- March 14th, 2006, 11:04 pm
#8551
It is interesting looking through message boards and reading what everyone says about us. One poster said Hartford could be this years Liberty and another said that they thought Penn St was seeded too high last year but Liberty took care of that.
Here is an article from ESPN.com.
Those two wins last March did some much for the program.
Who is this year's Katie Feenstra?
The short answer is no single player can fill Feenstra's rather large glass slippers. The mammoth center gave upstart Liberty the kind of physical advantage teams with double-digit seeds almost never experience. Behind 6-8 Feenstra and the 3-point looks she created for her teammates, No. 13 seed Liberty advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 last season. This season, winning even one game would be a significant accomplishment for some stars playing under the radar.
Give UW-Milwaukee's Traci Edwards three more seasons and she might well be able to carry the Panthers to a Sweet 16. A first-round encounter in the Bridgeport region with Liz Shimek and No. 4 seed Michigan State is a tough assignment this year, but 6-2 Edwards is one of the most intriguing mid-major bigs. Just a freshman, she led UW-Milwaukee in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg), including 21 points and eight rebounds against DePaul. And she showed enough versatility to rank third on the team in assists and post 43 steals.
When No. 12 seed Tulsa squares off against NC State in the first round, the Wolfpack's Tiffany Stansbury might not be the best post player on the court. Tulsa junior Jillian Robbins did it all for the Golden Hurricane this season, averaging 18.1 points, 13 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.3 blocks. Included in those averages were a 28-point, 22-rebound effort at Arkansas and an 18-point, 19-rebound game against Florida State. It might be asking a bit much for Robbins and Tulsa, making its debut in the NCAA Tournament, to beat a tough ACC foe, but they won't lose the game in the post.
And although she doesn't fit Feenstra's physical mold, Middle Tennessee State guard Chrissy Givens might be the player most capable of lifting a small school to first-round glory. The nation's eighth-leading scorer, wedged between Pondexter and Wiggins on that list, Givens paces a team that knows something about springing upsets in the NCAA Tournament (beating No. 4 seed North Carolina in 2004 and No. 5 seed NC State in 2005). She posted 24 points and nine rebounds in a loss to Georgia this season and had three double-doubles. Against a Utah team with somewhat dubious credentials for a No. 5 seed, Givens and the Blue Raiders could be giant killers once again.
Here is an article from ESPN.com.
Those two wins last March did some much for the program.
Who is this year's Katie Feenstra?
The short answer is no single player can fill Feenstra's rather large glass slippers. The mammoth center gave upstart Liberty the kind of physical advantage teams with double-digit seeds almost never experience. Behind 6-8 Feenstra and the 3-point looks she created for her teammates, No. 13 seed Liberty advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 last season. This season, winning even one game would be a significant accomplishment for some stars playing under the radar.
Give UW-Milwaukee's Traci Edwards three more seasons and she might well be able to carry the Panthers to a Sweet 16. A first-round encounter in the Bridgeport region with Liz Shimek and No. 4 seed Michigan State is a tough assignment this year, but 6-2 Edwards is one of the most intriguing mid-major bigs. Just a freshman, she led UW-Milwaukee in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg), including 21 points and eight rebounds against DePaul. And she showed enough versatility to rank third on the team in assists and post 43 steals.
When No. 12 seed Tulsa squares off against NC State in the first round, the Wolfpack's Tiffany Stansbury might not be the best post player on the court. Tulsa junior Jillian Robbins did it all for the Golden Hurricane this season, averaging 18.1 points, 13 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.3 blocks. Included in those averages were a 28-point, 22-rebound effort at Arkansas and an 18-point, 19-rebound game against Florida State. It might be asking a bit much for Robbins and Tulsa, making its debut in the NCAA Tournament, to beat a tough ACC foe, but they won't lose the game in the post.
And although she doesn't fit Feenstra's physical mold, Middle Tennessee State guard Chrissy Givens might be the player most capable of lifting a small school to first-round glory. The nation's eighth-leading scorer, wedged between Pondexter and Wiggins on that list, Givens paces a team that knows something about springing upsets in the NCAA Tournament (beating No. 4 seed North Carolina in 2004 and No. 5 seed NC State in 2005). She posted 24 points and nine rebounds in a loss to Georgia this season and had three double-doubles. Against a Utah team with somewhat dubious credentials for a No. 5 seed, Givens and the Blue Raiders could be giant killers once again.
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