Dell Donne leads Hens to First Sweet 16

[UncleBill57]

Great win for Delaware against UNC. Dell Donne was being mauled in first half with rare fouls being called. Refs changed their persona in 2nd half which impacted on the play. Announcers were repeatedly talking about the no calls somewhat like they did about the bogus calls or no calls in our game. Since we didn't get her I'm happy she ended up staying in Delaware.

 

[tpenter]

Bill -

Just a great atmosphere tonight, standing and cheering as much as sitting down. All of what I had hoped could happen at Nova, but is was not to be. They get to go to Bridgeport to play Kentucky for a chance at UConn for a berth in the final four. The NCAA couldn't have set it up any better. If I wasn't headed down to New Orleans the following week I would probably have made the trip up to Connecticut to see them play in the Sweet 16.

One way or the other those Delaware seniors were playing their last game at the Bob and they laid it all out there tonight and the fans really appreciated the effort. I hope Nova will continue to schedule them in the future.

 

[paschall]

I'm curious as to whether we were a serious contender for Della Donne both before she opted for UConn and also after she left? If we were, I can understand why she would pick UConn. Delaware, other then she wanted to be very close to home, is a bit puzzeling. Regarding last night what a performance. Geno must get agita watching her play. A real super star.

 

[tpenter]

Big East Conference rules precluded her from signing on to another Big East school without getting UConn's agreement to waive that provision, so no, we had no shot at her after she left UConn. Before that, its a matter of who you talk to. There were all kinds of stories floating around, some of which clearly turned out to be un-true. Other storylines have some merit, but I really can't say for sure that we were that close to landing her. She was so close to Doty, that I figured it was a no-brainer she would be choosing UConn. I was told that they had a falling out and no longer speaking and we were a lock to get her and that very night I saw the two of them making nice-nice on TV as Doty and several others were helping Ursiline prepare for the state championship! A few days later she announced her decision to go to UConn.

The Pavillion was pretty dead in those days, so there certianly wasn't anything to excite her on that front other than the relatively close proximity to home vs. Tennesee, UConn and Middle Tennesee. I was just amazed at the energy at the Bob last night and mighty jealous, but I don't think we would have gotten the same result with her at Nova. Even when we have good teams it was like pulling teeth to get people and especially the students to come out. Too many other distractions in the immediate area for women's basketball to capture the imagination. We might have averaged 2 to 3 thousand a game, but no way the numbers that have come out to watch her play at UD. We barely get 2,500 when UConn comes to town, and a lot of those are UConn fans.

Last night was the ultimate for fan participation in women's basketball. They were knowledgeable, came out early, cheered absolutely everything including the band, cheerleaders and dance squad, booed the refs, taunted the UNC coach for getting out on the court to protest calls and never left after the game ended until they tried to turn the lights out. I would imagine a lot of them will be heading up to Bridgeport this weekend to try and continue the ride for at least one more game. I would love to see them in New Orleans, but I think UConn might just be the end of the line for them, assuming they can get past Kentucky first. In any event I should see EDD at the Final Four as she is certain to pick up another All-American honor at the open practice sessions the day before the semi-finals.

All in all, if we couldn't get her, I am glad she landed at a mid-major and transformed a program. At UConn or UT she would simply have been one more in a long line of star players for a dynasty program. The absolute joy of the UD fans was a sight to behold and truly what the spirt of intercollegiate athletics can be, given the right set of circumstances. EDD will surely be a state hero from this point on. Her story will continue at the pro level. I might even watch more WNBA games on TV this year.

 

[paschall]

tpenter: Thanks for the answer. Would have been great had she decided on Villanova. She's a special talent.

 

[novabball2]

Harry and Joe Mullaney really thought they had her. They were surprised she went to Uconn where she would be a role player there with all the talent they had their at that time. If she went to Nova she would have been the star and changed the program from awful to top 25 in a heartbeat.

I really hope they beat UK and play Uconn, they cant beat Uconn but itll make for good drama. The womens game needs all the attention it can get.

