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player ready...Kristy Curry, coach of No. 6 Purdue, was asked this week if she felt No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Tennessee were so much better than other teams that they were in a world of their own in women’s college basketball.
“UConn is in another world,” Curry said. “No question about it. [Connecticut] is superior to all of us ranked below: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all the way down.”
But does Connecticut’s “world” include the Joyce Center on the campus of Notre Dame?
This question will be answered Monday when coach Geno Auriemma’s Huskies, 81-76 winners at home over Tennessee, visit Muffett McGraw’s No. 3 Fighting Irish.
Connecticut, led by Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph and Sue Bird, is the defending NCAA champion. The Huskies (11-0) have won 28 straight games and have been ranked No. 1 the last 29 weeks of this season and last. They lead the nation in scoring, averaging 92.6 points, and in margin of victory, 36.5.
Notre Dame, 15-0 overall, 4-0 in the Big East, has soared to the highest ranking in school history on the inside-outside scoring punch of 6-foot-5-inch All-American center Ruth Riley and the two deadliest three-point shooters in women’s college ball, Alicia Ratay and Niele Ivey.
It sounds like a matchmaker’s dream: No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, a holiday showdown between the only two unbeaten teams in the Top 25.
“I was hoping it would be No. 1 vs. No. 2,” McGraw said. “We’re excited about the game. We’ve been playing really well. That’s why we’ll be confident going into the game.”
McGraw said she and her players had not yet focused on the Huskies, because Saturday’s home court opponent, Virginia Tech “deserves to be ranked in the top 25.” But Riley and her teammates have already been thinking of polls, rankings and the Huskies.
“It’s tough,” said Riley after Tuesday night’s victory at St. John’s. “Everyone is up for us. We want to gain in the polls, and those ahead of us want to stay there.”
As for the Huskies, All-Americans Abrosimova and Ralph deal with superlatives used to describe them. “We get a little uncomfortable at some of the labels people put on us,” Auriemma said. “Like `greatest team in history.’ We’re just trying to be get better every day.”
Auriemma explained what his players must do to improve.
“We did not rebound really well against Tennessee,” he said. “We put a lot of emphasis on that before we played Louisiana Tech. Some aspects of our press have not been effective. We want to improve on them. That’s why we practice every day.”
In one word, balance explains the confidence McGraw has in her Irish. Notre Dame’s five starters all average more than 10 points per game: Riley 17.1; Ratay 13.8; Ivey 13.6; Ericka Haney 11.3; and Kelley Siemon 10.4.
The Irish present defensive problems. If a defense sags back around Riley, it invites Ratay and Ivey to fire three-pointers. Ratay, a sophomore from Lake Zurich, leads the nation with a sizzling .635 percentage on 33-for-52 baskets from three-point range.
Point guard Ivey, perhaps even more valuable than Riley, is shooting threes at a .538 clip, 28-for-52.
“Ruth Riley has had a great year,” McGraw said. “Ivey has had a sensational year. She’s the emotional leader of the team. Players respect her for the way she’s come back from knee injuries.
“She’s always been our best defender. She leads us in steals every year.”
The rap against the perfectionist Riley, a dean’s list academic star, is that she has tried to block almost every shot she sees, thus getting into foul trouble and spending time on the bench.
This season, using restraint, she has averaged only 2.4 fouls per game and has fouled out only once.
“Ruth is playing intelligently,” McGraw said. “She realizes it’s not as important to block a shot or make a steal as it is to stay in the game. It’s been hard, because she doesn’t like to be scored against.
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“But she’s learned to take a step back. Also the officiating has been very consistent this season.”