Strange picks, but good times are had by all in Secaucus.
And the "oh, wow" just keeps on coming. Seriously, you guys, you have no idea how awesome things are until you're there.
We got to the offices earlier than we anticipated, since there was no traffic, and everyone at the league office treated us really well- probably better than they were supposed to, but you're not going to hear me complain. They let us up into the reception in what would normally be the viewing room, which was decked out half in NBA pictures and half in WNBA pictures. They also had some memorabilia on display- signed balls, ASG tickets, bobble-heads, that sort of thing. (The offices are actually covered in it, but in this case, it was specifically WNBA.) They served sandwiches and finger foods, including some nummy chocolate-coated things. Families started drifting in- Januarys, Bonners, McCantses, and a few other folk (didn't see everyone's nametag). There was an absolutely adorable sapling from the McCants family tree wandering around. So cute.
Somewhere around quarter to three, the room started clearing out. The folks at my table looked up and everyone else was gone. I was starting to wonder if we'd somehow offended them, but then someone official came over to the table and said that we could watch the draft in the studio, live. I may have set a land speed record for getting out of a chair.
We ended up in two seats in the back row, right by the aisle where everyone was coming in and out, which became very cool because we could congratulate everyone as they came back as official WNBA players. We could also see Rebecca Lobo working with her index cards, which meant that we could actually note the early picks before Orender's official announcement, since she was getting the word the same time Orender was backstage so that she could be prepared for the interviews. That was handy for Tweeting and texting my mom (who threatened my life if I didn't give her the picks), because I could start before the official announcement and be done as soon as Madam President finished her line. (Official type people, relax- I did my best not to Tweet names, and I never got a pick out before it was officially announced.)
I tried to applaud, but with a phone in one hand and a camera in the other, it was a bit difficult, even without factoring in the large handbag, and the, um, teddy bear. (It's a long and, considering my recent draft posts, ironic story.) Sometime in the middle of the first round, our wonderful escort came to fetch petrel for his photo op with Angel McCoughtry, and I tried to take pictures for him, but I don't know how well they came out. Then, in the beginning of the second round, our charming escort brought petrel back and came for me to do my photo op with Kia Vaughn. While I can't say that was the pick I would have made for the Liberty, I was still pumped up for the chance, because, hey, Libkid and a Scarlet Knight to boot. Also, see above re: teddy bear. We got to do one standing shot and then one where we were both holding the jersey- yes, even though the Liberty traded their third-round pick, I made the "local flyer in the third round" joke. I got back to the studio just in time for Brown to come to the podium and announce the pick of Waner.
Lots of movement behind the scenes- not the exciting kind of player movement, the "people going from place to place" kind of movement. I was impressed that Coleman and Toliver stuck around for the second and third rounds. Angel wandered out for a while, but went back in before either of us could work up our nerve to say hi.
The board went really wonky near the end of the third round- it got players' schools mixed up and spat up Anna McLean for triple fail (she's from Iona, not Kansas State, and is taking an extra year of eligibility due to missing a season with a womb, and therefore wasn't being drafted at all, unless San Antonio was considering her, but changed their mind before making it official when someone realized Jesus Christ, Candyce Bingham is still on the board, you guys! and snapped her up).
And then there was more nattering from the commentators, and petrel and I decided we'd heard quite enough of that. Siberia, Nancy? Siberia? So we headed out and met up with our excellent escort to put the capper on a great day and a fabulous week.
So here I gotta give the NBA event people their props- things went smoothly, beautifully, and better than I could ever have imagined. Special thanks to Christine, who was our guide, escort, shepherd, negotiator, and all-around miracle worker, with the patience to put up with us both yesterday and today. This was amazing.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
April 9th, 2009: WNBA draft
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
April 8th 2009: WNBA pre-draft meet and greet
eeee omg eeee omg eeee omg The Game Notes of Doom get the red carpet treatment at the pre-draft meet-and-greets omg omg omg, shoot on par with all-conference players, and enjoy trivia omg yay.
OMG, you guys. My train of thought just keeps turning into eee OMG eee OMG EEEE OMG OMG OMG, so I beg your indulgence if I lack my usual wit and eloquent turns of phrase.
