Top 10 Players of the Women's NCAA Tournament

It was another great spring and, even with my Pitt Panthers suffering a down season, this was as compelling a tournament as I've seen. We saw the end of an era in Connecticut and perhaps the dawning of new ones in South Bend and College Station. There were surprise upsets, awesome performances from stars and unexpected players stepping up in the biggest moments. On with the annual top 10 favorite performers of the tournament, 2011 edition:

1. Skylar Diggins, Sophomore, Notre Dame. Diggins is a complete player, with speed, vision and daring. Diggins is also charismatic, which is to say, there is charisma to her game, she has that elusive but electrifying star quality on the court. She runs point, but she's a shooting guard. She can hit from outside, but she go to the post. Heck, she's so good, even Lil Wayne is on the Diggins bandwagon. [82,168 Twitter followers as of this posting.] Diggins is perfect marriage of style and substance, and, playing at Notre Dame, she's on the perfect stage to perform.

2. Danielle Adams, Senior, Texas A&M. Adams was nothing short of spectacular in the title game, leading A&M to it's first basketball title, which also, by the way, was the first national championship in any sport for A&M since the 1939 football team. Adams got some miserable defensive assignments through the tournament -- to shut down Griner in the Elite 8, to shut down Ogwumike in the semi-final -- and she paid a physical price in doing so. Tuesday night, though, she stole the offensive spotlight, abandoned her outside shot (which is really pretty good), and took the ball to the hoop, over and over and over again. If the Sydneys (Colson and Carter) weren't feeding her the ball directly, she viewed any outside shot taken by her teammates as a pass, muscled up in the paint, pulled in the rebound and put in the put back. Adams' post performance was one for the ages. Also, it was cool to see four generations of women there, with Adam's mom, grandmother and great-grandmother in the stands.

3. Maya Moore, Senior, UConn. What can I say about Moore that I haven't already said? What can you write about one of the greatest players in college basketball history? Moore always struck me as mentally indomitable, that you might shut her down for a stretch, or a half, but she would find a way to gut out a win. When I think about watching Moore, this is the quality that comes to the fore, every time -- a completely driven player. No question, she has been the most dominant figure in the game for the last several years, the number one reason that the Huskies have been actually scary good at times. Whether it's a steal when her team needs a defensive stop or that beautiful little pull-up jumper, I am going to miss watching her play.

4. Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Junior, Stanford. When the Cardinal is at their best, they run their offense through Ogwumike. She is all kinds of strong, but it's sneaky and catches you unawares. At first you don't even notice it, but then you see teams just wear down under her strength and perseverance as she leans on them, contests everything in the paint, and the opposition buckles. Even against A&M's stifling defense in the Final Four, Ogwumike nearly won the game for Stanford, driving inside, banging, hanging up and putting in a nifty under-handed lay-up. (Video here.)

5. Courtney Vandersloot, Senior, Gonzaga. Is it just me, or should Vandersloot, the only college basketball player ever to score over 2,000 points and have 1,000 assists (men or women, she's the only one to ever have done that), be getting more national love? Yeah, yeah, I know she plays for the little Catholic school that could way out there in the pacific northwest, but, even given the locale and, even given the conference, Vandersloot is a marvel of vision and quickness. Always an assists machine, she learned to shoot more this year, and not just from the outside. (It didn't hurt that she was being mentored by none other than John Stockton.) In the 'Zags Sweet 16 game against Louisville, Vandersloot had seven assists which brought her total for the season to 358 -- an NCAA record, breaking the mark set by Penn State's Suzie McConnell (now Suzie McConnell-Serio) in 1986-87 of 355. Vandersloot notched nine more assists in the 'Zags Elite 8 loss to Stanford, setting the single season record at 367, a record that may last as long as McConnell's did.

6. Tyra White, Junior, Texas A&M. After the Aggies victory in the Championship game, Kara Lawson called her 'The Closer.' How perfect. In the semi-final game against Stanford, it was White who lifted her team down the stretch, scoring nine points in the last 4:30 of the game, leading the way in their comeback. Then, in the waning moments, she went to the basket twice, the last time for the last second lay-up winner. In the final game, even given the magnificence that was Adams, there was no single shot bigger than White's three-pointer with about one minute left in the game and the shot-clock hitting zero. Ice in her veins, man. (That shot comes around 4:10 on this ESPN video.)

7. Natalie Novosel, Junior, ND. Diggins gets all the spotlight, Peters is a post-presence and a defensive cleaner, but Novosel's quite a player too. She's got a sweet shot and came up huge for the Irish, game in and game out. She played perhaps her best game of the tournament against UConn, when the Irish really did need all hands on deck, often running the point to free up Diggins. She plays shut down defense and can do so a little too enthusiastically sometimes, but I love the energy she brings the Irish on the floor. I am really looking forward to seeing the backcourt of Novosel and Diggins together for one more year.

