The Guru’s WNBA Report: Ionescu’s Three-Pointer at the Finish Completing a Liberty Rally on Minnesota Puts New York Up 2-1 and a Win Away From Its First Title

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Back in 1999 when Theresa Weatherspoon hit the 47-foot game-winner that to this day still stands as the longest in the closing seconds of a WNBA Finals, which enabled the New York Liberty to knot the best-of-three series 1-1 against the Houston Comets, the reality was the iconic moment, proven the next day, still left the squad a betting long shot to take the hardware out of Texas and back home.

But two-decades-plus later what is now the second best closing dagger as of Wednesday night when Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu delivered a 28-foot three-ball with one second remaining  for an 80-77 victory over the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis has the New Yorkers one win away from their first title.

Unlike Game 1 when the Lynx chased the Liberty all night in Brooklyn to steal a triumph in overtime, New York did likewise Wednesday night erasing a 15-point deficit to go up 2-1.

The bad news is that the Liberty will have to do it right where they are when Game 4 tips at 8 p.m. on ESPN Friday night in the Target Center.

The good news is the win Wednesday provides insurance that if Minnesota recovers from the stunner and extends the series to a decisive Game 5 the action will resume Sunday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN back in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

After chasing the home team all night, the Liberty went up only to see the Lynx gain a quick tie with seconds remaining threatening a second overtime in the series as New York went into its huddle.

“In the timeout, (coach) Sandy (Brondello) was like, you’re going to shoot the shot,” Ionescu said.

That it came to her heroics was courtesy of the performance of Breanna Stewart, the former UConn great who won two of her three regular-season MVP awards and a pair of WNBA championships in Seattle before the Liberty brass hit the free-agent jackpot with her decision to return to her home state a year ago.

Stewart scored 30 points, including 22 of New York’s 45 in the second half, to go with 11 boards and four blocks in front of a Minnesota record crowd of 19,521.

“We know we’re one game away from winning the championship, and I think that they are going to give us their best shot,” Stewart said. “They are going to give everything they have got, and you know what, so are we. The turnaround is quick but we are going to be ready.”

The series has been icing in coming at the end of the WNBA’s greatest season ever in its 28-year history that has exploded in booming attendance figures and TV ratings on the strength of rookie Caitlin Clark out of Iowa with the Indiana Fever, the top pick last April, and Chicago Sky first-round pick Angel Reese out of LSU.

But there have also been several previous championships that have been memorable, especially the last decade when the Lynx won four titles and were twice runner-up over seven years.

Minnesota was one of four teams to rally and win two straight when the Lynx won their last title in 2017, which was also their last time in the finals. Phoenix is the only of the four to lose Games 2 and 3.

 Said Brondello of Ionescu’s winner, “It’s pretty special. It was never in doubt. Obviously, Stewie got us back in there, willed us in there, but I thought the right time, this is Sabrina. She just made a big shot. She’s a great shooter and she just needed a little bit of separation.”

The winner was a cloud in Ionescu’s mind. “I had to go look at the video really quickly to see like how far I was. I feel like I was able to get a little separation in range and get a really good shot to go in.”

But she also deferred to Stewart, her teammate on last summer’s USA gold medalists in Paris coached by Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve, the La Salle grad from South Jersey outside Philadelphia.

“We don’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu praised. “There’s nothing I can say. That shot’s nice, but what she was able to do for us tonight willed us back in the game.”

A fifth title for Reeve would set a WNBA record snapping a tie with former Houston coach Van Chancellor, if Minnesota turns the tide back its way.

“There’s so many ups and downs and swings all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are,” Reeve said of the outcome. “We’re disappointed. We’re home. We played and just couldn’t come up with the win.’

From the other side of the winning play, Lynx guard and Notre Dame alum Kayla McBride said, “Great player made a good shot. I guarded her for 40 minutes.”

This is the sixth finals for New York, one of the eight original WNBA teams and also the top seed who now leads for the first time and returned after a long absence last season with a newly acquired “super team” identity off the winter signings. 

 However, they came up against an already established one in the Las Vegas Aces, who won their second straight crown winning the series in Brooklyn, 3-1.

That was the same outcome in the Liberty’s revenge in the semifinals dethroning the Aces in Vegas only to still have to face the Lynx, who had success on New York all season and in rising to the second seed earned coach and executive of the year honors for Reeve, who will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 7.

After Minnesota fell behind, Napheesa Collier, who teamed at Connecticut with Stewart on one of the NCAA champions, tied it on a pair of foul shots before Ionescu’s opportunity finishing with 22 points and setting a finals scoring record in the series. McBride scored 19.