Got to the NBA Store a bit before five in order to properly meet up with Petrel and get credentialed. The folks with the league were kind enough to also allow Happycappie to join the party. Unfortunately, I'm not good in mingling situations, so while the draftees-to-be were out there with hoity-toity hors d'oeuvres, I was hiding in a corner with my homies, wondering how exactly it's possible to lose a six-foot-three blonde. (Answer: you stick her behind a giant bobble-head of Allen Iverson.)
Sue Wicks was our MC, and while I've missed Sue being strange and random a lot, she, um... I think she hit the bar and the bar hit back. She was kinda rambling, and then there was the whole Chante McCants thing, which, um, of all the players to mix up, maybe the Dukie and the Tar Heel weren't the two you should mix up. My favorite bit of the intros might have been Angel McCoughtry, who just kinda wandered out while Sue was still reading her accolades, waved to everyone like someone hadn't missed a cue, and settled in. Sue was quite nonplussed.
Quote of the night, when the seniors were asked about players they were looking forward to playing with or against, from Courtney Paris: "Kara Lawson, because we're both point guards." Though if I'd had a view of whoever said that the thing she'd miss most about college was traveling on the private plane, I'd be able to attribute the quote and that might beat out Paris's line. Most of the questions were traditional pap, so you'll pardon me for not having written down answers. They did manage to, eventually, name the eight original teams. The fact that it took fourteen of them to come up with eight cities should bother me.
Being in with the in-crowd, we got to start collecting the autos early... going the wrong direction, of course. Points to Chante Black for being able to multitask, signing autographs and doing an interview at the same time. Managed to hit three reporters at once. Ashley Paris and Kia Vaughn are not quite as good at the multitasking. Said hi to Angel, but because she was sitting next to Marissa Coleman, I didn't say what I fully wanted to say ("Hi, I'm a St. John's fan, and I wanted to thank you for finishing the job we started in 2006 by knocking off Maryland- it would have been lovely if we'd done it all together, but I'm glad you landed on your feet and helped elevate the game in Louisville.") Points to Lindsey Wisdom-Hylton for actually being with it enough to notice that I was wearing my Final Four t-shirt.
Then we got to take the bus to ESPNZone with the players. Well, they were all gathered in the back and we were closer to the front near security, so it's not like we were interacting with them, but we were on the bus. The interaction happened later, when we were upstairs in the arcade playing Pop-a-Shot with and against some of the players- petrel and I were on a team with Wisdom-Hylton and Shavonte Zellous. I can say with great pride that we held our own against these all-conference draft prospects. I think petrel actually won the round.
Our league contact took us downstairs for dinner, and we joined the main mass for trivia hosted by NBHOFNL. All three of us took home prizes from that- 2008 Rittenhouse auto cards. Petrel got a Lieberman for his correct answer, I got a Tangela Smith for mine, and Happycappie snagged a Jennifer Lacy auto. (Which, come to think of it, we really should have swapped around somehow so the Dream fan got the card of the Dream player. We r smrt.) We couldn't make out most of what was being said at the main table, but I figure it wasn't much different from the softball lobs during the NBA Store portion of the event, so we kept chattering with our contact about our fan stories and Rebkell's.
Fashion notes on the day: damn, Kia Vaughn cleans up nice. She dresses well, and that big smile just totally transforms her face. Kinda like Taj- when she smiles, the whole world smiles. DeWanna Bonner really should not wear knee-length skirts. Go with the pants or the long skirts. She's got some chicken legs on her, and the shoe choice did not help. I liked the pale pink of Wisdom-Hylton's top. Courtney Paris might want to move up a size in the tops department. That shirt was a tad too tight, and I know exactly how unflattering a too-tight top can be on a big girl. Didn't get a close look at anyone else's outfit, so I don't think anyone had any OH DEAR GOD NO moments with their fashion other than Bonner.
Of course, I'll report on fashion from on-site tomorrow, along with other things. :D
April 7th, 2009: Louisville at Connecticut (NCAA tournament)
Victory! Defeat! Tiny adhesive Cardinal heads!
Nota bene: These notes are being written the night of the title game, though I'm unable to post them in St. Louis- I no can haz intarwebs. :(
Either way, this game was going to be historic. Either way, it was a privilege to be there for the game. Either way, it's been a fantastic ride.