8. Brittney Griner, Sophomore, Baylor. Demeanor-wise, she's more Angel McCoughtry than Danielle Adams or Tina Charles, which is to say, you don't get a warm fuzzy watching Griner play. But I'm going to take a second to defend Griner here. She has been attacked, sometimes viciously so, and not just by anonymous internet commenters (i.e. cowards), or bloggers, but even by some members of the mainstream media. You can see where a person might get pissed off after years of that kind of talk. At the very least, you can understand why Griner might be reticent to open up in interviews and why she might be emotionally guarded, even on the basketball court. As to her game, she has so many gifts and I think she's still growing into basketball self. She's got great length, is a shot-blocking tour-de-force, plays in the paint with the ball high and goes right to the basket. The kid put up 40 points in the Sweet 16. Forty! In Kim Mulkey, I think she's found the perfect coach to guide her through some rough waters.

9. Sugar Rodgers, Sophomore, Georgetown. Another Big East guard who is lightning fast, pushes tempo, and will dribble-drive. The Hoyas stormed passed Maryland and into the Sweet Sixteen behind Rodgers' 34 points and 9 boards. For those who don't follow the Big East, this was Rodgers' coming out party.

And now, time for my shameless beg to the programmers at ESPN: As ND and G'Town are Big East teams, and as that means they will play each other at least once next year, please, please, please broadcast the ND-G'Town game next year. For the love of all that's right and holy, I want to see Diggins v. Rogers.

10. Kayla Tetschlag, Senior, Wisconsin-Green Bay. I really went back and forth on this last spot. A&M's Sydney Colson? ND's Becca Bruszewski for gutting out the tournament on a gamey leg? Tennessee's Shekinna Stricklen? Griner's teammate Melissa Jones? But I think that if any mid-major is going to really break through, I wonder if it might not be the Phoenix? Up until their Sweet 16 loss to Baylor, W-GB was riding a 25 game win streak, largely thanks to Tetschlag. Even in that loss to Baylor, Tetschlag played all 40 minutes and put up a double-double (27 pts and 10 reb.) It makes me wish I had seen her more throughout her career.

For Vandersloot, Adams, Moore and Tetschlag, so long, thanks for all the memories. For the returning players -- Diggins and White, Ogwumike and Rogers, Griner and Novosel -- I'm expecting great things from you next year.

Skylar Diggins Will Save the World

Just one tweet, that's all it took. If Shakespeare were alive, he himself might tweet in response, "Oh brave new world that has such social media in it."

The tweet that sent Skylar Diggins from a great basketball player with a twitter account to a social media supernova came the day before the women's NCAA championship game when Lil Wayne tweeted to Diggins, "Kongrats to @skydigg4,my wife. Now bring it home baby."

Her twitter account blew up. As of this posting, she now has 68,640 followers and is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, likely to break into Justin Bieber or Jersey Shore territory for recognizability. Only, unlike Bieber and Snookie, Skylar Diggins might actually have something to say worth paying attention to.

Based on her performance throughout the NCAA tournament, including Notre Dame's losing effort in the final game last night (76-70 to Texas A&M), she is ready to assume the mantle of the best player in the game. Through six games in the tournament, she averaged nearly 20 points per game and she's on the floor constantly, rarely sitting down for more than a minute. When her team needs her to score, she drops 28, as she did against UConn. When they need her to distribute the ball, she has 12 assists, as she did against Tennessee. And while her stats are impressive, she's more than that. She's explosive, compelling, a charismatic person, but also a charismatic player.

Though a point guard, she's not content to just sit outside the stripe and try to hit three-pointers. She is both fast and quick, will put the ball on the floor, dribble-drive to the bucket, and lay in a beauty of an underhanded shot. Or she'll pull up and hit three. Or, she'll make a great pass to somebody in the paint. She can do it all, and because she can do it all, you don't know what Diggins is going to do next.

She also has good model looks. Let's face it, Diggins is a stunner. But unlike other female athletes who were long on looks and short on game, Diggins can flat out play.

And you know what? If people tune in to see Notre Dame women's basketball because Lil Wayne tweets to Diggins and calls her wifey, or if they tune in because they think she's hot, they have just tuned into a basketball game wherein they will see a great basketball player.

And what's wrong with that?

Skylar Diggins will save the world.

Top 10 Players of the 2010 Women's NCAA Tourney

From True/Slant on April 10, 2010:

Here are my Top 10 Favorite Performers of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Tournament.

10. Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame. First of all, this is a freshman who came into Notre Dame under a world of hype, but has proven to be up to the billing: The Skylar Diggins show comes to South Bend. She cruised as her team cruised past Cleveland State in the first round, then in the second round, versus Vermont, the Skylar Diggins show came to March Madness: 31 points, seven steals and six assists. Oklahoma’s defense took away much of what she wanted to do at the offensive end, but she helped keep the game close with steals and rebounds. Then she hit a three-pointer to send it to overtime. It was a spectacular debut at the big dance.

9. Jene Morris, San Diego State University. Prior to the tournament, I had seen a little under one-half of San Diego State Aztec basketball, so I really didn’t understand the full magnificence that is Jene Morris. Her performance in the tourney was enlightening, to say the least. She’s a wonderful defender – it’s required that all the Aztec players commit to defense — but it’s on the offensive end where she really shines. Some players have a knack for making the big play at the big moment. Certain players have a gift for doing something that stems the flow of momentum for the opposition. Morris is one of these players. Besides that, she’s got a killer three point shot, almost as beautiful as the sublime perfection of Maya Moore’s outside shot.

