OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
-excerpt from Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”
I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to open with my thoughts from Springfield than that. For those who don’t get the connection, read Mark Simon’s article on Hope College on the D3hoops.com main page.
What a wonderful weekend of basketball in Springfield at Blake Arena. The “Birthplace of Basketball” saw Hope defeat Southern Maine 69-56 for their second NCAA Division III women’s basketball championship. The Flying Dutch are based out of Holland, Michigan, but they operated like something out of a factory assembly line in Detroit.
Bria Ebels with her quickness, tenacity and big shot making capability would be the foreperson. Going down the assembly line, there’s someone for each aspect of winning a basketball game. Julie Henderson electrified the Hope contingent with her defense and speed in transition. Linda Ebels, Ellen Wood and Lindsay Lange provided the size and muscle on the block. The three did a magnificent job on First Team All-American Ashley Marble, limiting her to eight points. And each time Hope went down low, one of the three was there to grab an offensive rebound, or put the ball in the basket. The assembly line turned out to be a well-oiled machine that took the title.
You have to feel for the Huskies fans. Southern Maine under Gary Fifield has been so close to winning the national championship. The Huskies have been to the title game three times and the national semifinals five times. Meghan Myles tried to put the team on her back for a second straight day, but on Saturday it wasn’t meant to be. Interesting decision for Ashley Marble as Mark Simon, Gordon Mann and I talked about on the broadcast. Marble academically is a senior, but has one year left of athletic eligibility. Does she come back for one more run at the title? Even though they don’t have a national champion, USM still is one of the most dominant women’s basketball programs in the country. They’ve won 20 or more games a NCAA record 26 times in a row.
Nice to see the University of Scranton finally win the National Third Place Game. Southern Maine won the consolation game last year and road that into this year all the way to the title game. Scranton does graduate two seniors, but brings back Taryn Mellody and Allison Matt. Plus, Tiffany Williams is only going to get better. Under Mike Strong, Scranton’s been a powerhouse in the Middle Atlantic, I think that will continue into next year. The Lady Royals put Friday night’s disappointment behind them, and played very well on Saturday afternoon.
For Hardin-Simmons, a tough weekend on the scoreboard, but just the fact that they made it to Springfield is remarkable. Their starting point guard Sara Hauk went down late in the season and the Cowgirls lost three of their final four with Rachel Cisneros running the point. HSU got the ball in the NCAA tournament and ran with it. Coach Briggs has already gathered 100 victories in four years. The future looks bright for the Cowgirls. Remember, like Hope, they won four games away from their home floor to make it to the National semifinals.
I’ll take a lot of memories away from Springfield. The atmosphere as I wrote about in the game-day blog was through the roof. On Saturday, there was a crowd of over 2,000 people jammed in for the title game. In the eight seasons I’ve been broadcasting women’s basketball, that’s the most electric setting I’ve seen. Kudos to all of the fans that trekked into Western Mass this weekend. Springfield College and AD Cathie Schweitzer did a tremendous job hosting. Gordon Mann will write about that later in the week.
Thank you to everyone this weekend who either listened or watch coverage from Springfield. We hope you’ll join us at the Blake Arena next year.
To kind of round things out, here’s a few of my favorite quotes from the weekend…One from each of the four head coaches whose teams made it to this point in the season.
“Play well.”
Southern Maine head coach Gary Fifield’s response when asked what his team needed to do to beat Hardin-Simmons in the semifinals. That got laughter particularly when the media realized he wasn’t planning to give away any coaching secrets.
“I try not to ask too many questions.”
Hardin-Simmons head coach Shanna Briggs on specifically why her team was playing so much better in the NCAAs than it did at the end of the regular season.
“I still have some energy left in this old body. I hope the kids do too.”
Scranton head coach Mike Strong, ultra-energetic during his squad’s practice sessions at Blake Arena, was as energetic at the pre-championship press conference on Thursday. It was clear he couldn’t wait to get going.
“I was gonna get written out of the will if I didn’t put him on my staff.”
Hope head coach Brian Morehouse joking about why his father Dean is one of his assistant coaches
1.) I came down on Friday morning out of Boston on Peter Pan Bus Lines to Springfield. I stopped over at the team HQ, the downtown Marriott, first, and I chatted with some of the travelling fans of the 4 teams who made it to Springfield. I congratulated them on getting this far. I then walked over to the Springfield Museums and Quadrangle off of State Street. This is where the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden is located. The sculpture garden contains, among others, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Horton the Elephant, some of the Whos of Whoville, the Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, and of course, the real Dr. Seuss sitting at his desk. There is also a tablet by the desk, on which is transcribed the entire book of “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”, and I read the tablet before proceeding to Springfield College. Unfortunately, I did not get to Mulberry Street– but I may do that next time I visit Springfield.
2.) On Friday, I was joined in the stands by my friends John Wise and Bob DeMartino, who observed the Friday games with me. Emmanuel coach Andy Yosinoff was able to meet with me to watch the Saturday gsmes. I thank them very much for being able to come.
3.) I also got a chance to meet up again with Tasha Rodgers– she has grown into a very fine and sweet woman– she is currently working in the financial industry, and I predict that she will be very successful in her career. I also chatted with coach Nancy Fahey during Friday’s games, and was relieved to see Alia Fischer show up on Saturday after she was forced to miss Friday’s games due to other commitments.
4.) I stayed Friday night at the Econo Lodge at the corner of Rte. 5 and Elm Street in West Springfield. I was not the only fan who went to the DIII tournament who stayed there, as some of the supporters of S. Maine, Hope, Hardin-Simmons, and Scranton also decided to stay there– the rate was a good deal. It was just nice to chat a bit with these fans over the free continental breakfast (to the Econo Lodge staff– next time, make sure the orange juice is working.) The Arby’s across the street from the Econo Lodge was great– I ate there Friday night after the game.
5.) About Hope– what more can you say? It is hard to say that a #1 ranked team would be an underdog in Saturday’s title game, but after seeing Friday’s action, Hope was the clear favorite to win on Saturday. Not only was the Hope team like a factory-assembled team out of Detroit, but the Hope superfans were practically an orange version of the Cameron Crazies of Duke– even down to the synchronization.
D3 Hoops: THX for all you do. Your dedication to D-III is clear.
Conrats to all who made it to the Final Four and especially Hope. I coach at Oglethorpe in Atlanta and we had a terrific year (21-7, NCAA bid, start 4 freshmen, got drilled by DePauw). I conversed with Kris Huffman of DePauw before her game against Hope. She said Hope had all the weapons and as usual she was right.
As for Ashley Marble and one more year, Liz Bondi of DePauw is in same situation and I think both will come back. It’s that unfinished business thing.
Is it October 15th yet?
Again, we who are involved with D-III should all give a big THX to all of you at D3 Hoops.
Hope defeated the number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10 teams to win the title. They also defeated five teams with All-Americans.
To be honest, a lot of credit goes to the NCAA All American selection committee for passing on Bria Ebels on the night before finals.
Hope is particularly grateful to D3 hoops for picking Capitol to win the regional, Washington U to win the Sectional, Scranton to win the first round and Southern Maine to win the title. They appreciate the motivation.
All of us get so enamored with basketball “stars” that when a *real* team comes along, everyone is shocked.
That’s an interesting theory re: motviation, but we don’t pick regional winners.
Hope fans like Hope Daddy have been posting lots of interesting theories like that in the MIAA Women’s Posting Up group.