Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Smith, Dunn Hope To Close It Out Stylishly
March 02, 2010 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - With college basketball's regular season in its final week in most conferences, part of the ritual - call it the sadness before March Madness - is the observance of Senior Days/Nights.
Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly has been around the women's game long enough to experience the mood swings and resulting performances that cascade down on both ends of the spectrum.
"I've seen Senior Nights when a team plays out of its mind," he said. "I've seen Senior Nights when they're crying so much during warm-ups they can't play."
Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller will settle for the "out of its mind" option Wednesday night following her program's recognition of its lone pair of seniors - Bianca Smith and Courtney Dunn - when the Buffaloes face Kansas State (7 p.m., Coors Events Center).
But also expect a few tears; they're part of the experience, too. In fact, as Fennelly, McConnell-Miller and all other coaches will tell you, the tears are guaranteed.
Smith, a guard from Missouri City, Texas, will leave CU as the women program's best three-point shooter. She eclipsed Shelley Sheetz's career record (252) by hitting four treys in the Buffs' weekend loss to Texas A&M. She also broke her own record (80) for three-pointers in a season.
Dunn, a forward/center from Berkeley, Calif., will leave after a final season in which she was asked to do more and responded - more than doubling her minutes on the court and putting up the best numbers of her CU career.
Both players have eyes on playing professionally, perhaps overseas, but the similarity ends there. Smith, a sociology major, hopes to break into coaching; Dunn, a psychology major, wants to be a pediatrician.
Both, said McConnell-Miller, have contributed in "many ways. I'm really proud of their progression as young women. Both came in with high hopes and both will leave as balanced young women . . .
"They'll represent us well, whether playing or in business. I'm proud to have been their coach and part of their development."
Smith, a Tulsa signee when McConnell-Miller coached there before being hired by CU, was uncertain whether the administrative red tape would be cleared for her to play both semesters of her final season.
That Smith would even take that chance moved McConnell-Miller.
"Anytime a player is willing to sacrifice a year to come play for you, you know they're committed to you and your philosophy," she said. "I feel blessed to have coached her; she's a great team player and she's evolved into one of the toughest three-point threats in the Big 12.
"She's dedicated and I know what I'm going to get when she's on the floor . . . . It's been a great five-year ride with her."
The ride with Dunn seems as if it was just getting started. A role player in her previous seasons, Dunn was summoned by McConnell-Miller and her staff to step up this season in the absence of any experienced inside players.
"The first couple of years, I think the expectations (on her) weren't as great as they are now . . . she's played behind some pretty good post players," McConnell-Miller said. "But I think she's had some great nights for us. She's been a three-point threat, and a player we've needed to come in inside and give us some solid minutes . . . She's one of everybody's favorite players; she brings chemistry and is very likable."
Dunn, now averaging 22.9 minutes a game compared to 9.9 and 6.9 in the previous seasons, was appreciative of McConnell-Miller "giving me a chance to be on the court. It was a great opportunity when she told me that and asked me to step it up.
"I did, and I think it was like a relief to get out on the court; it sucks to sit on the sidelines. (But) waiting definitely paid off - everything paid off. All the years that have built up to this year definitely paid off."
Smith, the Buffs' second-leading scorer (13.6 points a game), called her CU experience "a very humbling road, one of many ups and downs. I've been here when we only had eight or nine players on the bench my freshman year . . . playing our way to a Final Four of the WNIT."
The three-point shooting marks she set last weekend were "not even close to (being on) my radar. I wanted to come in and contribute, play a lot of minutes - get victories. But I never thought I'd be where I am today."
Dunn has a year of athletic eligibility remaining but has opted to graduate with her class and move forward. Her CU years "taught me a lot, I feel like I grew up, I learned to be more independent," she said.
"I feel this will definitely set me up for the real world. Every athlete I've talked to outside the sport they played, they've told me that the real world basically will be easy compared to what we've have done in basketball or whatever sport. So hopefully it'll work out the same way for me. I feel like I've matured."
Even with sitting out redshirt seasons, both players felt like their CU careers were fast-forwarded.
Said Dunn: "I swore I was a freshman yesterday. I was just talking to some of my freshman-year friends and we were trying to figure out where the years went. It just came up so fast. It's kind of sad."
When their moms escort them onto the Events Center court Wednesday night, the short walk will cap what Smith called a "teeter-totter" of emotion.
"Some days you're excited for the next stage in your life and career," she said. "But it's also saddening because I'll miss playing at Coors, miss my teammates, the coaching staff and everybody that's a part of this team.
"And just being in college - they're the best years of your life. Go to class, go to practice - and there's really nothing else to it. I'm going to be excited and sad."
But hopefully she's not too immersed in either emotion to play a basketball game.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
