Final Four Irish insider for 4/1/2011

Connecticut. Stanford.Baylor. Tennessee.Prior to the NCAA tourna-

ment, President BarackObama picked those four No.1 seeds to reach the FinalFour, and you really can’tblame him. (He also pickedDuke,Kansas,Ohio StateandPittsburghon themen’s side,but that’s aseparateissue).But, of

course, hepickedwrong.Led by

coachGeno Auriemma, the Huskiesare the two-time defendingnational champions and fea-ture the best all-aroundplayer in the country in sen-ior guard Maya Moore.They’re going toIndianapolis.The

Cardinal arethe onlyteam in thecountry tobeatConnecticutin the lastthree sea-sons (once inthe FinalFour in 2008and againduring the2011 regularseason).They’regoing toIndianapolis.The Bears

have Brittney Griner, a 6’8”sophomore and probably theonly female forward in thenation who can dunk a bas-ketball. They lost to TexasA&M in the Elite Eight.They’re going home.Tennessee’s Pat Summitt is

the all-time winningestcoach in NCAA basketball,men’s or women’s. She alsohas the best glare in thegame. For the first time in21 meetings, the LadyVolunteers lost to NotreDame. They’re going home.The television networks

will do their annual raindance in the hopes of aConnecticut-Stanfordrematch for the nationaltitle. ESPN’s Rebecca Lobowill compare the all-aroundgreatness of Moore to theall-around greatness of for-mer Huskies’ star DianaTaurasi.A color analyst may even

drop a “How exciting wouldit have been if Tennesseeplayed Connecticut for a tripto the national championshipgame on the line? The twomost storied programs inwomen’s basketball haven’tmet since 2007, but now…”Worst of all, someone in

Bristol will frame the FinalFour as the unlikely pairingsof Notre Dame andConnecticut, Stanford andTexas A&M. Who could haveimagined a pair of No. 2seeds making it so close tothe title game?But this isn’t a Cinderella

story. Notre Dame and TexasA&M punched their tickets toIndy because they outplayedthe favorites. But they werealso more talented.“We didn’t feel like under-

dogs. We went in expectingto win,” Irish senior andleading scorer NatalieNovosel said after NotreDame took down Tennessee73-59 Monday.She couldn’t be more right.The only way you beat a

program like Tennessee iswith swagger, the kind thatIrish senior forwardDevereaux Peters had whenshe finished an alley-ooplayup on a Skylar Digginspass Monday.The kind that senior for-

ward Becca Bruszewskishowed by get-ting a technicalfoul for brushingoff a Tennesseeplayer after shebody-slammedher into thebaseline.Sophomore

guard SkylarDiggins hitting a3-pointer with ahand in her faceto quiet anyTennessee hopesof a comeback —swagger.Don’t forget

about MuffetMcGraw. She

made all the right movesMonday night, including agutsy decision to play Peterswith four fouls and morethan six minutes remainingin the game.The Irish played angry

Monday night, angrybecause they knew the restof the nation, even thePresident, didn’t think theycould make it to this week-end. After Connecticut’s 75-40

win over Duke in the EliteEight on Tuesday, Auriemmasaid, “There’s only a couplekids in America that areplaying next weekend thatknow how to win a nationalchampionship, and I’m fortu-nate enough to have them onmy team.”True, Auriemma’s players

may be the only ones left inthe tournament who haveexperienced a national title.But McGraw’s could be theonly ones in the country whowant it more.

The views expressed in thiscolumn are those of theauthor and not necessarilythose of The Observer.Contact Chris Masoud [email protected]

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 2 Friday, April 1, 2011

Swagger sets NDapart in Final Four

Chris Masoud

Sports Writer

COMMENTARY

Muffet McGraw and NieleIvey finally beat Tennessee,and the Irish brought their his-toric jig to Dayton, Ohio,Monday night after a 73-59victory over the No. 4 LadyVols.The Irish haven’t had the

opportunity to perform that jigin the Final Four since 10years ago, when McGraw wascoaching Ivey, and the teamfought its way to win theNational Championship. Notre Dame will face

Connecticut for the fourth timethis season, an opportunity ithoped for. “I think in the back of our

minds, we were rooting forConnecticut,” junior guardNatalie Novosel said.“Especially because [it is]another team in the Big Eastbut also because they havebeat us every single time thisyear, and we’ve been on kindof a vengeance run this year …with Oklahoma, and thenwe’ve never beatenTennessee.”The Irish have gone beyond

the expectations of everyonebut themselves this season,especially in the NCAA tourna-ment. Entering the season,numerous reports called theteam too young, too inexperi-enced and too unprepared.“I think we have great

momentum. I think we havethe fighter mentality,” McGrawsaid. “We’re the underdogs,going into the game looseagain. I think it’s been veryrewarding for them to seetheir hard work come tofruition.”The Irish entered the tourna-

ment with a record of 26-7,beginning their journey in SaltLake City as a No. 2 seed tak-ing on No. 15 Utah. Seniorguard Brittany Mallory didn’tscore a single point but wasthe key to the win with herstrong defense. She didn’tneed to score — she just need-ed to stop Utes guard IwalaniRorigues from doing so. Herfellow guards, sophomoreSkylar Diggins and junior

