Baylor, Griner should have bright future
SAN ANTONIO -- The Women's Final Four will return to Indianapolis next season, a place that holds great memories for Baylor. That's where coach Kim Mulkey's team won the NCAA title in 2005. Might it be Baylor's time again a half dozen years later?
Things can happen, of course, to derail a team between the end of one season -- Connecticut beat Baylor 70-50 on Sunday in the national semifinals -- and the beginning of another. But it doesn't seem likely much will get in the way of Baylor being next season's Big 12 favorite and a great candidate for another Final Four trip.
"I'm really proud we beat the odds and we got here, and I'm proud that we didn't quit tonight and gave UConn everything we had," said Morghan Medlock, the lone senior Baylor is losing. "They were just more experienced, and you can't teach that overnight.
"I think next year, when these kids are back in the Final Four -- which they will be -- they'll know what to do in situations because they will be more experienced than your average sophomores."
Medlock certainly doesn't lack for confidence about Baylor's future, and for plenty of good reasons. Starting with Griner, who Sunday went head-to-head with the soon-to-be No. 1 draft pick in the WNBA, Tina Charles.
"She just did what normally every other post does," Griner said when asked what tactics Charles used against her. "She was a lot better than most other posts."
Indeed, Charles won the individual battle -- 21 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks to 13 points, six rebounds, five blocks -- and the overall war as the Huskies advanced to Tuesday's title game against Stanford (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET). But, with a senior going against a freshman, that's the way it's supposed to be.
"It was definitely a battle, just physically," Charles said. "Just trying to push her off the paint. You definitely can see she wants to work hard. When her team comes around her and tells her, 'We need to post deeper,' she responded and [tried] to get me deeper in the lane."
Griner still has much to work on, of course, just as Charles realized she did after going against then-junior Sylvia Fowles in the 2007 NCAA tournament.
"Ball handling would probably be one," Griner said when asked the things she'll address most in the offseason. "Just getting stronger with my lower body and stop relying on my height."
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey seconded those thoughts.
"I think she gets bumped off the block a lot," Mulkey said. "That comes with maturity. That comes with more weight training.
"I'd like to see her become a better offensive rebounder. Yet, at the same time, I've got to be fair. There may be a reason why she is not a better offensive rebounder, and it probably has to do with people all over [her]."
Griner's older teammates, like junior Melissa Jones, had to adjust to playing with someone of the size and skill of the 6-foot-8 rookie. It has been a good learning experience for them, too.
"One of the coaches was talking about it the other day -- that she's only reached, maybe 60 percent of her full potential," Jones said of Griner. "And that's a scary thought, knowing that she hasn't been playing this game for so much of her life."
Griner has been a quick study, though, since seriously taking up hoops as a teenager. She had her rough moments this season -- the roughest, of course, coming with the altercation at Texas Tech on March 3 and subsequent two-game suspension. But Griner came back from that as a player who seems all the more focused on getting better and not allowing herself to be frustrated by what anyone says or does to her out on the court.
As the teams shook hands after the Sunday's game, UConn coach Geno Auriemma had a few specific comments to Griner.
"He just told me that I was a good player and just keep going," Griner said. "It means a lot for the other coaches to just tell you that you're a good player and to just keep working hard."
Griner and fellow freshmen Shanay Washington, Kimetria Hayden and Jordan Madden have all had significant court time and were able to end their first season at Baylor at a Final Four.
"With all the playing time we got and experience in tournaments, it's going to be something special," Griner said of what's coming for Baylor. "I feel like we will be back next year. We played a lot of top teams, and just learning from them and the experience of seeing how much it takes and just having everybody on the same page for where we want to go -- it just really helps."
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Peterson says Appalachian State should be proud of memorable basketball seasonThe longest season in Appalachian State basketball history came to a close Thursday night. ASU lost to Pacific 64-56 in the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, and two of the program's most prolific players said that they hated to see the run end.
