Archive: April, 2010
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
Hello everyone. The Guru may be back here at some future date.
But for now, he has moved back to the original address http://womhoops.blogspot.com
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: A story on the Guru's Inquirer departure written by Frank Fitzpatrick that is in Saturday's print section appears elsewhere in Philly.com. Because it held a few days for mere things such as the Phillies and Flyers games and the NFL draft, comments from a certain coach who grew up in Norristown and has led his team to two straight unbeaten NCAA women's titles were able to insert into the story despite his busting the original deadline. That ought to make papers in a state north of New York think twice before giving him any assignments in Nutmeg country.)
By Mel Greenberg
So Mel, what was the final full-time hour like on Friday night in the Sports Dept. before slipping into the past tense and the three-week extended fadeout to take care of adminstrative and archival matters?
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: Since enough requests have come, here is the text, with some explanations in parentheses, of the farewell speech given Thursday afternoon by the Guru to Inquirer colleagues past and present at a newsroom reception for his "retirement" effective after Friday night's shift. The email address and access will continue for three more weeks after going off the payroll.
The speech is focused more on the 40-plus years of Inquirer life because as the Guru has said, the blog will continue either here or at another address -- stay tuned -- and his chronicling of women's basketball will also move forward. A story on the basketball life, which was suppose to appear in Friday's sports section, apparently is on a brief hold due to the crush of sports news involving live coverage of the Flyers, Phillies and the NFL draft. Jonathan or yours truly will advise when it appears.).
THE GURU INQUIRER GOODBYE SPEECH TRANSCRIPT
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
This is not going to be too long in that the Guru has been busy with the countdown and out this week.
But in noticing the news over the weekend of the passing of former Delaware coach Joyce Perry, the Guru would like to say she was a class act.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
Senior Tina Charles of the still unbeaten defending NCAA champion Connecticut Huskies was unable to the be in Los Angeles Saturday night at the annual ritzy presentation of the John R. Wooden Award that is awarded through the Los Angeles Athletic Club to the top collegiate men's and women's players.
Scheduling conflicts had the native of Brooklyn in Secaucus, N.J., Thurday, for the WNBA draft and then off to the UConn campus in Storrs by Sunday for the USA Basketball Senior Women's National Team workouts under Huskies coach Geno Auriemma.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
New Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was not on the scene in her home area this winter to see much of Drexel senior Gabriela Marginean.
One reason was she was busy making a career move after the former WNBA champion Detroit Shock, of which she had been assistant coach and general manager, moved to Tulsa under a new organization.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
By Mel Greenberg
In some cases, the WNBA draft coming less than 48 hours after the NCAA women's title game will keep the highs going.
That would be in Connecticut where UConn star Tina Charles will go as quickly as Sun coach Mike Thibauldt wants to tease the masses when his organization takes the first turn on the clock. The big suspense is now over whether he will also add Huskies star Kalana Greene, whose stock continued to rise as her team bulldozed its way down the stretch to an unprecedented second straight unbeaten season.
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: The main game story is below this post.)
By Kayla Goldman
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The 53-47 win by Connecticut over Stanford in the Astrodome Tuesday night brought a second-straight unbeaten national title that was a special achievement.
Notable as it was, the triumph also meant the close of collegiate careers for five of the 11 Huskies who as seniors finished with a 146-6 overall record to go with the two trophies.
“This win means everything,” said Kaili McLaren, one of the departing players. “To get through everything and pull out strong means the world. There’s so much history that came before me and now we got to make a little history. This is a family atmosphere. I’m going to miss my team mates so much and I’m going to miss the coaches so much. The coaches helped us get through everything and win.”
Shea Ralph, a Connecticut assistant coach who played for the Huskies from 1996-2001, knows the hard work and dedication it takes to capture a championship with one of the nation’s most elite programs.
She was named Most Outstanding Player in the 2000 championship, in which the Huskies defeated Tennessee 70-61 in Philadelphia.
Ralph, who had been an assistant at Pittsburgh, returned to Connecticut at the beginning of the 2009 season filling the shoes of Tonya Cardoza, the longtime aide to Geno Auriemma who took the Temple head coaching job..
