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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011 A&M Women's Basketball National ChampionshipWednesday, April 6, 2011 Anew chapter? aggiesports.com . brazossports.com NCAA Basketball Connecticut and Tennessee have combined to win 12 of the past 16 championships, including the last four. On the men's side, it's not unusual to see powerhouse programs like Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Kentucky in the Final Four. But the title game has been won by teams seeded third, fourth, sixth and even eighth (Villanova). No. 8 seed Butler A &M Notre Dame mark change in women's basketball By Dolt FEINBERG Assoc4ed Press DIANA' �JLIS — Why read a bol-I if you already know ho, it ends? Over the last 16 years, Women's co)'ge basketball has bee m(� like a pre- dictable, ac orn- packed drama than suspenseful thriller. Raj:y has there been a surV ,,e ending. Notre Daf and Texas A&N1 n that this year, knockiuig or+i1 four top seeds on thi' Way to the national cb ipionship game. It means C �alecticut or Tenne� ,ee y n't be playing for the tid,,)r the first time in fig ind the consen- sus ar seems to be; Good "It's so,Aing new and fresh. %Vjlicj a good sign," UCQnn coa ,.Geno Auriem `A If this se" unusual, it is, but AurievA isn't alone is sug ge,A game will ben- efit fry �t of new blood. il Ar Nvlhile seem shoe t .none of the tra- ditio� Ix Ios are playing for a title ,ge Dame and Te_xs A&fAn t come out of e ighty ranked all ,overen't the teams ., was picking to win a a romship before the. ` _" A , mament — evie - :.bol;' oth were No. 2 se "-it th ,kiat was a good th. xw bec we were able to fiv Uri I °e radar," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "I don't think that anybody was talking about us. They were talking about the top four seeds the whole time. So it made it a little bit easier to come in and be the underdog, and to maybe get the upsets that we've had." Notre Dame, which won a championship in 2001 in its last trip to the Final Four, became the first team ever to knock off both Tennessee and Connecticut in the same tour- nament. A &M bounced out sophomore phenom Brittney Griner and Baylor before the Aggies took out Stanford in the semifinals. "Having two teams like Notre Dame and Texas A &M — given the teams they've beaten to get there — makes it even more compelling," Auriemma said. "It's not like they just snuck in and don't deserve to be there." The plot for any good championship always seems to include a superstar like Griner or UConn's Maya Moore, but this year's matchup has that, too. Irish point guard Skylar Diggins is a dynamic leader on the court and an entertaining, well- spoken ambassador off the court, even though she's just a sophomore. She gained nearly 20,000 Twitter follow- ers overnight after her Irish beat UConn. Still, this year was only the second time no top seed made the title game and the first since No. 3 seed North Carolina beat No. 4 Louisiana Tech in 1994. "Sometimes, you have to go through growing pains to get to where we want to be — parity — where people would be excited where a Butler and a VCU. are playing for the national championship on the men's side," A &M coach Gary Blair said. "We need that on the women's side as well." Still, the question remains whether the women's tourna- ment, which is in its 30th year, is ready to support that. There were roughly 2,000 empty seats at Sunday's semifinals and fewer people were expected at the title game even with Notre Dame playing only a few hours from campus. "Can a good women's bas- ketball game that's going to be played between the ears and below the rim excite the peo- ple out there enough to watch this thing?" Blair mused. The answer could be yes. ESPN has been covering the women's tournament exclusively for the past 16 years. Surprisingly, it's most watched game had neither Tennessee or Connecticut in it. "Our highest rated game was the Purdue game in 1999," ESPN Vice president of programming and acquisi- tions Carol Stiff said. "It's an event for us. We just pick up the pieces and run with who- ever plays." The Boilermakers beat Duke that year in what turned out to be a rare matchup: tried again this year, falling short to UConn but giving the little guys everywhere hope. It might still