On the surface it appears that tomorrow’s game between the Huskies and No. 4 Oklahoma will be decided in the paint between Sooners’ three-time All-American Courtney Paris, who ultimately chose Oklahoma over UConn during the recruiting process, and UConn All-American in-training Tina Charles. They are two of the nation’s elite centers. Paris has a ridiculous 97 straight double-doubles and 102 in 105 career games. She is averaging 15 points, 14 rebounds and 3.2 blocks this season. Charles, who is playing better – and more consistently and focused – than she has at any point in her career is averaging 16.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on the nation’s top-ranked team.
But, in fact, the early-season Top 5 clash will offer so much more. Yes, Courtney and Tina is the sexy, made-for-ESPN matchup. Yet players like Maya Moore, Renee Montgomery, Kalana Greene, Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes for the Huskies and Ashley Paris, Amanda Thompson, Danielle Robinson and Whitney Hand for the Sooners will have much to say about the final outcome for their respective teams.
Maya is expected to be the best player on the floor for a team that is averaging 92 points and shooting 58.5 percent from the field. She’s averaging 17.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocs in 26.8 minutes. Renee is one of the top two point guards in the nation, while Greene is proving that her severe knee injury is a thing of the past.
“Who’s going to stop Maya Moore? That’s what the game comes down to,’’ Sooners coach Sherri Coale said. “I’m hoping she’ll play a role in that, but I doubt it very seriously. I think they’re very, very balanced and all the attention may be focused on Tina Charles and Courtney Paris in the paint. But the game’s going to be won by the other folks. I think Connecticut’s balance and probably Renee Montgomery gets lost in the shuffle as much as anybody. Of course, I don’t see the paper from the East Coast or know exactly what you guys are talking about. But I think in the national scene, obviously rightly so, Maya Moore gets a tremendous amount of attention and credit. And I do think she is just one of the very, very special athletes to come along in women’s basketball. But at the same time Renee Montgomery makes the ship run. She just is as steady and as good of a decision-maker as there is running the team at the point position in the country right now.’’
For Oklahoma, Ashley Paris is playing exceptionally right now with four double-doubles and two 20-point games. She leads the team in scoring (15.6) and minutes (31.4) and is averaging 10 rebounds. Thompson is solid and Robinson and Hand comprise a dangerous backcourt. The Sooners are averaging 81.0 points and own a plus-14.2 rebounding advantage.
“I think the key to Oklahoma’s team is their players,’’ Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “Not just what Courtney Paris brings. They’re averaging (81) points per game and she’s averaging 15. It’s not like she’s getting 50 and everybody else is just making a couple free throws. So I think the success of their team is going to be based on not only how well she plays, but I think the development of their other players has been a big key. That’s one of the reasons why they’ve probably struggled in the NCAA Tournament the three years that she’s been there in some ways because other players have to make plays. You’re not going to be able to go with just one thing. And I watch them play on film their other players are really, really good. I told Sherri that the other night. I watched the Marist game (Wednesday), and I just think they’ve got a lot of really good players at all the other positions. And Ashley Paris is playing the best basketball she’s ever played. So when you look at their team, they’ve got as many pieces that could fit into a national championship picture as anybody else in the country. They’ve got good depth. They’ve got good speed. They’ve got good size. They shoot the ball pretty well. I don’t think anybody will be shocked if they’re in the Final Four or win the national championship.’’
As far what type of strategy Geno will employ tomorrow in an attempt to neutralize Paris and the Sooners, he wouldn’t specifically say.
“We might play with five guards,’’ he said. “We might play with Maya at the center. Then they’ll have to go zone or (Paris) is going to have to guard Maya or Kalana. I just don’t want Sherri to think she’s the smartest person in the building Sunday night. We’ve got a couple things we might do. They may not work, but we may try them. I have been known to come up with a good idea once in a while.’’
The Sooners have lost to the only other Top 10 team they have faced this season – falling to then-No. 4 North Carolina 80-79 at home last Sunday. They are 1-17 during the regular season and 2-27 overall against Top 10 opponents. Needless to say this is another big spot for Oklahoma to earn a big win.
“I don’t know that there’s an adjective out there that justly describes it,’’ Coale said. “That’s what we have to do. It’s like I was explaining to a young coach a couple of weeks ago. When you start setting your goals and you’re building a program goal-setting is very easy. Once you go to the Final Four you have a team goal-setting meeting and pretty much the answer is win a national championship because there’s nothing left and you don’t want to go backwards. So I think for program, for all the things that we’ve done … We’ve won more Big 12 titles than any other team in our league. We’re third in the country in attendance. We’ve been to the NCAA tournament nine years in a row. But what else is out there that we need to do? Obviously, we need to beat somebody we’re not supposed to and the better you get the fewer folks there are with that title, but the harder that task is. So we’re sitting on the cusp of an amazing opportunity and at some point if we want to catapult our program into that … I feel like we’re already in the upper echelon, but if we want to be with the very cream of the crop, the guys that are mentioned year in and year out for a national championship, we’ve got to beat some of those guys. And its starts with Connecticut.’’
There are still tickets available for the game, which will feature a charity auction by both coaches. Geno will auction off an autographed Brioni tie and Sherri will auction off a black Cole Haan handbag.
The auction will begin at 8 p.m. and close at 8 p.m. Dec. 6. Fans can make separate charitable bids on both items at www.genoscancerteam.com or www.wbca.org. The proceeds from the auction will benefit the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
Rich
