March 9, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
EL PASO, Texas. (UCFathletics.com) - Even though UCF women's basketball coach Joi Williams sees striking similarities between this year's team and the 2009 version that won the Conference USA championship, the coach's pointed message has remained the same: Trust the process.
That mantra, in essence, means putting in the work before expecting success. Keep the focus on the how and not the why. And as it relates to play in this week's C-USA tournament, simply try to win one game a day and not the entire championship in one fell swoop.
``I see similarities with the focus,'' Williams said when comparing the current UCF team to 2009 Knights. ``The focus of that (2009) team was incredible throughout the whole four days. But this is a different team now and we've got to come to work and play one game. During our championship run we were really able to focus on just one game and that's what we have to do to have success this year.''
Second-seeded UCF (19-10 overall) was able to shift its entire focus toward seventh-seeded UAB (16-14) on Wednesday after the Blazers beat Marshall 56-45 in first-round tournament play. UCF faces UAB Thursday at 2 p.m. ET for the right to advance to the semifinals.
Williams and UCF's entire team watched Wednesday's UAB game after a morning practice. UCF swept UAB - 53-50 in Birmingham, Ala. on Feb. 24 and 65-55 at UCF on Jan. 13 - during the regular season. Williams is expecting a hard-fought game come Thursday afternoon.
``They are a team that has a lot of weapons and has one of the best 3-point shooters in the league in Amber Peterson. We'll face a very athletic team,'' Williams said. ``They're a team that we match up well with and we both know each other's strategies and it will be an interesting game.''
UCF went 12-4 in C-USA play this season, its best record since entering the league six years ago. The Knights won their last eight regular-season games and haven't lost since a midseason pep talk from Athletics Director Keith Tribble, who demanded that the team fight harder to earn its respect.
``I don't take any credit at all for that (winning streak). What I did for them is the same thing that I do for all of our teams. When I feel that I should lend a hand to one of our teams by giving a pep talk, I do it,'' Tribble said. ``But those ladies have done the work on the court. They've done it by going out and playing hard. Their goal is to win the championship and go onto the NCAA's and hopefully we'll get that done.''
The Knights could very well be on a collision course with top-seeded Houston, who went 16-0 in C-USA play this season. Houston narrowly defeated UCF 71-68 on Jan. 27, and the two teams seemed to have separated themselves in the conference.
But Williams has stressed that her team not look ahead. Again, it's about trusting the process and not thinking ahead about the results.
``It's been a business attitude and we've talked about this being a business trip. I'm pleased with their mindset and focus,'' Williams said. ``Trust is a big word for us and was a driving force for us in the month of February. We don't want to be scoreboard watchers or get so caught up with the results; we want to keep our focus on the process and doing the right things like we have the whole month of February.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFathletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.