Posted by Mechelle Voepel
There have been seasons when the Duke-North Carolina matchups are among the biggest games of the year in all of women's basketball. This year, those two contests are still biggies … but both teams enter the first of two regular-season meetings a little deflated.
Sixth-ranked Duke lost its most recent game, Thursday at Boston College. And No. 15 Carolina has lost two in a row, at home last Monday to Florida State and at Miami on Thursday.
So neither is exactly coming in with a big head of steam as Duke and UNC face off at Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7 ET Monday on ESPN2.
The disparity between the media ranking (9 spots) and that of the coaches last week for the Tar Heels, of course, reflected that the coaches poll doesn't come out until Tuesday. Thus, they were voting after the Tar Heels lost at home last Monday to Florida State.
Following that game -- in which North Carolina fell behind big, rallied, but never could quite wrest away the lead from the Seminoles -- coach Sylvia Hatchell ripped her team for failing at one thing UNC traditionally does well: rebound.
The Seminoles outrebounded the Heels 47-32, prompting Hatchell to call a 6 a.m. practice for the next day to work on the boards. She also said her team had lost its edge and that opponents weren't in fear of the Heels at all.
And she has a point there. People can -- and do -- criticize Hatchell for her coaching philosophy and feel she wastes possessions and … well, everyone knows the standard complaints about Carolina.
But at the very least in the ACC, that style has intimidated its foes and worked well for quite some time against everybody except you-know-who. And it has worked against them, too, in recent years.
The series history: UNC leads Duke 45-31, but the rivalry has had two periods of one-sidedness in the past decade-plus. From 1999-2004, Duke won 15 of 16 meetings, including a stretch of 12 in a row.
From 2005 through last year, Carolina won nine of 12. The teams split their meetings last season, with UNC winning in Chapel Hill 75-60, but Duke winning in Durham, 81-79, in overtime.
Duke is 18-4 and 6-1 going into Monday's game; UNC is 16-4 and a middle-of-the-pack 4-3 in the ACC. The fact that it's Duke vs. Carolina does over-ride everything, of course, so there will still be a lot of excitement.
UNC's Jessica Breland, who is redshirting this season after battling cancer this summer, is feeling very good and doing some workouts. And sitting on the bench is difficult for her; she gets restless wishing she could go into the game. That especially will be the case against Duke.
And what about the Blue Devils? They seemed to have rebounded well from their crunching loss to UConn -- a fate the Tar Heels also shared, by the way -- and had dispatched all their ACC opponents until going to BC on Thursday. That trip did have "danger" marked on it for Duke because the Eagles are 4-1 at home in ACC play, but 0-3 on the road.
Duke has won this season with stifling defense (as is going to be the case under coach Joanne P. McCallie). Even after giving up a whopping 61 points to BC, the Blue Devils still lead the ACC by a considerable margin in defense during league play. In their seven ACC games, Duke has allowed an average of just 50.4 points.
On the other end of that spectrum is Carolina, last in the league during ACC play in defense at 73.4. But, not surprisingly, the Tar Heels are first in offense at 75.7 ppg.
So Monday will be, to say the least, a contrast in styles. A loss would drop Duke into a tie for first place with Florida State (although the Blue Devils won their head-to-head matchup by 30 points).
A loss would drop Carolina to a .500 ACC record. The Heels haven't lost more than five games in the ACC since the 2000-01 season, when they were 7-9; that was the only year in the last 13 in which Carolina did not make the NCAA tournament.
It doesn't seem likely Carolina is really going to fall out of NCAA contention. But Hatchell wants her players to realize it's not as if that is out of the realm of possibility if they don't take care of business. Even if they don't beat Duke, they need to play well enough to get some positive feelings back, with Boston College visiting and a trip to Virginia coming up next.
So while Monday's game won't have a top-of-the-rankings luster to it, it still has some significant consequences.
Posted by Mechelle Voepel
Friday marked our annual Women's Sports Awards Luncheon event in Kansas City. It benefits an organization called Win for K.C., a local incarnation of what the Women's Sports Foundation is nationally.
