IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
(Guru's Note: This is the enhanced version of the game story in the print section of Philly.com from the Inquirer sports pages.)
By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA – The center of the women’s basketball universe in the Colonial Athletic Association has been relocated for now from the sunny South to West Philadelphia.
Drexel, which is a good a candidate as any for becoming the poster women of parity, is all alone atop the conference standings with just two games remaining in the regular season.
That’s the result of Jasmina Rosseel’s dramatic three-pointer with 34.9 seconds in overtime Thursday night to snap a 67-67 tie and send Drexel to a 74-69 win over Virginia Commonwealth at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
Andrea Peterson and Gabriela Marginean each hit a pair of foul shots in the final seconds to help preserve the win, perhaps one of the most memorable in Drexel history.
"Our team, they just gutted it out," said Drexel coach Denise Dillon. "They just played a hard game of basketball – a very physical game, but on the defensive end, we were outmatched and outsized at many positions, but we just stuck together, kept our heads in it and got stops when we needed to."
The largest crowd of the season, 1,532, made the DAC rock, especially with the large delegation of student members of the DAC Pack, known more for their vocal support at men’s games.
Drexel men’s coach Bruiser Flint was in the house as was Dillon’s former Villanova coach Harry Perretta. The veteran mentor of the Wildcats spent most of the second half of the closely-fought contest pacing the area alongside the stands behind the Dragons’ basket privately urging his former star on to victory.
The Dragons (19-8, 14-2 CAA), picked fourth in the preseason and who now have the most conference wins since joining the CAA in 2001-02, entered Thursday night’s game tied with the Rams (23-5, 13-3) for first.
“With new players coming in and you know you have (Marginean), you know you can do some special things,” Dillon said. “But these women have their minds set on greater things and they’re making it happen.
“They started off slow a little early in the year, but got it together, got the freshmen involved, and we’re winning big games.”
Drexel can grab the top seed for the CAA tournament by either winning at home Sunday against George Mason or on the road next Wednesday at Towson. The playoffs begin March 12 on the campus of James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va.
The Dragons, if they finish out, will be the most northern squad to capture or share the regular season title that has been monopolized over the years by Old Dominion.
The Monarchs, winners of all 17 previous CAA tournaments since joining the conference, are having their worst season in CAA play with six losses.
Previously, Delaware’s sole possession of first in 2005 and shared top spot in 2003, were the only two times that a team on the upper side of the Mason-Dixon Line had looked down upon the rest of the competition at the end of the regular season.
The CAA added an urban flair to its membership in 2001-02 when Drexel, Delaware, Hofstra, Towson, and Northeastern joined the conference.
If Drexel finishes with the top seed, the Dragons will automatically earn a bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament if they fail to win the CAA playoff crown and NCAA automatic bid.
The only previous first-place finish in the regular season for the Drexel women was back in 1989-90 when the Dragons finished atop the East Coast Conference at 22-7 overall, the most wins ever, and 13-1. However, Delaware won the ECC tournament.
The 19 wins to date matches the high in the Dillon coaching era set in 2004-05 at 19-10, which was the first season she prowled the sidelines in her own right after holding the interim title the previous season.
“Recently, I thought we had more talent here than we’ve had for a while,” Dillon said. “But with the way we play, you have to get them on the same page.
“(Freshman) Marisa Crane is doing a nice job taking care of the ball and the big difference is we have different players stepping up.”
The first-place tie with VCU was not the only deadlock broken Thursday night.
Marginean, a junior, entered the game even with Michelle Maslowski’s single-season record at Drexel of 625 points set in 2000-01. The native of Romania, who now has 647 points, claimed the milestone for herself when she hit a three-pointer with 12 minutes, 50 seconds left in the first half.
The CAA preseason player of the year is now just 168 points shy of Maslowski’s career mark of 1,900 points.
Marginean made only 3 of 16 field goals Thursday but finished with a game-high 22 points by making 14 of 16 foul shots.
Drexel, which had trailed 57-51, with four minutes remaining, seemed doomed when Marginean committed an offensive foul with 18 seconds remaining and VCU ahead, 61-60.
But a foul by the Dragons’ Nicole Hester resulted in the Rams’ Radoslava Bachvarova making only one of two foul shots.
Marginean atoned for her previous error by grabbing a rebound and then connecting on two free throws with 15 seconds left to extend the game into overtime.
