Two Virginia greats will be on the bench tonight when Syracuse meets South Carolina in a Sweet 16 game. Of course, you know Dawn Staley coaches the No. 1 seed Gamecocks and across the court, Tammi Reiss is in her first year assisting Quentin Hillsman at ‘Cuse.
Quick aside about Reiss — while most of us know the two-time All-American from her days playing alongside Staley, the Orange players are better acquainted with the actress. Reiss was in the film that’s almost a cult classic among WBB players “Love and Basketball” and she was in “Juwanna Mann,” among other television and movie credits.
Reiss shared this tidbit with us during the ACC tournament remembering her playing days in Charlottesville. Seems she and her UVA teammates were pranksters. She and Staley cooked up the idea of scaring teammate Audra Smith (the Clemson coach was inducted as an ACC Legend during the conference tournament) on Halloween night, sending her to McDonald’s for food and drinks.
Hiding outside in a werewolf costume, Reiss got the best of Smith, who screamed. The food went airborne and splatted to the ground.
“She took off and the Cokes hit the ground so hard,” Reiss recalled. “I never saw Audra run so fast in my life.”
Here’s hoping the Orange have some tricks up their sleeve for tonight’s encounter vs. a Gamecock team looking to make a second consecutive run to the Final Four.