Twin Sister Shootout

A better movie than Sister Act

A better movie than Sister Act

It was a great weekend of college sports and there is plenty to talk about. Auburn’s made for television win over Alabama was the star, but this blog plans to illuminate the cloaked gems the sports media was unable to display with its finite resources.

One story was a women’s basketball game between Marquette and Utah. Identical twin sisters played against each other as Marqutte’s Katherine Plouffe took on Michelle Plouffe of Utah. Both women play forward and are senior leaders of their teams. Strangely, Utah says Michelle is 6’4” while Marquette lists Katherine as 6’3”. Doubt one is taller than the other as Marquette says they are almost identical.

That leads me to believe Utah is exaggerating a bit with Michelle’s height. A classic move by athletic departments to make everyone seem taller.

It would still be an interesting game if both Plouffes were bench warmers, but the fact they are the best players on two division teams makes it highly compelling. Michelle has made the All-PAC-12 team twice. Katherine made second team All-Big East last year and we all know that’s a tougher basketball conference. See UConn as exhibit A.

Need more storylines? They are both from Canada! Hello Olympics

What about FIBA? The Plouffes are in that too.

What about the parents? Take a look at the divided shirts the Plouffes were wearing Saturday.

  If that’s not enough for you they also have an older sister, Andrea, who played basketball at the University of Washington. So when these two teams met it was expected that both sisters would bring their best and they did. Katherine led the Golden Eagles in points with 21. Michelle led the Utes in points (18) and rebounds (13). Problem is Michelle didn’t get as much help and shot 4-14 from the field. Marquette’s defense was able to zero in on her.

The result was a 72-65 win for Marquette (6-1) as the Golden Eagles are off to a strong start. Utah (2-4) may have a hard time following up its NIT runner-up season. Not that finishing as runner-up in the NIT for two consecutive years is a desirable goal. That’s like playing Halo with your friends and saying “I hope I only die no more than a few times.”

Still it was an interesting box score to a women’s basketball game in November. How many times does that happen on the same day Auburn plays Alabama?

Good luck to the Plouffes as I’m sure both will be playing professionally and representing Canada in the coming years.

New Mexico Loves Turquoise

It might be a regression year for the Lobos men’s basketball team as it’s coming off a first round loss to Harvard in the NCAA. HARVARD! I was so upset in March as I had New Mexico as a final four team in most of my brackets.

Since then its coach, Steve Alford, went to UCLA. Its best player, Tony Snell, was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and is now a proud member of my fantasy basketball team.

So what’s left for the Lobos? Turquoise uniforms is what’s left and it’s for a good cause too. New Mexico shed their traditional gray and red threads for the turquoise Saturday in its win over San Diego. Turquoise, a color associated with Native Americans (yes, I had to do some internet research to figure that out) was used to raise awareness on obesity and diabetes in Native American youth.

So instead of awkward looking turquoise uniforms, the Lobos were supporting the Native American population in its state. The jerseys were auctioned off to raise money for Native American non-profit organizations. Nice work Lobos.

Happy to go 1-11.

Back to football, we had two programs that won their first game of the season. Congratulations to Southern Mississippi on getting its first win in… well… years.

Also congratulations to Hawaii. It was a somber day as a PLAYER DROWNED IN THE OCEAN ON GAMEDAY. Hawaii ran its first play in honor of Jack Willis Wilson.

The Warriors played hard, breaking out to a 28-7 halftime lead hosting Army. The third quarter was shaky as Army rattled off three straight touchdowns to tie the game midway through the third quarter. Next, Hawaii did something it hadn’t done all year, fight through the pressure. The Warriors scored twice to take a 42-28 lead going into the fourth and held on for the 49-42 victory. I can’t imagine playing a game on the day a teammate died but forfeiting would not honor anyone. Winning the game sure did.

Here’s Hawaii’s coach Norm Chow on what the win meant to the team. He even used the word “bitchin.”

Enjoy it Hawaii and Southern Miss. A 1-11 season is a thousand times better than 0-12. Just ask Georgia State and Miami University. Where a nice punt is worth tweeting about.