Extra periods are Drexel’s specialty. It was the Dragons’ second straight overtime and third in conference play this month. Of course, there’s the famous NCAA-record five-overtime encounter won at home by Drexel against Northeastern two seasons ago.
“I don’t want to be involved in too many of them but they do seem to be working for us,” Dillon said.
Drexel was able to stay close to the Rams after falling behind by using a tenacious defense, forcing VCU into costly turnovers down the stretch due to the Dragons’ press.
The Rams also contributed to their own demise by failing to capitalize on the foul line where they made only 18 of 30 free throws.
“That’s not a team I want to see again, soon,” Dillon said. “They might be the best team we’ve played this season.”
VCU seems a worthy candidate of an NCAA at-large bid if the Rams fail to win the CAA tournament.
Drexel’s chances are not as good because of lower rankings in the various computer categories the NCAA committee uses for reference to pick the 33 at-large teams and seed the field.
For now, however, Drexel’s conference performance – 11 straight victories – will give the Dragons with their five foreigners some national notoriety.
Rosseel, a native of Belgium, finished with 12 points as did Sweden’s Jennifer Stjarnstrom, who matched that total to celebrate her 21st birthday with a career high.
“Jennifer played an exceptional game, I was happy for her,” Dillon said. “And she is now out there playing a lot of minutes because she understands what she can do.”
Marginean recently celebrated her 22nd birthday with 40 points in the Dragons’ lopsided win against Old Dominion.
Bachvarova and Kita Waller scored 18 points each for VCU, coached by Beth Cunningham, who holds the all-time scoring record at Notre Dame and played for the Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball Association.
Quanitra Hollingsworth had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Scott Hawk, assistant coach for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, was on press row to observe Hollingsworth, but took note of Marginean.
“We’ll be watching her more next year but it’s nice to see a kid early where you can take a few notes and then keep track of their progress.”
-- Mel
(Guru’s Note: Philly.com has the print edition version)
By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA – A lot has happened since Xavier beat Temple in last season’s Atlantic Ten championship game.
The winning Musketeers returned to this season, spending most of it as a nationally-ranked team and owning a 15-game win streak despite the absence of Amber Harris when No. 13 Xavier arrived at Temple’s Liacouras Center Wednesday night.
Since that last meeting, the Owls saw fabled coach Dawn Staley leave for South Carolina and have spent the last several months seeking a new identity under Tonya Cardoza, a longtime friend and former Virginia teammate of Staley’s who spent 14 years as an assistant to Geno Auriemma at Connecticut.
If Cardoza was still in her former job, she’d be busy making arrangements for what outfit she’d be wearing at the Huskies’ national championship dinner after St. Louis and the Women’s Final Four.
Instead she is here, reviving Temple from a near-slip into postseason extinction to a dramatic run through the best of the Atlantic Ten in the final four games of the regular season.
“This is obviously a lot bigger game for Temple than it is for Xavier,” confided Richard Ensor, who is part of the 10-member NCAA women’s basketball tournament committee that will be picking the 33 at-large teams.
Contrary to criticism, these people do go to games besides looking at tape and TV. Ensor has been all over the region, spending Tuesday night at Rutgers to see if the Scarlet Knights were performing better – they were – and here Wednesday night to get a closer look at the Owls.
Ensor, alone, cannot swing a sixth-straight appearance tournament bid for Temple through the at-large route if the Owls don’t win the title and automatic bid.
But he was impressed with Temple’s performance in the Owls’ 74-65 upset of Xavier and was certain the win would be noticed around the nation.
This was a game that Cardoza seemed to privately concede last weekend as long as Temple played well and went on to beat George Washington on Sunday.
But the Owls did much more. They built a 16-point lead. They made key defensive stops. They made clutch baskets. And on senior night for Shenita Landry and Shanea Cotton, the normally postgame subdued mood from players in the media room, win or lose, had transformed to absolute giddiness.
Landry was telling the media what headlines to write when it was revealed that Cardoza became the first Temple coach in any sport to upset a ranked team in their first season with the Owls
“Could you please right that in her your headlines that Coach Cardoza beats ranked teams,” Landry commented to reporters.
The achievement might be worth an extra point or two when it comes time to consider this year’s winner of the Maggie Dixon Award the WBCA gives out to the top rookie coach in the profession.