“Our defense gave us a chance to win the game, period, and our offense is going to help our defense,” Reeve said. “If you told me that we would have the amount of stops that we did and we were playing off of that, and we wouldn’t have scored 80, that would be surprising to me.”

Stewart personally gave New York 13 points across the third and fourth quarters propelling the comeback tying the score 69-69 with 6:18 left in regulation.

Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, and rookie Leonie Fiebich out of Germany each scored 13 points for the Liberty.

Bridget Carleton scored 14 for the Lynx and Courtney Williams, the star of Game 1, scored 12.

“We got good shots. And we just didn’t convert and they did,” Williams said.

Earlier in the day Stewart and Collier, founders of the new Unrivaled league that will launch on Jan. 17 in Miami, announced a multi-year streaming deal with TNT and its sports platforms.

Both also made the all-WNBA first team, Collier and Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson, this season’s MVP, being unanimous choices while Clark is the first rookie on the unit since Candace Parker in 2008. Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, and Diana Taurasi are the other rookies in the past named to the squad, while the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas out of Maryland from Harrisburg is also on the first team.

Philadelphia’s Kahleah Copper, who played for Rutgers and is with Phoenix, was on the second team with New York’s Jones and Ionescu, Seattle’s Nneka Ogwumike, and Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s AP Poll Report: Preseason Poll Points to Many Changes Behind South Carolina 84th No. 1 Ranking Which Makes Gamecocks Third All-Time

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The AP women’s preseason poll, week No. 865 starting season history No. 49, came out Tuesday and it is a relatively new world from the way last season ended.

The Guru is here to provide the notes but first for those that missed it, here are the rankings, but go to the AP site for the full vote count.

1.        South Carolina (27)

2.        UConn (2)

3.        Southern Cal (1)

4.        Texas

5.        UCLA

6.        Notre Dame

7.        LSU

8.        Iowa State

9.        NC State

10.  Oklahoma

11.  Duke

12.  Baylor

13.  Kansas State

14.  Ohio State

15.  North Carolina

16.  West Virginia

17.  Louisville

18.  Maryland

19.  Florida State

20.  Ole Miss

21.  Creighton

22.  Kentucky

23.  Nebraska

24.  Alabama

25.  Indiana

Others: Iowa, TCU, Utah, Illinois, Stanford, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, South Dakota State, Miami, Tennessee, Fairfield, Middle Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Princeton.

 

From 15 thru 25, only three teams, No. 16 West Virginia prev 24, No. 21 Creighton prev 23, and No. 25 Indiana prev , were ranked in the final poll of 2023-24, which in setting a precedent, came out the day after the NCAA tourney ended.

 

The eight replacements have a previous history, but some have returned with cobwebs, specifically Alabama, last ranked the entire 1998-99 season starting 11 and ending 24.

New Coach, No Poll: While a conference poll giant is gone in the PAC-12, though it may have some viability in its future form down the road, four poll heavyweights of recent and long time residency are also gone.

So are their coaches – Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, the recent coaches category leader in the poll besides the combined men’s/women’s D-1 win leader retired, the Cardinal were ranked ninth in the final poll.

Longtime Stanford associate head coach Kate Paye has succeeded VanDerveer.

Kenny Brooks moved from Virginia Tech, which finished 18th, to Kentucky, which is one of the replacements at 22, making him and Alabama’s Kristy Curry, new members of the trio club, expanding from 10 to 12 members with Brooks having James Madison in his profile, while Curry has Purdue and Texas Tech in her ranking history.

The new Hokies coach is Megan Duffy coming from Marquette.

Retired coach Jim Foster is the sole member of the foursome – Saint Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Chattanooga.

Beside the end of the Caitlin Clark collegiate era at Iowa. Lisa Bluder retired to be succeeded by associate head coach Jan Jensen, but the Hawkeyes, NCAA runnerup, plunged from No. 2 to nowhere, perhaps the largest ‘tween season drop in history.

Tennessee, the longtime poll industry leader under the late legend Pat Summitt, now eclipsed by UConn, was not ranked most of the season after an early appearance and alum Kellie Harper was let go, replaced for the first time by a non-Lady Vol in Marshall’s Kim Caldwell.

Tennessee has missed just four preseason polls, the first ever, the polls of 2019-20 and 2020-21, and now.

The team is picked 7th in the SEC, lowest ever, but now in a 16-team league where the previous low was 6 in a 14-team league.

