University of North Carolina Athletics
Brownlow: A Nightmare
February 11, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2010
By Lauren Brownlow
Nightmare seasons are relative, of course.
In a way, it is times like these that make everyone appreciate what makes being a Tar Heel great. Carolina is 16-7, 4-5 in the ACC, with a team dominated in numbers by freshmen and sophomores and missing a star center who is still recovering from a bout with cancer.
Plenty of teams would consider that kind of year a success. Not Carolina, not with the tradition that has been established. Yet that record is leaving everyone scratching their heads, especially head coach Sylvia Hatchell.
For the first time all year, she seemed at a complete loss after her team dropped its fourth straight (second straight at home) for the first time since 2000. Protracted pauses punctuated every response, as if wheels were turning in her mind, trying to figure out what she could do to fix it as she answered each question.
"I think it probably means too much to me. I'm just really, really disappointed. It's like a bad dream. I just never thought that where we are right now and what happened to us tonight, I just never thought that would happen to one of our teams," Hatchell said.
In recent years, Hatchell has always had things like offensive rebounding and wearing teams out in transition to fall back on. This team has done neither of those consistently, particularly rebounding.
After Carolina was out-rebounded by 15 against Florida State, there was the infamous 6 am rebounding practice. Carolina responded by out-rebounding Miami 61-36 in a loss, turning it over 28 times and scoring just two fastbreak points. Then after Duke absolutely creamed them on the boards, 52-28, Hatchell did not hold her rebounding practice. Instead, she gave the team a day off to rest before this key matchup against Boston College three days later.
"Somewhere along the way, you've just got to make up your mind and decide in your heart what you're going to do without the coaches beating it out of you. I don't really mean `beating it', but I maybe more of punishing you or making you run for not rebounding, that type of thing," Hatchell said.
Her best advice in this situation would probably come from a psychologist rather than a fellow coach. If she thought she could rely on anything, it was that her two stars, Cetera DeGraffenreid and Italee Lucas, would lead her team on and off the court. They've certainly tried, but both have struggled recently.
DeGraffenreid, a very good free-throw shooter, front-rimmed two free throws at the 12-minute mark. In the final seven minutes of the game, she didn't play at all. Hatchell is searching for the best way to reach both of them, because she needs them both. Neither started the game.
"I've taken all the leadership responsibilities off of them. I've given them to Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Krista Gross and She'la (White). I told (DeGraffenreid) and Italee, `Just play. Just play like you used to play. You don't have to worry about the team anymore or be leaders or anything like that. Just play like you used to play. These other kids will be leaders; they'll lead.' But we need those two to get going," Hatchell said.
It will be worth remembering these bad times when Ruffin-Pratt, Gross and Waltiea Rolle - who more than held her own against an All-ACC caliber player in Carolyn Swords - are seniors. It will be worth remembering how much they struggled when we see how good they become.
But that's not happening yet. Gross is still bouncing back from a broken hand. Ruffin-Pratt is still limited by her shoulders. Rolle is still learning to play basketball; most of her peers had at least a six-year head-start. Despite having to work against the rare player not only the same height but also bulkier and more experienced than her - she blamed herself.
"It was a battle, really," Rolle, who had a team-high four offensive rebounds and four blocks, said. "I tried to block her out. I'm tired of losing, too. I was just trying to go hard."
And Hatchell blamed herself, too. It's frustrating for a coach when things that have worked for 35 years no longer seem to work. So rather than playing psychological games, she's tried more film work, more detailed scouting reports, mixing up her defenses - anything and everything.
"Maybe we're trying to be too technical. Maybe we just need to go out there every day and just scrimmage and stop trying to be x-and-o and figure things out. Maybe we just need to go out there and scrimmage every day.
"Our backs are against the wall right now. They're against the wall."
