Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – On the first of three nights that No. 3 Maryland has promotional ties to coach Brenda Frese’s pregnancy with twins, the Terrapins had answers to everything against No. 19 Ohio State except the names of her future babies.

Maryland jumped to an 18-4 lead in what is also part of the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge and cruised to a 77-53 victory. The evening was billed the world’s largest baby shower with the annual holiday ``Toys for Tots’’ donations involved.

The Terrapins (10-0) now move into another national showdown Monday night with a visit to No. 5 Rutgers (4-1) in the women’s segment of the Jimmy V Classic.

It will be the first meeting in nine seasons of the two former Eastern rivals with Maryland having won its first NCAA title in 2006 and the Scarlet Knights advancing to the national championship game last season.

While the game-time situation involving Rutgers senior Essence Carson (hip flexor) is still to be determined, the Terrapins are totally healthy with the return of senior center Crystal Langhorne from an ankle injury.

In her third game and second start Friday night since her return, the ACC preseason player of the year had a game-high 17 points.

``I’m almost there,’’ the Willingboro High graduate smiled afterwards about her condition.

Marissa Coleman scored 14 points and Cheltenham High’s Laura Harper added 13 points and eight rebounds.

On Tuesday, Harper crossed the 1,000-point milestone in her collegiate career.
Kristi Toliver had nine points and dealt 11 assists, while having to cope being the focal point of the Buckeyes’ defense.

On the other hand, the Terrapins locked into Ohio State guard Marscilla Packer, holding her to six points.

``We’re not going to win a lot of game with Marscilla shooting like that,’’ Buckeyes coach Jim Foster said of her 2-for-11 from the field. Overall, Ohio State shot 21-for-71.

``And she’s got to realize she’s been out there a couple of years when the best defender was on Brandy Hoskins and now the best defender on the other team is on her, and she’s a target.’’

Freshman 6-4 center Jantel Lavender had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Buckeyes (5-2), but Maryland’s post play was overwhelming.

The Terrapins outscored the Buckeyes, 46-16, inside the paint.

``Their post players did a great job with their physicality,” Foster said. ``And they gave our young post players a good lesson for this time of year.’’

He praised Maryland’s overall performance, noting ``They’re good enough to win the last game of the season. Their challenge is `How do you get better. It is Nov. 30, and they’re playing at a very high level. Obviously, they have to avoid injuries. Toliver is playing at a level right now that’s as good as any I’ve seen in a long time at that position.’’

Maryland coach Brenda Frese was pleased with her team’s focus, especially defensively.

``Going in with a game plan, we just did a phenomenal job executing it to perfection,’’ Frese said. ``Just to be able to see us both halves together back to back.’’

Asked to compare this start with a year ago when Maryland was carrying the burden of being the defending champion, Ferese beamed, ``Our swager, our confidence. We’re playing for each other, looking for each other on the floor.

``Obviously our junior and senior class are really taking ownership of this team. They’re really putting us in the direction of the season they want to have.’’

And now they head North to another team that is has the same ambition.

 More to come, Mel

(Guru's Note: This is also the print version of coverage of Rutgers' visit to St. Joseph's. Enhancements to come later Thursday.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - A dream-almost-come-true and a nightmare intersected Wednesday night at St. Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

The St. Joseph's women nearly upset No. 5 Rutgers after most observers had given them as much of a shot against the Scarlet Knights as the Eagles had before facing the New England Patriots on Sunday night.

But Rutgers escaped, 56-50.

Brittany Ray hit a pair of foul shots with 12 seconds left to give the Scarlet Knights a 54-50 lead. On the ensuing possession, the Hawks' Jenna Loschiavo missed a three-point shot. Rutgers' Heather Zurich then scored the game's final points on another pair of free throws.

"This is a great confidence-booster for our kids, knowing they can compete with a top-10 team, a national runner-up from last year's championship," Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said. "The thing that's been haunting us, haunted us tonight, being able to score down the stretch."

St. Joseph's (3-2) came back after Rutgers started the game on a 10-0 run. The Hawks settled down and took several leads in the second half, including a 49-46 edge with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left.

"After we made that one basket [to stop the run], you saw it: We just got more and more confident," Griffin said.

However, Rutgers surged down the stretch. Ray hit a layup before Scarlet Knights center Kia Vaughn scored inside to regain the lead at 50-49, with 1:52 left.

Epiphanny Prince padded the lead with a layup with 1:20 left. The Hawks stayed close on Amy Gillespie's foul shots with 1:06 left.

But St. Joe's would not score again. Vaughn went to the line but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Ray grabbed the rebound and went back to the line to decide the issue.

Senior Timisha Gomez scored 14 points for St. Joe's. Freshman center Sarah Acker had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Vaughn and Prince each scored 12 points for the Scarlet Knights. Matee Ajavon added 11. She also grabbed a key steal that led to Vaughn's go-ahead score.

Each team was missing a key player.

Hawks sophomore Brittany Ford has yet to play after undergoing minor knee surgery in the preseason. "We're hoping she'll be that consistent scorer for us," Griffin said.

Essence Carson, the glue in Rutgers' offense, who averages 12.3 points per game, was on the bench after suffering a hip flexor injury before Sunday's 45-43 win at home over Louisiana State.

Carson played in that game, but Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was not about to take any chances with No. 3 Maryland next up for the Knights on Monday.

Historically, St. Joseph's, with its emphasis on defense, has been a tough match for Rutgers, dating from the days when both schools competed in the Atlantic Ten. The Scarlet Knights are now in the Big East Conference.

Stringer and her players used the phrase "trap game" frequently to describe the St. Joe's contest at Tuesday's pregame news conference. The visit on Rutgers schedule was sandwiched between Sunday's LSU matchup and this Monday's visit from No. 3 Maryland.

Compounding things for Rutgers, Carson's absence caused Stringer to play several Scarlet Knights out of their normal positions.

"We just weren't in sync all night," Stringer said. "When Essence isn't in there, it's a mess."

Stringer also admitted to having headaches caused by the Hawks' scrappy play.

With Mel's report from Hawk Hill not yet in, I figured I'd write this post before he arrives so that the bigger story can sit atop the blog.

While the game I attended might not have been at the top of the local pecking order, Penn followed right along with Big 5 rivals Saint Joseph's and Villanova by winning a closely played non-conference game this evening.

Thanks to 19 points from junior forward Carrie Biemer and 15 more from senior guard Kimberly Franklin, Penn used all 40 minutes of the game to fend off Rider for a 66-58 win.

The game featured 15 lead changes and 10 ties, but really came down to two big plays in the final few minutes of the game. The first came with 2:15 on the clock and Penn guard Anca Popovici trying to find her way out of a jam in the right corner of the floor in front of Penn's bench.

As the Rider defense closed down on Popovici, sophomore Quakers guard Amy Donovan snuck behind the Broncs and made a cut into the lane towards the basket. Popovici hit Donovan in stride with a superb baseline bounce pass, and Donovan converted the layup to give the home team a 61-56 lead.

"That was one of the better plays I've seen in the Palestra in three and a half years," Penn coach Pat Knapp said.

Describing her perspective, Popovici said that "they were overplaying us."

But the native of Arad, Romania admitted to being "lucky" that Donovan made the move, "because that was a risky pass."

The second came with 19 seconds left in the game and Rider gaining momentum for one last charge. The Broncs had just cut Penn's lead to 61-58 after Tammy Meyers picked Sarah Bucar's pocket at midcourt and ran away for an uncontested layup.

But the Quakers ran their offense effectively on the ensuing possession. With 19 seconds to go, Biemer got open at the top of the arc and drained a three-pointer to seal the win.

"I was open and I felt confident in it -- that's my three-point spot up there," the Haddonfield, N.J., native said. "I think the fact that I was inside all night kind of made them sleep a little bit on the fact that I could score from outside."

For the game, Penn shot an even 50 percent from the field, while Rider shot 37.1 percent. That was due in no small part to a 7-for-24 performance from three-point range. Sophomore guard Amanda Sepulveda and senior guard Janele Henderson each attempted eight threes for the Broncs, with Sepuvelda making three and Henderson only one. Penn was 5-for-14 from beyond the arc.

The rebounds were close to even, with Penn pulling down 34 to Rider's 32. Both teams committed 15 turnovers, with Penn recording eight assists to Rider's 11.

As Mel noted in his previous post, the game was a homecoming of sorts for Broncs coach Lynn Milligan, a former assistant coach at St. Joseph's. Thus the headline of this post, as Penn did indeed make it two straight wins over former Hawks assistants.

Two of Milligan's assistants also have Philadelphia ties: Pam Durkin was an assistant at Drexel and Rashana Barnes played high school basketball at West Catholic, whose campus sits a mere 13 blocks from the Palestra. On top of that, six Rider players hail from the Philadelphia area.

So it came as no surprise to hear Milligan pay her respects to the 80-year-old Palestra after the game, much as a number of men's coaches from outside Philadelphia did this past weekend as their teams participated in the Philly Hoop Group Classic tournament.

"We talked about the opportunity to play here at the Palestra a lot this week," Milligan said. "Being at St. Joe's, I just took it for granted that you get to play here -- a lot of our kids have never played here before, and some of our kids that are from a little farther away didn't understand the significance of this building."

By Mel Greenberg

If we could run local women's basketball like the TV networks, ways might be found to avoid the multiple choices that exist Wednesday night when all Division I teams will be in the area at separate places with each contest having some interest.

Obviously, the big one, which will attract fans with no rooting intrerest elsewhere, is the lone visit this season by No. 5 Rutgers, which will visit St. Joseph's.

An advance of that game exists in the post just below this one, which may not be true if Jonathan, when he sees this (hint), might be able to flip the two posts so the link is to the headline on the advance and also most recent for those arriving at the site.

Meanwhile, two games will be occurring within a few blocks of each other in West Philadelphia.

Drexel is hosting Siena in a nonconference game and what's most noteworthy is this is the night that Colonial Athletic Association will present junior Nicole Hester with its inspiration award at halftime for returning to the Dragons after being sidelined all last season battling Hodgkins Lymphoma.

More details exist at Drexel's web site and we did a feature that can be found in the archives from back in early October.

Meanwhile, Penn, off ruining one of the homecoming returns of Loyola, Md., coach Joe Logan, a former assistant to St. Joseph's Cindy Griffin, will attempt life miserable again for another Hawks assistant at the Palestra when Rider makes a nonconference visit.

The Broncos, off the a 3-2 start, including wins over Hofstra and Central Florida, are coached by Rider alum Lynn Milligan. Her assistants are former Penn State star Rashana Barnes, who had been on St. Joe's staff, and Pam Durkin, another former Rider star who also had been a Drexel assistant.

The two losses were narrow defeats at Maryland-Balitmore County, and at Navy.

Jonathan will be on the scene for that game, we'll be doing Rutgers-St. Joe for print, with blog enhancements to be determined.

Ball State, one of the better teams in the Mid-American Conference will visit Temple, coming off a tough 1-2 performance against nationally-ranked teams in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.

The Owls nearly beat Duke and Stanford, and did beat Purdue to help eject the Boilermakers out of this week's Associated Press poll.

Ashley Morris of Temple continues to be one of the local highlight stories of the early season.

Ball State is coached by Tracy Roller, who was involved in al local promotion last month in Muncie, Ind., where she was going to sit on a billboard until 1,000 season tickets had been sold for her program.

However, her athletic director ordered her removed several days later, citing health concerns and other reasons.

Roller was promoted from assistant coach after Brenda Frese left for Maryland in 2002.

La Salle is at Delaware in a game where both teams are struggling, particularly the Blue Hens, with the graduation of several all-time players. Thus, this might be the Explorers' best shot in several season to pick up a win against Delaware.

Finally, Villanova hosts Fairfield after winning the Odwalla Tournament in San Francisco by beating South Alabama in a game in which the Wildcats shot 18 threes and then the host Dons in overtime.

Junior transfer Laura Kurz from Duke is the Big East player of the week after scoring 25 in Saturday's game and 20 in Friday's game. Stacie Witman had 36 points in Friday's game and shot nine treys.

"She was on fire, I've never seen someone shoot so many threes," Kurz said of Witman.

Of course, Kurz had a reputation for shooting treys herself at Germantown Academy.

Meanwhile, Villanova coach Harry Perretta isn't ready to start popping sparking apple cider off the Wildcats' start recovering from the all-time 9-21 futility of last season.

