March is Too Long to Wait for the Madness to Begin

MADNESS ALREADY UPON COLLEGE WBB

The madness is already here and is coming in hand in hand with parity which is slowly but surely arriving in the Women’s game. In the last week 3 of the top 10 teams have lost to unranked opponents. It began with Notre Dame’s (4) loss to West Virginia and continued with Kentucky’s (7) loss to Alabama. The week concluded with Connecticut’s (2) 99 game home court winning streak coming to an end by a one point loss to the St. John’s Red Storm by a score of 57-56 while today Delaware (10) survived a defeat at the hands of Drexel by only1 point.


 It is reported that the last unranked team to beat Connecticut on their home court occurred while both teams were playing in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. If anyone is interested in verifying who the winning team was, please report it into the comments as I found conflicting reports of the winning 1993 team including one site which reported that it had been Louisville.


Earlier in the week the website was asking folks what it took to create motivation in a team. Personally I think it is something that has to already naturally exist inside the players you recruit. The coach can hone and direct that motivation but I believe it is near impossible to be created in players where it does not already exist. Players either have it or they don’t. I bring this up in this article because of what occurred in the Connecticut – St. Johns game. The St. Johns win did not occur because UConn shot poorly from the field (43.1 %and 31.3%) or the free throw line (7 of 10). The statics show the Huskies on top in each of those categories. They also out rebounded and out blocked St. Johns. So on paper it might appear that Connecticut would win in a fantasy basketball game. IF, you did not plug in St. John’s 12 steals which were created by the players internal motivation and heart which translated in the Red Storm out hustling Connecticut. Although UConn’s successful shots were of a higher % and more controlled --- The Red Storm took advantage of the opportunities their hustle created. St. John’s shot 14 more field goals inside the 3 point line while forcing Connecticut to take 8 more 3 point attempts than St. John’s. By working to get the higher % shots and to shoot more of them, St. John’s outscored Connecticut by 3 points from the field. Connecticut’s additional 2 points over St. Johns 5 free successful points just were not enough as the huskies came up 1 point short and created what could be considered the regular season upset of the year. Sandy W