Oklahoma looks to build on consecutive Final Fours
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Sent packing from the Final Four for a second straight year, Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale knows how tough it will be to get this far again, much less winning her first national championship.
Yet she also realizes how much these back-to-back trips have helped her program.
"It removes a ceiling," Coale said after a 73-66 loss to Stanford on Sunday night. "It's kind of like the first guy that runs a mile in four minutes and then all of a sudden everybody's doing it. And for the kids within our program, these guys that will return next year, this is what we do.
"I mean, (sophomores) Whitney Hand and Jasmine Hartman, this is all they know: You work and you go to the Final Four. There's something that's contagious about that. And they will quickly teach those five incoming freshmen what it means to work and commit at Oklahoma, and we'll do our best to get back here on a regular basis."
The way the Sooners persevered to reach the final weekend of the NCAA tournament also bodes well.
This is a team that many expected to tumble after losing Courtney Paris and her twin sister Ashley to graduation. Hand was supposed to help pick up the slack after being selected Big 12 freshman of the year last season, but she tore up a knee the day after Thanksgiving.
An 18-point home loss against rival Texas in early February certainly seemed to expose Oklahoma as not having what it took. Even when the Sooners made the tournament, they had 10 losses. Only the 1997 Tennessee Lady Vols made the Final Four with that many losses.
Now, two teams have done it.
"I'm unbelievably proud of these kids," Coale said about a team that rallied from an 18-point deficit with 6:47 left to get within three with 16 seconds remaining against Stanford. "I cannot express what a joy it has been to coach them, how refreshing it has been and their willingness to learn, their drive, their belief, their faith, how they are with one another.
"It's been everything that's good about college basketball, and I feel blessed to have been their coach."
Graduation will claim Oklahoma's entire starting frontcourt: forwards Amanda Thompson and Nyeshia Stevenson and center Abi Olajuwon.
That trio scored 33 points in the national semifinal, exactly half of OU's total. But that only hints at their impact.
Thompson has been the team's captain the last three years, and Stevenson has keyed their transition game and 3-point shooting. Olajuwon, the daughter of the former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon, blossomed this season and became a regular starter.
Perhaps their greatest claim is making the Sooners just the sixth program to make consecutive Final Fours. Oklahoma joins women's basketball royalty such as Connecticut, Stanford and Tennessee, and previous powers Louisiana Tech and Southern California.
"They will forever be the class that took us to back-to-back Final Fours, and it's such a hard thing to do," Coale said. "But I think even more than that these seniors have restored everything that is Oklahoma basketball. I don't know if restore is the right word, but they have grown and they've figured out over the course of their four years what it means to play hard all the time ... be a great teammate, what it means to commit to the process of getting better."
Dazzling point guard Danielle Robinson will return and likely step up her leadership role. Hand should be back healthy, and Hartman returns more experienced. Freshman Joanna McFarland could take over Thompson's frontcourt role, and Carlee Roethlisberger, the sister of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, is likely to be asked to do more, too.
Then there are the recruits: Aaryn Ellenberg, a McDonald's All-American point guard; 6-foot-6 Nicole Griffin, and Jacqueline Jeffcoat, the daughter of former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Jim Jeffcoat.
"Things are going to turn," Hartman said. "I have two more years and we'll be back in the Final Four."
(c) 2010 Hearst Communications Inc
Sadness aside, Saint Mary's College men's basketball team had historic NCAA tournament runHOUSTON -- It was quick and painless. Sort of like the Hundred Years War.
Saint Mary's band of Cinderfellas fell behind early Friday night in their Sweet 16 NCAA tournament game against Baylor. Then they fell behind big. Then they struggled to make shots, then they had trouble making simple passes.
By the time they started pushing back, it was too late. The final score - Baylor 72, Saint Mary's 49 - quite accurately conveys the nature of the game. It wasn't pretty, one team playing at its peak, and a team that had been playing its best ball suddenly struggling to execute basic maneuvers.
That was the stunner Friday. Not the end of the dream. Are the Gaels capable of beating Baylor? To quote the team's unofficial motto this NCAA tournament: Sure, why not? But even they understood they were playing with an Omar Samhan-sized stack of house money after their first- and second-round wins over Richmond and Villanova.
