Feb. 24, 2008

Albuquerque Journal

Confidence Is a Fragile Issue
By Rick Wright Of the Journal

In the language of the land in 2008, the University of New Mexico men's basketball team is Barack Obama. It's the opponents, not the Lobos, who blunder at key moments. Deficits melt before them like lime sherbet in a hothouse. Confidence oozes from their every pore.
   
The Lobo women, in contrast, are Hillary Clinton. A seemingly comfortable lead is frittered away. False moves become magnified, then multiply as the opponent closes in, then forges ahead.
   
Confidence? Toward that goal, a few wins in a row, or even one in a close contest, would mean everything.
   
And what do the Hillarys— uh, Lobos— need to win those few in a row, or win that close one?
   
You bet— confidence.
   
Saturday afternoon, about an hour after their male counterparts rewrote UNM basketball history by winning at Utah, the Lobo women were rewriting the novel "Catch-22" in losing to the 18th-ranked Utes, 57-53, at the Pit.
   
UNM (14-12 overall, 6-7 in Mountain West Conference play) has lost five MWC games by a total of 19 points and one more in overtime.
   
In their six close conference losses, they led in the second half in five. In all six, they were within one basket of winning or tying in the final minute of regulation.
   
It is all, coach Don Flanagan said after the latest example, about the winning chicken and the confidence egg.
   
Or vice versa.
   
"Had we won this game (Saturday)," he said, "I think we would have turned the corner and been a different team.
   
"Now it's another disappointment and it gets to be more of a burden on (his players) mentally, that maybe they can't win the close games."
   
It's no surprise, perhaps, that confidence eludes young players— though, in past seasons, Flanagan has had freshmen and sophomores perform like juniors and seniors.
   
This season, the freshmen are playing like freshmen. The sophomores, with the exception of steady and heady point guard Amy Beggin, are playing like sophomores.
   
Perhaps most damaging, the juniors and seniors— at least, at key moments— too often play like freshmen and sophomores.
   
Saturday, upperclassmen Dionne Marsh, Brandi Kimble and Angela Hartill scored 41 of UNM's 53 points and grabbed 18 of their 32 rebounds. Without them, the Lobos had no chance against an outstanding Utah team.
   
With them, they had no chance, either. It only seemed that way.
   
At the 4:48 mark of the second half, Marsh (21 points, five rebounds) scored inside off one of Hartill's career-high eight assists. It was a lovely basket— Marsh read the Utes' double-team perfectly— and it gave the Lobos their biggest lead of the game at 44-32.
   
Then the margin began to shrink.
   
So did UNM's fragile confidence.
   
With the Lobos' lead already cut to six, 46-40, Kimble got trapped on the sideline against Utah's press and turned the ball over. The Utes' Morgan Warburton then hit a 3.
   
Later, Warburton stole a Kimble pass and hit a layup to tie the game at 48.
   
Marsh missed the front end of a one-and-one, then hit one of two after being fouled in the act of shooting. That sequence left the Utes up 50-49, and the Lobos never led again.
   
Hartill, who had one of her best games of the season (nine points and six rebounds to go with those eight assists), was scoreless in the last seven minutes.
   
Afterward, Marsh— making it clear she excepted neither herself nor anyone else— said the Lobos have lacked the mental toughness they need to bridge the confidence gap.
   
"That's it," she said. "There's no other excuses and no other explanations.
   
"Everyone on this team, from point guard down to the last post position, we've got to get more mentally tough."
   
Of course, to be mentally tough, one needs confidence.
   
And vice versa.
   
Catch Rick Wright's column at www.abqjournal.com. E-mail him at rwright@abqjournal.com