Cotton, another modest individually, blurted, “I don’t know if I can thank my teammates enough. This is so amazing for me (to win last home game). This is only my second year but for us to have done this together, I don’t know how I can express to them how much this means to me.”
Lindsay Kimmel was a perfect 3-for-3 on critical three-pointers in the second half that kept Xavier at bay.
When she noted the passing of her teammates to get her the ball in the right spots, Cotton, Landry, and Shaqwedia Wallace all tried to take credit on top of each other for helping Kimmel’s marksmanship.
Cotton, herself, had a three-pointer in the game just before the shot clock expired..
Kimmel also joined the frivolity. When mention was made of the small number of students who stormed the court, something unheard of even in previous glory years, she asked reporters to refer to the crowd as “our loyal fans.”
Temple even got a helping hand from Charlotte, which beat George Washington to let the Owls take sole possession of third place with one game left in the regular season.
The Owls, who were picked fourth by the conference coaches, can get as high as second if St. Bonaventure upsets Charlotte on Saturday and Temple wins at George Washington, Sunday.
An Owls win would seem to move them close to a lock for the NCAA field if they get to at least the semifinals or definitely the finals of the conference tournament in Charlotte.
Incidentally, Staley has not forgotten her former team and when the halftime score was text messaged to her from press row she asked to be kept informed the rest of the way.
“Well deserved,” Staley responded after the final score was transmitted with the mention of Cardoza’s chances in the Maggie Dixon competition.
Staley and her staff, incidentally, attended Temple’s recent game in Charlotte won by the Owls to start the run.
Temple even got a quasi measure of revenge of sorts against a Rutgers connection Wednesday night in that Xavier’s Tudy Reed and Dee Dee Jernigan are both former Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers was on the mind of Cardoza at halftime she said, recalling Temple’s near upset of the Scarlet Knights early in the season when the Owls also had a big lead against a team then in the national rankings.
“I thought about the Rutgers game at halftime when I was walking down the hallway,” Cardoza said. “And I was annoyed because we had a couple of empty possessions. We were up 14
(against Xavier) but even in the Rutgers game I thought we should have been up more.
“So I said we were not going to let this one slip away.”
Then Landry quickly put her two cents into the discussion.
“But more recently at the Charlotte game, it was like that, too. So in the locker room we didn’t think about Rutgers,” Landry said.
“Look at her,” Cardoza smiled at Landry. “Normally, she says two words and passes the answers to someone else.”
Cardoza does not see any let down off of Wednesday night when the Owls travel to GW.
“Ir’s a game we have to win,” she said. “These last four or five games, we’ve had to win. We know that and we’re behind each other.
“We definitely try to pick each other up now where in the past sometimes you might act a little selfish because we’re not playing well. But we’re not. We’re playing well now.
“If someone’s not playing well, they know they have to do something else, whether it’s playing defense or rebound to support their teammate and that’s where we are right now.”
As for Landry, she’ll be ready for GW, she said, but for the moment it was time for other times.
“Right now, it’s senior night, my friends and family are here and I just want to soak this one in.”
As for Cardoza, when it was jested to her that if the Owls make the NCAA field, they’ll probably be seeded in an 8-9 first-round game at Storrs in UConn’s bracket.
“Don’t think that hasn’t crossed my mind,” she said with a big smile.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
PISCTAWAY, N.J. – After Rutgers won its third straight Big East game Tuesday night, beating Cincinnati, 71-52, at the Louis A. Brown Athletic Center, coach C. Vivian Stringer revealed a request to her from junior guard Epiphanny Prince.
Might it be possible because the Scarlet Knights (17-10, 8-6 Big East) had played consistently well in the latest stretch that the team could return to its regular locker room.
The venue had been empty since Stringer tossed them out after a near loss at Temple, Dec.1, repeating the punishment she dealt two seasons ago before Rutgers began to make a reversal in mid-January and surged straight to the NCAA title game.
“We are way behind where we were then,” Stringer said, recalling a turnaround that began in mid-January. “And there is a lot of damage that has to be undone.”
The damage has caused the tight situation the Scarlet Knights have placed themselves in terms of not making the NCAA tournament in which Rutgers is one of 16 host sites for the first and second rounds.
That awareness, aside, Stringer rewarded the team for its effort and accepted Prince’s request.