What seemed incongruous was that such a nice dream should meet such an inelegant fate. For five weeks Saint Mary's beat all comers. The Gaels elevated the concept of team each time they took the floor. On Friday the irresistible story met the immovable object, and the scoreboard told the tale. The red-rimmed eyes of the Saint Mary's players explained it in a way words can't.
"It's tough," said senior forward Ben Allen, who scored a team-high 16 points in his final game for Saint Mary's. "A lot of emotion in the locker room at the end of the game. Most of us were crying and hugging each other. You just don't want to go out like that. We're still WCC champions and we got to the Sweet 16. But it's an ugly way to go."
"When all is said and done, I'm proud of what they did this year," coach Randy Bennett said. "Oh man, we stunk tonight. Nobody wanted to play that way. We didn't want it to go that way. It went that way."
It went that way in part because of the tactical cause and effect you see in every game. In this case, Baylor's guards, LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter, came out firing - and hitting. They combined for 37 points, personally outscoring the Gaels in the first half, 27-17.
"That's all we talked about for three days was defending their guards," Bennett said. "And they came out and just drilled us."
Saint Mary's outside shooters were unable to respond in kind; the Gaels shot 6-for-22 on 3-pointers. The story was the same inside.
"I got good looks and didn't make them," said Samhan, who had 15 points and nine rebounds in his final game in the uniform he dreamed of wearing as a kid. "I didn't play well."
And to be unsparingly blunt, it was clear the Gaels were awed by the stage - both the elevated basketball floor in a colossal football stadium and the rarefied air of the Sweet 16.
"Maybe the stage, the whole deal affected us," Bennett said, "because we didn't compete the way we needed to in the first half."
OK, we're finished documenting the evening, lest we give it more historical weight than it deserves. As the months and years fly by, what happened in the five weeks leading up to Friday's game will endure as the officially licensed memories of an unlikely ride that can never be reprised.
That's the thing about first times and superlatives, and these Gaels collected a head full - the first win in the modern-era NCAA tournament; the first victory over a Top 10 team; the first time winning two games in a single NCAA tournament; matching last season's school-record 28 wins with 28 more.
A night to forget will take its footnoted place in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That's as it should be. Because who takes a spectacular cruise and broods for the rest of their lives over being tugged into port at journey's end?
As it seems he has been for the past few weeks, Samhan was a couple steps ahead of everyone else in achieving perspective.
"I've never been more proud of anything in my life than this team and this coaching staff," he said. "So it didn't matter how it ended. I can walk away happy. Great coaches; they're fathers to me. And teammates that are brothers. So it's a family. Ups and downs. Today was a down. But we've only had six downs and 28 ups. I'll take it any time."
Copyright (c) 2010 - San Jose Mercury News
Now who looks good in the NCAA basketball tournament?Kentucky's hot
They say that the best time to get hot in college basketball is right before the conference tournament begins. If there is a team hotter than Kentucky right now, please let me know.
In the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Kentucky has won by a combined 59 points. Yes, you read that correctly, 59 points.
Can a team get any hotter? Well, I suppose they could have made it an even 60.
I personally saw this Kentucky team play Mississippi State last Sunday in the thriller that was the SEC tournament championship, and they are as good - if not better - than advertised.
Never have I seen a player faster than John Wall. He's the type of player that is simply a difference maker, and who doesn't necesarrily have to be scoring a boatload of points to wreck a defensive game plan.
The bottom line is that with Kansas losing on Saturday, I don't see a team left that can handle Kentucky.
Syracuse can do it
Kansas messed up my bracket and probably yours, too, when it lost to Northern Iowa.
And I knew Villanova was in trouble when it went to overtime in the first round. (And yes, it lost in the second round.)
Despite the sudden rush of most everyone to now pick Kentucky to win the NCAA tournament championship, they Wildcats will have to prove to me they're No. 1. Because I just don't think a team that consists mostly of freshmen and sophomores can win a national title. Didn't think it last week, don't think it now.
So that leaves either Syracuse or West Virginia to beat the Wildcats and win it all.
From what I've seen, Syracuse is now the team. It has good shooters, great rebounders and a smart coach. Of course, every team still in the tournament is like that.