“I’m a lot more nervous coaching than I was playing. It was easier playing – I had control over stuff. You feel like you have control over the outcome,” Ralph said. “You try to do the best to prepare your players as a coach, and you really want them to end their career the right way.”
She spoke of the senior class and their contributions.
“These seniors are just a great group. There are five of them. That’s almost half of our team. We are going to miss them so much on the bus, in the locker room, everywhere. We are going to miss them a lot. They are a huge part of our personality. I am happy they can leave with this win,” Ralph said.
Meghan Gardler, a native of Springfield, couldn’t be happier for the team and the win.
“These girls are my family,” the former Cardinal O’Hara star said.. “They are my best friends. I am going to miss them so much. I had three surrogate moms in the coaching staff and these girls are all my sisters. Geno (Auriemma) was like my father,” Gardler said.
The loss of senior Tina Charles, who will be taken by the Connecticut Sun Thursday as the number one pick in the 2010 WNBA draft, will be of an incredible magnitude.
“More than anything elseTina brings, we will miss Tina’s presence the most,” Ralph said.
“Her leadership, in the ways she’s the glue of our team more than anything. We will miss her contributions on the court and off the court. But just having her inside in the paint, doesn’t matter what she’s doing, it’s just that presence.”
Charles finishes atop the record books for Connecticut in both points and rebounds: 2,345 and 1,367, respectively.
“I’m sitting here trying to fight back tears because I’m going to miss this team and miss ’Coach. I’m grateful for everything he’s done for me. I’m going to miss everything about this program,” Charles said.
Fellow senior, Jacquie Fernandes, understands Charles’ sentiment: “It’s more than playing for Connecticut. It’s about being a part of a family, a sisterhood. I’m never going to forget it. Once you’re a husky, you’re always a husky. Whether you play four minutes or forty minutes, you’ve made your contributions.”
Kalana Greene, also expected to be in the WNBA draft, is the other senior.
While the Connecticut seniors reflect on the history and the bonds made, the underclassmen are excited for the promise of the future.
Tiffany Hayes, a sophomore guard who hasn’t lost in her Connecticut career, said, “It’s a surreal feeling not losing a single game. Coming out of high school, you think, alright, you’ll lose one or two at least, but Caroline (Doty of Germantown Academy), Kelly (Fairs), Heather (Buck), I, we haven’t lost. We are all still excited. We are aiming for four titles, and we don’t want to know what it feels like to lose. Caroline and I are looking forward to doing it. We’re going to try.”
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: A sidebar is posted above this)
By Mel Greenberg
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Connecticut overcame a rarely performed imperfect half to rally to another perfect finish and second straight unbeaten NCAA women’s basketball title, beating Stanford, 53-47, Tuesday night in the Alamodome.
It’s the first time back-to-back unbeaten seasons have been achieved in the women’s game and first in the NCAA among combined genders since UCLA performed a similar achievement in 1972 and 1973.
Ironically, the Huskies (39-0) also finished as an unbeaten champion here in 2002 with an identical record. The crowd of 22,936 Tuesday night included vice president Joe Biden and his wife Jill.
The Huskies extended their NCAA women’s record win streak record to 78, though it was the first time in the run that their outcome was not decided by double digits.
The outcome was the closest since Maryland’s 78-75 overtime triumph over Atlantic Coast rival Duke in 2006 in Boston. It was the 10th overall title game to be decided by six points or fewer.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, is now 7-0 in the championship game. The Huskies are topped only by archrival Tennessee, which has won eight titles under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.
Next up for Connecticut in the history books is a shot next season at the overall 88 straight wins achieved by UCLA and Hall of Fame men’s coach John Wooden.
“There is no company,” Auriemma, also a Hall of Famer, said of being mentioned in the same breath as the Wizard of Westwood. “He has no company.
“He’s a pretty special coach and special guy,” Auriemma continued. “I’m just thankful for this group of kids because I know how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve put into this. I think for the first time this year, they felt a little bit of pressure tonight. I’m just happy to be their coach.”
Auriemma, on Monday, said that the team with the best player is usually the one that wins when it comes to playing in the NCAA championship contest.
That was true again Tuesday night with junior Maya Moore, who was named the most outstanding player, carrying the Huskies back from a 20-12 deficit that existed at the half.