Not ranked at the end but holding a decent poll history, Miami’s Katie Meier retired and succeeded by Toledo’s Tricia Cullop, who was succeeded by Monmouth’s Ginny Boggess.

Revolving Door: The eight teams gone from the final poll are Stanford ranked ninth and was third on consecutive appearances current with 123 across four seasons; Oregon State which was 7th; Gonzaga which was 14th; Colorado which was 15th; Virginia Tech which was 18th; Syracuse which was 20th; Utah which was 22nd; and Iowa, which as mentioned, was 2nd.

The Hawkeyes were ranked 49 straight weeks, Virginia Tech 45.

Indiana barely hung on slipping from 12 to 25 as Teri Moren earned her 100th ranking.

By the Dawn’s Lasting Light: Picking up where South Carolina left off with a third national title, the preseason No. 1 ranking snaps a tie with Louisiana Tech in gaining the overall 84 behind UConn at 250 and Tennessee at 112.

As for Staley herself, she is now 25th on the overall poll appearance list with 259 rankings, including 26 at Temple, and fourth on the active list behind Geno Auriemma at UConn at 619, Kim Mulkey at LSU with 417 built on 361 at Baylor, and Brenda Frese at Maryland at 354 including eight at Minnesota.

Celebrate; This season UConn is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Geno Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey in charge of the program with Game No. 4 hosting Fairleigh Dickinson in Storrs as the one Auriemma could pass VanDerveer in the win category.

The preseason poll with the Huskies second extends the record consecutive polling streak to 586 that began in the start of 1993-94.

This week with 619 Auriemma moves into second place ahead of Summitt, who only missed 14 in the then entire history when she retired battling Alzheimer’s disease in 2012.

VanDerveer leads at 654 including 27 at Ohio State but with 627 at Stanford, she can be passed by Auriemma as the same school for all rankings leader this season.

 

Stats trivia: Most rankings – Tennessee 777, Stanford 645, Texas 623, Connecticut 619, Maryland 523.

Most Top 5s: Connecticut 484; Tennessee 468; Stanford 306; Louisiana Tech 279; Texas 190.

Most Top 10s: Tennessee 627; Connecticut 562; Stanford 501; Louisiana Tech 373; Maryland 349.

Preseason: All-Tennessee 45; Texas 39; Maryland 37; Stanford 36; Connecticut 35

No. 1-Connecticut 12; Tennessee 12; South Carolina 4; Louisiana Tech 3; Baylor, Duke, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, Stanford, Texas 2 each.

Top 5- Tennessee 37; Connecticut 27; Stanford 17; Louisiana Tech 15; Georgia, Texas 12 each.

Top 10 – Tennessee 38, Connecticut 32, Stanford 28, Georgia 21, Louisiana Tech 20.

ACC Mailbox: Coach Walz – Vice presidential candidate or Louisville coach; Wes Moore – Maryland governor or N.C. State coach.

And that’s the way it is – Nov. 4 opening day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s WNBA Report: New York Stops Minnesota’s Second Straight Attempted Comeback to Knot the Championship Best-of-Five Series 1-1.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

This particularly WNBA best-of-five championship finals is starting to resemble the production of a movie.

From the side of the New York Liberty, seeking their first ever title in a 28-season franchise search whose length matches the entire history of the league, Thursday’s Game 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was a “Paradise Lost” adventure.

In the series opener, roaring to an overall 18-point lead in the first half and still up 15 with five minutes left in regulation, the New Yorkers succumbed to a series of twists and turns as the four-time past champion Minnesota Lynx rallied in overtime to flip the home court advantage while setting up Game Two on ABC on Sunday afternoon to be more adventurous.

And so it was that in front of another sellout that this round became “Paradise Rescued,” the Liberty about to go under again when another ferocious rally in the fourth quarter moved the Lynx within a basket at 66-64 with 5:36 left in regulation and the visitors going for the tie.

That’s when Brenna Stewart, who atoned a missed foul shot that would have won it in regulation on Thursday and missed a shot that would have kept things going in overtime, this time said “enough,” executing a pair of steals that set New York on a 14-2 finishing explosion for an 80-66 victory to knot things 1-1 as the action now moves to Minneapolis for the next two nights on ESPN at 8 p.m. in the Target Center.

For the Lynx, having stolen Game One, the next contest gives them a chance sweep the next two this week and claim an unprecedented fifth title and first since 2017, the last moment when Minnesota when got this far, which was the sixth time in seven years. None of the 20 teams who began 0-2 ever rallied to win the title.

