UConn women's basketball

So much for a battle of unbeatens at the Final Four in San Antonio next month. So much for two unbeaten teams entering the NCAA tournament – period. Again, the Huskies stand alone.
Third-ranked Nebraska had won its first 30 games this season. But the Huskers provided further proof today just how difficult it is to run the table over the course of an entire season when they were defeated 80-70 by No. 11 Texas A&M in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.
Nebraska, who trailed 39-28 at halftime, shot 37.3 percent from the field and missed 13 free throws. Star senior Kelsey Griffin also had three fouls in the first half. The Aggies shot 53.1 percent and finished with a double-digit rebounding advantage.
It will be interesting to see how the Selection Committee will view the Huskers now as far as seeding. They still are likely to get a No. 1 seed, but will it be the third or the fourth?

Rich

UConn-bound recruit Bria Hartley, a 5-foot-10 point guard from North Babylon, N.Y., has been named the Gatorade New York Player of the Year for the second straight year. She is now eligible for the Gatorade National Player of the Year, and she will be participating in the McDonald’s All-American Game in Columbus, Ohio March 31 and in the WBCA All-American Game in San Antonio April 3.
Current 2011 UConn recruits Betnijah Laney (Delaware), Kiah Stokes (Iowa) and Elizabeth Williams (Virginia Beach) were also honored in their respective states.

Huskies’ coach Geno Auriemma will appear on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption Friday at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Rich

Here’s a look back at Tuesday’s win over No. 9 West Virginia in the Big East tournament final:
TURNING POINT – The Huskies led 33-28 with 15:31 left in the game. They were in the midst of a scoreless spell that would reach 5:14 and Maya Moore and Tina Charles were a combined 3-of-22 shooting.
But powered by another relentless defensive surge, UConn went on a 27-2 run to blow the game open. The Mountaineers finished the game 2-of-20 shooting, missing 13 straight shots at one point, and were scoreless for 11:23.
“I think we played very, very good defense, and they played horribly on offense,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “That’s usually how those things work. Just because you’re a good defensive team that’s not going to be enough. So we had a little help from them and they had a little help from us. When we get going like that defensively, we’re hard to play against.’’
UNSUNG HERO – Kalana Greene. She has played in the shadow of Moore and Charles all season. Yet, when the Huskies needed her she delivered a performance that earned her tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Greene finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in a season-high 35 minutes.
Greene had six points, four rebounds (two offensive) and three assists during the UConn’s decisive run.
“I thought I wasn’t going to make the (all-tournament) team,’’ Greene said. “It feels good to earn it, to have to fight for it. My teammates had a lot of confidence in me. I feed off of them a lot, every day. We were the most outstanding team in the tournament and I owe this to my
team.’’
BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ – The offense was not functioning at a high level against the Mountaineers, which meant the Huskies again had to turn to their defense. They allowed just 32 points, which was the fewest in a Big East final and tied the fewest allowed in any tournament game.
West Virginia shot 24.1 percent (19.2 in the second half). And starting point guard Sarah Miles was limited to two points on 1-of-15 shooting in 39 minutes.
“You’re not going to have great offensive nights every night and people think we’re just a pretty finesse team and we don’t like to be physical,’’ Greene said. “But we’re a team that can get down to the nitty-gritty. Get tips on defense and lock teams down and get rebounds when we need to.’’
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS – The Huskies have won three straight Big East championships (16 overall). This time, though, they had to beat two Top 10 teams in as many games to win the title. “I don’t know how many conferences you have to beat two teams in the Top 10 to win your tournament,’’ Auriemma said. “So I think we’ve done something that’s pretty amazing.’’ … Auriemma praised the play of reserves Lorin Dixon and Kelly Faris. Faris had four points and five rebounds in 26 minutes. Dixon had one assist in 12 minutes, but just like Faris she was a pest defensively. “Lorin and Kelly were really good,’’ Auriemma said. “People don’t always see this, but you put Kelly Faris on a really good player, and that player’s not going to get much. And I think Lorin wore out… The kid Miles didn’t know what to do. It was really hard for her to get stuff done. She was just able to take her and make her have to work so hard to get what she needed that I think it kind of disrupted their whole offense because she wasn’t part of their offense any more.’’ … The Huskies have won 72 straight games, as in every game that Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes and Heather Buck have been members of the team. “It’s pretty nice,’’ Hayes said. “Me, Caroline and Heather Buck, we always talk about it saying, `We’re still undefeated. We’re 70-so and oh.’ A lot of people don’t get to experience that. So it is a good feeling.’’
LOOKING AHEAD – The Huskies will not play until either March 20 or 21 depending on where they are sent for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Their likely resting spots will either Pittsburgh or Norfolk, Va.
UConn will not practice until Saturday, with the coaching staff out recruiting.
BY THE NUMBERS
4 – Made 3-pointers by Moore in her last 25 attempts
9.5 – Average rebounds for Greene in the final two games of the tournament
15.0 – Average points for Greene in the final two games of the tournament

Remember, I’ll be chatting tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. Be there…

Rich

Less than 24 hours after being elbowed in the back of the head and neck, Caroline Doty was in the starting lineup for the Huskies tonight. Coach Geno Auriemma and her teammates didn’t expect anything less from a player known for her toughness.
Doty finished with one point (0-of-3 FG), two rebounds and one assist in 16 minutes. She also dove for a loose ball in the first half.
Doty was clearly not at 100 percent, though. She played just four minutes in the second half.
“She didn’t look right,’’ Auriemma said. “(Assistant coach) Shea (Ralph) noticed it right away. After she went up and down a couple times Shea made a comment. You can usually tell. You ask Caroline a question and she snaps at you, and this one was … `You alright?’ `Yeah.’ Like, `yeah, right. Get her out.’ And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her. She’s probably just tired and sore and all that. There came a point in time I said, `It’s no more. We’ve got bigger games than this one coning up. Let’s just give her a breather.’’

