Game 29: at Miami

The Year was 1989: George Bush the dad was President, the Berlin Wall fell down, stamps cost a quarter, Marissa and KT were two, the Basketcases were part of Weller's Women and Vicky Bullett was the career leader in points and rebounds.

Now's its 2009: George Bush the son was just President, stamps cost 42 cents, Marissa and KT are 22, the Basketcases are Basketcases and Vicky Bullet is third in career points and rebounds (soon to be fourth in points).

What do they have in common? 1989 was the last time ACC Champion and Maryland Terps was uttered in the same sentence and tomorrow around 4 p.m. that sentence could be uttered again.

Miami is all that stands in the way of that becoming reality. Hoping the girls aren't spending any time on South Beach until after the game. Miami is playing for pride at this point and possibly Katie Meier's job as they have had another disappointing year (somewhere Fern is laughing). The Hurricanes are 2-11 in conference play and most likely the 10 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. They have been giving teams fits lately but then struggle down the stretch.

Miami
Record: 13-15
Common Non-Conference Opponents: None
PPG/OPP: 65.9/63.0
FG%/OPP: .400/.387
3FG%/OPP: .276/.314
FT%/OPP: .638/.681
RPG/OPP: 37.9/42.5
TOS/OPP: 16.9/21.2
STEALS/OPP: 11.3/8.9
BLOCKS/OPP: 4.8/3.4

The Starters:
- Shenise Johnson. 5'11 freshman forward who leads the team in almost every category. The favorite for ACC ROY. More of an inside game but will shoot the 3 if you let her. Shoots 85% from the line.
- LaToya Cunningham. 5'6 senior guard. Prefers to stay outside the paint and shoot jumpers. best three-point shooter. shoots only 61% from the line. Doesn't help on that glass that much.
- Epiphany Woodson. 5'8 sophomore guard. fourth in scoring. will shoot the 3 but only shooting 22% from there. Rarely gets to the line and rarely fouls the other team. She also has no steals which says to me, she doesn't play defense.
- Charmaine Clark. 5'11 junior forward. 5th on the team in scoring. Rarely shoots the 3. Will help on the glass. third on the team in assists. second in blocked shots. Mainly an inside presence.
- Sylvia Bullock. 6'2 freshman from Alaska (I doubt she complains about the weather). Plays about 12 minutes a game. Doesn't shoot the 3. shoots 43% from the line. not much of an offensive or rebounding threat.
The Reserves
- Riquna Williams. 5'7 freshman guard. second leading scorer. Makes 22% of her threes yet continues to jack up shots. Not much of a rebounder and rarely passes the ball.
- Lamese James. 6'1 senior forward. Another player who rarely factors into the offense having taken only 82 shots all year. Not much of a passer. Will help on defense.
- Diane Barnes. 6'2 junior forward. Inside player who is third on the team in rebounding. Not a great free throw shooter. Tends to get in foul trouble.
- LaToya Drake. 6'2 senior forward. Averages 5.9 points and 3.4 rebounds. Not a three point shooter but will get involved in the offense. Another not so good free throw shooter.
- Briyana Blair. 5'10 sophomore combo player. Plays about 11 minutes a game. Has made only 3 threes all year. She can be left open on the jumper. Not a big help on the glass.

Keys to the Game
- Control Johnson. She's the entire team. I have a feeling that Marah will find out if she is wearing deodorant by the end of the night.
- Rebound the ball. We easily have the height advantage and there is no reason to not win the battle on the glass.
- Watch for the senior day burst. Miami's players may try to send out the Hurricanes on a winning note. We need to end that quickly.
- Control the tempo. I haven't seen Miami play but I doubt they have much of offense. If we get them helter skelter, we will be fine.
- Establish other scores. Kizer, Liles and Strickland need to know that they can score and we will need them in the postseason.


The game is on ACC Select, something else that wasn't around in 1989.