But I digress

The UCONN women's basketball team has been short-handed all season because five players are out with season-ending injuries. So they've lot some game to the top teams but they've still managed to be undefeated in Big East conference play. Yesterday they faced Providence College in the second round of the Big East tournament. PC's strategy was to beat the crap out of UCONN center Aaliyah Edwards, which the referees for some reason allowed them to do, causing Geno Auriemma nearly to have a stroke on sideline. The assistant coaches had to put him in a double arm bar to keep him off the court.

Providence managed to hang around doing this till the middle of the third quarter. UCONN led by a few points, but couldn't get any separation. Then Providence knocked Edwards out of the game by punching her in the face and breaking her nose. For this UCONN was rewarded with two free throws and the ball. Paige Bueckers, shaking with fury, missed both shots. 

All seemed lost, but it backfired on Providence. The UCONN players hulked out and obliterated Providence. Bueckers channeled her rage into relentlessly attacking the basket, resulting in two and ones. The UCONN defense suffocated Providence, whose offense disintegrated. The red shirt freshman backup center, Ice Brady, stepped in to contribute to the mayhem. Auriemma literally ran out of players. KK Anderson suffered a thigh contusion and he had to put all-star Nika Muhl back into the game to finish up in garbage time. Nevertheless, UCONN won going away, 86-53. 

Edwards played much of last season wearing a mask due to a previous facial injury. I presume she still has it in the back of a closet and if she can breathe, I expect her to play this afternoon. UCONN needs to win the tournament to have a shot at a number 2 seed in the NCAA. Their path to the Final Four is narrow but Geno has to feel good about the way they rose to the occasion yesterday, despite his cerebrovascular risk. It's impossible to stay hulked out permanently but if they can find it when they need it, they have a puncher's chance.

And now for the lyrical stylings of Asaph. Jeduthun was (purportedly) another of David's choirmasters, so it appears Asaph wrote the lyrics for Jeduthun's music, like Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Nowadays we usually give more credit to Bacharach than David, Elton John than Bernie Taupin, George than Ira Gerswhin. But the music to the psalms is lost.

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

77 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, that he may hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.

³ I think of God, and I moan;
    I meditate, and my spirit faints.Selah
⁴ Thou dost hold my eyelids from closing;
    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
    I remember the years long ago.
⁶ I commune^[a] with my heart in the night;
    I meditate and search my spirit:^[b]
7 “Will the Lord spurn for ever,
    and never again be favorable?
⁸ Has his steadfast love for ever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”Selah
¹⁰ And I say, “It is my grief
    that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

¹¹ I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
    yea, I will remember thy wonders of old.
¹² I will meditate on all thy work,
    and muse on thy mighty deeds.
¹³ Thy way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ Thou art the God who workest wonders,
    who hast manifested thy might among the peoples.
¹⁵ Thou didst with thy arm redeem thy people,
    the sons of Jacob and Joseph.Selah

¹⁶ When the waters saw thee, O God,
    when the waters saw thee, they were afraid,
    yea, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
    the skies gave forth thunder;
    thy arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
    thy lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Thy way was through the sea,
    thy path through the great waters;
    yet thy footprints were unseen.
²⁰ Thou didst lead thy people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 77:6 Gk Syr: Heb my music
2. Psalm 77:6 Syr Jerome: Heb my spirit searches