What's On 6 Pages of SI this Week

[RockyMTblue2]

Why, and article about Katie Lou of course. And it is very good. But I must lament the tendency today to look for the SuperHero to create, yes create, in sports. This is no criticism of Lou, just the stupidity of sports media in general. It is up to SI quality and a great read. I suspect it is already up on line.
But from my paper copy I offer you this tid bit from Shea. The Maryland game; the famous give her the waste basket game. "She was doing it the whole game," guards coach Shea Ralph... says of Samuelson. "During timeouts, everything. You could hear her throwing up while [coach geno Auriemma] was talking!"

Then there is this: "If you're a competitive basketball player and you want to be the best you can be," she says slowly, as if explaining to a child, "I don't know if there is "too hard on yourself." This is followed by SI explaining how after practice is done she has her own with male practice players for up to an hour.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

And a pure SI bit of prose to close the article after they explain her after practice ritual with the male practice players: "But she's not really vying with them, or even with Baylor or Notre Dame. Her true competition hangs above her: the banners commemorating the 18 first=team All American selections, eight AP players of the year and nine Olympic gold medalists who have been where she is now. She owes it to them."

 

[augustaTC]

Hope it's still at my local newsstand. Sounds like a great feature piece. Between the Maryland game and the black-eye game, whatever doubts I had about Lou's toughness have long since disappeared. Geno mentioned today he liked her going at it a bit (with Tate I think) - good for her! Hard to believe she's just a sophomore and so nice to watch her develop into a complete player.

 

[Kaizen]

The sisters...

 

[Sonny44]

And a pure SI bit of prose to close the article after they explain her after practice ritual with the male practice players: "But she's not really vying with them, or even with Baylor or Notre Dame. Her true competition hangs above her: the banners commemorating the 18 first=team All American selections, eight AP players of the year and nine Olympic gold medalists who have been where she is now. She owes it to them."

And to her sisters and family.

 

[CocoHusky]

During the last episode of HBO's March to Madness Gabby, Napheesa, Kia And KLS were in a photo shoot for ESPN the magazine. I wonder when that issue comes out.

 

[bags27]

We live in precious times. Dazzling kids playing dazzlingly. I'm okay with the hero thing, if it inspires other young women. Like Mary Lou Retton turning a whole generation of young women into champion gymnasts.

OTOH, at the website for SI right this moment, with the single exception of Tracy Austin, the only pictures of women (and there are plenty of them) are bare-breasted models. So much for really caring about women's sports.
Sports News, Scores and Highlights from Sports Illustrated | SI.com

 

[huskyd]

Thank heavens for the two weeks between the conference championship and the start of the NCAA tourney. It gave me a welcome chance to study more carefully the many excellent articles in the SI swimsuit issue. For one, I had no idea that you could make an entire swimsuit out of a bunch of string! The article re Lou was in the next issue of SI, and I hope to get around to it before the tourney ends . . .

 

[Huskee11]

Good article. Some other tidbits:

Played on Karlie`s AAU teams for logistical reasons, parents were outnumbered by the three of them. In one game, not sure if HS or AAU, scored 42 against a box and one.

Geno chided her on shooting 500 shots a day, telling her it proves she works really hard at stuff she`s really, really good at. Also, some other great quotes from Geno, he has really challenged her. "You just don`t want to admit it because you don`t know if you can do it"; "If you think you're going to carry that same mind-set into this season, that's not gonna work."

Geno on millenials: "They`ll work very, very hard for you. To a point." Love it.

They refer to UConn as "heavy favorites". Also their AA team is Plum, Mitchell, Lou, Napheesa, and (of course) Wilson. No Gabby. Wrong!

With HBO, NYT, Sports Illustrated, etc., etc., the media has really stood up and took notice of UConn WCBB over the last few weeks. More so than ever before, right? And no one is getting more attention than Lou.

 

[cbraarj]

Gabby should be on before Wilson and Mitchell! Change the rules for next year. Uconn will have 4 First Team AAs with Katie Lou, Napheesa, Gabby and Azura! They need to stop picking players on old reputations. Maybe Kia on 2nd team and that would be better than 2002. Bird 1st team, Cash and Taurasi 2nd team, Jones 3rd team and Williams honorable mention! Tamika Williams was the No.1 player in the country coming out of HS. So Fix it and Honor the players that deserve it. Morgan Tuck desrved it in her Jr. Year! So Fix it!