Auburn 84, Alabama 66, and the last bit of dressing is added to the stage. Undefeated, sixth-ranked challengers-to-the-throne Auburn, at home against Pat Summitt's Tennessee, record and ranking irrelevant. Sunday. It's set.
It will be, without exaggeration, the biggest basketball game on the Plains since Chris Porter was dunking on fools' heads in the Ellis miracle season. That season was a long, long time ago now in real-time, and even further away in terms of where the men's program stands now.
This version of the women's team is bringing us all back to that stunning year, except that in a lot of ways, this one's better: DeWanna Bonner's not a threat to get declared ineligible for contact with an agent any time soon, Whitney Boddie's an even better point guard than Doc Robinson, Nell Fortner actually gives a crap about her players graduating.
Of course, that men's team walked away with an SEC title, and it remains to be seen if the 2009 women will manage a feat quite that impressive. It may not be a fair to compare the two, since even the men's Kentucky team of that era wasn't quite the juggernaut the current Vols are.
But these Tigers can't ask for a better shot at bringing that juggernaut down. At home. Everyone healthy. Everything on the line. Give Bonner credit for her honestly in explaining why the heft of that game impacted the sluggish first half of the game last night:
"You can’t help but think about it. It’s Tennessee for God’s sake."It's true. At this point, Auburn fans cannot help but think about Tennessee. This Auburn team has left us with no choice. And this Sunday, they'll get the best chance they could dream of to show us all why.
War Eagle, ladies.
6 comments:
.....If there's a worry, Auburn looked small for a lot of the game, against Bama. Ke Ke Carrier got in foul trouble early, and then Bama got a LOT of second-chance points.
.....I was nervous, watching the game. Luckily, before I had to go to work, the Auburn Tiger switch turned on, and a three point lead turned into 14. Really, though, it looked more like Bama ran out of gas. They weren't defending as hard. All of a sudden, Auburn was getting a lot of uncontested shots in the lane.
.....Kudos to Fox Sports South, for having this game on, last night!
War Eagle!
Yeah, the closest I could get to watching was espn360 ... which Comcast refuses to allow. Thanks, guys.
I think a lot of the first-half struggles had to be just look-ahead syndrome.
Congrats to the Lady Tigers.
Now back to football. I really think the best screen villain comparable for James Willis is Pat Healy in Something About Mary. You know, he makes Ben Stiller think he's down with the cause of finding Mary when all the while he's lying and selfishly carrying out his own little scheme to advance his own interests with her.
Most importantly, Pat Healy professes a profound love for "retards" and we all known how that fits in the Willis analogy.
Seriously? Women's basketball?
Mr. Shuler, just because your side have nearly always sucked and sucked heartily at the sport doesn't mean everyone ignores it. Somehow I doubt you had the same reaction when several Tide blogs took the time to notice their gymnastics win ...
.....The Auburn women have pretty much ALWAYS been more fun to watch, than the men, in basketball!
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