Moore, the consensus top player of last season, finished with 23 points, including 18 points in the second half, and 11 rebounds.
“We didn’t run a single play we had practiced since day one,” Moore said of her team’s play in the first half. “Our offense was completely out of whack and Stanford did a great job getting us out of our rhythm.
“We responded in the second half and knew what we had to do,” Moore continued. “We knew a run was coming and we settled down and hit some big shots. Tina (Charles) hit some big shots and I stepped up and hit some big shots. Now we are champions.”
Moore won the Wade Award as the top player of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association on Saturday while Charles, who had nine points and 11 rebounds, has won all the other individual player awards to date, including the Naismith Award on Monday.
Germantown Academy’s Caroline Doty, who had nine points, hit two three-pointers down the stretch to help Connecticut stay unbeaten.
"For Caroline to make those shots she made, that's just an incredible toughness on that kid's part, because she hasn't made a shot since Biden was a senator (from Delaware), Auriemma said.
"That's why he came to say hi to us. He said, `I remember you making a shot when I was senator."
Kayla Pedersen, who was named to the All-Tournament team at the Women’s Final Four, had 15 points and 17 rebounds for Stanford /(36-2).
Both Cardinal losses were to the Huskies, including one in Hartford back in December.
Stanford was ranked second in the preseason behind Connecticut and the two national powers ran the first-ever 1-2 tandem in the weekly Associated Press women’s poll. The national media panel made the Huskies an ongoing unanimous No. 1 choice in the vote, which got under way in late October.
Sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike, who led Stanford to a semifinal win over Oklahoma on Sunday, had 11 points and 13 rebounds and received all-tournament honors along with Charles and Oklahoma’s Danielle Robinson to round out the team.
Jeanette Pohlen also was in double figures with 11 points for Stanford. However, 6-foot-4 center Jayne Appel, likely to go high in Thursday’s WNBA draft behind Charles, struggled on her nagging ankle injury with an 0-for-12 effort from the field.
The Connecticut Sun already announced they will take Charles, a native of Brooklyn, No. 1
The combined inept offense by both teams made the 100 total points the lowest ever in the championship, topping the 105 collected in Tennessee’s 59-46 win over Rutgers in 2007.
The combined 32 points in the half was also a new low.
Despite all that, Stanford seemed headed for a shocking upset as Connecticut shot a miserable 5-for-29 from the field in the first 20 minutes. That included a pair of field goals at the outset that gave the Huskies a brief 5-0 lead.
The 12 points by UConn were the lowest ever in a half at the Final Four. The total also matched the Huskies’ worst-ever output in a half that was set in 2006 in a Big East game at Rutgers.
“It was one of the few times I was speechless,” Auriemma said of his thoughts in the locker room. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life and all my years at Connecticut.
“We were so out of it and we just talked about slowing everything down, getting a little better movement, get some better screening, being a little more patient and then Maya just made some huge shots.
“It’s unbelievable. This is just unbelievable.”
Auriemma was relieved that the differential was not wider at the break.
“As bad as we played, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” he said. “And there was hope. There was hope for us. I didn’t know what kind of hope. But there was hope.”
That hope was found in Connecticut’s defense, which helped the Huskies take off on an overpowering 26-7 run from the outset of the second half to regain control.
“We kept fighting, but things weren’t falling,” Pendersen said of the Huskies’ surge against the Cardinals. “We got a little bit extended on defense more so than we should have. They started rebounding a little bit better. And, I don’t know, we needed to make our own run, and we didn’t really do that.”
Moore’s three-pointer with 14:27 left in the game gave Connecticut its first lead since the 5-0 advantage at 23-22 and the Huskies stayed ahead the rest of the way.
“That was a big momentum pusher,” Moore said. “There was a defender right in my face, running to contest it. And I just didn’t think about it; I just rose up and shot it and it went in and everybody had a little bounce to them.
“That's why we’re champions. We rise to the occasion. And we love big-time shots.”
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer spoke of her team’s inability to mount a huge lead in the first half when Connecticut seemed rattled.
“We wasted a lot of opportunities in both halves,” said VandDerveer, whose team handed UConn its last loss in the 2008 national semifinals. “I thought people were rushing shots.