Accidentally being booked at the official Connecticut hotel had its advantages. We wandered into the official UConn pep rally. We stuck around for a while, enjoying the cheerleaders and being very confused by the bright orange fountain. But though the cheerleaders' nerves of steel- doing two-and-three-level pyramids on sidewalk is pretty courageous- impressed us, the fans were only moderately involved, so we got bored and wandered towards the arena. Since it was too early to go in, we wandered towards Union Station. Then we heard the dulcet strains of a marching band and wound our way through the mall until we came to the hotel of the Marriott and discovered the Louisville pep rally. This was not moderate involvement. Card fans were revved up for this historic occasion. They brought large inflatable Cardinals and small adhesive Cardinals; one of the latter is still stuck to my shirt.
It's a shame the players couldn't channel the fans' enthusiasm and energy. Angel McCoughtry and Becky Burke seemed to be the only players out there who gave a damn. I honestly think they lost a minute of game time because Deseree' Byrd took five to ten seconds on every possession to get the play. Thank every God there's no ten-second rule in the women's game, or this probably would have been a thirty-point game with the extra L'ville turnovers. I liked the idea of having her drive on Montgomery- she's bigger and stronger, so theoretically, she should have been able to muscle Montgomery out of the way and score. The theory fell flat on its face when Byrd couldn't even find the barn to hit the side of. Same problem for most of the Cards, come ot think of it- I don't have a box score accessible, but I shudder to think of what Louisville's shooting percentage was, especially in the second half, when most of their shots were random flings at the glass. But Byrd was especially guilty. At least McCoughtry hit some of hers, got to the line, and got some steals, and at least Bingham was active on the boards. But the rest of the Cards did a disappearing magic trick behind their two stars. Well, okay. Burke didn't play much of the game, but when she did, she was on top of things. Ditto for Monique Reid, who's going to be a key player for them next year, judging from her play this postseason.
I could be wrong, but Tina Charles might have gotten tired of Geno being pissed at her. She went absolutely nuts out there. Louisville doesn't really have a center, so Charles devoured Candyce Bingham for lunch and had room left over for anyone else who came at her. With Charles in the middle, they didn't need much from anyone else, but Montgomery was more than willing to drive and add some offense, and then Maya Moore started adding her contributions in the second half, and that, as they say, was the end of that. Not to mention that Moore's defense was beautiful. She's so graceful. God. I hate piling compliments on a Husky like this, and I hate having to find new ways to be impressed by her. Make it stop. McLaren was a game-changing weapon off the bench, not in terms of anything she necessarily did, but by clogging the paint and slowing the game up. Louisville was having enough trouble on the boards and, y'know, actually hitting shots, but with two bigs in against the very small Cardinals, Louisville was screwed. UConn's screen-setting led to a lot of ugly mismatches. Byrd on Charles is made of fail. And I liked that both teams deliberately stopped the clock to get their subs in.
Inconsistent refereeing, blah blah blah cakes.
Dear UConn band: please do not jump the other team's turn. Please also learn to coordinate with your loud, passionate fans so that you're chanting the same thing at the same time.
Oh, Geno. Seriously, don't ever change. You're one of the best-written characters in women's basketball; we couldn't make you up if we tried. Going through the de-netted hoop was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a basketball court.
In conclusion: ladies of Connecticut, ladies of Louisville, ladies of Stanford, ladies of Oklahoma, and the rest of the field, it's been a pleasure and a privilege flying with you this year. Things may not have turned out the way I would have liked, but there's nothing in the world like being at the Final Four when the confetti comes down, the net gets snipped, the trophies are handed out, the winning fans cry with joy, the losing fans cry with grief... and, eventually, the lights go down.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
April 5th, 2009: Stanford at UConn (NCAA tournament)
Connecticut Huskies 83, Stanford Cardinal 63
Jayne Appel and the Stanford Cardinal are quite singular, Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery are a dynamic duo, and UConn lets up on the gas pedal.
And then it was on to game two. The de facto championship game, or so it was declared. The heavyweight match. UConn versus Stanford. Both teams out for revenge.