"I enjoyed it up until this point," said Kellen Brand, who closed his college career having played in 131 games -- more than any other player in ASU history. "Not only on the court but off the court with the relationships, the brotherhood that we had... This was my last game. It hurts... It's going to be hard to leave these guys behind, and I'm going to miss them."
Donald Sims, who will be back for his senior season, expressed similar sentiments.
"I'm torn up because I don't get to play with this guy anymore," Sims said, glancing at Brand. "I've been with this guy for three years, and I have never played with anybody like him... This guy is a warrior."
The Mountaineers were also warriors, enduring a school-record 37 games and winning 24.
And Sims, a guard from Gaffney, S.C., had a breakout season -- one of the most productive in program history.
He led the Southern Conference in scoring at 20.4 points a game and was named the league's player of the year in media voting. He led the nation in free-throw accuracy, making 175 of 184 attempts (95.1 percent). And he became ASU's all-time leader in 3-point goals and will enter next season with 280.
"If you look at his stats, he's had an unbelievable year," Coach Buzz Peterson said of Sims. "It's really been phenomenal. I don't know if I've ever coached anybody like this with the year he's had."
The Mountaineers were 7-7 at one point during the season, but turned the corner and went 17-6 the rest of the way. They finished first in the Southern Conference's North Division, and, Peterson said, learned a carry-over lesson from losing to Wofford in the championship game of the SoCon Tournament.
"We get back in that situation again, we know what to expect," said Peterson, whose team came up one win short of an NCAA Tournament berth but recovered to make a run in the CIT with wins over Harvard and Marshall.
"I am very proud of these guys," Peterson said a few weeks ago. "In the middle of January, and you can ask my wife, I was about to go crazy. I wanted to go find the closest bridge and go jump off it. Because I didn't think they were listening to me. I called them ‘independent contractors,' because they were doing things on their own and not being very coachable.
"Once I got them to settle down and be very coachable and do what we asked of them, success starting coming our way. I'm proud of them."
And, after Thursday's final game, Peterson said: "It's been a good year. This is the first team in ASU history to win a postseason game (with the CIT wins)... The best thing about it, the thing that excites me, is what's coming back but also how they worked hard and got better.
"I told our guys not to walk out of here with their heads down, they've got a lot to be proud of."
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Anderson has praise for Tigers after loss to West VirginiaBUFFALO, N.Y. -- All the cliches were trotted out and shoved aside, unwanted balm for bleeding hearts. How Missouri went down fighting. How these Tigers gave everything they had. How they left it all out there on the floor.
How if not for missed free throws or tip-ins that tipped out, Missouri might have beaten No. 2 seed West Virginia instead of losing 68-59 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament East Regional.
"We were capable of winning the game, and we didn't," said guard Zaire Taylor, who along with fellow seniors J.T. Tiller and Keith Ramsey was in no hurry to shed that gold and black-trimmed jersey soaked with effort beyond the final 40 minutes of this 23-11 season.
Nothing was going to make this feel better.
"It's 40 minutes," said sophomore guard Kim English, who scored 10 points Sunday. "J.T. worked hard for four years. In 40 minutes, they're gone.
"I think about everything I did all summer long to be on a big stage and perform. All the mornings we got up in the fall and all the stuff we did together. Now we've just got to go home and be a regular student. Go to class."
If that is the way Sunday and the season ended, tears and anger might still be the order of the day.
But Mike Anderson, the coach who put together this unexpected return to the NCAA Tournament after losing three 1,000-point career scorers off the previous season's Elite Eight squad, found the right words. The perfect words. The words that those three seniors and the five sophomores and three freshman - and injured junior Justin Safford - will soon take to heart.
"I'm more proud of you than any team I've ever coached," were the words Anderson said inside that hushed locker room at the HSBC Arena, words sophomore Laurence Bowers repeated in appreciative reverence.
