First, make sure this is out of the way. The court design for the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament is terrible, sinister, distracting and ridiculous. The Kansas City, Missouri floor was designed through a partnership with Undefeated Inc. It charges itself as a “real lifestyle brand and sneaker store” inspired by sports, art, music and street culture.
And this is what they came up with. The basketball court looks like a very bad game for Tic-Tac-Toe. Oregon courts make it look normal.
It's unclear what the Big 12 and this brand are doing here, but that's not good. It looks inferior to the colorful design ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.
But readers, I ask you to ignore this appalling hardwood design for a moment.
Because Addy Brown is better.
She was absolutely lit on Thursday evening and made the court appear as good as possible. Arizona 41 points in the second round victory, 98-86 Iowa.
It was the career-highest scored outing of the 6-foot-2 sophomore forward from the Kansas Derby, about three hours southwest of Kansas City. In addition to her points boat, she accumulated with 13/13 shots from the floor, five/nine shots from 3 points land, 10/10 from the free throw line, while Brown also had six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Simply put, she was great and brought the Cyclone to a critical victory.
It was a much needed victory for Iowa. ESPN Bracket Scholar Charlie Cream It was identified as a bubble team heading for this week's Power 4 Conference Tournament. The victory increases the likelihood that Iowa will secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.
Brown's performance was a reserve round record in the Big 12 tournament, the third most scored point ever, tied it with most points scored by Iowa players since 1984.
Longtime Iowa coach Bill Fennelly summed Brown's signature in a short but perfect way.
Brown is underrated and overlooked by the majority of the season. She is one of three players across the country this year, averaging at least 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game.
“Tonight happened to be my night,” Brown said.
Her performance against Arizona further proves that Iowa is more than just an Audi con man when Iowa surprised Maryland at last season's NCAA tournament.
What's certain is that the Crooks and Brown duo is scary and fun to watch for years to come.