And then it turned out that Jayne Appel was really the only Stanford player who actually gave a damn about the fact that this was the Final Four, and even she wasn't as sharp as she could have been. But Pedersen especially seemed to be slacking off (especially in the second half, where the only way she seemed to know how to get involved was to commit stupid hard fouls). Stanford's guards were going to lose the matchup battle with the Huskies anyway, but I wasn't expecting Pohlen and Harmon to be quite so epic in their fail. Ogwumike seemed overwhelmed by the moment for most of the game- it ws only after UConn had, er, called off the dogs, that she seemed to get into her groove. Gold-Onwude seemed to be the only bench player for the Cardinal who wanted to get involved (it's a Queens thing, we don't take shit from people ;)). Though we were at the other end of the arena from the Stanford bench, I'm pretty sure VanDerveer was asking her team what the hell was wrong with them. They tried to force-feed the post a lot, which seemed ridiculous, especially since they were feeding her in the low post, when she's better as a European-style high post, making her plays further out. UConn is not Iowa State, and though Tina Charles isn't quite as big as Appel, she's a helluva lot better than anything the Cyclones were throwing at her in that game. And Uconnc ame with the help a lot more often than ISU did.
Good fucking God, Renee Montgomery. I think she decided that she didn't care what anyone else had in mind, she doesn't plan to lose her last college game. If she weren't so frigging tiny, she'd be the best shooting guard in the draft, but because of her size, she pretty much has to be a point guard, and I wouldn't want my nominal distributor taking that many shots. Being an offensive threat so that the other team can't double down o my top player, yes. Being a shothog, no. And Maya Moore was right alongside her in making sure Stanford was never really much of a credible threat. God, she's so smooth- in that regard, in the way she moves and the smooth silky grace she has- she reminds me of Candice Dupree. And I think she might be psychic on top of everything else- one of her rebounds was on some beautiful anticipation on a missed Stanford FT. Kalana Greene made the Cardinal regret leaving her open, because she has that nice little midrange jumper. McLaren's size made a big difference in the middle- more, I would say, than Charles, though Charles is the more skilled player. I keep thinking of Rutgers last year, when Vaughn was the more talented player but Junaid was getting the big minutes because she was a little more savvy with her body. But I'll get off this Scarlet tangent before the Husky fans come after me with a length of rope and some inappropriate comments about my hair. For all that UConn turned on the afterburners and got the lead up to 30 before letting it slip down to nineteen or so... that was Geno slowing the game up (and Hayes being a very astute freshman and backing the ball out to waste more clock on two different plays). I like that he doesn’t run up the score when he has the talent and the time to do it.
'sup, Denise? Congrats on the big gig! I remember when you were just a linesman on Bonita Spence's crew. Now you're in the Final Four. Sweet. Shame about the crappy linesmen you keep getting stuck with, though. Again, a very inconsistently called game- loose, then tight, then loose again, then, just as we're starting to think they're loosening it up so everyone can go home or to the bar, they tightened it up again.
UConn, as always, traveled exceedingly well, both in their allocation (points for the matching tees!) and in general. Signs your team's lead is so big that the game's a lead pipe cinch: when your semi-official spirit guy starts the chants, your enthusiasm is dimmed to about a third of what it was in the first half. It was kinda funny. And how can you not love the Stanford band and that kooky Tree? I mean, the highlight of the day was watching the Tree and the band kick ass in the Battle of the Bands, then sitting with the band while the Tree participated in the mascot challenge. (The organizers seemed confused as to why the band wasn't leaving the vicinity- they didn't seem to realize that the Tree is part of the band, and they're not going to leave their homie behind.)
Funny how everyone thought this was going to be the closely contested game and that the first one was going to be a blowout. I think VanDerveer is wondering the same thing, because Stanford's body language about midway into the second half screamed "we've lost already, just kill us and get it over with, and we do mean kill us, because we have to fly back with Coach if you don't, and that's an experience worse than death." Now that the Big East has established its dominance in women's hoops this year, I'd like to see a competitive game on Tuesday- and, hopefully, a more properly filled arena. There were some shamefully empty sections.
April 5th, 2009: Louisville at Oklahoma (NCAA tournament)
Louisville Cardinals 61, Oklahoma Sooners 59
Angel McCoughtry cranks it up, the Cards D up, and alas, Courtney Paris will have to pay up.
Oh, what a game. This is what you pay the big bucks for.
