Women's Basketball

By Steven Bartolotta, November 10, 2009, 2:33 p.m. 

Did I mention tomorrow is FREE to watch for all. We've made some technological upgrades along the way which will help make your experience better than it ever has been before. Translation: we got some new computers that are dedicated to webcasting and only webcasting.

So starting at 5 p.m. with the women's games and going all the way through the men's game you can watch and listen to the webcast. Keep in mind both games are going to be broadcast on 88.1 FM KNTU as well.

As for the game itself, it's a chance for some redemption for the women tomorrow. Make no mistake about it, the game against TWU didn't follow the script 99.9 percent of exhibition games are suppose to, which is the D-I team wins by around 40 and plays everyone but the manager.

What bothered Coach Stephens the most about the game, besides the obvious, was the defensive effort put for by her team. Her trademark is defense. She wants defensive intensity, determination, and dominance. Period. She got about 10 minutes of that against TWU.

Look for things to be different against Newman as practices since then have been, shall we say defensive heavy. Since last Thursday, the focus has been so much on defense that I've thought about getting down in a defensive stance each time I've spoken with Stephens. She is serious about the effort on that side of the ball.

Any why not? Defense wins championships isn't just a slogan, it's a fact. The top two teams in the SBC last year, MTSU and UALR, the two best teams defensively. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl because.....defense. UConn rolled to the women's bb title last year title by allowing the seventh fewest points a game and with the second best FG percentage defense in the nation.

For this team to go anywhere, it has to start on that side of the ball.

A couple of other observations I took from the opening night was the play of freshman Jasmine Godbolt. A double-double and six blocked shots. Granted against a D-II team which didn't have a lot of size, but if she is going to put numbers like that, she could be something special in the making.

The other two players that really caught my eye was Raquel Cuffie and Tamara Torru (yes I know BJ had 21 points, but I'm expecting that outta her most nights). Cuffie was a big spark off the bench when the Mean Green was getting rolled in the early part of the second half. Her energy on both sides of the ball will give her a chance at a lot of minutes.  

Torru looks like a totally different player out there this year. Still just a sophomore, Torru had the look of a player who belonged. Last year.....not really. Her confidence is obvious and her play backed it up. Last season she scored 49 points in 29 games. Against TWU she had 10 points in 19 minutes.

I don't know anything about Newman and quite frankly the only think about the Jets that intrigues me is Vic Trilli and his hair.

Tomorrow I want to see what this team learned from the game against TWU and just how they will respond. With the regular season just four days away, they don't have much time or much of a choice.