Duke, UConn favorites in women's Final Four

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Posted 9:26AM on Sunday, April 6, 2003

ATLANTA - Being good at basketball not only landed Alana Beard a scholarship to Duke, it also helped her get out of doing dishes as a youngster. Beard and her mother, Marie, who was also a good player as a youngster, used to take on her father LeRoy and brother, LeRoy Jr., in games of two-on-two at their home in Shreveport, La.. ``We would kill them every time,'' Beard said. ``We started making bets. It was always my dad and brother washing the dishes because they always lost. ``My mom still has a little game. My momma is good.'' Duke's Iciss Tillis will attest to that. ``Alana's mom did a left-hand post on me and made it,'' said Tillis, who is 6-feet-4. ``I was like, `You can really play.''' TOURNEY SITES: Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma is no fan of the way the NCAA picked sites for the first two rounds of the tournament. He believes his objections were totally justified in the first year of the new format. In the past, the top four seeds in each regional would host the first two rounds. This time, the NCAA picked the sites before the season, but still tried to put a host school in each location. That meant some teams got to play at home against higher-seeded teams. ``It proved how stupid it was,'' Auriemma said. ``I think it had the exact effect that a lot of us hoped it would. Lower-seeded teams were in position to host higher-seeded teams on their home court, which is ludicrous. ``And there was nobody there watching them, which was perfect. So both things that people who made that decision hoped to accomplish failed miserably.'' Auriemma said there are two ways to address the problem: Go back to the old format, or set up eight-team subregionals, which would give only the top two seeds in each bracket a home-court-advantage for the opening rounds. ``At least you will be guaranteed that a lot of people will be at that games,'' he said. CAREY'S CONCUSSIONS: Some people - even those closest to her - wondered if Jamie Carey was doing the right thing when she decided to return to the court. Carey missed the past two years because of repeated concussions, but was cleared to play this season after transferring to Texas from Stanford. So far, so good. The 5-foot-6 junior guard was named Big 12 newcomer of the year, averaged 10.7 points per game and helped the Longhorns reach the Final Four for the first time since 1987. ``The people who are really close to me and those I discussed the decision with know that I will continue to fight,'' Carey said. ``At times, I think they thought I should give it up a little bit, but they always supported me.'' Carey was a rising star at Stanford, getting picked as Pac-10 freshman of the year in 2000. After suffering a concussion a few weeks before the 2000-01 season, she was never cleared to the play for the Cardinal and wound up switching schools. Texas allowed her to play after performing two medical evaluations nine months apart. She is regularly checked and allowed to play as long as she shows no post-concussive symptoms. Carey has suffered several concussions not all of them on the court. ``I could be walking down the street tomorrow and get hit in the head,'' she said. ``If I got another concussion, they would just re-evaluate me and go from there. ``They are extremely cautious with me. Even without getting a concussion this year, they have re-evaluated me throughout the year to make sure I am up to the level I need to be. If I am not, then I can't play.'' FOUR STRAIGHT: Connecticut is the third school to make four straight appearances in the Final Four. The Huskies won the national championship in 2000 and 2002 and lost to Notre Dame in the national semifinals in 2001. They advanced this year by beating Purdue in the East Regional. Tennessee made four straight trips from 1995 through `98. The Lady Vols lost to Connecticut in the '95 title game, then won three consecutive championships. Louisiana Tech reached the Final Four every year from 1987 through 1990, winning the championship in 1990. HOOK 'EM HORNS: Yes, they're still playing football at Texas. But with the Longhorns in both the men's and women's Final Four, basketball has been a hot topic lately. ``We had our spring football game and 35,000 people showed up and we were still talking about basketball,'' women's coach Jody Conradt said. Conradt's team plays Connecticut in the women's semifinals Sunday night. The Texas men played Syracuse on Saturday night in New Orleans. ``It's been exciting,'' Conradt said. ``But we did not give up football. Don't anybody get the wrong impression.''

Duke, UConn favorites in women&#39;s Final Four

Duke, UConn favorites in women's Final Four