WBB ACC Champions! Duke 81, North Carolina 66

[CameronBornAndBred]

-BD "Isn't it so wierd tha ladies now have to wait over a week to receive their seeds?!" -BD

And two weeks to play. I hate that. For the second year in a row, the heels have another game scheduled between the tournaments. I can't blame them, this must be torture on the women. What sucks most is they've been playing their best offense in a while, with such a long break it's hard to maintain any sense of momentum.

[jtelander]

"It's hard to play four days in a row like that, but we put ourselves in that position," coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "If we maybe were a little fresher, we might have been able to pull it out, make some of those shots around the basket."

With Sylvia, there is always something to whine about. You would think she would have said how proud she was that the team turned things around and won three straight after having lost four in a row.

At least she didn't blame the loss on not having scrimmaged with the football team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=310650150

In fairness to Sylvia, I believe her statement was in response to a reporter asking if playing 4 days and fatigue was a factor. I'm not a Sylvia fan by any means, but I thought her overall response to the question was reasonable and not whiney

Here is the question and answer in its entirety

Q. Coach, playing four games in four days, and you played Duke even up for 30 minutes. The last 10, it gets away. Do you think fatigue was much of a factor?

COACH SYLVIA HATCHELL: I don't know. I've never been one to make excuses for a lot of things. I told the kids. I said, you guys played really hard for four days. You had a lot more energy in your legs than I even expected them to have. They did. They played hard. I didn't substitute that much.

Jessica just, the kid dug deep now. She was breathing hard out there quite a few times. But they wanted to win really bad, and they played really hard.

But, yeah, it's hard to play four days in a row like that, but we put ourselves in that position. We lost a couple of games at the end of regular season. If we maybe had we were a little fresher, we might be able to pull it out and make some of those shots around the basket. But, hey, it is what it is. So we just move on.

[jtelander]

-BD "Isn't it so wierd tha ladies now have to wait over a week to receive their seeds?!" -BD

Normally I would agree, but at the same time I'm glad the team has some time to rest and to heal the numerous cuts, sprains, and bruises they've acquired. Coach P said in the post game presser that with Spring break, they would take off 4 days or so, then come back and "get after it very seriously".

[Udaman]

Congrats to our women. They deserve this.

Unfortunately, the problem with women's basketball remains...other than the top 1-2 teams, nobody else has a chance to win. It's been a problem for 30 years now, and I'm not quite sure what can be done to fix it. But consider that Duke is ranked #8. I would argue that if they played the tournament 100 times, Duke would not win once. UConn, Stanford and Baylor are the top dogs, and are simply at another level over everyone else.

In the men's however, UNC will be ranked about that this week, and they could definitely win. So could Wisconsin, or Notre Dame, or UConn, or ten other teams.

With the women, it seems like every year there's 1, 2 or 3 teams out there twice as good as UNLV was in 1990/1991. Just dominant. Even when you get to the championship game, they are often complete blowouts. It makes it almost no fun to watch - because deep down, unless your team is that dominant one, you know you have zero chance.

[jimsumner]

In fairness to Sylvia, I believe her statement was in response to a reporter asking if playing 4 days and fatigue was a factor. I'm not a Sylvia fan by any means, but I thought her overall response to the question was reasonable and not whiney

Here is the question and answer in its entirety

Hatchell was very gracious in her post-game. In no way did she seem whiny. It was a legit issue and she addressed it about as well as she could.


The team playing its fourth game in four days fell apart down the stretch to the team playing its third game in three days. Coincidence? Perhaps. But some of those misses looked like tired misses to me. And, as Hatchell noted, Duke earned that day of rest. Her team didn't.

[roywhite]

Hatchell was very gracious in her post-game. In no way did she seem whiny. It was a legit issue and she addressed it about as well as she could.


The team playing its fourth game in four days fell apart down the stretch to the team playing its third game in three days. Coincidence? Perhaps. But some of those misses looked like tired misses to me. And, as Hatchell noted, Duke earned that day of rest. Her team didn't.

Thanks for your coverage, Jim.

Any details as to how Tricia Liston is getting along? Heard how she sliced her finger pretty bad...actually cut off the finger tip? yikes...

She played some yesterday, but not a lot. Really like her shooting ability; hope she will be okay for the NCAA tournament.

[DevilWearsPrada]

I was in attendance at the Championship game yesterday. I was hoping more fans would come out and buy tickets on the outside or at the window. Perhaps the rain and winds kept fans away. I thought the fans were fairly even with Duke and Unc representation. Actually, I thought more DUKE was in the building. I saw some Red...so I suppose those were State fans.