Question, why does UD get to host a game against a #3 seed in the tourney when they are a 6 seed? are the locations set before the bracket? seems unfair to UNC.

 

[UncleBill57]

$$$$$...

 

[tpenter]

Yeah, dollars and marketing strategy is it.

In the early 2000's the higher seeds got the home games and thus UConn and Tennesee almost always had four home games to win in order to make the final four. In order for Nova to make it to the final four in 2003 we would have had to beat Tennesee on their home court in the elite 8 game. With the consecutive sellouts of the Wachovia Center, Alamodome and other big venues for the final four, the NCAA thought is was time to move to pre-designated neutral sites like the men to make the games a little fairer. That turned out to be a disaster as a lot of sites wound up with no local teams in action and TV viewers saw a sea of empty seats for a lot of games.

That was quickly replaced with the current system that allowed cities (and local host schools) to bid for the right to host the 1st and 2nd round games or the regional games. On the current system, if the host team gets an NCAA bid, they are guaranteed to play at home. Thus Delaware was on the ball on bidding for the opening weekend site, knowing that they were a good bet to get a bid. Ditto for St. Johns, Colorado, Iowa, LSU, Texas Tech and almost all of the 1 and 2 seeds. Ohio State was also a site, but the Buckeyes didn't get a bid, getting Coach Foster fired. A case of be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it!

It's an imperfect system, but at least makes for mostly exciting venues with decent and vocal crowds at most locations. The games at Delawre this past week were some of the most exciting in person games I have witnessed over the years. Even the final four has scaled back and they are only looking at modest size arenas for the future events. They were lucky at San Antonio a few years ago that Baylor and Oklahoma made it to the final four. There were literally thousands of unsold seats at the AlamoDome until that final week when those two teams knew they were there. (Waco was only 60 some miles up the road). There are still seats available for New Orleans next week and they are only playing in the 18,000 seat Arena, rather than the SuperDome.

Go Blue Hens! at least until Nova picks up a ball again in October.

 

[novabball2]

so to be clear they played the game at UDel cause they were guaranteed a sell out crowd? thats not fair to the #3 seed and lessens the value of the regular season. Its hard to take womens basketball seriously when you see things like that,

#2 TN played #6 Okl in Okl city. in the sweet 16. thats not a disadvantage for the #2 seed? Uconn is the number 3 number 1 seed behind Baylor and ND and they get to play in Bridgeport CT and ND has to travel to VA to play Duke. the travel doesnt make sense per the seedings. Make Uconn travel and give ND the second rd in CT that way Duke has to travel too. Norfolk VA is only about a 2-3 hr bus ride from Durham NC. where its a 2-3 hr flight from South Bend.

 

[tpenter]

Didn't say it was entirely fair, but the best compromise they have at this point without going back to playing all of the games at the higher seed home court, which wasn't exactly fair either. North Carolina was not eligible to play the first two rounds in Durham since Duke was guaranteed to be there and NCAA selection criteria would prevent them from meeting in the first two rounds and they would have had to have been an 7 or 10 seed to be matched with a 2 seed anyway. When you take into consideration that most places need to reserve locations a year ahead of time and set up ticket sales, reserve hotel rooms for teams, press, etc., we will probably not see any major change to the current arrangements any time soon.

Remember that #1 seed Notre Dame had to win at Tennesee several years ago to get to the Final Four, having never beaten them before, so what goes 'round, comes 'round, except for UConn who always gest to play at Gampel, Hartford or Bridgeport almost every year. When they played the regional here at Temple a few years ago the attendence was less than 3,000 with UConn, DePaul, Georgetown and Duke. Playing those games in Connecticut or Durham would have drawn about 10,000 fans, regardless of where those teams were seeded and thus we have UConn playing in Bridgeport this weekend in a sold out building. Finances, fan attendence and public and TV perception all very important in the whole process.

 

[Geronimo1907]

"Its hard to take womens basketball seriously when you see things like that,". That's not the only reason.