8. Alexis Rack, Mississippi State. This kid? Has hops. She flew up and down the court, hitting three-pointers and mid-range baskets. She distributed the ball and caused turnovers all over the floor. But in addition to speed and a sweet shot, she’s got stones. She’s tiny. They list her at 5′ 7″ – which is pretty short by D-I basketball standards these days — but I don’t know that she’s even that tall. Yet she continually drove to the hoop, wending her way through and around much bigger bodies to create lay-up opportunities. At their game versus Ohio State, the guys sitting next to me and behind me just kept muttering, “fearless.”

7. Amber Harris, Xavier. No team went through a crazier, wilder ride than the Xavier Muskateers, and perhaps no player had a bigger single impact that Harris. She showed both power and nuance, patience and urgency. In the final seconds of their game versus Vanderbuilt, she drove the lane for the winning lay-up. Then she lead Xavier past the Zags, before taking mighty Stanford to their absolute limits. When she came down with an offensive rebound with the score tied and just 18 seconds remaining, it should have been the nail in Stanford’s coffin. Should have, could have, but wasn’t. Still Amber Harris put on a show.

6. Brittney Griner, Baylor. I have to admit, there was a part of me that wanted to dismiss Griner, to think of her as merely a freak show — all height and luck and genetics. Then came the punch and I started to strongly dislike the kid. Granted, she is a very incomplete player. She doesn’t move much or all that well. She doesn’t have a great shot yet or even a killer instinct on the offensive end. And she could be a much better rebounder. All of those flaws showed up when she played against Tina Charles, but then, Charles has made everybody look bad this year. And yet, despite those flaws, Griner was more than just a freakshow of bones and sinew. Her shot blocking ability is something to behold and it’s impact cannot be overstated. She didn’t merely block shots, she swatted them down as though she were human anti-aircraft artillery, as player after player tried to get around her, by her or through her. Inevitably, the Griner swat came, sending the ball ignominiously to the court. Or onto the scorer’s table. Or into the seats. Every time she did that, her team fed off of her energy. The kid’s legit. I wouldn’t say she’s won me over. She’s got a long way to go still before she reaches that rarified air, so to speak, but she’s on her way.

5. Amanda Thompson, Oklahoma. I think what I like most about Thompson is the effort, which is not to say that she’s not a very talented player; she is that, of course. But I like that you can see her working on the court, digging down, reaching inside of herself to find that elusive something that will catapult her team to victory. Despite being surrounded by some really talented teammates – and that Oklahoma team is deep – it felt like Thompson did something when the Sooners were backed into a dangerous alley. She made steals and came down with rebounds. She hit inside shots and dished back outside. Last year, all anybody could talk about was how could coach Sherri Coale replace Courtney Paris. I wonder how she’s going to replace Thompson?

4. Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford. I’m not even sure what to say about Ogwumike. In the Final Four game versus Oklahoma she staked her team to a large lead to watch it slip away. With just 16 seconds left, after a Danielle Robinson lay-up, Stanford’s lead frittered down to just three, so she took things into her own hands. Some how, she found her way to a clear space and, with a great pass from Kayla Pederson, she hit the lay up to put away the Sooners for good. She can do everything, evidenced by the fact that she put up a double-double in every game of the tourney except one (versus Iowa: 23 pts.; nine rebounds.) She can play inside. She can play outside. She can sky to come down with a rebound. She can speed up the pace for her team or she can settle it down. When she and Appel were able to work together on the court, Stanford was like a fast-repeat machine gun.

3. Jayne Appel, Stanford. I’ve written plenty about Appel over the years. About her drive and leadership; about her hands and her vision. But one of the things I really like about watching Appel is that she is one of those rare players possessed of both equanimity and guts. It’s hard to strike that balance. Having played an entire season on a gimped up ankle, Appel limped through the NCAA tournament and still she managed to elevate her team. Then, fighting for the ball in the paint in the championship game versus UConn, she rolled that ankle again. She could barely walk off the court. But still, the trainers taped her back up so she could play her guts out. The ankle, though, was a problem. It prevented her from getting any lift to shoot. Apparently, it’s not just me: Everybody loves Jayne. Even my buddy the DieHard UConn fan texted to say that she felt for Appel, on the bench, unable to play in the waning moments. There’s a reason everybody loves Jayne: she always fights to the end and never loses her dignity. So, despite the disappointment of coming so close and having to watch it slip away, I’d remind Ms. Appel that she really did have a wonderful career. But I probably don’t have to remind her. You know, equanimity and all.

2. Tina Charles, UConn. It’s hard to say anything about Charles that hasn’t already been said. She eclipsed all other post players in the tourney, which is some heady praise, considering that we also the swan song of Appel, the opening act of Griner, and the breakthrough of Amber Harris. She is a beast in the paint and I mean that in the best way possible. I don’t think anybody is stronger than Charles. At least I haven’t seen anybody who is. Even more than Griner, Charles changes the shot selection for the opposition. She did it all second half in the championship and that, as much as anything else, was the reason UConn pulled out the win.

