Feb. 8, 2008

By Debbie Antonelli

Special To CSTV.com

DEBBIE ANTONELLI
Debbie is an analyst for CSTV basketball and contributes to CSTV.com regularly.
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        ---   Column Archive   ---  
3/5: Not So Fast 2/15: Lady Vols Down, But Not Out 2/8: Breaking Down A Rivalry 1/25: Poll Babies 1/11: No Parity At One Or Two 12/21: Coming Up Little Ten 12/14: More Moore For UConn 12/7: A Living Legacy 11/30: Shocking Prediction 11/23: Going With The Big Names 11/16: Starting The Year Off Right 11/5: Who's The Best Conference? Who Cares? 4/2: Title Talk 3/23: March Is Only Getting Sweeter 3/13: UConn's Yellow Brick Road to Cleveland 3/2: Duke Can't Be Beat 2/23: I Played On Kay Yow Court 2/16: See You Later, Alligator 2/2: OSU Fit For No. 2 1/26: Tortoise Still Faster Than The...Blue Devil? 1/19: Offense Puts Fans In The Stands 1/12: To The Turtles 1/5: Household Names 4/22: Tobacco Triangle Coaches' Rap 4/07: The End Is The Beginning 4/03: Sticking To My Guns 3/30: My Coaches' All-Star Team 3/29: Previewing the Final Four 3/16: Let the Games Begin 3/13: Who's At The Top of the Crop? 2/16: Don't Forget Paris 2/03: Sooners' Streak Comes Later 1/22: Duke-Tennessee Preview 1/18: Approaching Another Summitt 1/11: Around the World In 23 Games

CSTV women's college basketball expert Debbie Antonelli is one of the most respected analysts in the country. Having played at N.C. State for coach Kay Yow and worked in both radio and television, Antonelli will contribute each week answering questions that matter in and around women's college basketball.

You did the color for the Connecticut-Rutgers game on Tuesday in Piscataway, N.J. Break down the game and explain what the result - a 73-71 Rutgers upset - means for both the Huskies and Scarlet Knights as they continue their season.

First of all, it was one of the best environments I've been in all season long. It was hot, sweaty and knowledgeable. The fans at the Rutgers Athletic Center were great.

For Connecticut, the loss will make them refocus.

I watched UConn coach Geno Auriemma during shootaround and he was telling his team exactly what to expect. When I questioned him, he told me exactly how the game plan would work. He knew exactly what Rutgers would do and they did it. He was prepared and he had given his team what they needed. But they didn't execute.

Rutgers had three players, Epiphanny Prince, Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon, that Connecticut, as quick as Ketia Swanier and Renee Montgomery are, couldn't keep in front of them off the dribble. That is a huge concern for UConn, and that's where you miss Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas.

They always put Thomas on the opposing team's best player, even though she's not the quickest on the Huskies. I think it's because she wouldn't have to help out. She could chase; she has great conditioning and you weren't going to outwork her. And she was smart. Offensively, handling the pressure, that's just an environment that Lorin Dixon has never been in. It's hard to simulate Rutgers' pressure.

For the Scarlet Knights, the win comes as a tremendous boost in confidence for them, a team that had been struggling offensively. What an incredible offensive performance by Prince. That might be one of the best single offensive performances I've seen all season. It was just the way she went about putting her team on her shoulders - down 10, she just took over. It was not one particular way of scoring, either. It was a combination of threes, steals, free throws and energy. And she does it with a game face. She never changes her expression.

Both teams will learn from it and it just makes the return game in March that much dicier.

Explain why Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer waits so long into the season to instill the 55 defense that worked so well in their victory over Connecticut? Why do they play almost the whole season with one game philosophy only to completely change the way they play closer to March?

In my conversation with Coach Stringer at the Connecticut game shootaround, she said, by rule, January is when they have everything together and are ready to move into the 55 defense. For some reason, with this group, Stringer felt they weren't ready. You scratch your head and say, "but it's everybody back from last year that went to the Final Four." They were simply not there.

During the postgame interview on the floor, I asked her this question: "You told me you were not ready for the 55, but the 55 got you back in it. How would you grade your performance?" She just smiled and said, "I think we had a very good passing grade today."

The 55 is a total commitment of pressure up front. On the ball, trapping everywhere you can trap and going for steals. You are trying to force the other team into turning the ball over. It's a steal-score-steal-score mentality. That's what they are trying to do. If you can do that, you can change your own momentum on the offensive end because it speeds you up. And on the other side, it can disrupt, delay and get deflections and steals. It's a defense designed to be in your grill for 94 feet.

I think this is a big turning point for the Scarlet Knights; it's a good measurement of where they are. They are ready for the 55, obviously. That was great defense. Connecticut could not get the ball up the court. It was amazing.

Currently, the Mountain West has two ranked teams, No. 20 Utah and No. 22 Wyoming. Will the MWC get two teams into the NCAA Tournament and exactly just how good are the Utes?

I definitely believe the Mountain West will get at least two tournament teams. Utah and Wyoming will probably both get in. TCU would be what I call a bubble team, but they did beat Oklahoma State. You beat them, that has to raise your interest a little bit. But I think two is the more appropriate number for the Mountain West.

Elaine Elliott's defense is probably one of the best in the country. She is always tough to score on. They've got a pretty good group of guards. Leilani Mitchell, the kid that transferred from Idaho State, she's pretty good. She led the nation in assists last year. She transferred for one year for this reason, to get Utah to the NCAA Tournament and give herself a chance to experience the tournament.