March 29th, 2009: California at UConn (NCAA tournament)

UConn Huskies 77, California Golden Bears 53

Tiffany Hayes goes off, Geno Auriemma outcoaches Joanne Boyle, and drama is brief.


Well, that was a very good half by Cal. Shame they couldn't keep it up, but most teams can't quite keep up with the Huskies, so it's not exactly a surprise. But it was a glorious, exciting half.

We were in the endcourts, seven rows up, which souds great until you learn that Sovereign Bank Arena was built primarily as a hockey arena and the boards are permanently fixed. There was a lot of space between the front row and the court. Room enough for a large track and two band pits. Nice, but a bit frustrating. We were in the middle of a mixed bag of fans- UConn fans in front of us, Cal fans a couple of rows behind, people in maroon to our right, a ow of Rutgers shirts in the front of the section, and I don't want to know where or why or how the woman in the "Feed the Turtle" Maryland shirt ended up in there. But there were a lot of misplaced fans- but we'll get to that at intermission.

UConn band did the anthem. They did a credible job with it, though I'm not that fond of the steady drum backbeat arrangement (it's one of the things I hate about the Red Storm's rendition). Major points to the UConn band for not needing sheet music, just the prompt sheet from their director. And Cal always brings good band. I think what I like about them is that when they play a tune, it's actually recognizable as the song it's supposed to be. It's not distorted the way most marching bands are.

I really like Ashley Walker, but I think her size is going to be a disadvantage. She did a great job working against Tina Charles, but I don't know if she can do it night in and night out. Great game today for her. I hope Devanei Hampton is getting her degree in something applicable to the real world, because she was really moving awkwardly out there. I know she was never that fast, but she just couldn't keep up, and her shots were crap. Vital was trying too hard, especially in the second half. She was really forcing the offense. Ditto for Gray-Lawson, who hit some shots early like she was trying to restore the Lawson family honor, but who faded down the stretch. Greif didn't get involved much at all. Neither did the Cal bench- Boyle substituted very sparingly, and I think that was a major problem for them in the second half- their key cogs just didn't have the juice left to run with the Huskies.

And Geno did a great job adjusting, too. There's a reason the man's WCBA COY and his team's undefeated. He started the second half big with McLaren for Greene, and that just completely choked off Cal's inside play. No inside play, no points, no rebounds, and it becomes a helluva lot easier to collapse on the outside shooters. Bam. Of course, the fact that Tiffany Hayes had a career game could not possibly have hurt either. She was hitting shots all over the place, setting up her teammates, and I didn't realize how fast she was until she hit the jets like she was at Daytona on a fast break. And then people kept losing Maya Moore in the second half, and I'm screaming words to the effect of "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GUARD MAYA FUCKING MOORE?! Cal should b smarter than this!" Montgomery is smaller than I thought. Wasn't impressed with her decision-making, but I guess I didn't have to be. Offensively, Charles wasn't much of a factor, though she and McLaren set good screens to get the guards free, but defensively and on the boards, the big Huskies were bigger than the big Golden Bears.

There were a lot of UConn fans in the house. In other news, the sun rose in the east. They really do a great job of taking over arenas and bringing their customs along (which didn't exactly thrill the boy- see remark above about UConn fans in front of us, and consider that Husky fans stand until the first basket). Good pockets of support for Cal, too. For some reason, the RU fans got behind them. Yes, a lot of people in Scarlet- they'd bought those tickets and they were going to use them, gosh darn it. And since the last major sticking point in shared neutral space for UConn and RU is conference loyalty (see: Storrs pod), the Scarlet stuck with the Blue and Gold.

Inconsistent refereeing, but I'm too tired to bitch. Besides, the difference in the game was UConn adjusting and Cal... not... not the officiating. I hate praising UConn, both because it goes against my grain as a hater of hype and because I'm a Rutgers fan, but there's a reason they're undefeated. Several reasons. And they showed 'em all off against Cal in the second half.