1. Maya Moore, UConn. She possesses the best, most reliable jump shot in women’s basketball, maybe in all college basketball, and her shot is certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing I’ve seen at any level. Period. It’s no surprise that Moore tops this list. She is great. I knew that. I also knew that she could stake her team to a huge lead. What I didn’t know, I mean really know deep in my bones, was if Moore could lead her team from behind, if she could bounce back from the worst half of basketball I’ve ever seen her play. Her shots clanked off the back of the rim, off the front of the rim, banged harmlessly off the backboard and sometimes missed the target altogether. She turned the ball over and dribbled off her own foot. It was ugly. And it was a gut check. In the first five minutes of the second half, Moore put up a jumper, kissed it off the glass and then it touched nothing but net. She not only got on a roll, she forced herself ont that roll and scored 15 of her 23 points in the second half. Gut. Checked.

Just missed the cut: Vivian Frieson, Gonzaga; Jasmine Thomas, Duke; Joy Cheek, Duke; Jeanette Pohlen, Stanford; Kalana Greene, UConn; Chanel Mokango, Mississippi State; Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee; Nyeshia Stevenson, Oklahoma; Alysha Harvin, Florida State; Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky; Kelly Faris, UConn; Kayla Pederson, Stanford; and Ta’Shia Phillips, Xavier.

Grading ESPN's Coverage of the Women's NCAA Tourney, 2010

From True/Slant on April 9, 2010:

Women’s NCAA Final Four Production Grades


Watch Maya Moore spin out of her regular clothes and into her UConn Huskies uniform! See with amazement Nnemkadi Ogwumike turn from a heel shod, skirt wearing femme fatale into the PAC-10 player of the year!

That was how ESPN chose to introduce us to the starting five players on each of the Final Four teams.

During these intros, each player would say something about herself, something unrelated to basketball, of course. Then she’d spin and bam, she’s a hoopster too!

Whah!?

“I’m Tina Charles and I’m a daddy’s girl.” Spin and voila, she is the dominant post player for undefeated UConn.

Brittney Griner introduced all 6′ 8″ of herself to America by declaring that she likes bacon. (Maybe it was babies that she likes. I couldn’t hear clearly, so I like to think it was bacon. Everybody likes bacon, right?) Spin, spin and she is the shot-blocking freshman phenom for Baylor.

Somebody else liked to shop.

Another one had 300 shades of nail polish.

One player told us she was a Christian (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I don’t care what church you go to, how frequently you get a mani-pedi, or if you dislike pork products.)

I was watching with several other women, some of whom were football players. We all joked and hooted derisively; we hollered “bacon!” and “christian!” at appropriate moments throughout the games. But really, we were appalled. At least they allowed Jayne Appel to introduce herself by saying that she was the heart of her Stanford team. True dat, Jayne.

Not to mention that the spinning-clothes-changing special effect was laughable. Were they seriously trying to reference the 1970’s TV version of Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter?

If they were, they should have just gone whole hog and used that same snappy theme music.

But I wonder, why is it so hard to package women’s sports? And why does ESPN (or any other venue for that matter) feel like they have to package it differently?

My buddy Sully, starting tight end for the Pittsburgh Passion, pointed out that they can never just let women be athletes. It’s important that women are athletes AND …

Women always have to be something, something off the court, off the ice or away from the field, preferably something in stark contrast to the stereotypes for athletes. It’s never enough just to be a good athlete.

Unless a male athlete actually, you know, DOES something extraordinary off the court, it’s like his life outside of athletics doesn’t exist. Mostly, we just hear about who ran the fastest 40, or who can bench press the most; who has an unbelievable vertical leap and whose team won the state championship in high school.

But that other life, the “real” life, if you will, is necessary for women.

“Oh my god, she’s a hockey player, but really, she’s a classical violinist!”

“She runs track, but she excels at accounting!”

“She’s a point guard, but really, she’s going to take over her parents horse farm when she graduates. How wonderful!”

She’s Diana Prince, government secretary, but she’s also Wonder Woman. Hard to believe we’re still here. I wonder what Lynda Carter thinks …

2010 Women's NCAA Tourney Final Four

From True/Slant on March 30, 2010:

Stanford and Baylor Advance to Final Four


Stanford Survives.

Jeanette Pohlen bolted for the basket a little over 90 feet from her, racing the length of the court, past and around pressing Xavier defenders. The ball left her hand, a mere blink left on the clock, kissed off the glass and dropped through the net. Her teammates swarmed. Jayne Appel leapt and, I believe she even wept.

Stanford could have lost. Some might say they should have lost. But I always think that what should have happened did. And what did happen was a gut check nobody saw coming. Given that Stanford had rolled every opponent except UConn, no one expected this kind of heavy-weight battle. Some idiot even wrote that Stanford was destined for the Final Four, on an inexorable collision course to meet mighty UConn again. So thanks to Pohlen, I look less like an idiot, Stanford survives to fight another day, and Jayne Appel gets the equivalent of an 11th hour governor’s reprieve.