Natalie Novosel, made sure tokeep the points coming with 20apiece on the way to a 67-54Irish win. McGraw knew the win was-

n’t easy, though. “I think the 10 days off, trav-

eling, playing on somebody’shome court, they’re an under-dog with crowd support com-ing off a huge tournament win.That was just a tough firstmatchup,” she said. “You havethe pressure of being a two-seed, you’re supposed to win.Coming into the tournamentwe were not really at the topof our game. I think eachgame, we look a little more inrhythm and I think we’re juststarting to really peak rightnow.”Novosel and Peters kept the

tempo going against Temple ingame two in Salt Lake City.Novosel put up 17 points whilePeters earned her ninth careerdouble-double, and then some.She came out with 17 points,12 rebounds, three assists, twosteals and two blocks.But the offense didn’t win it

all. The defense came out with19 turnovers on the night andnever allowed the Owls to getcloser than within five points. Game three was a similar

story, with the Irish takingcontrol on both ends of thecourt as they defeated No. 6Oklahoma 78-53. Notre Damehas a history of overtimegames in the last four years inthe NCAA tournament, but theonly drama coming out of thisgame was Bruszewski exitingplay early with a twisted knee— then returning, with a twist-ed knee. Her fellow captain, Mallory,

made up for the loss with aseason-high 20 points, a strongrecovery from the shootingslump she’d been suffering.Novosel chipped in 15, Peters17 and 13 rebounds whileDiggins had 12 assists. The intensity continued

against Tennessee, when NotreDame snapped an 0-20 streakagainst the Lady Vols.Leading the Irish on Monday

was Diggins. She finished with24 points while Bruszewskifought the pain to play 37 min-utes for 13 points and a team-

high eight rebounds, showingthe intensity she knows willearn them another win.“I would say the intensity

still, at the same level, if nothigher. It’s all out, it couldpotentially be our last game,so we’re going to give it our alllike it’s our last game,”Bruszewski said. But for her, Sunday’s game is

another extension of her sen-ior season.“Amazing,” she said. “Just

because I don’t want my seniorseason to end and no one elsedoes either, so we’re going togo as far as we can.”The Irish are facing a six-

player rotation in the Huskies,but they aren’t letting theirguard down.“I don’t think it’s a huge dis-

advantage to only have sixplayers. I think the team hasgreat chemistry,” McGrawsaid. “Our championship teamin 2001, we played six people.... If you can stay out of foultrouble, it’s really not as muchof a disadvantage as peoplemay think.”Especially when Connecticut

has the incredibly talentedMaya Moore, a player NotreDame has not been able tostop yet.“I’m not sure that you can

stop her. And definitely youcan’t do it with one person.She is just a phenomenal play-er,” McGraw said. “She’sincredibly difficult to guard. Idon’t think we’ve gone into anyof the three games thinking wewould hold her down.”But Bruszewski agrees with

her coach in another impor-tant aspect, that this team isjust hitting its peak.“There’s no better time than

the end of the season to reachyour peak, and that’s whenyou want to be playing yourbest basketball: at the end, likewe are,” she said.The Irish will take on the

Huskies for a fourth time, hop-ing that this one’s the charm,Sunday at the ConsecoFieldhouse in Indianapolis at9:30 p.m. in the semifinals ofthe NCAA tournament.

For Irish, all roads lead to UConn

By MEAGHAN VESELIKSports Writer

Contact Meaghan Veselik [email protected]

GRANT TOBIN/The Observer

Irish coach Muffet McGraw takes a clip of the net after Notre Dame’s 73-59 win overTennessee Monday. The Irish will play Connecticut Sunday in the national semifinals.

Auriemma’s playersmay be the only onesleft in the tournamentwho have experiencea national title. ButMcGraw’s could bethe only ones in thecountry who want it

more.

I t was 2001, and NotreDame’s point guard had justscored 21 points to lead herteam in a 90-75 victory overNo. 1 Connect icut in thenational semifinals. Notre Dame’s future point

guard, al l of 10 years old,was rooting for her home-town team to win it all.Even then, Skylar Diggins

admired Niele Ivey.“She was awesome at dis-

t r ibut ing the ba l l to herteammates but she could alsoscore ,” Digg inssa id . “She jus tput herself in aposition for herteam to score ,whether i t washer shot or get-t ing a shot forothers.”In her sen ior

season, Ivey wasa first-team all-B ig East and ath ird- team Al l -America selection. She aver-aged 12.1 po ints and 6 .9assists per game. She was a freshman when

Notre Dame played in its firstF ina l Four, in 1997. Shestarred in its next Final Four.She graduated from NotreDame a champion.Now a new roster of Irish

players , none more thanDiggins, look to Ivey for guid-ance. “The look at me and say,

‘She’s been where I want togo,’ ” Ivey said.

I t was 2007, and NotreDame coach Muffet McGrawhad just called her champi-onship point guard to offerher a position as an assistantcoach.Notre Dame’s future point

guard was 16 years old andl ight ing up Ind iana h ighschool basketball.“When Coach McGraw

called me, I told my familythere had to be a reason forme to come back here to the

best place in the world forme,” Ivey said.That reason was to help the

team compete for nationalchampionships . And torecruit Skylar Diggins. “I was trying to prep for my

interview, and people to ldme, ‘You need to get SkylarDiggins,’“ Ivey said. “I had noexperience at the assistantcoaching level or as a recruit-ing coach.”But the Washington High

School superstar was morethan receptive to Ivey as apotential coach. “She ca l led me a l l the

time,” Ivey said. “We devel-oped a re la-tionship dur-ing ther e c r u i t i n g .She’d come upto campus ,we’d go out toeat.”That re la-

tionship was amajor fac torin Digg ins ’dec is ion tojoin the Irish

despite an offer from histori-cal powerhouse Stanford.“It made it more attractive

to Skylar to know she’d beable to play and learn fromNiele,” McGraw said.

