College Hoops Championships and Stuff

So what were you expecting from a Butler-Connecticut title game?

Not what we got, especially in the second half, when a tiring Butler team could not hit from outside or in, overwhelmed by UConn's length and quickness inside. A scintillating defensive game by UConn but very bad basketball at bottom. (Bill Walton on radio was awesome on this--in fact, the radio side with Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery and John Thompson is a better team than the TV announcers at the final--just saying.)

Butler shot 19% for the game. The halftime score was 22-19 Butler. Final 53-41 Connecticut.

The ladies halftime score was 35-33 Notre Dame. The final score 70-76 Texas A & M.

Both games were exciting in their own way, but the ladies game had momentum flowing back and forth and more exciting plays. The men just were grinding it out. There are lots of critics of the lack of "athleticism" in the women's game but in this case, I would say the women were just as exciting to watch as the men. All that flying through the air isn't very effective if you can't put the ball through the hoop.

A & M's Kansas City connection served them well as Danielle Adams (Lee's Summit) led scoring with 30 points and Tyra White (Hickman Mills) made an important late hoop. Nice ESPN article by former Star newsie Mechelle Voepel here.

Oh, yes, the Mizzou coaching drama ended with the controversial hiring of one Frank Haith, a coach from a football school (Miami) with a losing record. Mr. Haith is going to have to win over skeptical fans in both Columbia and in the conference that he is a serious possibility to do well and stick around for a while. I think when he gets in a full Mizzou Arena and realizes that these fans do give a damn is when he realizes what a tough job he has.

UConn Women's Team Loses After 90 Wins

It was Stanford, another power in women's college basketball that finally ended UConn's win streak with a convincing 71-59 win over the Huskies in California.

That may have been the only way someone finally beat Connecticut--Stanford has a 50+ winning streak in their home building.

90 games--still very impressive.

Women's Final Four

Baylor, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Stanford are your ladies Final Four schools. The best game and toughest test for UConn should be their semi against Baylor. If the Bears can shoot from outside, and Brittany Griner (pictured above) scores her usual points and adds 10 more blocks to her NCAA tourney record 31, they will give the Huskies all they can handle.

Your schedule: Oklahoma vs. Stanford 1900 4/4; Baylor vs. UConn 2100 4/4. Finals on 4/6 . ESPN is your network.

Go Baylor!

Vermont Loses 84-66

Just too much...too much Skylar Diggins for one. She had 31 points and 7 steals for the Irish. It really looked like the legs wore out on the Lady Cats, who only play 6-7 deep. The Irish went 10 deep on their bench and this makes a difference in a one-and-done tournament. Still, a great effort, and it seems to me, that like the men, we have something to look forward to next year.

Not Looking Good for Lady Cats Right Now

Apparently UVM ran out to a 20-10 score with the lead, but Notre Dame has shown their quicker hands and faster team speed, and caused the Lady Catamounts to have heaps of turnovers. The trend has continued into the second half and now fouls are starting to stack up. A very long hill to climb with about 10 minutes left in the game.

Yes, I Hope So Too

From the comments section of the Burlington Free Press, by "jonhemlock"

written by Al Lesar of the South Bend Tribune: (I hope he eats these words.) BELOW

Another concern might be the level of play. The talent gap between the Irish and Cleveland State was wide. The chasm between Notre Dame and Tuesday’s foe, 10th-seeded Vermont, is equally large.

The score shouldn’t be close.

Two Vermont star players - Courtnay Pilypaitis and May Kotsopoulos - wouldn’t start at Notre Dame, but could play in the Irish rotation. Can’t say that about any other Catamounts.

It’s been 17 years that women’s basketball has had the 64-team field. In that time, No. 1 seeds are 67-1 against No. 16 - the only loss being Harvard’s upset of Stanford in 1998. Likewise, No. 2 seeds are 68-0 against No. 15.

The closest game for a Nos. 1 or 2 seed last weekend was Notre Dame’s 28-point win. The average margin of victory for the top seeds was 37 points, and 32 for No. 2s.

...uncooked, without sauce.

Tip is at 6:16 pm central time.

"...Kansas City, goin' to Kansas City..."

NCAA Women: 32 Going to 16 Over Next Two Days

Well, we are pretty darned excited here at "You're Looking Live" as the old alma mater, the University of Vermont won their first round game against 7 seed Wisconsin and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA women's tourney. If the Lady Cats can beat #2 seed Notre Dame, they will be in the Sweet 16 and--get this folks--come out to Kansas City to play!!!! (Sorry, like I say, kind of excited.) In the Sprint Center, even!!! (Sorry, italics are better than bold or caps, right?)

While, UConn, Stanford, and Tennessee are a step (or several, in the case of UConn) ahead of much of women's college basketball, there has developed a deep enough pool of talent that there are now more upsets in the tournament then ever before. Two 11 seeds (Arkansas Little Rock, San Diego State), a 10 seed (Vermont), and a 12 seed (Green Bay) won over the weekend. While I would doubt that we'll see any of these teams in San Antonio April 6th, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see one of them in a Sweet 16 venue near you. March is getting Mad on the distaff side, too.

Third Time is the Charm: UVM Women Beat Hartford

OK, this is the sort of game it was:

UVM-----35 20 55

Hartford 17 33 50

A game of two halves. Vermont had large double digit leads in the first half and beginning of the second half, but Hartford, like any good team, had a spurt in 'em. A very good spurt, that got them within 3 with 2:15 left in the game. After that, the game looked like a normal game, except for Vermont's nerve racking free throw shooting. The team stats look pretty even in the end, but I bet to watch, this looked like two, no, make it three different basketball games. Vermont, then, is for sure, dancing in the NCAAs on the ladies side too.