"I'll know more in another four or five games, I hope," Perretta said. "Hey, I'm happier being 4-1 instead of 1-4, and it's nice to see us making shots.

"Fairfield is like we were last year. They're young. But they got some wins so they're coming here with confidence."

As for Kurz's performance, Perretta noted, "She had been struggling, in part, I think because of the way we were last year and everyone kept pointing to her eligibility. I think that made her think she had to get it done all by herself, so it's nice to see her break out."

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg and Stephen K. Lee

PHILADELPHIA _ What used to be a fun rivalry when both schools were in the Atlantic Ten gets renewed as a nonconference matchup Wednesday for the first time since Nov. 2001 when Big East and national power Rutgers travels to Hawk Hill to meet St.Joseph's at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

The visit by the No. 5 Scarlet Knights (3-1) offers the only area homecoming opportunities this season for 6-foot-4 sophomore center Rashidat Junaid, a graduate of nearby Camden Catholic, and freshman guard Khadijah Rushdan of Wilmington, Del., who holds the state all-time high school career scoring record at 2,414 points.

Temple, in another A-10/Big East matchup, will travel to Rutgers, Dec. 30, and Villanova plays the Scarlet Knights just once in the Big East, also in Piscataway, N.J.

It's also another return for Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, the Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, who established herself as one of the top mentors in the game in the late 1970s when she coached at Cheyney.

She later moved on to Iowa, establishing the Hawkeyes as a nationally-ranked program, before rebuilding Rutgers to prominence when she moved back East in the summer of 1995.

Stringer has taken all three programs to the Women's Final Four, most recently a return for the Scarlet Knights last April when they advanced to the national title game.

Wednesday's game would have Rutgers as a lopsided favorite. St. Joseph's is off to a 3-1 start, which is promising, but the Hawks are still trying to get more answers about themselves.

However, external factors exist that cause somewhat of a concern, as they would any coach guiding Rutgers through its killer schedule because the visit here is sandwiched between Sunday's gritty 45-43 win over then-No. 6 LSU and next Monday night's matchup at home against No. 3 Maryland.

And so the phrase "trap game" was being used after Rutgers' practice Tuesday in anticipation of the meeting with the Hawks.

"You always have to worry about that," Stringer said. "Because they are unranked and they are good and we gotta come to play and not look past that, wishing that we didn't play this type of team.And to be honest with you, it probably takesme a lot more work to play and unranked, so to speak, team.

"They're very well-coached. They execute well and we've got to be on high alert."

Junior center Kia Vaughn, who has picked up added acclaim since her defensive work on LSU all-American Sylvia Fowles, Sunday, besides the same denial she tossed at Fowles in last season's national semifinals, spoke of the the mindset needed against the Hawks.

"These are, I think, mental games because we have to stay focused and we have to learn how to keep our energy level high rather than come down to the level of our opponents," Vaughn said.

"We just have to be ourselves and work on things within those things because those teams are not going to step off. They're going to come at us hard and we have to understand and play the game of basketball."

St. Joseph's, similarly to Rutgers style, is a team that lives off its defense. But offense has been more of a concern, especially when the Hawks, in their one loss, went cold in the final minutes against Virginia Commonwealth.

Freshman center Sarah Acker has lived up to her promise to date, but Rutgers and the inside strength of Vaughn and Junaid, who may see more action together Wednesday night, will be Acker's first major test.

Injuries of sorts exist on both teams. Essence Carson, still expected to start for Rutgers, might be limited due a left hip flexor injury suffered prior to Sunday's game.

Hawks sophomore Brittany Ford, the force in St. Joseph's upset of George Washington and run to the Atlantic 10 title game in March, continues to be sidelined after minor knee surgery.

Rushdan was also limited in the preseason with a minor injury but could see more time on Hawk Hill, as Stringer looks to find some additional firepower for the many wars ahead.

(Click the "jump page" button here to keep reading).

By Mel Greenberg

Three events tied with either a scheduled game involving a historical matchup or the release of the latest Associated Press women's basketball Monday had us scouring our historical database to entertain this Tuesday morning with some more trivia of the times.

Competition-wise down in Knoxville Monday night was the annual renewal of the Louisiana Tech-Tennessee nonconference rivalry that dates beyond the time that a young Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was still learning to accurately count the number of games he had scheduled for the season.

Tennessee won 81-60 Monday night to take a 23-17 lead in the all-time series including eight straight wins.

The Techsters were one of the original thorns in the side of the Lady Vols and the two met nuermous times in NCAA and AIAW Final Four competition.

Though Louisiana Tech is unranked and missed the NCAA last season for the first time in the tournament's 26-year history, the Techsters and the Lady Vols are atop most all-time categories in the Guru-AP database.

The second event was the arrival of Wyoming to make its first AP poll appearance and become the 142nd team in the 32-year history of the rankings. Incidentally, those 142 schools have now been ranked 12,482 times.

Because Cowgirls coach Joe Legerski is a male, there was no need to see if he had qualified as a coach who both played for and coached an AP-ranked women's team -- an achievement held by an elite number of women.

And the other event was the end of a sizeable run by Duke in the top 10 after the Blue Devils fell to No. 11 by a slim six points to Baylor in this week's voting.

With all that said, let's give the Wyoming fan base a little more knowledge.

The Cowgirls are the eighth member of the Mountain West Conference to have appeared in the rankings, but they are only the fifth school to earn their acclaim while holding current membership.

The other seven who have been ranked are BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, UNLV, and Utah.

However, TCU's rankings all actually occurred as a former member of Conference USA.

San Diego State gained rankings as member of the old AIAW Region 8, the Big West, Western Athletic, and West Coast Athletic Association.

UNLV's rankings came during membership in AIAW-Region 8 and the Big West.

Duke's Long Run Shortened

The drop of the Blue Devils occurred three weeks after former coach Gail Goestenkors ended hers at Texas with a non-top 10 ranking of the Longhorns in the preseason poll.

Duke had appeared 107 straight times, dating back to the first January poll of the 2001-02 season.

Tennessee is on a current run of 191 weeks beginning with the final poll of the 1996-97 season. The Lady Vols, currently ranked No. 1, should this season break the all-time streak held by Louisiana Tech, which is 202 from the Jan. 16, 1979 poll through the fifth poll of the 1990-91 season -- a span of 13 seasons.

The Techster upset UCLA, the defending AIAW champion, in 1979 in Pauley Pavilion, in a game we witnessed the previous week -- the AIAW convention we were covering was in Los Angeles the same week - and La Tech took off from there.

Prior to Tennessee's last time out of the top 10, the Lady Vols had been in the category for a streak of 187 weeks from 1986-87.That means they have appeared in the top 10 in 378 of the past 379 weeks of the poll that the Lady Vols have been minimally in the high rent district.

Coach Pat Summitt's teams have missed only 14 appearances, including the first-ever preseason poll in 1976, in what is now 540 weeks of rankings.

Meanwhile worth noting of this new poll is Ohio State's ranking of No. 19, the lowest appearance since a ranking of No.21 in the final poll of 2003-04.

The Buckeyes will be at Maryland, Friday night, for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and the Terrapins' attempt to throw coach Brenda Frese the world's largest baby shower for her expected twins, who might arrive in tandem with March Madness.

Prior to this season, Ohio State had been in the Top10 for 55 weeks dating back to the 2004-05 preseason vote.

West Virginia, at No. 15, is two spots away from an all-time ranking of No. 13 in the end of the '92 season.

Rutgers, which will be at St. Joseph's Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in a meeting of former Atlantic Ten rivals, recently passed Purdue on the all-time ranking list with a combined 301 appearances in the combined Theresa Grentz-C. Vivian Stringer eras.

The Scarlet Knights are two appearances behind LSU, the team that Rutgers beat Sunday to drop the Tigers from sixth to eighth -- a bit low in our estimation.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, at 334, is three appearances away from passing former Penn State coach Rene Portlamd into fifth place on the all-time list. Her total also includes her previous stint at Ohio State.

Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw became 25th on the all-time list (actives and non-actives) this week, passing former Colorado coach Ceal Barry, who is retired.

Continue reading by clicking this link to the jump page

(Guru's Note: An enhanced alternative version of print coverage of Rutgers-LSU along with other roundup notes).

By Mel Greenberg

PISCATAWAY, N.J. _ Mention a score of 45-43 in women's basketball and in most cases that will be as far as the discussion goes.

And if that total is between two non-discript teams, with shooting percentages in the mid-30s, don't except to see instructional video among the collection shown at summer camps.

But when it comes to a matchup between No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Rutgers, whose ranking numbers were a bit higher two weeks ago, a certain appreciation level comes with the territory.

In the women's game, defense is a work of Viv as in Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, and a work of Van, as in LSU coach Van Chancellor.

So afterwards, both Hall of Famers had glowing things about the way their two teams clamped down on each other, particularly LSU all-America center Sylvia Fowles and her potential all-American counterpart Kia Vaughn on Rutgers in the closely-fought contest won by the Scarlet Knights (3-1).

The win, likely to send Rutgers back into the Top Five when Monday's Associated Press weekly rankings are released, came seven months after Rutgers had rolled over LSU, 59-35, in the NCAA Women's Final Four national semifinal in Cleveland. That was just before Chancellor took over the Tigers (4-2) after having coached the WNBA's Houston Comets for 10 years since the league's and team's outset in 1997.

``If you liked defensive basketball, you enjoyed this game," Chancellor said. "If you like a lot of offense, you should have been watching something else today. I thought both teams were outstanding, defensively.

"I thought (Rutgers) did what they had to do in the end to win. They made some great plays, great stops defensively," Chancellor continued. "We've just got to find some ways to score. But Rutgers had lots to do with that.

"Everybody that gets through and they play them and they say say, `Well, we could've done this or that.' The reason you can't do any of those things: they won't let you. And they do a great job defensively, here.

That was especially true of senior guard Matee Ajavon who late in the game with 30 seconds left doubling down defensively with Vaughn, stripped Fowles of the ball as Fowles put it on the floor, giving the Scarlet Knights an opportunity to wrap up the game.

That finally happened when Quianna Chaney, who had a game-high 16 points, missed a desperation three going for the win at the buzzer. Fowles finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Vaughn was the only Rutgers player scoring in double figures with 13 points.

``"That's a great play," Chancellor said of Ajavon's steal. "And great players make great plays. And that kid's a really good player. And that's a really good team."

Fowles said she did not see Ajavon coming towards here when she was going for a tie.

``I didn't see her coming down when I put the ball on the floor and that's something I need to pay attention to. I didn't see her at all and she got her hands on it."

Stringer said the game went as expected, for the most part, from her viewpoint.

"I think you probably got what you thought you were going to get. And that is two of the best defensive teams in the country," Stringer said. "When that happens, it's just every point is fought for."

Chancellor focused on the battle between Vaughn and Fowles, calling it, ".. the most physical matchup I've seen in my last 11 years of coaching.

Stringer smiled and disputed Chancellor's description about her friend for whom she served as an assistant at the 2004 Olymics won by the USA squad in Athens, Greece.

"I thought the Stanford game was more physical," Stringer referred to the season opener, won by the Cardinal, 60-58, on a late foul call with a tenth of a second left. "They (LSU) were more athletic, but I thought Stanford played much more physical."

Rutgers next goes to Philadelphia against a rival from the days it was a member of the Atlantic Ten Conference.

The Scarlet Knights will visit St. Joseph's, whose coach Cindy Griffin watched Sunday's game on television.

"Yeah, we watched the game," Griffin said. "And tomorrow we'll watch it again on tape."

Fowles became the sixth player to dunk in a women's collegiate game last week against Louisiana-Lafayette, and made another attempt Sunday early in the second half, but the ball clanged off the back of the rim.

"I didn't see it, but I heard it," Stringer commented. "That's OK. They'd show it on (ESPN) Sports Center and then they'd say, `And Rutgers won the game.'"

As Jonathan likes to say, click here as you would turn the page of a newspaper to continue reading.

By Mel Greenberg

Temple gained a milestone win Saturday, while Villanova gave more proof that the Wildcats are moving on from last season's all-time 8-21 futilility.

In fact, Villanova (4-1) has already collected 50 percent of its entire victory of 2006-07 total after a gritty 73-70 overtime triumph late Saturday night against San Francisco in the Don's Odwalla tournament. The Wildcats had trailed 44-34 with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation.