be a while before that happens regularly on the women's side, where the talent pool isn't deep enough for widespread parity and top programs tend to have their great players for four years. Auriemma knows that hav- C3 ing someone else win keeps people interested, comparing it to golf. "There's got to be hope," he said. "Everyone was sick of Tiger [Woods] winning all those tournaments. Once he shows up, everyone is com- ing in second or third. Now he shows up and people think, `We can beat this guy.' I think the more that hap- pens, the better it is." AP photo Texas A &M's Danielle Adams and Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters tip off to begin the women's national championship game In Indianapolis on Tuesday night. For a change, neither Tennessee nor Connecticut will win this year's title. C6 The Eagl . theeaOxom NCAA National Champions ... A d& 79 Wednesday, AprIl 6, 2011 Udderly amazing German teen trains cow to go for rides, clear hurdles. World, A7 r fhe E Bryan - College Station, Texas * theeag Hot event CHI Organizers and 525 cookoff teams gearing up for Chilifest. Region, A9 le.com Oe EST WEDNESDAY April 6, 2011 , 50 cents i+ Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva r A4 The Eagle • theeagle.com Wednesday, April 6, 2011 Aggie Women Winning women becoming an A &M tradition. I NDIANAPOLIS — Tyra White stuck a dagger in Notre Dame, striking the biggest blow in the history of Texas A &M women's basket- ball — again. The Aggies, who had gal lantly fought back from a seven -point deficit to take the lead, were teetering when the quiet, con- fident White Sports stepped up and p hit a 3- pointer Robert Cessna that sealed A &M's 76-70 victory. Gritty Notre Dame seemed to put itself in position to tie or regain the lead with a solid defensive effort. The Fighting Irish smothered A &M's Danielle Adams, which allowed them to easily block her shot attempt out of bounds with only 68 seconds left. The Aggies retained the ball, but had only 2 seconds left on the shot clock. Of course, the Aggies want- ed to get the ball to the 6- foot -1 Adams, who had a game -high 30 points. But Notre Dame also knew that and blanketed her. A &M inbounded to White, who also was closely guarded. She turned and line - drived a 20- footer. It didn't look pretty — then again, her shots always have a low trajectory. It became the prettiest shot of her life, hitting nothing but net as the shot clock went off. That made it 73-68 with just over a minute left. Notre Dame was done. "That was a knife right in my heart," Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said later. "That was the game. That was the game. I thought that was an amazing play on White's part. And it was an unbelievable shot." McGraw couldn't get that shot out of her head, because a few moments later, she added: "That was the game." It was much more than that for A &M, which has been playing women's basketball for 36 seasons, more than a third of them losing ones. It made A &M the nation's best in a major sport. Yes, the Aggies have had a ton of suc- cess in the last decade, win- ning national titles in eques- trian, golf and track along with a runner -up in softball. But this is a biggie, the most recognized women's sport. And now the Aggies are the best in the country. White might have been an unlikely hero, but she handle, the spotlight well. "I really didn't know the ball was coming to me," she said. "I knew [Sydney] Colson was going to pass me the ball. [A defender] hit my elbow, too, so I didn't really think it was going to go in, but it did." Colson and White also teamed up for the game -win- ner against Stanford. Colson dashed the length of the court, then had a perfect bounce pass that the hustling White banked home with 3.3 seconds left. Two Aggies, doing some- thing great for the second straight time? What a great AGGIES: Byrne calls win `emotional' Continued from Al More than 3,000 Aggies started partying with a few seconds left in A &M's 76-70 victory over Notre Dame, and more than 30 minutes after the final buzzer they were still cheering as the Hullabaloo Band played on. A &M, which had rallied from a 10 -point deficit to beat Stanford in an electrifying 6362 semifinal victory, this time came back from a seven - point deficit, setting off a wild, well-earned