March 8th, 2008

BET Liveblog - Session 1 (First Round, Part 1)

By Kevin Meacham on March 8th, 2008

 4:33 p.m. — And we’re done here, as Marquette blew it’s last shot to get back in the game. They pulled within 69-68 before Allie Quigley made a fantastic fadeaway jumper with 1:18 to go. On their next possession, DePaul missed a free throw but Felicia Chester was there for the offensive rebound and the easy putback. Down 73-69, a Marquette player passed on a wide open 3, instead driving and missing a layup. And so that’s the final - DePaul 73, Marquette 69.

Quigley scored 27, Naughton had 14 and Chester had 15 including the most important bucket of the game.

The Blue Demons will get a much-awaited rematch with No. 1 UConn Sunday at 2:00.

Perhaps another update will come between now and the 6:00 tip between St. John’s and Louisville, so be on the lookout. Otherwise, thanks for joining us and see you at 6 for the night session of day 1.

4:19 p.m. - Deirdre Naughton is on fire here, as she’s scored 13 points in the second half, including a trio of 3-pointers, the first of which gave DePaul a lead it has not since relinquished.

The Blue Demons up 65-63 with 3:36 to play.

Marquette is just not getting any offense outside of Ellis and Robinson, but they’re still hanging around. A wacky runner by Svetlana Kovalenko and a couple of free throws cut DePaul’s lead - which was as much as 10 - to two. Meanwhile, DePaul’s triple threat of Allie Quigley, Naughton and Felicia Chester have combined for 50 points.

Bruno’s team is beginning to sputter, and there’s still a lot of time. The Blue Demons will have to run their offense successfully several more times. Quigley has got to be looking for a shot.

Also, in ‘they’re human too’ news ESPN announcer Beth Mowins, who will presumably be announcing Sunday and Monday’s games on ESPNU, will henceforth known as “Skittles” Mowins, because of the bag of candy she just finished.

This one’s coming down to the wire, stay here. 

3:34 p.m. — I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to write these posts over and over again. The wireless here at the XL Center is quite…bad.

Anyway, DePaul and Marquette are knotted up at 32-32, after a Felicia Chester breakaway layup pulled the Blue Demons even with two seconds remaining.

Neither team is shooting the lights out, and there’s been 18 turnovers, but DePaul will have to get more contributions from First Teamer Allie Quigley (11 points, 4-of-6 FG), not to mention from their three starters who have not made a field goal yet. Chester has been a nice surprise, scoring 9 points and gaining 5 rebounds off the bench.

Marquette is being led by Ellis and Robinson with 6 and 9 points respectively, while Jocelyn Mellon has 4 and 4 rebounds.

The winner, of course, gets No. 1 UConn tomorrow at 2. The UConn players are sitting in the seventh and eighth rows of the left end zone, just to the right of the Marquette band. The coaching staff - as well as the Connecticut media horde - are here to watch and scout.

The DePaul band, rambunctious youngsters they are, have just SERVED Marquette’s band. Anyone over 30 needn’t get that reference, but suffice it to say that it just got real here in the XL Center. 

Also, I’d be remiss to go on without mentioning headline-writer’s dream China Threatt and Tatiyana McMorris as members of my All-Big East Tournament Name Team.

More in the second half. 

3:11 p.m. — Long break between updates, sorry about that. Harry Perretta, Agnus Berenato and a delicious ham sandwich overtook me for the last hour. As you may have seen by now, Pitt defeated Villanova 69-63 to advance. The Panthers will play No. 4 Notre Dame tomorrow. Berenato’s players, as always, shook the hands of everyone in the press room prior to their conference. Always classy and fun.

On the court right now, we’ve got No. 8 Marquette leading No. 9 DePaul, 28-26 with 3:36 left in the first half. UConn fans may remember DePaul as the team that was 1.2 seconds away from a stunning upset in Chicago seven days ago.

 Right now, Marquette’s dynamic duo of Krystal Ellis and Angel Robinson tore it up early for the Golden Eagles - they combined to score 13 points in the first 10 minutes or so.

DePaul is taking a great deal of contested, difficult shots and coach Doug Bruno looks rather frustrated.

Highlights from the last hour include various wireless internet problems, Agnes Berenato saying the phrase “don’t be dissin’ me” (if I figure out how to get audio on the blog, I really have to post it) and Geno Auriemma dining with Muffet McGraw (Geno likes DePaul in this one). Also, if you had 2:55 p.m. in the “When will West Virginia coach Mike Carey make his way to the XL Center?” pool, congratulations.

