UConn women's basketball

In all the conversations Vermont coach Sharon Dawley had prior to Selection Monday the prospect of playing top-seeded UConn never came up. She didn’t believe that the Catamounts would be given a No. 16 seed. A 14 or a 15, but not a 16.
It wasn’t until the Selection Show moved into its fourth and final regional Monday that the thought of having to face the No. 1 team in the country in the first round of Vermont’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2000 began to creep into her mind. So you can imagine that Dawley’s reaction when she saw the pairing wasn’t one of joy.
“I was a little shocked,’’ Dawley said. “Obviously your first reaction is, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got UConn.’ But as I drove home from the selection show, I was thinking it through. Playing at UConn actually is a dream of some of our players, especially our Canadian players (Courtnay Pilypaitis, May Kotsopoulos and Andrea Cihal) which is why they’re on our schedule for December. For them to grow up and have this dream to play there, maybe this is the silver lining to be able to play there. The silver lining is you grow up wanting to be on TV and play in the big game on a big stage, and it really doesn’t get much bigger than this.’’
The Catamounts, who have drawn their lowest seed in team history, are making their fifth appearance in the tournament overall. They are 0-4, losing by a combined 22 points in these games.
This will also be the second time in team history Vermont will face the nation’s top team. It was blasted 92-52 at Tennessee Nov. 25, 1997.
“A lot wows me about UConn,’’ Dawley said. “Primarily their athleticism and their strength. Really, they look much more like an All-Star team than a college team. They have the best players at their positions from point guard all the way down the roster.’’
Are the Catamounts actually thinking upset?
“I would say we have to offensively look the way we did this past last weekend (at the America East tournament) and take care of the ball the way we did,’’ Dawley said. “We have to not give up anything in the key and keep UConn at one and done on the offensive end and see what happens. I’m not really naïve enough to think we can go in and dictate a lot against the best team in the country. But the beauty of the sport is that the game still has to be played. I’m sure it’s an unbelievable task to slow down UConn and beat them at one-and-done, but that’s what’s needed and that’s what we’ll try to do.’’

I have already stated that Pilypaitis is a big-time UConn fan. And there will be more on that in tomorrow’s Post. But here is an interesting connection between Pilypaitis and the Huskies. Her father, Linas, coached the daughter (Jaclyn) of UConn director of basketball operations Jack Eisenmann in high school back when Jack was coaching at the University of Ottawa.

Rich

Long-time UConn fan and Vermont 6-foot-1 star junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis said tonight that the Catamounts program is like one big family. It is so tight that coach Sharon Dawley scheduled a game with Huskies next season to provide Pilypaitis and fellow junior May Kotsopoulos, who are both from Ontario, Canada, the opportunity to play them during the regular season once during their career.
The deal was finalized before the 16th-seeded Catamounts and the top-ranked and top-seeded UConn were matched up in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday at Gampel Pavilion. So Pilypaitis and Kotsopoulos will have the chance to play them twice in about nine months.
UConn will host Vermont in December next season.
“Coach has been a great support at UVM for me and May,’’ Pilypaitis said. “It’s really like she’s our mom away from home. All the coaches have been great. So I’m really happy they put that game together. Now we get to play them twice so it’s even better.’’
“It was because the girls came in and we knew playing UConn was a dream of theirs,’’ Dawley said. “And because they were so good as sophomores we felt that if we could put the game off until their senior year then maybe we would have enough talent and enough experience around them to compete. The game just came a little bit earlier.’’

Rich

Geno Auriemma was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. He is joined by Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale, Auburn’s Nell Fortner and South Dakota State’s Aaron Johnston.
Auriemma is looking to win the award for the second straight season and for the sixth time in his 24-year tenure with the Huskies.
Also, Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery are among four finalists for the Naismith National Player of the Year award. Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry and Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris are the other finalists.
The winners of both awards will be announced early next month.

Here is Saturday’s practice schedule at Gampel Pavilion. Each session is free to the public.

Noon to 1 p.m. – UConn practice
1:05 p.m. to 2:05 p.m. – Vermont practice
2:10 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. – Florida practice
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. – Temple practice

