Thursday, March 12, 1998
Women ready for first tournament run in six years
Bruins enter competition with high hopes after strong season
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA senior guard Tawana Grimes has never seen post-season
college play due to the Bruins’ six year absence from the NCAA
Tournament, but she knows what she’s talking about.
"At this point, it’s not about being satisfied, it’s about being
ready for the tournament," Grimes said.
Players, coaches and journalists have had five days since the
tournament selections came out to discuss the seedings and try to
predict who will win it all. Now it’s time to play basketball –
women’s style.
* * *
In the first round,UCLA, seeded No.7, will play No. 10 Michigan
in Tuscaloosa, AL. It’ll be a battle of teams trying to begin a
tradition. It has been six years since the Bruins have been invited
to the Big Dance. The last and only appearance by the Wolverines
was in 1990. UCLA (19-8, 14-4 Pac-10) and Michigan (19-9, 10-6 Big
Ten): This will also be the first time in history that each school
play each together.
The Bruins have shown that they have what it takes to compete
against highly-ranked national teams. In fact, the only losses (in
the Pac 10) that they have suffered came from Stanford and Arizona
– who are both Top 10 schools. Earlier in the year, the Bruins
almost defeated North Carolina (another top-ranked team) in
overtime.
One match-up to look for should be that of the centers.
Michigan’s 6-foot-3 All-Big Ten First-teamer Pollyanna Johns will
go up against the Bruins’ 6-foot-4 sophomore Janae Hubbard. Johns
averaged 18.2 points this year, and led the conference with 9.6
rebounds and a .620 field goal percentage while Hubbard averaged
10.7 in points, 5.8 in rebounds, and .534 in field goal percentage.
However, after her career highs in both points (26) and rebounds
(18) against Washington State, few doubt Hubbard’s mettle or
muscle.
* * *
If they win, the Bruins will face the winner of the Alabama-NC
Greensboro game.
Much of Alabama’s success is due to junior guard Dominique
Canty, one of the best players in the nation, who averages 21
points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.
If the Bruins have to play Alabama, they will have to deal with
the pressure of playing in front of a spirited squad. But, the
Bruins are used to playing under pressure. A win against Alabama
will certainly be one of the biggest for the Bruins.
* * *
Find out what respect means to the Pac-10. This weekend, five
out of the 10 schools in the Pac-10 have spots in the
tournament.
Stanford sits atop of the West as the No.1 seed. Stanford’s only
Pac-10 defeat came at the hands of Arizona, but the Cardinal later
avenged that loss by burning the Wildcats for 108 points at Maples
Pavilion, where they have not lost since 1994 in 59 straight games.
In short: don’t ever expect an early exit from the Cardinal if they
play at home.
The only team in the conference to beat the Cardinal this year
is Arizona. The No. 3 seed in the east, the Wildcats shouldn’t have
any problem with 14th seed Santa Clara, but should expect a fight
from Virginia if they meet in the second round. Should the Wildcats
survive that they would probably be congratulated by UConn, right
before Connecticut attempts to prove whether they can still compete
with the absence of Nykesha Sales.
The other conference teams change, then, from the one and three
seeds of Stanford and Arizona to the 12 and 13 seeds of Oregon and
Washington. The Ducks (17-9, 13-5) have been steady and consistent
all year. They probably clinched their berth in the final weeks
when they went into overtime at Arizona State and won 69-67 and had
a strong game at home in the final week of the season against
Stanford before falling 79-71. Oregon, though, is a No.12 seed, and
as a consequence must face No. 5 seed Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights
pulled off a miracle win against UConn in the regular season on a
buzzer-beating half-court shot; the Huskies avenged that loss by
beating up on Rutgers in the Big East Championship game. As solid a
team as Oregon may claim to be, though, don’t expect the Scarlet
Knights to be damsels in distress against the Ducks.
Perhaps the greatest testimony to the strength of the Pac-10,
however, may be seen in the fate of Washington. Starting the season
10-0, with wins over Kansas, Iowa, Vanderbilt and NC State, the
Huskies finished the season (9-9) in the conference. All of
Washington’s losses came from Pac-10 teams. The Huskies garnered
the No. 13 seed and will face the No. 6 seeded Clemson Tigers in a
tournament appearance.
With UCLA and other powerful constituents representing the
Pac-10 playing in the tournament, there will definitely be a lot to
talk about during March Madness.