“We’re starting to look like what a Scarlet Knight should be,” Stringer said.
Rutgers used a balanced attack in beating Cincinnati (13-14, 3-11), led by senior center Kia Vaughn, who scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Wilmington’s Khadijah Rushdan added 13 points and received praise from Stringer for playing like the point guard the Scarlet Knights need to return to the postseason.
“Without a point guard, we’re not going anywhere,” Stringer said.
Heather Zurich, the beneficiary of Cincinnati’s double-team of Vaughn, shot 5-for-7 from the field and scored 12 points, while Prince, who has had to carry the scoring load most of the season, contributed 11 points.
More important, the team grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and committed just six turnovers. The defense forced Cincinnati into five shot clock violations in the first half.
“I think coach Stringer has their attention now and they’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Cincinnati coach J. Kelley Hall said. “Defensively, this team is coming around and it’s been pretty good for three games in a row. I've been coaching a long time and I don't think I've ever seen five violations in a half.”
Vaughn is beginning to look like the force she was expected to be back at the outset of the season.
“The teams in this league are pretty good, but you’re not going to guard Kia Vaughn with just one person,” Hall said. “She’s too good. I don’t care how many she’s averaging, she’s going to be a first round draft choice, and she’s going to be playing in the WNBA.
“We tried to play her with a player and a half, the other half was scrambling out trying to get Zurich and it didn’t work for us,” Hall observed. “You better double team her or she’s going to cause problems.”
Since the recent loss to Maryland, the Scarlet Knights’ opponents back in conference have not been the elite crowd.
The next test comes Monday when top-ranked Connecticut finished the home-and-home series and regular season here.
If Rutgers needs to make an impression, losing respectable would be fine enough.
When it comes to picking the 33 at-large teams for the NCAA field, the Scarlet Knights’ computer data would stand out when it comes to moving the last teams off the discussion board and into the tournament.
But as one committee member noted: Being bounced early in the Big East field by a team they should beat could cause them problems.
North Carolina State Looks to Future
Officials at North Carolina State are planning to conduct a nationwide search for the successor to Kay Yow, the longtime Wolfpack coach, a Hall of Famer, who died last month after a lengthy battle against breast cancer.
Interim coach Stephanie Glance, Yow’s longtime aide, told the Raleigh News & Observer she told N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler she is interested in taking the position on a permanent basis.
Besides holding Yow’s blessing, Glance would appear to be the choice of the fan base and team to keep the continuity going.
Shortly after Yow’s funeral, a buzz from sources in the Tar Heel State indicated Glance might be interested in running the Kow Yow/WBCA Foundation that is involved in the fight against cancer.
If that was true, the question became who would be a worthy successor.
One prominent name tossed around was Anne Donovan, the 2008 gold-medal winning Olympic coach and former Old Dominion star who lives in Charlotte and also coached in the WNBA, most notably Seattle to the 2003 championship.
Donovan recently told the Guru she was going to look at collegiate jobs this spring that became open but would not talk about N.C. State until Glance’s intentions were known.
Another possibility is Hofstra coach Krista Kilburn-Stevesky, a former player for the Wolfpack who was the first Maggie Dixon rookie coach winner from the WBCA. She also said she would wait until Glance made her intentions known.
Two separate sources with knowledge of North Carolina State told the Guru Sunday prior to the News & Observer story that the school would conduct a nationwide search, but that Glance was very much interested in staying on the sidelines with the Wolfpack.
Campaigning For Perretta
After Louisville beat Villanova on Saturday at the Pavilion, Angel McCoughtry, the Cardinals’ star player, wanted to make an extra statement to reporters who thought her interview had concluded.
“I want you to write this,” McCoughtry said. “Are you listening? They’re a good team and (Harry Perretta) should be (Big East) coach of the year.”
Villanova is (17-11, 9-5), which lost at Connecticut, 74-47, Tuesday night, is holding fourth place a game ahead of DePaul, which was upset at home by South Florida, 76-69 Tuesday night.
The Wildcats upset the Demons and have a tiebreaker over them and Notre Dame. Perretta’s team was picked 10th in the preseason by the Big East coaches.
The win over DePaul started a brutal four-game stretch in which Villanova lost at nationally-ranked Pittsburgh, then to Louisville, and finally Connecticut.
