Yuku free message boards

for our Women of Troy Basketball program, many of them supportive of Coach Trakh, the staff and what they're trying to accomplish on all fronts, on and off the court, including recruiting and academics. Unfortunately, a somewhat vocal minority come out of the woodwork every now and then to express some negative opinions. No problem with that since this is a free country and all, and this board represents a forum for free expression . . . however, I will say that I do have considerably more respect for those who have been posting on a regular basis throughout the ups and downs (although I may not always agree with the comments), than I have for those who never said anything until now, especially about some of the good things that happened this season (i.e., our first half showing against the U.S. National Team, our upset of #2 Stanford, our home record at the Galen Center until the final two games, our win streak against UCLA, our 104 points in one game, our superb defense in a few games, etc.)

This kind of reminds me of a boys high school play-off game that I recently attended. I got the impression that some of the visiting fans had not been to many of their games this year, if at all. In the first half, when the home team was winning with a significantly taller, quicker and more talented line-up, these fans had virtually already given up on their team. They were making comments like "We should just go ahead and play so and so . . . anyway, what difference does it make now ? C'mon, it's the last game, and look, you don't think that we have a chance to win this do you ? Look how tall and quick they are ? " But, in the second half, the visiting team surprisingly came back from a significant deficit largely because the home team was having a bad shooting stretch and could not capitalize on their height against the zone. By the end of the game, these same fans were loud and boisterous, and all of a sudden became so-called "experts", criticizing the coach because they thought he should be playing "man to man" defense instead of a zone, not realizing that the only reason they were back in the game was because of the zone, which prevented the home team from doing lay-up drills on them, since they could probably beat each of the visitors in "one on one" situations . . . After losing by two points in a game that they actually had a chance to win with a good open look for a "three" which just glanced off the rim, they were demanding that their coach be "fired" . . . because he didn't play "man to man" and because he didn't call a time-out before the last wide open shot. Of course, it would've been a blow-out with a "man to man", and the last shot wouldn't have been "open" against the much taller home team if their defense would've been able to set up against an in-bounds play . . .

By the way, we have it on good authority that Coach Pete Carroll leaves most of the coaching to his offensive and defensive coordinators, and you know what else ? He lets his recruiting coordinators recruit, etc. . . . But, let's just keep that hush- hush . . . because we wouldn't want them to fire good 'ol Pete just for having a significantly more than competent coaching staff . . . Chances are, our football team wouldn't have finished 11-2 if we didn't get QB John David Booty back, or if we didn't get our starting line-backing corps back about the time of the Notre Dame game, or if we weren't able to finally put together our offensive line by the end of the season . . . In the meantime, as a #2 (pre-season #1) team, we managed to lose to mediocre Stanford (who would've been in last place in the Pac-10 . . .country ? planet ? next to ND, but even ND beat them . . . without the win over 'SC) at home in a monumental upset of the college football season, and with a team that started off the season with the deepest talent at all positions in recent history. It's a lot harder to get an upset in football than basketball because a lot more people are involved, offensive and defensive units, field position, etc. But, I remember Stanford basically moving the ball up and down the field at will against us that night, in the coliseum (?) . . . I would say that this trumps our disappointing losses to Washington, Oregon State, Arizona etc. in WBB, as an "unranked' team . . . I also can't forget our devastating football loss to UCLA in another upset at the Rose Bowl the year before, again knocking us out of the title game, even with our much superior talent as the #2 team in the nation . . .

I realize that disappointing close mid-season losses probably cost us an invitation to the Dance, but realistically, without Nadia Parker at this point in the season (leading scorer and rebounder) we might have trouble in the tournament, anyway. On the other hand, if we didn't lose Nadia (knee) near the end, or Kari LaPlante (stress fracture) just as she was coming around, Aarika Hughes (stress fracture), etc. we might've finished stronger. The future looks bright for our WOT with the incoming recruits, the returning red-shirt All-Americans (Jacki and Stefanie), and experienced team-leaders Camille and Nadia, as well as 'up and coming' Heather Oliver (all Pac-10) coming back. The appropriate players were deservingly recognized by the Pac-10 this year, and I would venture to guess that some of the others will need to step up their game and consistency to compete for minutes with the All-Americans and top returnees that we will have next season. I also trust that our athletic administration will use proper good judgement, common sense, and objectivity in evaluating what is best for our WOT, and will not resort to doing anything rash that could possibly damage the program in the long term . . . Fight On !

. . . being part of that era while attending 'SC, including the initial recruiting of Cheryl Miller. Unlike before, we promised that The Spirit of Troy would provide a band at all the women's basketball games if Cheryl came to 'SC . . . and we stuck to that deal . . . Chances are that those two years wouldn't have been so "golden" if we had to go through those seasons without Cheryl Miller and/or the McGee twins and/or Cynthia Cooper or Rhonda Windham due to injuries . . . And, you're absolutely right . . . those were "two" golden years . . .

However, people seem to unfairly be holding the current coaching staff somehow responsible for what went on the last twenty or so years "before" they got here . . . 1985 - 2004 . . . I don't recall our WOT winning any national championships during that time, even with Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson healthy and playing (?) . . . people seem to be under the misconception that we've won national titles every year until Coach Trakh and his staff got here . . . On the contrary, and we're actually starting to pick up and stock talent somewhat similar to the Miller's and McGee's, and once we get them on the court I think that fans will be pleased (. . . or they'll probably criticize why we're only winning games by 20, and not winning them by 40 or 50 pts . . . ) Fight On !