First, we go to the Owls (2-3) in terms of significant achievement before addressing the Wildcats in terms of significant progress.

Temple beat No. 22 Purdue, 61-47, in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands as Ashley Morris continued to enjoy the early part of her senior season by scoring 19 points.

By Temple's count, it was the 10th all-time victory against a ranked opponent, but by our records, the ninth against a team in the Associated Press poll.

In 2004-05, the Owls won at Richmond, then ranked No. 25 in the ESPN coaches' poll. The Spiders were in the "others receiving votes" category.

However, the win was Temple's first-ever road triumph against a nationally-ranked opponent that was not a local or regular rival.

Over the years, the Owls have triumphed over Cheyney, Penn State, Rutgers, and St. Joseph's when they were ranked, and even the Richmond win in the non-AP category was against a rival of the Atlantic Ten.

But the only other win over a nationally-ranked team outside the "local" category was at home against Georgia several years ago.

Meanwhile, if Temple returns to the NCAA tournament, the experience should be no big deal going in, considering the Final Four material the Owls have been meeting in the Caribbean.

Coach Dawn Staley's group lost a competitive game on Friday night against No. 8 Duke.

Saturday's win placed Temple into a Sunday night matchup (6 p.m.) and first-ever tilt against No. 4 Stanford, which earned its spot in the game by beating Old Dominion.

What a storyline, here, especially considering the Cardinal already owns a win against No. 7 Rutgers, whom Temple will visit Dec. 30.

Temple almost met Stanford in the front-part of the 2002-03 season when the Owls were in the Cardinals' tournament, but they lost narrowly to No. 2 Kansas State in the opening round.

The game reunites Staley with Stanford coach Tar VanDerveer and the two have a bittersweet history in terms of Staley's stellar career as a top collegiate and Olympic point guard.

In 1990 when Virginia made its first appearance to the Women's Final Four after a surprising upset of Tennessee in Staley's sophomore season, the Cavaliers fell to the Cardinal in the semifinal and Stanford went on to win its first NCAA title.

The two missed each other at the Final Four in 1991 when Tennessee beat Virginia in overtime in the championship game.

Then, in 1992, Stanford, on the way to a second title, rallied in the national semifinals in the closing minutes to deny Staley and Virginia after its third-straight attempt at all the collegiiate glory.

Four years later, however, it was all happiness and joy for Staley, who helped lead the United States squad coached by VanDerveer to an Olympic gold medal -- the first of three for Staley.

The triumph also set the stage of establishing the pro level in America when the short-lived American Basketball League and still-thriving WNBA were launched over the next 12 months.

More details of the Temple win over Purdue can be found in the Inquirer print area of Philly.com and at the Owls' web site.

Kurz Gains Kudos as Villanova Rallies

It hasn't taken long for former Germantown Academy star Laura Kurz to establish herself as one of the bright names for the Wildcats after sitting out last season because of NCAA eligibility requirements following her transfer from Duke.

Kurz won MVP honors in San Francisco against the host Dons (3-3) by scoring 25 points and leading a rally from a double-digit deficit in the second half when she went on to score 23 of her points after intermission. She also had nine rebounds.

Supporting star honors went to sophomore Maria Getty, who had four three-pointerrs, including a key trey that gave the Wildcats a 67-62 lead with 3:20 left to play in the second period.

Getty finished with a career-high 17 points. Lisa Karcic finished with 13 points and was named to the all-tournament team along with Kurz and Stacie Witman, whose 36 points in the opener against South Alabama, Friday, led a deadly sharpshooting attack by the trio who helped Villanova tie a school record with 18 three-pointers, nine of which was also a record-tying feat by Witman.

Kurz's total Saturday night is believed to be her collegiate high, which was previously matched with 20 points in Friday's win.

Maybe seeing the Pacific Ocean did something to her memory banks because the Duke archives lists her two-year high with the Blue Devils at 20 points as a freshman against Pacific -- the school -- in 2004-05.

This was definitely not a game Villanova would have won last season.

The Wildcats appeared to have it won Saturday against San Francisco in regulation off of Siobhan O'Connor's trey with 23 seconds remaining. Getty's front end of a one-and-one with 11 seconds seemed to sustain Villanova until San Francisco's scored a putback off an offensive rebound as time expired.

Villanova did not display much three-point prowess in the first 29 minutes, hitting 4-of-13 attempts. But then the Wildcats returned to their Friday form, draining 7-of-10 the rest of the way.

Sunday Showdown Time Again for Rutgers

Two weeks ago, the Scarlet Knights became their mission of returning to the national title game by opening against Stanford in a tough 60-58 setback at home.

A week ago it was a crushing victory at then-No. 14 George Washington.

Today (Nov. 25) it will be a visit from No. 6 LSU, which is looking for a signature win after losing to No. 3 Maryland in College Park last week in the title game of the WNIT.

The game rematches last season's national semifinal that was won in a 59-35 rout by Rutgers on the way to the Scarlet Knights' first-ever NCAA title game.

The Tigers feature Sylvia Fowles, a likely overall No. 1 or No. 2 pick in the WNBA draft, especially after joining an elite group of players to have dunked at the collegiate women's level, which occurred Wednesday night against Louisiania-Lafayette.

Elsewhere, locally, Drexel will visit Penn State after losing to the Lady Lions at home a year ago in the season opener. Central Florida will visit La Salle, and Loyola of Maryland coach Joe Logan, a former St. Joseph's assistant, makes his second return of the season when the Greyhounds visit Penn.

Loyola lost here recently at La Salle, but has beaten Villanova and Drexel.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Three was nice company, as in the three-point shot, for Villanova Friday night at the Odwalla Classic hosted by the University of San Francisco.

In the land of cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, and other tourist attractions, the Wildcats (3-1), who have now reached the 33 percent mark of last season's entire win total, put on a vintage air attack against South Alabama that might cause a quick re-assessment of Villanova's preseason Big East ranking of 12th by the conference coaches.

Coach Harry Perretta's group, led by senior Stacie Witman, tied a school record with 18 treys on the way to an 83-58 win over South Alabama (4-1) to move into Saturday night's title game against USF, a 78-66 winner over Missouri-Kansas City.

Witrman, who had reached a career-high with 32 points in the season-opening win at La Salle, topped that milestone with 36 against the Jaguars with a program-tying-record nine treys off some nifty 9-of-12 marksmanship from beyond the arc.

Former Wildcat Jenny Higgins had nine treys against Penn on Dec. 20, 1997.

'Nova twice in the past also hit 18 treys -- against West Virginia on Jan. 3, 2001 and against Penn in that same game.

Add junior transfer Laura Kurz and junior Lisa Karcic to the mix, and one might say that the overall story of the victory was three-for-threes.

Kurz, a former Gernantown Academy star, finally shook the rust off a year out of uniform after transferring from Duke. She hit, what may be a career high, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Karcic also scored 20 points and the trio produced 17 of the 18 treys, as well as the trio scored the first 60 points of the game.

Although definitive records weren't immediately available, it is believed the last time Villanova had three players score 20 points in the same encounter, Perretta had a full head of hair.

Maybe the Wildcats were inspired by the name of the host Dons' venue -- the War Memorial Gym, which in the late 1990s served as a pre-draft tryout venue for the former and short-lived former American Basketball League.

Perretta, who spent last season attending to Nova's worst record in program history (8-21), would not say if he took his team for either samples or a pre-game meal at the Bay Area's Balco Labs, the center of the ongoing steriod scandal and in the news against last week with San Francisco home run slugger Barry Bonds charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

Villanova has already hit 44 three-pointers on the season.

Temple's Shots Still Mising In Action

Speaking of Duke, it was another near-miss for coach Dawn Staley/'s Owls against the No. 8 Blue Devils (5-0).

After a narrow loss to Duke in March in the second-round of the NCAA tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Temple (1-3) fell 64-53 Friday night in its opener of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

The Owls, who had suffered two straight narrow defeats at nationally-ranked Georgia and at George Teach last weekend, were in striking distance in this one, also, but once again could not hit the basket with consistency.

Temple trailed, 56-53, with 2:30 left in the game before Duke finished with an 8-0 run. The Owls shot a mediocre 32.7 percent from the field and just 56 percent at the foul line.

Senior Lady Comfort had 15 ponts and 10 rebounds for Staley's group, while Shenita Landry added 10 points, and LaKeisha Eaddy scored 11.

Duke's Carrem Gay came off the bench to match starter Chante Black with 13 points, each. Gay also had 12 rebounds.

Temple, which outrebounded the Blue Devils, 42-41, committed 14 turnovers to Duke's 11.

The Owls' 53 points were the most allowed by the Blue Devils this season.

Temple will meet No. 20 Purdue Saturday night and then either No. 4 Stanford or Old Dominion on Sunday

Nationally Noteworthy

Maybe No. 3 Maryland spent too much time reading the Guru's blog (see previous post).

Less than 24 hours after a statement was made here that the Terrapins were one of three teams who could go unbeaten, Maryland struggled on the West Coast before repulsing Santa Barbara, 75-71,

A year ago, the Terrapins beat the Gauchos, 105-44.

Maryland's Crystal Langhorne continued to be sidelined with a sprained ankle and coach Brenda Frese, expecting twins in March, did not make the trip of the advice of her doctor.

Marissa Coleman had a career-high 30 points for Maryland, Kristi Toliver added 19 points and Laura Harper scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Santa Barbara's Chisa Ononiwu as the Gauchos shoot off a Maryland 16-3 start to make the game competitive.

Meanwhile further West in Hawaii, Virignia upset No. 21 Texas, 86-83, in the Wahine Classic, trhe Cavalier's first win against a nationally ranked team in two seasons. It was the first sideline matchup for Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, an inductee of next June's Women's Basketball Hall of Fame class, and Texas' Gail Goestenkors, since she left Duke in March for the Longhorns.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Not entirely half-baked thoughts following a fully-baked turkey dinner ...

After seeing, correction -- after reading, the way No. 2 Connecticut handled No. 4 Stanford, Thursday night at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands, the improbable, but not entirely impossible, thought begins to enter the mind.

Will we see three unbeaten teams arrive in Tampa at this year at the Women's Final Four?

Think about it: The regular non-season meeting of Tennessee-Connecticut adds to the potential.

Furthermore, a glance at the schedules of Tennessee, Connecticut, and Maryland, from here until conference tournament time, shows all of them capable of piling up the wins off long streaks.

But each has one major -- some a few others - barrier to stop a perfect run to the March Madness borderline.

That would be Rutgers, which will be a formidable opponent much earlier than last season's charge to the NCAA title game.

Maryland, which has shown to cope quite well with Crystal Langhorne sidelined with a sprained ankle, visits the Scarlet Knights on Dec. 3 for the Jimmy V game.

Obviously, the Terrapins become an even more deadly threat in depth and numbers once she is back in play to bolster Maryland's inside attack.

But if Maryland were to survive the excursion to New Jersey, the Terrapins become the favorite in practically every remaining game, with the two Duke games and North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference wars somewhat questionable.

Incidentally, two years ago at a Maryland preseason game in the Comcast Center in College Park, a glance at a similar opponents slate offered a worst-case scenario of four losses, and, if they would be competitive, the Terrapins could be considered Final Four contenders because of the computer value they would compile in terms of getting seeded.

The title in Boston is now in the history books.

Tennessee is also likely to be on a roll before Rutgers visits on Feb. 11 to re-match their NCAA title game of last season won by the Lady Vols.

Unlike the Scarlet Knights, which we'll address in a bit, Tennessee will play three straight breathers of sorts going into Feb. 11 following a game against Duke, which could also be a one-sided expectation depending on the Blue Devils' development at that point in the season.

We'll have a bit more of a measuring stick on both sides of the ball Friday night when Temple meets Duke in the Paradise Jam. The Owls narrowly lost to the Blue Devils in last season's second round of the NCAA tournament and since then Duke has more pieces off the board then does coach Dawn Staley's group in terms of graduation.

But shooting and ball handling have been early season deficiencies for the Owls against Georgia and Georgia Tech in competitive losses.

Meanwhile, Tennessee's next major test is Dec. 2 when North Carolina plays. A trip to Stanford then causes a bit of a ripple between then and the Duke game.

But to use a phrase in which a well-known player of the past was praised up North by her coach that Tennessee's Pat Summitt loves to not love, the Lady Vols have Candace Parker and no one else does.

