So proud of this team...

[Gus Mahler]

I sincerely wish the players continued success so that maybe one day the posters here will learn to spell their names!

 

[UcMiami]

You know ... these sophomores and juniors and seniors weren't sleeping over the past three years - they were learning. What we saw last year with the team was a TEAM that rode the hot hand - Morgan, Moriah, and Breanna shared the honors on numerous nights with cameo appearances on specific nights from Kia and Lou and Gabby and Napheesa and Saniya. I think what is so exciting for us is that most of us thought with the graduates gone we would not have the consistency and balance that we had grown accustomed to.

Through eight games ... surprise, surprise, these young women learned from their elders and are duplicating the results - except for that blip of a first game where they built a double digit lead and then gave it back, they are carrying on a proud tradition of not letting teams get within 10 points! Think of that FSU game as this team's Stanford, only this team didn't allow the last second tie and an overtime, in fact Collier blocked it.

You know, I gave praise in this post for this years team learning their 'job' over the previous seasons, and I know that the 'Old Big Three' don't need any more accolades, but ... someone was doing the teaching and sure the coaches did some of that, but Moriah, Morgan, and Breanna had a big hadn't in shaping them too.

Like Dolson, Hartley, Faris, and KML before them, and the countless other players before them, part of what makes this year possible are all the traditions and work ethic and team focus that the players pass from one to another through the years from the first pick-up games of the summer through the last game of each season. I think it is pretty neat to contemplate that progression and continuity from time to time.

We have a thread about Lawlor which is great - and she is not an insignificant part of that continuum - you don't think her example and words of encouragement didn't register with Lou and Napheesa last year when they didn't know which end was up?!

[Question: We have OBE as an abbreviation for Old Big East, so should we start using OBT for the Old Big Three? ]