Finally, this post would have come sooner, but I was distracted by the DePaul band’s 18-second chant coming after every Marquette foul. Seriously? Let’s wrap it up, guys. They have some highly-complicated chants - hopefully if they play UConn tomorrow, you’ll see what I mean.

In regards to Lisa Karcic of Villanova, who injured her leg in the final minute of game one, she had come out of the game earlier with a leg injury and had her knee wrapped up. Harry Perretta said he couldn’t be sure if that contributed to Karcic’s later injury, saying that even “stepping down stairs” could tear an ACL.

More at halftime.

1:50 p.m. — Taneisha Harrison’s layup with 1:34 left should be the dagger, extending Pitt’s lead from four to six.

Unfortunately, the game has taken a bit of a sad turn. Villanova junior Lisa Karcic just went down with an ugly right knee injury. She was going for an injury, made a cut and the knee completely buckled at a pretty disgusting angle. She is in a lot of pain and does not seem able to keep her leg straight. Best wishes to her.

Pitt leads, 65-58 with 37 seconds left.

1:36 p.m. — Villanova’s as close as they’ve been, getting within 54-49 before Shavonte Zellous just hit a pair of free throws with 5:40 left. The Wildcats are just one or two big shots from this being a possession-for-possession game. Unfortunately for the crowd, which is rooting hard for both the underdog and the Geno-friendly Perretta, they come up empty on their next possession. Pitt leads by seven with under five to play. The Panthers have turned their offense into a layup line in the last five or six minutes.

1:19 p.m. - Pittsburgh’s lead is 12 (48-36) with about 12:00 left. Don’t know how I missed this in the stats, but Pitt didn’t commit a turnover until about the 16:30 mark, amazingly. Nova’s offense is almost too methodical to work against a team like Pittsburgh, who can answer your 50/50 backdoor layup with a Marcedes Walker layup every time. It could be a short stay for Harry Perretta and company.

Incidentally, Muffet McGraw is watching this game intently at the other end of my table, because No. 4 seed Notre Dame will be playing the winner of this game at noon Sunday.

Nova is shooting 55 percent, but they’re going to have to force Pitt to some poor shooting down the stretch if they want to come back.

Walker has her flaws, but you can’t argue with 6-for-9 from the field, even if it is against a very undersized Villanova team. Laura Kurz is playing well, leading the team with 11 points.

And just as I write that, Maria Getty nails a long 3 for Villanova, cutting the deficit to 9. Can Perretta’s crew continue to pull closer?

12:45 p.m. - Internet willing, the updates will come more often, say, like once a half. But the XL Center wireless is a fidgety mistress.

Pittsburgh leads it here, 37-22 at halftime. Villanova’s offense is quite gimmicky - of the milk the clock to shoot a 3/backdoor layup, offensive rebounds be damned - and the Wildcats, despite shooting over 50 percent, have taken just 19 shots in 19 minutes.

The Panthers, and Marcedes Walker specifically, are too big and have shot the ball well from the outside, too. Xenia Stewart has had a big first half with 11 points, in addition to Walker’s 8.

I would say it’s a bad sign that Villanova is outrebounding Pittsburgh and losing by 15, but Pitt is shooting nearly 60 percent and haven’t had many chances for offensive rebounds.

On a side note, the crowd size is pretty good for the Saturday noon game, probably about 3 or 4,000. The USF Bull Man is one of them, thank heavens.

Also of note: the pro-UConn crowd gave a mixed reaction to Epiphany Prince, of course, as she was announced on the video board.

Back with more in the second half.

12:04 p.m. - Just about ready for tip-off here at the XL Center. Our first match-up (of 11) features two of the more likable coaches in the league, Pittsburgh’s Agnus Berenato and Villanova’s Harry Perretta. Berenato might be the most cordial person I’ve ever met; Perretta is kind of like a more self-deprecating Geno Auriemma.

The #5 Pitt-#12 Villanova match-up is also a huge style clash. Pitt likes to slash with Shavonte Zellous and Mallorie Winn, or give it inside to the stout Marcedes Walker; Villanova is going to shoot 3s. A lot. If ‘Nova can hit some shots, they can stay close with the heavily-favored Panthers, as they did Jan. 30 in a 72-63 Pitt win. I’ll be around during the game to offer my thoughts. Stay with us, and you can check the game out on BigEast.org’s Big East TV streaming video service.

KM

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March 7th, 2008

Big East Tournament Liveblog Part 1 (A ?-Part Series)

By Kevin Meacham on March 7th, 2008

7:20 p.m. Friday - Hey there everybody out there, wherever you may be. Welcome to the fledgling Daily Campus blog, live from the 19th floor of the spacious Hartford Hilton. I’ll be taking you through four glorious days of the 2008 Big East tournament in Hartford. Twelve teams are here, as are legions of fans throughout the hotel. I’ve already seen seven different logos, not counting UConn.