That brings us to Connecticut, and we begin with this thought: If the Huskies' recruiting of freshman Maya Moore is the reason the magnetic Tennessee-Connecticut series is no more, she may very be the reason to complete the UConn side of the two meeting in the NCAA championship in April.

Having passed its first major test of the season with the win over Stanford, and the Duke matchup in the Virgin Islands still a few games from becoming a reality, Connecticut's schedule has the Huskies favored in every game between now and the first of two Rutgers Big East matchups on Feb. 5, which will be in Piscataway, N.J.

If that fails for the Scarlet Knights, coach C.Vivian Stringers gets another shot in Connecticut just before the Big East tournament, and, once again up North the following week, most likely, in the conference tournament.

So everything is in place, even with Rutgers' disruptions, for the aforemention trio to get No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

Now if the Scarlet Knights can take down any or all of the above, they will also be in that hunt, even though Rutgers' chance at a pefect run went by the wayside quickly in the opening home loss to Stanford.

But let's get serious, Rutgers wasn't likely to go unbeaten off a schedule that appears to be the toughest of the elite, no matter what RPI figures may ultimately show.

The Scarlet Knights' rugged testing continues Sunday when No. 6 LSU visits in a rematch of last season's NCAA one-sided semifinal triumph by the Scarlet Knights.

LSU already lost to Maryland in College Park a week ago in the WNIT final and will meet Tennessee at least once in SEC competition. So the Tigers, who have been regulars in recent seasons in the Final Four, are in positions to help themselves get a decent placement to return again.

After Sunday, Rutgers' visits here to play St. Joseph's on Wednesday, and then hosts Maryland next Monday in what has become a huge game with long-range implications.

Later in the week, there's a visit to Duke in a rematch of last NCAA regional semifinal in which the Scarlet Knights' rallied, then faced a galling defeat, but survived when Lindsey Harding missed those two foul shots.

The win avenged the rout by the Blue Devils at Rutgers in December.

Once past Duke, it will be time to roll, unless the Scarlet Knights find ways to beat themselves, which has happened.

If Stringer's bunch plays like they did against George Washington,they will be looking at a 14-game win streak or more depending what happens between now and when that portion of the schedule approaches.

The back end of that set begins to get steep with Villanova (who could be back in form), West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, all visiting before Connecticut arrives.

Now mindset will be a factor at that point because the Connecticut and Tennessee games are back-to-back.

Then a mini-roll becomes available into March.

Wins over several of these prime opponents could be enough to put Rutgers in position for a No. 1 seed ahead of LSU, Oklahoma, and, despite the loss, Stanford, if the Scarlet Knights do not become victims in trap games.

Incidentally, media members who cover the game nationally, have been invited to NCAA headquarters, ironically, between the Rutgers-Connectcut and Rutgers-Tennessee games in February to engage in a mock-bracket exercise. It will be simulated to what occurs when the NCAA committee meets to determine the selection and placement of the 64-team field.

Thus, much of what I just discussed, will likely become components, unless we're going to use data from a past season.

By then, we'll know whether all of what has just been said is just the result of too much turkey stuffing from a holiday meal. On the other hand, we sounded the same way a year ago around this time when we noted after the Duke wipeout, while being almost very much alone on the bandwagon, that Rutgers could be doing great things in March.

When it did actually happen, to most it was a major surprise.

This time, if it doesn't happen, the shock will be quite equal.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

It's one thing when an aging Guru might have a senior moment or two, but it's another to see our trusty ward suffer one or two at the junior end.

First, he should be commended for filling the gap in reporting the St. Joseph's 63-46 win over Penn in the previous post in our absence, which we'll get to shortly.

It didn't seemed to be mentioned when we were surprised a little while ago to find the coverage, but next up for St. Joseph's is a visit from Rutgers on Hawk Hill on Nov. 28, a week from tonight (Wed.) at 7 p.m.

The fan base from the north who seem to avidly be among the tops of our readership should know that parking can be a bit of a problem -- a new garage will soon open across 54th St., so it might be smart to get to the campus around 5:30 p.m. or so, though rush hour will present its own challenges.

Without naming the the establishment, per se, time can be killed across 54th St. and Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse at a well-known establishment in the neighborhood that specializes in the Philadelphia cheesesteak.

Also, as one who is actually paid by the same overall employer as the Guru and is privy to scheduling situations in here as part of anticipating Philly.com content, our ward was informed, but might have forgotten in the crush of Phillies coverage, that staffing shortages involving vacations has placed the Guru in a babysitter role on the desk all week.

However, the Guru's gender equity training returns with men's games involving Drexel and La Salle on Friday and Saturday afternoon before our arrival here, and we likely will be on the scene Sunday up North for the LSU showdown with the Scarlet Knights

Besides, our good friend LSU coach Van Chancellor would be disappointed if we weren't in the house.

The Agony But No Ecstasy

That would be the way to describe our two are teams affiliated with the Colonial Athletic Association in nonconference games Tuesday night.

Delaware (2-1) suffered a tough setback to Boston College, 53-51, at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark when Stefanie Murphy, who had 26 points and 16 rebounds, put back a missed shot just before regulations to give the Eagles (2-1) a victory.

The Blue Hens stayed in the game, despite an overwhelming 49-33 disadvantage on the boards. Delaware, which got 11 points from Kyle DeHaven and 10 from Courtney Irving, offset to shortfall by forcing B.C. into 20 turnovers.

Meanwhile, a Drexel rally fell short at Army, and the Dragons 1-3) lost, 60-57, to the Knights (2-1).

Coach Denise Dillon's group nearly closed an eight-point gap down the stretch when the Dragons' foreign legion tandeem of Gabriela Marginean (Romania) and Jasmina Rosseel (Beligum) hit three-pointers and Narissa Suber hit a driving layup to pull within 58-57.

But Drexel could not advance further and Army hit two free throws to seal the win.

Marginean had 24 points and nine rebounds, while Rosseel had a career-high 13 points.

Penn State Road Drought Ends

The Nittany Lions (4-1) posted their first win outside the Bryce Jordan Center since beating Georgetown last December by topping South Carolina, 70-63, in Columbia.

It wasn't easy after the Gamecocks (3-1) began closing a 12-point deficit, but Penn State held on at the finish for the win.

Senior guard Kam Gissendanner gained her second-straight double-double with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Tyra Grant got a team-best 17 points, while freshman sub Janessa Wolff scored 12 points.

Coach Coquese Washington's group will return from the holiday break to host Drexel, Sunda.

-- Mel

By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com

On the day when Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was named the Most Valuable Player in the National League, the first Big 5 game of the year for Penn and Saint Joseph's was won by the team that had more runs than the other.

The tally was two for the Hawks to one for the Quakers. That made much of the difference as St. Joe's rolled to a 63-46 win at the Palestra in the first half of a doubleheader with the Penn men's team's game against The Citadel.

"We made shots when we needed to make shots," Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said.

As this city celebrated its second consecutive NL MVP award (first baseman Ryan Howard slugged his way to it last year), your correspondent got just lucky enough with the subway system to make it to both Rollins' 4 p.m.press conference in South Philadelphia and the 5:30 tipoff in University City.

(There was no sign of the Guru, however, either upon arrival at the Palestra or for the rest of the evening. This was a source of quite some discussion on press row, as he usually makes it to City Series games.)

The two teams were closely matched early on, which was no surprise given the intensity with which Big 5 matchups contested. Just under six minutes into the game, a jump shot by Quakers forward Katarina Lackner pulled Penn to within 15-11 with 13 minutes left in the first half.

But the series as a whole has rarely been that close, as the Quakers had beaten the Hawks only once in 32 tries coming into the night. The lone win came in Penn coach Pat Knapp's first year, which was also the only time the Quakers ever won two Big 5 games in a season.

That history reared its head right after Lackner's basket, as St. Joe's went on a 16-0 run and held Penn without a basket for the next 8:51.

Having said that, the women's side of the Big 5 is occasionally struck with the kinds of surprises that have defined the men's side of things for more than half a century. So it was not as unexpected as you might think when the Quakers launched a 14-1 run to start the second half to cut the deficit to 37-31 just over four minutes in.

But as Knapp pointed out, runs don't just happen because of one team. Indeed, the rout would surely have continued had the Hawks not missed four straight three-point attempts and four straight free throws coming out of the locker room.

"You go on a 14-1 run and the next thing I know I'm calling a timeout because we're down 10 or 12," Knapp said. "The the run ended when we didn't stop them and they got too many second chances."

By Mel Greenberg

From some 45-60 miles to the North, we could hear the howls from the Rutgers faithful when the Associated Press women's basketball poll for the week was announced Monday afternoon.

How could the Scarlet Knights look that impressive against George Washington Sunday night and not re-gain some upward movement, let alone drop another spot?

The question is well-merited but relax.

If you look at the point total, the spread between No. 5 North Carolina, through No. 6 Louisiana State by Maryland, and Rutgers is only 12 points.

Basically, forget the ranking, per se, it's a virtual tie for fifth place.

If you consider that No. 8 Georgia is about 100 points behind in the eighth slot indicates most of the votes for Rutgers fell into the 4-5-6 range.

To answer a question, we have seen, AP would like ballots in by midnight, Sunday, although some never make it until Monday morning because of voters who may be traveling.

Furthermore, in the media business, may voters are working on Sundays and, early in the season, when schedules are not uniform, there is a tendency at times to vote early, without regard to an 8 p.m. Eastern start time.

Furthermore, ESPNU is not readily available in all places voters happen to reside -- like here.

A week ago, Rutgers may have gotten the benefit in that the Stanford game wasn't taken into consideration. But word was out through either media reports or observation that controversial officiating aside, the squad didn't really play all that well and should have been able to avoid the last-second whistle by being enough ahead to make it a non-factor.

The performance against Creighton, Friday night, despite the win, didn't help, either.

So many went to the votingt both playing catch-up with those two events in the profile.

Over the years when we ran the coaches' vote, many times we would see a re-adjustment a week later based on events that had happened during late Sunday games.

However, Rutgers can quickly take care of its own business in the poll. A win over LSU at home Sunday, which will be played in mid-afternoon, should cause a rise. On the other hand, a setback will kind of leave the team right where they are or down a couple of notches.

One ranking we would question above is how the Tar Heels moved up, but considering the voting, it wouldn't take many ballots to push UNC ahead when figuring out the comparisons in that 5-6-7 range.

On the other hand, there could be other factors. And to get a clue there, the Guru doesn't have time to examine the individual votes as many of you do.

So here's the link now that it appears the new board for the 2007-08 has finally been updated at the AP women's voting site.

Time Out: There's one little problem. As we went to get the link, it appears that only the pre-season vote is in place, though if you see week 3, you'll know it's been updated.

But at least you have the link.

Moving on elsewhere in the voting, another problem caused by an in-ordinate non-uniform start, is who to insert when teams below start to lose.

A lot that occurred last week, so it was a dart toss per se.

But take the Guru's advice, enough power teams are playing each other that wait until Dec. 12 or so before taking things a little more seriously.

Hightower's Grand Night

Yes, we were on the desk Monday night and handled the La Salle-Albany game by remote from the Explorers' Tom Gola Arena.

But in the process of jump-starting the report off the box score, we were ahead of an important detail.

Senior Carlene Hightower had 22 points as La Salle beat Albany, 70-59, to even its record at 2-2. That we had. What we didn't have was that she became the 22nd member of La Salle's 1,00-point club during the game.

The all-time leader is Jen Cole with 1,875, followed by current assistant coach Chrissie (Donahue) Doogan at 1,818.

Earlier in the day, Hightower was also named the Atlantic Ten co-player of the week.

Three-Catch at Penn State

The first three recruits of the Coquese Washington era were announced by Penn State on Monday and two come from the Midwest she used to mine for Notre Dame as an associate head coach to Muffet McGraw.

Zhague Gray, a 5-8 guard is from Chicago, while 5-4 point guard Emily Phillips is from South Bend, Ind., right near the Notre Dame campus.

Renee Womack is from these parts in nearby Lansdale where she led Methacton High to a first-ever playoff win in history in Suburban One.

If this is your first stop on the internet today, just head to the Penn State site to get further details.

Clearing the (Schedule) Record

Those of you who have been grabbing the Guru's operation schedule on an exile file that Jonathan recently posted, please insert under Dec. 6 -- Rutgers at Duke (how could we miss that one??)