But to understand Pohlen’s miracle shot in Sacramento, you’ve got to consider the entirety of the game.

Xavier played brilliantly. They did everything necessary to win, except actually win. Every time Stanford made a run, Xavier countered. (Apparently, somebody failed to pass on to the Musketeers the memo declaring Stanford’s appearance in the Final Four as a fait accompli.) Down the stretch, down by seven, Special Jennings hit a layup, plus one. Then Dee Dee Jernigan made a rebound and a bucket. Then Amber Harris made a jumper to tie it up. And April Phillips hit a layup to put Xavier ahead. Filling in for Appel, Jocelyn Tinkle hit a jumper to tie it for Stanford, but Tyeasha Moss answered to put the Musketeers back in front. Kayla Pederson, as she alway seems to do, tied it up.

So, it came to this moment — all tied up at 53, so little time remaining that the shot clock was off, and Xavier ball. The game, the braggin’ rights and a trip to the Final Four, was all right there for the taking. Appel had fouled out and was on the bench — on the verge of ending her career that way. Nnemkadi Ogwumike was on the floor for Stanford, but clearly spent.

Ball movement all around. Pederson peeled off, taking a step or two toward the three-foot stripe. Jernigan ducked behind her into the paint for a clean look. But the ball bounced too high off the glass, off the rim and down. Harris, a force all night, grabbed the ball and gave the Musketeers another chance to put it away. Same exact play. Same exact result. Except this time, Pederson came down with the ball and called a time out.

Other than her three-pointer so early on in the night it felt like the day before, nothing was dropping for Pohlen. It seemed like she wouldn’t have hit water had she fallen out of a boat. But on that stage, with time draining away, the Final Four slipping away, Pohlen came up big. Can two points count for more than just two points? One point would do it. Two was what it was. Must have felt like 20.

ESPN loves to show the coach promos – with Geno and Sherri Coale, Tara and Pat, as Her High Holiness The Summitt says, “It’s hard to win on this stage.” The Musketeers can tell you all about it if you don’t believe Summitt.

Brittney Griner Is.

Earlier in the night, it looked like the Dookies would hold off the Baylor Bears and despite a poor shooting performance (just 23% from the floor – ouch) and despite Brittney Griner teetering on the edge of another triple-double, they led most of the night.

Griner was kinda quiet for the first part of the second half. She almost disappeared, insomuch as a 6′ 8″ phenom can disappear, that is. But then she took over again. Just as she had down the stretch against Tennessee. I’m seeing a pattern develop.

Duke is not a great shooting team to begin with, but Griner forces opponents to change their shot selection, hurry their shots, alter the trajectory of their shots. Yeah, like I said, a pattern. The shots? They are not so good when Griner is on the floor defending. Just a fact. For a team that’s not an offensive juggernaut to begin with, Griner roaming out there, long and lanky, ready to swat passes and shots down, is a fact that is the kiss of death.

At the end, Coach Mulkey teared up. Again. But she had reason to. Her young kids, freshmen Jordan Madden and Kimetria Hayden, as well as Griner of course, played huge roles down the stretch. They are just growing up in front of us, with every game. This could make for an epic Final Four.

Checking in on the 2010 Women's NCAA Tourney Elite Eight

From True/Slant on March 29, 2010:

Women’s NCAA Tourney Elite 8 Upon Us

In a statistic that seems patently impossible, UConn’s Maya Moore is hitting 71% of her shots from 3-point range in the tournament. Outrageous. With Moore on another planet and the magnificence that is Tina Charles, playing UConn right now must be a little like standing in the eye of a hurricane for 40 minutes. While I do not believe that any team is utterly invulnerable, let’s just say the Huskies have parked their team bus right next to unbeatable and walked over.

Meanwhile, the only other team to roll through the first three rounds with ease is Stanford, which makes it seem more and more likely that the two behemoths are on a collision course. I don’t mean to diminish the other teams by stating that. Xavier junior center Ta’Shia Phillips put on an eye-opening performance with a big-time double-double in their win over Gonzaga; Florida State gutted out a tough win against a very good Mississippi State team; I could write tomes about Oklahoma’s depth and Kentucky’s speed; and even more about Baylor and Duke (below). But I really have to wonder if any of those teams can keep the big girls on the block from their appointment with destiny?

Over in “The Bracket of Death” ™ (the Memphis region — any region with Tennessee, Baylor, Duke, WVU, and LSU must be considered a veritable charnel house), Baylor took down the mighty Vols of Tennessee. Brittney Griner was, quite simply, a force of nature. She played every minute of that game and dropped 27 points on Tennessee, but her real impact was her 10 blocked shots. Every time Tennessee got a look they wanted, Griner swatted the ball into the third row. It must be really frustrating to work so hard to create offensive opportunities, simply to have them literally smacked down.

So Baylor moves on in the Bracket of Death to face Duke tonight, a match-up I am really looking forward to as much for the players as for the coaches.

