2008 Woodie Awards
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Odeon Theatre somewhere inside the Greensboro Coliseum, where at least part of this blog is being written. This is kind of a day-long effort, what with four press conferences, four teams, a terrible wireless Internet network and a rather hectic schedule. Please excuse that rather extreme length of this post.
Despite all that – and despite the Coliseum somehow removing the trademark purple-and-green paint (think of any major highlights from past men’s ACC tournaments and you’ll know what I’m talking about) from the arena floor, which is just plain awful - the DC blog is here to bring you up to speed on Media Day here at the NCAA regionals.
Before you ask, yes, just about every newspaper in Connecticut is here. As are our compatriots from the various New Jersey papers. Based on the accents of some of the other questioners, it appears only one or two Virginians/Washingtonians made their way down.
It’s Northeast v. D.C. Metro Area in the Sweet 16. [1] UConn, of course, will take on [5] Old Dominion (out of Norfolk, Va.) at noon Sunday (ESPN). Then, 25 minutes after that game ends, [2] Rutgers will take on THE George Washington University.
A couple of assorted notes from the various press conferences, after the whole “click here” jump thing:
For UConn, the big note of the day is that Lorin Dixon will be available to play in Sunday’s game and, presumably, any games in the future.
She said she had been missing her “responsibilities” in the classroom and sat out the last two games to catch up with her studies. Dixon mentioned a bunch of classes she had to take part in rather than Sunday and Tuesday’s games. But she’ll be ready to go for the Sweet 16 - something that will surely help the Huskies’ thin backcourt survive the next one-to-four games.
“Today’s her birthday, so she’s a year older, and she’s much wiser than she was yesterday,” Geno Auriemma said. “She has a lot more experience, she sees things much more clearly in the last 24 hours. So I’m inclined to give her a chance this weekend. But as to how much part of the cake she gets, that remains to be seen.”
Auriemma had a couple of humorous moments this afternoon, as he is wont to have, including a bit about officiating that had the room cracking up. Something to the effect of 90 percent of the officials in America do a great job, except “we always get the other 10 percent for our games.” Funny stuff.
The UConn coach also gave a cheery answer on the dominance of UConn and Tennessee, and more specifically on how they are the dominant story in the media, to the detriment of the other 62 teams in the NCAA field.
I doubt any UConn fan (or anyone who tried in vain to catch some of the games last weekend) will disagree with Auriemma’s assertion that ESPN (“with its 19 channels”) should be able to televise every game in full, rather than the CBS-like switcheroo TV watchers were subjected to last weekend.
Of course, there’s only four games Saturday and Sunday. Louisville, at least at the time the Huskies were talking, was blowing North Carolina out of the water in New Orleans, a complete shock - though the UConn players in the locker room didn’t seem too angry about that. They were all watching and cheering every Louisville score – except for Brittany Hunter, who was in a corner of the room, reading a book. Don’t feel left out, Britt - that’s my idea of fun, too, oddly enough.
Louisville ended up blowing a 16-point lead and losing, unfortunately for the Big East, but fortunate for those of us who want to see NCAArmageddon (trademark!) on Monday and Tuesday, which would require all the #1s and #2s winning tonight and tomorrow.
Speaking of fun, that’s a good way to describe the halfcourt game of Knockout played by UConn at the end of their practice. For those of you unlucky enough to play that game in high school gym class, it involves two people shooting free throws, one after another. If the second person can make their shot before the first person, the first person is out. Really a fun game which I dominated in high school, as long as the players on the basketball team weren’t in the same line as me. Today, though, instead of free throws, the Huskies took all the shots from the midcourt line.
Anyway, (surprise!) Maya Moore outlasted Renee Montgomery to win it all, in a game that featured Charde Houston making two in a row and Tina Charles – after her shot went into the third row behind the basket – playing defense on Houston to prevent the latter from knocking Charles out. She played good defense and forced a hook shot miss, but assistant coach Tonya Cardoza ruled that Charles was out of the game anyway. Tough break, Tina.
Apart from that, a fairly uneventful day. Look for a bunch of stories about Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry and her magical towels, which come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Well, really just that last one. They represent her grandmother on the sidelines, as you’ll note in the quote below.
