rusty/nervous/whatever you want to call it. Still, they’ve got this game well in hand, as South Florida has zero offensive rebounds and is lacking anything resembling a scoring threat outside of Grace. The Orange are bigger, more athletic, and they seem hungry after two years of no postseason play.
You can tell the media is getting tired when even the people who are actually writing about this game for a newspaper are getting a bite to eat.
I’m not complaining, however. We are 20 minutes away from narrowing this field down to, in my opinion, the strongest quarterfinal field in any conference tournament I’ve ever seen. Eight teams that are either locks or extremely likely to be NCAA-bound; three ranked in the top 10 (2 in the top 4) and 7 teams that have been ranked at some point this season.
The winner of this particular game gets No. 3 West Virginia in Sunday’s nightcap.
Back during the second half with more.
8:54 p.m. — Syracuse out to an early 16-9 lead over the underdog Bulls with 11:14. This is my first opportunity to see Syracuse, and I’m fairly impressed. They’re not as careful with the ball as one might want, and that’s likely why they lost a couple games to lesser teams down the stretch. But they’ve played really solid defense and smart, patient offense.
South Florida pretty much lives and dies by Shantia Grace, as we’re learning; She’s got a couple of 3-pointers and USF doesn’t seem able to do much against a tight Syracuse defense.
Otto the Orange is, predictably, extremely punchable tonight. USF wins the mid-game entertainment with a fantastic baton twirler. I guess such is life when you live in a state where it’s 75 degrees in February. God, I love Florida.
Back around halftime.
7:59 p.m. — Louisville has pretty much put this away, as expected, because Angel McCoughtry took the game over after re-entering. She has scored 15 points in just about 6 minutes and extended the Cards’ lead to 59-45. There’s just 1:38 remaining, and it looks like Louisville will get to take on Rutgers tomorrow night at 6:00.
For St. John’s, Kia Wright will play her final game tonight. The former UConn recruit has been out of control driving into the lane all night, and has looked frustrated at times, including what looked to be a cheap, hard foul on McCaughtry with 3:30 left.
That should wrap it up for the third game of today’s action, but you’ll want to keep it here for the fourth and final game of the opening round - No. 6 Syracuse returns to the Big East tournament for the first time since 2005 when they take on No. 11 South Florida.
Stay with us.
7:37 p.m. — Louisville’s developed a little bit of a lead, at 40-35 with 8:55 to go, almost all of it without Angel McCoughtry, who has just re-entered the game after picking up her third foul early in the second half.
Louisville’s starting to heat up from the field, but St. John’s is already in the bonus and is staying close.
You’ll also want to stay close if you can’t see the game.
7:00 p.m. — Not one for the archives tonight - St. John’s trails Louisville, 23-21 at halftime. Monique McLean leads all scorers with 8. St. John’s is 6-for-22; Louisville is 9-for-25.
Angel McCoughtry sat the last 9 minutes or so with foul trouble. The result is a lot of forced shots and missed 3s (1-for-7) for the Cards.
The winner gets No. 2 Rutgers, who must be licking their chops at potentially holding one of these two teams scoreless tomorrow night.
St. John’s is going to have to contain McCoughtry and keep her (and the rest of the 30-percent 3-pt shooting Cards) shooting jumpshots to stay within sight. Make sure you’re here to get the latest.
6:26 p.m. - Ugly game in the early going. Lots of sloppy play, turnovers and missed shots. Louisville leads it 12-6 with 11:58 to play, behind four points each by Candyce Bingham, Chauntise Wright and Angel McCoughtry.
St. John’s has looked pretty rough on offense in the early going, as Louisville is applying pressure and is the more athletic team. Monique McLean has made the only field goal for St. John’s, a layup; the Red Storm have 5 free throws to round out there scoring.
More later.
5:55 p.m. - Welcome back everyone, hope you’re enjoying your Saturday. There’s upsets all around the country right now, including the UCLA men trailing Cal, the Maryland women getting hammered in the ACC semifinals against Duke and Pat Summitt falling narrowly to a raccoon earlier this week.
The St. John’s women will try to continue that string with an upset over No. 7 seed Louisville in our next match-up here at the XL Center. The winner will take on the Mountaineers of West Virginia, but to say that St. John’s is an underdog would be an understatement.
The undermanned Red Storm are 16-13, with an impressive win over Notre Dame to their credit. But they’ve lost to Big East minnows Georgetown and Villanova, as well as headscratching losses to Vermont, UAB and Hartford.
In these two teams’ first meeting, Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry scored 26 and Candyce Bingham scored 25. As usual, tonight should be the McCoughtry show. The First-Teamer averages 23 points per game and was one of the favorites to win Big East Player of the Year.
With the UConn interest done for the day (Husky fans know their team will be playing DePaul tomorrow), the crowd seems to have thinned considerably for the night session - one of the bad things about holding the tournament in a giant arena in Hartford. But at least the USF Bull Hat Guy is here for our entertainment.
No matter who you’re rooting for, stay with us all night, as we have two more games to go here in the first round of the Big East tournament.
KM
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