For New York, the next one on Wednesday provides an opportunity to gain the upper hand and complete the quest.

For the neutral basketball fan, a split in the Midwest sets up a thrilling and decisive Game 5 back in Brooklyn next Sunday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN as the league throughout the playoffs has held its own in the eyeballs department fielding TV games against the NFL, a staging that was a declared a no-no in the early WNBA era.

In this one the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu returned to her true form to power the home team to a 31-21 lead after the first quarter, scoring 12 of her 15 points, perhaps juiced by seeing from afar Oregon, her alma mater, edge Ohio State by a point in football in a 2-3 game that moved the Ducks into second place behind Texas in the weekly collegiate rankings.

Ionescu was 5-for-7 with three-pointers in the opening barrage, while Stewart set a championship round record with seven steals to add icing to a game-best 21 points and eight rebounds.

And while Jonquel Jones, who had 14 points and nine rebounds Sunday, was a bigger third force Thursday for the Liberty, though the effort went to waste, that role Sunday went to Philadelphia native and former Rutgers standout Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, whose shot from deep set off a 12-0 finish as part of a 20-point effort on the day playing before her mom Yolanda Laney, an all-American in her own right at Cheyney, and their Hall of Fame collegiate coach in both places in C. Vivian Stringer.

Laney-Hamilton didn’t play a large chunk of the regulation season having injured her knee before the league’s shut down for the Olympic break.

“I think what she brings is this grit, this toughness,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said of Laney-Hamilton. “All of us know she’s giving us whatever she’s got. And the way that she continued to be aggressive, they were going under on her and she knocked that thing down with confidence.

“She’s just impactful because she plays at both ends of the floor, and plays hard, and she’s a winner,” Brondello added. “So, happy that she got the success tonight and  keep building on it.”

The second straight sellout crowd, this one 18,040, was the largest Liberty attendance since their time in Brooklyn after moving from nearby Manhattan and Madison Square Garden.

Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier was clipped from her playoffs-long scoring explosions, collecting 16 points, while Courtney Williams, the heroine in Thursday’s comeback, scored 15 for the Lynx.

The crowd of notables included UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who counts Stewart and Collier among his former stars, they even teamed on an NCAA title squad in 2016.

Stewart, formerly with the Seattle Storm on two title teams prior to last season and who took a bunch of umbrage from Auriemma during the regular season portion of her freshman year before going on to win four straight MVP NCAA tourney titles in a consecutive fashion, gave a little of it back to her collegiate coach after the game.

Auriemma, who enters his 40th season next month, is four wins from passing recently retired Stanford coach and Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer as the all-time Division I leader male or female.

Stewart also played on the Olympic gold medal team, the second of two which Auriemma coached in 2016.

“I kind of texted him,” Stewart said. “And I was like, you know what, it’s about time that you come to my game. I’ve been here for two years, and he hasn’t come down. What are you doing? Yeah, CD (associate head coach and Rutgers alum Chris Dailey who has been under Auriemma his whole time in Storrs), came, and she got the same message, too.”

 Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the La Salle grad and native of South Jersey, who’s tied with Van Chancellor with the former Houston Comets, for the most titles, was also the Olympic mentor setting the eighth-straight record Gold Medal accomplishment last August in Paris.

Reeve spoke of where things fell apart opposite the success the Lynx achieved in the finals opener.

“Our offense was bad at a time when we really needed it,” Reeve said. “Our pace was slow, taking too long to get into things, and I didn’t we were terribly hard to play against.

“I’m more disappointed we let it get to 17, I’m more disappointed in that. I’m more than disappointed, I’m pissed that it happened again.”

Reeve will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, part of the Class of 2024, on Nov. 7.

“It felt like we had no sense of urgency,” Williams said of the loss. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to come out ready to play, man. We can’t keep putting ourselves in a hole.”

Collier was already looking to return back in front of the Lynx home crowd.

“Obviously, you want to steal one on the road,” she said. “We’re really disappointed I think how we played today, but excited to go home and play in front of our home crowd, and we have to respond.

“We have to come out playing better than we did in these two games. It’s hard,” Collier continued.

“Like we are both competing for a championship. You have to play with a level of desperation from the very beginning, and so that’s what we’re going to need to do to come out in Game 3.”

While Minnesota was challenging New York, a few miles to the north, retired Lynx star Seimone Augustus out of LSU was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., with Hall of Famer and former Minnesota star Lindsay Whalen being her presenter.