TAMPA, Fla. - Alexis Hornbuckle played one of the worst games in her four year career yet nobody deserves more credit for sending the Lady Vols to Tuesday's national title game against Stanford.

With 7.1 seconds to play in the game the senior guard's stat line read 0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-2 from deep, 0-1 from the free throw line for zero points. Not only that, in the game's waning moments, with the score 45-44 in favor of Tennessee, Hornbuckle missed a shot that would have iced it and then fouled Erica White while she was driving down court. White promptly hit two free throws to give LSU the lead and what looked like the victory.

What happened next nobody could have expected, especially not Hornbuckle.

Continue reading "This Goat Has Horns" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TAMPA, Fla. - After the drama that unfolded in Sunday's first national semifinal game between Stanford and Connecticut, the first half of the LSU-Tennessee game was largely anti-climatic.

The score is 22-18 in favor of the Lady Vols, but outside of eight points and nine boards from Candace Parker and 12 points and eight boards from Sylvia Fowles, not much else happened.

Quianna Chaney had four points and freshman Allison Hightower added a deuce for LSU. For Tennessee, Alberta Auguste helped out the Vols cause by scoring six.

Continue reading "Slow First Half" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TAMPA, Fla. - Candice Wiggins fell short of another 40-point performance.

Stanford didn't need it.

So much for that Tennessee-Connecticut national title game. The Cardinal crashed that party, 82-73, and was just too much for Connecticut to handle all night.

The Cardinal showed an incredible combination of size, strength and shooting ability as it didn't matter what UConn chose to defend. The Cardinal beat them in every way. And nobody, not Geno Auriemma, not Tara Vanderveer, not Candice Wiggins or the Stanford crowd really thought it was possible until it was over.

And as the clock ticked down to zero it was Wiggins with the ball in her hand ready for the celebration to begin.

Continue reading "Cardinal Dance On" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TAMPA, Fla. - How many people out there thought Stanford would be up 40-33 at halftime? Come on, be honest.

Bottom line, Connecticut is having major trouble with Stanford's size. The front court duo of Kayla Pedersen - who has a game-high 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting - and Jayne Appel has been sensational in stopping Connecticut's power game.

The Huskies have been limited to jumpers and, frankly, aren't hitting them.

Continue reading "UConn Can't See Over The Trees" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TAMPA, Fla. - The Final Four is set to get underway with the Huskies of Connecticut, the one seed in the Greensboro Regional, taking on two-seeded Stanford out of Spokane.

The national anthem has been played and the Cardinal are on the court warming up with some layup drills.

And here comes the Huskies, with their little corner of the arena - their designated cheering section - erupting as they form layup lines of their own.

Tonight's first matchup should prove a good one. Vegas thinks the Huskies should be about a nine-point favorite. What do I think?

Continue reading "Four On The Floor" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The entire nation assumes Tuesday national championship game will pit UConn and Tennessee. It's going to be Pat vs. Geno. Maya Moore vs. Candace Parker.

Wait a second...don't they have the semifinals still to play?

As great as the Huskies and Lady Vols are, and as much as they do deserve to meet in the national title game, and as much as that would be the culmination of a great season of women's college basketball, the LSU Lady Tigers would like to think that they have fate and luck on their side.

Continue reading "Making Assumptions" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Where was Smokey, the Tennessee mascot, when Pat Summitt needed him?

The Blue Tick Coonhound was nowhere to be found when coach Summitt dislocated her shoulder trying to chase one of the rascals off her porch.

The story is definitely worth telling, and nobody tells it better than Summitt herself.

Continue reading "Smokey And Summitt's Bandit" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings from Tampa, Fla., where the weather is a beautiful 85 degrees and clear.

At last year's Final Four in Cleveland, the media gift was a miniature guitar in tribute to Cleveland being the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This year's media gift...a big bag of oranges.

I kid. I kid.

It's practice Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum and all four teams got a chance to take the court. All four teams got a chance to talk to the press, too. Here's a little sampling of what went down behind the scenes.

Continue reading "Much Ado About Losing" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pat Summitt recently dislocated her shoulder while chasing a raccoon so she feels Candace Parker's pain.

Though it was suffered during Tennessee's Elite Eight game against Texas A&M and not chasing varmint off the porch, Parker's shoulder is the most important thing on the minds of Tennessee fans everywhere. And LSU would like to know if they have to prepare for the best women's player alive, too.

Well worry not. Her Airness says she's going to play. Of course she's going to play. She dislocated her shoulder twice against the Aggies and still came back to lead the Lady Vols. Didn't you realize? The Tigers aren't dealing with an average woman.

Continue reading "Bionic Lady Vol" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm going to Tampa!

For the purposes of this blog, I guess I should mention so is LSU, Stanford, Tennessee and Connecticut.

Were the Lady Vols and Huskies so impressive in their regional final matchups? Not really, but that's what is so impressive about it.

It's like fate playing tricks on their opponents. Giving hope when there was none to give.

Everyone knows this is Connecticut and Tennessee's year to shine. The season where two teams who historically meet each year fail to find each other until the ultimate contest. But to say Texas A&M and Rutgers didn't make it interesting would be to disrespect God's design.

Continue reading "Tampa Bound" »

Posted by Jeff Lippman at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)