celebration. Senior point guard Sydney Colson and junior wing Tyra White hugged as Final Four most valuable player Danielle Adams shot free throws with 2.8 seconds left. Confetti fell from the rafters at the buzzer as the players reveled in victory. A &M head coach Gary Blair and associate head coach Vic Schaefer hugged their wives at midcourt, then, along with their family members, formed a second row behind the play- ers to do the Aggie War Hymn in front of the Aggie fans, who all seemed to be snapping pic- tures. It capped one of the most remarkable turnarounds in women's basketball. A &M was the Big 12's worst pro- gram eight years ago when it hired Gary Blair. The Aggies were 22 -90 in league play. The national champions were 33 -5. "It has to be one of the most emotional wins I've ever felt," said A &M athletics director Bill Byrne, who hired Blair. "We put this thing in motion eight years ago and we set a goal to win a national cham- pionship, and we did it. It's been fantastic. It's just been fantastic." The smiling Byrne was wear- ing a national championship hat and carrying a national championship T -shirt and cele- Fans encouraged to greet Aggie women Texas A &M University's women's basketball team will arrive back in town Wednesday afternoon and plans to immedi- ately greet fans. The team is expected to arrive at Easterwood Airport at around 1:50 p.m., be loaded brating along with A &M President R. Bowen Loftin. "You just saw a great basket- ball game between two great teams who played their hearts out," Loftin said. "And this ought to do a lot to tell people how important women's bas- ketball is and how important women's sports are." Loftin, sporting his typical bow tie, is a regular at the women's games. "They're No. 1 in the coun- try, what more could you ask for ?" he smiled. "Gary's earned it. He's worked a life- time for it, and Vic has too. Don't forget Vic Schaefer, the greatest assistant coach I've ever seen." The team got a champi- onship send -off 90 minutes before the tip -off at its hotel, which was four blocks away. The crowd was so loud that Blair gave one of his shortest onto buses and arrive at 2 p.rT at Reed Arena, where fans will be gathered outside the south- west corner. Fans are encouraged to attend. Free parking will be available in the Reed lots. — Staff report speeches — 80 seconds. "Howdy Ags," he said, as he looked down from an over- flowing balcony of Aggies intq a sea of more maroon -clad well- wishers. "We've got a little chore in front of us today," he said. "We've gotta go over there to that little fieldhouse ... we're in the state of Indiana. Notre Dame is from Indiana. There's a lot of Catholics from there, but there's a few Catholics in here." The noise got so deafening, he had to pause. "How can you multiply that noise because, number -wise, we might be outnumbered five or 10 to one ?" The fans got even louder. "I appreciate the support," 11e said. "But more than any", I just appreciate Texas A &M. "Let's go beat the hell out cf 'em." Danielle Adams Rachel Mitchell of Humble is embraced Atoscocita, who, along with Tuesday 6 -5 sophomore -to -be Karla following the Gilbert, will give the Aggies Aggies' victory one of the country's tallest in Indianapolis. frontcourts. Throw in highly recruited Eagle photo by guards Tori Scott of Marrero, La., and Alexia Standish of Stuart Villanueva Colleyville Heritage, and Aggie fans should get used to missing most of spring foot- ball drills. This is so much more fun. • Email Robert Cessna at robert.cessna@theeagle.com new tradition. And you can thank head coach Gary Blair. This was the culmination of his work and, like Connecticut, Tennessee and Stanford, he plans to keep the A &M pro- gram at the top of the moun- tain until he retires, which won't be any time soon. A &M loses Adams and Colson along with sixth man Maryann Baker, but the incoming group will be more talented, led by 6-5 Kelsey Bone. She's joined by 6-7 ► MORE INSIDE • Adams leads Aggies in win over Notre Dame /C1 • Fans in College Station enjoy win /C1 • National Championship in brief /C1 • A &M -ND signal change in women's basketball /C3 For more photos from the game, go to theeagle 777-v Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva Painted Aggie fans cheer on their team Tuesday in Indianapolis.