I t was 2009, and NotreDame’s future point guardwas beginning her col legecareer. Notre Dame’s guardscoach was there for everystep of it. Diggins played at the No. 2

guard position behind seniorpo int guard Mel i ssaLechlitner, and adjusted tocollege life while becomingone of the most accomplishedfreshmen in Notre Dame his-tory. “[Niele has] been her men-

tor. I think she has done afantastic job of helping her inevery way,” McGraw said. “Atpractice, off the court watch-ing film, just talking aboutleadership. She’s really, real-ly been the guiding force forSky lar s ince she came oncampus.”

Ivey and Diggins analyzedfi lm nearly every day, andworked on adjusting the highschool s tar to the co l legegame. Digg ins ’ b igges timprovement came in theweight room, Ivey said, asshe worked to get stronger. The results were remark-

able : D igg ins became astarter just five games intoher career, and led the teamin scoring (13.8 ppg), steals(2 .6 spg) and ass is ts (3 .2apg).But the relationship extend-

ed beyond basketball. When Ivey was a t Notre

Dame, then-assistant coachCoquese Washington servedas her mentor in every aspecto f campus l i fe . Ivey hasp layed the same ro le forDiggins. She was there forany problem the freshmanmight have had, from toughclasses to boyfriend issues.“She ’s bas ica l ly l ike my

daughter,” Ivey sa id . “ I ’malways worrying about her,about the court, about theclassroom. … We know eachother ins ide and out .Whenever she i s go ingthrough things she goes tome, and I ’m happy to bethere for her.”

I t was 2010, and NotreDame’s No. 2 guard hadbecome Notre Dame’s pointguard, with guidance fromone who’d been there before.“[Ivey] helped me through

two transitions, the one fromhigh school to college and theone from two-guard to pointguard,” Diggins said.When Diggins struggled to

learn the details early in theseason, Ivey was right thereto teach. “You could tell in the first

couple games she hadn’t got-ten in to her groove yetunderstanding how to run ateam,” Ivey said. “And I thinkthat’s where I came in. I’vebeen a point guard my wholelife, a point guard on a cham-pionship team.” The two continued to watch

f i lm together nearly everyday, picking apart Diggins’

games and Ivey’s games tomold and improve the newpoint guard. They’ve watched Ivey’s 21-

point performance againstConnect icut on March 30,2001, several times. The lasttime was before the Big Eastchampionship game. “I think I’m going to have to

return to that and see howthey executed,”Diggins said.Under Ivey ’s

g u i d a n c e ,Digg ins hasbegun to p laylike the playershe’d looked upto a l l thoseyears before. “People even

say we have thesame ponytai l .We mimic eachother a lo t , ”Ivey said. “Theonly differenceis she’s left-handed and I’mright-handed.”The complete t rans i t ion

was no more evident than inthe reg ional round o f theNCAA tournament. Digginsdistr ibutes the bal l to herteammates, but she can alsoscore.Against Oklahoma Saturday,

Diggins broke Notre Dame’sNCAA tournament recordwi th 12 ass is ts . Agains tTennessee Monday, shescored 24 points. In doing so,she became the only sopho-more in Notre Dame historyto score more than 1 ,000points in a season. Her totalis now at 1,016.“Her des ire to win , her

competit iveness, we’re the

same. We have the same pas-sion.”

It’s 2011, and Notre Dame’scurrent point guard is readyto lead her team against No.1 Connecticut in the nationalsemifinals. Notre Dame’s former point

guard, 10 years removedfrom school, is rooting for her

h o m e t o w nteam to win itall. And Nie le

Ivey admiresSkylar Diggins. “Her mid-

range game iss o m e t h i n gthat ’s deve l -oped as as o p h o m o r e .And that ’ssometh ing Iwish I’d had,”Ivey said. “Shehas it all.”

In her sophomore season,Skylar Diggins was a first-team all-Big East and a thirdteam All-America selection.She averages 14.4 points and4.8 assists per game. She has just a bit further to

go to imitate her role model,her “mom,” her coach, herfriend.“She’s helping me run this

team l ike she ran i t whenthey won the national cham-pionship,” Diggins said. “I’mtrying to follow in her foot-steps and do the same thingthis weekend, and then hope-fully we can continue that forthe next couple years.”

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, April 1, 2011 page 3

Getting to the point

Contact Laura Myers at [email protected]

Ivey lends experience to Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame as team prepares for national semifinals By LAURA MYERSSenior Sports Writer

SARAH O’CONNOR/The Observer

Sophomore point guard Skylar Diggins puts the ball up during NotreDame’s 67-54 win over Utah March 19.


Assistant coach Niele Ivey and sophomore point guard Skylar Diggins have a discussion duringNotre Dame’s 73-59 win over Tennessee Monday. Diggins scored 24 points in the game.

“They look at me andsay, ‘She’s been

where I want to go.’”

Niele IveyIrish assistant coach

“She’s helping me runthis team like she ranit when they won the

national championship.”

Skylar Digginssophomore point guard


“They really are just a

tremendous team and it was an

honor to play against them. I

think they obviously have some

huge goals ahead of them this

season.”– New Hampshire coach Maureen Magarity

Nov. 12

“There is a reason that McGraw

is in the Hall of Fame. There is a

reason her teams always win, and

there is a reason she has won a

national championship.

