alexrgct
RIP, Alex
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 10,091
- Reaction Score
- 15,648
Diana Taurasi. Maya Moore. Tiffany Hayes.
Wait, what?
Any time your name joins DT and Maya, and only those two, you've done something pretty significant, and this certainly qualifies: tonight Tiffany became only the third UConn player, and seventh from any school, to start in four Final Fours.
What does it take to accomplish a feat like this? Well, having great teammates helps. Diana's teammates? Hardly slouches, especially her first two years. Maya? Well, she only had Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles...and Tiffany Hayes.
You also have to stay healthy enough to play. Ask Shea how easy that is. Or Sue. Or Svet. Or Nykesha. Or, for that matter, Caroline, whose first injury in a UConn jersey paved the way for Tiffany to start midway through their freshman seasons. Tiff stayed healthy enough to play all right, all the while playing with a reckless physical abandon that sometimes made me wonder if she was made of rubber. Recent history proves she's not; she's been playing on a broken foot. Let me say that again slightly differently. She made the high energy plays down the stretch against fellow #1 seed and Final Four entrant Notre Dame in the BET finals...on a broken foot. She beat Kentucky at their own frenetic, high-energy, high-intensity game...on a broken foot. Matt Mitchell has 11 bodies he can throw at an opponent. Geno threw Tiffany Hayes (on a broken foot) right back. The latter prevailed.
Finally, you have to be a damn good player, and Tiffany's certainly been that. She's walked tantalizingly along the fine line between very good and great. The flashes of greatness have made us hunger for more of the same, more frequently. Perhaps that's not quite in her. But she gave everything she had, every game, every possession, every drive to the basket, every blanket-like coverage of an opposing player. Geno should make a highlight reel of Tiffany Hayes, bring Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck into his office, and show them the footage. It's quite possible any or all of them have a capacity for greatness beyond Tiff's reach, but they all have a ton they could learn from her about what it means to compete, notwithstanding the titles, medals, and accollades.
And who knows? Thanks in no small part to her effort, Tiff has another game to play, possibly two. You never knew what would happen when Tiff had the ball in her hands. Perhaps, like all great suspense stories, the final scene will be the most satisfyingly climactic of them all.
Wait, what?
Any time your name joins DT and Maya, and only those two, you've done something pretty significant, and this certainly qualifies: tonight Tiffany became only the third UConn player, and seventh from any school, to start in four Final Fours.
What does it take to accomplish a feat like this? Well, having great teammates helps. Diana's teammates? Hardly slouches, especially her first two years. Maya? Well, she only had Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles...and Tiffany Hayes.
You also have to stay healthy enough to play. Ask Shea how easy that is. Or Sue. Or Svet. Or Nykesha. Or, for that matter, Caroline, whose first injury in a UConn jersey paved the way for Tiffany to start midway through their freshman seasons. Tiff stayed healthy enough to play all right, all the while playing with a reckless physical abandon that sometimes made me wonder if she was made of rubber. Recent history proves she's not; she's been playing on a broken foot. Let me say that again slightly differently. She made the high energy plays down the stretch against fellow #1 seed and Final Four entrant Notre Dame in the BET finals...on a broken foot. She beat Kentucky at their own frenetic, high-energy, high-intensity game...on a broken foot. Matt Mitchell has 11 bodies he can throw at an opponent. Geno threw Tiffany Hayes (on a broken foot) right back. The latter prevailed.
Finally, you have to be a damn good player, and Tiffany's certainly been that. She's walked tantalizingly along the fine line between very good and great. The flashes of greatness have made us hunger for more of the same, more frequently. Perhaps that's not quite in her. But she gave everything she had, every game, every possession, every drive to the basket, every blanket-like coverage of an opposing player. Geno should make a highlight reel of Tiffany Hayes, bring Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck into his office, and show them the footage. It's quite possible any or all of them have a capacity for greatness beyond Tiff's reach, but they all have a ton they could learn from her about what it means to compete, notwithstanding the titles, medals, and accollades.
And who knows? Thanks in no small part to her effort, Tiff has another game to play, possibly two. You never knew what would happen when Tiff had the ball in her hands. Perhaps, like all great suspense stories, the final scene will be the most satisfyingly climactic of them all.
