March 9th, 2008

BET Liveblog - Session 4 (Quarterfinals, Part Two)

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.

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