Season is done

[DblT81]

The season is done as far as I'm concerned. I'll not watch anymore.

What a disgusting display by the officials favoring Connecticut.

[vickie1ok]

I think it's a shame in a year when women's hoops really broke out in the tourney with so many competitive teams, the championship game comes down to same old, same old. But, the other teams had their chances. Minnesota just gave up to many offensive boards to UCONN (how many putbacks did they get) and couldn't connect on the offensive end down the stretch. Oh, well...

[Jennifer]

Well, I sure wish the Big 12 would have had a better showing this post season. Or any of the teams I pulled for. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif

With an extra hour of daylight, I have to mow, spray my yard for weeds and bugs, and wash my outside windows. Tuesday is the first chance I'll have to do it all, darnit. I'll just have to miss the finale.

[Row6Seat10]

I think I'll watch the finals and pull for Tennessee to knock Taursi & co. off their perch.

After watching the games tonight and based on what I saw during the season I believe some of the top Big 12 teams could of very easily won either contest tonight. Especially the LSU/Tenn game.

[ChipperF1]

"What a disgusting display by the officials favoring Connecticut.

What game were you watching? That was one of the better officiated games of the tournament.

UConn played a great game tonight, and outplayed Minnesota at each critical moment. Don't hate the playa because they played the game well.

I'm definitely watching Tuesday night. The best player in the game colliding head on with a team that refuses to die.

[Jimi]

Originally posted by DblT81:
The season is done as far as I'm concerned. I'll not watch anymore.

What a disgusting display by the officials favoring Connecticut.



Ditto!
Is this WCBB or the WWF? Poor job NCAA.

[CyRox98]

he was watching the same game we were. dblT81 - i agree totally. i won't be watching either on tuesday. uconn and tenn... snooze

[40ishHorn]

Tennessee* vs. UESPNCONN [yawn]zzzzzzzzzzzzzz [yawn]

Diana says it the matchup everbody wants to watch. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/rolleyes.gif NOT! Get a clue D.

Tuesday lineup looks GREAT to me...all new episodes of Whoopi, Frasier and Scrubs, I'm there! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Jimi]

Originally posted by ChipperF1:
Don't hate the playa because they played the game well.

Who said anything about hating players? A fan can be disgusted with the lousy state of officiating in this game while still respecting the skill and gamesmanship of the players. Sometimes I DO question weather the NCAA respects the players though.

[JohnHenry]

That was one of the better officiated games of the tournament.
perhaps, but that's not saying much. That horrid stretch for Minn when they were getting TOs and not converting is what killed them, but UConn got away with some real hammering on most of those possessions. Taurasi practically had to throw a punch before the officials would call her for anything.

I'll watch it some because i'm just a glutton for it, I guess. But I just can't watch Taurasi win again. Nothing against the girl personnally, but im just sick of seeing UConn win.

It is a shame that after such a competitive tourney it has to end this way, and I get the feeling that lots of other folks will be turned off by the sameness of it as well. C'est la vie...

Personnally I think ESPN just took as all for a ride, but I guess there's no way to prove it... http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif

[ChipperF1]

"A fan can be disgusted with the lousy state of officiating in this game while still respecting the skill and gamesmanship of the players.

There, I would disagree because the officiating in both games tonight was definitely looser but it wasn't bad. Most of the questionable calls were the right one. Granted there was some missed calls (Ex: The semitackle by Taurasi on Whalen with 4:06 to go in the 2nd half), but we had two very solid games and the officiating didn't detract from either.

The real deal is, LSU had their shot to win, but putting a hurting point guard into a position to be double team against a trap led by LaToya Davis was a prescription for disaster and disaster came.

As for Minnesota. They had a period between 5:30 and 4:00 minutes remaining where they were within 3 points. They had 4 possessions within that time frame, and they made 4 consecutive poor strategic decisions with the basketball that yielded zero points. Doing that against a team as polished as Connecticut mean you lose.

There was some great basketball played tonight, just like there has been all tournament long.

Tuesday's going to be a quite a ballgame.

[vickie1ok]

JH, Taurasi rubbed me the wrong way in the 2002 final four when she was clowning around on a live ESPN broadcast from San Antonio while Michelle Tafoya (I think) was interviewing Alana Beard. It showed disrespect for her competitors and her peers. I know she's a great player, but I've never been a big fan since.

[40ishHorn]

I'm sorry, but ESPN's annointing of Taurasi as the greatest Women's College basketball player of all time just doesn't fly with me. It's still Sheryl Swoopes who won a National Championship without a bunch of All-Americans around her to help. ESPN's droning on and on about DT is just old, tiring and plain unfair to other players past and especially present.

Taurasi's postgame interview last year after the FF Texas game made my stomach turn as she said UCONN had a bad game. She showed absolutely NO respect for the Texas team. She may be a really good player, but she's clearly deficient in the class department.

You can read all (or enough) about this year's national championship game in the Wednesday paper.

There's always next year. 2005 PD (post Diana)

[35TangoTango]

I've got to agree with Chipper on this one (gasp). These games were on the whole pretty well officiated and definitely well played.

We all understand that the level of officiating generally in WBB is the biggest problem in the game, but sometimes I think our expectations are too high. No matter how good the officials are, there are going to be missed calls! Basketball is by far the hardest game to officiate, and a certain amount of blown calls are part of the game. It happens in men's ball also.

