The UConn Huskies won their 8th National Championship and sends seniors Kelly Farris, Caroline Doty, and Heather Buck on a high note. Fab Frosh Breanna Stewart sparked the Huskies run and won over Notre Dame in the semis despite the Irish beating them for three games this year. The Huskies won over Louisville 96 – 30, with Stewie scoring 23 points.
Boy am I out of it this year (even more so than last year when March Madness meant the Great Tohoku Quake and Tsunami more than the annual college basketball craziness). Haven’t got any idea what’s going on in the baller world, be that the international scene (UMMC Ekaterinburg for Birdy and Ros Casares — or whatever — for LJ) or the Women’s NCAA (but enough to know that UConn’s not that invincible this year).
But anyway, better late than never, right? At least I checked in right before the Elite Eight. So without further ado — WAIT, the Zags are done for the season. Bummer. Read somewhere in Twitter that they might be missing Vandersloot more than they realized. Well, okay then, get it over and done with, move on with the show.
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PICKS
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Des Moines Region – Baylor vs Tennessee
Obvious pick is obvious, duh, Griner — BAYLOR
Raleigh Region – Notre Dame vs Maryland
Haven’t seen how Maryland plays but I’m just gonna go with the fact that ND was in the championship game last year and Skylar Diggins is still playing for the Irish. Pick — NOTRE DAME
Fresno Region – Stanford vs Duke
Ogwumike Sisters. ‘Nuff said. — STANFORD
Kingston Region – Connecticut vs Kentucky
Samarie Walker vs her former team. Whatever. KML, Bria Hartley, Kelly Frakking Farris, Tiff Hayes, Dolton, and DOTY! As if I’ll pick anyone over UConn. — CONNECTICUT
A few vids I found while still on this basketball high after watching the NCAA Regional Finals this morning. They’re a sort of behind the scenes all-access video thing of the UConn Women’s Basketball during the 2009-2010 season.
Nice to see her recovering well from that blasted ACL.
UConn to Final Four!
Semifinals (Final Four):
UConn vs Baylor
Standford vs Oklahoma
//
Better late than never.
Tennessee is out.
Duke is out.
Baylor and Stanford are in.
UConn, Florida State, Kentucky, Oklahoma are fighting for a spot in the Final Four.
It’s March Madness \o/
Full Bracket in Flash at NCAA.com.
AP Photo/Gerry Broome
Well, apparently, Geno will lead the US Women’s Basketball Team in the London 2012 OGs. [ Source ]
Geno Auriemma, fresh from a 6th NCAA Championship and 3rd unbeaten season with UConn, has been named Head Coach of the Olympic team that will compete in London. He succeeded former Seattle Storm Coach Ann Donovan.
He will be the first active college coach to take on the Olympic gig since Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer did in ’96.
image source: yahoo sports
No. 1 UConn totally decimated No. 2 North Carolina in a very lopsided game, the score being 88-58. Aside from the points, UConn also ruled the boards with 48, 19 of which are offensive. North Carolina, one of the better rebounding teams year after year after year, just got 28 boards (9 offensive).
Senior guard Renee Montgomery led the pack with 21 points on 8-17, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. All-American Maya Moore took the backseat with 19 points and 12 rebounds (6 offensive) after pouring 40 points on the Syracuse Orange during their previous game. Tina Charles scored 17 and 12 (6 offensive). Kalana Greene had 15 and 3. Sophomore Lorin Dixon, who moved into the starting lineup following Caroline Doty’s ACL injury, 14 (5 of 5) points, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds.
Italee Lucas scored 15 points to lead UNC, while Rashanda McCants added 13.
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—Renee Montgomery had a career-high 30 points and matched the Connecticut record with 13 assists to help the top-ranked Huskies rout No. 4 Oklahoma 106-78 on Sunday night.
Montgomery, who got the first double-double of her career, tied the assists record set by Laura Lishness in 1991 against Seton Hall.
Maya Moore added 27 points and 12 rebounds and Tina Charles had 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for UConn (5-0). Freshman Caroline Doty scored a career-high 18 points, going 6-for-6 from behind the 3-point line.
Danielle Robinson had 19 points and Ashley Paris added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Oklahoma (4-2). Courtney Paris had 14 points and 14 rebounds for her 98th straight double-double, extending her NCAA record.
It was the first time Oklahoma gave up over 100 points since losing to Connecticut, 102-80, in the NCAA regionals in 2000.
– Doug Feinberg, AP
…started with a win over Georgia Tech.
Super-Sophomore (and ESPN Pre-Season Player of the Year) Maya Moore tallied 20 points and 14 boards to help the Huskies pull away from the Yellow Jackets and emerge with a 82-71 season-opening win Sunday.
The game was tied at the half, and the Huskies led 65-62 with 6:55 to play. UConn closed the game on a 17-9 run.
Box Score
| Connecticut | ||||||||||||
| Name | Min | FG | 3Pt | FT | Off | Reb | Ast | TO | Stl | Blk | PF | Pts |
| M. Moore | 39 | 7-17 | 0-4 | 6-8 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 20 |
| T. Charles | 28 | 7-9 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| C. Doty | 31 | 3-10 | 1-6 | 6-6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| R. Montgomery | 40 | 5-14 | 2-8 | 3-4 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| K. Greene | 26 | 5-5 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| T. Hayes | 16 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| L. Dixon | 11 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| K. McLaren | 9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 200 | 29-59 | 4-19 | 20-26 | 14 | 33 | 20 | 19 | 12 | 6 | 15 | 8 |
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Nov 20 San Diego St., 7:00 pm EST
Last Meeting: Dec 21, 2007, W 85-53 |
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Elena Delle Donne is not going to UConn after all or will be playing college basketball this year. Last Saturday, EDD announced she would not take up the UConn scholarship due to personal reasons. In a statement released Monday afternoon, Delle Donne, the Naismith National Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year, said she decided not to attend UConn because she didn’t feel equal to the challenge.
Delle Donne was rated by Scout.com as the number 1 college recruit this year. She was supposed to be a great piece for UConn’s push for a 6th National Championship.
Last news I read, she is enrolling at Delaware and will play college volleyball as a walk-on.
The Rethinkbball Site has summarized various articles and comments about this topic.