In addition, within about 60 minutes of checking in, I’ve already shared an elevator with a certain nameless head coach who wears a backpack monogrammed “CVS.” So this weekend is already a blast.

But enough of these anecdotes, let’s get to the news. 

The first bit of news tonight is that just about 20 minutes ago, UConn’s Maya Moore completed a historic double; the Lawrenceville, Ga., freshman was a landslide victor of the Big East Freshman of the Year, as expected. However, Moore was also named the Big East Player of the Year, becoming the first freshman male or female basketball player to win the conference’s top individual honor.

In addition, Ketia Swanier won the conference’s Sixth Man Award. All-Big East teams will be right here as soon as I get it.

The No. 1 Huskies will be overwhelming favorites to win the Big East tournament, especially after a 20-point drubbing of Rutgers Monday.

If I end up having wireless access in the bowels of the XL Center tomorrow, I’ll be here to bring you updates from one of my favorite days of the year - the opening round of a big tournament. I always enjoy seeing exotic school traditions (here’s looking at you, West Virginia) and with any luck, the USF Bull-Hat Guy will be here all four days. If you were at the BET last year, you know who I’m talking about.

Stay with us all weekend,

KM

Sat., 12:05 a.m. — One quick update before getting some rest before a glorious 10 hours of basketball Saturday:

Geno Auriemma tied with Syracuse’s Quentin Hillsman for Big East Coach of the Year, as it should be. Auriemma did a great job after losing two starters for the season; Hillsman resuscitated the Orange program and has them thinking big things in the next few years.

Rutgers’ Epiphany “Boo” Prince won the Big East’s Most Improved Player Award, which may finally replace “Did you know she once scored 113 points in a high school game?” as the one fact ESPN announcers have to know about Prince.

Meg Bulger of West Virginia won the Sportsmanship Award, and DePaul’s Allie Quigley, who killed UConn a week ago, was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Finally, here’s your All-Big East Team selections:

FIRST TEAM

Matee Ajavon (G, Sr., Rutgers)

Charel Allen (G., Sr., Notre Dame)

Tina Charles (C, So., UConn)

Krystal Ellis (G, Jr., Marquette)

Angel McCoughtry (F, Jr., Louisville)

Renee Montgomery (G, Jr., UConn)

Maya Moore (F, Fr., UConn)

Epiphany Prince (G, So., Rutgers)

Allie Quigley (G, Sr., DePaul)

Olayinka Sanni (C, Sr., West Virginia)

Shavonte Zellous (G, Jr., Pittsburgh)

SECOND TEAM

Candyce Bingham (F, Jr., Louisville)

Meg Bulger (G/F, Sr., West Virginia)

Essence Carson (G/F, Sr., Rutgers)

Shantia Grace (G, Jr., South Florida)

Chandrea Jones (G, Jr., Syracuse)

Laura Kurz (F, Jr., Villanova)

LaQuita Owens (G, Sr., West Virginia)

Kia Vaughn (C, Jr., Rutgers)

Marcedes Walker (C, Sr., Pittsburgh)

Kia Wright (G, Sr., St. John’s)

HONORABLE MENTION

Ashley Barlow (G, So., Notre Dame)

Kieraah Marlow (F, Sr., Georgetown)

Nicole Michael (G/F, So., Syracuse)

Deirdre Naughton (G, So., DePaul)

Lindsay Schrader (G, Jr., Notre Dame)

Ketia Swanier (G, Sr., UConn)

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

Chelsea Cole (F, Pittsburgh)

Lorin Dixon (G, UConn)

Mi-Khida Hankins (G/F, Providence)

Tasha Harris (G, Syracuse)

Taneisha Harrison (G, Pittsburgh)

Sky Lindsay (G, St. John’s)

Brittany Mallory (G, Notre Dame)

Maya Moore (F, UConn)

Erica Morrow (G, Syracuse)

Deveraux Peters (F, Notre Dame)

Angel Robinson (G, Marquette)

Ebonie Williams (G, Seton Hall)

See you all Saturday.

 KM

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March 3rd, 2008

3.3- Big Monday

By Kevin Meacham on March 3rd, 2008

6:45 p.m. - Hola and hello from the subterranean floor of the XL Center here in Hartford. Welcome to tonight’s liveblog for the much-anticipated match-up between No. 1 UConn and No. 4 Rutgers. There’s quite a buzz around this one, folks. The student section is full well before tip-off, there’s more people sitting at 6:35 than there usually are at 7:05 and there’s something in the air that is screaming out “big-time event.”

