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by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com

You can add North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell’s name to the growing list of coaches who are displeased with this year’s NCAA Tournament seedings. UNC, the #1 seed in the New Orleans regional, will face the #2 seed LSU Lady Tigers in New Orleans tonight, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in Tampa next weekend. UNC (33-2, #2 AP, #2 Coaches/USA Today) will be vying for their third straight trip to the Final Four, while LSU (30-5, #6 AP, #5 Coaches/USA Today) is going for their fifth straight Final Four appearance. Hatchell, one of the winningest active coaches in the women’s game, said, “It’s a shame we have to play to go to the Final Four …I definitely feel like LSU should be a No. 1 seed. This game could easily be the caliber of game you’d see for a national championship. In fact, it could actually be better.” Hatchell won’t get any disagreement from her counterpart on the LSU bench, Hall of Famer and reigning SEC Coach of the Year Van Chancellor. In his usual plain-spoken down-home manner, Chancellor said he’d feel like “someone (on the selection committee) didn’t like me” if the roles were reversed and his team had a #1 seed but had to play the Tar Heels in North Carolina to make it through to the Final Four. Seems like there are more than a few grumblings around the country with the way this year’s pairings were seeded. Are you listening, C. Viv?

Tonight’s game will also most likely see one of these two teams tumble from the top of the NCAA heap in one of the statistical categories each team leads. UNC leads the nation in points scored per game, averaging 87.9, whereas LSU is #1 in scoring defense, allowing just 50.6 points per game. Additionally, LSU is tops in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, at +1.4, and North Carolina leads the nation in blocked shots per game, averaging 7.1 per contest as a team.

LSU is led by SEC Player of the Year (both media and coaches’ poll) Sylvia Fowles, who was also named SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Big Syl is one of the most fluid big players to ever play the game. At 6-6, she moves extremely well with or without the ball, and gets it done at both ends of the court, averaging 17.2 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game. In addition to connecting on 59.9% of her shots from the field (which is good enough for 6th in the nation), Fowles alters untold number of shots inside. In fact, more than one opposing coach has said their entire game plan had to be altered to counter Big Syl’s presence in the paint. Lest anyone think LSU is a one-woman show, one need look no further than Saturday’s Sweet Sixteen matchup with Oklahoma State. With Fowles triple- and quadruple-teamed at times, scoring only 11 points, three other Tigers stepped up and scored in double figures, with point guard Erica White leading the way and putting the final nails in the Cowgirls’ coffin. LSU has won 20 of their last 22 games. There is no denying the team chemistry on this Lady Tiger squad, with eight seniors making their final Final Four push.

The UNC Tarheels are no slouch when it comes to a balanced attack, with five players averaging in double figures in scoring. Coach Sylvia Hatchell says, “The best thing about us is our balance.“ UNC is riding an impressive win streak of their own, having won 24 of their past 25 games. Additionally, UNC went 14-0 in the ACC, the first time they have gone undefeated in conference play. The Tarheels are 3-2 all-time in regional final games. Oddly enough, this will only be the second time these teams have ever met, with the last matchup won by LSU back in 1986, in Hatchell’s second-ever game at UNC.

Probable starters for LSU:

G Erica White, 5-3 SR: 7.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.4 apg
G RaShonta LeBlanc, 5-7 SR: 6.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.5 apg
G Quianna Chaney, 5-11 SR: 14.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.2 apg
F Ashley Thomas, 6-0 SR: 5.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.5 spg
C Sylvia Fowles, 6-6 SR: 17.1 ppg, 10 rpg, 59.9% FG

Probable starters for UNC:

G Cetera DeGraffenreid, 5-6 FR: 11.8 ppg, 3.3 apg, 2.34 spg
G Heather Claytor, 5-8 JR: 5.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.17 spg
F Rashanda McCants, 6-1 JR: 15.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.17 spg
F Erlana Larkins, 6-1 SR: 13.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.1 apg
C LaToya Pringle, 6-3 SR: 14.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.69 bpg

My prediction is this one is too close to call. This may truly be the best matchup of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Too bad this isn’t a Final Four championship game. The deciding factors may come down to intangibles: eight seniors wanting to keep their streak of five alive, and how much a factor the purple-and-gold-clad crowd will play. But sadly, the officials may play a large part in the outcome of this one. Will they allow Larkins to body-bang on Big Syl in the paint the way they have allowed her to play all season, or will it be a game of ticky-tack fouls? All I ask for - nay, BEG for - is some consistency from the zebras on both ends of the court.