“Nneka coming off 38 points (in the semifinals win over Oklahoma), this was – it was very physical. And you know, Nneka just – is going to have to learn from this. We needed to have some kind of go-to-playing. And we didn’t have that.”
VanderDerveer had noted going into the game Connecticut needed to be off for her team to have a chance for an historic upset.
Though she got her wish, the Cardinal couldn’t capitalize when it came to the ultimate outcome.
“It’s very disappointing. And it’s very disappointing,” VanDerveer said. “I think what’s hardest is Jayne having such a great career at Stanford and I just – I’m really sad for her to go out with this kind of game when last year, even though we lost, last year she had 25.”
Connecticut beat Stanford in last year’s national semifinals and also beat the Cardinal in the semifinals of 1995 when the Huskies claimed their first unbeaten season and NCAA title at 35-0.
They now have four of the six perfect seasons in NCAA Division I since the tournament began in 1982. The other two were achieved by Texas (34-0, 1986) and Tennessee (39-0, 1998).
Auriemma did not want to talk much about going after the 88 game win streak of the UCLA men.
But he did allow to look ahead at a potential three straight titles for Moore, who will finish her career and probably depart college as the next No. 1 draft pick out of UConn in the WNBA.
“Maya’s greatest challenge next year is going to be that for the first time in her college career she will be the older leader and not have a lot of help, and that’s really going to take a toll on Maya next year,” Auriemma said. “I’ve told her that. We’ve talked about it. And that’s my job to get her ready for that.
“But you know, people are going to expect us to win a national championship because we’ve got Maya Moore. And I would say: Good. So do I.”
--Mel
Mel Greenberg, Inquirer Sports Columnist
(Guru's note: Kayla Goldman, a student from Orlando, Fla., riding shotgun with the Guru down here in Dixie has a sidebar feature on Germantown Academy's Caroline Doty of UConn under this post. -- Mel)
By Mel Greenberg
SAN ANTONIO - For people focused on the Donovan McNabb trade and Phillies opening day coverage, a glance at Connecticut’s 70-50 victory over Baylor Sunday night in the second game of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament semifinals in the Alamodome will seem like business as usual.
The Huskies (38-0) extended their extended their NCAA record win streak to 77. The differential, as in the 76 prior results, once again reached double figures.
But there actually was some suspense in the second half before UConn completed the 1-2 matchup that’s now set for Tuesday night against Stanford (36-1).
The Cardinal had to withstand a late rally by Oklahoma (27-11) before advancing with a 73-66 win built on the powerful performance from Nnemkadi Ogwumike, who had 38 points and 16 rebounds.
Connecticut, meanwhile, saw a 15-point lead at the outset of the second half get shriveled all the way down to a mere 41-38 advantage by the Bears (27-10) with 14 minutes, 55 seconds left in the game.
Not to worry even though Germantown Academy’s CarolineDoty and backcourt mate Tiffany Hayes combined for a 1-for-14 shooting effort and each struggled with four personal fouls.
It’s helpful to have two post presences with national player honors the same year as senior Tina Charles (AP, United States Basketball Writers) and junior Maya Moore (Wade Award selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association).
The duo powered the Huskies on a 29-12 run the rest of the way as Moore finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, while Charles had 21 points and 13 rebounds.
“I thought there were several things that were different in the game,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, a former Louisiana Tech star who won an NCAA title as a player and guided the Bears to the 2005 title. “First of all, their two all-Americans scored all but 15 of their points.
“That’s a junior and a senior for Connecticut that we had freshman guarding,” Mulkey said. “(Brittney) Griner was guarding Tina Charles all night and Shanay Washington and Nae-Nae Hayden and Jordan Madden took their shots at Maya Moore.”
Griner, the shot-blocking freshman sensation, finished with 13 points for Baylor and Morghan Medlock had a team-high 14 points.
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, praised the work of two of his superstars who compensated for the offensive shutdown elsewhere in the lineup.
“The one scenario I didn’t conjure up (going into the game) was our two starting guards going 1-for-14. I didn’t plan on that.
