Posted by Graham Hays
At least Rutgers won't have to worry about going back to California to win a title, thanks to the NCAA's decision to keep the Final Four planted firmly on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains for the foreseeable future.
Sure, as linings go, it's about as genuinely silver as a dime, but the Scarlet Knights have little to work with after Friday's 14-point loss at Cal turned out to be the high-water mark of the Scarlet Knights' trip to the Bay Area.
So what are we to make of Rutgers' becoming the sixth member of the preseason top 10 to lose a game this season, but also the first to lose two games?
Well, after UConn rolled over San Diego State on Thursday in Hartford, head coach Geno Auriemma mused that he didn't want to think about what flaws other top contenders must have if the Huskies are the unanimous No. 1 even though Auriemma sees problems in them. But as Rutgers became the latest to offer, that seems to be exactly what's going on.
Teams such as Rutgers (or Duke, Tennessee, Maryland or any other recent upset victim -- oops, there goes Vanderbilt) clearly have stockpiled more raw talent than their competition. But more this season than in recent seasons, all those pieces look like a game of Tetris played with eyes firmly shut.
For the Scarlet Knights, playing a pair of games in hostile environments against teams with veteran backcourts showed them just what teams had hated about playing in Piscataway, N.J., the past few seasons. Coach C. Vivian Stringer seemingly feels her freshmen, with the exception of April Sykes, aren't ready yet. Whether that's because of tactical comprehension, conditioning or anything else, it means that Rutgers is playing with Epiphanny Prince out of position at point guard. (Not to harp on Auriemma's presser, but hey, he's entertaining, and that's exactly the concern he expressed about Renee Montgomery's potentially having to handle the ball more this season at the expense of her point production.)
The good news for Rutgers, hypothetically at least, is that unlike a lot of teams, they have an answer. Nikki Speed is a point guard, thinks like a point guard and wants to be a great point guard. And she'll be one. But until she gets there (or redshirt freshman Khadijah Rushdan does, for that matter), Rutgers, like seemingly every other contender, can look very much like less than the sum of its parts on any given night.
North Carolina 80, Oklahoma 79:
Jessica Breland's underrated status officially ended around 5 p.m. ET on Sunday. With 31 points against Oklahoma, Breland led North Carolina to the Preseason WNIT title (and prevented an early No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown in next weekend's Oklahoma-Connecticut game, so thanks for that). She also showed why a season after averaging two steals and a block in just 20 minutes per game, she's an All-American in waiting.
For the Sooners, Danielle Robinson's 15 combined turnovers against Arizona State and North Carolina jump out of the box score. Robinson also is shooting 53 percent, averaging two steals per game and leading the team in assists, so she's making plays. But it always has seemed to me that teams with an elite post like Courtney Paris (i.e., a player who generally needs the ball delivered to her) are those that can least afford to squander possessions with turnovers. The Sooners can't give away chances to get her the ball or, at the very least, chances to put up offensive rebound opportunities.
Upsets, upsets, upsets:
Michigan loses to Akron … and beats No. 12 Vanderbilt.
Florida loses to Florida Gulf Coast … and beats No. 21 Florida State in Tallahassee.
Hartford shoots 27 percent and commits 25 turnovers … and beats No. 5 Duke.
Detroit loses to Cincinnati and Michigan State … and gets its first win against No. 23 Georgia.
And Old Dominion loses by 34 at Texas … and beats No. 11 Virginia, which earlier went to Knoxville and beat Tennessee, which nearly lost to Chattanooga on Friday.
Who knows whether this is just temporary noise or actual evidence of genuine, long-rumored parity? Either way, it certainly is fun. I was on hand in Burlington, Vt., on Saturday when Dartmouth, a team that has some potential but also hadn't come within 30 points of Hartford or St. John's, took Michigan State to overtime. All I can say is, I hope there's more to come.
Under the radar:
South Dakota State 80, Oregon 63.
My most vivid memory of South Dakota up until now came from driving cross-country with a friend and finding our license plate effectively redacted by a black coating of mosquito carcasses after a day of driving on I-90 (trust me, way more memorable than Mount Rushmore and light-years ahead of Wall Drug). So here's a hearty thanks to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits for providing something else to associate with the state.
The Jackrabbits (a name that is just fun to read) rolled over Oregon on Sunday. In and of itself, that's not a huge deal -- Oregon isn't going anywhere in the Pac-10 -- but the win improved the Jackrabbits (see?) to 4-0 after earlier wins against Missouri, Wisconsin and Utah. The team returned a lot of talent this season (its first of postseason eligibility), but redshirt freshman Jill Young has stolen the show early, leading the team in points per game. (She missed the opener.)
Hopefully, more to come on them in the coming days.
Women's Basketball
