There are two Division I schools that have "Crimson" in their nicknames. Tomorrow night, the Virginia women's basketball team will complete the rarely seen season series against these two teams. The Cavaliers already downed the Alabama Crimson Tide 69-48 last week and will tangle with the Harvard Crimson tomorrow at University Hall.
Virginia's (3-1) game against Harvard (2-2) will be the first time in school history that the teams have played.
Harvard was picked second in the Ivy League preseason poll after posting a 20-8 record in 2004-05.
The Crimson will be led by guards Laura Robinson and Jess Holsey and forwards Maureen McCaffery and Shana Franklin.
Robinson and Holsey will provide a good test for the Cavaliers' strong backcourt. Known for her defense and reliable ball-handling, Robinson will likely try to contain Virginia's star point guard Sharnee Zoll. Assistant coach Jeff House is not concerned about Zoll being disrupted by the pressure.
"Sharnee does what she does," House said. "She's an aggressive point guard that applies pressure to other team's guards. They've got to adjust to her. They've got to think of [what they need to do] to combat Sharnee."
In the frontcourt, the battle between Virginia forward Tiffany Sardin and McCaffery will be crucial. McCaffery, though one of the tallest players in the starting lineup, prefers to take advantage of her jump shot rather than score from the low post. She is averaging 5.5 three-point attempts per game and has connected on 50 percent of them. McCaffery also leads the team in rebounding, making her a dual threat on the court.
"Tiffany's well-equipped [to defend perimeter players] from playing here on the perimeter her first three years," House said. "And now [that she is] banging down inside, [she is prepared] for whichever area she's in."
Harvard as a team has taken 70 three-point attempts in four games, which translates into an exceptional 17.5 treys per game. Much of these shots are a result of the up-tempo offense that Harvard employs.
"They're an athletic team that likes to run," House said. "They push the basketball. They'll be deliberate in the half-court, but they want to push the ball and get layups or they want to shoot threes."
So far, the three-point strategy has served Harvard well, as the team is shooting an impressive 43 percent from the land of plenty. To slow down this onslaught of deep shots, Virginia will need to make a concerted effort in fast-break defense.
"Anytime when you're playing a very good three-point shooting team, you have to do a very good job of finding people in transition," House said. "You have to stop the break by getting to the paint and then pushing back out and finding [three-point] shooters."
Neither House nor Sardin felt that the team was due for a letdown of any kind after such a successful trip during the Thanksgiving week.
"We've got to stick to our game plan," Sardin said. "We're not taking anything lightly this year, and we're going to go out and do what we do best."
If the Cavaliers are able to stifle the deep threats of Harvard tomorrow, Virginia will vault to 4-1 and leave the Crimson seeing red.
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