IU falls to Iowa - Story
Kelly Mazzante continues her assault on the Big Ten (eleven) record books with 19 points in Penn State's win over Michigan last night.
PSU/Mich Link Indiana's own Reicina Russell had 5 blocks, 4 points abnd 4 rebounds in 30 minutes.
Number 6 Minnesota cruises by Illinois 74-59 behing Janel McCarville's seventh double-double of the season. Minn/ILL game
Number 23 beats Number 22 as MSU ends Ohio States 24 game home winning streak! Story
Northwestern commits 28 turnovers against Number 9 Purdue and falls by 30 to the boilers - NW/PU Story
Number 9 Georgia gets crushed by Number 20 Auburn 72-54 - Story
Fever first round draft target Vanessa Hayden scored 14 points and grabbed 10 boards while being triple teamed last night but still her Gators fell to Number 14 LSU 74-59. FL/LSU Story
Another protential Fever first round target, Nicole Powell of Stanford was named Pac 10 POW last week. Story
Over Coffee
A big weekend coming up!! Let's see...what's available on tv...well at 2PM Saturday Creighton is playing SMS - hmmmm. At 6PM we have Baylor at Texas Tech - sounds like a potential blowout to me! 3 AM UCLA at Arizona - well TIVO will catch that one for me. Aha! Sunday! Missouri at Colorado! Auburn at Vanderbilt! Duke at Virginia! YES YES YES!!!! Oh, and I have Monday off for MLK day. Anything on? WHAT?? No kidding?? Rutgers at UCONN at 2PM. I've died and gone to heaven!!
Of course I have to do those "responsible, grown up things" too. Those always seem to interfere with fun, don't they? Things like grocery shopping, bill paying, house cleaning, car washing, pet grooming and laundry steal my time do what I really want to do - PLAY! The inner child! We all have one! I have been told that I am very much in touch with mine - maybe too much - but I still get excited to do some of the things that bring joy to my life. If I didn't have them to look forward to, I can't imagine what pleasure in life might come from! Nevertheless, I love my inner child, I venerate my inner child and I hope you are in touch with yours too! Life is short! Let's have fun!
Peace!
Notre Dame upsets UCONN!! I love the opening line of the AP Story, "Suddenly, Connecticut is no longer so invincible." Upset All of a sudden, ND has downed 2 top 20 teams.
The Big Ten (eleven) continues to show it's balance and strength. Streaking Wisconsin made a statement by beating Illinois last night as the conference teams continue to beat up on each other. Story
Butler uses outside shooting to down IUPUI 63-48. Story
Ball State ran their record to 3-1 in the MAC by defeating Ohio last night. Story
Over Coffee
It occurs to me that the rest of the country must be seeing what we in Indiana have known for a long time. Indiana has no rivals when it comes to Women's College Basketball. All of the Big 3 have winning records. (IU, PU and ND) Ball State is strong in the MAC and Indiana State is improving and currently is .500 in the MVC. That doesn't even include the smaller schools that are having excellent seasons that are not Division I. Indianapolis is once again host of the Big Ten Women's Tournament in March and we are priveleged to enjoy a WNBA franchise with one of the leagues biggest stars in Tamika Catchings. I challenge any other state to surpass that show of support and success. There may be rivals - but better? Ha! No chance.
What an amazing recruiting advantage this should be for the in-state schools to keep Indiana's own high school players in the state. But no! We still lose some of our best athletes to the other schools. Why is that? What is the answer? Winning? Well, what about Purdue? They win! Still, players like Shana Zolman and Shyra Ely opt to play for Pat Summit. Well, who can blame them? Shoot, if I were a youngster and Pat Summit came to my house and offered me a scholarship I'd take it in a heartbeat. So, ok, we'll give anyone going to Tennessee to play for a Hall of Fame coach a pass. But, the fact is, these schools should be expected to keep the other talent in-state. Purdue does a reasonably good job - capturing Katie Geralds was a big step forward. But Indiana University shouldn't be losing recruits to other Big Ten schools from our state. Kathi Bennett must do a better job of attracting local kids in order to take that next step into the upper eschelon of the Big Ten. Losing in-state talent to Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan State is not going to get it done. Fortunately, I see signs of that trend changing. Last season was Bennetts first nationally ranked recruiting class and included 2 Indiana All State caliber players in Carrie Smith and Leah Enterline. Added to those were the Nebraska Miss Basketball, a 6'7" center, and a promising guard from Minnesota. A good step forward. This year, Indiana had only one senior on the team so schollies were limited and they signed an Ohio prep. So, in my opinion, next years recruiting class is critical for Bennett and Indiana. They must show they can attract the top in state athletes and eventually they have to get one of the high school All Americans that Indiana produces when going head to head with Purdue. When that happens, they will begin to crack the Big Ten elite.
