Notes and Quotes From Around the 2008 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament
March 15th 2008
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
(March 11th, 2008 @ 2:38am)
With all the serious implications of the games played at the 2008 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament - who lives to play another day, whose season came to an end - there were also a lot of light-hearted moments during the four days in Nashville. Following are a few of the more humorous happenings and less than serious moments from around the 2008 tourney, with a few fun facts thrown in for good measure.
One of the biggest off-the-court stories of the tournament involved UT coach Pat Head Summitt’s Wednesday night tangle with a raccoon on the deck of her Knoxville-area home. After taking her golden retriever for a walk, Summitt returned to find a raccoon staked out on her deck with mischief on his mind. Rocky the raccoon attempted to attack Pat’s dog and without thinking, she lunged at the raccoon, striking it with such force that she dislocated her right shoulder. Pat was none the worse for wear, but rumor has it that the raccoon didn’t fare so well.
Carol Ross, former Florida and Ole Miss coach who was in town to provide color commentary for Fox SportsNet, was all about the wildlife at this year’s tourney. In her commentary during Vanderbilt’s quarterfinal matchup with Auburn, Ross referred to VU senior post Liz Sherwood’s “bunny hop” which led to several traveling violations in the tourney. Then, during Saturday’s semifinals, the story of Pat’s raccoon wrangling was being recounted. To which Ross replied: “Poor raccoon.” No official word on the raccoon’s condition, although Summitt was quoted as saying, “that raccoon is in bad shape.”
Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner commenting on one of her players diving into the bench during their game against Mississippi State: “Yeah, I took the charge. But then I picked her up and threw her back out.”
First-year Florida coach Amanda Butler on getting the first-round win over South Carolina on her 36th birthday: “It was all I wanted. I just wanted to win. Didn’t care by how many, didn’t care what it looked like, just wanted to win and advance.”
Of note is the fact that in the Florida/South Carolina game, at the half, Florida’s Depree Bowden had outscored the entire South Carolina team 19-17. When asked by a particularly astute reporter in the post-game press conference if she knew about the stat and whether she’d ever been involved in a game like that before, Bowden replied, “No, I didn’t realize I outscored them in the first half, and yes, I have been involved in something like that before.” Nobody ever said reporters were the brightest bulbs in the box…
Georgia’s coach Andy Landers was less than ecstatic over his team’s lackluster performance against #12 seed Alabama in the first round on Friday. When recounting his halftime “chat” with his team, Landers said, “I walked in and asked ‘How do ya’ll feel about the way you played?’ No answer. No answer. I mean, that’s not a trick question.”
LSU’s SEC Coach of the Year Van Chancellor, when doing sports commentating for Fox, would always toss candy to the crowd at each game. He has continued the tradition at LSU, pulling Jolly Ranchers from his pocket and tossing them to waving fans. One of Van’s candy recipients at Saturday’s semifinal game against Kentucky: Wildcat head coach Matthew Mitchell.
Speaking of Van and Matt: both are from the same small Mississippi town of Louisville, population 7,006. Louisville is near the middle of the state, and lies 86 miles west of Tuscaloosa, AL. I don’t know what’s in the water there, but any coaches with aspirations of coaching in the SEC might want to bottle it.
That’s all for now of notes and quotes from the 2008 SEC tourney. More later…
) so thanks in advance for your patience!