Top 10 things we're looking forward to in the 2010-11 season (with a slightly Virginia bent)
1. Maya Moore, the senior. We've enjoyed watching players just as much (Taurasi, Parker, Penicheiro), but never more than Moore. One more year and the college game loses the UConn forward to the WNBA.
2. Brittney Griner, the sophomore. What heights can the Baylor center lift the Bears to?
3. Fun times in the ACC. Who ya picking? Duke looks awfully good, but what about the new kids at Maryland? A cancer-free Jessica Breland should put North Carolina in the hunt and the NC State youth, with three starters back, is a year older after an NCAA appearance. Counting out Florida State and Georgia Tech? We wouldn't. Virginia doesn't have Monica Wright anymore, but the Cavs have a healthy China Crosby back. Should be a great conference race.
4. Remember the name Bilqis Abdul Qaadir (doesn't exactly roll off the tongue)? She broke Rebecca Lobo's high school scoring record in Massachusetts (3,070 points) but tore her ACL before ever playing a minute for the University of Memphis. The redshirt freshman makes her debut against at home against Missouri on Nov. 12.
5. Speaking of dynamic seniors, Dawn Evans has one more year at James Madison. We look forward to a healthy Evans vying to lead James Madison to back-to-back CAA tournament championships.
6. UConn at Stanford, Dec. 30 at Maples Pavilion.
7. The super sophs:
*in state (Devon Brown, Liberty)
*from the state (Sugar Rodgers)
*in the CAA (Elena Delle Donne)
8. ODU coach Wendy Larry will win her 600th career game this season (she's 12 victories shy). It will be pretty cool to see Larry join the 29 other Division I coaches in the 600-plus club.
9. Andrea Barbour scored 15 a night as a freshman at Virginia Tech. Two years later, she's at Virginia Commonwealth and we'll wouldn't be surprised to see her on the CAA's all-league team at the end of the year. Does anyone doubt she can do even more damage in the CAA?
10. Liberty vs. the big time. Talk about a tough nonconference schedule. The Lady Flames face Baylor, Texas A&M, James Madison, probably NC State and probably Maryland.
I will admit that I hadn't watched any UConn games in several years. Why? Anything to do with Geno and its abrasive fans, I have no desire nor interest to support them by watching them play.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the match-up game on November 18 between Tennessee & Virginia. I know this year, the Lady Vols has plenty of weapons and probably routs Virginia in Knoxville but ... with a young team with attitude, nothing to lose, anything can happen.
You never know!
R-