We started our day out at Hoop City, where we saw lots of people and lots of different teams, sort of rubbed elbows with a bunch of coaches, got autographs from Nell Fortner, brought home souvenirs (I outshot him on the five-bar shootout, but we both got the same prize :(), watched the Battle of the Bands (Stanford got screwed because the fans were strictly partisan on their voting), the Mascot Challenge (the Louisville Cardinal won), and soaked in the experience.
After that, it was off to the Scottrade Center to join the rest of our fanbase. We were up pretty high, since we went through the lottery and didn't know people, though there was a woman giving out tickets for lower deck seats on the concourse. The people two rows behind us, who were nearly back into the wall, took full advantage of that.
A nicely performed anthem by the Louisville band, who seem to be enjoying their experience. Though it's technically improper, I do like their tradition of holding hands during the anthem- even with the mascot. They came out slow in the first half- really bad, looking like they didn't know what they were doing. They kept themselves in it with their defense, and it probably should have been a warning sign for Oklahoma that they'd kept two starters off the scoreboard and limited McCoughtry to four free throws, but they were still only up twelve. Then the second half started, and Walz, having screwed with his lineup in the first half, brought the players I think were his usual starters back in, and Hines especially played like someone had set a firecracker under her butt. And McCoughtry just up and decided that this wasn't going to be her last game, that if her team was going to make school history, they were going to keep making it. She was making plays she hadn't been making in the first half, and that really fired her team up. Bingham was the only relative constant, and I think she played her way up the draft board as a three, though someone is going to have to work on her shot so she doesn't do a split every time she shoots. Byrd showed questionable decision-making when it came to her shooting, but she set her teammates up well. Reid gave them good minutes when the wrath of the refs came down on their pivotal players- I think that was a critical part of what allowed them to come back. Becky Burke's threes were the back-breakers. I really liked watching Walz play chess against Coale, especially when McCoughtry, Bingham, and Byrd were all saddled with four fouls- he kept playing strong defense, but sent Burke and Reid after the ball instead of Byrd and his forwards.
I do have a soft spot for the Sooners, and I don't know that this was the way I'd have wanted them to go out. Courtney Paris just seemed off her game tonight, which I guess we can credit to the Louisville posts. I mean, don't get me wrong, she was a force inside on the boards, but she didn't seem to be fighting for her shots as hard as she usually does. Ashley was more effective as a scorer, but Louisville keyed on how to stop her in the second half. Hand's hot shooting early opened things up, but she couldn't replicate it in the second half. And though they deflected a lot of balls and got after a lot of boards, they weren't able to effectively convert them. In the first half, their offense was clicking, and that passing drill I mentioned in the notes from the open practice would come in very handy as they patiently chipped away at the Louisville defense until a shooter finally got open. In the second half, I don't know if the Cardinals were reading the passing lanes better or they were starting to panic, but they weren't moving as crisply and things just fell apart for them.
Refs sucked. Again, all I ask for is consistency. It doesn't even have to be competence anymore. It just has to be consistent incompetence.
Louisville traveled really well. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting them to, but they were loud and proud. Oklahoma was also well represented, though I was't amused when they all hied for the hills after the game. I can understand wanting to get away from this building of despair, but y'all did realize you basically threw $40 in the trash, right?
As a fan of the game, I'm disappointed for Oklahoma that it ended this soon, that the Parises didn't get to take one last shot at their title, that they crumbled under the pressure. As a fan of the game, I'm ecstatic that Louisville is extending this sparkling run, that Jeff Walz is really showing that he can shine as a coach, and especially that Angel McCoughtry has one more chance to strut her stuff on the national stage. I live for this.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
April 4th, 2009: WBCA All-Star game
Everything's bigger in Texas, the referees really don't know what they're doing, and Skylar Diggins does.
And then it was off to the WBCA high school All-American game, in the company of the lovely ladies from Full Court Press, some folks from Purdue, one woman who I accidentally hit in the face while putting my jacket on, and a few other miscellaneous people. Oh, and a bus driver who had to have done his initial lessons on a horse and buggy. Good LORD. He had no idea where he was going or what he was doing. Still, there's nothing quite like the feeling of looking out the window and going, "Hey, that's Coach Staley." (Or, for that matter, "...did I just walk past Carla McGhee?")