Baylor coach, Kim Mulkey, dresses like Tanya Tucker and struts and fist pumps and jumps around like Jerry Lee Lewis, so I can see where Mulkey might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I must admit, I love it. I just get a kick out of a coach who is as much of a cheerleader as the teams most rabid fan — hell, I think she’d wear face paint if Baylor’s AD would let her. Mulkey’s emotions are right on the edge, barely under the surface; she got misty while the Tennessee game was in live action and a bit more misty during her post-game presser. If she doesn’t genuinely care about her players, then she deserves an Oscar.

Mulkey already has a national championship under her belt, one that Baylor won by beating Michigan State in the final in 2005. The coach at Michigan State that year? Another coach I love to watch — Joanne P. McCallie, now coach of the Duke Blue Devils. McCallie is just lovable. Maybe she because she looks like somebody I could be related to or have been pals with in college, but I have a soft spot for McCallie. (A friend who works in television production was working the women’s tourney in 2005. He did the final between Baylor and Mich. State, so he spent a lot of time around both teams. He raved about McCallie, confirming that while I am often full of it, in this particular case, my instincts were dead-on accurate.)

While I’m on the subject of coaches, after their Sweet Sixteen victory, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma had no criticisms of his team (many in the Storrs area collapsed from shock), but cousin Geno being cousin Geno, he had to stir the pot a bit, so he commented on the Tennessee loss to Baylor the day before by saying that he was glad that a UConn-Tennessee meeting in the Final Four was off the table, not because he doesn’t want to play Tennessee, but because it would inevitably become the “Pat & Geno” show. He felt that would be unfair to the other teams, the players themselves and that the Final Four is, or should be, larger than just two coaches.

I want to go on record as saying that I’ll miss seeing Her High Holiness The Summitt, not because I want to see “Pat & Geno ™” necessarily, but because she’s a coach I really enjoy watching. I love the Summitt Death Stare and if you’ve ever watched even a single LadyVols game, you know what I mean. So, I’ll miss Summitt. (For that matter, I’m bummed that Rutgers went out in the first round because I love watching C. Vivian Stringer, too. I guess you can’t have everything, right?)

While I agree with Auriemma in that the tournament should be about more than just two coaches, everybody wants to see UConn-Tennessee (even Jere Longman at the NYT.) Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale, Stanford’s Tara Vanderveer, and the above mentioned Mulkey and McCallie are not exactly pikers, but at the end of the day, Summitt and Auriemma remain the faces of women’s college basketball as much as Maya Moore and Jane Appel are. The game needs Summitt and Auriemma.

It needs their larger than life personalities. It needs the sustained excellence of both programs, the instantly recognizable Tennessee orange and the passion of the UConn fans.

It needs their genuine antipathy for each other.

Heck, I’m going to watch the games anyway, regardless of the presence or absence of Summitt and Auriemma, Coales and Vanderveer. But we’re not talking about me. Even to the biggest women’s sports neophyte, the names Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma are known quantities, brands as people are fond of saying these days. So if the sport is to continue to grow, it needs Maya Moore and Britney Griner, but it also needs the Pat & Geno show.

I know that cousin Geno and Her High Holiness The Summitt see eye to eye about as often as Lindsey Graham and Charles Schumer do, but I think they both care about the game. So it really is time to have a come to Jesus meeting and re-ignite the regular season Tennessee-UConn rivalry.

Top Ten Hoopsters of the Women's Tourney

As the 2009 NCAA championship game played out to the expected coronation of the U.Conn Huskies, I found myself thinking about which players grabbed my attention as never before throughout tournament. Who were the players who showed guts and heart, and willed themselves to unexpectedly compelling performances? In short, these are the ten players I would want on my team in a sudden death situation, or my Top Ten Badasses (in reverse order of the last tourney game in which they played):

1. Courtney Vandersloot, sophomore, guard, Gonzaga. She played 38 minutes in the ‘Zags first round upset of Xavier, putting up 15 points, 11 assists, a steal and six rebounds. In the second round game against Pitt, her numbers were even gaudier: 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Simply put, Vandersloot put on a show. She was completely disruptive and closed down virtually every Pittsburgh passing lane. When she did get her hands on the ball, she pushed the tempo up the court at breakneck speed. The team lost in the second round game to Pitt, but Vandersloot was easily the player of the game.

2. Allyssa DeHaan, junior, center, Michigan State. In one of the bigger upsets of the tourney, DeHaan took it right to the heart of the Duke Blue Devils. Sometimes a performance is hidden. DeHaan’s numbers don’t blow you away, but the Dookies had no answer for her physicality. She was even more impressive in the Sweet 16 loss. Each of her five blocked shots was like a body blow to the Iowa State team. 

3. FahKara Malone, junior, guard, Purdue. She’s all of five feet, three inches, but she plays like she’s seven feet tall. In the second round upset of UNC, Malone snagged five rebounds. A player so diminutive doesn’t work the boards like that without an iron will and fearless attitude. In the Sweet 16, she sat for just one minute and powered the Boilermakers, controlling tempo and taming C. Vivian Stringer's mighty Scarlet Knight defense.

