Like I said, you'll read it here first: As Rutgers cuts the nets down out on the court they just read off the Greensboro All-Tournament Team, and it read exactly like my ballot (coincedence, I'm sure), down to the MVP bestowed upon Matee Ajavon. Kudos to Alison Bales, the only player to make the team that wasn't playing Tuesday night. Her 21 points proved how un-ready she was to head home.
All in all, a slugfest that paled in excitement to Saturday's big upset, but solid basketball nonetheless. At least I had the boys on press row to chat with. Some thoughts from the Hoops Odyssey crew that rang especially true:
"Arizona State never even had a chance!" ~Waxman
"Vaughn is good." ~Osterhout
"They cut the nets down here for getting to the Final Four, then when they win the first game, then when they win the title game? That's an overabundance of net-cutting." ~Osterhout
We're all done here in Greensboro. Rutgers took it home in convincing fashion, winning 64-45 over Arizona State here in the Coliseum. There may not be an incredible crowd, but the Rutgers fans are as happy as you'd expect. Now it's trophy presentation time...Let's see what the ladies in red will do as they receive their riches.
We are at the under-four TV timeout, and Rutgers' lead is up to 22 points as the score is 56-34. Now that ASU is about to go down, the women's tourney has a strong eastern flavor as the Sun Devils were the only team west of the Mississippi remaining.
After the way in which they operated in the half-court on Saturday I thought ASU would win this game, but Rutgers has proven to athletic to overcome. And anyone who thought they would suffer a letdown after their upset of Duke was sorely mistaken.
I don't know where this ASU comeback magic is, but it sure hasn't showed yet -- Westerberg's cold inside, completely befuddled by Vaughn. Matee Ajavon's got three steps on January and Rutgers isn't the kind of team (ahem, UNC men) to squander a 20-point lead with only three and a half minutes remaining.
We are more than 12 minutes into the second half, and ASU just can't shoot straight. Rutgers, on the other hand, is getting it going. Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson just hit back-to-back jumpers for the Scarlet Knights to extend their lead to 48-32.
The only ASU player who has been able to get anything off of dribble penetration has been Briann January, but that was early in the game. Emily Westerberg missed by about three feet on her only open look from three-point range this half. Even if Rutgers does not score again, ASU would need to score 16 points in 7:56. Considering they have only twice that many points in more than 30 minutes of play. It looks like Rutgers is Cleveland-bound.
Charli Turner Thorne has talked again and again about the hospitality her team has experienced in Greensboro, giving a glowing review of "Tournament Town" and all its offered her players.
Rutgers, however, isn't being quite as hospitable. The Scarlet Knights are still getting at the Sun Devils on every single play, smacking away an inbounds pass here, intercepting one of those pinpoint interior passes there, generally getting up in the Devils' mojo. They have an 11-point lead to show for it, though as CSTV.com West Coast correspondent Lara Boyko cautioned me, if there's one thing Arizona knows how to do it's come back at tournament time.
I am not talking about the ASU male cheerleader that looks at risk of dropping his fellow Sun Devil, I am talking about ASU guard Danielle Orsillo. As her and her teammates were waiting for Rutgers to come back out of the last timeout Orsillo went to each of her fellow Sun Devils and got in her face. It wasn't anything angry though, she had a huge grin on her face and was trying to transfer some of her enthusiasm on to them.
Orsillo leads the Devils with 8 points, but ASU has been stuck on 29 points for minutes. Orsillo also gets credit for rocking the black shoes and socks, bringing back memories of the Fab Five.
The second half has begun with a clank. Both teams are off to cold starts and were are tied at 4-4 for the second half and we are more than five minutes in. That should answer any questions about whether Emily Westerberg has gotten going for the Sun Devils.
So this game is far from over, but we've got an All-Tournament Team Ballot sitting in front of us that's due 13 minutes from now. So far I've put Duke's Alison Bales, ASU's Danielle Orsillo and Rutgers' Kia Vaughn on the ballot. I'm going to let Matee Ajavon and Emily Westerberg duke it out for the MVP spot and second place, but with 15 minutes remaining and ASU only trailing by 7, anything could happen. Let's just say I'm not writing in pen.
I am not talking about former WWF (now WWE) star Jake "the Snake" Roberts, I am talking about the kid wearing a Jake Plummer Arizona State throwback jersey. For my money, that is the best piece of attire in the arena with all due respect to Doris Burke's silver jacket with a floral design.
We'll have to see what storylines open up in the second half, but so far it's just been Rutgers staying a couple of points, inches and pounds ahead of Arizona State. The Sun Devils went into the half down 31-25, and we'll have to see which team of destiny -- the upset special Rutgers or the fated-to-return Sun Devils -- will have fate on their side in the second half.
