Now that the euphoria of receiving an NCAA Tournament invitation
has faded, the UCLA women’s basketball team has established a
new set of goals. At the top of that list is preparing to play at
ear-splitting Williams Arena, site of Sunday’s first-round
matchup pitting the tenth-seeded Bruins against No. 7 seed
Minnesota.
UCLA practiced with artificial crowd noise Tuesday, but coach
Kathy Olivier admitted that there is no substitute for actually
playing in front of an expected sell-out crowd on the Golden
Gophers’ home court.
“We’re talking about a partisan crowd of about
14,000,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “We wanted to be
able to communicate in that type of environment, to learn to focus
and work with all that noise. My ears are still ringing.”
The main concern for the young Bruins is their lack of
experience. While Minnesota is NCAA Tournament savvy, having made
it for the past three years, none of the current Bruins have ever
been to the Big Dance.
“They’re young, so they’ll learn from this
experience,” Olivier said. “Because this is our first
time, it’s important that we get off to an early lead and
build some confidence. No matter what’s up against us, I
believe that this team will be competitive.”
UCLA enters the tournament at full throttle. Its only two losses
in the past ten games have come at the hands of Pac-10 champion
Stanford. The team’s so-called triple threat ““ guards
Nikki Blue, Noelle Quinn and Lisa Willis ““ have come together
and saved their best basketball for the end of the season.
“Teams don’t know about us because we didn’t
play as well early on,” guard Lisa Willis said. “This
team is hot right now, even if I’m not. But when I get my
shot back, watch out.”
Minnesota will counter UCLA’s triple threat with its own
dynamic duo ““ center Janel McCarville and guard Lindsey
Whalen.
McCarville, a 6-foot-2 junior center, gives the Gophers a
legitimate interior force to be reckoned with. Seniors Jamila
Veasley, Whitney Jones and freshman Amanda Livingston will all
likely take turns against McCarville, who led the Big Ten in
double-doubles this season.
“She’s so active and has good size,” Olivier
said. “When you watch her, she’s a part of everything.
The challenge is keeping her off the offensive glass and keeping
them from getting second-chance points.”
But making the challenge even more daunting is that Whalen is
expected to return to the lineup. Minnesota’s 5-foot-9 senior
guard broke two metacarpals in her right hand and had to miss
Minnesota’s final seven games of the regular season, a
stretch during which the Gophers lost four of seven games and
slipped from a potential No. 2 seed all the way down to a No. 7.
While she does have a brace on, Whalen has had her cast removed,
and according to various newspaper reports, is playing pain-free
and participating in a full practice with the exception of
rebounding drills.
“They’re more talented now than their seed, but
we’re just happy to be in the tournament,” Willis said.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Connecticut, Duke
or Minnesota, a game is a game is a game.”
As for UCLA, their NCAA Tournament bid has been a long time
coming, especially following last year’s heartbreak. In
particular, it is rewarding to the younger players, who came to
Westwood with the task of having to rebuild the women’s
basketball program.
“I’m lucky to be here,” Blue said. “I
think that everyday. I came here to build this program again, and
it came true. It’s happening right now.”
For the seniors ““ Veasley, Jones and Gennifer Arranaga —
it is a storybook ending to their UCLA basketball careers. All
three are pleased to be playing in the postseason for the first
time in their careers.
“It’s an experience you want to have,”
Arranaga said. “Some of the younger people have been asking
us, “˜What’s it like?’ I don’t know because
I’ve never been. It would have been tough to end it and never
have that experience.”
However, Olivier is quick to emphasize that the Bruins’
business is not yet finished.
“This isn’t good enough to just get in,”
Olivier said. “We want to do some damage. We want to get in
and really put our name out there and show people we
belong.”
With Whalen back in the fold and a sell-out crowd expected to be
on hand, that could be a tough task, but the Bruins believe
they’re ready.
“We’re stressing preparation,” Olivier said.
“That’s why we’ve talked about going so far,
about the crowd, about a situation where it seems everything is
against you. But we’ve had our backs against the wall before
and we were successful.”