Washington University in St. Louis has a beautiful little gym. Very crisp and clean. The seat cushions wouldn't fit in my bag, but they would have come in really handy on those hard bleachers. Really big crowd, all things considered, because I don't think they were prepared to open the upper deck. I think we were actually sitting in the wrong place, but the Big East pad that t6w gave me probably made me look convincing, even though I was mostly using it to keep track of gear I'd seen or schools I could otherwise prove had been in the house (I mean, I didn't see anyone in South Carolina gear, but I consider Dawn Staley and Carla McGhee to be successful representatives of the Gamecocks). I'm going to continue being starstruck liek woah, because OMG we were four rows behind Pat Summitt and OMG we were a section over from Sylvia Hatchell, and OMG was that Marissa Coleman who just went by? In case you have not figured out yet, a) "eeee omg eeee omg eeee omg" has been my train of thought for most of the last week, and b) there were a lot of familiar faces at the game.
I know everyone's got themselves squeeing their pants over Brittney Griner, and she has the tools to become a star player, but right now, she's not an immediate OMG type player. Yes, she's a defensive presence because of her height and wingspan, and she changes shots both directly by blocking them out of bounds and by forcing people to shoot over or around her and therefore take some godsawful shot, but so does DeHaan, and DeHaan's not talked about as a superstar. I think Griner will develop- Mulkey will force her to- but right now she looks unsure of herself when not shot-blocking, and really has to work on the fundamentals of her game. I wasn't really impressed with any of the players on the blue team. I know Griner put up the big numbers, and I know Williams got to the line, and good Lord, is everything bigger in Texas? Damn, they got some posts. Clarendon's got a nice shot, but a dreadful tendency to exaggerate her falls.
White team had the players I was most intrigued by. Ruffin-Pratt may be, well, a bit of a prat, but she's ahead of her peers in one way: I could hear her on the court, communicating screens and whatnot, which is something I know college players who have trouble with, let alone incoming freshmen. I like Tinkle- she reminds me of a slightly scaled down version of Jayne Appel, so I suppose Stanford is a good fit for her. *g* Walker's got a nice stroke. A lot of players took their turns to shine- Tinkle, Ostarello, Oliver, Walker. But the player who impressed me most, the one who almost single-handedly pulled her team out of the hole, the one who showed the most hustle on both ends of the floor, the one who made me swear like a sailor when I realized my teams would have to deal with her four times each, was Skylar Diggins. If it weren't for the fact she'd be making my teams' lives hell, I could watch her all day. She's very smooth.
But Lord, were there missed shots and missed shots and missed shots, and for good measure, a few more missed shots. Unfortunately, the women's game isn't quite ready for primetime. Some nifty plays, but most of them were negated by missing the damn shot afterwards. I know it's an All-Star game, and those tend to be about as organized as that mythical herd of cats, but this was an exceptionally hot mess.
The refs didn't help either. First they were calling nothing, then they called two in a hurry on Greene defending Williams (which just made me think of that commercial- you know, 36 in a 35 zone?), then it got tight, then it got loose, then it got tight, then it got loose. They learned how to call travels with about twelve minutes left in the game, after everyone and their Aunt Sadie took three extra steps (Tinkle's footwork was especially egregious, but Vanderveer will knock that nonsense out of her).
They did little ceremonies for the junior college, NAIA, and Division II and III championships, and for the four All-Americans who weren't otherwise occupied. While Toliver, Lavender, and Bonner made themselves scarce afterwards, Coleman worked the room, signing autos for some of the young girls in attendance- she even worked her way up to the upper deck and hung out there. I like her more and more the more I see her, both as a player (the Vandy game) and as a person (the L'ville game and today).
It was nice to see Yo and the Warrior Princess serving as celebrity coaches. TT looks good.
I'm going to go collapse now. But this has been so much fun. Pictures will be up someday.
April 4th, 2009: NCAA Final Four open practices
Teams vary their atmospheres, and the Game Notes of Doom are starstruck.
OMG. OMG I'm actually here, so help me God. It's real. I'm in St. Louis. I think I may die of squee.
