Remember that vitriolic rant Rick Pitino went on a few years back when he was coaching the NBA’s Celtics about how the negativity from the fans and community sucked, and how people should reconcile themselves to the fact that Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish would not be walking through the locker room door anytime soon to save the troubled franchise?
Well, U women’s basketball coach Elaine Elliott doesn’t rave like a histrionic banshee, but she can appreciate Pitino’s sentiment.
One year removed from a 28 4 record, the MWC title and a Sweet 16 appearance, Elliott’s Utes are likewise missing a valuable trio and struggling to live up to outsiders’ expectations as a result.
Not that Elliott is about to blow a gasket about it.
With the team’s MWC schedule beginning tonight with a home game against Wyoming, the Utes stand at an uneven 7 5, vainly striving for the consistency that would allow them to live up to the second place conference projection they were tagged with in the preseason.
“We have to measure success differently every year. You can’t always measure it with a conference championship or making it to the Sweet 16,” Elliott said. “With this team, we have to look at different areas, like the development of the young kids and the leadership of the seniors.
“Don’t get me wrong?we can still put a run together and compete with anyone,” she added, “but no one should have assumed in the preseason that we’d be making a run at the championship.”
Those people should have realized that MWC Player of the Year Amy Ewert, All Conference power forward Kristina Andersen and top reserve Lori Red-Castagnetto wouldn’t be walking through the door.
And so they should have realized that the U’s depth would be depleted, the inexperienced newcomers would be struggling under the weight of suddenly enlarged roles, and the team as a whole would have trouble adapting to all the changes.
It’s been a challenge, but the onset of the MWC schedule poses the opportunity for them to forget about the non conference turmoil and start anew at trying to extend to eight years their hold on the conference title.
“We’re a different team than last year?I’ll definitely admit that, but when we’re playing within the conference, we become a different team still,” said senior guard Erin Gibbons, who is fifth in the conference with 15.2 ppg. “We focus a lot more, we find a way to get it done.”
Getting things done has been a particular difficulty, by the players’ own admission. Part of it is being unaccustomed to tight games, part is young, unstable point guards growing nervous in the waning minutes, part is not bringing a total effort for a full 40 minutes.
Whatever the cause, the Utes said they have to clean up their act.
“We need to stay determined down the stretch. We make errors where we can’t afford to,” said senior forward Katherine McColl. “The difference is, last year we were up 20 down the stretch. Now, we need to convert more, take better care of the ball.”
Despite all the nagging little miscues that have dogged them, though, the Utes are still confident. The defense (.338 fgp, 56.2 ppg) is still suffocating, the offense, led by Gibbons and senior center Lauren Beckman’s 14.4 ppg, is finally coming around.
And the MWC season, starting tonight against a Wyoming squad Elliott calls “an intense, hard-working team,” represents a chance to put the detractors and the slow start aside.
“It’s hard, because last season was so awesome, and we lost some great players,” said senior forward Lindsay Herbert, “but we’ve come a long way. Look at the position we’re in. The conference season will be a whole new beginning.”
Elliott added that so long as the players still believe, you can never count Utah out.
“You can’t put a tag on this team yet?the first 12 games didn’t mean anything?and we haven’t done that, fortunately,” she said. “We’re still very hopeful about what we can do.”