TEAM STATS SUMMARY

--------------------------------------------

Points:----------------55-----------------------50

Field Goals:-----------19-59 (32.2%)--------18-47 (38.3%)

Free Throws:---------11-20 (55.0%)--------11-13 (84.6%)

3-pointers:------------6-14 (42.9%)---------3-15 (20.0%)

Rebounds (Off):-------36 (15)---------------30 (4)

Assists:----------- -----7----------------------9

Steals:-----------------4----------------------1

Blocks:-----------------3---------------------11

Turnovers:------------0---------------------0

Personal Fouls:-------12--------------------15

How I Would Prepare In Order to Try to Beat the UConn Women

Big East Tournament Champion...

...and Big East regular season champion University of Connecticut

There's been much talk in the women's basketball world that the University of Connecticut women's team is too good and impossible to beat. Right now the UConn ladies are on a 72 game winning streak. Their most recent win came at the expense of #9 West Virgina and the final score was 60-32 this past Wednesday. West Virgina was unable to score against UConn for over 11 minutes. The win gave UConn the Big East Tournament title.

Good times on the bench, a common thing for the Huskies.

So if you are, say, Nebraska or Texas A & M, what could you do to prepare for UConn? This is what I would do: I would take a page from the Canadian gold medal women's hockey team and got find a men's team to practice against. Seriously. I would try to find a team that was similar to UConn in depth and height configuration. I would want to find a group of guys that knew each other and could play as a team together. Maybe an intramural team, a small college, junior college or really good high school team. I would have them learn UConn's stuff and play like UConn plays: the defense they play, the offense they play. In fact, if I was Nebraska, I would have already been working on this, since I knew I would be in the NCAAs regardless of the outcome of the Big 12 tourney. I would then let the boys play my girls in practice. I would set up game situations. I would play 10-20 minutes of real play with refs and everything. Raising the level of play in practice will show both the coach and the players what will be required to conquer the University of Connecticut women's basketball team. I really think this could give a good team a good chance against the Huskies.

UConn: quick to the hoop, as this West Virgina defender discovered.

Strong to the hoop too. Look at those muscles!

Photos from ctpost.com.

Did You Know?

The Texas A & M women's basketball team features three players from the Kansas City area: Junior Danielle Adams (Lee's Summit), Senior Tanisha Smith (Lincoln Prep) and red shirt Sophomore Tyra White (Hickman Mills).

A reason, besides Big 12 allegiance, to root on the Aggies in the NCAAs.

Except of course, if they play the University of Vermont.

Nebraska Women Upset

Danielle Adams, a Kansas City product (Lee's Summit), had 22 points for the Aggies (Lincoln Journal Star)

Nebraska's ladies, who had been the only undefeated team besides UConn, lost today to Texas A and M down at Municipal Auditorium by a score of 80-70. The Aggies beat Nebraska in every way: shooting, defense, rebounding. The Cornhuskers' best player, Kelsey Griffin, spent most of the game on the bench with foul troubles.

Conference tournaments can be tricky things...

Nice photo showing off the Municpal Auditorium--an oldie but a goodie! (Lincoln Journal Star)

Meanwhile, Big 12 Women Play at the Muni

Kansas State didn't have quite enough to overcome #3 Nebraska. (Kansas City Star)

We've been a bit neglectful of the distaff side of Big 12 basketball. The women's tournament is also in Kansas City this weekend. The Big 12 women are no slouches either at Mr. Naismith's game, with at least seven teams in the Top 25 and one in the top 5. That would be Nebraska--yes, that Nebraska that thumped my Catamounts earlier this year--and the Lady Cornhuskers won this afternoon, pulling away from K State for a final of 63-46. Also in the quarter finals, Texas A&M (11), which features three women from the Kansas City metro, beat Texas (20) 77-64. The nightcap features Oklahoma St (21) against Iowa St.(14) followed by Baylor (18) verses Oklahoma (12). Yes, Kansas and Missouri's women's teams are both done; neither made it out of round one. They are playing at the Municipal Auditorium, an older venue well cared for and restored in downtown Kansas City.

Girls Basketball Uniforms

The Des Moines Register recently posted a look back on girls high school basketball in the state of Iowa--a 100 picture gallery of girls high school hoops. This is an amazing look back on the styles of uniforms over the years. Hat tip to the Uniwatch Blog. I picked out a couple to have a little fun with...

This photo is from 1978, the year of The Observer's graduation from high school. I have to say these uniforms were considerably more fancy then anything we had going on in Vermont!

This photo from this year's America East women's tourney shows a UVM player getting some pretty good air.

This skirt wearing Iowa high schooler circa 1961, though, had some hops!

Photo credits: top and bottom--Des Moines Register Middle--Burlington Free Press

Lady Cats Lose Big to Nebraska

Ah, the difference between the University of Vermont and a really BIG school like Nebraska.

Lady Cats took it on the chin when the Lady Cornhuskers came calling and lost 94-50.

You have to understand: Schools like Nebraska have ENROLLMENTS THE SIZE OF BURLINGTON, VT'S POPULATION. So, yes, if you sign up to play these schools, you might just get crushed. But if you don't, you never really know how good you are.

Nice of Nebraska to go to Burlington to play. You never would see that on the men's side. May that never change...

UVM Lady Catamounts Off to Good Start

The University of Vermont's women's basketball team is off to a good start this year with a 10-2 record. The losses were to UConn and Oklahoma St. On January 4th, Nebraska of the Big 12 will visit Patrick Gym in Burlington. We will keep you informed of the progress of the Lady Cats.

Enjoy some highlights from their win over Rhode Island January 2.