The coach in Mike Anderson freely admitted there were things his players did not do well enough on Sunday.
They made only 12 of 20 free throws. West Virginia's margin of victory could be traced to the comparison between the free throws Missouri missed and the 25 of 33 the Mountaineers made.
Missouri actually made one more basket than West Virginia and two more three-pointers than the Mountaineers. The Tigers even held their own in rebounding, losing that battle merely 41-38. West Virginia blocked five shots, but the Tigers blocked eight - four by Bowers, three by Steve Moore and one by Ramsey.
West Virginia's largest lead was 11 points. Missouri never led, but the Tigers tied it at 25-25 with 3:05 left in the first half - when Anderson said he believed his team was about to take control.
West Virginia, despite All-Big East star Da'Sean Butler scoring 19 of his 28 points in the first half - was in the midst of going without a basket for 12 minutes and 48 seconds, from 9:01 left in the first half to 16:13 in the second half.
In that span, however, the Mountaineers hit 11 of 14 free throws. So just before Darryl Bryant broke the drought with a basket, Missouri still trailed by the same five points they had at a 30-25 halftime break.
Bowers missed two free throws at 17:24 that would have tied the game at 31-31. Taylor missed the front half of two at 5:50 with MU down seven, and Tiller the back half of two at 5:38 with Missouri down five.
The game settled into an uncomfortable give-and-take, with neither team able to - as Tiller said later - establish "the dominant hand."
"It wasn't slow like they wanted to play, and it wasn't fast like we wanted to play," Bowers said.
English added: "It was kind of like two stubborn styles going at it."
Anderson was frustrated. But at the end, when he was asked why he was so proud of this team - more proud than of any other - Anderson gave an explanation that his players can hold dear.
"I made a statement at the beginning of the year," Anderson said. "I'm sure a lot of people picked up on it, a lot of people didn't.
"They talked about our team losing 1,000-point scorers (DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons, Matt Lawrence), three great players that are playing professional ball."
How long would it take Missouri to recover from those losses?
"I said it depends on how you look at the hourglass," Anderson said. "You can look at it half-full or half-empty. I think a lot of people probably wrote that we are probably going to be half-empty.
"I think people now see what I was talking about. It was half-full."
Even when Missouri lost three of four games down the stretch when Safford suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, when Bowers played through two torn ligaments in his left wrist and with Tiller earlier having suffered a broken nose.
"They never complained," Anderson said. "They continued to work. That's why I said I couldn't be more proud of a group of guys, because they paid the ultimate price."
The final statistics were not gaudy Sunday, except for freshman reserve Michael Dixon, who scored 15 points in 17 minutes.
The Tigers made only 32.8 percent of their shots, including 28.6 percent in the second half.
Tiller scored 13 points on two-of-nine shooting. Taylor made just three of 10 shots - all three-pointers - and scored 10 points. English scored 10 on four-of-12 shooting, hitting two of MU's seven three-pointers.
Ramsey missed seven of nine shots, though he grabbed eight rebounds. And Bowers hit only three of eight shots while taking down nine rebounds.
What sustained all at the end was Anderson's expression of the depth of his pride in them.
"These were the most selfless guys I've ever been around," Anderson said. "You don't find that a whole lot in college basketball.
"A lot of guys are about 'me.' These guys were about the team."
kansascity.com
Fernandez puts Temple on high level
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- By the fifth month of a five-month season, through all the road trips, all the tight games, all the practices and all of the film breakdown, there will not have been much that a college basketball coach hasn't seen.
That would be until a team plays Temple. That would be until a team faces Juan Fernandez.
"Yeah," Fran Dunphy said Friday. "He is different."
He is different, and Temple is 27-5. There is a connection, real not manufactured.
Fernandez shot 6-for-10 overall and 4-for-5 from the arc Friday, and the Owls thumped St. Bonaventure, 69-51, in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals at the Boardwalk Hall. But from a wing position, he also supplied seven assists, one more jaw-dropping than the next, and didn't commit a turnover.