Rich

Caroline Doty, who was inadvertently elbowed in the back of the head and neck in the final minute of Monday’s win over No. 6 Notre Dame, participated in shootaround this morning. She has been medically cleared to play tonight against No. 9 West Virginia in the Big East tournament final at the XL Center.

Rich

There will be a time in the future when Huskies coach Geno Auriemma will allow himself to take a few minutes to bask in what has been a historical ride into the record books. It pains him to talk discuss the winning streak publicly.
As he stood outside the interview room Monday, Auriemma, though, took a minute to explain what it means to him at this point in time.
“It means that what were doing is really, really good,’’ Auriemma said. “We do it everyday. That if we go to practice and do what we do this can happen. If you go and you work on things and you keep getting better, if you recruit the right kind of people this can happen. And it probably means different things to me than it would to say somebody else because somebody could say, and they have said, `What’s it mean for the game? Is it good for the game? Is it bad for the game?’ There’s people talking about women’s basketball now that wouldn’t be talking about it at this time of the year because of what we’re doing. We have a way here at Connecticut of making everybody around the country talk about women’s basketball. We’ve been known to do that, for a long time. We have a knack.’’
The only streak standing in the way of immorality in the sport is the 88-game winning streak set by the UCLA men’s basketball team under John Wooden from 1971-74. Auriemma revealed Monday that he has been carrying one of Wooden’s books in his briefcase for about a year now.
“I’ve had it for about three or fours years and usually it’s in my office somewhere,’’ Auriemma said. “But one day I just grabbed it and threw it in my briefcase because I was going on a plane trip. I said, `Let me look through some of this stuff just for the (heck) of it.’ I look through millions of things all year long just to get an idea here and there, get something that maybe I’d forgotten or didn’t know, which is a lot of stuff. And for some reason this one has stayed in my briefcase. And there’s some interesting stuff in there. He’s got some interesting viewpoints. People don’t know that he lost a lot of games at UCLA early before they got good. They didn’t win a whole lot at UCLA. But then when they figured out how to win they won them all, didn’t they. That was fun. That was fun watching that.’’
Auriemma has been compared to Wooden on some fronts because of the level of success he has attained with the Huskies. That, too, makes him uneasy. Wooden is a legend in his eyes. Humbly, he doesn’t put himself in Wooden’s class. And he certainly doesn’t believe that his colleagues in the women’s game hold him in such high regard as the men’s coaches do with Wooden.
“Believe me, I don’t think anybody that coaches in the women’s game looks at me like the men’s coaches look at John Wooden,’’ Auriemma said. “There maybe one or two other coaches in the women’s game that people think is John Wooden. But I don’t know that I’m one of them.’’

Auriemma doesn’t consider himself to be overly superstitious, especially when he has All-Americans like Tina Charles and Maya Moore to lead his team. Yet, with the Huskies struggling offensively in the first half against No. 6 Notre Dame Monday in the Big East tournament semifinals he was hit with a solid dose of superstition.
“Am I superstitious? I used to be more superstitious before Tina and Maya got here,’’ Auriemma said. “I’m kind of less superstitious now. I wear the same watch all the time because my wife got it for me for Christmas. This watch right here is 71-0. This watch has not lost a game. So other than that, I really don’t have a whole lot of superstitions. I should’ve known. I even parked in like spot No. 13 (Monday). Coming down here I thought, `That might not be a good idea.’ Then I said, `Forget it.’ I’m spitting in the face of superstition. At halftime I was like, `(Team manager) Greg (Mihailides) go move my car.’’’

Rich

Sophomore guard Caroline Doty provided the Huskies with a big lift in the first half tonight by making three 3-pointers. Top-ranked UConn might have to compete in the Big East tournament final Tuesday night against No. 9 West Virginia without her.
Doty was inadvertently elbowed in the back of the head and neck by Notre Dame senior Ashley Barlow with 58 seconds remaining in UConn’s 59-44 victory. Irish freshman Skylar Diggins stole the ball on the play.
Doty fell to the ground immediately and was facedown on the court when play was finally stopped with 49.7 seconds left.
“She may have a concussion,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “And, obviously, if she has a concussion, she’s not playing tomorrow. But just by the looks of it, that might be the worst of it. We were worried it might have been worse, but that’s about the worst of it.’’
Doty was motionless for several minutes before she was helped up and led to the locker room by team trainer Rosemary Ragle and team doctor Tom Trojian. Auriemma said that Doty did not lose consciousness and that she did not need to go to a hospital.
The UConn medical staff was to evaluate her following the game. More information is expected to be made available tomorrow morning.
“She was better in the locker room,’’ Auriemma said. “She’s really hurt. Scared. All those things. You get hit in the back of the head that’s not a good thing. But she’s alert. She moving around. How are you going to hurt her, especially in the head.’’

For what it’s worth, Tiffany Hayes said via her Twitter account that Doty does not have a concussion. “No concussion everybody,” she said.

Rich