But if you've got to pick somebody, Syracuse is the one.
hattiesburgamerican.com
NMSU ousts Nevada in WAC tournament
Reno, Nev. -- Jahmar Young earned himself a place in New Mexico State history. The junior guard lifted the Aggies to an 80-79 win over Nevada on Friday night with a 15-foot jumper with 3.8 seconds remaining.
As a result, NMSU advances to tonight's Western Athletic Conference title game against Utah State at 8 p.m. MST at Lawlor Events Center.
Troy Gillenwater led New Mexico State with 21 points and eight rebounds.
With the win, New Mexico State and Utah State will play for a third time this season and continue what has turned into a heated rivalry. In an 82-65 win over NMSU last Saturday, Stew Morrill and Young got into a verbal altercation, a run-in that led to Morrill being reprimanded by the WAC for foul language.
sltrib.com
Princeton wins Ivy League title
Princeton (25-2, 13-0) clinched the Ivy League title and a first-ever spot in the NCAA women's basketball tournament last night with a 78-66 victory over Harvard (19-8, 10-3) in Cambridge, Mass.
"Winning the Ivy League is a very difficult thing to do," Tigers coach Courtney Banghart said. "To do it by sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard on their courts is a testament to how far this team has come."
Freshman Niveen Rasheed had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who can finish with a perfect league record when they host Penn in Jadwin Gym at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Amy Donovan and Jess Knapp each scored 12 points as Penn beat host Dartmouth, 44-31, in Hanover, N.H.
Notre Dame 89, Louisville 52 - Erica Williamson scored 16 points as No. 6 Notre Dame (26-4) thumped the Cardinals (14-17) in the second round of the Big East tournament in Hartford, Conn.
In other games, Erica Morrow scored 24 points to lead Syracuse past Providence, 76-71, while Katherine Harry had 17 as DePaul beat Marquette, 64-54. Brittany Ray poured in 21 points as Rutgers demolished Cincinnati, 70-44.
Tennessee 68, Vanderbilt 49 - Alyssia Brewer scored 15 points and the No. 4 Vols (29-2) rolled over the Commodores (22-10) in Duluth, Ga., to advance to the Southeastern Conference tournament title game.
The Vols will play Kentucky (25-6), winners over Mississippi State, 76-65.
Duke 67, Georgia Tech 55 - Jasmine Thomas scored all 10 of her points in the second half and the No. 9 Blue Devils (26-5) used a late 20-7 run to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title game by beating the Yellow Jackets (22-9) in Greensboro, N.C.
Nikitta Gartrell scored 25 points to help North Carolina State rally past Boston College, 63-57, sending the Wolfpack (20-12) into today's final against Duke.
Iowa 59, Michigan State 54 - Kachine Alexander had 14 points and 10 rebounds, helping the Hawkeyes (19-12) beat the No. 25 Spartans (22-9) in the Big Ten tournament semifinals in Indianapolis.
The Hawkeyes advance to today's championship game, where they will play No. 10 Ohio State, who got 29 points from Samantha Prahalis and 27 from Jantel Lavender to beat Wisconsin, 82-73.
Stanford 63, California 48 - Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 22 points as the second-ranked Cardinal (28-1, 18-0 Pac-10) slammed the Golden Bears (17-12, 11-7) in Berkeley, Calif.
Nebraska 82, Kansas State 72 - Kelsey Griffin's 36 led the No. 3 Cornhuskers (29-0, 16-0 Big 12) over the Wildcats (13-17, 5-11) in Manhattan, Kan.
Iowa State 59, Colorado 41 - Kelsey Bolte scored 19 points as the No. 13 Cyclones (23-6, 11-5) locked up the No. 2 seed in the Big Twelve tournament with a win over the Buffaloes (13-16, 3-13) in Ames, Iowa.
Texas A&M 78, Kansas 54 - Danielle Adams led the Aggies (22-7, 10-6) in a Big Twelve rout of the Jayhawks (15-14, 5-11) in Lawrence, Kan.
East Tennessee State 63, North Florida 62 -TaRonda Wiles hit a baseline jumper in the final seconds as the Buccaneers (23-8) survived an upset bid by the Ospreys (12-20) to win the Atlantic Sun championship in Macon, Ga.