We accidentaly lost the line while trying to line up page breaks for the printed version the editors here receive.

Meanwhile, we have to run over to FedEx and get a recommendation sent on behalf of Acacia, who is contending for a Hearst fellowship.

We'll be back after Tuesday night's action.

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

There's no truth that George Washington coach Joe McKeown's post-game remarks, Sunday night, following his No. 14 Colonials' 67-42 loss to No. 6 Rutgers at the Smith Center, caused authorities in the nation's capital to close every bridge across the Potomac River to Virginia where the veteran mentor resides.

After all, unlike the amphibian "Ducks" that transport tourists into and around the well-known waterway, McKeown's vehicle is not known to possess similar floating capabilities.

"I'm embarassed by our effort," McKeown said, as reported in Associated Press coverage of the one-sided affair. "And I promise you you're not going to see that again the rest of this year, or you'll see people changing uniforms very quickly. That's not us. That's not what we're all about. And again I apologize to the fans who came out because they were expecting to see a great game, and I hope they get achance to come back because I think they're still going to see a great team at GW this year."

The 42 points were the Colonials' lowest at the Smith Center since a 50-40 loss on Jan.31, 1983.

That was the inaugural year of Atlantic Ten competition, when Rutgers, which later joined the Big East in the fall of 1995, and GWU were charter members and often fought for conference supremacy.

The Colonials (3-1), the overwhelming favorite in the A-10 this season, shot 22 percent for the game.

A check into the statistical archives show George Washington hadn't been this cold since spending an 18th century winter at Valley Forge, not far from where McKeown grew up in Northeast Philadelphia.

"Tonight was a kick in the stomach," McKeown said. "We've got to bounce back."

He need only look to his Sunday' opponent for a lesson in resiliency.

Almost a year ago, C. Vivian Stringer was expressing similar thoughts about her Scarlet Knights (2-1) after a rout at home by Duke.

But that group was much more inexperienced at the time than the current GWU contingent, which is coming off one the Colonial's best performances in the program's history.

By the end of last season, Rutgers reversed itself and was capturing the Big East title over host Connecticut, upsetting the same Duke team in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals, and advancing all the way to the title game.

It was such fun that apparently Rutgers, which at times has shown a tenacity to self-destruct, had been having some difficulty catching up with the start of this season.

Controversial officiating at the last second aside, the Scarlet Knights were sluggish a week ago in a 60-58 season-opening loss to then-No. 7 Stanford at home in a national telecast.

Then five days later, interrupted along the way by the giddy announcement of landing one of the very best recruiting classes in the nation, Rutgers struggled Friday night in a lackluster win over Creighton.

"It seemed like we were lost," junior center Kia Vaughn said. "And so we're back."

She had 13 points and 12 rebounds behind teammate Matee Ajavon's stellar effort with 19 points, including four-of-five three-pointers, as Rutgers short-circuited GWU's 15-game home win streak.

Stringer was in a much better disposition after her team had shown itself on another nationwide telecast.

"We definitely needed a great effort," Stringer said. "We needed to see how we could play. I've been kind of frustrated with the way they've been playing. It's been kind of sluggish. It's almost like we were afraid to play -- we want to hold on to where we were (last year). It was great to see we could shut people down. We know we can -- we just hadn't done it."

Rutgers has a week off before Sunday's visit from No. 4 LSU, which will arrive with somewhat of a lower ranking after the Tigers' 75-62 loss to No. 3 Maryland a few hours early just north of the District of Columbia in College Park.

Follow the jump to keep reading.

By Kathleen Radebaugh

This past weekend, Temple senior guard Ashley Morris had little time for sight seeing in Athens, Ga.

It wasn’t because the weather was chilly and cloudy (although it certainly didn’t help), but Morris and the rest of her Temple teammates played two games against prominent opponents -- No.8 Georgia and Georgia Tech.

In both contests, the Owls (1-2) had efforts die down the stretch, losing 57-51 to the Bulldogs on Friday night and losing 59-49 to the Yellow Jackets (3-0) on Sunday.

However, Morris had an exceptional weekend. The former Central star in the Public League posted a career high 21 points in the Georgia game and almost matched the total Sunday with 19 points against Georgia Tech.

Temple started their spring madness early playing national ranked teams, but hopefully Morris and her teammates will enjoy the spring weather more so with wins in March compared to losses in November.

On Sunday afternoon in Atlanta against Georgia Tech, Morris went four-for-six from long range and tallied a game-high four assists. But mistakes cost the Owls, especially 26 turnovers and poor shooting throughout both halves.

Both teams started the game flat, but Morris completed a trey, following Lady Comfort’s first layup, taking the lead, 5-4 with four minutes into the first half. Falling into another shooting dry spell, the score did not change for the next three minutes. Both teams struggled to find their rhythm, with long hot and cold stretches.

This is usually typical in the beginning of the season due to team nerves, but Temple’s starting lineup is comprised of skilled veterans. For the holiday, Temple is also traveling to the Virgin Islands to play Duke and Purdue. There is no room in their carry-on bags for turnovers and shooting problems against Duke and Purdue.

Morris, along with Comfort and Shenita Landry need to be shooting 40 to 50 percent of their shots and stay out of foul trouble.

In the second half, Sunday, Georgia Tech began to take advantage of Owl turnovers and by the ten-minute mark, led 43-32. Morris scored Temple’s next seven points, bringing the Owls closer to overtaking the Yellow Jackets.

With three minutes left in regulation, Comfort completed four three throws to bring Temple within six, 50-44. Morris then hit another three pointer after Georgia Tech's Jill Ingram scored five straight points, but Temple couldn’t overcome the five point deficit and started to foul.

Morris was 6-9 on the field and 4-6 behind the arch. She finished, however, with nine turnovers.

She really wanted a win after hitting a new career-high 21 points two nights before in Athens..

Morris, focus for the upcoming against Duke and Purdue should be to find her zone with her three-point shots. Start early.

She should start shooting more in the beginning of the game to help her team set the tone and pace of the game. If she keeps shooting, her nerves will subside with the game clock.

Morris scored 17 of her 21 points against Georgia in the second half of the game. She currently leads her team in scoring with 18 ppg, but Morris will help notch those wins for the Owls with earlier shooting and scoring.

Nevertheless, Morris has made great strides last year’s shooting average, 3.3 ppg. She will continue to thrive for the Owls because of her work ethic. Her challenge now is to figure out how she can best assist her teammates to win basketball games, especially against teams with NCAA tournament potential.

Maybe Morris will find time to enjoy the beaches at Virgin Islands.

By Mel Greenberg

A scheduling quirk has caused a tantalizing day-night doubleheader Sunday in and near the nation's capital inside the beltway.

The second game was already on the books and will be a reunion of Atlantic 10 Conference rivals of the past when No. 6 Rutgers (1-1) visits No. 14 George Washington (3--0) at 8 p.m. in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.

Earlier in the day, No. 3 Maryland (4-0) will host No. 4 LSU (3-0) in the championship game of the preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament at the Terrapins' Comcast Center. Internet viewing will be available at ACC Select/www.accselect.com or through Maryland website links at www.umterps.com.

We won't be on the scene but the Guru is sure his colleagues at D.C.Basket Cases will be all over the action.

The advancement of Maryland occurred through home wins against Princeton, Delaware, and Notre Dame, while LSU beat Samford, TCU, and Michigan State.

Additionally, Maryland coach Brenda Frese's squad owns a non-tournament victory over Oklahoma a week ago in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the State Farm Tipoff Classic.

The game will bring new LSU coach Van Chancellor, a recent inductee to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, back to the D.C. area for the first time since leading the WNBA Houston Comets on summer tours to the Verizon Center in the district against the Washington Mystics through the first decade of the women's pro league, ending in 2006.

Chancellor, of course, led Houston to the first four WNBA crowns and also coached the United States women's squad to an Olympic gold medal in Athens, Greence, in 2004.

LSU and Maryland have met four times, with the Tigers owning a 3-1 edge. The Tigers prevailed when the two last met in November, 2004 at the Coors Classic in Boulder, Colo.

Expect to see a bunch of WNBA coaches at both events considering future potential first-round talent in next April's draft will play in both games.

Both events feature premium in the post positions, Maryland offers Willingboro High's Crystal Langhorne, a preseason All-America and preseason Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, along with teammate Laura Harper of Cheltenham High,the MVP of Maryland's 2006 NCAA championship.

The Terrapins also have potential WNBA talent among their non-seniors such as junior guard Kristi Toliver and forward Marissa Coleman.

LSU has all five starters back from its Final Four contingent, highlighted by preseason all-America Sylvia Fowles, a likely No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick depending on what Tennessee's junior Candace Parker decides to do at the end of the season since she's eligible for selection.
Senior guard Quianna Chaney is another prized commodity on the Tigers' roster.

A few miles away, more WNBA draft talent will be available in senior forward Essence Carson and senior guard Matee Ajavon of Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights also offer lower-classwomen with pro potential in junior center Kia Vaughn and sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince among the starters.

George Washington has a potential WNBA player for next season in guard Kimbery Beck, while 6-foot-4 junior forward-center Jessica Adair will also be observed by scouts from the pros.

Colonials coach Joe McKeown, a native of Philadelphia, often tells tales of hitching rides home from Trenton as a student with then-Rutgers coach Theresa Grentz back in the mid-1970s. At the same time, current Scarlet Knights mentor -- Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, was building her first national powerhouse at Cheyney in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Off their past duels for Atlantic Ten supremacy, Rutgers owns a 25-8 advantage in the series.

The two are 2-2, both prevailing at home, since the Scarlet Knights joined the Big East for 1995-96,

Rutgers won the last meeting on Dec. 29, 2002. The Scarlet Knights are hoping Sunday nights on national television isn't fodder for becoming opponents' best victory.

A week ago, Stanford won a controversial 60-58 victory on a foul call in the last second and the win over then-No. 3 Rutgers was the Cardinal's first win at a top 5 ranked opponent in ten seasons.

As it is, the Georgie Washington 63-58 win at the Smith Center on Dec. 4, 1999, occurred when Rutgers was ranked No. 7 and that success stands as the Colonials' best-ever regular season win in terms of nationally-ranked opposition.

That would be topped with a win Sunday night.

Other games of note in the Top 25 on Sunday, include No. 20 Texas at No. 1 Tennessee, which will mark the first time former Duke coach Gail Goestenkors is on the opposing bench from Hall of Famer Pat Summitt since leaving for Texas last April.

Goestenkors will also be an assistant next summer on the USA Olympic squad.

No. 13 Baylor will host No. 12 California.

In games involving local teams, besides Rutgers, Temple will visit Georgia Tech in Atlantia after a near-upset of No. 8 Georgia in Athens, Friday night. Virginia Commonwealth will visit St. Joseph's and Villanova is at Monmouth.

To continue reading, click the jump link.

By Mel Greenberg

Congratulations to team member Acacia O'Connor, who last week was elected editor-in-chief of The Misc, if we have the title right, the school paper at Vassar, where she is a senior.

You've read her work here, particularly her dispatches last winter and spring from Italy, where she was on a five-month study program.

We just thought we'd pass the news along under her own headline so it doesn't get lost in the crush of other posts this week.

A little more of Acacia's background is posted in the profile area.

Good luck the rest of the way from all of us both at womhoops and from other Guru associates in The Inquirer Sports Department and elsewhere whom Acacia has met since first introducing herself last December when the Guru spoke at the Seven Sisters Tournament dinner here at Haverford College.

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: We were on the scene here but duty called from afar when Temple almost upset No. 8 Georgia. Fortunately, while the Guru worked remote reporting from Georgia for print, Stephen was here to do the heavy lifting for the blog.)

By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – One would think that most teams bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss with a 19-point win would be all-smiles after the game.

But Rutgers isn’t like most teams.

In their second game of the season after reaching the NCAA championship game last year, Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer and the No. 6 Scarlet Knights were disappointed with their performance in their 62-43 win over Creighton on Friday despite never trailing at any given point of the game.

A week ago, Stringer looked at the Blue Jays, a rare unranked commodity on the rugged early season schedule, as a chance to hold lab class and run experimental combinations off her bench.

But not long into the process, Friday night, it seemed like chemistry was no longer being taught.

“I’m not happy with the way we played,” Stringer said after the game. “I think we think that the game we’ve been playing for the last two times is good enough and it is no where near enough.

