UConn women's basketball

Sophomore Maya Moore completed a clean sweep of every major national Player of the Year award tonight when she was presented with the Wooden Award in Los Angeles. Oklahoma senior Courtney Paris was the other finalist.
Moore, who is the first UConn player to win the Wooden Award, was also awarded the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Trophy and was named Player of the Year by The Associated Press and the USBWA.

Rich

Lauren Engeln, a 5-foot-11 guard from Laguna Hills, Calif., has given an oral commitment to play for UConn, her AAU coach Russ Davis confirmed tonight.
Engeln is the fourth member of the Class of 2010 to commit to the national champion Huskies. She joins Samarie Walker, a 6-1 swingman from Dayton, Ohio, Stefanie Dolson, a 6-5 center from Port Jervis, N.Y., and Michala Johnson, a 6-foot-3 junior forward from Montini Catholic High in Lombard, Ill.

Rich

The Huskies were sloppy and out of sync offensively at the outset, starting 6-of-15 shooting with five turnovers. And Kalana Greene was having a difficult time trying to contain Angel McCoughtry, who scored 11 points in the first 8:18.
The game was tied 17-17 with 10:40 left in the half. But a pull-up jumper by Renee Montgomery with 9:56 left signaled the beginning of the end for the Cardinals and the sprint to a title for the Huskies.
Tina Charles, who secured her a double-double with 3:10 left in the half, followed with back-to-back layups in what would be a 22-8 run to finish the half. She had 11 points in the run. Montgomery had nine.
The Huskies did not commit a turnover over the final 12:04. They also held Louisville scoreless for stretches of 3:19 and 3:28 to build a 39-25 lead at halftime.
The Cardinals missed their last 13 of their 14 shots of the half. McCoughtry did not score over the final 11:42.

Rich

Geno Auriemma made it a clean sweep of every major national Coach of the Year honor Monday when he was named the Naismith Coach of the Year. He was also honored by the WBCA, The Associated Press and the USBWA.
It is the second straight year and the sixth time overall that Auriemma has received the Naismith award. No coach in the country has been honored by the organization more than him.
Tennessee’s Pat Summitt has won the Naismith Award five times in her career.
“Any time that happens you feel like you must have done something this year that was pretty significant,’’ Auriemma said. “Our coaches just understand I think, Chris and Jamelle and Shea and Jack … Everybody involved in the program they just understand so I just appreciate having them around. I’ve started to get a lot more of these awards as the coaches have gotten better on my staff. When they were younger and I didn’t have as many people to rely on I didn’t seem to get as many of these awards. As the coaches have gotten a little more experienced and a little bit older and are more freely able to express themselves around me, which they do a lot more now than they did 10, 15 years ago. It’s amazing the success that we’ve had and how much input they’ve had in it. And I’ve never gotten this award when I had bad players, which is when you really get tested as a coach. I’ve only gotten this award when I’ve had really, really good players who play great.’’
Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale, Auburn’s Nell Fortner and South Dakota State’s Aaron Johnston were also finalists for the Naismith award.
As far as Renee Montgomery is concerned honoring Auriemma is fitting. The Huskies might be recognized as the top team in the country, standing one win away from earning their sixth national championship and completing their third undefeated season. But she will attest they are not a very smart team collectively.
“He definitely deserves it,’’ Montgomery said. “For one, I don’t think we have the smartest players in America playing on our team. He hides it very well and does a good job of only showing our strengths and working on our weaknesses at practice and covering them up in the game. Clearly everyone just sees us playing the games and doesn’t see what he does in practice. I think there is a lot that goes into what he does that people don’t recognize because everyone thinks we have good players.’’

Rich

Louisville coach Jeff Walz doesn’t look like Morris Buttermaker. None of his players look like Tanner Boyle, Amanda Whurlizer, Kelly Leak, Mike Engelberg or Alfred Ogilvie either. Yet, that hasn’t mattered this season because Walz has called the Cardinals the “Bad News Bears.’’
All-American Angel McCoughtry hasn’t even seen the movie. Neither has Renee Montgomery. The Bad News Bears mantra was one of many entertaining sound bites delivered by Walz today on the eve of tomorrow’s national championship showdown with the top-ranked Huskies.
“We’ve been a Top 10 program all season long,’’ Walz said. “But I really believe that it’s one of those, I think we’re voted in the top 10 because we just kept winning. It’s like, `Golly, I really don’t want to vote them there, but they didn’t lose. So we’re stuck voting them there.’ I mean, our center is 6-foot-2 and about 145 pounds. When they announce the starting lineups for last night’s game, and again Gwen Rucker runs out to half court and here comes Courtney Paris, were you not like, `Wow, that could be a problem for them.’ Our point guard goes out to shake hands and, you know, Des (Byrd) has just done a phenomenal job, but she’s not your typical point guard. I’ve had everybody be like Des will tell you she was a quarterback for a Pee Wee League football team. She played with the guys. And when I say that, that’s what I talk about. We don’t have your 6-4 post player. We don’t have your 5-10 lightning quick point guard. We’re just different. And I think it plays well into the way we play. But that’s what I refer to when I sit there and I say we’re the Bad News Bears. That’s what I talk about.’’
Senior Candyce Bingham agreed with her coach.
“We are the Bad News Bears,’’ Bingham said. “I totally agree with that. We see it in practice a lot. But for whatever reason when the lights come on and the game is on the line we find a way to get it done. It’s not pretty. It’s not perfect. But obviously it’s worked in our favor. We just believe in each other. We know we have the pieces to be successful. It’s just a matter of putting it all together. And we believe in each other and we believe in our coaching staff.’’
Montgomery wasn’t even born when movie was released in 1976. So you have to give her, and the rest of the players, a pass on this one. When asked who the Huskies are if Louisville is the Bad News Bears, she targeted a few other sports movies.
“Can we be the `Angels in the Outfield,’’’ Montgomery said. “I don’t know how we would fit that, but I just like that movie. Or, `A League of their Own,’ I don’t even know if that makes sense. I’m just naming baseball movies.’’
Tina Charles said that they are “just Connecticut. We’re just Huskies.’’ And Geno Auriemma wanted no part of any referrals to movies or otherwise.
“We haven’t put ourselves in position to be any cute nicknames or any Cinderella teams,’’ Auriemma said. “We are the team that’s supposed to win. I remember standing here in Tampa and everyone was talking about who was coming in and who was coming back and I remember saying, `I bet in Connecticut it’s already ordained. You’re going to win the national championship and go undefeated. Why even have a season next year because that’s the mentality. How do you put some charm and some cute spin on that. There’s nothing cute about it. We’re the bad guys that come into town every game and run roughshod over everybody.’’

