Ali Mann article out of the Ann Arbor News

[UK Peregrine]

Thursday, March 17, 2005
BY ROB HOFFMAN
News Sports Reporter

Many years ago and thousands of miles away from the hardwood of a Seattle arena, Ali Mann would play basketball in the driveway of her Chelsea home with her younger brothers, Tim and Stewart.

They would pretend to be playing in the last few seconds of an NCAA Tournament game.

"We'd count down to each other and take turns doing the last shot," Mann said.
At 7 p.m. Saturday, Mann will get a chance to turn that childhood dream into reality when the 6-foot-1-inch Bowling Green sophomore forward leads the Falcons into a first-round game against Kansas State (23-7).

For the 13th-seeded Falcons (23-7), it's their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994. And it was a day that Mann never believed was possible during the late stages of her prep basketball career at Chelsea.

Though she received plenty of recruiting letters, the only Division I teams to pursue Mann were Bowling Green and Dartmouth. She picked the Ohio school after going on a recruiting visit, becoming the first player male or female from her school to accept a Division I basketball scholarship.

At the time, however, the Falcons were anything but a big-time program. They had gone 12-16 the previous season and, with the loss of several key seniors, were picked to finish last in the Mid-American Conference.

But that didn't happen. Instead, with Mann one of three freshman starters, the Falcons advanced to the MAC championship game where they lost to Eastern Michigan. Mann, who averaged 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds a game in her first season, was MAC Freshman of the Year and was an honorable mention member of the conference's overall second team.

Her sophomore campaign has been even better. Averaging 13.9 and 7.4 rebounds a game, including five double-doubles, Mann was named MAC Player of the Week twice and was selected to the All-MAC second team.

"I feel like I'm a more mature player than last year," she said.

Some of that maturity has been on display this month. On March 1, the team's regular season finale against Northern Illinois, Mann - who was listed as questionable before the game because of a sprained ankle - scored 20 points to lead Bowling Green to an outright MAC West league title. And last week in the MAC semifinals, Mann scored a team-high 19 points to help the Falcons defeat Eastern Michigan for the first time in two years.

"It felt really good to finally get a chance to beat them," she said.

But Mann isn't done yet. Not with Saturday's game against the Wildcats on the horizon. Kansas State, ranked No. 16 in the nation, finished third in the Big 12 Conference and features All-American candidate Kendra Wecker. With a national audience watching on ESPN2, Mann has no doubt that this is her biggest game.

"There's an excitement around here," she said. "I can't wait to see what happens."

Rob Hoffman can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 994-6814.

http://www.mlive.com/preps/aanews/index ... 135300.xml

[SaxyIrishTenor]

Thats a great article. Its nice to see that there are people outside of BG (even if its her hometown) that are interested in this game.

[Falconfreak90]

Great article! Thanks for sharing. I am a member of "Ali's Army"!!
I think she is my fave player....Liz is a close second.

GO FALCONS!!!!!!!

BEAT K STATE!

[golfertk14]

ahh yes March Madness, a time for basketball, brackets and sappy underdog articles. This was not one of them, a great article and like you said, even if it's Ali's hometown, it's still good to know they care about her.