Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Swan, Buffs Seek Strong Regular-Season Finish On Road
February 24, 2016 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – Jamee Swan isn't sure where this is going, but she is certain when it started.
As a third-grader in Marana, Ariz., Swan took an interest in basketball – so much so that at Halloween, when other trick-or-treaters' costumes might have veered toward princesses, ghouls or goblins – she pulled on a Carmelo Anthony jersey and clutched a mask of his face over hers.
Nice costume if you were, as Swan was in her words, “a crazy basketball fan.”
She told her mother that she wanted “to play college basketball, and then play pro basketball.” Her mother, Diane, had a hoops background (she would later coach Jamee at Marana High School) and knew what would be required to play at both levels.
Essentially, and undoubtedly very motherly, she told her young daughter to, ah, cool it. But in no way did she discourage the dream.
“She was like, 'Not everybody gets to do it,'” Jamee recalled with a laugh. “And then as soon as I started playing, she was like, 'OK, yeah, maybe we can do this.'”
Jamee Swan has done it – at least the college part of the equation. She's within a handful of games of finishing her career at the University of Colorado, and while her four seasons might not have produced the number of NCAA Tournament appearances anyone hoped for (one) she made an impact for the Buffs.
In her farewell weekend at the Coors Events Center, she scored 43 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. With 25 points in an 80-49 loss to No. 15 Stanford, Swan reached 1,200 career points and became the eighth CU player to reach that total and collect 700 career rebounds (739). In her final home game – a 78-57 rout of Cal – she raised the bar and her personal stats even further, recording her fourth double-double of the season (18 points, 12 rebounds) in addition to contributing four blocks and six steals.
“I just wanted to leave my mark on the Coors Events Center and say goodbye to the fans as best I could,” Swan said.
IN HER TWO-GAME CLOSURE at the CEC Swan was, as CU coach Linda Lappe would say a couple of days later, “a senior – and that's what we need her to be in her last couple of road games. The key for her is bringing it again these next two games, have that same focus, that same passion. Play hard but under control.”
With games at Washington State on Thursday (8 p.m. MST, WSU Live Stream) and Washington on Saturday (2 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks), the Buffs have two chances to win their first road game(s) of the season. CU lost to both Washington teams – 76-74 to UW, 74-66 to WSU – in early January, and Lappe eyes games against both to close the regular season as “a good barometer for us . . . you can see how much you've improved.”
The Buffs are 0-11 away from the CEC (7-20 overall, 2-14 Pac-12), but their win over Cal last weekend they snapped a five-game losing streak. Lappe and Swan believe momentum, slight as it might be, was established.
Lappe called CU's 77-70 loss at Oregon three games ago and the victory over Cal “two of our better games of the year . . . we've just got to have a tougher mindset when we go on the road. We'll have great momentum going in (to WSU), we had a great practice (Tuesday) . . .
“Everybody just has to do what they do, bring their game. But that can't change, it doesn't matter whether you're at home or on the road. Obviously there's a little more adversity on the road, but I feel like we continue to improve with handling adversity. I think it shows our youth with how we handle adversity sometimes, but we've gotten better at it. To us, it's a challenge – the last road games of the year, a challenge to out and play with toughness.”
Added Swan: “Now that the rock is moving, we can keep it going and create something great.”
WSU (13-14, 4-12) hasn't enjoyed a stellar season either, but last weekend Wazzu won by a point (62-61) at Arizona and broke a nine-game losing streak.
But Swan, who is No. 11 in conference games in scoring (13.4) and No. 14 in rebounding (6.2), believes she and her teammates are capable of finishing the regular season strong in the state of Washington then returning a week later and duplicating it in the Pac-12 Tournament. (The conference's postseason tourney runs March 3-6 in Seattle.)
“We just have to go up there and try not to force it,” she said. “It's a 'let the game come to us' kind of thing. We just need to be relaxed and ready to play.”
Though the Buffs are only 2-14 in their last 16 games, Lappe says improvement can be detected on offense from her players' shot selection improving, taking better shots “and understanding what shots we want. We're starting to understand that everybody has a part of the offense now, the ball's moving, we're moving.”
DEFENSIVELY, SHE SAYS, STOPS ARE occurring more frequently, the Buffs are getting more deflections, gathering more “50-50” balls (resulting in more possessions), and making more steals. CU has totaled 33 steals in its last three games and ranks fifth in the conference (7.6) in steals per contest. Swan and freshman guard Kennedy Leonard are tied for the team lead in thefts (25 each).
“This team has probably gotten more steals in the last few games than I remember a team of mine getting,” Lappe said. “We're getting in the right position, getting our hands on basketballs, making deflections, and taking other teams out of their offense – which is good.”
What would be better is Swan and the young Buffs finally going on the road and replicating the consistency they've periodically shown at home. As usual, they'll be underdogs in the Pacific Northwest for their final two regular season games as well in the Pac-12 Tournament.
How teams respond to that role, said Lappe, differs from team to team – and hers “doesn't seem to get excited about (it). Every team is a little different; I don't know how much we'll use that. We're just using, what is our mission, our purpose?”
Her message this week is that the Buffs can be very good when they're playing for something – such as Swan on last Sunday's Senior Day. “Understanding what that is and as you get to the end of the season it becomes a lot more clear,” Lappe said. “We need to take that and use it to our advantage. That's probably the most powerful things we have – understanding what you're playing for.”
As for Swan, she's playing only in the moment. When I asked her what's next long-term, she replied: “That's a great question for all seniors. I'm not 100 percent sure . . . hopefully playing (WNBA here or overseas) but as of right now Colorado basketball is all I'm focused on.
“For me, my career, these last games won't define my career. Winning is always fun, always great, but for me it's not as important as to finish having fun and playing and being positive and being with my team these last couple of games.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