Again, just so the statistics do not get lost in the Championship Week blur: No turnovers, seven assists and 80-percent three-point shooting from a long, angular, 6-4 sophomore with basketball in his DNA.
"Really," Dunphy said. "He is a unique guy."
He's not a point guard, but he plays like one -- like his father Gustavo, it has been said, and he was a 17-year pro in Argentina. He is best in transition, but he is a handful to defend at the the 3-point line. He is big, but plays small -- a unique twist on the standard-issue basketball compliment. He covers ground quicker than it seems, can gather the occasional rebound, protects the ball and saves some of his best shooting for the most important moments.
Simply, Fernandez is everything an opposing coach never sees coming.
"If you said, 'Who is Juan Fernandez like?', I don't think there are many guys that you could come up with," Dunphy said. "Although (Georgetown coach) John Thompson III said he is like Pepe Sanchez with a jumper, and that is probably as good a comparison as you could get.
"I don't think he is quite as good as Pepe on the defensive end," Dunphy added, half-ready to squelch a smile. "And I don't think that bothers him. We will continue to discuss that."
The subtle criticism might not bother Fernandez, but the rest of his skills have bothered everyone else in this, his first full season at Temple after joining the Owls in December of the 2008-2009 season. Recognized last season for his open-floor brilliance, Fernandez subtly, quietly this season became the Atlantic 10's leading 3-point shooter, draining 63 of 141 extra-value shots in the regular season, before that 4-for-5 contribution Friday.
Thus, continued a theme: Big moment, big Fernandez contribution.
"He goes crazy in the second half against Villanova," Dunphy said. "And we can't win that game without Fernandez."
He had 33 against 'Nova, then ranked No. 3, shooting 7-for-9 from distance. He had 21 in a key victory at Seton Hall. He sputtered against Kansas, and so did the Owls; again, a connection? But he had 19 double-figure games, stung Rhode Island with a late 3-pointer, made 7 of 11 three-point shots against La Salle, and went for 15 points and seven assists against Xavier. Astonishingly, he was included only on the All-Atlantic 10 honorable mention scroll, which just may be the way it will be with him for a while, for his skill assortment takes some time to appreciate.
"I think you can see in a given game that he is really a tough guy, too -- a tough-minded guy," Dunphy said. "He thinks he can do anything out there, and he thinks he can make any shot. It gets him in a little bit of trouble on occasion, but he is a terrific guy to coach.
"He is really good. He is a really good player. I didn't see him much (in recruiting), just a little bit on film. But we are very thrilled that he chose to come to Temple."
On the advice of Sanchez, a former Owls guard who would play in the NBA, Fernandez chose Temple over some lower-level pro offers in Spain. A year-plus later, he is playing like a pro for a team in the A-10 semis, and next week will be in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive March.
"Some days, you just feel better than other days," Fernandez said Friday. "And today was one of those days that I was feeling good."
With a crowd of Fernandez' supporters, including some family members, waving the Argentinian flag, it was all St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt could do not to unfurl a white one.
"Fernandez has a great IQ for the game, and he can shoot like he did today," Schmidt said. "He just hit some tough shots."
He hit some tough shots and set his teammates up for others. He provided matchup problems for St. Bonaventure and highlights for the TV sportscasts. He had a fluorescent boxscore line in an important game, and had as much to do with Temple being 27-5 as anyone.
He's different.
And Juan Fernandez is why Temple is different, too.
(c)Copyright 2010 The Delaware County Daily Times
Orange Battles Connecticut in the BIG EAST QuarterfinalsHARTFORD, Conn. - The Syracuse University women's basketball team (22-9, 7-9) remains in Hartford, Conn. for the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament at the XL Center on Sunday, March 7. The ninth-seeded Orange faces the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies (30-0, 16-0) at 2 p.m. A victory in that contest would advance the Orange to the semifinals on Monday, March 8 at 6 p.m.
