WASHINGTON -- When womens basketball players at George Washington learned this past offseason that the school had named a new coach for their program, they quickly turned to their cell phones and a team group chat to disseminate any information they could dig up on the hire.It didnt take long before a string of impressive YouTube highlights of a quick and crafty 5-foot-6 guard from UConn began to circulate. The team sentiment quickly swung from curiosity to shock and excitement.In the team group message we talked like, Are you kidding me, this stud is going to be our coach? senior guard Hannah Schaible said.The stud was 1996 Wade Trophy winner Jennifer Rizzotti, who in April signed on as coach at George Washington after 17 seasons at Hartford, where she won 316 games en route to becoming the winningest coach in America East Conference history. Rizzotti is George Washingtons 10th coach and first female coach since Jennifer Bednarek in the 1988-89 season.For many, Rizzottis departure from Hartford -- which she led to five conference championships and six NCAA tournament appearances -- was received with the same level of shock as that of her newly inherited roster. Rizzotti, 41, had said that few schools could get her to uproot her family, which includes two sons and husband Bill Sullivan, who joins her on the bench in Foggy Bottom as an associate head coach.George Washington, however, was on that selective list, especially after coach Jonathan Tsipis had rebuilt the Colonials in his four seasons there before leaving to coach Wisconsin in March.I wanted to go to a program that was successful, rather than a program that I had to rebuild, so that initially made the job attractive to me -- because the coach was leaving for a bigger job and not leaving because he was fired, Rizzotti said. Theres already an established winning culture here and a foundation of doing things the right way.Geno Auriemma, Rizzottis longtime mentor after playing for him at UConn and then serving as an assistant coach on his gold-medal winning team in the Rio Olympics, has complete confidence in her ability to succeed in her new role. And unlike others, Auriemma said he was not surprised by Rizzottis decision to leave for George Washington.I think there has been opportunities for Jen to move in the past, but for whatever reasons, she didnt think that the time was right, said Auriemma, who added that he and Rizzotti had spoken briefly about the challenges that come with transitioning to another program. There was never a feeling of, I never want to move or Im afraid to move; the timing was never right.I knew that people werent going to stop pursuing Jen, so the fact that she left doesnt surprise me one bit.Rizzotti inherited a George Washington program that has impressed in recent years as it works toward regaining its once consistent NCAA tournament presence under former coach Joe McKeown. Between 1999-2008, George Washington made nine straight NCAA tournament appearances, including consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 in 2007-08. In the past two seasons, George Washington won back-to-back A-10 championships but lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament both times.Rizzotti wont have to rebuild the program, but she will have to retool the roster now that Jonquel Jones, the face of the program the past two seasons, was selected No. 6 overall in the WNBA draft. Helped by Jones 14.6 rebounds per game in an abbreviated season due to injury, George Washington led the nation in rebounding (48.6 per game) in 2015-16. Point guard Lauren Chase, who ranked 15th in the country in assists last season, has also graduated.The Colonials were picked fourth in the A-10 preseason coaches poll. If you ask Rizzotti, however, thats exactly where she wants to be to start her first season in her new home.I kind of had a feeling that we wouldnt be a favorite to win the conference, but we certainly wouldnt be picked 14th, either, Rizzotti said. Thats a pretty good situation to be in your first year.Without Jones, Rizzotti will rely heavily on senior forward Caira Washington, an A-10 preseason first-team selection, in the frontcourt. Along with junior forward Kellie Prange as well as graduate transfer forward Lexi Martins, who led the nation in total rebounds a year ago while at Lehigh, Rizzotti believes the team can remain dominant on the boards.In addition to Washington, the team will also turn to junior guard Brianna Cummings for a breakout season on the wing. A former five-star recruit, the 5-foot-10 Cummings emerged last season as a formidable scorer for the Colonials, demonstrating an ability to both get to the rim and consistently connect from midrange.The big question for the Colonials is at the tip of the backcourt, where Rizzotti will juggle between two inexperienced point guards in sophomore Mei-Lyn Bautista and junior Camila Tapias to run the floor.George Washington is off to a 1-1 start, delivering the first win of the Rizzotti era on Sunday with a 56-45 victory over Princeton. Players like Washington are optimistic about the teams potential.Weve been lucky enough to have a great coaching staff that has come in and changed the program for the better, Washington said. Not every change is bad.Rizzotti admits that she has first-season nerves, a feeling she hasnt had to deal with in almost two decades. And more than anything, Rizzotti has no interest in a new coachs grace period.I want to make it a quick adjustment and a quick transition so what theyre used to -- which is winning -- doesnt go away, she said. I dont want to lose that sensation and that feeling. Yeah, I feel the pressure. Basketball Shoes Online Store . PETERSBURG, Fla. Discount Basketball Shoes . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Basketball Shoes 2020 . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Basketball Shoes Sale . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Lewis Hamilton has often cited his respect for Ayrton Senna as a man and a racing driver. With that in mind, its interesting to make a comparison between events in Malaysia last Sunday and those following the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix.In a race run under atrocious conditions (it would have been stopped today or, at the very least, run under a Safety Car when the teeming rain was at its worst), Senna had given us an absolutely exquisite display, running slicks for many laps at a time when others could not manage on full wets. Nineteen (19!) of the 26 starters did not make it to the finish, several of them finishing in the wall.Sennas performance that day ranked among the best of many in a spectacular career and merited the victory coming his way as he completed lap 66 with three to go. Then, without warning, his Honda V10 failed in a cloud of smoke similar to the moment of Hamiltons demise last weekend. Senna pulled over to the left, parked the McLaren on the grass, climbed out and walked away without so much as a backward glance.I have to tell you that not only did the press room cheer, but one or two of our more excitable North American cousins jumped to their feet and applauded. To be fair, this was not so much a dislike of Senna as a reflection of weariness with McLarens consistent success, 1989 coming off the back of total domination the previous year. It was also the first time that neither McLaren finished in 1989, Alain Prost having stopped with broken suspension earlier in the race.Senna pushed through a phalanx of photographers assembling at the end of the pit lane in preparation for the finish of the race and made his way brisklyy to the McLaren office.dddddddddddd He spoke to no one, but his thoughts could be imagined.This was Sennas second retirement in a row (an electrical misfire having cost the lead in Phoenix two weeks before). Now, a golden opportunity to gain nine points (awarded for first place) had literally gone up in smoke and left Senna two points behind Prost in the championship.It would get worse. At the next race in France, Sennas differential broke as he accelerated off the line, the race being won by Prost, a result the Frenchman would repeat at Silverstone on a day when a sizeable number in the crowd cheered as Senna, struggling with his brakes, spun out of the lead and into the gravel at Becketts. Prost now led by 20 points.Even allowing for a complicated scoring system in which a driver could count only his best 11 results (from 16 races), Senna would never get back in front. But at no time did he complain. Or, at least, not to the media.You can be sure, however, that Osamu Goto would have received an earful in Montreal as Ayrton let Hondas project leader know about his views on the failure. But there was not a word of dissention reported in either the specialist or national press during the following weeks.In fact, the only complaints in public would come from Prost once he had decided to leave McLaren for Ferrari in 1990 and let it be known that, in his view, Senna was receiving priority treatment from Honda. Which is an interesting twist on todays stupid suggestion that Mercedes is somehow out to knobble Lewis. ' ' '