Archive - Dec 2011

Big East Notebook: Sizing Up the League as Nonconference Play Draws to a Close

The Big East has had its share of surprises since the season got under way besides the perks that also come with being one of the dominant womens basketball conferences in the nation.

After starting the preseason AP Poll with seven members, six have maintained their standing with only St. Johns falling from favor among the national media panel that votes each week.

Though most of the teams in the league got their first taste of conference play in early December, nonconference schedules are only now coming to a close with the first week of the new year marking the real beginning of the Big East Conference season. Let's take a look at how the league's teams have fared to date.

This Week in the Big Ten: Interesting Match-ups on Tap for Big Ten's Opening Day of Conference Play

Big Ten league action opens on Friday with a couple of very interesting match-ups.

The bad news for the rest of the league is that Ohio State didnt rebuild after the graduation of Jantel Lavender. as much as they reloaded. Jim Fosters team has accumulated a league-best 13-0 record in preconference play and is currently ranked No. 9/12 in the nation.

Wisconsins new coach Bobbie Kelsey has discovered that turning a program around is going to be a long process and was rewarded with a Big-Ten home opener against the undefeated Buckeyes.

League newcomer Nebraska enters league play in second place at 11-1 against a schedule that several tough preconference opponents. The No. 23/RV Huskers will face a stern test at No. 16/17 Penn State in the conference opening day's most entertaining and, likely, most high-scoring game.

Purdue lost a star player in Drey Mingo due to an early-season ACL injury and then survived a meat-grinder of an early-season schedule, losing at Duke, beating defending champion and undefeated Texas A&M at home, and getting whacked at home Notre Dame in an eight-day span. Small wonder they lost at Central Michigan the very next day. Despite the carnage, the Boilers performance in the crucible has earned them a No. 20/21 national ranking. Only time will tell whether someone needs to fire their schedule-maker. Who knows whether all the punishment will pay off now that the conference schedule gets under way. In Fridays conference opener, the Boilers take on Minnesota, and though the two teams look relatively evenly matched on paper, Purdues greater experience under fire gives the Boilermakers a clear advantage.

Northwestern came out of the chute like a Wildcat on fire but they will be tested severely at Iowa, a team that has been more Jekyll than Hyde (or is it the other way around) at times this season.

Lets take a look at where the league stands at the end of preconference play, then turn to a closer scrutiny of Fridays conference opening games.

Up and Down the ACC: Hurricanes' Stormy Night At Georgetown Caps a Quiet Week for the League

In a relatively quiet week for the ACC, the leagues major nonconference game of the week proved to be a major disappointment as Miami went to DC ranked No. 7 in the country, only to get plastered by No. 17 Georgetown, 71-46. The Hurricanes, who boasted the top-ranked offense in the NCAA, scored 41 points fewer than their season average, shot just 21 percent from the field and turned the ball over 23 times in the face of the Hoyas defensive pressure.

Worse if things actually could get any worse from there the Canes troubles started at the top of the roster. Star guards Shenise Johnson and Riquna Williams combined to shoot just 3-23 from the floor and, between them, were responsible for 10 of those 23 team turnovers.

This loss was a huge letdown for the Canes, who succumbed early on to Georgetown's one trick (constant, full-court pressure) and never recovered to make this much of a game. To date, the Hurricanes have badly flubbed both of their nonconference road games against nationally ranked foes. Though they remain highly regarded in the national rankings, dropping to No. 10 after last weeks drubbing at Georgetown, Miamis performance there demonstrates this team still has a way to go before one could consider them a worthy contender for a Final Four berth.

Baylor still unanimous No. 1

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Baylor remained a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll on Monday.

Winning: It's a Family Affair for New Nike Champ St. Mary's of Phoenix

Though it is nearly 7:00 p.m. and just two days before Christmas, the Hamilton High School gym in Chandler, Ariz. is packed to the gills. An enthusiastic crowd spills out of the stands designated for fans and into the area set aside for the college coaches from across the nation who had come to scout the talent. As those bleachers, too, fill up, some are forced to stand in the doorways, hoping to catch a glimpse of the proceedings. They are there to see the best of the best in girls' high school basketball.

Welcome to the Nike Tournament of Champions!

In this, the title game of the elite Joe Smith Division, where many of the top-ranked girls' teams in the country had pitted themselves against one another over the past four days, St. Mary's High School and Riverdale Baptist would lay it all on the line for the unofficial national championship of girls' high school basketball.

There is little question which team is the crowd favorite: St. Mary's, located in nearby Phoenix, Arizona, are clearly the local heroes.

Riverdale Baptist, which has journeyed to the tournament all the way from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has brought along its own contingent of family members and supporters, but understandably has a decidedly smaller cheering section.

