Helen of the Women's Hoops Blog and proud member of "the women's basketball intelligentsia" made perhaps the greatest contribution to the entirely illogical argument that UConn is bad for women's basketball: a list of all the women's basketball articles about UConn this morning.
And there's a lot of print about UConn this morning.
Anyway, the two articles that caught my eye were the one by ESPN's Mechelle Voepel (of course) and another by Kevin Robbins of the American Statesman staff. The point in both articles was similar: this game is not about history, or really anything else of that nature not related directly to what occurs on the court. As Robbins' article is titled UConn's streak and this game will come down to "precision, execution, and perfection". That's about the only thing the first game taught us - Stanford simply outexecuted UConn in every facet of the game in the first half then UConn turned up the pressure and executed a brilliant defensive game plan in the second half.
So all that said, I haven't looked at UConn season statistics until this morning because honestly Scotter pretty much covered it in non-conference play and petrel did a nice analysis of how UConn's first halves this season were enough to beat some people.
So why look at statistics now before a national championship game that will come down to intangibles?
Simple: Kalana Greene.
Who? The Red Flash of St. Francis University. For the love of all that is sweet and holy, don't mistake them for their conference foe St. Francis College, which is located in Brooklyn, because if they don't take offense at being mistaken for a school that won all of two games, an SFC assistant coach would like a word with you.
Where? Loretto, PA, home to the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art.
When? Sunday the 14th, in Brooklyn, NY.
Upset? Yes. Mostly. While the opening rounds were played in Loretto, allowing the fifth-seeded Red Flash to knock out top seed Robert Morris, they had to come out to Brooklyn to play on second-seeded LIU's home floor.
RPI: 155
SOS: 187
How? Short form: Brittney Hodges scored 23 points and St. Francis never looked back, winning 77-68. Long form? Well, read on after the jump...
Who? The Huskies of UConn. NOT the Lady Huskies; we all know what a lady husky is, and it ain't appropriate for television.
Where? Storrs, CT; "They used to call it Store, but then they built another one."
When? Tuesday the 9th in Hartford, CT
How? Just another day at the office; after letting West Virginia stay within 10 at the half, they held the Mountaineers to 12 second-half points to win 60-32.
Upset? No. UConn hasn't lost since George W. Bush was president. They finished Big East play three games ahead of West Virginia and Georgetown.
RPI: 1
SOS: 2
UConn leads the nation in scoring... defense. As high-octane as their offense is, and as slick as their passing is, their defense tends to get lost in the shuffle. But they harry their opponents into 30.7% shooting and hold them to 47.2 points per game. They are efficient. They are merciless. They are really, really good.
18.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.1 steals, 51.2% shooting, and just over a block per game. The line of the conference player of the year? No, junior forward Maya Moore's statistics. It's senior center Tina Charles who won Big East Player of the Year, and who leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 18.6 and 9.4 respectively, shooting a blistering 64.7% from the field. And then there's the 11.9 points on 57.6% shooting of senior guard Kalana Greene. (Yes, guard. Yes, 57.6% shooting. And that includes some well-timed three-pointers.) And then there are the deep threats of sophomore guards Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty. And that guy on the bench with the smart mouth is a pretty nice asset to have; as much as Auriemma is known for his personality and his mouth, he's also an excellent coach who wrings the absolute last drop of greatness out of his players and plays the match-ups well.
So we sat and marinated in our fury and frustration for twenty minutes, waiting for the second game to begin. We debated leaving because we knew it was going to be a blow-out, but we paid for the ticket and our dinner reservations weren't until 5:15, so there was no point in going anywhere. We chatted up the UConn fans around us, some of whom commiserated with us about the previous game. Then Elvis entered the building and it got hard to do much of anything.
There's nothing in the world like flying down I-95 at what was probably an illegal speed with two other die-hard fans, with the windows rolled down, blasting "We Will Rock You" at 20 notches on the volume dial, on your way to the Big East tournament. There's nothing in the world.
I love my team so much. So, so much. I have to get to the postseason with them, guys. I can't handle them playing this much of the season without me. I can't take not being there at the end of this crazy, incredible ride.
I LOVE MY TEAM I LOVE MY TEAM WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I LOVE MY TEAM BUT I WILL TRY.
UConn returned to McGrath Arena for the first time since one of the more memorable finishes in UConn history in 2008.
Behind 27 points from senior guard Allie Quigley and 19 points from sophomore guard Deirdre Naughton, DePaul had opened a double digit lead going into halftime and led by as many as seventeen points in the second half. UConn battled back and point guard Renee Montgomery had a chance tie the game or put UConn ahead with 14 seconds left. Montgomery instead missed two of three free throw attempts and the rebound on her final shot bounced long into the arms of a DePaul guard with a clear path to the basket and her team headed toward an upset of #1 Connecticut.
Instead Maya Moore chased DePaul's Missy Mitidero down from behind, poked the ball free, and called timeout with seven seconds left after gaining position of the ball. After the timeout UConn's Ketia Swanier dribbled the ball the length of the court and made a layup with 1.6 seconds left. A play that gave UConn their first lead since the nine minute mark of the first half and sealed a 77 to 76 victory for UConn.
Not surprisingly, there was no need for similar last second heroics by UConn on Wednesday night.
DePaul is one of the few teams that will still look to push tempo against UConn and one of an even smaller group of teams that does so with any effectiveness. Wednesday night DePaul got behind UConn by ten points five minutes into the first half, but stayed in the game until the final minutes of the first half by making shots and not letting UConn open up one of their typical long runs. DePaul's grip on the game started to loosen at the end of the half and then what DePaul coach Doug Bruno called a "disaster" happened.
Maya Moore dropped in a three with less than thirty seconds left in the half to extend the UConn lead to seventeen. UConn got the ball back with eight seconds left and when Tiffany Hayes finally figured out that her teammates were yelling at her to shoot because the clock was running down, Hayes calmly launched a rainbow three from thirty feet out that swished through the net. After battling all half and making 48% of their shots DePaul went into the half down twenty points.
Hayes opened the second half scoring with another three and as usual UConn pushed the lead to thirty within the first few minutes of the second half behind eight quick points from Tina Charles. DePaul joined Stanford as the only teams to score sixty points against UConn this season and the only teams to shoot better than 40% against UConn this season. Despite shooting 46% against UConn DePaul only scored 62 points against UConn because of 25 turnovers. Defensively DePaul was aggressive and would hold UConn to an uncharacteristic seventeen assists on thirty-seven field goals, but couldn't stop UConn from making shots. DePaul would allow 95 points as the UConn players put the ball on the floor and penetrated to the basket.
DePaul came into the season with expectations for a very strong season. They returned four starters and some key players off the bench, but all three seniors on the roster have suffered season ending injuries including guards Deirde Naughton who led DePaul in scoring and assists last season and China Threatt who won the Big East's Sixth Man of the Year award last season. Those injuries have left Allie Quigley's younger sister Sam as DePaul's only experienced guard. The junior point guard has averaged over 38 minutes per game this season including over 40 minutes per game in Big East games.
Quigley, DePaul's leader in scoring and assists this season, led DePaul with fifteen points and five assists in 40 minutes against UConn. Her ability to step up and shoulder that load has been the key to DePaul remaining in contention for an NCAA tournament bid in spite of season ending ACL injuries to Naughton and Threatt. The road to the NCAA tournament does not get any easier for DePaul. On Sunday they play at Notre Dame in a game that will be televised on ESPN2.
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