Power House Conference
April 06, 2009 12:17 PM | General
(12:19 p.m.)
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| Mike Carey |
For months now all we have heard and read about is how strong Big East men's basketball is. Five men’s teams made the Sweet 16 and two wound up going to the Final Four.
West Virginia’s Mike Carey was saying the same thing about the women’s side - about how tough it was preparing each night for teams one through 16. Well, Tuesday night the Big East is going to make history when Connecticut takes on Louisville in an all-Big East women’s final.
It’s a rematch of the Big East championship game played in Hartford last month.
“I thought this year some of the bottom teams have really improved to make it a much stronger league,” Carey said from St. Louis. “Your league is only as strong as your weakest teams, and I felt some of the teams at the bottom really improved this year.
“Not only do we have two teams in the finals, South Florida won the NIT, and we had 13 teams make postseason. That just tells you how hard the women’s side is,” Carey explained.
Louisville reached the finals by beating No. 1 seeds Maryland and Oklahoma. The Cardinals have the best player in the country in Angel McCoughtry. Unfortunately, Louisville is facing perhaps the strongest team in the history of the women’s game in 38-0 Connecticut.
All 38 of Connecticut’s wins have come by double-digit margins, and Connecticut’s five NCAA Tournament victories this year have been by an average margin of 25.8 points per game. In the national semifinals, Connecticut had second-seeded Stanford down by 30 with five minutes gone in the second half.
“My first year at West Virginia they had Sue Bird and that whole group and I thought that was the best team I had seen,” Carey said. “This year, they are deeper with I think that makes them better. They just have so many weapons.”
For the Cardinals to upset Connecticut Tuesday night, Carey says a lot of things are going to have to go Louisville’s way.
“Louisville with their half court press is going to have to get some turnovers,” he said. “I think Angel has to really step up and be a productive scorer. With that said, they are still going to have to have some other people step up and have career nights because Connecticut is going to score.”
Carey has some experience knocking off powerhouse clubs. Last year, West Virginia upset fourth-ranked Rutgers at the Coliseum, and this year, the Mountaineers went to Louisville and tripped up the Cardinals, 79-70.
“I’m watching Louisville play last night and I’m thinking, ‘How in the world did we beat them?’” Carey laughed. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Louisville. What a job they have done and it’s just great for the conference.”
Carey said he has already been mentioning to his players the Louisville win is proof that they can compete with the best teams in the country.
“We’re not happy going to the WNIT,” he said of his team’s 18-15 record this season. “We are playing with teams that have gone far in the NCAA Tournament, and we need to step it up and out-work people this summer and not accept going to the WNIT.
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| Liz Repella |
“I thought Liz (Repella) had a great year and Sarah Miles,” he noted. “I think getting the girls returning from injuries, along with our recruiting class - we’re excited about next year.”
Madina Ali, Jessica Capers and Vanessa House suffered season-ending injuries in 2009. Carey said all three should be cleared for summer workouts.
“We’ll get them over the summer and they should be ready to go,” he said.
And sitting out the 2009 season was Minnesota transfer Korinne Campbell, a former Parade All-American who averaged 6.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in two seasons with Gophers. Campbell will have two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Mountaineers.
“We are very excited about her. She is going to be a very, very good basketball player,” Carey said.
Carey’s four-player recruiting class includes 6-foot-4 center Asya Bussie, whose Seton Keough girl’s team beat top-seeded Riverside High School in the inaugural ESPN Rise National High School Invitational that aired on ESPN2 Sunday evening.
“The Bussie girl was on ESPN and helped her team win,” Carey said. “They showed our recruiting class on television and they put a little pressure on us saying we should be able to turn it around with this class.
“That didn’t make me happy,” he laughed. “But we are going to build it with this recruiting class. I’m excited to do that.”
Carey said there is a possibility of adding a transfer who won’t be eligible until the following season and he indicated that the roster will likely not be full when the team begins fall practice in October.
“I’m not concerned about having 15 girls other than injuries,” he said. “We’re going to take people we feel can come in here and play and we’re not going to do what we’ve done in the past as far as bring players in and try and fit them into what we’re doing.
“We’re not going to take chances any more. If 12 is on our roster, that’s what we’re going to go with.”