Still, in the eyes of most of the journalists who follow the sport, a St. Mary's win would be a major upset.

Riverdale Baptist entered the competition with a 5-0 record, ranked No. 1 in the country in the "Xcellent 25" girls' high school basketball rankings promulgated by Full Court's former publisher and continuing columnist Clay Kallam for MaxPreps.

The Crusaders had finished last season with a 30-5 record and ranked No. 10 nationally. They have a solid core of seniors returning from that campaign, three of them already signed with Division 1 programs in major college conferences -- 6-0 wings Jennie Simms (West Virginia) and Jonquel Jones (Clemson) and 5-10 guard Kelila Atkinson (Wake Forest). To that nucleus they have added two senior transfers -- 6-0 center Brittany Jenkins-Murray (LaSalle) and 5-6 point guard Dominique Johnson (Towson). Even some of their younger players are nationally watch-listed.

Across the board, they are bigger, more powerfully built, and more athletic than their opponents from St. Mary's. Six of their players (as opposed to just three for St. Mary's) stand six-feet or better. They play a hard-nosed, physical, blacktop style of basketball. And the Crusaders arrived at the Nike hot off an East Coast tournament in which they had totally pummeled the competition, which included Regis Jesuit, another of the top-ranked teams in the country. There is a reason the pundits have them ranked at No. 1.

St. Mary's seems to be more of a question mark. Though both the Xcellent 25 and the Powerade Fab 50 have them at No. 2 in the rankings, USA Today's Super 25 pegs them as low as No. 20. In years past, they have competed in the Nike's Joe Smith Division and seemed a bit over-seeded, taking more than their share of pastings.

Of course, St. Mary's is not without assets of their own. The team has just two seniors, but both -- lithe, willowy 6-3 forward/center Cortnee Walton (Louisville) and studious-looking guard Shilpa Tummala (Harvard) -- have signed with D1 programs. Courtney Ekmark, a 6-0 sophomore guard, is a watch-listed prospect. They finished last season 25-2, winning the Arizona state championship while playing in Division 1 of Class 5A (normally reserved for schools with more than 1,200 students), even though their small size, an enrollment of approximately 775, would ordinarily place them in Class 3A. They were state runners-up in the previous two years.

Though more of a finesse team than Riverdale Baptist, the St. Mary's Knights like to run the basketball and does it well.

And as Riverdale Baptist is about to find out, the Knights also own a special kind of chemistry. Part of it may come from playing together year-round, not just in the regular high-school season. Part of it may come from the fact that their coach has never shied away from competition, but instead has sought out challenges, pitting them against some of the best at the Nike and other elite tournaments year after year.

But there is little question in the minds of Coach Curtis Ekmark and his charges that a big part of it comes from the fact that the St. Mary's squad is both literally and figuratively a family.

The St. Mary's roster of 12 players features no fewer than three pairs of sisters. Cortnee Walton plays alongside her sister Brandee, a junior forward (5-10). Then there are twin guards Danielle and Dominique Williams, both 5-9 juniors. Coming along behind them, and promoted from the junior varsity for the Nike Tournament of Champions, are sophomore Aunesa Evans, a 5-10 forward, and little sis Ariah Evans, a 5-11 freshman, and also a forward.

Add to that Ekmark's daughter Courtney, a 6-0 guard and one of the team's leading scorers though just a sophomore.

Many of these teammates have played together since they were seven and eight years-old. Watch this team on the court -- their nose for the basketball even in transition, the ease with which they seem to find each other, their deft and on-target (at least for this level) passes -- and you'll have an idea of the advantage this familiarity gives them.

Up and Down the ACC: Mixed Results for League's Top Contenders

As the ACC non-conference schedule starts to wind down, a number of programs continue to search for a signature win or at least to avoid tallying another loss. For the teams considered to be contenders, it was
a week with mixed returns.

North Carolina State got drilled at home, 58-72, by the Richmond Spiders, a team that they should have been able to take care of. It didn't help that no one beyond veterans Bonae Holston, who notched a season-high 21 points, then made it a double-double by grabbing 10 boards, and Marissa Kastanek, who registered 17 points in the loss, bothered to show up. Between the two of them, that duo scored nearly two-thirds of the Wolfpack's 58 points. Meanwhile, the Pack's defense seemed to go missing in action, particularly in the first half, as the Spiders shot over 50 percent from the field against State for the game as a whole (55.6 percent for the opening period), to a mediocre 31.8 percent from the floor for the Wolfpack (and make that a dreadful 24.3 percent for the Pack's second half).

