Blog Posts

• Thursday, April 3rd - 1:30pm - PreTrip
• Welcome to the first post from our Notes From Nashville blog! The thought behind this was to give fans an inside glimpe of the happenings at the Women's Final Four in Nashville, Tennessee. UConn is looking for their 9th National Championship and we would love to bring you, the fans, along for the ride. You might be asking yourself well who in the world is writing this blog, so let me introduce myself. My name is Jamie Corun, and I'm the Digital Communications Coordinator for the Conference. I'm not in Nashville yet but can't wait to be there. Some of our staff headed down today for meetings and the rest of us will be headed there early tomorrow morning. Check back often as I plan to post lots of behind the scenes photos and sights and sounds from the entire weekend. Also, make sure you stay up on the latest news by following @American_WBB on twitter.

• Friday, April 4th - 3:55pm - We Have Arrived
• Well I have officially made it to Nashville, Tennessee!
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  Leading up to the Music City Center building there are country music lyrics etched into the stone all over the walkway. This was one of my favorites that I came across
• After an early morning flight with one short layover it sure was nice to inhale a deep breath of fresh air in the state of Tennessee. I don't think I was quite ready for what I was going to see when I stepped off the plane though. I hadn't even made it out of the airport, when everywhere I turned  I saw a Final Four sign or sticker.There was signage everywhere!
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  Sign hanging in the airport
  
  

  

  
  Entrance to Bridgestone Arena
• Hanging from the ceiling, next to the escalators heading down to baggage claim, and an the outside walls of the parking garages. Seriously the signage was everywhere! When I wasn't seeing signage, there was a friendly face wearing a tournament polo asking me if I needed any help or if I would like a fan guide pamphlet complete with a map. Seeing all the signs and getting to meet some of the great people in this city really has me excited for the rest of this trip. It's really cool to just be walking down the street and someone just come up to you to ask if you are here for the games. The friendliness and genuiness from the people of this city has been so real and so nice. Tonight is the Salute on Tour parade of teams. It will be great to see the UConn players parade into the  historic Ryman Auditorium. Check back for pictures from that event tonight, I'm excited to share them.
• Friday, April 3rd - 10:30pm - Salute on Tour
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• Tonight we went to the Ryman Auditorium for the Salute on Tour program. For those of you who don't know the Ryman Auditorium was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 until 1974. So many famous singers performed on that stage including Johnny Cash and Elvis. Tonight, the student athletes of the Final Four teams got to stand on the stage. Before the event even began fans were treated to performances from each school's band and cheerleaders while waiting for the teams to arrive and walk down the red carpet. The atmosphere was pumped up with the bands battling back and forth and the fans really getting into it. There were lots of mascot dance-offs going on as well.
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• Once inside, LaChina Robinson took over the program and hosted the night. Not only did we get to learn more about the teams participating this weekend but we also got to experience the flare that Nashville has as a city. The program included lots of singing and Nashville's own Kimberley Locke who was also a finalist on American Idol took the stage to perform twice. Music wasn't the only thing that highlighted tonight though, various community service organizations in Nashville were recognized as well. At the end of the night though, the main attraction was really celebrating the four teams. LaChina introduced each team and then interviewed one player. For UConn it was Stefanie Dolson and she talked about how prepared her team is and how they don't feel pressured because of their current win streak since they are so prepared. Check out some of the pictures from tonight's event.
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• We have a lot planned for tomorrow as well. Myself and a few of our staff members are participating in the 4Kay Run in the morning to honor the late North Carolina State head coach Kay Yow who passed away from cancer. After the run we will be heading to the arena for open practices, autograph sessions, and the announcement of the WBCA Coaches' All-America Team. We will be bringing you lots of coverage tomorrow so check back here and also follow @american_wbb on twitter. I better head to bed now though I have to be up early for this run!
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• Sunday, April 6 - 9:00am - Super Saturday Wrapup
• Happy Gameday! Sorry I didn't post yesterday but our day turned into a bit of a whirlwind. We started bright and early at the 4Kay Run in honor of the late Kay Yow. 676 total runners bared the windy morning here in Nashville to come out and support this great cause. It was pretty awesome to see so many people of all ages take part in the run. Chevonne Mansfield and myself represented the conference and we were very happy that we decided to join in on the event. Here are a few pics from the run.
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• After the run we headed into the Music City Center to take part in more of the fan experience of the Final Four. If you are in Nashville I highly recommend you checking out Tourney Town. They have so many fun exhibits for fans to take part in. There is trivia, giveaways, games, autograph sessions, merchandise to purchase and lots more.
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• One of my favorite parts of the day was heading over to the arena for team practice. Before UConn took the court the WBCA All-America Team was announced. Three of our conference players were recognized as Stefanie Dolson, Bria Hartley, and Breanna Stewart were all named to the 10-person team. The awards were followed by UConn's open practice in front of fans who kept showing their love for the Huskies with lots of clapping and cheers. Once practice was over I headed up to the UConn autograph session where a line was wrapped around the concourse. I talked to some fans and found out that they had been standing in line for 6 hours waiting for the autograph session. 6 hours!!! With the autograph session only lasting 30 minutes these die-hard fans wanted to make sure that they got to meet their favorite players. The AP Player of the Year was announced in the afternoon and the honor went to UConn's Breanna Stewart. In front of a very crowded room full of her teammates and media members Breanna accepted the award alongside Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw who was named AP Coach of the Year.
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  We ended up the day as a conference staff all together at dinner. Now this wasn't just a typical professional sit-down dinner that you might be thinking of. We found ourselves in a room, all of us craning our necks to get the best view of the television in front of us so we could cheer on the UConn Huskies in the Final Four. I can't think of a better way to end a great day than to be together watching UConn punch their ticket into the National Championship. Now that the men are in I am ready to watch the women tonight. During the game make sure you follow @American_WBB on twitter for live updates. Have a great day and Go Huskies!
• Monday, April 7 - 9:00am - UConn Wins
• What a great night we had last night! UConn will be playing for back-to-back National Titles tomorrow night. So many big story lines came out of this game but as Coach Auriemma said in his post-game press conference, it seems only fitting that two undefeated teams will be playing for the National Championship. So not only are two undefeated teams playing for the National Championship for the first time in history but, UConn is not only playing for the Championship on the women's side but they will be also playing for the National Championship on the men's side tonight. As amazing as a feat that is for both team's to make the NCAA championship games this is not the first time this is happening. In 2004 both the men and women Huskies became the National Champions. I don't know about you guys but I am pretty excited to see if that could play out again this year. So if you are pulling for the Huskies make sure you watch the men's championship game tonight on CBS at 9:10pm ET. I know we will all be watching! Okay I know everyone must have been getting pretty sick of my low quality iphone photos so instead of posting individual photos today I thought I would share an entire photo gallery with you. Shoutout to Ben Solomon, our awesome photographer for these great shots from last night's Semifinal matchup between UConn and Stanford. Check out the photos here