Peace!
In Big Ten (eleven) action yesterday, #23 MSU beat up on non conference inter state rival Detroit Mercy - LINK
Tonight Illinois travels to improving Wisconsin. Ill Pregame site
In the Hoosier state tonight a cross town rivalry game between Butler and IUPUI in downtown Indy. Link Though both teams are struggling, this is an always intense, competitive game.
Over Coffee
Yesterday, I called and inquired about getting tickets to the Big Ten Women's tournament in Indianapolis in March. You would have thought I was from Mars asking for directions in dealing with the Conseco Fieldhouse Ticket Office. The gentleman there had no clue about what I was asking for, what he needed to do to help me and he had the customer service skills of a slug. Nevertheless, I persevered and, thanks to Ticketmaster, have my seats reserved in my favorite seats at Conseco. Club level - Row 1 against the glass near the handicapped access ramp. Today I will schedule the vacation days for Thursday and Friday and I'm all set! Hard to believe it is only 7 weeks away! The Thursday session is always the best day with fans from all the teams converging on Indy, Conseco, the local pubs and Circle Center Mall. My favorite time of the year for in-state site-seeing (if you know what I mean!) ;-)
Peace!
Michigan beats IU at Crisler - Mich IU Story
Purdue Bounces Illinois at Champaign 58-49. PU over Ill
Minnesota beats Iowa in front of sell out crowd. Minn over Hawks
Buckeyes crush Northwestern - OUCH!
Penn St outlasted Wisconsin Sunday in what might have been the game of the week. PSU/WI
Michigan State is hosting an out of conference game at noon today against Detroit - MSU Pregame
Fever 1st round draft target Vanessa Hayden scored 22 points as Florida upset #22 Vandy 67-61 in Gainesville - Link
Over Coffee
Well, another weekend has passed and despite getting caught up in the Indianapolis Colts victory Sunday I was able to catch a few women's hoops games. The TV games were mostly disappointing as Duke crunched UNC and DePaul rolled over Cincinnati. I was thinking how nice it would be to see more SEC, Big Ten and Big Twelve games instead of Duke, Tennessee and UConn all the time. Hopefully as the season rolls along better matches will be upcoming.
Around here, the buzz continues about what the Indiana Fever will do in the free agent market and with the draft. I have been unable to secure a free agent listing so it's hard to project when we don't even know for sure who is available. The only definite I know is Merlakia Jones from Cleveland. As for the draft, I believe that Vanessa Hayden, Lindsay Whalen and Nicole Powell are all players the Fever are considering - assuming Taurassi and Beard go #1 and #2. As soon as I can get my hands on a free agent listing, I'll post it here.
Peace!
Minnesota sells out Williams Arena ! A huge statement for how far this program has come and just proves that the Big Ten (eleven) strongly supports women's hoops. Sellout
Indiana at Michigan notes - a key match up Saturday for both teams. IU/MICH
In addition to the big game in Minnesota other Big Ten (eleven) Action on Sunday:
Purdue travels to Illinois
Penn State visits Wisconsin
Ohio State travels to Northwestern
Over coffee
Ahh...the weekend is finally here! I look forward to the weekends to catch up on women's' hoops that I miss during the week because of that nagging obligation called work. But, thanks to a wonderful invention that came to our house over Christmas, I am able to catch up on all the games I have missed. This wonderful creation is called TIVO and it didn't take me long to get hooked.
It's simple, really. You create a Wish List of what you'd like to see and, like magic, TIVO records it whenever it comes on - regardless of channel or time. So all those 2 AM west coast games that play during the week on Fox Sports West or ESPN2 are now captured for my viewing pleasure whenever I choose to watch them! Of course, I have saved the UCONN/Duke game and will be transferring that to a permanent vhs format since it is one of the three best games I recall watching.
So, if you have ever felt cheated about seeing all the programs you wanted and have no patience for programming your VCR every day, look into TIVO. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Peace!
