Game 1: at Middle Tennessee State

Here we go again, another season opener on the road. This game may be a little tougher than last year's game against Siena as it will be against a team that has made the NCAA tournament three years running and pulled off upsets in two of those years (ironically it was against UNC and NC State). We are working on a six-game winning streak and I am hoping that extends to at least 40 by this time next year.

MTSU went 20-11 last year and won the Sun Belt. The only common opponents we had last year were Virginia and Utah, which they both lost too. Their head coach is in his second year as he was Ashleigh Newman's coach in high school four years ago. Looking at their roster they have five players 6' and taller, but no one bigger than 6'2. In their exhibition game, they started a line up with a little bit more height than we normally start. They won that exhibition game 102-58. They also have some depth as two of their players off the bench were among the team's leading scorers. Chrissy Givens is the star of the team and is an all-American candidate. She can do it all in the same vein as Marissa as in the exhibition game she led the team in rebounding, assists and steals. Two newcomers also fared well in the exhibition as Amber Holt, who committed to Georgia, but is now at MTSU, and Brandi Brown came off the bench to score in double figures. Both are tall players who tend to stay away from the paint. Brown is a three-point shooter, while Holt looks to be more of a slasher. Judging from last year's stats they tend to shoot a lot of threes, are decent from the free throw line, and don't block many shots. It's hard to get a read on them based on new personnel and stats. Honest assessment is that they are a quick team that likes to shoot 3s, and create quick offense.

There are three options to see the game: Live Radio Live Video Live Stats

Also, I may be on google chat if people are around during the game. Leave a message in the comment section if interested.

Keys to Tonight's Game

Contain Givens - she's the best player and the team runs through her. Get her in foul trouble or lock her up on defense and it should be a relatively easy night for the Terps. Coleman talked about her defense getting better and this would be the best player to show it against.

Put them away early. We have a target on our back now and singe digit wins won't cut it in the mind of the media. Last year it was ok because we were young, but now they expect us to blow out teams.

Dominate the paint. This should be easy for us, but it still has to be driven home.

Run our offense. We got back into the the throw up the 3 offense in the exhibition for a while. Work the ball around and find the best open shot.

Make free throws. A weakness in the exhibition, but I have a feeling we will have righted the ship.