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer seemed unusually upbeat today, even if she did get GW’s Sarah-Jo Lawrence’s name wrong (she referred to her as “Mary Jo”). Keep in mind that Stringer can be one of the morose coaches in America when she’s unhappy with her team.
And any time a Rutgers post player can refer to one of the Jersey beat reporters as ‘Santa’, comedy ensues.
George Washington coach Jon McKeown and his three players took a lot of questions on GW’s 67-42 loss at home to Rutgers in November.
Expect that to be a theme of coverage for both games, really. UConn trashed Old Dominion, 86-43 back in November, though they are both different teams.
But GW’s players said they expected to come out strong (of course they say that – doesn’t everyone want to?) and ODU’s players think they can handle the fantastic UConn offense. We’ll see.
Here’s a few quotes to give you a little flavor of media day:
UConn
Geno Auriemma on Old Dominion“I think (the Virgin Islands trip) was the best our team’s ever been. We had everybody healthy and everyone was playing at a high level. We’ve already played Old Dominion one and any time you play someone a second time, it’s not the same Old Dominion team. We’re not the same team that played them the first time. It’s gonna be a difficult assignment for our guys.“I think (the Virgin Islands trip) was the best our team’s ever been. We had everybody healthy and everyone was playing at a high level. We’ve already played Old Dominion one and any time you play someone a second time, it’s not the same Old Dominion team. We’re not the same team that played them the first time. It’s gonna be a difficult assignment for our guys.
“I think (the Virgin Islands trip) was the best our team’s ever been. We had everybody healthy and everyone was playing at a high level. We’ve already played Old Dominion one and any time you play someone a second time, it’s not the same Old Dominion team. We’re not the same team that played them the first time. It’s gonna be a difficult assignment for our guys. Auriemma on increasing women’s basketball exposure by playing the Final Four at the same site as the men’s Final Four
One answer could be that ESPN does a better job with the women’s tournament. They got 19 channels, they should be showing every game and talking about it every night. They could spend a lot more time on the women’s game throughout their network, which would create a lot more interest in the tournament. I don’t know that we’re all ready for [playing at the same site] yet.
Auriemma on Kaili McLaren:
Big guys come in two different types. You’re either good because you’re big or good because you’d be good no matter what size you are. You’ve got kids 6[-foot]-3, 6-4 who, if they were 5-11, they couldn’t function on a basketball court. Then you’ve got Kaili, who’s 6-2, who could play no matter what her size because she’s got all the necessary basketball skills.
Lorin Dixon on her schoolwork issues
“I went home Monday and Tuesday [the day of the Texas game] because I had three classes. Stats, anthro and econ. So I went to school, did what I had to do in school, came back and just came to support the team. I felt like I let my team down, but that’s in the past. I’m hoping that I learned for it, help Ketia and [Renee], who’ve been doing a great job.
It’s just something I had to go through, something I haven’t learned in previous years. I’m glad it happened sooner than later, but I wish it never happened at all. A big part of it is just being organized, being on top of things.”
Old Dominion
Coach Wendy Larry on Maya Moore
When I think of Maya, I think of the word ‘yikes’. I think that we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Under the system she’s in, she’ll flourish because there’s so much creativity in the offense that Geno runs.
When Cheryl Miller came on the scene, she was just it. There was a girl, 6-2, 6-3 with ball-handling skills, presence and charisma. In some regard, Candace [Parker] did the same thing at Tennessee. I think Maya is in the same pool of candidates, because she’s going to do things that open doors for women’s basketball and really grow our game.
Coach Wendy Larry on her towels
“My grandmother was involved in our church, and the quilting club would come to her house to enjoy lunch and coffee. My responsiblity was to do dishes - to wait tables, basically. That towel is representative of the dishtowel I had over my shoulder [at her house]. It represents my grandmother on the sidelines with me.”
Guard T.J. Jordan on how ODU has changed since November
“I think since the VI tournament, just our mentality is different. We’re physically ready to play, and each game we have different people stepping up. I think everybody’s bonding to teamwork and sharing the ball, enjoying the moment and just playing hard.”
Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer on Greensboro“We’re a little more familiar with the area [Rutgers defeated No. 1 and undefeated Duke in the regional semis in Greensboro last year], and the people are always warm and friendly. It’s nice to be in the same time zone, good weather [ed.s note: we apparently brought the rain and cold down with us from Connecticut. Sorry, North Carolinians.]. All things are positive, to be around a number of people we’re familiar with from last year.”“We’re a little more familiar with the area [Rutgers defeated No. 1 and undefeated Duke in the regional semis in Greensboro last year], and the people are always warm and friendly. It’s nice to be in the same time zone, good weather [. All things are positive, to be around a number of people we’re familiar with from last year.”
“We’re a little more familiar with the area [Rutgers defeated No. 1 and undefeated Duke in the regional semis in Greensboro last year], and the people are always warm and friendly. It’s nice to be in the same time zone, good weather [. All things are positive, to be around a number of people we’re familiar with from last year.” Stringer on Rutgers’ tough schedule
“The good part of that is that there’s very few teams who we will not have a sense of how they play. It’s good strategy on our part though I don’t think we’re going to do that next year. We’ve been getting beat up, and that doesn’t help us. We flavor the other conferences, so we wouldn’t be shocked with LSU, Maryland or Tennessee or obviously Connecticut.”
Stringer on center Kia Vaughn
“It’s nothing short of phenomenal. She’s demanding the ball, catching the ball, but unfortunately she didn’t do it this year at a couple of times. It would be nice to have another well-played game which would give us the confidence we need [in her], keeping in mind what we always thought - Kia Vaughn was capable of having a great, consistent year.”
Vaughn on what’s changed since the Big East tournament
“[I have a] sense of urgency, [it’s my] last tournament. I had to address some situations with myself since the Big East tournament. [I addressed] everything. I think I just have to focus on footwork, jump into the ball. I believe I’ve always posted well, and it was just calling to the guards. When I made post moves, it’s about being under control and knowing the difference between when to pass out and make a move for myself.
George Washington
Coach Jon McKeown on his statements following GW’s loss to Rutgers.
“We tried to burn the film, but we couldn’t do that. Fire laws in the gym. It was an early-November game, and obviously we’re different teams now. It was a Sunday night game in the early season, and we had a great crowd, and I wanted the crowd to come back all year. More than anything else I was reaching out to the fans. That was probably my heat-of-the-moment statement.”“We tried to burn the film, but we couldn’t do that. Fire laws in the gym. It was an early-November game, and obviously we’re different teams now. It was a Sunday night game in the early season, and we had a great crowd, and I wanted the crowd to come back all year. More than anything else I was reaching out to the fans. That was probably my heat-of-the-moment statement.”
McKeown on his four-year backcourt of Kim Beck and Sarah-Jo Lawrence
“You can’t replace that type of big-game experience, just understanding. Funny story - Kim Beck and Sarah-Jo Lawrence, their second game of the career was against Tennessee in Knoxville. We just threw ‘em to the wolves, and they got ripped up. Next year we played Tennessee in the NCAA tournament, and they just played great. I think obviously they’ll be ready to play. I guess that wasn’t really a funny story unless you were there.”
On his team’s ‘blizzard’ zone
“I spent a lot of time watching John Chaney [former Temple head coach well-known for his zone defense schemes], and I think Vivian and John, a lot of what she did came through him. Obviously her teams have been great defensively.
It’s a little rainy, but maybe we can get a little snow in here. Go to a Dairy Queen or something.”
Sarah-Jo Lawrence on the first meeting
“It definitely offers incentive [for tomorrow]. We surely remember it. It’s not one of those losses that you don’t think about. But it’s incentive to show everyone that that’s not us. We’re ready to prove that that wasn’t GW. We’re gonna show who GW is tomorrow.”
Well, that should do it for now from the Coliseum. If there’s any further updates, or any notable happenings in today’s Sweet 16 action, I’ll have it here. Otherwise, I expect to be here around 11 for the UConn-ODU liveblog, assuming the Internet is not as poor-quality as it is in the media work room. Tip-off is noon, and we’ll be here before, during and after the game; and perhaps, if you’re lucky, we’ll be all over Rutgers-GW, too.
Have a good afternoon night from Greensboro, where purple and green should be the real colors and the hotel pool beckons.
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