So my Final Four experience actually started on the flight to St. Louis, with a plethora of UConn fans, a temporally confused LSU fan, a small group of Stanford fans, three NEC basketball players, Phyllis Mangina (presumably on her way to the WCBA convention), and Rita Williams (presumably on her way to Geno's Final Four party). I think there were a couple of other people on the flight I should have recognized, but I was already operating on one hour of sleep (which I'm still operating on, so please don't be surprised if my accounts from this beautiful Saturday lack my usual eloquence and ability to make sense).
We checked into our hotel and found ourselves confronted with the UConn band and more than a few Husky fans. Orbitz picked a lovely hotel for us- shame about the infestation. ;) It was a bit of a hike to the Scottrade Center, which is a very pretty arena, but nothing too bad. Probably not something that could be done from Hoop City, though.
Oklahoma practiced first. It was a very dry, business-like practice. Started with loose stretching, some shooting, some post moves, then moved to inside-out plays, then perimeter shooting. Then the team split up and did a couple of shooting contests. I don't know the scoring rules, because it seems like they went twice, and after the second time, one group did sprints. My favorite part was the next drill, which involved using a set number of passes before taking the shot- seven or eight passes were the minimum. I liked the idea, especially the way some of the players executed it, with faux-penetration and backing away as if the defense had come in on them. Then it was on to more traditional drills- shooting, then shooting and defending, more shooting, and then a two-shots-at once drill.
Then we went to the Oklahoma autograph sessions, which is not so much "get your poster signed" as it is "wave hi to the nice ballers while you rush to the end and pick up a signed poster". It was kind of like being on a conveyor belt. Abi Olajuwon got a bit of a kick out of my shirt- I was rocking the Narbonne tee that Sass sent me. Wished them all luck and thanked them kindly.
Because we were on the Oklahoma line, we missed part of Louisville's practice, and I'm starting to regret that, because what we saw of it was hysterical. When we entered, they were doing dribbling drills and some individual shooting. Their band and cheerleaders, like every team but Oklahoma's, were involved in the festivities as well. They practiced free throws and did some more shooting. Then the dunks of great LULZ began- each Cardinal taking her turn running for the basket and being lifted to the hoop (or not- Coach and his loyal assistant did miss a couple of approaches) for a resounding (or not) dunk. We were rollin'. Then they scrimmaged. They finished up by stripping down to their compression bras and taking halfcourt heaves. They must practice those a lot, because there were something like four hits out of twenty shots- including one that was nothing but net, and one from Coach Walz himself. He was very satisfied with himself afterwards.
I don't think Geno was taking the practice seriously. He spent most of it shooting the breeze with Lobo, Burke, and a couple of the other ESPN blondes. Jonathan performed with the cheerleaders. They came out lapping the court a la the Liberty. Unlike the other two teams, they did their stretching as part of the practice- I guess they wanted to kill as much time as possible. They did some disorganized shooting. The bigs worked on their pivot moves. More shooting. Then there was a shooting contest of some kind, but I'm not sure what the split was. Loved the fast break sequences, especially when Moore got slick with the passes. Then they ran a few plays, but probably not ones they plan on using very often. More shooting. Shooting contest- posts took twos, perimeter players took threes, and the bigs won.
Stanford's tree is freaky, and needs another layer of foliage to be decent. They did some dribbling and ballhandling drills, ran a layup drill, did some halfcourt stuff, did a contest of some kind where the losers did pushups, and shot free throws. Then Sass distracted me, but I don't think we missed anything exciting.
I don't want to say the Huskies were popular, but the line for their autograph session was as long as the one for Oklahoma... two hours before UConn was scheduled to go. Crazy.
We changed seats after the autograph session, and ended up sitting behind some young coaches-to-be and in front of Joanne Boyle. I think I spent as much time scanning the crowd people-watching as I did watching the actual practices.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
March 31st, 2009: Arizona State at UConn (NCAA tournament)
UConn Huskies 83, Arizona State Sun Devils 64
The Devils are bedeviled, Renee Montgomery will not let her season end, and Tina Charles has moves on the court.
Hats off to Arizona State. They played unafraid the entire game, and until UConn found the afterburners, the game was closer than the final score would make it look.
