UCONN Women’s Basketball News

Here is a the final update for UCONN sports I write about. This one deals with the UCONN Women’s Basketball team.

Maya Moore’s high school coach, Tracy Tipton, is upset that Pat Summitt may be blaming UCONN’s recruitment of Moore as the reason for ending the series.

“It’s a shame that people are trying to make a big issue about this, trying to say the decision was because of her,” Tipton said Thursday. “She doesn’t deserve this. She’s in the middle of it

“When she went to UConn for the Super Show in her junior year, she was really excited. I could tell. If she had to make a decision at that point, if someone had forced her to decide right at that moment, I would have bet 100 percent she would have picked UConn,” Tipton said. “But not long after that, she attended the equivalent show at Tennessee and she came back equally enthused.

“But Maya really didn’t talk about it a lot. She was never one to express verbally what was going on in her head, and I wasn’t going to press her. She’s one of those rare kids that are mature beyond their years. She knew more about those programs than most coaches. She grew up watching women’s college basketball, going to the camps.”

“She’s a very spiritual person and I feel that’s [UConn] where she felt she was being led,” Tipton said. “In addition to that, she was very taken with Coach Auriemma. She really liked him a lot. There was something about him that really intrigued her. He just told her, `If you want to be a part of this, come, and if not, go somewhere else.’ She also liked his system and felt she could be a complete player at UConn, be able to do a little bit of everything.”

“Both Geno and Pat have said the thing that makes Maya so rare is the combination of work ethic and attitude she has,” Tipton said. “It’s hard to find someone like that with everything all wrapped into one. Tennessee knew what they could have had in Maya. They gave everything they could to get her. Neither coach left any stone unturned at the end. And when you work so hard for someone, it’s got to be disappointing, and I know [Summitt] was. … Then again, she wouldn’t be human if she didn’t feel disappointment.”

I agree Moore shouldn’t be be brought into the middle of this. If Summitt has an issue with Auriemma and UCONN’s recruiting tactics, let the NCAA decide. Moore was supposed to play with Elena Delle Donne, but EDD has decided to take the summer off from basketball to refocus herself.

Speaking of Moore, she is on campus right now taking summer classes. Also in the article is allegations by Tennessee that Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird gave Maya Moore a ride to the Naismith Awards in Atlanta in 2006.

“It was a decision [to end UConn-Tennessee] that was made beyond my control and I was shocked to hear it, just like the rest of the country was,” Moore said. “But I can’t get into Coach Summitt’s head to understand the process of why it happened. I’m waiting to hear what she says, like everyone else is.”

Diana Taurasi is pissed off about the whole mess too, especially since Summitt thought it was her and Sue gave Moore a ride to the Naismith Award ceremony.

“As ridiculous as that theory is, it’s also not true,” Taurasi said. “Sue and I were in Moscow at the time [playing in the European championships with their Russian team, Dynamo Moscow]. … If you are going to make allegations like that, you might want to make sure the people [you are accusing] are in the same place at the same time. It’s irresponsible to say something like that. It wasn’t humanly possible, either. We weren’t in the same continent. We offered a written response about our location. We provided witnesses [to vouch for their location]. It’s ridiculous to do something like that.”

“All these reasons are ridiculous,” Taurasi said. “If you are going to blame Coach Auriemma for having players who love him and come back to see him, then it’s just too bad. When I visit him, and I try to do so as often as I can because of all his family did for me when I was there, the only people I talk to are the current players.”

“I’m really disappointed about this. It took so much to build it up,” Taurasi said. “This was a sporting event that sports fans watched. … But you know, I just guess that certain people don’t think this is an important game anymore. … So let’s find someone else and make something beautiful happen, like Rutgers, LSU or Duke. If this was [Summitt’s] reason for stopping the game then we [UConn] are better off not being a part of it.”

Sue Bird also said she was not involved in this. To me it just seems petty of Summitt to think this. She just won a National Championship and unfortunately lost a recruiting battle for the top player. With EDD the top recruit for next season, it ought to be interesting to see how it all plays out. Summitt hasn’t commented about anything yet and won’t until the SEC releases the schedules later this month.

And some news on the Tina Charles front. She had her injured shoulder surgically repaired and is feeling much better. She anticipates being 100% at the start of the season.