“It is nothing but on the road to major failures. We have got to address a number of things, defensively and offensively.”

Rutgers senior forward Essence Carson also expressed her disappointment in her team’s effort.

“Everyday we try to tell each other that we have to focus because this year’s going to be a lot harder and it just seemed that things just weren’t going our way tonight.”

Coming out of halftime ahead just 29-18, despite out-shooting the Bluejays 50 percent to 13.8 percent, the Knights quickly found themselves on the ropes.

In the first three minutes of the second half, Creighton outscored Rutgers 12-4, cutting the Knights lead to 33-30. Bluejays seniors Sara Cain and Ally Thrall each hit two threes over that span.

Rutgers answered Creighton’s charge with a 21-7 run over the next nine minutes to pull out to a 54-37 lead with 6:21 remaining in the game.

Rutgers sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince scored eight points over that stretch and Carson added another six.

“At that point we had to stop their run,” Carson said. “We had to put shots to go in. The way we did that was by attacking and attacking the basket and we did a great job of doing that. At the time it was just: attack and get some shots.”

Prince said that after she felt that she had to step up during that span with senior guard Matee Ajavon on the sidelines after leaving the game with a cramp in her upper right leg.

“I just feel like I wasn’t being more aggressive and I just wanted to come out and be more aggressive and attack the rim,” Prince said. “Especially when Matee went out, I felt that we were taking too many jump shots.”

Prince and Carson both finished with a game-high 12 points. Prince also had seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals. Carson had three rebounds and four assists.

After the game, Stringer also expressed her frustration with her team’s problems getting the ball to its post players.

“We turned the ball over quite a bit trying to make easy passes to Kia Vaughn,” she said. “(Kia) was probably anxious as the pass was coming in. The guards were anxious because that’s a major point of emphasis.

“We cannot win ballgames unless we work inside-out. That doesn’t matter whether that’s this team or any other team. It doesn’t matter whether Kia takes the shot or not or Rah takes the shot or not. We’ve got to attack inside and out.”

Stringer was also disappointed in her team’s failure to box out.

“We talked about rebounds – that’s going to be key,” she said. “So today, quite honestly, we’re going to see who blocked out.

“We’re going to break that tape down tonight and we’re going to find out who was blocking out and who just thought that they were just going to get a rebound. And we’re going to deal with that tomorrow. We will definitely deal with that.”

Stringer knows that the Knights will have to correct their flaws before Sunday’s game against No. 14 George Washington, a team with a lot of inside-out firepower, in Washington D.C.

“I hope that we play a hundred percent better when it comes time, and much more intense, and we focus on the things that we know how to do and do them well when we get ready to play George Washington because George Washington is for real.”

The Colonials used to be a key conference rival of Rutgers, when the Scarlet Knights belonged to the Atlantic Ten.

NOTES: Rutgers sophomore forward Myia McCurdy scored a career-high eight points to go with seven rebounds and an assist….RU sophomore center Rashidat Junaid, a graduate of Camden Catholic High across the Delaware from Philadelphia, had a career-high four blocks to go with 10 points and six rebounds….RU junior forward Heather Zurich played much of the game with a mask after receiving a shot to the face in the Knights’ loss to Stanford…Rutgers was 0-for-3 from three-point land, ending a 43-game streak with making at least one three-pointer. Freshman guard Khadijah Rushdan, the all-time leading scorer in Delaware high school history, made her debut with three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals off the bench. However, she also was 0-for-4 from the field and committed four turnovers. The graduate of St. Elizabeth High in Wilmington had been limited since arriving here because of a minor knee surgery.

By Mel Greenberg

The United States' best of the International set and acclaimed tops in the collegiate crowd stayed perfect Thursday night in what each hopes results in an eventual gold medal-style conclusion to each of their efforts.

What passes as the USA Basketball National Team of the moment completed its barnstorming of some of the better collegiate squads in the country with a 97-62 victory over No. 5 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.

The overall roster won't be the same group who eventually travels to Beijing, China, next summer to seek another in a collection of Olympic gold medals.

But it was good enough to finish the travel-rugged schedule with an 8-0 record against the likes of Maryland, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Stanford and when the entire assembly of interchangeable parts for 2007 is included, was 19-0, according to the count of USA Basketball.

Somewhere in there, we thought we read about a loss in Russia involving many of the current group in the title game of a tournament, but the label of the U.S. might have been something else, which preserves the perfection. And besides, several of the "foreign" opponents happened to have names familiar from the WNBA, although none were Benedict Arnold.

The overall effort, however, did include a 4-0 tour of Italy, two exhibition wins over Australia, the top threat for Olympic supremacy, and most important, the FIBA Americas championship that earned passage to China after the U.S. fell short a year ago in the FIBA World Championship.

The collegiate tour, first and foremost, enabled Lisa Leslie to work her way back to form after missing the entire WNBA summer following the birth of her first child, a daughter, in June.

On Thursday night, former Connecticut star Sue Bird of the WNBA Seattle Storm had 19 points, while five other players scored in double digits to enable USA to get its most points of the tour.

Stanford, coming off its best regular season win in a decade last Sunday, beating then-No. 3 Rutgers on the road in Piscataway, N.J., was led by Kayla Pedersen's 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Cardinal had several players who experienced a "golden" summer in USA Basketball competition.

Pedersen was a member of the USA U19 world championship squad, Jayne Appel, who had had 10 points, was a member of the gold medal-winning Pan American Games squad.

Candice Wiggins, who played on both those squads and with the national team, had seven points and three assists in 19 minutes.

USA coach Anne Donovan, who also coaches the WNBA's Seattle Storm, said goals were established for each game on the collegiate tour but "everything came entirely together from the first minute to the 40th minute."

Donovan said she enjoyed the way the current roster shared the basketball, although she also noted taking care of the basketball was a problem at times.

WNBA Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault, who will be an assistant in China, joined Donovan on the tour.

Temple coach Dawn Staley, another assistant, was obviously not on the tour but has a big game Friday night when the Owls visit No. 8 Georgia in Athens.

A win coupled with a win Sunday at Georgia Tech could send Temple back to the AP rankings for the first time in two seasons.

Meanwhile, Tennessee, which had given the USA squad one of its tougher challenges, along with Connecticut, fended off a threat from No.9 Oklahoma, 70-67, in the closing minute of a special doubleheader in Tampa in the same building the Lady Vols hope to return in April to defend their NCAA title.

Shannon Bobbitt had a career-high 27 points, while Candace Parker, who was with the senior national team, scored 28 points.

Courtey Paris, another collegian who saw time with the top USA squad, had 19 points.

Oklahoma fell to 0-2 after a season-opening loss to Maryland, 76-66, Sunday in the Tip-Off Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sooners coach Sherri Coale thought her "young guys" handled the scene in Tampa well. "I'm really thankful we had this opportunity to face this team here in November,"

Several years ago, similar thoughts were uttered by Maryland coach Brenda Frese after a narrow loss to Tennessee early in the season and the Terrapins went on to claim the 2006 NCAA title.

Incidentally, our information for this report is off email reports as well as that of the Associated Press.

-- Mel

By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - When Hall of Fame coach C.Vivian Stringer arrived at Rutgers from her successful run at Iowa in the summer of 1995, she promised to make the Scarlet Knights women's basketball program ``The Jewel of the East.''

Based on the five-player announcement Wednesday of the 2008 blue-chip recruiting treasures from outside the Garden State, Stringer has become quite the mine operator.

It only takes the official news like this to ease the frustration over Sunday's tough 60-59 loss here to then-No. 7 Stanford on a last-second foul call that resulted in the Scarlet Knights dropping from third to sixth in this week's Associated Press rankings.

Stringer says she and her coaches have been recruiting Nikki Speed (Pasadena, Calif.), Jasmine Dixon (Long Beach, Calif.), Brooklyn Pope (Fort Worth, Texas), Chelsey Lee (Miami, Fla.), and April Sykes (Crawford, Miss.) for some time. Needless to say she is quite excited about what each one will bring to the table.

“This is a unique group because they all are tremendously talented and they all bring a uniqueness – each and every person,” Stringer said following practice on Wednesday. “Sometimes you can have a great class and maybe you’ve got two point guards or two shooters or two of the same position. We recruited all five positions and feel real good about the chemistry, what’s going to be the chemistry of that group.”

It didn't hurt along the way to make an appearance in last season's NCAA title game. And Stringer was able to close the deal after the departure of Jolette Law, her longtime aide who left last summer for the head coaching job at Illinois.

All five of the recruits ranked in the top eight of their respective positions according to hoopgurlz.com and Sykes (No. 2) and Pope (No. 9) ranked in the overall top 10

Sykes is considered one of three "franchise" type players who are making early commitments.

The overall No. 1 star is Elena Delle Donne of Wilmington, Del., who has already orally committed to Connecticut and will sign her letter of intent Monday at 2 p.m. at Ursuline High after returning from a retreat.

Sykes is considered No. 2 and called by Stringer "the most imposing offensive weapon in high school basketball." Glory Johnson, the third in the elite category, has committed to Tennessee.

Coming off her most successful season as a head coach by reaching the national championship game, Stringer wanted to recruit aggressively and go after the nation’s best talent.

“ You go for broke,” she said. “We really went for broke because there was no question in our mind that this combination of young people would be what would challenge and sustain for the next four years.

“And so why play games and pretend that it was anything other than that? And given that we had just come off of a Final Four, we’re just going to max out and if it was a mistake we’ll see.”

Another reason for Rutgers’ aggressiveness in recruiting may come from the fact that the Scarlet Knights will be without seniors Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon next season.

“Keep in mind Mat and E are not just seniors,” Stringer pointed out. “They’re carrying 60 percent of the load and they came in here as freshmen starting. Mat and E are not your ordinary guards.”

Stringer added that that assistant coach Carlene Mitchell is largely responsible for assembling such a strong recruiting class.

“Carlene Mitchell. I’m telling you what – the strain and the expectations that she had, I know the eyes of the nation were upon her,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “The eyes of the nation were upon her and she couldn’t have performed more beautifully. While it was a great effort on everyone’s part – all coaches’ part – Carlene was the person that is the recruiting coordinator who was reading everything out.”

Here are Stringer’s thoughts on each of the five recruits:

Nikki Speed (5-9 point guard from Pasadena, Calif….Rated fifth-best guard by hoopgurlz.com…Ranked overall at No. 8 by All Star Girls Report, No. 16 by Blue Star Report)

Stringer on Nikki Speed:
“Nikki Speed, she’s real different. Is she going to score 30 points and all that? No, no. But the vision that I see, the quickness that she has, and the ultimate desire to be a point guard – not a combo guard….So if you love to catch and you want to score, she’s going to find you ’cause that’s her business. She knows that. You don’t have to worry about if she’s going to find you when she’s on the floor.”

Jasmine Dixon (6-1 guard/forward from Long Branch, Calif….Rated eighth-best guard by hoopgurlz.com…Ranked overall at No. 6 by All Star Girls Report)

Stringer on Jasmine Dixon:
“Jasmine Dixon is a strong body. You can imagine that if you try to get past her, as strong as she is, she challenges extremely well – great basketball instincts. She and Nikki executed that screen roll to perfection while they were in high school. Jasmine can play four, she can play two, three, she can play the perimeter, she can play the outside. And that’s in the image of the players that we have. Now is she thin like Mat, like E who is just a beautifully athletic, albeit willowy kind of body? No, she’s a much stronger-body-looking body. You hit her, you’re going to probably fall – not her. She’s not feeling any pain. But she’s skilled and she’s a competitor, great competitor. So that was fortunate for us on that side.”

Brooklyn Pope (6-2 forward from Fort Worth, Texas…Rated the No. 1 forward by Scout.com…Rated overall at No. 8 by Blue Star Report and No. 9 overall by hoopgurlz.com)

Stringer on Brooklyn Pope:
“No one thought that Brooklyn Pope would leave Texas – nobody. You can look at her and she seems to be kind of unassuming, sort of looking around like “Well what’s going on over there? Oh I should get in there and rebound.” And then you just see this explosiveness. You say “what the heck?” You just recognize you saw great power in this unassuming presence…. Pope is an explosive power forward / center. She can probably go one-two. She can probably play a four or five readily right now. Would we like to see her at a three possibly? Yeah that’s a possibility at some point.”

