March 27, 2011
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's women's basketball team got its first taste of the limelight as an Elite Eight team in the NCAA Tournament Sunday.
And for head coach Kelly Graves, the 90-minute practice was no different than any of the previous 100 or so practices his troops have gone through since the start of the season in October.
"No, I thought it was pretty loose," Graves said of the 90-minute practice at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, site of Monday's 6 p.m. Spokane Regional final against Stanford University.
A limited number of tickets for Monday's game will be on sale until 6 p.m. Sunday at the Spokane Arena box office, by calling 1-800-325-SEAT or online at www.ticketswest.com. The Arena box office will open again at 10 a.m. Monday until game time if tickets remain. Tickets are $22.50 each.
Graves said they didn't "get up and down the floor like we typically do because I had a lot of kids play a lot of minutes last night so we wanted to keep them fresh."
The No. 11 seed Bulldogs, 31-4 overall, downed No. 7 seed University of Louisville 76-69 in Saturday's Sweet Sixteen matchup to advance to their inaugural Elite Eight. The Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history last year.
But despite the attention which has truly reached a national scope, Sunday's practice was no different.
"We had a pretty good time and that's kind of what we do in practice," the easy-going Graves said.
In addition to not changing anything in practice, Graves didn't have to spend time laboring on the importance of Monday's re-match with a Cardinal team that won 84-78 Nov. 21 in an early-season matchup in the McCarthey Athletic Center on the Gonzaga campus.
"I think we don't change now. They know it's an important game, the biggest game they've ever played in. But there's no reason in practice we have to get all uptight because the game is a long ways away," Graves said.
Prior to practice the Bulldog starters and Graves attended the mandatory NCAA press conference, and then continued to answer questions inside and outside the Bulldog lockerroom as the hoard of media covering the Spokane Regional converged on the team that may have become the darlings of this year's NCAA festivities.
Reporters from the New York Times, ESPN.com, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle and the local and statewide media fired questions throughout the nearly 60 minutes of media availability they were accorded.
Gonzaga and Stanford are no strangers to each other, having played a home-and-home series the past two years. The Cardinal took a 105-64 verdict last season on their home court, but the Bulldogs definitely closed the gap this season.
The Bulldogs think they are a different team in March than they were in November.
"We're a lot different team than we were," said senior point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who Saturday night became the all-time NCAA single-season assists leader. "That was really early in the year, we lost some big players last year so we had players that had to step into new roles that they weren't really used to at that point. We're well into the season now and players really have stepped into their role and know exactly what they need to help this team be successful."
But Stanford is a different team, too, especially with the play of the Ogwumike sisters, in particular freshman Chiney Ogwumike who was playing just her third collegiate game when she came to the McCarthey Athletic Center in November. The Bulldogs know stopping the sisters will be a key.
"It's one of those things where you just really have to focus in on them," said Katelan Redmon. "They're great players, they know how to play with each other really well and you just got to lock down on them, make sure you're blocking them out every single time and just do our best to keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible."
While most of the nation probably didn't think the Bulldogs would be an Elite Eight team, they did. And they aren't ready for the season to end. Just being here isn't fulfillment enough as they try to put Saturday night behind them and concentrate on what is ahead..
"Definitely, I mean, Elite Eight is an awesome thing, but we have the potential to go even farther and I think that after last night we celebrated and we were happy about it. For me personally it hasn't really hit me that like the extent to what we have done already this season and I just want to keep on playing. I don't want my season to end. And I think that tomorrow's a great opportunity to even go further and to reach the Final Four.," said Janelle Bekkering.
The Bulldogs knew all year they would play in the McCarthey Athletic Center the first two games if they qualified for the tournament, but when the Spokane Regional popped up on Selection Monday, their goals may have changed slightly.
"Well we knew we were going to play at home. We knew we were going to host the first two, so we definitely wanted to at least get to the game last night," Vandersloot said. "But even without that we knew that we had the ability, we had the team, we had all the pieces, we had the experience, we knew that we could, if everything went right and we were playing as well as we knew we could be, that we could make some noise in the tournament."
Graves draws the analogy with the last time the Spokane Arena hosted a NCAA Regional in 2001 and there was a blonde point guard from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) named Jackie Stiles who led the Lady Bears to the Final Four with a pair of victories in the Spokane Arena.
"I think as a coach you try to find any edge that you can. Before every year I try to paint a picture. But I just thought that with the regional being in Spokane I had no idea we would be sent there. But I knew that it was a possibility and at least early in the year it was something I could play on. And I just tried to paint the picture," Graves said.
He painted it again during the season.
"We revisited it a few times and to the extent where a couple of them said, okay, coach, yeah, we get it, we know. And then just obviously the similarities between Jackie Stiles and Courtney. I think they're two players that in some ways transcend the game. They're mesmerizing out on the basketball court. And the fact that they're about the same size, both blonde hair, that it was the 10-year anniversary, a lot of things that went into it, so as a coach you just try to give yourself an edge."
But Graves knows there's a big hurdle to jump in the No. 1 seed Cardinal Monday night, the Cardinal advancing with a 72-65 win over No. 5 seed University of North Carolina.
"Those were two really athletic teams last night. It was tough I think for either to kind of get going. Stanford's terrific. You watch them all the time so you know them better than anybody, but they just have so many different weapons and the size and not just the size but the skill and athleticism.
"I think a lot of people think, well it's Stanford, they plod around, man alive, they get up and down the court as well as anybody. And then they just keep throwing big bodies at you. The backcourt is skilled, I think Jeanette Pohlen has had just a tremendous year and deserved to get all the awards that she did. I think she is what really has set them apart this year, and makes them such a formidable force."
But Graves isn't throwing in the towel, looking only to the men's bracket in this year's NCAA Tournament to motivate his team.
"All the number one seeds for the men are gone," Graves said. "Ohio State, Duke, Pitt and Kansas. It just shows, that on any given day..., " he said as his voice trailed off.
And with No. 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth punching its ticket to the men's Final Four with a win over No. 1 seed University of Kansas, Graves is hopping there's a No. 11 seed headed to Indianapolis for the women's Final Four.
It would be the latest in what already has been a season of unfathomable firsts for Graves and the Bulldogs.