It's an inspiring, energy-charged event, and this year was especially a big deal, with women's sports legend Billie Jean King as keynote speaker. She started the WSF back in 1974, so this was her chance to see the microcosm of her life's work represented in this Midwestern community.
Among the award winners this year was a 73-year-old grandmother who has run 97 marathons. Yes -- 97! Her goal is to reach 100, although I seriously doubt she'll stop there. She has run a marathon in all 50 states and on all seven continents. And guess when she actually took up running? When she was 50.
I swear I'm not making up this stuff. Each luncheon, we hear stories like this, so it's always one of the best days of the year for me. Except …
This year, right as the luncheon was about to start, I saw a message on my BlackBerry that Kansas senior Danielle McCray had suffered an ACL injury and was out for the season.
I had to look at it three times to believe it. I kept thinking -- hoping? -- I was reading it wrong. You'd think after all the ACL injuries I've had to report about in 26 years of covering women's basketball, they would lose the power to upset me. But that isn't the case.
They still do. Some, though, hit harder than others. When they happen to someone whom you talked to on her first college media day, whom you've watched grow from a uncertain freshman to a confident senior, whom you've seen blossom into an excellent pro prospect and also a fine young woman … those hit really hard.
After the luncheon, I ran into former Kansas State players Danielle Zanotti and Marlies Gipson, who finished their careers last season and now are helping on Deb Patterson's staff. Even though Kansas and Kansas State are big rivals, rivalries go out the window when it comes to injuries, one of the unifying miseries of sports.
Zanotti looked stricken when I told her of McCray's ACL.
"Oh, God, no," she said. "I feel sick to my stomach. It's like Dietz."
She was referring to former teammate Kimberly Dietz, who suffered a torn ACL in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Big 12 tournament, in her senior season. All ACLs are awful, but they are most painful when they happen to a senior.
Kansas and Kansas State face off for the 100th time in series history Sunday in Lawrence. It's notable that both schools actually had varsity women's hoops programs before Title IX, starting them in the 1968-69 season.
Both have had sustained periods of success, but Kansas started a down cycle at the start of the last decade. The Jayhawks haven't been to the NCAA tournament since 2000, but this year was supposed to change all that.
With a team led by seniors McCray, the Big 12 preseason player of the year, and Sade Morris, plus redshirt freshman Angel Goodrich back from an ACL injury that delayed the start of her college career, Kansas was picked, in a tie with Texas, to finish second in the league by the coaches.
However, Goodrich suffered another ACL injury on Jan. 13 against Oklahoma State. Talking to McCray after that game, I was struck by her resolve and leadership. She immediately began bolstering the confidence of teammate LaChelda Jacobs, whom she knew would have to take on a bigger role with Goodrich out.
This was the player McCray had become in her time at Kansas. And that was quite a journey from the athletically gifted freshman who at times butted heads with coaches early on because she always wanted to know "why?" something was done a certain way. She wasn't obstinate, but she tended to be a bit stubborn and wary about things.
Her mother, though, told her, "You listen to your coaches," and McCray did. An excellent track and field athlete as well as a hoops player in high school, McCray had to reshape her body more toward basketball. She had to learn how to be a perimeter player. She had to realize that her teammates always followed her lead. She didn't "ask" to be the leader. But sometimes you don't choose that role. It chooses you.
KU coach Bonnie Henrickson worked with McCray though all of this. She was very confident that McCray had developed into an all-around star certain to be a WNBA first-round draft pick in April.
"What a phenomenal career she has had here," Henrickson said. "I've never had a kid who's wanted the ball in her hands and wanted to take the big shots at crunch time more than she did."
Unfortunately, Henrickson has to speak of McCray's KU career in the past tense now. On Thursday, during a simple practice drill in which McCray neither did a jump stop nor cut hard nor had any contact with anyone, she simply passed the ball and turned to run …
"And then there was the blood-curdling scream," Henrickson said. "It didn't buckle like you sometimes see. Plus, you look at the kid -- she's so strong, especially in the lower body. She said, 'Coach, I've done that [move] thousands of times.'"