Chelsey Lee (6-2 forward from Miami, Fla….Rated No. 6 forward by hoopgurlz.com…Rated overall at No. 20 by Blue Star Report and No. 23 by All Star Girls Report / Michael T White)

Stringer on Chelsey Lee:
“Chelsey is more in the image of the agile post who is on the front end of a press that can hit a four real quick and get to that trap… she has tremendous enthusiasm and intensity. Energy, energy, energy. That’s all she knows. She wants to win and that’s all she knows. I was so amazed through the course of the summer. I’ve never seen her improve as much from one part of the summer to the end. From July 1 to July 30, she was the most amazing specimen, just improved and continued to work hard. She has a deep desire to be the best at whatever it is that she does. And that is difficult to measure but that is what she has.”

April Sykes (5-11 forward from Crawford, Miss…Rated second-best player by hoopgurlz.com…Rated overall at No. 3 by both Blue Star Report and All Star Girls Report)

Stringer on April Sykes:
“April Sykes came to visit us on an unofficial visit and an official visit and thank God for that because I think that that was key for us that she came up on an unofficial visit. She came, I think really liked our kids right away, hopefully liked the coaches.

“April is one of the most mature, versatile players in the country. She has a great body frame, high level of skill, and can play multiple positions. She reminds me of a veteran pro player in that she never seems rushed or uncomfortable with anything. April is a high intensity person who has the ability to see the game as all great players do, which is slow.”

So now that the future has been established, the Scarlet Knights will return to the present and try to regain their winning form this weekend when Creighton visits Friday night and then Rutgers travels to the nation's capital on Sunday night for another Top 25 showdown -- this one with No. 14 George Washington, which will be televised at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.

By Mel Greenberg

Hard to believe this got by everyone, based on a quick google search in the middle of Wednesday night it seems that way, apparently there will be a third postseason tournament in play this March, according to a release that was posted on Sept. 1.

Called the Women's National Invitation Championship, the event will be run by Michael T. White, Inc., consist of a 32-team field, and be played March 24--31 at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., just a citrus fruit toss away from Tampa and the Women's Final Four.

That will increase the women's overall postseason opportunity total to approximately 144 teams.

We learned of the event earlier in the day when it was given a second-hand reference deep in an email release from the Gazelle Group out of Princeton that announced a new and third men's postseason tournament.

The single-elimination event will be invitation only to teams in the 32 Division I conferences who do not land in the NCAA or Women's National Invitation Tournaments. At least we think that, but the description says the WNIC will rival the WNIT.

In addition to the postseason arrangement, North Carolina appears to be hosting a round-robin pre-season WNIC this weekend involving Syracuse and Coppin State.

In the post-season, the first round will start with 16 teams on Monday and Tuesday, followed by second round action on Wednesday and Thursday.

The final eight will compete on Friday and Saturday with the title game on Sunday.

The WNIC will include live internet coverage, say the organizers, who also promise to research every tournament-worthy team beyond those in the power conferences.

The WNIC plans to invite every regular-season conference champion, even if that is not the same team that wins its tournament. Of course, teams who duplicate the title get NCAA automatic bids. Further, it must be noted that the WNIT expanded last year to perform a similar selection exercise.

OK, in keeping with Jonathan teaching this old dog new tricks, click the link below to continue some more. And then head for the post above this from Stephen K. Lee, although you may already been there as I think about what order these two posts will appear.

Stephen was with Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer Wednesday afternoon when the Scarlet Knights officially announced their monster recruit class.

Here's the jump link.

By Mel Greenberg

Glance through past Stanford women's basketball media guides and there will be references to the "Decade of Dominance" in which the Cardinal claimed two NCAA titles in the 1990s and were frequent participants at the Women's Final Four.

It was a decade with great players led by coach Tara VanDerveer who built herself a Hall of Fame reputation, highlighted by her role in leading the United States to the 1996 Olympic gold medal at the Atlanta games.

That was then, this is now.

If the 1990s were a decade of dominance, although Stanford has enjoyed high rankings in the 21st century, Sunday's controversial finish producing a 60-58 victory over then No. 3 Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., ended a decade of drought in terms of quality road wins outside the Pac-10.

You could look it up.

The last time Stanford beat a Top 5 team on the road occurred twice against No. 5s in the 1997-98 ill-fated season when the Cardinal beat the Theresa Grentz-coached No. 5 Illinois, 91-78, on Dec. 14 in Champaign and then later beat the Marsha Sharp-coached No. 5 Texas Tech squad on Jan. 31 in Lubbock.

Unfortunately, Stanford is best known for that season in way the Cardinal concluded.

ACL injuries a few days apart to starters Vanessa Nygaard and Kristin Folk prior to the first round of the NCAA tournament resulted in the all-time upset when No. 16 seed Harvard shocked the No. 1 seeded Cardinal at home.

Stanford went on to remain as one of the top programs in the country but in terms of big-game performances, the Cardinal usually have come up short. Most of the non-conference setbacks have been to Tennessee.

So now we have ourselves quite the date to look forward to. That would be Nov. 22 down in the Caribbean when Stanford and No. 2 Connecticut will hook up in the Paradise Jam.

And you all thought the world was going to end without a Tennessee-Connecticut game to focus on during the regular season.

Blowing the Whistle on Those Who Blow the Whistle

A full-scale debate has broken out over the merits of assessing Rutgers sophomore Epiphanny Prince the foul with 0.10 seconds left that led to Stanford's triumph.

Coaches over the years have said, ``Never put the game in the hands of the officials," so in that regard Rutgers fell short in enough areas, including the lopsided rebounding total, to get into harm's way.

The law and order side of the debate is screaming a foul is a foul, whenever it occurs.

But if an argument is being made in support of allowing the game to be decided in overtime --- and there certainly was no guarantee that Rutgers could prevail -- some of it comes from conversations with many officials over the years who had observed similar situations and have said as much.

Certainly, the old "No Harm, No Foul," philosophy seemed to be in play.

Interestingly, there was little defense of officials in a similar situation a few years ago when Tennessee slipped by Baylor in the NCAA tournament on a controversial late call.

Anyhow, there is some collateral damage for the moment to Rutgers' sheen.

The Scarlet Knights slipped from No. 3 to No. 6 in Monday's first weekly AP poll of the season. The dip really isn't that much and the ranking should be perceived as to what happens to performers who slip in figure skating competition.

Furthermore, coach C. Vivian Stringer's group will be seeing each team ranked ahead of them, so the ladder is in place to climb back.

The downside, however, is that selling Rutgers as a No. 3 or higher outfit in pursuit of a national title, especially in light of last year's run to the championship game, is much easier on newsroom decision-makers than if the Scarlet Knights are perceived as just another team in the second-tier of the top 10 that is in the hunt.

Temple Shines in Season Opener

After seeing Temple's performance Monday night in the Owls' season and home opener against Central Michigan at the Liacouras Center, one wonders what the Atlantic Ten coaches were thinking in giving coach Dawn Staley's squad a No. 4 preseason pick.

Granted, Central Michigan wasn't even a quality sparring partner as the 83-45 result illustrates, but the mix of veterans and newcomers performed in such a manner as to make this weekend's visit to No. 8 Georgia, Friday, and Georgia Tech on Sunday quite intriguing.

Temple became known as a rebounding team by late last season and the 51-21 advantage -- not that the opponent had much of a post presence -- showed that reputation is still intact.

Lady Comfort, who has become the new go-to at center, had 16 points and eight rebounds, while senior classmate Ashley Morris scored 15 points and dealt eight assists.

Junior College transfer Shanae Cotton impressed with nine points and 12 rebounds to fortify Comfort in the post, while freshman Lindsay Kimmel showed herself as a deep threat, making 4-of-10 treys and finishing with 14 points.

Poll Trivia

Wisconsin's ranking enabled coach Lisa Stone to join the doubles club after having made an AP appearance at her previous stop at Drake.

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma has now moved into ninth-place tie with his former Virginia boss Debbie Ryan with 291 appearances each. The Cavaliers are not ranked this week.

On the active list, the two are deadlocked in sixth place.

Stanford's VanDerveer is only four rankings away from catching former Penn State coach Rene Portland on the all-time list at 336.

Rutgers has moved past Long Beach to eighth place on the all-time list of Top 10 appearances at 167.

Connecticut has now made its 100th Top 5 appearance this decade, trailing Duke (110) annd Tennessee (130). The Huskies have also reached 200 all-time Top 5 appearances, also in third place behind Tennessee (393) and Louisiana Tech (279).

This is the 538th poll and Tennessee has missed only 14 appearances all-time.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

We'll be back but as an experiment in transporting type here is a table showing every team ever ranked in AP women's poll history with an alphabetical breakdown that shows team's appearances under different coaches.

-- Mel

Schools Appearances to show breakdown by different coaches.

First Name Last Name School Total.