Virginia Changes the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Equation
Looking ahead to the ACC tournament, the thinking was that it might be better to finish fourth instead of third because Florida State, which appeared heading for a first-place finish, might be an easier opponent in the semifinals.
That projection needs revision after Virginia upset the Seminoles, 68-63, in Tallahassee, Tuesday night.
The loss brought Florida State back to a first-place tie in the loss column with Maryland.
If the two are deadlocked at the finish, the Terrapins would get the top ACC tournament seed because of the head-to-head win over the Seminoles.
The Terrapins have moved into a favorite slot for an NCAA tournament No. 1 seed, attainable perhaps if the only slip between now and the finish would be a loss to Duke or North Carolina in the conference tournament semifinals or finals.
Duke and North Carolina could determine the third and fourth spots when the two meet Sunday at Duke.
Honoring New-Timers
Traditionally, usually some amount of time elapses before collegiate stars are brought back to their alma maters to have their numbers retired.
These days, some schools pay tribute while individuals are still performing at their institutions.
Maryland, on Friday night, will raise the jersey numbers of senior stars Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman to the top of the Comcast Center.
Both are expected to be taken quickly in the WNBA draft. The duo’s class record of 118-18 became the all-time mark at Maryland Sunday after the Terrapins thrashed Duke, 77-59, with Toliver scoring 34 points and Coleman adding 24 to reach 2,000 career points to go with her more than 1,000 rebounds.
The pair combined to nearly outscore Duke, finishing with just a point less.
Toliver has been a regular Jacqueline The Giant Killer against the Blue Devils, having launched the buzzer-beating three-pointer in regulation in Boston in 2006 that sent Maryland into overtime and an eventual win for the NCAA title.
“I’m going to miss this one of these days when I don’t sit here anymore with these two special seniors,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said Sunday. “What a game and what a convincing win.
“Just love where this team is playing, we’re just clicking.”
A year ago, Maryland honored Willingboro’s Crystal Langhorne and Cheltenham’s Laura Harper before they graduated and went in the first round of the WNBA draft.
Connecticut recently made the same move honoring senior Renee Montgomery.
“That really surprised me when I heard they were going to do that,” said Temple coach Tonya Cardoza, who was a longtime UConn assistant before joining the Owls last July.
“But Renee was one of my guards so obviously I endorsed the move when I was told,” Cardoza said.
Showdown Week
Temple, though still on the NCAA bubble, is making a charge toward extending the Owls’ string of five straight tournament appearances.
Cardoza’s group could catch a lot of attention by beating No. 13 Xavier, which visits the Liacouras Center Wednesday night with an unbeaten record in Atlantic Ten competition.
Temple then finishes up Sunday at George Washington.
That game against the Colonials could have extra meaning in that Cardoza and Mike Bozeman, a former GW assistant, seem leading contenders for the Maggie Dixon Award the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association hands out to a newcomer in the profession.
Another candidate is Lindsay Gottlieb, the University of California Santa Barbara coach who was a former assistant of Joanne Boyle at California. Gottlieb succeeded retired veteran Mark French.
Meanwhile Drexel and Virginia Commonwealth, locked in a first-place tie in the Colonial Athletic Association, collide Thursday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
VCU coach Beth Cunningham, a former Notre Dame star, played for the Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball Association.
Temple, Villanova, and Drexel are currently under major consideration by the Women’s NIT if any do not make the NCAA field.
-- Mel
By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com
A graduate of Columbia and Harvard has spent much of this basketball season talking about making big changes in the country. Now, as another NCAA Tournament looms, the league in which those schools participate once again finds itself discussing whether it should make a big change in how it operates its basketball season.
The Ivy League is the only conference in Division I that does not award its NCAA Tournament bid by way of a tournament. Instead, the regular season champion is the team that goes to the field of 64.
This setup has long been a topic of much discussion among the league's coaches, administrators and fans, as well as reporters who cover the Ancient Eight hoops scene. Every year, talk of holding a tournament grows louder as March draws closer.
On a trip to Princeton, N.J., last week to see the Tigers' men's team renew its longstanding rivalry with Penn, I stopped by the Ivy League's office to talk about this and other subjects. While that conversation was off the record, it reminded me that I'd been sitting on a set of on-the-record remarks from the league's women's basketball coaches for a few weeks.
They come from a conference call held with the league's women's basketball coaches last month, just as league play was getting started. Between the blog migration, Mel's trip to Indianapolis and my own work here at Philly.com, I hadn't had time to post those quotes until now.