Tonight’s match-up on ESPN2 will decide the Big East title and will go a long way towards deciding if the Big East receives one or two No. 1 seeds in next month’s Big East Tournament.

Also, these two teams hate each other. Rutgers has had something that you could conceivably call UConn’s number recently, the coaches are total opposites, and there’s a definite Yankee-Red Sox vibe going around. Should be fun.

As a quick note, here’s a capsule look at the standings for the Big East tournament going into tonight’s action - all 16 teams will play their season-finales tonight:

First-round byes: UConn (14-1), Rutgers (14-1), West Virginia (12-3), Notre Dame (11-4)

NCAA-bound: Pittsburgh (9-6), Syracuse (9-6), Louisville (9-6)

For the right to play the #1 seed: Marquette (8-7), DePaul (7-8)

Will be in Hartford: St. John’s (6-9)

Win tonight and you’re in: Villanova (5-10), Georgetown (5-10)

From there, South Florida needs to beat Marquette and get help; Seton Hall, Providence and Cincinnati will be staying home.

Back with starting lineups in 15.

7:05 p.m. - And hey, it’s loud in here. Very near a sellout here, probably about 16,000 seats sold. Starting lineups:

RUTGERS (24-4, 14-1 Big East):

PG Matee Ajavon (12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg), SG Epiphany Prince (14.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg), SF Essence Carson (10.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg), PF Heather Zurich (5.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg), C Kia Vaughn (9.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg)

UCONN (28-1, 14-1 Big East):

PG Ketia Swanier (6.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg), SG Renee Montgomery (13.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg), SF Maya Moore (18.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg), PF Kaili McLaren (4.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), C Tina Charles (14.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg)

Enjoy the game.

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February 23rd, 2008

2.23- Senior Night

By Kevin Meacham on February 23rd, 2008

3:58 p.m. - Hey there, it’s been a while - have you lost weight?

 Welcome to Gampel Pavilion, where it is a glorious Saturday in February. The UConn men have already lost, but I would bet that the UConn women will not undergo the same fate. The No. 1 team in the country hosts St. John’s today in about a half-hour. The Red Storm (13-12, 4-8) are struggling to make the Big East tournament next month, and today they’ll be without six of the team’s 13 players - including star guard Kia Wright - who were suspended just prior to the game.

 However, more importantly, today is the day UConn will honor its four graduating seniors - Mel Thomas, Brittany Hunter, Ketia Swanier and Charde Houston. It’s a great tradition and thankfully, the crowd has filled more than 3/4ths of Gampel 30 minutes before gametime and shortly before the ceremony begins at 4.

 I’ll be back shortly before tips with starting lineups and a short recap of what should be a very fun and emotional Senior Night ceremony for everybody.

4:30 p.m. - A nice ceremony for the four senior players and four senior managers, along with the sappiest choice of music possible. Mel Thomas got the longest hug from Geno Auriemma, while Charde Houston seemed very relieved about the entire ceremony.

Starting lineups:

Keep in mind Mel Thomas is not dressed for the game, and apparently Brittany Hunter is not available. Tina Charles and Maya Moore will be starting in her place, but it’s good to hear her name in the lineup again.

UCONN (25-1, 12-1 Big East):

PG Renee Montgomery (13.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg); SG Mel Thomas (10.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg); SF Ketia Swanier (6.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg); PF Charde Houston (5.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg); C Brittany Hunter (6.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg)

ST. JOHN’S (12-13, 4-8 Big East):

PG Sky Lindsay (9.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg); SG Monique McLean (15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg); SF Kelly McManmon (7.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg); PF Joy McCorvey (5.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg); C Tiina Sten (7.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg)

4:38 p.m. - Well, here’s a score most people didn’t expect: UConn 13, St. John’s 12. The Huskies jumped out to a 10-3 lead before Tiina Sten (that name is spelled right, she’s Finnish) began her own personal highlight reel. The St. John’s senior has 6 points, all on post moves that could be objectively described as “sweet.”

Sten will be at the free throw line when they come back.

4:55 p.m. - Things are somewhat back to normal here, as Sten missed that free throw and UConn immediately went on a 11-0 run. St. John’s is still hanging around solely on the back of Kelly McManmon, who is 4-for-4 from the 3-point line. UConn’s neutralized that with Ketia Swanier’s 4-for-5 effort, as well as a pretty large talent gap at every other position on the floor. Barring some kind of epic collapse (which would involve St. John’s converting a high percentage of 3s) it looks like the Huskies are looking good.

