Monday, March 26, 2001
Connecticut - Louisiana Tech preview
Winning tough just part of the drill
By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH — They could be guest lecturers in Tough Love 101, coaches who inspire equal measures of dedication and dread, familiarity and fear, allegiance and angst.
One quit a year ago, only to return 17 days later, bored with trying to win golf games instead of national titles. The other apparently won't quit until his team plays perfectly every night of the season — and, yes, he tells his players it's possible.
“Perfection is in the eye of the beholder,” said Geno Auriemma, the coach of defending national champion Connecticut (31-2), which plays third-seeded Louisiana Tech (31-4) in the NCAA women's East Regional final Monday night.
Remarkably, they have four NCAA championships and nearly 1,000 career victories between them, yet Auriemma's Huskies and Leon Barmore's Lady Techsters have not met in an NCAA women's tournament game until now.
The teams played in early January, with UConn winning 71-55 at Tech, but that was before the Huskies' two biggest stars, Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph, were lost to season-ending injuries. It also was before a young Tech team that returned only one starter had begun to mesh, had begun to believe.
“That was kind of a measuring stick, but everybody gets better,” UConn's Swin Cash said.
As far as success in the women's game, however, it doesn't get much better than Auriemma, who is 424-97 in 16 seasons, or Barmore, who is 551-81 in 19 seasons.
Their backgrounds differ — Barmore is a former Tech player who grew up not far from the school's Ruston, La., campus; Auriemma was a street-wise Philly kid. Their off-the-court styles differ, too — Auriemma is slick and media-savvy, Barmore is less finicky, less limelight conscious, less prone to utter the funny aside.
“When he's at the Final Four, you don't see him much,” Auriemma said Sunday. “Leon's not trying to make the all-lobby team at the hotel. He's concerned with winning games.”
Not that Auriemma isn't. For 10 years, he has recruited many of the nation's best players, then demanded the best from them. The practices are tough, with full-court scrimmages — some players say their toughest games are against themselves — and lots of intense coaching. His style is not for the timid or those easily stung by criticism.
“When he gets that look in his eye ...” Cash said.
Funny, it's the same look the Lady Techsters often see on Barmore's face.
“We don't like the look in his eye when he doesn't get what he wants,” said Takeisha Lewis, who had 27 points and 17 rebounds Saturday in a 78-67 victory over Missouri. “We do what we can on the court to keep that smiley face on him.”
That could prove difficult against top-seeded UConn, which has won nine consecutive NCAA games and has an average winning margin of 43 points in three games in this tournament.
For the Lady Techsters to win, they must frustrate UConn's backcourt of Sue Bird and freshman Diana Taurasi, who had 24 points Saturday in a 72-58 victory over North Carolina State, by forcing turnovers and hurried shots.
They probably must get the 6-foot-2 Cash, who seemed nervous Saturday while playing in her hometown, and 6-5 Kelly Schumacher into foul trouble by pounding ball inside to the 6-2 Lewis and 6-2 Ayana Walker.
“Last year, you'd see them begging for the ball, the chance to get the other team in foul trouble, and you would wonder why that wasn't happening,” said Tech guard Brooke Lassiter.
Barmore resigned last year after Tech lost in its regional final — not because of unrest on that team, but because, he said Sunday, “I was tired.”
“I'm still tired,” he said. “But I'm happy. Last year, I was tired, but I wasn't happy. This year, I think we've gotten everything out of this group we could have gotten. We have no seniors. This team has a lot of heart.”
But does it have a chance?
“UConn is the last team to beat us,” Lassiter said. “We've grown and matured since that game. They're a great team and the national champion, but we love having this shot.”
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Connecticut - Louisiana Tech preview