Rich

To gain a first-hand appreciation of just what Tonya Cardoza meant to the Huskies all you had to do was talk to a few players following the Selection Show Monday night at Gampel Pavilion. It was with great admiration and sheer emotion that players such as Renee Montgomery, Kalana Greene and Tina Charles, talked about her after it was revealed that Cardoza would be bringing her new team back to where she spent the last 14 years of her career as an assistant coach with the Huskies.
UConn was a combined 465-41 with five national championships, eight Final Four appearances, 12 Big East regular season championships and 11 conference tournament championships during her stay. This season, her first as a head coach, she has guided Temple to a 21-9 record and its sixth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
“I’m just extremely excited for her just because it’s her first season,’’ Montgomery said. “I was just talking to her the other day. She was happy to make tournament and she got a No. 9 seed. That’s a great accomplishment for her. She thought she had a chance to come here and I’m just excited to be able to see her and I know our crowd is going to give her a great welcome back.’’
“She meant a lot to Connecticut and just what she’s done for this university and the basketball team,’’ Charles said. “How she developed Renee and Lorin (Dixon), and I know especially Kalana. So it’s going to be cool watching her play.’’
“It’s going to be weird seeing her on the other sideline, but I’m happy for her,’’ Greene said. “She had a great year with a bunch of players she never recruited. For not having her players, I think she did a great job.’’
Cardoza said she has emulated Auriemma in everything she’s done this season from a coaching standpoint, whether it’s how to conduct practice, Xs and Os, how to deal with players in certain situations and just dealing with people overall.
Right now she has the Owls playing their best. They are 11-3 in their last 14 games. When she walks into Gampel Pavilion for the first time this weekend and sees the Huskies it will unquestionably be an emotional time for her.
“When I see Renee, I’m probably going to cry,’’ Cardoza said. “We talk a lot. I haven’t been able to get to a game this year, and I promised her that I would. So (Monday) night we talked and we were just really, really happy. We talked before. She didn’t want me to come to Storrs. I said `I hope we come to Storrs,’ and she was like, `No, I don’t want you to come because if we have to play each other it’s going to be so weird.’ But it’s going to be great to see those guys because I haven’t seen them. I’m not saying to play them, but just to be able to see those guys. I’m going to be really happy and I’m probably going to cry when I see Renee.’’
The Owls won’t hook up with the Huskies unless both teams win their first round games. Top-seeded UConn will meet 16th-seeded Vermont Sunday at noon. Temple will meet eighth-seeded and 22nd-ranked Florida at 2:30.
Cardona has certainly been impressed with the Huskies.
“To see what they’ve done, without Elena (Delle Donne), without Caroline (Doty) and for those guys to be undefeated,’’ Cardoza said. “And they only play about seven guys really that get a lot of minutes. And to see the job that they’re doing, and the teams they’re playing against and the dominance I’m so proud of those guys. Because I know how hard it is to be in that position where you’re undefeated and everybody’s coming after you. And to be able to do that throughout the season is one of the toughest things. It’s a credit to him and the staff and the players. It’s something that they all want to go undefeated and to be the best. That’s what I’m trying to get my kids to do, to strive to be the very best. And that’s something they will always do.’’
Expect the Owls to have a veritable home-court advantage against the Gators in the first round. Not to mention they will be playing in front of their largest crowd this season. They averaged 580 in 13 home games and played before a season-high 5,488 at Duke Jan. 5.
Should the Huskies and Owls meet Tuesday night for the right to move on to the regional semifinals in Trenton Montgomery thinks Cardoza will have an advantage.
“I’m sure she doesn’t want to play us, but I think she has an unfair advantage because she knows everything we can do,’’ Montgomery said. “She was particularly my coach. I feel like she knows the ins and outs of my whole game and of all the other guards, too. In that sense, she will know what’s going on. If any coach has the best game plan for us, she will probably have it.’’

This weekend will also serve as a homecoming for two other former members of the program. Former UConn center Brittany Hunter is an assistant coach under Cardoza and former team manager Stacey Nasser of Shelton is working as a graduate assistant on Cardoza’s staff.

Huskies recruit Michala Johnson, a 6-foot-3 junior forward from Montini Catholic High Lombard, Ill., visited the UConn campus Monday.

Rich

Geno Auriemma has been named the WBCA Region I Coach of the Year, it was announced today. He is now eligible to earn national Coach of Year honors for the second straight year and for the fifth time overall.
The winners of the WBCA National Coach of the Year will be honored during the WBCA National Coach of the Year Luncheon in the Hyatt Regency St. Louis Grand Ballroom April 6 at 2 p.m.

Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore and Tina Charles are among 52 regional finalists for the State Farm Coaches’ All-America team. The list will be cut to 40 March 25 before 10 will be named to the All-America Team. Montgomery and Moore earned All-America honors last season.

Be sure to check out Heather Buck’s latest blog on the Connecticut Post home page. It’s full of good stuff.

Rich

The Huskies will open play against Vermont in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday at Gampel Pavilion at noon (ESPN2). The Catamounts, who won the America East tournament championship yesterday with an upset of Boston University, are making their first tournament appearance since 2000.
UConn is seeking its second straight trip to the Final Four – 10th overall – and its sixth national championship. It would meet the winner of the game between eighth-seeded Florida and ninth-seeded Temple in the second round Tuesday night.
Temple is led by former long-time Huskies assistant coach Tonya Cardoza, who is in her first season with the Owls.
Texas A&M is the No. 2 seed in Trenton. Florida State, who UConn defeated 83-71 in Cancun, Mexico Dec. 21, and California are seeded third and fourth, respectively.

Rich

ESPN has indirectly released the four No. 1 seeds in the tournament by placing them in a series of poll questions here: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/poll/index?pCat=46&sCat=342.
UConn, Maryland, Duke and Oklahoma have each been awarded a top seed. The Huskies are a No. 1 seed for the third straight year and for the 12th time overall. They have advanced to the Final Four seven times and won four national championships as a No. 1 seed.
The Selection Show will air on ESPN tonight at 7.

Rich

Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery are two of the 19-players named on the official Wooden Award national ballot that determines the Wooden All-American team and the Player of the Year. The Huskies and Maryland (Kristi Toliver, Marissa Coleman) are the only teams with two balloted players.
Nine seniors, seven juniors and three sophomores were selected. The Big East leads all conferences with five players, followed by the ACC (4), Big 12 (4), Pac-10 (2), SEC (1), Big Ten (1), Atlantic 10 (1) and Sun Belt (1).
The award ceremony will be held at The Los Angeles Athletic Club April 10.

Rich