It's 31-25 Rutgers at the half, and it could be a lot worse from an Arizona State perspective. Rutgers has dominated inside and Rutgers forwards Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson look more athletic than anyone on the ASU roster.
ASU forward has been MIA thus far and the Sun Devils need her to make an appearance if they want to win this game. The Sun Devils leading scorer has two points on 1-for-4 shooting. That is not going to cut it.
Kirsten Thompson, the 6-foot-6 backup center for ASU, just took a tumble going for a rebound and was helped off the court. Though she is the Sun Devils tallest player, she has done little to slow down Kia Vaughn thus far who has 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting to go with two rebounds and two blocks. Thompson went to the locker room but was back moments later.
ASU's cheerleading team is back out, and the same male cheerleader that was having trouble with his lifts on Saturday is struggling again. Let's hope we don't have any problems.
It's hard to believe this is the same Rutgers team I watched on Saturday against Duke that couldn't score for much of a game. The difference is that ASU does not have someone like Alison Bales to defend the paint. Rutgers is having a field day inside, with Kia Vaughn just getting a bucket and drawing the foul heading into the TV timeout. She heads to the line to try and extend Rutgers 25-20 lead at the 7:18 mark.
ASU has tried to cycle a bunch of different lineups in and out, with coach Charli Turnen-Thorne sometimes subbing in four girls at once. She has even given major run to the 6-foot-6 Jirsten Thompson, but she does not have the mobility to hinder Vaughn.
Kia Vaughn just put it DOWN. Her post-shot celebrations are as intimidating as anything -- screaming and fist pumping from her already intimidating frame would have ME a little worried, not to mention that she already has 8 points, making her a much bigger scoring threat than she usually presents. I say, keep dishing it to Vaughn inside until ASU figures something out, and then you'll have Ajavon or Prince freed up outside to knock down a few killers.
I hate to keep harping on Briann January (and I am running out of January puns), but she has been the story for ASU so far as her seven points pace the Sun Devils' attack. The point is, her concussion is not a problem. What is the problem is the ASU interior defense. They didn't have to worry about it much against Bowling Green because the Falcons had very little size.
Rutgers, on the other hand has the 6-foot-4 Kia Vaughn as well as Matee Ajavon and Epiphanny Price, who are having no trouble getting in the lane. Rutgers leads 19-16 with 11:04 left in the half.
Matee Ajavon's getting what she wants out there. An inside layup, a long three, two made free throws, you name it. She didn't get started until the second half Saturday and managed to key her team to victory. Imagine what could happen if she can stay hot today...It could be Matee's world, and we're just living in it.
Although I might be blogging too soon now that a couple of ASU shots have fallen, Rutgers looks pretty good here in the early going. ASU's 6-6 attempt at an answer to Kia Vaughn, Kirsten Thompson, is no match for Vaughn inside, and Epiphanny and Matee have both gotten shots to fall.
To this point Briann January looks fine. ASU's second-leading scorer set up center Kirsten Thompson for ASU's first bucket off a pick and roll and just scored her first two points on free throws after earning her trip to the line on a strong drive.
CSTV.com is rolling deep tonight in Greensboro. We were worried we were going to outnumber the fans here from the looks of the parking lot earlier today, but the turnout has been fairly decent for two way out of state teams. Tonight the CSTV roll call includes myself and Matt Meyers (your faithful Arizona State cover-er, for tonight) and also the guys from CSTV.com's Hoops Odyssey, Matt Waxman and Jake Osterhout. We've got more angles than a hexadecagon, folks. You'll read it here first.
Sun Devils guard Briann January missed Saturday's game with a concussion, but ASU fans can rest easy because she is back in the starting lineup tonight. We'lll see if there are any lingering effects.
Watching these two teams take the court is a study of opposites. Arizona State might be the higher seeded team, but they certainly haven't been the higher regarded team by the media here in Greensboro.
To look at them lined up, they are completely physically different. ("I like the fact that people underestimate us, think that we're a bunch of skinny white girls who aren't athletic," Emily Westerberg said frankly yesterday), and Arizona State gets all the finesse points while Rutgers racks up the "brawling", "defensive" descriptors. Fact is, the Sun Devils know how to press with the best of 'em, and Matee Ajavon has showed over and over in this tournament that she can shoot sharp as ever, so these two very different teams might make the perfect match.
Jess and I are back in Greensboro with a Final Four bid on the line between Rutgers and Arizona State. With Duke eliminated on Saturday, we expected a sparse crowd tonight. We weren't the only ones, because the ACC issued a release begging area residents to show up. We are not sure if that tactic worked, but there are definitely more people here than I expected, which is definitely a good thing.