Of course, we all know that's how it can be with ACL injuries. They're the perplexing, infuriating, heartbreaking, soul-shattering boogeyman of women's basketball.
The good news, since we always have to look for some, is that while she suffered an ACL tear, she did not sustain any other damage to her knee. When McCray heard that, she suggested trying to brace it and play through the rest of the season.
Henrickson, though admiring her resolve, told McCray that would not be in the best interest of her future.
"I have no doubt she's going to be drafted and she's going to be a good player at the next level," Henrickson said. "She'll get surgery, she'll rehab … this will make her even stronger. That's the big thing we communicated to her, 'Your basketball career is not over; there is still a lot left.'"
However, the 5-foot-11 McCray -- who was averaging 19.8 points and 7.2 rebounds -- won't get to play in her last Big 12 tournament, which is in K.C. She went to high school in nearby Olathe, Kan. And if the 13-7 Jayhawks can manage an NCAA tournament bid, she won't get to participate in the Big Dance.
The Jayhawks have the deepest team they've had since Henrickson has been at KU, so there are at least other talented players who now will have to do more. As a coach, Henrickson has to focus on that, although she admitted she had some depressed moments Friday, when she still had a hard time believing McCray's career as a Jayhawk was finished.
"It's such a horrible part of our profession," Henrickson said. "Every coach has had to deal with it. It's such a horrific injury for the kids, and then meeting with their parents and trying to be strong for them. You have to let them know how many kids have gotten hurt this way but continued on. But it's gut-wrenching to watch them go through it."
As women's basketball followers, we all feel that. I wish McCray's story was a rare one; unfortunately, it's not.
A ray of light? Hours after this happened to McCray on Thursday, Southern Cal's Jacki Gemelos -- who has been through four ACL surgeries -- made her long-awaited college debut. She had eight points and five assists in 28 minutes.
The ACL "club" is something no one wants to join, and it has far, far too many members. But it means McCray has a whole lot of great examples to follow.
Posted by Mechelle Voepel
On Jan. 24, 2009, you might have woken up and seen the news of something you sadly expected but also hoped wouldn't happen. NC State coach Kay Yow passed away at age 66 after a fight with cancer that stretched more than two decades and inspired millions.
"I cannot believe it's been a year," said broadcaster Debbie Antonelli, who played for Yow at NC State and is on the board of directors for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
"As far as the fund, the message is still the same. Please give your time, your talent, your treasures. Anything you give goes to research. And because of that, you are making a difference in helping find a cure. That's the legacy she wanted to have."
Coming up in February will be the "Pink Zone," a Women's Basketball Coaches Association initiative that began in 2007 with 120 schools participating. Last year, more than 1,600 teams and organizations took part, raising more than $1.3 million.
The Pink Zone this year runs from Feb. 12-21 and will be even bigger. Among the games that will be televised by ESPN networks during the Pink Zone are Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Green Bay (Feb. 13, ESPNU), Miami at NC State (Feb. 14, ESPN2), North Carolina at Virginia (Feb. 15, ESPN2), Connecticut at Oklahoma (Feb. 15, ESPN2) and Michigan at Ohio State (Feb. 21, ESPN2). ESPN's annual whiparound coverage on Feb. 14 will again include eight televised games in two telecast windows.
The Tar Heels-Cavaliers game will have a special meaning to it, considering how both North Carolina player Jessica Breland and Virginia coach Debbie Ryan have fought cancer.
Breland, one of the top post players in the nation, is redshirting this season after undergoing chemotherapy this past summer for Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.
Ryan, who overcame pancreatic cancer in 2000, sent Breland a Build-A-Bear stuffed toy and well wishes when she found out about her illness.
"That was really sweet," Breland said. "When I got sick, it wasn't about which team I played for. It was a lot of people reaching out to me."
Indeed, despite the competition that will be happening on the courts, during the Pink Zone everyone will be on the same team when it comes to raising funds for cancer research.
"Instead of it being a sad occasion," Antonelli said of reflecting on Yow's passing and the Pink Zone, "I'm looking forward to celebrating all the efforts we've made and being thankful to all the coaches and the student-athletes who are participating."
Women's Basketball