Austin Peay 69, Eastern Illinois 60 - Nicole Jamen scored 19 points, and the Govs (15-17) beat the Panthers (23-10) in Nashville to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
Nyack 45, Holy Family 43 - Catherine Carr missed a 15-foot shot with four seconds left and the Tigers (28-2) lost to the Purple Pride (21-11) in the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference title game in Caldwell, N.J.
philly.com
Northern women at Augie Wednesday
Mar. 1--The Northern State women's basketball team will be the seventh seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament.
NSU will play at No. 2 Augustana College in Sioux Falls on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the first round.
Other first round pairings for the NSIC women's tournament include: No. 8 Minnesota State, Mankato at No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, 7 p.m.; No. 5 Winona State at No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth, 7 p.m.; No. 6 Minnesota State-Moorhead at No. 3 Wayne State, 7 p.m. The highest remaining seed following the first round will host both the semifinal games and championship on Saturday and Sunday.
The winner of the conference tournament earns an automatic qualification to the 2010 NCAA Division II women's basketball Central Regional tournament on March 12-13 and 15 at a site to be determined.
The Northern State men's basketball team did not qualify for the conference tournament. The first round pairings for the NSIC men's basketball tournament include: No. 8 Southwest Minnesota State at No. 1 Minnesota State, Mankato, 7 p.m.; No. 5 University of Mary at No. 4 Winona State, 7 p.m.; No. 7 Concordia-St. Paul at No. 2 St. Cloud State, 7 p.m.; No. 6 Wayne State at No. 3 Augustana College, 8 p.m. The highest remaining seed following the first round will host both the semifinal games and championship on Saturday and Sunday.
The winner of the conference tournament earns an automatic qualification to the 2010 NCAA Division II men's basketball Central Regional tournament on March 13-14 and 16 at a site to be determined.
Copyright 2010 Ultio, LLC
USC's O'Neill expects rematch with UCLA to be much closerLOS ANGELES - USC defeated UCLA last month by its greatest margin since the 1945 season, but Trojans coach Kevin O'Neill expects tonight's contest at the Galen Center to be far closer than 21 points.
"It will be down to the last second, I assume," O'Neill said Saturday. "This time it won't be easy. Obviously it won't be the same margin as last time."
Forward Marcus Johnson said the Trojans will play with more motivation because there are only seven games left in the season, thanks to self-imposed sanctions that will keep USC out of postseason play.
"All these last few games have extra emotion, these are my last games," Johnson said. "Definitely, you can't come into this game expecting (UCLA) to do the exact same thing the last time we played."
Despite the expected boost from that big victory in Westwood, USC (14-9, 6-5) is only 3-3 since it defeated UCLA.
"We've blown some leads in the second half," O'Neill said. "We need to make some transition baskets against UCLA."
Keeping healthy
The Trojans are relatively injury-free this season, which is helpful because O'Neill usually only uses seven players.
"We've been lucky with injuries," he said. "We only practice hard once a week. If we had any major injuries, we're done."
Recruit watch
Larry Lewis, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Arcadia High School in Phoenix who averages 22 points per game, was at USC on Saturday. Shabazz Muhammad, a sophomore guard at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas and one of the top players in the country for his class, is expected to attend tonight's game. His father is former USC basketball player Ron Holmes.
Getting noticed
USC forward Nikola Vucevic scored a career-high 19 points in last month's victory over UCLA. O'Neill said the 6-foot-10 sophomore is attracting attention from NBA scouts.
"I think everybody thinks he is a year off, maybe two depending on his progress," O'Neill said. `I have said this many times to Nikola every day, once he learns how to play hard every single day he is going to be a very good player. The games that he does not particularly play well in stretches is not because he is lazy.
"He is still young. It's his first year of really playing in this situation and sometimes his maturity level does not allow him to play hard all the time."
Trash talk
Tonight's game could allow USC to sweep UCLA for the first time since 2004. It also would be USC's first victory over the Bruins at the Galen Center. The Trojans are 0-3 against UCLA.
Johnson said comments from UCLA fans will decrease if USC earns a sweep.
"When I'm in 'SC gear, I've heard, `We're going to kill you' and `You're going to lose' from UCLA fans," Johnson said. "You try to tune it out. But UCLA fans are always going to do that."
Copyright (c)2008 Los Angeles Newspaper group
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