They don’t go away.”– Baylor coach Kim Mulkey

Dec. 1

“More points in the paint, more

points in transition, more bench

points, more offensive rebounds.

I mean, Notre Dame outplayed

us in every way today.”– Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma

Jan. 8

“They killed us on the inside.

Peters and Bruszewski were

dominant. They really have a

good team. I’m very impressed

with them, and I think this is one

of the best teams they’ve had in a

long time.”– St. John’s coach Kim Barnes Arico

Jan. 23

“I thought all year they

were one of the toughest

teams in the country.”– Oklahoma coach Sherri Cole

March 26

“We showed tape, we

practiced it for two days

and it went completely out

the window.”– Seton Hall coach Anne Donovan

Feb. 8

Record-breaking wins, deva What they said

Opposing coaches on the power of this season’s Irish

During the first game of NotreDame’s season, the 2001 cham-pionship team presented thecurrent squad with an auto-graphed basketball and told theteam, “Now it’s your turn.”This year’s captains, seniors

Becca Bruszewski and BrittanyMallory, placed the ball in theteam’s locker room, where ithas stayed ever since.At the t ime, i t just seemed

like a nice thing to say, Irishcoach Muffet McGraw said. But a f ter an up-and-down

season, the I r i sh are in theFinal Four since the first timesince that 2001 trip. “It almost seems like fate,”

McGraw said.

A look at the season that gotthem there:

The first half: Nov. 12, 2010 –Jan. 5, 2011Notre Dame began play with a

99-48 win over NewHampshire, and ended the firsthalf of its season with a 97-21win over Southeast MissouriS ta te in which i t broke s ixschool records. In between, the team com-

piled a 13-3 record that includ-ed 11 games of 80+ points, andfive wins by a margin of morethan 50.

It also included three lossesto ranked teams, starting withan 86-83 loss in double over-time to No. 15 UCLA and an 81-76 loss to No. 9 Kentucky threedays later. “After we lost to Kentucky, we

were 2-2 on the season and Itold the team that’s how the ’97Fina l Four s tar ted out , ”McGraw said. “And we didn’tlose to ranked teams [in 1997].But we s tar ted out 2 -2 andended up 31-7. “Four games later, Notre Dame

traveled to Texas to play No. 1Baylor and lost 76-65. “We talked about how close

we were to the No. 1 team onthe ir home cour t , ” McGrawsaid. “We tried to stay posi-tive.”The I r i sh then won seven

stra ight games lead ing in toconference play and won theirfirst conference game againstMarquette. Notre Dame started the sea-

son uncertain about this year’steam a f ter los ing s tar t ingguards L indsay Schrader,Melissa Lechlitner and AshleyBarlow, all of who had graduat-ed with numerous conferenceand national honors. After fin-i sh ing the 2009-10 seasonranked No. 7, the Irish wereNo. 12 in the AP preseasonpoll. Sophomore guard Sky lar

Digg ins took over the po in tguard position previously held

by Lechlitner, and senior guardBrittany Mallory, senior for-ward Devereaux Peters andjunior guard Natalie Novoselbecame regular starters for thefirst time. “We had our growing pains

early, which is good for us,”Diggins said. “We were a youngteam. A lot of players didn’tstart last year. A lot of peoplejust coming in and getting in-game experience really helpedthem out. “At the start of Big East play,

the Irish were ranked No. 13.But a turning point came inearly January, when McGrawsa id she rea l i zed her teamcould truly contend.

Connecticut: Jan. 8At home aga ins t No . 2

Connecticut, the Irish led muchof the game and los t by aheartbreaking three points inthe final 30 seconds of play. “We saw how close we were

playing with the number oneteam in the country,” she said.“We saw that a l i t t l e b i t a tBaylor. … There were flashes ofit early. But the Connecticutgame was the biggest in termsof confidence boosting.” In that game, Peters scored

17 points and had 11 rebounds,one of her 10 double-doublesth i s season . D igg ins andNovosel scored 16 each, andthe teams went into halftimetied at 41.

By LAURA MYERSSenior Sports Writer

Players chase after a loose ball during Notre Dame’s 76-73 loss to No. 2 Connecticut Jan. 8. Irishcoach Muffet McGraw called the loss a “catalyst” for the rest of the season.

DAN JACOBS/The Observer


“We turned the ball over

28 times and you can’t do

that against a team like

Notre Dame and expect to

be in the ball game, which

we weren’t in the end.” – Cincinnati coach Jamelle Elliot

Feb. 26

“We got beat by one of the

best teams in the

country.”- DePaul coach Doug Bruno

March 7

“Well, against a team like Notre

Dame… your worst fears are

going to come true because of

how they play, how they get the

ball from point A to point B, and

what they do when they get in

the lane and how aggressive

they are.”– Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma

March 8

“That was our game plan, to not

let them score in the paint. I

don’t know what happened.”– Temple coach Tonya Cardoza

March 22

“It becomes a battle of wills, and

I thought that they just didn’t

give ground. They really put

their feet in the paint and said,

‘You’re not going to get all the

way to the rim.’ They were very

tough-minded in the paint.” –

Syracuse coach Quenten Hillsman

Feb. 1

“Across the board, they had

great player movement, ball

movement, intensity and sense of

urgency. They got to a lot of loose

balls and used the glass well. I

am very impressed with this

team.”– Tennessee coach Pat Summitt

March 28

astating losses mark season

But Diggins missed a jumperat the end of the game, andHuskies guard Kelly Faris putConnecticut ahead. Notre Dame wouldn ’t lose

again for over a month.