Junior Erica Morrow led Syracuse with 24 points and freshman Kayla Alexander added 16 in a BIG EAST Championship second round victory against the Providence College Friars on March 6 in Hartford, Conn. The victory marks the first time the Orange women have won two games at the BIG EAST Tournament since the 2002 season, when SU beat West Virginia and Notre Dame.
The game can be heard live on SU's flagship station WTLA 97.7 FM/ 1200 AM (WSGO 1440 AM and 100.1 FM in Oswego) with Brian Higgins ‘04 on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on Syracuse's student station; WJPZ 89.1 FM. Live audio for every Orange game is available on SUAthletics.com via Orange All Access. Sunday's game can be seen live on the ESPNU. Live statistics for every game are also available on BIGEAST.org.
Second Round Recap
Junior guard Erica Morrow scored 24 points to lead Syracuse past Providence 76-71 in the second round of the BIG EAST Tournament. Freshman center Kayla Alexander added 16 points and Juanita Ward had 13 points and nine rebounds on March 5 for the Orange. Senior forward Nicole Michael, who missed Syracuse's first-round win over Seton Hall with a right foot injury, played 18 minutes and scored 12 points. Ward and Alexander both grabbed a team-best nine rebounds. Alexander also had a game-high five blocks. The teams were tied at 35 at halftime, and Syracuse led by just two points with four minutes left. But the Orange went on a late 12-4 run to put the game away.
Orange Against the Huskies
The Huskies have controlled the series with the Orange of late, winning 29 of the last 32 games between the two teams, including an 87-66 win at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 24. Additionally, Connecticut holds the all-time advantage with a record of 32-12. Syracuse has not defeated UConn since the 1995-96 season, a 62-59 win for the Orange against the No. 2 team in the nation.
The teams have met just once in conference postseason play, during the 2005 BIG EAST Tournament. The third-seeded Huskies defeated 11th-seeded Syracuse, 82-56, in the second round of the tournament.
Scouting Connecticut
No. 1 UConn closed the regular season with a 76-51 win against No. 7/8 Notre Dame, completing the program's eighth perfect BIG EAST regular season. The team has won 69 consecutive games, which is just one win shy of the record set by the Huskies from 2001-03. Connecticut did win any of its 30 regular season games by a margin less than 12 points.
The Huskies are led on the floor by 2009 National Player of the Year Maya Moore, who averages 18.5 points per game, and has collected 118 assists and 244 rebounds. The team's second leading scorer is BIG EAST Player of the Year Tina Charles, who became the program's career lead in points and rebounds when she recorded 18 points and eight rebounds against the Irish. Charles is averaging 18.2 points per game and has collected a team-high 277 rebounds.
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How Jim Boeheim Built the No. 1 Team in the Nation: No Top 50 Recruits in His Playing RotationSyracuse, a team not ranked in the preseason top 40 after losing three starters from last year's Sweet 16 team, is poised to be ascend to No. 1 today for the first time in the regular season since 1989-1990 (aka, the Billy Owens-Derrick Coleman days; too bad they couldn't beat Willie Burton in the tourney). The top three teams in the country (Kansas, Kentucky, Purdue, respectively) all lost this weekend, and Syracuse beat Villanova which should give the 'Cuse the top spot. Jim Boeheim's built a terrific team - we thought they had the look of a Final Four team after dismembering Cal in November - and amazingly, his 7-man rotation doesn't include a Top 50 recruit.
Andy Rautins, G - Local kid a deep three from campus, Rautins was unranked by the recruiting services despite lofty high school credentials. Terrific shooter who could be 1st team All-Big East this year, and he'll probably will have a career overseas if he pursues one.
Rick Jackson, PF - Rated 103rd in the Class of 2007, but was an afterthought in a class led by Dontae Greene and Jonny Flynn, but of whom were Top 30 recruits and became NBA lottery picks.