Went to Fanfest for 30 minutes, and then over to Coliseum. And that long armed lean Tar Heel was walking right beside me. (John Hensen). I wanted to take my Duke bag and sling it under him and Trip him. (My mental thoughts, at least... with good intentions...hehe). But I didn't. I did stick out my tongue, and put my finger in mouth to gag.

Mason Plumlee (Jas BF), Casey Peters (Haleys Brother), Josh Hairston and Todd Zac from the mens team were there. Austin Kelly (Karima BF) from Football team were there to cheer on the Ladies. I talked with Mason and Austin after the game! So happy for the girls!

A fairly matched game, until the 51 53 tie, and Duke cut loose, and opened up their run on the way to the championship. So good, to be in GBoro again, to see the ladies cut the nets 2 years in a row.

The ladies deserve so much more respect and much more attendance for the championship game! Thanks to all who were there the entire tourney and or the Sunday game!

Next game for the ladies... Cameron Indoor Stadium for Rounds 1 and 2. Lets all support them!

And as always,
Lets Go Duke!

[watzone]

A couple of fun videos from yesterday - http://bluedevilnation.net/2011/03/w...e-blue-devils/

There is also a photo gallery from the game on the same site from Lance King.

[jimsumner]

Thanks for your coverage, Jim.

Any details as to how Tricia Liston is getting along? Heard how she sliced her finger pretty bad...actually cut off the finger tip? yikes...

She played some yesterday, but not a lot. Really like her shooting ability; hope she will be okay for the NCAA tournament.

Apparently Liston cut a finger on her right hand when she put her hand in a toiletry bag and encountered a razor blade. Ouch. I was told that she is fine. I think game circumstances dictated the allocation of PT.

[ForkFondler]

Much of the lack of respect the women have gotten this year is because the offense has been extreeeeemly painful to watch at times, especially against a defense as good as ours (UConn) or in the midst of a team flu epidemic (Maryland). However, having the freshman play like sophmores has helped that problem a lot. I like our chances against anyone other than UConn, especially with two weeks to address the numerous little nagging medical problems.

Anyway, how come the men don't get balloons, damn it

[killerleft]

Much of the lack of respect the women have gotten this year is because the offense has been extreeeeemly painful to watch at times, especially against a defense as good as ours (UConn) or in the midst of a team flu epidemic (Maryland). However, having the freshman play like sophmores has helped that problem a lot. I like our chances against anyone other than UConn, especially with two weeks to address the numerous little nagging medical problems.

Anyway, how come the men don't get balloons, damn it

I agree that the women have found another level of late. The younger gals have made a big difference on the offensive side. If we can continue to keep the pressure off the defense to be nearly perfect, then we can figure out UCONN when we get to them.

But mostly, I just wanted to return this thread to the first page. An ACC Championship deserves to be noticed!! Go Duke!

[ikiru36]

I agree that the women have found another level of late. The younger gals have made a big difference on the offensive side. If we can continue to keep the pressure off the defense to be nearly perfect, then we can figure out UCONN when we get to them.

But mostly, I just wanted to return this thread to the first page. An ACC Championship deserves to be noticed!! Go Duke!

After all, we are the DUKE BASKETBALL REPORT, not the Duke Men's Basketball Report!

While I imagine that most, myself included, followed the Duke Men's team before following the Women's team, over the past decade the Women have earned the respect and dedication of our fanbase. Even through a somewhat contentious head coaching transition, they have maintained a Top 20 program for over a decade and now appear poised to again become a Top 10 (if not Top 5) fixture for the foreseeable future.

WTG, Women's hoops!!!! While I found their offense often (not just this year but during most of Coach P's tenure) painful to watch earlier in the season, it appears more dynamic of late. Keep it up and I'm looking forward to a nice tournament run and fabulous future for our Women Devils!!!!!!!

Go Duke!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Blue Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duvall]

You're ignoring the "Charlie Creme is a Duke-Hating Dunce" factor. All last week, his bracket had Duke as number eight overall - behind three teams that Duke beat. So Miami loses, and he puts UCLA above us.

Hopefully the selection committee will pay attention to objective factors like RPI and SOS. If it does, we should be the fourth number one seed, with Tennessee as the two in our region.

See, that's where you went wrong. The NCAA women's tournament is slightly more legitimate than the CBI. Ticket sales are much more important than most objective factors.