Conference play: Jan. 12 –Feb. 28Notre Dame’s de fense and

post play were keys to a 14-2conference record that includedwins over four ranked teams(No. 16 Georgetown, No. 23 St.John’s, No. 25 Syracuse and No.19 West Virginia) and the pro-gram’s second-largest confer-ence win ever, 89-38 over SetonHall on Feb. 8.On Jan 23 , the I r i sh took

another personnel h i t whenstandout freshman guard KaylaMcBride announced she wouldbe leaving the team for person-a l reasons . At that po in t ,McBr ide was averag ing 8 .7points in 24 minutes per game. In a punishing stretch at the

end of the season, Notre Damefaced No. 2 Connecticut, No. 19West Virg in ia and No . 12DePaul on the road in the spaceof 10 days. It fell to Connecticut 78-57 on

Feb. 19, its first loss since theHuskies won Jan. 8. The teamthen defeated West Virginia 72-60 on Jan. 22, but suffered yetanother last-second loss, 70-69,to DePaul.Heading in to the B ig Eas t

tournament, the Irish had lost

six games. All were to teamsranked in the top 15, and fivewere by a single-digit margin.At this point, Notre Dame wasranked No. 7.“We’ve been up and down,

down a lot within the team. Thereason is injuries and losingtwo people, but we knew wehad to come together,” Mallorysaid. “We knew it was going tohappen. At some po in t , weknew we were going to play ourbest basketball.”

The B ig Eas t tou r nament :March 6 - March 8The loss to DePaul gave Notre

Dame the No. 3 seed in the BigEas t tournament , he ld inHartford, Conn. The I r i sh took care o f

Louisville 63-53 in the quarter-finals before a rematch withDePaul just a week after theirfirst game. This t ime, it wasNotre Dame pulling off the last-minute victory, defeating theBlue Demons 71-67 on thestrength of Diggins’ 19 points. The win sent Notre Dame to

the Big East tournament cham-pionship for the first time inprogram history and to a matchaga ins t Connect i cut for thethird time this season. On a court that was anything

but neutra l , the I r i sh weredown just one, 32-31, at half-time before ultimately falling73-64. In their first season as regu-

lar s tar ters , Novose l wasnamed the B ig Eas t ’s mostimproved player and Peters theBig East defensive player of theyear. Despite the loss, the tourna-

ment gave Notre Dame momen-tum that it took to the NCAAtournament, and st i l l hasn’tceded. “I t ’s fun to see the growth

and maturity since the begin-ning of the season,” McGrawsaid.

The Final Four, April 3-5The Irish will bring the auto-

graphed basketball with themto Ind ianapo l i s for NotreDame’s first final four appear-ance since that run, said assis-tant coach Nie le Ivey, whoplayed point guard for the 2001national championship team.Ivey sided with Muffet, saying

this season was beginning tolook like “destiny.”But after everything i t has

endured, Diggins said the teamhas a lot more than fortune onits side.“As you can see this team is

playing with a lot of energy andtenacity and relentlessness,”Diggins said. “We all come outhere with a lot of excitementknowing we have a chance tomake history again and be likethem.”

What they said

Opposing coaches on the power of this season’s Irish

Contact Laura Myers [email protected]

Junior guard Natalie Novosel faces off against a defender during Notre Dame’s 71-67 win over DePaulin the Big East semifinals March 7.

COURTNEY ECKERLE/The Observer


NOTRE DAME

Third Final Four adds to McGraw’s legacy

In 1987, when Notre Dame athlet-ics director Gene Corrigan intro-duced Muffet McGraw as the headcoach of the Irish, he told those inattendance that he would not find abetter candidate even if he had uti-lized an additional year to findsomeone to lead the program. Not even Corrigan could have

imagined the depths the formerLehigh head coach would take theprogram to, and now McGraw pre-pares her team for its third FinalFour appearance, with enshrine-ment into the Hall of Fame comingthis summer. Not to mention hermost sparkling achievement: trans-forming the Irish into one of thesport’s biggest powerhouses.Ten years ago, the Irish were

playing in their second Final Fourappearance under McGraw andwere able to avenge a loss in the BigEast championship game toConnecticut with a 90-75 victoryover the Huskies in the nationalsemifinals. A decade later, McGrawonce again finds only Connecticutbetween her squad and an appear-ance in the national title game.“We weren’t really thinking about

[the possibility of the Final Four] toomuch,” McGraw said. “We had ourreunion in the fall; they presentedour team with a basketball and saidwe won one, now it’s your turn.”In the 2001 Big East champi-

onship game, McGraw watched asHuskies guard Sue Bird went coast-to-coast and finished it off with agame-winning layup in a heart-breaking loss. But McGraw would

not allow the team to stay down inthe loss. After all, the NCAA tourna-ment was only days away.McGraw worked her magic and

got the team to focus on the ultimateprize: a trip to the Final Four. In thesame situation this year, she onceagain delivered and led the team towomen’s basketball’s semifinals.“She’s the woman with the

answers,” Irish senior forwardBecca Bruszewski said. “She’s theone that tells us what to do, calls theplays, gets on us about what type ofdefense we are, knows how to shuta team down, you know, whateverthe game plan is, she sets it and wego to it.”McGraw, now in her 29th season

as a collegiate head coach, has oftenhad to deal with adversity andobstacles, with this year being nodifferent. Earlier this season, twokey contributors left the team forpersonal reasons — junior forwardErica Solomon and freshman guardKayla McBride. Overcoming the twodepartures, injuries to Bruszewskiat critical times and the uncertainhealth status of senior forwardDevereaux Peters heading into theseason, McGraw has pulled off oneof the most impressive performanc-es in her illustrious career.“She’s been unbelievable,” senior

guard Brittany Mallory said. “She’sled us from losing people frominjuries. She’s got a great mindset,and she’s been here before. She’sjust kind of getting us ready foreverything.”When the Irish take the court