I cover the Ivy League a lot, so the debate over whether the conference should have a tournament is something that I've paid close attention to for a long time. But I think that the league's course of action on this issue can be instructive for other one-bid leagues as they try to improve their chances of winning games in the NCAA Tournament.
If you're interested in reading more about this subject, the league's men's coaches talked about the issue on a conference call before the season started. You can find those quotes at my blog, Soft Pretzel Logic, and also read my own views on the subject.
By Mel Greenberg
After Tennessee's loss at Kentucky Thursday night, what might have been unthinkable in November is nearing reality.
The Vols may not drop out of the Top 25 before the end of the season, but the possibility exists until they play the schedule out. If they fail to make the final poll it will be the first time ever in the 33-year history of The Associated Press rankings.
With a loss to Duke at home already on the books this week, Tennessee could be heading for some low points that can be found way back to the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Since then, until several weeks ago, Tennessee had slipped out of the Top 10 only twice, both times to No. 11.
Whne the Vols dropped to 15th a few weeks ago they were at their lowest point since hitting a similar ranking in the final poll of the 1985-86 season. But with two losses this week, depending on what the teams do in back of them, they could slip past 18th, which they hit on Feb. 24, 1985.
That was the same season they were previously unranked, which lasted a period of nine weeks when the rankings stopped at No. 20. Tennessee spent the entire season out of the Top 10 from November through March, which followed a previous summer in which Vols coach Pat Summitt led the United States to a gold medal as head of the women's team at the Los Angeles games.
The Vols, at the moment, have now spent six straight weeks out of the Top 10 with more to follow. In 1985-86, Tennessee was ninth in the preseason poll, dropped out of the Top 10 for nine weeks, returned at 10th and then dropped out again for the final five weeks of the season.
Tennessee's eight losses are approaching the 10 in 1996-97, a rebuilding year in which they recovered to win the NCAA the season before the Fab Five freshmen headed by Tamika Catchings joined Chamique Holdsclaw to storm through 1997-98 with an unbeaten record.
To Guru noted tongue-in-cheek to a caller late Thursday night. "It's a good thing Summitt won her 1000th game this season. They have their worst ranking in more than two decades, along with a bad SEC performance and number of losses. Coaches in the men's game have been known to be fired for less."
Some AP Poll Trivia
The Tennessee numbers caused the Guru to check over the latest indexes in the Associated Press poll database.
Assuming the Vols don't return to the Top 10, Connecticut, which re-took over Tennessee for most No. 1 rankings, will move ahead by the final poll for most Top 10 appearances overall in this decade, 172-171. The Huskies are currently third in all-time Top 10 appearances (277) behind Tennessee (504) and Louisiana Tech (373).
Maryland this week moved into an eighth-place tie for Top 10 appearances at 180, followed by North Carolina (177) and Duke (167).
Connecticut has 325 total appearances and next week will move into an eighth place tie with North Carolina State. If Rutgers fails to return to the rankings, the Huskies will move past the Scarlet Knights into seventh in the final poll at 329.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma, with the same numbers, is in eighth place, overall, in poll appearances one behind North Carolina State's Kay Yow, who recently passed away late last month after her lengthy, courageous battle against breast cancer. He is 10 appearances behind former Penn State coach Rene Portland, whom he'll pass next season.
On the active coaching list, where Yow is being maintained until the end of the season, Auriemma will tie her for fifth next week, trailing Stanford's Tara VanDerveer by 40 appearances. Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer, with three different programs, is third in active appearances at 387.
In terms of rankings with the same program, Auriemma will tie Yow next week for fifth behind leader Summitt's 557, missing only 14 of the 171 polls to date; Georgia's Andy Landers (431), former Texas coach Jody Conradt (395), and VanDerveer at Stanford (338). She also coached at Ohio State.
Stanford, incidentally, recently moved ahead of Georgia in fifth place for total Top 5 appearances at 146.
Duke's Joanne P. McCallie, with two schools to her credit, including Michigan State, just moved ahead of Chris Gobrecht, now at Yale, into 20th on the active list with 105 appearances. Gobrecht earned her appearance numbers at Washington. DePaul's Doug Bruno and Iowa State's Bill Fennelly are tied for 22nd at 102, just ahead of Maryland's Brenda Frese (97), whose numbers are with the Terps and previously at Minnesota.