4. Marisa Coleman, senior, guard/forward, Maryland. With the exception of Jayne Appel (below) I don’t think I’ve seen a guttier, tougher performance all season than what we saw from Marisa Coleman, as she picked up her team, Atlas-like, and carried them on her back past Vanderbilt into the Sweet 16. Her 42 points were impressive, but if you saw the game, you saw a player who refused to lose. Just when I thought she spent everything the had to give, Coleman reached down inside of herself and found something more. I’m no fan of Maryland basketball, but I don’t know that I’ve ever been as touched by a player’s display of genuine emotion as I was by Coleman when she came off the court and collapsed into her coach's arms, breaking down in body sobs, fully aware the her college career was over. 

5. Whitney Hand, freshman, guard, Oklahoma. She plays mad, in your face, defense. She drops threes in clutch moments. She steals, pushes tempo and is a huge spark plug for her team. Top it off with the fact that, as a freshman, she seemed completely unfazed by the pressure of the tourney; she didn’t make any first year mistakes or wear down under the bright lights. This kid? She’s a serious bad ass.

6. Courtney Paris, senior, center, Oklahoma. I went back and fourth on this pick, because of the swirling media circus around Courtney Paris, particularly that sycophant Nancy Liebernuts constantly drooling all over Paris. Then I realized, it’s not Paris’ fault. It’s ESPN and Liebernuts that make me crazy. Put aside the shameful media slobbering, and consider, Paris had the weight of finishing her final college game in a disappointing loss to Louisville in the Final Four, but she spoke to ESPN’s Holly Rowe, fighting back tears all the way, and said all the right things - about her team, about Louisville, about her promise to give back her scholarship money. That was probably harder than anything she’s ever had to do on the court in her career. All class. 

7. Jayne Appel, junior, forward/center, Stanford. If Appel’s fellow trees brought even half the heart, half the guts, half the will that she did in their Final Four match up against U.Conn, well … they would have lost anyways, but it would have been a squeaker. She never quit -- not for one possession, not even for one moment. She was constantly beat on under the basket by Tina Charles and Kaili McLaren, often double teamed, and still, she kept begging her teammates for the ball. She played 35 brutal minutes of basketball and kept coming. Her 35 minutes were like dog year minutes. And Appel would have played another 35 had they let her. To say nothing of her 46 point performance against Iowa State in the Elite Eight. 

8. Angel McCoughtry, senior, forward, Louisville. She plays angry. She plays with a chip on her shoulder. She makes faces and demands the ball. She’s also the best defensive player in the country. She played all 40 minutes when Louisville took down No. 1 seed Maryland, dominating the game. Then, she had perhaps the worst half in her career against Oklahoma in the Final Four. It was a horrible, ugly, downright putrid performance and her coach called her out for it. But she did what gutsy players do - she dug deeper, she worked harder and somehow, she and her team chipped away at a seemingly insurmountable Oklahoma lead to make it to the Championship game.

9. Tina Charles, junior, center, U.Conn. Coach Geno Auriemma is all over her like stink on a skunk, but when it mattered most, when the championship game opened against Louisville and the Huskies looked unusually tight, Tina Charles played like an animal. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Simply not withering, not crawling away to lick one’s wounds under the unrelenting nagging and harsh criticism from cousin Geno is impressive enough. In the Final Four, Geno was goading her the entire time and she responded simply by playing the finest game of her career on the biggest stage. She owned the paint. In fact, they should paint both keys on the Scott Center court in St. Louis to read: “Property of Tina Charles.”

10. Renee Montgomery, senior, guard, U.Conn. Reams have been written about the greatness that is Renee Montgomery. She’s so great that she causes Geno to act, gosh, human. His respect and affection for her is manifest at all times. He loves Montgomery. She does everything right. When you need a three point shot, she reaches back and makes one. When you need a steal, she gets a hand in a passing lane. In short, she controls the game and refuses to be denied. In the Final Four game, every time Appel dragged Stanford within breathing distance of the Huskies, Montgomery had a response. Every time. My pal the U.Conn fan says she’d want Montgomery in the trenches with her. 

Me too.

Coach Speaks the Truth, World Stunned

I can't even imagine how much fun much Big East coaches meetings are. What a cast of characters, with Agnus B, C. Vivian, Geno, Harry P., Jeff Walz and on and on. Jesus they must need a mighty big room to hold those personalities. And I mean big, like Roman Collesium, big. Like Casey Hampton's lunch bag, big. I mean like Madonna's ego, big. Like, bigger than Roger Clemens' level of denial. What I'm getting at is these are coaches with huge, wildly entertaining personalities. And people wonder why I love living in a Big East city. 

Why oh why hasn't ESPN turned the Big East women's coaches into a reality show? Do I really need them to produce another show about raycin'? Hells no. I want to see these coaches and I mean all the time. Bring on the Agnus-Cam! Where's my "Day in the Life of Harry Perretta?" I'd Tivo a show that followed C. Vivian Stringer while she went shopping. (She is the best dressed coach in any sport, hands down, no question.) Sunday dinners with the Auriemma family would be television gold. How can the Worldwide Leader not see this? 