On the other hand, North Carolina State bounced back with a stirring, 66-59, victory over nationally ranked Vanderbilt (then No. 20/18 in the two major polls), as sophomore forward Kody Burke dominated the Commodores inside. NC State held previously undefeated Vandy down early, taking a 12-point lead at the half, and then managed to make the free throws they needed to hold on down the stretch. When NC State gets a big game out of Burke as well as significant contributions from its veteran players, they are a team that can challenge anyone else in the ACC -- especially at home.

Let's take a look at the week's results for the rest of the league, before noting the coming week's best games.

No. 4 Stanford Schools No. 6 Tennessee, 97-80, Behind Career Nights from Ogwumike and Kokenis

The sellout crowd at Maples Pavilion greeted Pat Summitt with hearty applause and support through a pre-recorded video in which Tara VanDerveer thanked the legendary coach for regularly bringing her Lady Volunteers to play Stanford.

"Pat, we love you, we care about you and we wish you the very best in your battle with Alzheimer's," said the VanDerveer on the video.

Then the Summitt love fest took a backseat to the Nneka Ogwumike superstar showcase soon after the games opening tip.

Stanfords senior star contributed a career-best 42 points and 17 rebounds to the Cardinals 97-80 win over Tennessee. Sophomore Toni Kokenis backed Ogwumike with 26 pointsalso a career best--in No. 4 Stanfords school record 68th consecutive home victory.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike dominates as Stanford defeats the Lady Vols

Palo Alto, CA (Sports Network) - Nnemkadi Ogwumike was dominant, scoring a career-high 42 points to go with 17 rebounds, as No. 4 Stanford downed No. 6 Tennessee, 97-80, on Tuesday night.

SECrets: Despite 83-92 Loss at Notre Dame, Kentucky Proves Cats Belong Among Nation's Elite Teams

In an early-season Top-Ten match-up of the No. 2 teams in two power conferences, No. 7 Kentucky sprinted undefeated into No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday, Dec. 18. Before a national TV audience, in a sold-out Purcell Pavilion, with 9,149 fans announced in attendance, the Irish, who have lost only once this year -- to top-ranked Baylor -- emerged with a 92-83 victory.

Despite the final box score, not much was proven definitively. In a game of sags and surges that saw four ties and eight lead changes, the home team scored the final 11 points.

Each side knew it had been in a high-class dance. Each emerged with matching 10-1 records.

Though the loss had to sting for the high-riding Wildcats, Kentucky nonetheless proved it belonged on anyone's list of the nation's elite programs. While many basketball powerhouses have spent the last month and a half polishing their resumes for the NCAA Selection Committee, racking up easy wins over powder-puff opponents, this was the third time in four games that Kentucky had taken on a top-tier foe. In two of those match-ups, the Wildcats came out on top.

For the Irish, a team also bold enough to put its record and rankings on the line in preconference play, it was the third win in four games against Top 25 opponents this season.

Griner the Heir Apparent to Maya Moore after Dominant Performance in Bears' 66-61 Win over UConn

The acclaim owned by former Connecticut star Maya Moore for the last four collegiate womens basketball seasons now emphatically belongs to Baylors Brittney Griner.

On Sunday night, the Bears' 6-foot-8 junior center proved her worth, scoring 25 points and enabling her team to hold on to the No. 1 ranking in both major national women's college basketball polls by beating the No. 2 Huskies, 66-61, at home before a roaring sellout crowd of 10,627 predominantly Baylor fans in Waco, Texas. It was the first time in the history of both the men's and the women's basketball programs that Baylor's Ferrell Center had been sold out in advance of a game.

Griner was anything but a one-woman show Sunday as members of Baylors supporting and co-starring cast also made key contributions. Indeed, there should be no shortage of accolades for the outstanding performances by multiple members of both teams in Sunday's basketball donnybrook.

But Griner was far and away the most dominant player on the floor, shooting 9-for-15 (60 percent) from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line, a place where her misses a year ago cost Baylor in a one-point loss to Connecticut in Hartford in the first No. 1-v.-No. 2 match-up between these two teams.

In this Sunday's victory, Griner also fell just shy of a triple-double with nine rebounds and a season-high nine blocked shots as the Bears won their second 1 vs. 2 game of this season. The first came last month, when Baylor triumphed over then-No. 2 (now No. 3) Notre Dame.

Griner's fifth swat of the night broke the Big 12's all-time record for blocks formerly held by Courtney Paris of Oklahoma (446). With the better part of two seasons still ahead of her, Griner now has 451 career blocks and counting, and sits fourth on the NCAA all-time career blocks list.

On Monday, the Big 12 rewarded Griner's performance with the league's Player of the Week award. It was the second time in this young season and the 14th time in Griner's collegiate career that she has received the honor.

That, in turn, makes Griner the favorite to take the second National Player of the Week award from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) when the award is announced Tuesday.