Much was made of the way Gonzaga thrived in an underdog???s role in this year???s NCAA Tournament. The Zags, a No. 11 seed and an at-large bid for the first time in three years, took down sixth-seeded George Washington and third-seeded Oregon State (on the Beavers??? home court to boot) in thrilling … [Read more...]
A Legacy Builds
The morning after helping the Princeton women???s basketball team to its first??NCAA Tournament win in program history, the latest feat in a season defined by the unprecedented, Annie Tarakchian (aka Tarak Attack+ACE) and Blake Dietrick (Shake N??? Blake+ACE) stood outside a locker room and, between bouts … [Read more...]
Thirteen Points
Taylor Proctor is sitting in the Bill Russell Conference room, just a few steps from the War Memorial Gymnasium court, minutes removed from helping lead USF to a 2-0 start to the season. She+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s picked out her post-game meal from the spread of hot-plated trays stacked in the corner. One … [Read more...]
Winning Energy
Closed door scrimmages, long a staple of the college basketball preseason, are notorious for being top-secret stuff. In this instance, however, Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne was willing to make an exception. +ACYAIw-8220+ADs-Katie Hempen took four charges in our first scrimmage,+ACYAIw-8221+ADs Turner … [Read more...]
Great Momentum
Kari Korver, jumping off her seat on the bench. If you watched UCLA last season, it was a common sight. It might have been after a made basket, when Korver developed the habit of giving every one of her teammates seated alongside her a hearty high-five. But it more likely came after a Bruin played … [Read more...]
Stoking The Fire
Despite a decade of near-unparalleled dominance in the West Coast Conference, punctuated by six straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Gonzaga women+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s basketball team has this unscratchable itch. The kind you get when pundits feel that the program you+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-re part of has hit its ceiling. … [Read more...]
Fly Together
The Oregon women+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s basketball team hasn+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-t been to the NCAA Tournament in nine seasons. The last time it finished with a winning record was seven years ago. Consider the task arrayed before first-year Ducks head coach Kelly Graves. But this is nothing new for Graves. When he began his … [Read more...]
Strictly Buckets
Years ago, in a secluded pocket of Hawaii+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s biggest island, the Galdeira brothers played with their favorite toy. Which, for Zechariah, Jacob, Elijah and Joel, just so happened to be their little sister, Lia. As the youngest, Lia didn+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-t have much say in the matter. And like many sibling … [Read more...]
The Program
There+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s a human element to sports at any level, and in Lindsay Gottlieb+ACYAIw-8217+ADs-s office, just a few steps from the Haas Pavilion court on the University of California campus, it shines forth. There are commemorative basketballs, and the various paraphernalia of a??coach always on the move. … [Read more...]