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Charles moves past mentor
There was no announcement when Tina Charles moved by her former position coach Jamelle Elliott and into second place on UConn's career scoring list midway through the first half in Thursday's 84-42 victory over Vermont.
But Charles could be making her own pronouncement when she gives Elliott, in the midst of her first season as the head coach at Cincinnati, a ring.
"I will probably call her and tell her and she will probably be upset," said Charles, who has 1,059 career rebounds. "It is a great feeling (especially since) Coach (Geno Auriemma) is always telling me I can't rebound."
Auriemma has prodded and pushed Charles to be as dominant a defensive rebounder as she was on the offensive end. It should be noted that the rebound moving her by Elliott was a defensive one.
"I've always said that if Tina applied herself and set her mind to it, she could break every record that there is at Connecticut - scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, whatever she wants to do," Auriemma said. "If you lined up Tina and Jamelle, put them together and brought down a man from Mars down here and say 'Ok, who just passed who?' They'd go 'who?' They may have the same (numbers) but there are two entirely different people.
DOTY KNOCKED WOOZY
The two biggest hits came when UConn's Caroline Doty's head hit the floor late in the first half and when Vermont guard May Kotsopoulos ran head long into a mid-court pick set by Kaili McLaren.
Auriemma showed Doty little sympathy when she walked off the court with him after getting injured or in the post-game press conference.
"They said she landed right on her head," Auriemma said. "To me that is God's way of telling her 'what the (heck) are you doing driving in there with five people standing in the lane. Maya just just threw you the ball in the middle of the floor. Maya's running the lane, Maya just threw it to you and that is two of our players. Where are the other three?' Well, one was running this lane, one was running that lane and the other was trailing on this side. So rather than catching the ball and saying I just got it from here and let me fire it over here and we get a layup or jump shot, no I think we will go this way and drive it through three people and as God read the play, he said 'I'm going to knock you on your (butt)."
The win was UConn's 46th in a row, tying the 1996-98 Tennessee for the third longest in Division I women's basketball history.
But Charles could be making her own pronouncement when she gives Elliott, in the midst of her first season as the head coach at Cincinnati, a ring.
"I will probably call her and tell her and she will probably be upset," said Charles, who has 1,059 career rebounds. "It is a great feeling (especially since) Coach (Geno Auriemma) is always telling me I can't rebound."
Auriemma has prodded and pushed Charles to be as dominant a defensive rebounder as she was on the offensive end. It should be noted that the rebound moving her by Elliott was a defensive one.
"I've always said that if Tina applied herself and set her mind to it, she could break every record that there is at Connecticut - scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, whatever she wants to do," Auriemma said. "If you lined up Tina and Jamelle, put them together and brought down a man from Mars down here and say 'Ok, who just passed who?' They'd go 'who?' They may have the same (numbers) but there are two entirely different people.
DOTY KNOCKED WOOZY
The two biggest hits came when UConn's Caroline Doty's head hit the floor late in the first half and when Vermont guard May Kotsopoulos ran head long into a mid-court pick set by Kaili McLaren.
Auriemma showed Doty little sympathy when she walked off the court with him after getting injured or in the post-game press conference.
"They said she landed right on her head," Auriemma said. "To me that is God's way of telling her 'what the (heck) are you doing driving in there with five people standing in the lane. Maya just just threw you the ball in the middle of the floor. Maya's running the lane, Maya just threw it to you and that is two of our players. Where are the other three?' Well, one was running this lane, one was running that lane and the other was trailing on this side. So rather than catching the ball and saying I just got it from here and let me fire it over here and we get a layup or jump shot, no I think we will go this way and drive it through three people and as God read the play, he said 'I'm going to knock you on your (butt)."
The win was UConn's 46th in a row, tying the 1996-98 Tennessee for the third longest in Division I women's basketball history.
Labels: Caroline Doty, Geno Auriemma, Kaili McLaren, Tina Charles
posted by Jim Fuller at
10:47 PM
1 Comments:
Geno and his coaching staff need to be better informed about concussions and how putting an athlete back into a game could lead to far more serious brain injury. Though the buzz is all about concussions in football, athletes in any sport are vulnerable to them. Doty probably shouldn't have been put back into the game, and she should be tested repeatedly this week to determine if she is suffering from the effects of the concussion. Even though she didn't lose consciousness, she could still have suffered a concussion.
Hope Geno takes that sort of hit more seriously next time.
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