Rutgers are playing like champs
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by user Leslie Monteiro
It was a mere formality that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights were going to the Final Four after they defeated Duke on Saturday afternoon. All they had to do was show up and show a professional effort against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Greensboro Regional Final. They did just that last night.
This is what championshp teams do. They beat a team that they should be beating.
They trounced the Sun Devils 64-45 as they punched their ticket to Cleveland, where the Final Four will take place. They will face the LSU Tigers, who defeated Connecticut 73-50, on Sunday night.
There was no way the Scarlet Knights were going to lose this game with ASU for many reasons.
They were determined not to blow their chance of going to the Final Four after the hard work they put in against Michigan State and Duke. They knew that not many people would remember their win against Duke had they lost this game so they were going to be focused on this.
They were simply the better team out there. They had more firepower on offense and their defense would stop the Sun Devils's run and gun offense.
The run and gun offense was never going to work because great defensive teams just find a way to stop them come postseason. It showed in this game.
Arizona State's players were very ineffective because Rutgers were covering them at every move. They could not run their offense and they were turning the ball over often. They just did not know how to solve Rutgers' s defense which is why they lost this game.
The charismatic Sun Devils head coach Charli Turner Thorne was substituting so many players in this game. She used 23 or more substitutions in this game. She clearly did this out of desperation in an attempt to get a spark on offense. This move backfired.
It may have been their downfall here because how is the team going to score if the players are looking over their shoulder every time they make a mistake.
Arizona State's best run came when they led 16-12 in the first quarter, but after that, it all became downhill for them.
All Rutgers needed for offense was Kia Vaughn, who is having a great postseason.
She scored 17 points from the lane. She had it easy. She was able to get past Arizona State's players and get to the hoop. It got to the point that ASU just gave up on her in the second half.
That's what great centers do. They intimidate others and find a way to score. Vaughn is the big reason why Rutgers is one of four teams that are still alive.
Matee Avajon, who was instrumental in Rutgers's win against Duke on Saturday, poured in 20 points to seal the deal.
Rutgers has to be a feel-good story in the women's NCAA Tournament. No one gave them a chance to do well.
Everyone thought they would be done against Michigan State because the game was at East Lansing, where the Michigan State Spartans play. Even if they get by, everyone counted them out against Duke.
Heck some wondered if they were going to be a WNIT team after a rough start at 2-4 in the regular season.
It did not get better when the Connecticut Huskies dominated them twice in the regular season especially at Piscataway.
Things just clicked at the Big East Tournament.
They started giving the ball to Vaughn as she became the focal point of the offense. The players especially Epiphany Prince started listening to coach Vivian Stringer about how they need to work on defense. They started to play like a team.
All the good work has now paid off.
This could be Rutgers's year. It would be funny if they win it all when Rutgers basketball wonks realize that this is not Stringer's best team.
Stringer has had some great teams at Piscataway in the last few years, but her players from those teams just could not get it done when it counted.
Her current team consists of role players, a star center who is a sophomore, and players that are freshmen. Yet those kids are contributing and stepping up in big spots unlike the team from years past. This is something that Rutgers fans should appreciate.
With the way things are going, everyone has to like Rutgers chances of being a national champion.
This team certainly has it.