Sunday night, McGraw will haveone of the best coaching staffs in thecountry sitting next to her — onethat includes assistant coach Niele

Ivey, who starred on the 2001championship squad.“I think I’ve been fortunate to

have great coaches with me,”McGraw said. “We’ve had greatassistant coaches over the years.The coaches are extremely competi-tive. We want to win and we hate tolose.”This season’s Final Four squad

will have one advantage thatMcGraw’s 2001 team did not have— the advantage of playing in theirhome state. McGraw, however, doesnot think the close proximity willplay much of a role in Sunday’smatchup.“We do get to get on a bus instead

of a plane which is kind of nice butother than that we’re going to be

staying in a hotel in a different city,”she said.With two more wins this season,

McGraw can reach the pinnacle ofcollege basketball by adding anNCAA championship to her résumé.“It’s rewarding [to reach the Final

Four],” McGraw said. “You worry atthe beginning of the year, you think‘Gosh, I’m going into the Hall ofFame, what if we have a really badseason?’ Now to beat Tennesseeand head to Indianapolis, it takes ona bigger meaning.”A meaning bigger than what she,

or Corrigan, could have ever imag-ined.

By ANDREW OWENSAssociate Sports Editor

Contact Andrew Owens [email protected]

CONNECTICUT

Auriemma builds UConn program unmatched in successNo. 1 Connecticut Huskies

Record: 36-1

Path to the Final Four:

64: 75-39 over Hartford32: 64-40 over Purdue16: 68-63 over Georgetown8: 75-40 over Duke

Key players:

Senior guard Maya Moore, afour-time All-American, haswon two national champi-onships and has been laudedas the best ever to play thegame. She leads her team inpoints, rebounds, steals,assists and blocks.

Freshman point guard BriaHartley has never been therebefore, but has incrediblepoise for a freshman andaverages 12.5 points pergame.

How they win:

Moore plays like the seniorshe is and makes up hermind to end her career witha national championship.

How they lose:

Even at their worst, theHuskies are only slightly vul-nerable. But they have been inconsis-tent thus far in the tourna-ment, and that inconsistencycould hurt them against topcompetition.

771 wins, seven nationalchampionships, 12 FinalFours. And Geno Auriemmastill has a full head of hair. The Connecticut coach prob-

ably doesn’t remember what itis like to lose, having to goback all the way to the 1992-93 season to find the last timethat his Huskies team posteddouble digits in the losing col-umn. In fact, the coach hasonly had one losing season inhis career — the 1985-1986season, when the Huskies

went 12-15 in the program’sfirst year of existence. Meanwhile, the Connecticut

coach has established himselfcomfortably at the top of hisconference with 17 Big Easttournament championships,including a stretch from 1993-2002 during whichConnecticut (36-1) won nineconsecutive titles. Auriemmaearned his 10th Big Eastcoach of the year honor thisyear, after leading the Huskiesto a 32-1 regular seasonrecord.“He’s a great coach,” Irish

coach Muffet McGraw said.“This year I thought he should

be National Coach of the Year.He has done a great job withlosing Tina Charles. He’s agreat coach on the defensiveend. I don’t think he getsenough credit on defense. …Over the past 10 years I don’tthink there’s been a bettercoach in the country.”In addition to his regular-

season prowess, Auriemmahas been to the NCAA tourna-ment in each of the past 23seasons. Even more impres-sive is that he has taken theHuskies to the Sweet 16 orbeyond in his past 19 MarchMadness trips. And with Tuesday’s 75-40

pounding of No. 2 seed Duke,Auriemma advanced to hisfourth straight Final Four —all with four-time first teamAll-American senior guardMaya Moore, who went for 28points against the Blue Devils. But the coach’s biggest

accomplishment came in atypical 31-point UConn winover No. 21 Florida State Dec.21. That night, the Auriemma-led Huskies won their 89thconsecutive game, dating backto the 2007-2008 season. Themark topped the 88-gamewinning streak of the leg-endary John Wooden andUCLA compiled from 1971-1974. When asked how he feltbeing compared to Wooden,the Connect icut coachanswered with sharp disap-proval. “Only in the comparison of

what we try to do,” he toldESPN’s Pardon theInterruption when asked if thecomparisons were fair. “It’s

not, ‘Is it any harder or easieror does it have any more sig-nificance.’ No, we are tryingto get a group of kids to playtogether, play really well everynight and beat all comers. Hetried to do it, I try to do it, andto compare us versus them …I am not into that.”The Huskies eventually saw

the streak come to an end at90 games Dec. 30 against No.8 Stanford, their only loss ofthe year. But since the loss,Connecticut has come back towin the next 24 contests, withall but three wins coming indouble-digit fashion.With another vis i t to the

Final Four, it comes as no sur-prise that Auriemma is settinghis sights on an eighth nation-al championship, understand-ing the tough task at hand. “With the three teams that

are there, you can make acase for all three of them to bethere. There is not one ofthose teams that you can takeaway and say that so-and-soshould be there,” he saidWednesday. “This is probablyone of the more unique FinalFours. I don’t think there area lot of similarities betweenthese teams. They each havedistinct styles of play, person-ality types, size and speed.There is a little bit of every-thing and it is going to be atrue test for whoever can winthese two games because theyare going to have to adjust toa variety of things and that isjust really exciting.”