Posted under LSU & LeAnne Harrington & NCAA Tournament | No Comments »

by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com

Much has been made of my recent opinion piece “Shut Up and Play”. I have been labeled everything from a hack to things that cannot be reprinted here, and the article itself has been termed everything from ludicrous to libelous. For the record, the article was an opinion piece and was therefore labeled as such, but it is refreshing to know that there are many others out there who share my opinion about the direction the women’s game has taken lately. Yes, I put a big-time program in a not-so-very-flattering spotlight, but I also called to task any programs that were allowing such displays on the court to continue unchallenged and unabated.

Yesterday’s Sweet Sixteen matchup between LSU and Oklahoma State saw some of the behavior I addressed in “Shut Up and Play” on display and what can result when matters get out of hand.  LSU’s Erica White and Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley had been going at it all afternoon, with each one doing their fair share of jawing back and forth. For the record, each of these two young women are excellent athletes who are vital cogs to their respective programs. White, LSU’s point guard, has been described by coach Van Chancellor as the player who runs the team and who is the heart and soul of the Lady Tiger squad. Riley, a gifted guard who can shoot from anywhere on the court, was the only player keeping the Cowgirls in this game, hitting 13 of her team’s first 16 points. But what began as verbal sparring between these two turned far uglier as the game progressed. Riley blocked a White jumper in the lane and seemed to have a few words to add to it afterwards. White can be seen answering her as they turned back down court, but what happened next is both inexcusable and unexplainable, as you can see for yourself in the video posted below.

Riley drives down the left side of the lane with White on her hip, and puts up a shot which misses. As they are fighting for position on the rebound, Riley cheap shots White with an open-handed hit to the head.  It is inexcusable that a player would allow their emotions to get so out of hand that they would strike another player in such a manner, but what is unexplainable is the fact that THREE officials missed the cheap shot thrown by Riley.  At the very least it was technical-worthy, and the ESPN analysts back in the studio remarked she was lucky to have not been ejected from the game.

In a classy move by Van Chancellor, he subbed White out of the game, allowing her to cool off on the bench for a few moments to circumvent any natural tendency towards retaliation she may have been tempted to show. Sadly, Oklahoma State’s coach, Kurt Budke, didn’t do the same. I find it hard to believe that not a single person on OSU’s coaching staff saw Riley hit White. Instead, it seems as if they chose to ignore it and leave her in the game. I guess it’s hard to remove your only productive player from the lineup when you’re getting beat. Riley finished as the only player in double-digits for OSU with 26. To White’s credit, when she re-entered the contest, she let her game speak for itself. White led her team with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals and was the spark which ignited LSU into their fifth straight Elite Eight appearance.

“Trash talking”, long a fixture in the men’s game, has become more and more commonplace in women’s college basketball over the past few years, and it is a trend which adds nothing positive to the game. Players who “trash talk” and direct their celebrations at an opponent may get their 15 seconds of fame on an ESPN low-light reel, but those are not the players who deserve to be emulated. Many players, and thereby the coaches who allow it to continue, view “trash talking” as just one more way to gain advantage over an opponent through mental intimidation - a way of getting into the opponent’s head. But does this not feed into the mindset of victory by any means necessary? When left unchecked, incidences such as that which occurred yesterday will become more commonplace. “Trash talking” can lead to disastrous results when immature players can’t stop their emotions at their mouth and allow it to progress to their hands.

So what’s the answer? If the officials are unable or unwilling to put a stop to on-court antics such as what was seen yesterday, then it is up to the coaches to step in and take control of their players, such as Van Chancellor did yesterday. Good sportsmanship never goes out of style.  Let your game speak for itself. Everything else is just unnecessary.

Posted under Hot Topic & LSU & LeAnne Harrington & NCAA Tournament & Video | 3 Comments »