So, as though you needed more evidence that the Big East is the most entertainng conference on planet women's hoops, U.Conn coach Geno Auriemma did something shocking in his pre-game presser before the Final Four game against Stanford. He was Geno. 

http://www.truveo.com/Auriemma-On-Perception-Of-Race-In-Sports/id/3228141587

To borrow a phrase from the late, great PittGirl, perhaps the world's greatest blogger, that's CHURCH, Cousin Geno.

Hello, Mrs. Upset

Hello, Mrs. Upset, we’ve been expecting you.

The upsets keep on coming in the women’s bracket and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Following the first round of upsets, the second round provided some other notable top 25 teams going down.

Purdue took out North Carolina, a three-seed in the tourney and ranked 11 overall. Rutgers romped over two-seed Auburn (and I stupidly thought this game would be a good one.)

But the big news, of course, was sixth ranked Duke, the one-seed in the Berkeley bracket, losing to Michigan State. Duke looked soft against Michigan State, working far around the perimeter, unable to get to the basket. It was all compounded by the fact that the Dookies didn’t make a single shot for the last seven and a-half minutes of action. Ladies, you cannot win when you do not score. It is an immutable law of physics. Or something.

It also means that Maryland is the only ACC team remaining, the practical upshot of which is that my pal, henceforth known here as U.Conn Fan, is ecstatic. EX-Static.

It also sets up some great games in the Sweet 16.

Baylor sneaked by the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on a last half-second shot by Kelli Griffin to win. Seriously, the clocked showed 0.5 when she let the shot go. Coach Kim Mulkey, who had been hospitalized with the gleets (kidney stones; also a shameless Deadwood reference) the day before the game, was on the sidelines for this one. Now they get to take on Louisville and the Cardinals' silent assassin, Angel McCoughtry, who had 28 points and 8 boards in their win over LSU. This game figures to be epic.

Meanwhile, Pitt takes on Oklahoma and Ben Roethlisberger’s sister, Carlee. Pitt struggled against the running Catholics of Gonzaga, but they can play with anybody (well, anybody but U.Conn) and it’s possible Coach B and Shavonte Zellous have a little magic left in them. They’ll have to fight both the Sooners and a hostile crowd in Oklahoma City if they want to make Courtney Paris reimburse the university for her tuition. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/sports/ncaabasketball/24win.html?ref=ncaabasketball)

Meanwhile somebody woke up Rutgers. Come on, guys, didn’t I tell you not to wake the sleeping giants of Piscataway? Now coach C. Vivian Stringer has Kia Vaughn playing like she did a few years ago when they made a run to the finals and got Don Imus canned for calling them ... nevermind.

Meanwhile, in the Trenton bracket, the Connecticut Huskies keep rolling and the best reason to watch them is to see if they can complete the perfect season. If not, sir Geno himself has said that the story of the 2009 season will be the Huskies losing. I tend to agree with King Auriemma that, in women’s hoops circles, a U.Conn loss would be right up there with the New England Patriots finishing 18-1.

Of a side note, yesterday, two days after Tennessee’s first first-round loss, The Summitt had her team practicing. I expect that she will continue to do so right through the end of the school year or as along as she’s allowed to under NCAA guidelines. Don’t think for a minute that’s not what she spent Monday doing - looking into just what the legal limits are for how hard she can ride these girls. They’d be better off in Marine Corp. boot camp right now.

Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen

Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Or, more precisely, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers were bounced from the NCAA tournament last in the first round. Up is down, black is white, cats and dogs sleeping together. I’m talking about complete anarchy here.

Ball State’s victory over the mighty Vols is a wonderful thing for women’s hoops in general. It is monumental because it marks the beginning of real depth of field in the women’s game. Finally. We may look back on this game as the moment when the women’s game went "mad," too.

For the record, I don’t hate Tennessee and I have a genuine soft spot for her high holiness, Pat Summitt. A few years ago, while vacationing, I met a journalist from Nashville who covered
sports for one of the local papers and relayed that Summitt was actually a very lovely person. She always found time to give him an interview when he called, often having him meet her while she was having her hair done or getting a mani-pedi, saying, "Tom, I don’t have much time today, but if you meet me at the manicurists, I can give you 30 uninterrupted minutes." I think that’s pretty cool. Besides, I don’t know of any other coach who would don a cheerleader's outfit and sing "Rockytop" at a men’s game, as she did during the 2007-2008 season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA-e1hl-tcg

The good news for the women is that 2008's first round featured more upsets than I ever recall: Mississippi State took out Texas, Gonzaga took down Xavier, San Diego State bested DePaul, and Baylor had to go to OT to get past Texas-San Antonio. Still, none is bigger that Ball State over Tennessee.

Cinderella finally showed up at the women’s dance. It’s about time, sweetie.

Women's Hoops for the PC Crowd

Eight Elite Things to say about the Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament at Pittsburgh Dish, below:

http://pittsburghdish.typepad.com/pittsburgh_dish/2009/03/everybody-has-an-opinion-on-the-mens-tourney-at-dish-we-wont-add-to-the-din-because-youve-no-doubt-heard-47-differ.html#more