THEY’RE THAT GOOD…IT JUST ISN’T FAIR
play
pause
Sports Commentary 3/10/2014
Scott Gray
Watching the way the top ranked and unbeaten UConn women’s basketball team opened their annihilation of Rutgers in yesterday’s semi final round of the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament you couldn’t help but feel sorry for C. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers coach who doesn’t normally elicit a lot of sympathy from anyone who lives between New York and Rhode Island.
As the Huskies were scoring the first 13 points of the game on the way to a 40-11 lead and a 50-19 halftime advantage it was hard not to think, “It just isn’t fair.”
That’s not just a comment on the imbalance between the Huskies and the Scarlet Knights, it might as well be a comment on UConn and the rest of the field, even before the NCAA tournament is seeded.
It’s not often a team opens a game like the Huskies did yesterday, particularly against an opponent the caliber of Rutgers, but it’s not often a team like this UConn team comes along. The Huskies are 33-0 and every win has been by double digits. The closest margin of victory was 11 points, on the road, against 7th ranked Baylor, when UConn had just seven available scholarship players. The next closest margin of victory was 16 points, again on the road, again against a nationally ranked team, at 13th ranked Penn State. They won at 8th ranked Maryland by 17 and beat 3rd ranked Stanford by nineteen. It’s almost as if all other teams need not apply.
For the huskies those games were just business as usual. Then there are the special games, like yesterday, when everyone is on the same page, all five starters scoring in double figures. From Bria Hartley’s perspective it’s an amazing comfort zone for a point guard, to be surrounded by such talent, pass the ball to anyone, it’s impossible to make a mistake.
“When you’re out there and you can make one pass and someone’s going to score”, said the senior after yesterday’s win, “When people are making shots like that, we’re really tough to guard. We all work well with each other, we all depend on each other. We know that every night’s gonna be someone’s night, someone’s gonna do really well, but when we all click like this it makes the game fun.”
The Huskies aren’t perfect, it’s just when they fall short of perfection they find ways to make up for it. Yesterday’s game came with a signature moment. With just over nine minutes left in the first half and UConn up 21, Betnijah Laney stole the ball for Rutgers and drove alone to the hoop for what appeared to be an uncontested layup, until Breanna Stewart came from out of nowhere, chased her down and blocked the shot as it left her hand. “We’re always hustling back”, said Stewart, because when we lose the ball we want to make up for it.”
In other words, you take no plays off.
Tonight UConn takes on 3rd ranked Louisville in the AAC Championship Game. The Huskies beat the Cardinals by 17 points here, by 20 down there, just a week ago.
“It’s appropriate that we’re in the final”, said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, “We had to prove over the first five months that we’re the best team in the league, so we should be playing in this game.”
It’s appropriate that UConn is in this game, it’s appropriate that they’ll be the overall top seed for the NCAA tournament. It’s appropriate, and, in some ways, it just isn’t fair.
With a comment from the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.