By ANDREW GASTELUMSports Writer

Contact Andrew Gastelum [email protected]

Connecticut players crowd the paint during the Huskies’ BigEast championship win over Notre Dame March 8.

COURTNEY ECKERLE/The Observer

Irish coach Muffet McGraw watches Monday from the sidelinesas the Irish defeat Tennessee for the first time in her career.


No. 2 Notre Dame FightingIrish

Record: 36-1


64: 67-54 over Utah32: 77-64 over Temple16: 78-53 over Oklahoma8: 73-59 over Tennessee

Key players:

Senior forward BeccaBruszewski is the team’smental leader, and the Irishlook to her to keep intensityhigh during games.

Senior guard BrittanyMallory and senior forwardDevereaux Peters keep NotreDame in close games withtheir all-out defense.

How they win:

Notre Dame is on a wave ofmomentum that has grownwith each game of the NCAAtournament, and are playingjust two hours from campus.These factors could tip agame in Notre Dame’s favor.

How they lose:

Several team members havebeen playing throughinjuries during the NCAAtournament. Notre Dameneeds every member of itslineup to mount a seriouschallenge to Connecticut.


TEXAS A&M

Aggies haven’t been there, but plan to act like it

Taking advantage of i tseighth NCAA tournamentappearance, No. 2-seed TexasA&M stepped up in the clutchTuesday, as it defeated top-seeded Baylor for the first timein four tries this season andsecured a ticket to its first-ever Final Four inIndianapolis.The Aggies (31-5) — which

lost twice in the regular seasonand once in the conferencetournament to fellow Big 12power Baylor (34-3) — knewall along that they were capa-ble of beating the Bears. Aggies coach Gary Blair

admitted in a press conferencecall Wednesday that his teamwas simply unable to close outtight games.“We were in all three games;

we were leading in all threegames. I was the 37-minutecoach,” Blair said. “I just did-n’t coach well in the last threeminutes, and our kids didn’tmake good decisions, andBaylor did. They deserved towin all three games.”The Aggies approached their

fourth and f inal matchupagainst Baylor with a differentintensity.“We played the socks off of

them, and they know it,” Blairsaid. “I think that’s one of thereasons why they didn’t wantto try that fourth time againstus, and I think it botheredBaylor more playing us for

four than it did us playingBaylor.”Blair said he enjoyed the win

against Baylor, but he has evenhigher expectations for histeam. In the final minutes ofthe regional final, Blair calleda timeout to remind his teamhow to celebrate appropriately.“I wanted our kids to realize,

when we win this thing, wedon’t dog pile on the floor.Okay? Act like you’ve beenthere before. Give respect toBaylor, because they’ve beento Final Fours,” Blair said. “Isaid we’ll have time to cele-brate later. But why do youwant to ruin your best celebra-tion on just getting to the FinalFour? If we can get to theFinal Four and win the wholething, I’ll be on the top of thatdog pile.”The Aggies have been pretty

consistent all season, minus acouple bumps in the road.Falling to Duke in just theirseventh game of the season,the Aggies bounced back andwent on a 12-game winningstreak. Aside from the earlyloss to Duke and the threetough losses against Baylor,only Kansas State was able toput a black mark on TexasA&M’s record.Led by the region’s most out-

standing player in junior guardSydney Carter, the Aggies’rotation resembles that of afew other Final Four teams,frequently consisting of sixplayers. Blair said he is able torely on Carter, regardless ofhow tired she is, to make good

decisions both with the balland away from the ball.“You are talking about the

perfect build for a basketballplayer, whether she was 5’6”or 6’4”. I mean, this kid is justbuilt. She can be a model. Shecould be anything she wantedto,” he said. “You are talkingabout a kid that’s just fun to bearound. Every day she bringsit; in practice and in gamesshe brings it. Sydney Carter isjust that type of player that’sgoing to throw it out there onthe line — everything.”The Aggies have taken

advantage of their opportuni-ties thus far, and they hope to

continue to surprise the col-lege basketball nation.“We’ve enjoyed being under

the radar just a l i t t le; weshould be under the radar,”Blair said. “I believe until youget to the Final Four, youhaven’t really earned it. You’vealways been sort of the trendyteam that everybody wants topick but cannot get over thathump of getting there.”For the first time ever, the

Aggies are there. They will tipoff against Stanford Sunday at7 p.m.