Not quite the same crowd as on Sunday, but a goodly number of people were there, including a fair smattering of Arizona State fans. Considering the distance most of them would have had to travel, that's pretty impressive. Also have to shout out to the Cal and Texas A&M fans who came for the second game. They could have scalped their tickets for an extra ten bucks and gone sightseeing, but they stuck around.
Anthem was by the Arizona State band. I'm not a fan of the sped-up renditions, but it was well performed. But on band notes, I really do like the UConn band director. She's very good at what she does.
Oh, Arizona State. If only you could hit the broad side of a barn. If only you knew where the barn even was. So many easy shots that didn't go down. It was horrifying. This would actually have been a single-digit game if Arizona State could hit open shots. Danielle Orsillo played well on the offensive end for the Sun Devils, and I thik she wanted to drag them back by her teeth if necessary. Briann January was trying too hard- making shots flashy that didn't have to be. Whether that was pressure to perform or perceived pressure on her part, thinking the UConn defense was going to kick her ass, I don't know, but it was not of the good if you were rooting for the upset. The big problem for ASU was that they couldn't get anything really useful out of their posts, whether it was because they couldn't hit the aforementioned barn (seriously, Lauren Lacey, 3/10? Who do you think you are, Jennifer Lacy?) or they couldn't stay on the floor ('sup, Sybil Dosty and your foul troubles?) or, well, they were just epic fail. Engelbrecht seemed less scared to shoot than usual, and had a couple of hard plays that might have dispelled her Bambi nickname. I'll tell you who really impressed me and I hadn't heard of before: Nia Fanaika. Not a major boxscore, stat-line game, but somehow she always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. CTT didn't go to the line changes as much in the first half as I got used to during the Texas A&M game, which I think hurt them- they're so used to going all-out because they know there are reinforcements behind them that they started hurrying their offense and slipping on defense. And whoever was supposed to be checking Maya Moore can meet me in the alley out back and I'll thwack them ten or twenty times with my clipboard, because how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?
Which, speaking of. Setting aside "how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?", she was a thing of beauty to behold. Those jumpers were so smooth, and she was all over the boards- ASU just couldn't get or keep anyone on her. For a while, I thought Charles was going to get her Jayne Appel on, but then she started getting sloppy and it was more like she was getting her Kia Vaughn on. Love the way she moves, though. Very sleek. Montgomery was going to the hole like she'd decided there was no way on God's green earth this was going to be her last collegiate game. Hayes did not play her smartest game tonight. Lot of freshman mistakes. UConn can't afford that in the Final Four. Kalana Greene was another one of those "in the right place at the right time" players. I think she's officially healed from the ACL tear. Can we say that? Dixon got run because Montgomery had the foul trouble, and it must have torn her up to have to slow the game down, keep the ball in the backcourt, and run clock to negate ASU's tendency to pressure the ball.
I know this is going to sound weird, but for the first time, watching UConn, I felt like I could pick out moves and countermoves on a grand basis. Most of the time, it feels like the two coaches are throwing what they know works at each other, and if it works against the other coach's thing, shiny, and if not, well, life's a bitch. With Auriemma and the Huskies- probably because he has so many things he can throw at an opposing coach- the adjustments are written clearly on the court. Having trouble with posts? Go big. Having trouble with a running team? Slow the game down. Things like that. As a fan of the game, I find things like this fascinating.
Also impressive: the UConn cheerleaders. I hope they have permits for those concealed guns, because, seriously, for a squad composed of women with average builds, those three-layer pyramids and extended lifts are fucking amazing, and probably speak to upper body strength that would make a grown man jealous. Mad props to Jonathan for climbing atop one of the pyramids in the second half. It takes nerve for a guy in a mask to trust to a bunch of people he can't see all that well.
The refereeing was inconsistent, and there were a couple of points where I thought Geno was going to get him thrown out... plus one point where I thought Dailey was going to tire of keeping him tethered, because she looked like she was trying to remember her old post moves from RU.
UConn's dancing after the game was so gosh darn cute. And damn, can Tina Charles bust a move or what? The way everything was moving at once- wow. I think one of the benchies was considering tossing her Trenton Regional Championship t-shirt to the band, but she decided against it. If I'd known Geno wasn't planning on cutting down the net, I'd have left at the buzzer, and these notes might have been written a couple of hours earlier. Please blame all incoherency on the fact that it's about two-thirty in the morning.