We'll be continuing our style from Saturday with each of us blogging from one team's perspective. I am taking ASU and Jess has got Rutgers. Let's rock.
So much for Sunday as a day of rest. These two teams have today and only today to prepare for each other. Sure, they prepared to play each other in a preseason tournament, but both teams have grown remarkably since that time, so there's plenty of scouting to be done.
Arizona State's out on the court for their closed practice (which I discovered after traipsing out of the court and being reprimanded by a beefy event staff guy) and has their off-day press conference thereafter. You can bet a lot of the talk is going to be about the preseason tournament matchup that was cancelled between these two teams after a death in the ASU family -- it was a subject that brough both Emily Westerberg and Charli Turner Thorne to tears on the winner's podium yesterday. Today they have to be more prepared for the questions, but the subject is still overwhelmingly emotional.
For all the hospitality they've offered us here in Greensboro (and it's been fantastic, a sentiment echoed by ASU's Charli Turner Thorne in her press conference), it looks like they're a little worried that it will be a ghost town here on Monday night now that forgone Elite Eight conclusion Duke is, well, gone.
The official statement from ACC Commissioner John D. Swofford, released to the press minutes ago:
"The great thing about the Triad Community is that it has a tradition of hospitality, especially when it comes to college athletics.
On Monday night, Arizona State and Rutgers will compete at 7 p.m. for the chance to advance to the Final Four. We encourage all ACC fans, women's basketball fans and sports enthusiasts to come out, support these teams and make a difference.
Let's show our appreciation for these student-athletes and demonstrate why this community has come to be recognized as 'Tournament Town.'"
I hear ya, Johnny. I'll be there.
On the list of my favorite sports performances, Matee Ajavon's second-half ranks up there between Michael Johnson in the 1996 Olympics and Randolph Childress in the 1995 ACC tournament.
You feel horrible for Lindsey Harding, to have her career end with two missed free throws, but you have to give all sorts of credit to Rutgers. They did not back down from a team that beat them by 40 in December and they have Ajavon to thank.
Matee Ajavon just hit a three off the dribble to make it 52-51 Duke with 48.5 left.
I hate to use a cliche, but Ajavon has put the Rutgers team on her back this half. It has been one of the best performances of the tourney and she now has 16 second-half points.
Duke just got PUNKED. Alison Bales, as predicted, was the go-to option, put up her jump shot and it banked out. Wanisha Smith got the rebound, but just as fast Epiphanny Prince ripped it out of her hands, went coast-to-coast and hit the off-balance layup to give Rutgers the LEAD, 53-52. 12 seconds. what happens now!?
After their offense deserted them for much of the game, it is now the Rutgers defense that has been their undoing. Matee Ajavon continues to score and has twice set up Heather Zurich for jumpers, but they cannot get a big stop when they need it.
Zurich just cut it to two, but Carrem Gay got an easy bucket on the other end to extedn it to 52-48.
Bales just picked up her fourth foul with two minutes remaining. If she sits, it could mean disaster for Duke.
One small comfort: a new Blue Devils' scoring option in the form of Wanisha Smith, otherwise dormant through most of the game, has picked up four quick points on two breakaway plays, keeping Duke in the lead.
Carrem Gay must have heard me -- she just got a layup inside to extend Duke's lead to four.
As Mel Greenberg of the Philadelphia Inquirer just said to me, "how many more bullets can Rutgers dodge?" They have kept the deficit at two for last couple of minutes, but have been unable to get the tying or leading bucket.
Alison Bales is about to head to the line for Duke with a chance to extend their 43-41 lead. There is 3:17 on the clock and the Scarlet Knights need one in shining armor.
Three minutes and a two point lead is apparently the magic combination to get the Duke fans to their feet here in Greensboro. Otherwise fairly sedate compared to their Rutgers counterparts (and certainly the Bowling Green fans that came before them) the Blue Devil find their team in a bit of a pickle. They don't seem to have a single go-to offensive option, and if it wasn't for Rutgers' shooting woes, they might not have the lead at all.
Bales, with 19 points, has to be the Devils' go-to gal for the rest of this game. She hasn't hit the mid-range shot since the first half, but that could be the straw that breaks the Knights' backs if she can get it to fall.
Rutgers has brought a solid cheering section with them, and it is a group that looks more likely to be getting senior citizen discounts than student discounts. I don't see many students in the group, it looks more like alums and family. They are loud and proud, that is for sure.
Kia Vaughn just hit a long two-pointer to tie the game at 39 with 8:10 left. Yowsa.