ACC Showdown
In a game with both Atlantic Coast and NCAA implications, Duke heads to Maryland Sunday for a 5 p.m. showdown with both teams tied for second in the conference a game behind Florida State.
However, it will be a for-the-moment experience for both the winner and loser because of what's left. But don't be surprised if Florida State comes out fourth best among the ACC powers, including North Carolina, when the NCAA committee seeds and brackets the 64-team field.
The Seminoles had the easiest conference schedule in the unbalanced format among the four, but if they do damage in the ACC tournament, that could change the picture.
As Conferences Turn
After Thursday night's action, the following teams are still unbeaten in league play: Boston U in the America East (12-0); Bowing Green in the Mid-American (11-0), Xavier in the Atlantic Ten (11-0), Oklahoma in the Big 12 (11-0); Sacred Heart in the Northeast (15-0); Connecticut in the Big East (12-0); Liberty in the Big South (10-0); Dartmouth in the Ivy (7-0); Wisconsin-Green Bay in the Horizon (14-0); and Middle Tennessee (15-0)
On the other hand, teams still looking for a win in conference play include Niagara in the Metro Atlantic (0-15), Santa Clara in the West Coast (0-11), Youngstown State in the Horizon (0-13); Air Force in the Mountain West (0-12); Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt (0-15); and Tennesee-Martin in the Ohio Valley (0-14).
-- Mel
(Guru Note: This is the rough copy sent earlier Thursday to the sports department for print coverage. The edited version will be in the regular area of Philly.com)
By Mel Greenberg
Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer, whose women’s basketball coaching career has been filled with joy and sadness, is one step closer to induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Stringer is one of the finalists for the class of 2009, multiple sources not associated with Rutgers confirmed.
Hall officials will officially announce the group Friday afternoon at the NBA All-Star game activities in Phoenix.
The ballot is expected to be headed by former NBA superstar Michael Jordan, who is in his first year of eligibility.
The 60-year-old Stringer, now in her 38th season, is one of four women’s coaches with more than 800 victories. Her overall record is 818-276, including a 298-141 mark in 14 seasons at Rutgers.
Stringer has not been notified in advance of the announcement.
“At this stage, the finalists usually learn through the media,” said a hall executive who asked to remain anonymous because a formal announcement has not been made.
If elected next month, Stringer would join her good friend John Chaney, who was inducted in Springfield, Mass., in 2001 when he was still coaching Temple.
The two worked together when Stringer’s career began at Cheyney in the early 1970s.
A 1970 graduate of Slippery Rock, Stringer was inducted in 2001 into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.
“They should have let her in a long time ago with all she’s done,” Chaney said recently when discussing her potential Naismith nomination.
In 2000 Stringer led Rutgers to the first of two Final Four appearances.
That milestone made her the first men’s or women’s coach to take three different programs, which included Iowa, that deep in the NCAA tournament.
Her 2007 contingent advanced to the title game, losing to Tennessee.
This is the fourth straight year Stringer has been considered by the hall’s Women’s Screening Committee, whose makeup is changed annually.
The group advanced Stringer’s name as a finalist last week, a source familiar with the move said.
The women’s committee is allowed to nominate a maximum of two candidates.
The group has also advanced Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, sources said.
The former WNBA sensation with the now-defunct Houston Comets coaches Prairie View A&M and will be inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on June 13.
Ironically, Cooper-Dyke’s squad traveled to Rutgers in December and narrowly lost to the Scarlet Knights, 58-56.
Former Immaculata coach Cathy Rush was the only woman advanced as a finalist last year and she was inducted in September.
Rush and Stringer coached against each other regular in the Philadelphia suburbs when Immaculata and Cheyney met in the early 1970s.
It took several attempts as a finalist before Rush was chosen but she believes Stringer may not have to wait as long.
“She’s had such an amazing story in her life and career that I don’t think anybody on the big committee would not know all she’s achieved,” Rush said recently of Stringer’s chances to become a finalist and inductee.
Following next month’s election, the new hall of famers will be announced and introduced in April at the men’s Final Four.
If Rutgers is in this year's NCAA women's field and advances to the finals in St. Louis the same weekend she would have a well-earned excused absence from being on the scene at the men's event.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
After St. Joseph's beat La Salle, 59-42, at Drexel Wednesday night to tie Temple for the Big Five title, Hawks coach Cindy Griffin joked: "Finally! We can change the letterhead."
