The color purple and more

Picked up a few notes from practices for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament doubleheader at UW.

It includes an adverse reaction to the color purple, a presidential brush-off and Kobe. Keep reading, there are probably too many note to make Saturday’s paper.

By Dave Trimmer

davet@spokesman.com ; (509) 927-2154

SEATTLE – Sherri Murrell’s smile negated the need for television lighting at Bank of America Arena on Friday.

The Portland State coach was enjoying every second of the school’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament berth.

What makes the 15 ^th -seeded Vikings (18-14) game against second-seeded Texas A&M (25-7), which tips off tonight at 5, so sweet is how close Murrell came to not being here.

“Personally I was very successful out the gate of my career,” she explained before PSU’s practice. “Obviously I hit a tough patch with Washington State .

Murrell never had a losing season in three seasons at George Fox and three more at Pacific. It was enough to get her a job in the Pac-10, where she spent five frustrating seasons going 27-114 before resigning.

“Any time you go through something like you really have to ask questions,” she said. “For me it was ‘Hey, am I a good coach? Am I in the right place?’ There are a lot of things I asked myself going through that.”

Fortunate timing led her to Portland State , which is a block from where she went to high school. She erased most of her frustrations with back-to-back 20-win seasons before this. Then came the trip every team dreams off, which momentarily dredged up bad memories.

“I hate this place, I was a Cougar,” Murrell quipped about being at UW. “I don’t have many good memories here.

“The nice thing about it is I have a lot of good memories with the team I have right now. So walking off that bus, looking at all this purple, I said, ‘You know what, it’s all behind me.’ This is wonderful, it’s exciting. It means a lot to me. I’m savoring every minute of it.”

RECALL

President Barrack Obama didn’t make any friends picking 10 ^th -seeded North Carolina to upset seventh-seeded Gonzaga in tonight’s second game.

“Yeah, we noticed that,” GU forward Vivian Frieson said. “We figured he was more of a men’s basketball buff than he is women’s. And he tends to favor UNC, he did last year. We’re not really too worried about it.”

SOUNDS FAMILIAR

Just like the Gonzaga men a decade ago, the Gonzaga women aren’t too fond of the labels they get when they arrive at the Big Dance.

“I don’t think we’re particularly fond of the term Mid-major, especially once we get to this tournament,” senior Heather Bowman said. “Once you get here, it doesn’t matter if you’re a big school or a small school, all that counts is how you play in the tournament. Everyone’s on the same playing field, look at all the upsets in the guys tournament.”

She had support from North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell.

“Mid-major, I’ve never liked that,” she said. “If you’re in the NCAA you’re a Division I school. Any school making it into the NCAA Tournament is capable of winning.”

At least now. She admitted that it wasn’t many years ago upsets before the Sweet 16 were rare. Now they happen in the first round.

UPSET AMMO

Texas A&M coach Gary Blair is using the men’s tournament to keep his team from overlooking PSU, but he may have gotten a little carried away.

“After what happened yesterday on the men’s side of the tournament I have plenty of ammunition to go into my practices before the game,” he said. “We have to treat every game like a Big 12 game. … By the time we play Portland State they will be the Los Angeles Lakers and Claire (Faucher) will be Kobe Bryant.”

Faucher wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Wow,” she stammered. “ Kobe and I. Going head-to-head, pretty similar I think. I’m not even sure what to say.

“I think it’s smart to go into a game having to focus on a key player but there are several players on the team … who can knock down big shots. Hopefully they don’t completely shut me down but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

ENJOY THE SHOW

Murrell said the Vikings were a live in the moment team and her two junior players from Spokane were trying.

“It just kind of sunk in on the ride up,” Mead graduate Kelli Valentine said. “Instead of watching games on TV, we’re there. It’s cool to see what it’s actually like on the inside.”

Monday’s selection show almost overwhelmed Lexi Bishop.

“I couldn’t even take everything all in,” the Shadle grad said. “ Spokane was the most exciting part. I thought that just my mom was going to be able to go. Now the whole family gets to come.

“It’s so exciting. I can’t put it into words. It’s all a dream right now. I’m waiting for it to still sink in.”