DWB: Duke vs Winthrop, round 1 of NCAA

[DU82]

100-97 DePaul with 18 secs left. Wow.

DePaul 104-100. Defensive battle. :-)

[AIM4excellence]

Haley had her ankle re-taped during the second half, looked OK. (Further edit. Haley is meeting with family in the cort area, looks fine.)

Really solid game against an overmatched team. Two things stood out. One was the freshmen getting into the flow, and providing solid play inside. Second, and perhaps more important, was the team and coaches looked like they were having fun! I've never seen Al Brown laugh like he did during one point in the game. Coach P spent a lot of time talking to Alexis and Becca, keeping them involved.

The challenges with personnel (injuries and dismissal) have forced the coaching staff to make more adjustments than I believe I've seen before. It probably won't get us to Nashville, but it's looking a lot better than it did in late January after the first UNC game.

Watching the second game between DePaul and Oklahoma, first impressions are that the Sooners look like a typical Big 12 physical team, while DePaul is the finesse team of the new Big East.

Something else typical of the Big 12 is the coach's attire. Don't usually see leopard print pants anywhere, let alone on the sidelines.

One thing I noted w/r/t more attention to coaching was when Duke got the ball at the end of the first half, up by a lot. McCallie called timeout. Now, I don't know this to be true, but I imagined she told the team "OK - game is tied, 19 secs on the clock, let's execute for the win." Unfortunately they didn't execute (Richa drove in and lost the ball), but I thought it was a good timeout to get everyone thinking about making the big play - the difference between losing and going home vs playing another day. I look for things like that and was pleased to see it today. Also, when three posts were in, Amber was at the wing. Go Amber! She's a good defender and hard to shoot over.

[aswewere]

Box http://espn.go.com/ncw/boxscore?gameId=400547072


Cooper had her first double/double and left the court at games end
with a ear to ear smile. She is very tight with Chidom and it will be a
joy to watch them play of one another inside the next few years.