What is it about IU's Assembly Hall that the Wisconsin Lady Badgers have been unable to overcome. IU dominated from the tip and spanked Wisconsin 60-39 in their Big 10 (eleven) home opener. IU/WI
The Purdue women also got a big win Thursday night. Shereka Wright scored a season high 28 points and the Boilers beat #23 MSU 77-67. PU/MSU
In other Big Ten (eleven) scores:
Another strong showing by the two best guards in the Big Ten (eleven). Mazzante scores 30 as PSU defeated Iowa last night 92-64 and Lindsay Whalen had 21 points and 6 assists in Minnesota's win over Northwestern at Evanston.
Illinois upsets Ohio State in Champaign 52-51 handing the Buckeyes their second loss in a row.
Here's a real nice story from the Big Ten web site on Jamie Gathing from IU and her continued battle to overcome adversity. Jamie
Over coffee
The Big Ten (eleven) women are quickly emerging as one of the most balanced conferences in the country. I've seen 18 games this year involving Big Ten (eleven) teams and the balance of talent sprinkled throughout the conference (particularly the underclassmen talent level) is better than I've seen it in my 30 years of following it. All the teams are playing excellent defense and the athleticism of the post players has improved immensely over the past 5 years. While the SEC and Big Twelve may boast very strong teams, the Big Ten (eleven) may be unmatched in talent distribution over the entire conference.
Have a good weekend!
IU Women host their big ten opener tonight in Assembly Hall against the Wisconsin Badgers at 7 PM.
Link
Purdue women have a tough one on the road at #23 Michigan State. PU Site Both teams could make a statement in their quest for the Big Ten Championship tonight!
Duke beats the number one team in the country and Texas Tech vaults into the number one spot! Poll
Rutgers upsets #15 Va Tech Wednesday night. Upset Also #25 Miami was knocked off by Villanova 58-55. Mia
The Fever selected Deanna Jackson with the 5th pick in the Dispersal draft for Cleveland Rocker players. This is just the latest in a series of blunders made by this team.
Not that there is anything wrong with Jackson - she's a nice player with a good upside. The issue is that, once again, the Fever front office does a poor job analyzing their roster and appreciating their immediate needs. Since the Fever's first season, they have struggled with consistent, meaningful guard play. Here was a chance to remedy the situation by selecting Betty Lennox as a true scoring shooting guard. With her as a threat from the outside, the lane would open up a little more for Tamika Catchings to exploit her defenders. Sure, the Fever have Coretta Brown but she is no Betty Lennox. With Lennox on board perhaps Coretta could blossom as a point guard under Brian Winters. Instead, in their infiniite wisdom, the Fever front office selected Jackson - a 6'2" forward. So add her to the logjam at forward for the Fever, Natalie Williams, Catchings, Kristen Rasmussen, Olympia Scott Richardson, Kelly Schumacher, Leigh Aziz... meanwhile our backcourt returns Niele Ivey who has never proven capable of playing PG in the WNBA, Brown - a nice player with an inconsistent jump shot, Stephanie White - a local player coming off knee surgery that is primarily here for PR, and a host of other teams rejects, projects and reclamations.
So - where do we go from here. The Fever have the third pick in the draft. It seems like they should draft Vanessa Hayden and finally fill the void of center that has plagued this team since the losss of Kara Wolters. Surely they would not use the third pick overall to grab a guard, would they? You never take a perimeter player when a natural center is available, do you?
Not so fast. This is the same franchise that has only made a couple of good draft picks/trades in their history. Drafting Tamika Catchings was an incredible move, especially since when drafted they knew she would be unable to play her first year so she could recover from a knee injury. Let's look at their recent draft selections.
Last year - Selected Gwen Jackson - then traded her (along with Sylvia Crawley) to San Antonio for Coretta Brown and Natalie Williams. I like Brown over Crawley but Gwen Jackson for Natalie Williams was not a success. Despite 2 all stars in Williams and Catchings, the Fever failed to make the playoffs and now have an aging post player in Williams whose skills will only decline.
Then there was the season prior when they drafted a 6'4" center who never played a game for them and was later waived.
Don't forget Jurgita Stremikita! Another first rounder, oops, she was out of the league last year and was no help at all! OUCH!
Note to the Fever front office....Hire someone that understands basketball talent and how to evaluate your team! What the Fever need is a guard - Lindsey Whalen would be perfect - but you can't use the 3rd overall pick on Whalen. Besides, Hayden is too tempting to pass up that's why it is even more mind boggling that the Fever selected a forward in the expansion draft. Lennox or Helen Darling would have been better picks for the Fever - filling the need of the team instead of simply selecting the "best athlete" available. At least, dip into the free agent market now available and grab a seasoned scoring guard that can keep the defenses honest and off of Catchings!
Hrmphf.....................