Arinze Onuaku, C - Not in the Rivals Top 150 coming out of high school. Was labeled a 2-star recruit. Averaged 10-7 last year; 10-5 this year. His minutes are down due to the emergence of Kris Joseph, who has been instant offense and energy off the bench.
Wesley Johnson, SF - Late bloomer went to junior college, then Iowa State (where he was pretty dominant as a freshman), and is now considered an NBA lottery pick. His stats have slumped a bit lately due to injuries, and it may cost him the Big East player of the year award.
Scoop Jardine, PG - Ranked 53rd in the Class of 2007. Solid yet unspectacular sophomore has had his moments (22 vs. Cal, 16 vs. Villanova).
The top two reserves are slashing high-riser Kris Joseph (3rd on the team in scoring at 11.3 ppg; rated 113th in the class of 2007 by Rivals) and freshman point guard Brandon Triche (142nd in the class of 2009 according to Rivals), who is the nephew of former Orangemen shooter Howard Triche.
Compare these top seven players with those from the other Final Four favorites - Kentucky and Kansas - and you might chuckle: The Wildcats have four Top 25 recruits from 2009 in their starting lineup; the Jayhawks have five Top 30 recruits in their rotation (Aldrich, Collins, Henry & the Morris twins).
(c) The Big Lead
Duke Thrashes Maryland, 77-56
This game needs no big introduction. If you saw the game, you don't want to relive it. If you didn't see the game, trust me: you don't want the details.
For the sake of summary, Greivis Vasquez was nearly invisible until late the game, when he vainly tried to lead a comeback attempt, and ended up leading Maryland with 17 points. Other than that, it was a quiet game. Eric Hayes had 8 points early, but disappeared in the second half. Adrian Bowie, Landon Milbourne, Sean Mosley, and Jordan Williams combined for 20 points. That's it.
It shouldn't come as a big surprise, then, that Duke ended up with an easy win on Coach K's 63rd birthday and 1000th game, 77-56. After leading 6-5 with 17:17 remaining in the first half, Maryland disappeared and never made a game of it. Hey, at least it was better than last year's 40 point thrashing.
Not a lot went right for Maryland, offensively or defensively, but the biggest issues in the game were on the offensive end and were mostly controlled by Maryland. UMD shot just 36% from the floor and was a terrible 1-10 from beyond the stripe, and for a team that shoots well, that's crippling. Strangely, though, this wasn't a case of suffocating defense from Duke, although it was solid. No, Maryland got plenty of open looks at the basket and simply couldn't hit anything outside of 5 feet to save their lives. Any other day, Maryland would've shot at least 50% from the field and probably 50% from deep. Big difference.
The other major issue to me was turnovers, many of them unforced. Adrian Bowie simply dropped the ball on more than one occasion, and the normally steady Eric Hayes threw the ball away multiple times. Vasquez looked no better. Those empty possessions - there had to be almost 20, the stats aren't up yet - ended up in Duke points at the other end and presented no opportunity for Maryland to score. Won't win too many games doing that.
They were far from outstanding defensively, but they were certainly good enough. Allowing offensive rebounds was the biggest defensive culprit; it was Duke's 23 second chance points that hurt more than anything else they did. Brian Zoubek had nearly 20 boards all by himself; this game really exposed Maryland's rebounding struggles.
As for encouraging performances, Cliff Tucker wasn't bad and deserved to be on the floor for longer than he was. James Padgett was quietly solid; by no means was he great, but for whatever reason things ran much more smoothly when he was on the floor.
One quick note: a win in this game would've been gravy. Getting wins against top ten teams on the road is difficult to say the least. If Maryland goes 3-1 the rest of this four game stretch, they're 9-3 and everything's fine. That's what matters, much more than this game now. It'll be a quick turnaround, with Virginia on Monday.
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