Griffin, who was part of Big Five champions as a player for the Hawks, earned her first one as a coach -- she was hired in the spring of 2001.
That was soon after St. Joseph's claimed what was to be the Hawks last celebration at the top of the City Series when assistant coach Sue Moran was a junior.
The native of Ireland, incidentally, will be one of the Big Five Hall of Fame inductees this weekend at ceremonies Friday and Saturday.
Temple won the previous four outright with perfect 4-0 records and had an 18-game win streak in the local round-robin, which was snapped by Villanova in the Owls' first City Series game this serason.
Ironically, St. Joseph's visits Temple Sunday for the second game this season, although it counts only in the Atlasntic Ten. The Owls stopped the Hawks from an outright bid for this year's title with a win last month at the Gallagher Center on Philadelphia University's campus.
Although Temple and St. Joseph's share the local glory, two big pieces of city hardware appear headed in Villanova's direction despite the Wildcats' 2-2 mark in City Series games.
Senior Laura Kurz, the most consistent overall player, appears headed for Player of the Year honors while Wildscats coach Harry Perretta seems the choice for local coach of the year.
Picked for 10th in the coaches' Big East preseason poll, Villanova is currently holding down fourth place, believe it or not, four games ahead of Rutgers in the loss column.
The Wildcats appear one or two wins away from being called a lock for the NCAA tournament.
"We're just overrunning people," Perretta joked Wednesday after Villanova's narrow road win at Marquette Tuesday night.
Speaking of Perretta, Saturday's key conference clash with DePaul will also be Harry Perretta boibblehead day.
The Guru already picked up Perretta's likeness with other attendees last May at Villanova when Perretta was honored for 30 seasons in coaching on the Main Line.
Atlantic Ten Traffic Jam
Talk about a winner-only league to the NCAA tournament if Xavier takesd the automatic bid has conference folks in a tizzy.
Part of the perception problem is the jumbled mess behind the Musketeers in the standings.
In reality the conference is actually better top-to-bottom than previous years but with Temple already holding three conference losses along with George Washington, it is hard to say who the next best team is.
The Owls, whose RPI numbers are what they always are this time of year, may not have committed NCAA suicide with Wednesday's loss at Massachusetts but it is still a serious wound when the vast teams crowding the bubble are taken into consideration.
Temple does have enough games left to draw attention with a win streak, but the next loss means either win the A-10 tournament in Charlotte of say hello to the WNIT.
After years of meeting in the title game, if the A-10 tournament was held right now, George Washington and Temple would be targeted to meet in a quarterfinal game. The two, which both have new head coaches, have yet to meet at the end of the regular season in Washington.
NCAA Mock Bracket
Because of the few days of angst until Jonathan safely guided the Guru into the transition to a new blog platform, still at the same URL, the Guru refrained from posting about last week's Mock Block in Indianapolis.
In the interim, Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale and ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme have precise commentary on this year's deliberations.
The Guru will look ahead to March Madness after dealing with some breaking news in the next 48 hours out of Phoenix.
He would add, however, for those who are worried about their own conference's situation regarding teans in the field, it was pointed out that leagues have the opportunity every day to enter detailed accounts of activity of their teams, which committee members, having access, can easily reference any time.
The (WNBA) Party's Over for the WBCA at the NCAA
Joking the other day about economy cuts in the pro league in terms of the NCAA tournament, the Guru has since learned the annual WNBA party held specifically for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association will not occur and the WNBA presence will be virtually nill in St. Louis.
Unless another sponsor is found, convention delegates may end up being parched at the Arch.
Speaking of the WBCA, the Guru has a preview of local Pink Zone activity over in the main Philly.com area.
That's it for now but we most definitely will be back quickly Thursday night when we will be on the scene at Drexel again -- this time for the Dragons' CAA showdown with Old Dominion.
-- Mel
Hello All
This is a short one to report that the Guru has successfully used Jonathan's cheat seat to gain control of the cockpit.
Will be back later Wednesday night after the St. Joe-La Salle game in a very hot Drexel gym.
St. Joe gym is under renovation for those of you wondering.
Winner gets tie with Temple in Biug Five. As for the Owls -- To be continued.
