INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Last year, Butler’s men had a virtual homecourt advantage when they played in the Final Four just a few miles from their Indianapolis campus.
This year, the Notre Dame women were in a similar situation headed into Sunday night’s semifinal against Connecticut. Indy is about a three-hour drive their South Bend, Ind., campus.
Notre Dame’s Becca Bruszewski, an Indiana native, was hoping the relatively short trip would offset Connecticut’s tendency to draw fans away from home.
“I think we would hope it would be a homecourt advantage,” she said. “We would want as much support as possible. And when you have a lot of people out there rooting for you, it helps when another team goes on a run or you’re on a run yourself.”
The players had noticed a spike in support leading up to the game, and many of their friends said they would make the trip.
“It’s huge,” Notre Dame center Devereaux Peters said. “There’s so many fans and families coming down. There are a lot of fans are down here, and the autograph session was ridiculous. It’s really exciting.”
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said the fact that the Final Four would be close to home was in the back of her players’ minds all season.
“It’s great for us to be in Indiana,” she said. “I don’t perceive it as a homecourt advantage exactly, but it definitely is easier for our fans to get here. And just playing in the state of Indiana, I think, it was kind of a motivating factor for some of the girls throughout the season.”
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma wasn’t sure if the game’s location would matter, and he doesn’t think his team has discussed it.
“Being at home or somewhat of a home game _ I don’t know, my guys don’t seem to be bothered by it,” he said.
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FUTURE COACHES? Former Purdue players Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and FahKara Malone were among the participants in the “So You Want to be a Coach” program that concluded on Sunday.
LaChina Robinson, who has facilitated the program since 2005, said the goal is not just to help women land coaching jobs but to succeed when they do. Indiana’s Felisha Leggette-Jack, Sylvia Crawley of Boston College and Saint Louis coach Shimmy Gray-Miller are among the coaches involved.
“It’s really an in-depth look into what it’s like to be a coach,” Robinson said. “We bring in panels of head and assistant coaches at some of the best programs in the country.”
The seminars are for players who have exhausted their eligibility or graduated within the past year.
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AGGIE JOKESTER: Texas A&M guard Sydney Colson showed why she’s known as the team’s jokester.
When a reporter, in all seriousness, asked what center Danielle Adams brings to the team, Colson replied with a perfectly straight face: “She doesn’t bring anything. She’s really a detriment to our team.”
When the laughter subsided, Colson noted that she was kidding, then described in detail Adams’ versatility, physicality and defensive abilities. Teammate Sydney Carter then weighed about Adams’ unselfishness and passing.
“Thank you, guys,” Adams said.
Colson then looked at Adams and said, “Oh, I love you.”
A loose bunch, these Aggies.
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HIGH PRAISE: Connecticut’s Maya Moore is the career scoring leader at one of the nation’s strongest programs. She’s a four-time All-American and twice has been The Associated Press national player of the year.
Small wonder, then, that some are calling her one of the best to play the game.
So Maya, what do you think of that talk?
“Well,” she replied as she turned to look at coach Geno Auriemma, “I don’t get to hear it a whole lot.”
Auriemma pretended not to hear, though he has praised his star eloquently through the years.
While trying to have fun with the question, Moore also was making a point that Auriemma’s prodding, criticism and needling made her a better player.
“I think our coaching staff and just our program as a whole does a really good job of making sure that we’re always staying hungry, always aware of the shortcomings in our team and as players individually, always striving to be better at something in practice,” Moore said.
“That’s been my mindset for the last few years. And it’s great that other people think highly of me and my team.”
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AP freelancer Chuck Schoffner contributed to this report.
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