Walz was asked if the Huskies had any weaknesses that he could exploit tomorrow. Here’s what he had to say:
“I think I saw their manager drop a bottle of water,’’ Walz said. “So that’s a weakness. You know, that’s the scary thing about them. They’ve got three of the Top 10 players in the country. Then you’ve got Tiffany Hayes, who is shooting the ball extremely well. Kalana Greene … It’s just a list of them. We’re going to have to come out and we’re going to have to try to find a way to make them uncomfortable. How we’re going to do that? I haven’t quite figured out yet. I’ve got until 7:30 (CST) tomorrow night to try and figure that out. But at the same time, who expected us to be here? I’m not sure anyone did. Well, actually I know no one did. So we’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain, and that’s how we’re going to approach this game.’’

Keep your eye for Louisville freshman Becky Burke’s tattoo on the upper right side of her back tonight. It says: “Be strong in the Lord and the victory is yours.’’

Rich

Sophomore Maya Moore was named the winner of the Naismith Trophy, which is presented annually to the top player in the country, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. She is the sixth player to win the Naismith Trophy in both high school and college, joining former UConn All-American Diana Taurasi, former Tennessee All-Americans Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw and Candace Parker, and former USC All-American Lisa Leslie.
Moore won the award as a junior and senior at Collins Hill (Ga.) High.
UConn teammate Renee Montgomery, Louisville senior Angel McCoughtry and Oklahoma senior Courtney Paris were the other finalists.
Moore and Courtney Paris are the finalists for the Wooden Award.

Moore is already the first sophomore to win the AP and Naismith Player of the Year awards as well as the Wade Trophy in the same season.

Tickets are still available for the Tuesday’s national championship game between the Huskies and Louisville at the Scottrade Center. Single session tickets for $81 are available through Ticketmaster by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com or at the Scottrade Center box office, which is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. today and up until game time.

Rich

The Huskies will play the Final Four all over again at various points next season. They will play Stanford in the first of a two-game deal at home. They will travel to Oklahoma in the second of a four-game deal, and they will travel to Louisville in Big East play.

Former Huskies Swin Cash, Jennifer Rizzotti, Carla Berube, Morgan Valley, Ashley Battle and Ann Strother, UConn-bound recruit Samarie Walker, along with Renee Montgomery’s parents and niece, Tina Charles’ and Kalana Greene’s parents, Tiffany Hayes’ mother and Maya Moore’s mother are all in attendance tonight.

Rich

Geno Auriemma knew it when he provided an honest answer to an honest question about Stanford’s toughness yesterday that it might create a little bit a of a stir. The stir has been very little as it turns out, but ESPN has replayed Auriemma’s response several times today.
Here is the question that was posed: “A lot has been said, maybe on the West Coast more, I don’t know, about Stanford’s – over the past decade, if you will, Stanford’s talent but softness, not being a tough team. It was something they really tried to overcome last year. How do you look now that you’ve had a chance to pay attention and scout this particular team? How would you describe it as being a tough team or maybe not? We know you guys are a tough team.’’

And here’s Geno’s answer: “Yeah, we’re a tough team. I know this is going to get played out the wrong way. But I’m going to say it anyway. And I know I’m going to get criticized for this. White kids are always looked upon as being soft. So Stanford’s got a tremendous amount of really good players who for whatever reason, because they don’t look like Tina Charles or Maya Moore, the perception out there is going to be, well, they must be soft. Well, I think that’s a bunch of bull. I watched them play and nobody goes harder to the boards. Nobody takes more charges. Nobody runs the floor as hard. Those kids are as tough as any of the kids in the country. But people on the sports world like to make judgments on people by how they look. And it’s grossly unfair. I had somebody say, well, you know, Stanford’s really disciplined, as if to say we’re not. You know, it’s just the perceptions out there that people make. And, yet, you don’t get here to play in these games if you’re not tough, if you’re not disciplined, if you’re not talented, and you don’t do all the little things that good players do. So those West Coast people, you know what, the West Coast in general has a reputation of being soft. But that’s to the East Coast people, you know? And it’s probably true. Because we live in New York and Philadelphia and places like that and we walk down the street going: `What are you looking at?’ People on the West Coast go: `Hi, how are you doing?’ So, yeah, they are a bunch of pansies.’’
The room erupted in laughter once Geno finished his answer.

The Huskies had study hall this morning before their 12:10 p.m. CST shootaround. They plan to arrive at the arena around 7 p.m. CST. Speaking of study hall … Kayla Pedersen was asked yesterday by a student reporter about balancing academics and athletics this weekend.
“I didn’t bring any of my books with me here because I wanted to focus on the Final Four,’’ she said. “But we just started a new quarter so we’re not really worried about academics right now. So we’re just totally mentally focused.’’
Talk about an honest answer …

Rich