I didn't check how many OT games Indiana played last year, but to average 40 minutes a game you must be
1) indestructible
2) indispensable
3) indefatigable
4) probably a point guard
5) play for a team that is not great but not bad so they are playing tight most, if not all, of their games.
6) some other super human trait that I don't, as yet, understand.
Tyra Buss, aside from averaging 45.8 pts./game her senior year in H.S. with a 5.0 average (yes 5.0), must be an answer to a trivia question, "Who is the only player to win the National High School Coaches Association Girls' Basketball Player of the Year award and not be rated in HoopGurlz top 100?"
It is unbelievable (as in hard to believe), and, yes, good luck to Ali following in her footsteps!
- Buss played her HS ball at Mount Carmel on the Illini side of the Indiana-Illinois border and her HS rival was Princeton, led by one Jackie Young. The high schools are 13 miles apart. The last time they played when Buss and Young were both in the lineups, more than 4,000 people packed the gym.
- They played for the same AAU team.
- They consider each other friends. This video says "best friends."
- Buss' Indiana Team won the WNIT the days before Jackie Young and ND won the NCAA.
- And, of course, both of them never (Buss) or rarely (Young) come off the court.
Buss was drafted by the Connecticut Sun but didn't make the team. She just signed a pro contract to play for a team in Greece, so maybe Jackie can go see the sights sometime next semester.
Amazing how tight things can be.
Of course, speaking of that, Ali Patberg (still #14) moves into the starting PG role for Buss. She knows Jackie, too.
lasted 1 OT period and one gane lasted 4 OT periods. So, though I don't think they led the nation in OT periods (or OT minutes), they were up there.