By MEGAN GOLDENSports Writer

Contact Megan Golden [email protected]

STANFORD

Ogwumike sisters lead strong Cardinal team to Indy

Connecticut and Tennesseemay have combined to win11 of the las t 15 nat ionalchampionships, but Stanfordcoach Tara VanDerveer hasbuilt her own powerhouse onthe Wes tCoas t . UnderVanDervee r ’sr e m a r k a b l etenure , theCardinal havewon 19 con-secut ive PAC-10 t i t l e s andtwo NCAAc h a m p i -onships.A f t e r d i s -

m a n t l i n gGonzaga 83-60in the regionalf ina l s on Monday n igh t ,Stanford will be making itsfourth consecutive trip to theFinal Four.“Going to four Final Fours

for Stanford, what this sen-ior class has accomplished…is outstanding,” VanDerveersaid in a press conferenceafter Monday’s game. “It ’srea l l y spec ia l tha t we ’ reback at the Final Four, fouryears in a row. It’s incrediblyexci t ing. I ’m so happy forthis team.”The Cardinal reached the

title game in 2008, but fell toa Tennessee team featuringthe Naismith College Playero f the Year in CandaceParker. A re turn t o thechampionship game last sea-

son was f o i l ed byConnec t i cu t and 2010Na i smi th w inner TinaCharles.While this season’s winner

will not be named until theend o f the season ,VanDerveer’s squad featuresa Na i smi th f i na l i s t o f i t sown . Jun ior f o rward

N n e m k a d iO g w u m i k eleads theCard ina l w i th17 po in t s and7 .6 reboundsper game.And she has a

sister.F o r w a r d

C h i n e yO g w u m i k estarts alongsideher s i s ter andi s curren t l yaverag ing 12

points and 8.1 rebounds inher freshman campaign. Theduo has given Stanford oneo f t op f ron tcour t s i n thenation.“Obv ious ly Ch iney i s my

other half and so we’re likef i r e and i ce , ” Nnemkad iOgwumike sa id in thepostgame press conferenceMonday.Whi l e the s i s t e r s g i ve

Stanford a strong presencein the pos t , s en ior guardJeanette Pohlen captains thebackcour t . Shoo t ing 41 .2percent from behind the arc,Poh len was named to theAssociated Press All-AmericaFirst Team Tuesday. “They [Card ina l ] have

great players too,” McGraw

said. “Tara’s a great coach.… She’s one of the icons inwomen’s basketbal l . She’sone of the elite coaches, andher teams have been verysuccessful over the years.”The respec t i s mutua l .

VanDerveer credited NotreDame for taking down theNo. 1-seed Tennessee in thereg ional f ina ls Monday inDayton, Ohio. The No. 1-seedCardinal took down No.11-seed Gonzaga in a convinc-ing win, but VanDerveer wel-comes the challenge of fac-

ing new competition.“Jus t congratu la t ions to

No t re Dame fo r bea t ingTennessee , ” VanDerveersaid. “I think Gonzaga showsthat there’s more than just acouple teams that can playbasketball. There are morethan a couple players too.”Stanford wi l l face Texas

A&M Sunday with a trip toits third national title gamein four years on the line.

By CHRIS MASOUDSports Writer

Contact Chris Masoud at [email protected]

Texas A&M players celebrate after the Aggies’ 58-46 EliteEight win over Baylor Tuesday.

AP

No. 1 Stanford Cardinal

Record: 33-2


64: 86-59 over UC Davis32: 75-49 over St. John’s16: 72-65 over NorthCarolina8: 83-60 over Gonzaga

Key players:

Junior forward NnekaOgwumike averages 17points per game and leads abig Cardinal team that istough in the paint.

Senior guard JeannettePohlen is the outside com-plement to Ogwumike. Sheshoots 3-pointers with 41.2percent accuracy and hasmade 93 of them on the sea-son.

How they win:

The Cardinal are deep andexperienced, and are theonly team that has beatenConnecticut this season.Since then, they’ve onlygrown.

How they lose:

Though they did defeatConnecticut, the Cardinalstruggled early this seasonswith losses to physical teamslike DePaul and Connecticut.The Pac 10 is not known forthat type of play, andStanford could struggleagainst a peaking Big Eastteam.

No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies

Record: 31-5


64: 87-47 over McNeeseState32: 70-48 over Rutgers16: 79-38 over Georgia8: 58-46 over Baylor

Key players:

Senior forward/centerDanielle Adams is critical toher team’s defensive andoffensive efforts. She aver-ages 22.3 points per game,nearly twice as any otherteammate. She also leadsher team with 8.6 reboundsand 1.33 blocks per game.

How they win:

If it’s possible for a two-seedto be a wildcard, the Aggiesare that. Compared to theother three teams remain-ing, the Aggies are anunknown in this tournament,which means opponentsprobably aren’t familiar withtheir style of play. This couldwork as an advantage.

How they lose:

The Aggies have neverplayed on this stage before,and could easily succomb tothe pressure of competingagainst a historically suc-cessful program for a cham-pionship.

AP

Stanford forward Nneka Ogwumike looks to pass duringStanford’s 83-60 win over Gonzaga Saturday.

“[Tara VanDerveer] isone of the icons in

women’s basketball.She’s one of the elite

coaches.”

Muffet McGrawIrish coach


Left: Sophomore guard Fraderica Miller dribbles during NotreDame’s 67-54 win over Utah in the round of 64 on March 19.

Below: Junior guard Natalie Novosel evades a Temple defenderduring Notre Dame’s 77-64 victory over Temple in the round of32 on March 21.

Above: Novosel drives to the basket during Notre Dame’s 78-53victory over Oklahoma in the Sweet 16 Saturday, which sentthe Irish to their first Elite Eight since 2001.

Center: The Irish celebrate winning the Dayton Region aftertheir defeat of Tennessee Monday night.

Left: Senior forward Devereaux Peters grabs a rebound duringNotre Dame’s 73-59 win over Tennessee Monday, the first victo-ry over the Volunteers in program history.






Final Four Irish insider for 4/1/2011

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