“And in spite of that, these two players up here were just absolutely amazing because they had to do it all by themselves pretty much. And I can’t say enough about them and especially in the second half what they did when Baylor cut it to whatever they cut it to.”
Moore spoke of her play as well as that of her teammate from Brooklyn, who on Thursday will be taken No. 1 overall by the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA draft.
“I felt I had a mismatch most of the game,” Moore said. “I was just trying to be aggressive. And once I listened to my teammates and set up my screens and used them, we got even more opened up.
“And Tina just does a great job of coming in, a confident leader who is going to attack anybody that she’s matched up with. She made some big buckets for us – gave us a lot of momentum and blocked some shots and came through for us on the boards.”
Charles creditedAuriemma for contributing to UConn’s success by simulating situations such as what occurred Sunday night.
“Coach puts us in situations like that during practice,” she said. “When we go to practice, even though we have this streak going on and we’re winning games, he still puts us in game situations that could happen.
“And that happened tonight, and we all just came together and we’re like we’re not going to lose. We want to go on Tuesday.”
Stanford’s one loss came against Connecticut back in Hartford in December.
The Cardinal were part of a first-ever 1-2 tandem in the weekly Associated Press women’s rankings this season riding shotgun wire-to-wire behind the Huskies, who were an unanimous No. 1 choice weekly by the national media panel.
Stanford, who handed Connecticut its last loss in the national semifinals in 2008 in Tampa, led Oklahoma all the way Sunday night, building an 18-point advantage with 6:47 left in the game.
But the Sooners rallied and moved within three points at 69-66 with 16 seconds left before Ogwumike hit two foul shots to seal Stanford’s win.
All-American Jayne Appel had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinal, while Kayla Pedersen had 12 points to go with Ogwumike’s effort.
Danielle Robinson scored 23 points for Oklahoma.
“We did not have an answer for `Nneka’ all night long,” Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. “And it just took us too long to get going.”
Ogwumike’s 38 points are now second only to the 47 points by former Texas Tech star Sheryl Swoopes in the 1993 title game in terms of individual scoring in a Final Four game.
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer spoke of the second matchup this season with Connecticut in terms of what her team will bring into Tuesday night’s game.
“I think our team will bring confidence, know that we’ve improved a lot, and I think our team will be excited,” she said, recalling the 80-68 setback to the Huskies.
“We know we need to play better and shoot the ball better, but I think tonight against some very athletic players and an aggressive team we took care of the ball well. We got the ball to a hot player on the court.”
Auriemma knows his team will need more than Charles and Moore to finish another season unbeaten.
“If we shoot the way we shot tonight we’ll be in trouble on Tuesday night, because Stanford is a little bit different offensively than Baylor,” he said. “They just have a lot of offense.
“They may be the hardest team to play against in America. For us, anyway because of all the offensive players they have.”
Told that Stanford only shot 39 percent in their win over the Sooners, Auriemma responded: “Maybe the first team to 50 wins.”
-- Mel
About this blog
Mel Greenberg covers college and pro women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he has worked for 38 years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather. He was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
Click here for Mel's list of All-Decade players from Philadelphia-area schools.
Mel Greenberg
Inquirer Sports Columnist
Click here for Mel's list of All-Decade players from Philadelphia-area schools.
Other contributors
Jonathan Tannenwald is a producer with Philly.com. In addition to covering the local college scene, he spent two years as the Washington Mystics beat writer for Women's Hoops Guru. He also writes his own blog, Soft Pretzel Logic, which covers men's college basketball, football, and other sports.Kathleen Radebaugh is a recent graduate of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She covered women's basketball for the school's newspaper, The Hawk, and served as sports editor her sophomore year. She was also a four-year member of the varsity crew team.
Erin Semagin Damio covers the University of Connecticut and the WNBA's Connecticut Sun for the blog, and contributes other features. The Storrs, Conn., native also attends Northeastern University, where she is a coxswain on the varsity crew team.
Acacia O'Connor is based in Washington, D.C., where she reports on the Mystics and the college basketball scene in the nation's capital. A graduate of Vassar college, she played on the varsity women's basketball team and was editor of the student newspaper.
Click on any of the contributors' names above to e-mail them.
Reach Mel at poll416@gmail.com.
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