5:24 p.m. - Just about ready to start the second half here, as all normalcy has been restored to Gampel Pavilion - it’s 52-27 at halftime. UConn clamped down on the Red Storm, allowing two field goals in the last 6:40. UConn ended the half on a 16-2 run, the Huskies have three players in double figures and St. John’s doesn’t have the players nor the depth to make it a game.

6:11 p.m. - And it’s all over, UConn wins 98-41. The Huskies end the game with a 62-16 run against the depleted Red Storm, to the surprise of very few. Ketia Swanier stepped up big on her Senior Night, leading the team with 20 points, a career high. The other senior to play tonight, Charde Houston, had 12 points and 7 rebounds, most in the first half.

Maya Moore scored in double-figures again (18 points), but if you were aware that there was a game scheduled for today, you already knew that. The freshman added 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.

Today’s game, of course, was a nice little lull as we move towards the last month of the season. Now that the pleasantries are through, it’s time for the Huskies to embark on a journey that could lead to the program’s first Final Four since 2004. It starts with a trip to No. 6 LSU Monday night on ESPN2, then there’s a trip to No. 23 DePaul next Saturday, followed by the season-ending Armaggeddon with No. 5 Rutgers March 3 in Hartford. After that, it’s right into the Big East tournament and then the NCAA Tournament.

If you’re a first-time reader, that makes one of you. So stay posted here at the Daily Campus blog throughout the next month as the updates hopefully become a little more regular.

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February 12th, 2008

2.12 - Liveblog! Hoya Paranoia

By Kevin Meacham on February 12th, 2008

6:55 p.m. - Welcome all to Gampel Pavilion for tonight’s match-up between No. 2 UConn and Georgetown.

Much has changed since the last time we spoke - I underwent a rather obnoxious illness for the past four or five days; more importantly, the UConn women dropped a spot in the polls after last night’s controversial Tennessee win over Rutgers. The press room has been buzzing about it, but here’s basically what happened:

Rutgers led 58-57 with six seconds left, Tennessee missed a pair of shots, including one by Candace Parker, before UT’s Nicki Anosike picked up a rebound with about 0.2 seconds left. It is here that the clock stopped for about 1.2 seconds, likely due to an inadvertant whistle, allowing Anosike enough time to go up and get fouled as time then expired. At regular speed it’s clear something is amiss; in slow motion it is clearer that Anosike’s shot attempt/foul should not have counted.

Everyone’s got an opinion, but rest assured nothing will change and the so-called “Shady Vols” escaped with a win and some home-cooking.

 And so onward to tonight. UConn’s back home for the penultimate time at Gampel Pavilion this season, with the Hoyas and a blizzard coming to town tonight. We’re about 40 minutes from tip-off of what should be a nice, relaxing game in front of a totally-pink crowd. Fans here tonight are thinking pink for breast cancer awareness. It’s a nice gesture, as are the commercials in which Geno and Pat Summitt team up with Kay Yow (who I had the pleasure of meeting last year in the NCAA Tournament in Fresno - truly a class act).

Lineups in about 40, my Elena Delle Donne story/review sometime in the future.

KM

7:37 p.m. - Small crowd here tonight, probably due to the snowstorm of utter doom which seems so common to Connecticut folk. In New Jersey, we call these “flurries.” Ah well.

Georgetown has quite a bit of height - their smallest starter is 5-8 and center Aminata Diop (6-5) of Senegal has really been one of the reasons Georgetown has been much more competitive this season compared to last. UConn has won the last 20 in this series, by an average of more than 34 points per game. Expect that to continue.

Starting lineups:

GEORGETOWN (13-9, 3-6 Big East)- PG Meredith Cox (5.7 PPG), SG Monica McNutt (6.2 PPG, SF Shanice Fuller (5.5 PPG), PF Jalessa Butler (8.0 PPG), C Aminata Diop (7.4 PPG)

UCONN (22-1, 9-1 Big East)- PG Lorin Dixon (2.5 ppg), SG Renee Montgomery (12.9 ppg), SF Maya Moore (17.3 ppg), PF Brittany Hunter (6.8 ppg), C Tina Charles (14.2 ppg)

Back later this half.

8:10 p.m. - Under 5:00 left in the house and it’s one of [i]those[/i] games tonight - UConn leads 36-8 and it hasn’t really been that close. UConn’s playing efficient and Georgetown is…showing why UConn beat them 84-26 in last year’s meeting.

The Huskies are burying 3-pointers from anywhere and really, unless something breaks, the excitement of this game probably doesn’t warrant more liveblogging.

Though Maya Moore has 17 points. She’s pretty good.

KM

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