As for the idea that officials sometimes favor one team over another, well that dog just won't hunt! There is just no logical basis for those kind of claims - no reason it would happen. And anyone who has spent any time at all officiating, even at the little kid level, knows that the action happens far too fast for officials to be making those kind of decisions. They see an apparent foul, blow the whistle. There's no time to think "Oh, this is UConn, I'm going to protect them".

neither team I was rooting for tonight, won - but they were still great games. So, in the final it's the Yankees and the Dodgers yet again. Odds are, it will be a great game, too! I don't intend to miss it.

Besides, we still haven't seen that Chipper special yet....

[vickie1ok]

40someoddhorn, I have to agree with you about Cheryl Swoops. No question. I think she also progressed the game by playing on a team that didn't dominate. She made the game better, not by just her play, but by elevating teams not in the loop.

Good catch. Swoops was not only a more dominating player, but she was/is a person you can cheer for even by her teams biggest rivals. I didn't see Taurasi's post game comments after Texas last year but it doesn't surprise me. Someday, it will all come back to her. Hopefully, in spades.

[Bball Girl]

The first game was called VERY close in my opinion, there were fouls every 20 seconds. The second game was a bit loser. There were a few UConn travels missed and a couple of muggings.

But Minnesota had their chances and then didn't make good shot selections when they had the chance. The Gophers never gave up and kept fighting and scrapping and they gave UConn everything they wanted and more.

I've been a fan of Coach Summitt's for a long time...I got frustrated with the program and it's **STARS** and with the Geno/Pat show a few years ago. But this team is different, I like the way they play and I like the way Pat is coaching them.

Go Vols!

[This message has been edited by Bball Girl (edited 04-05-2004).]

[BearLady]

Kudos to The Dallas Morning News for including names of officials for each of the semi-final games in with their box scores in today's paper. I had looked for the information last night but was unable to locate a resource providing the info.

For the record, here are the names and conference affiliations, if known:

LSU/Tenn - Sally Bell (ACC), Scott Yarbrough (used to work the Big 12; does he still?), Tina Napier.

Minn/UConn - Melissa Barlow, Greg Small, Bill Titus.

Does anyone know the conferences where the other officials usually work?

I too have been a long-time fan of the Lady Vols program (with one recent game exception), so will be pulling for them tomorrow night. As I think back over their past few games, the strategy that Coach Summitt has employed at the end of the Stanford and LSU games has been outstanding. She guessed correctly as to the court positioning, who might get the ball, how to defend, etc. Those Xs and Os are an often overlooked part of the game for the casual fan. I'm still amazed though that while 3 much taller defenders collapsed on 5'3" Tameka Johnson at the end of the game, no one fouled her. That's discipline in my book.

[swok34]

dang, dang, dang......

I think the experience of being in a Final Four was truly key at the end. Both very, very good competitive games.

I was thinking during the Connecticut/Minnesota game that whoever came out of that one would go on to be crowned champ.

Or does the Summit Magic come once again? She could do herself well to mix up a batch of Goofer Dust:

1 raider eyeball, 2 demon horns, 3 bear claws, 4 strips of redwood bark, 5 tiger tails, a spoon of sand, a cup of red dirt mixed in with 2 dried dead snakes along with dirt taken from beneath Marie Leveau’s grave and place the entire mixture in a wavy pattern of X’s along the Connecticut path to the locker room……

just in case, all the Hoodou magic has been spent in the last three games.

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/aktion/action-smiley-064.gif
http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/uconn.gif




[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 04-05-2004).]

[elfdenmom]

Don't really care who wins so I don't plan on watching. If there had been even a hope of another team winning, I would be glued to the set.

[catladyok]

Seems like the season went by so fast! Guess I'll be spending the summer watching the WNBA and trying to find AAU stuff. See you guys next fall. Thanks for all the fun! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[RaiderPower1]

Originally posted by 40ishHorn:
Taurasi's postgame interview last year after the FF Texas game made my stomach turn as she said UCONN had a bad game. She showed absolutely NO respect for the Texas team. She may be a really good player, but she's clearly deficient in the class department.

What do you expect? Geno is her coach and there is a whole bunch of arrogance coming from that group. I don't blame them with 5 consecutive final fours but that doesn't mean it is right. Geno has never ever given credit to the other team. UConn is the one who makes mistakes and not the other team making plays.

[elfdenmom]

What might be fun would be to see the UConn and Tennessee referees play each other and the players from the losing teams officiate. Now that is a final I would watch!

[dem]

Well, I watched the Minnesota-UConn game and it was, all in all, a great game. Minnesota fought tenaciously and had many great chances to at least bring it right down to the final buzzer but in the end, UConn was too tough. All credit to them, you can't deny it: they bring it when they have to. They may falter during the regular season but when it really counts the most, they perform. As we saw with the Big 12 this season, that's no small feat, and UConn deserves tremendous credit for pulling it off again.

But personally, I am too disappointed and uninterested in the outcome to watch the championship game. I'm sure it will be a fine display of basketball (probably, anyway). Maybe I'll watch a replay sometime. But the tournament has meaning far behind the level of play in a single game, and for me the really important stories in this tournament are over.