Rick Moody Alabama 109
Ken Weeks Alabama 24
Joan Bonvicini Arizona 65
Charli Turner Thorne Arizona St. 49
Juliene Simpson Arizona St. 33
Maura McHugh Arizona St. 1
Gary Blair Arkansas 67
John Sutherland Arkansas 28
Susie Gardner Arkansas 5
Brian Boyer Arkansas St. 1
Joe Ciampi Auburn 290
Kim Mulkey Baylor 94
Olga Fallen Baylor 16
June Daugherty Boise St. 10
Cathy Inglese Boston College 85
Curt Miller Bowling Green 15
Jaci Clark Bowling Green 6
Jeff Judkins BYU 17
Courtney Leishman BYU 1
Darlene May Cal Poly, Pomona 5
Joanne Boyle California 18
Gooch Foster California 10
Billie Moore Cal-St. Fullerton 10
Maryalyce Jeremiah Cal-St. Fullerton 1
Mildred Barnes Central Mo. 3
C. Vivian Stringer Cheyney 85
Winthrop McGriff Cheyney 17
Laurie Pirtle Cincinnati 10
Jim Davis Clemson 106
Annie Tribble Clemson 39
Ceal Barry Colorado 142
Sox Walseth Colorado 12
Tom Collen Colorado St. 34
Chris Denker Colorado St. 2
Geno Auriemma Connecticut 292
Connie Yori Creighton 3
L. Marg. Wade Delta St. 38
Fran Garmon Delta St. 6
Doug Bruno DePaul 88
Jim Izard DePaul 1
Sue Kreszewski Detroit 15
Mary Roickle Detroit 2
Carole Baumgarten Drake 8
Lisa Bluder Drake 2
Lisa Stone Drake 1
Gail Goesten. Duke 229
Debbie Leonard Duke 20
Joanne P. McCallie Duke 2
Cathy Andruzzi East Carolina 5
Carol Ross Florida 111
Carolyn Peck Florida 4
Debbie Yow Florida 2
Cindy Russo Florida Intl. 33
Marynell Meadors Florida St. 4
Sue Semrau Florida St. 4
Janice Allen Florida St. 3
Kathy Mosolino Fordham 1
Joe McKeown Geo. Wash. 95
Pat Knapp Georgetown 1
Andy Landers Georgia 416
x-Patterson (Joyce)
x-Jarrett (Jim) Georgia St. 1
Agnus Berenato Georgia Tech 5
Kelly Graves Gonzaga 2
Vince Goo Hawaii 46
Jessie Kenlaw Houston 16
Joe Curl Houston 10
Greg Williams Houston 5
Pat Dobratz Idaho 2
Theresa Grentz Illinois 44
Laura Golden Illinois 12
Jane Schroeder Illinois 7
Jill Hutchison Illinois St. 4
x- Fischer (Melinda)
x-Hutchison (Jill) Illinois St. 3
Cathy Rush Immaculata 10
Vicki Harrintgon Immaculata 8
Jim Izard Indiana 1
Edith Godleski Indiana St. 3
C. Vivian Stringer Iowa 155
Angie Lee Iowa 30
Lisa Bluder Iowa 11
Bill Fennelly Iowa St. 94
Sadie Magee Jackson St. 4
Shelia Moorman James Madison 35
Kenny Brooks James Madison 4
Marian Wash. Kansas 176
Deb Patterson Kansas St. 68
Lynn Hickey Kansas St. 63
Judy Akers Kansas St. 4
Terry Hall Kentucky 65
Debbie Yow Kentucky 21
Mickie DeMoss Kentucky 5
Sharon Fanning Kentucky 4
John Miller La Salle 9
Linda Harper La.-Monroe 31
Al Barbre Lamar 7
Joan Bonvicini Long Beach St. 202
Fran Schaaf. Long Beach St. 16
Glen McDonald Long Beach St. 4
Leon Barmore Louisiana Tech 274
Sonja Hogg Louisiana Tech 74
x- Barmore (Leon)
x-Hogg (Sonja) Louisiana Tech 51
Kurt Budke Louisiana Tech 42
Chris Long Louisiana Tech 6
Tom Collen Louisville 17
Jeff Walz Louisville 2
Sue Gunter LSU 216
Pokey Chatman LSU 55
Jinks Coleman LSU 26
Van Chancellor LSU 2
Bob Starkey LSU 1
Barbara Swanner LSU 1
Terri Mitchell Marquette 18
Chris Weller Maryland 227
Brenda Frese Maryland 56
Mary Lou Johns Memphis 39
Joye Lee-McNe. Memphis 4
Jane Fontaine Mercer 9
Ed Nixon Mercer 3
Peggy Collins Mercer 2
Ferne Labati Miami 26
Lin Dunn Miam i 2
Sue Guevara Michigan 13
Joanne P. McCallie Michigan St. 70
Karen Langeland Michigan St. 9
Suzy Merchant Michigan St. 2
Rick Insell Middle Tenn. 10
Pam Borton Minnesota 75
Ellen Mosher Minnesota 10
Brenda Frese Minnesota 8
Ed Nixon Mississippi Coll. 8
Durward Smith Mississippi Coll. 2
Sharon Fanning Mississippi St. 46
Van Chancellor Mississippi U. 221
Carol Ross Mississippi U. 3
Pam Davidson Mississippi U. 1
Lin Dunn Mississippi U. 1
Joann Rutherford Missouri 60
Cindy Stein Missouri 1
Cheryl Burnett Missouri St. 51
Katie
Abraham.-Henderson Missouri St. 2
Robin Selvig Montana 23
Maureen Wendelk. Montclair St. 34
Paul Sanderford Nebraska 24
Angela Beck Nebraska 16
Connie Yori Nebraska 7
Don Flanagan New Mexico 26
Joe McKeown New Mexico St. 6
Sylvia Hatchell North Caro. 242
Jennifer Alley North Caro. 29
Kay Yow North Caro. St. 326
Jane Albright Northern Ill. 17
Don Perrelli Northwestern 52
Mary DiStanis. Northwestern 15
Muffet McGraw Notre Dame 141
Nancy Darsch Ohio St. 85
Jim Foster Ohio St. 77
Tara VanDer. Ohio St. 27
Beth Burns Ohio St. 4
Debbie Wilson Ohio St. 4
Sherri Coale Oklahoma 118
Maura McHugh Oklahoma 17
Burl Plunkett Oklahoma 4
Dick Halterman Oklahoma St. 34
Marianne Stanley Old Dominion 141
Wendy Larry Old Dominion 127
Pam Parsons Old Dominion 7
Debbie Yow Oral Roberts 1
Elwin Heiny Oregon 47
Jody Runge Oregon 32
Bev Smith Oregon 5
Aki Hill Oregon St. 18
Judy Spoelstra Oregon St. 18
Rene Portland Penn St. 314
Pat
Meiser-McKnett Penn St. 30
Agnus Berenato Pittsburgh 5
Jean Balthaser Pittsburgh 2
Bob Foley Providence 25
Lin Dunn Purdue 130
Kristy Curry Purdue 123
Carolyn Peck Purdue 25
Sharon Versyp Purdue 19
Nell Fortner Purdue 1
Lucille Kyvallos Queens 26
Theresa Grentz Rutgers 181
C. Vivian Stringer Rutgers 118
Ernest Riggins San Diego St. 33
Beth Burns San Diego St. 6
Richie Spears San Diego St. 1
Walt Bugler San Francisco 11
Jan Ternyik San Francisco 2
Caren
Horstmeyer Santa Clara 3
Phyllis Mangina Seton Hall 21
Pam Parsons South Carolina 42
Nancy Wilson South Carolina 35
Susan Walvius South Carolina 32
Terry Kelly South Carolina 21
Linda Puckett Southeast La. 3
Linda Sharp Southern Cal 135
Cheryl Miller Southern Cal 34
Marianne Stanley Southern Cal 24
Mark Trakh Southern Cal 5
Fred Williams Southern Cal 2
Don Perrelli Southern Conn. 20
Cindy Scott Southern Ill. 17
Kay James Southern Miss. 27
Joe Mull. Jr. St. John's 6
Kim
Barnes Arico St. John's 2
Don Perrelli St. John's 1
Jim Foster St. Joseph's 35
Rene Portland St. Joseph's 22
Mike Granelli St. Peter's 5
Tara VanDerv. Stanford 305
x- Tucker Amy
x-Stanley (Marianne) Stanford 18
Gary Blair Steph. F. Austin 79
Sue Gunter Steph. F. Austin 54
Royce Chadwick Steph. F. Austin 33
Mary Ann Otwell Steph. F. Austin 29
Joe Curl Steph. F. Austin 3
Jeff Mitte TCU 24
Dawn Staley Temple 26
Pat Summitt Tennessee 524
Sharon Fanning Tenn-Chattanooga 4
Bill Worrell Tennessee Tech 19
Marynell Meadors Tennessee Tech 17
Jody Conradt Texas 395
Gail Goesten. Texas 2
Gary Blair Texas A&M 26
Candi Harvey Texas A&M 22
Lynn Hickey Texas A&M 1
Marsha Sharp Texas Tech 264
Kristy Curry Texas Tech 1
Mark Ehlen Toledo 2
Bill Fennelly Toledo 2
Lisa Stockton Tulane 34
Mark French UC Santa Barb. 54
Billie Moore UCLA 75
Kathy Olivier UCLA 52
Ellen Mosher UCLA 10
Jim Bolla UNLV 57
Dan Ayala UNLV 40
x-Strike (Sheila)
x-Bolla (Jim) UNLV 18
Elaine Elliott Utah 45
Lyndal Worth Valdosta St. 27
Jim Foster Vanderbilt 164
Melanie Balcomb Vanderbilt 82
Phil Lee Vanderbilt 37
Cathy Inglese Vermont 13
Harry Perrettta Villanova 44
Debbie Ryan Virginia 292
Bonnie Henricks. Virginia Tech 36
Beth Dunken. Virginia Tech 8
Carol Alfano Virginia Tech 1
Joe Sanchez Wake Forest 5
Chris Gobrecht Washington 104
June Daugherty Washington 22
Joyce Sake Washington 10
Dean Weese Wayland Baptist 41
Cathy Wilson Wayland Baptist 2
Harrelson (Scott)
Blakemore (Kittie) West Virginia 8
Mike Carey West Virginia 2
Paul Sanderford Western Ky. 158
Steve Small Western Ky. 18
Bob Spencer William Penn 6
Kevin Borseth Wis.-Green Bay 24
Jane Albright Wisconsin 79
Mary Murphy Wisconsin 5
Lisa Stone Wisconsin 1
Melanie Balcomb Xavier 17

x-Co-head coaches

(Note: Guru correspondent Stephen K. Lee filed the following story. Additionally, Kathleen Radebaugh's City Series coverage of La Salle-Villanova is over at womhoops guru because of events on this blog that overtook that coverage. -- Think of the two blog sites in ESPN terms as Guru and Guru2)

By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – On a night when the Rutgers women’s basketball team celebrated last season’s accomplishments with a new banner in the rafters and NCAA Final Four rings given to the Scarlet Knights before their season opener against Stanford, a familiar scene at the end of the game decided the winner.

Much like last season’s postseason game against Duke at the Greensboro Regionals, the No. 3 Scarlet Knights had to watch the opposing team’s star player attempt free throws with one tenth of a second remaining on the clock.

But this time, the star player on the opposing team (Stanford’s all-America Candace Wiggins) made the free throws to give the No. 7 Cardinal (2-0) a 60-58 win.

Following a Rutgers missed shot with the clock ticking down, Wiggins, an Associated Press preseason all-American, got the ball and eased up the court with most of the Knights (0-1) falling back as the score was tied 58-58.

The only Rutgers player who stayed on Wiggins was sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince who took a swipe that was whistled a foul with that fraction of a second remaining.

After the game, Wiggins, who played with the U.S. national team last summer, described the foul as one that could’ve gone either way.

“I think what happened was (Prince) kind of just like swiped at me,” Wiggins said. “I don’t know if there was contact or not, but just the actual motion of swipe and who’s driving hard is just going to look like a foul. Sometimes that just happens.”

“It was a swipe, but I was just driving by. It happens a lot in the game, but whether the ref calls it or not, it’s just happened.”

Wiggins, who finished with a team-high 19 points, also said that the image of former Duke star Lindsey Harding missing her free throws against Rutgers in last year’s NCAA tournament ran through her mind when she reached the free throw line.

“I know Lindsey and it was unfortunate for them for that,” she said. “But we definitely saw that clip and it was kind of right in my mind with a little bit of irony I guess.”

In addition to Wiggins' performance for Stanford, teammate Jayne Appel had 18 points and 13 rebounds. Kayla Pederson added 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Cardinal.

Prince, who finished with a game-high 21 points to go with nine rebounds and three assists, said that she didn’t think that she fouled Wiggins. However, she added that she shouldn’t have been in a position to foul the Stanford senior guard.

“I just didn’t think about what I was doing at the time,” Prince said. “I shouldn’t have played her that aggressive so far away from the basket with so little time left in the game.”

Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer, like Wiggins, noticed the similarity of the sequence of events at the end of the game to that of the Duke game.

“It was called with one tenth of a second left, so I thought that was kind of interesting because that’s the same opportunity that the girl from Duke had. So, I thought it was kind of prophetic,” Stringer said. “I looked at it and I almost had a smile. And I said to myself ‘Hmm…that isn’t the best signal that I’ve seen.’”

“It was kind of real prophetic that it would be one tenth of a second left and the girl would shoot the foul shot on our court. That was the last big victory that we had and that’s how we started, with their loss. Maybe to help us understand that nothing can be taken for granted.

Prior to the foul and Wiggin’s free throws, the game remained close in a back-and-forth battle between two top 10 teams.

The match featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes and neither team seemed to have control of the game at any given point.

But afterwards, Stringer and her players said that the defeat was not caused by Prince’s foul, but as a result of the Knights’ various shortcomings throughout the entire game.

“I don’t think we’re nearly as sharp.” Stringer said. “We’re not paying attention to the little things.”

Stanford out-rebounded Rutgers 50-32. RU senior Essence Carson pointed out that the Cardinals’ 20 offensive rebounds were costly for the Knights.

“(Being out-rebounded) had a major impact on the game,” Carson said. “Second, third and fourth chance shots are the ones they converted on.

“If we hadn’t let them get those second, third and fourth chance shots, we wouldn’t have been in the situation that we were in at the end of the game and that’s something that we have to work on.”

Rutgers senior guard Matee Ajavon added that her team failed in other aspects of the game.

“It was the first game of the season, of course we were excited,” Ajavon said. “I think we used our excitement the wrong way though, where at times we were jumpy and not calm.”

Rutgers is now off until Friday night when Creighton visits. Stanford will play the USA basketball team in an exhibition on Thursday before resuming regular season play at Utah on Nov. 18.

(Guru’s note: Another DVD-style enhanced version of our print lead. Late-nite/early A.M.update on the jump to continue local report/national observations.)

By Mel Greenberg

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It’s a short trip up here from the St. Joseph’s campus to Lehigh’s Stabler Arena.

But for most of Saturday night in their season opener against the Mountain Hawks, coach Cindy Griffin’s squad appeared destined to suffer a much longer bus ride back to Philadelphia.

That’s what happens when a game grows so ugly in the first half that Lehigh had doubled the Hawks by 17 points to be in command 34-17 with two minutes remaining before the break.

Deficits of 15 points with eight minutes remaining and 13 points with just six left in the game did not offer much of a promise that the outcome could turn in St. Joseph’s direction.

It was just at that moment that we even contemplated writing most of the story ahead of time to help the editors in the home office.

But then the Hawks got tough on defense and rallied to a meager 56-54 lead with 2:33 left to play after Mary Kate McDade hit a pair of foul shots.

Melissa Rich’s basket tied it again for Lehigh, but freshman Sarah Acker, halfway closer to her upstate hometown of Nanticoke, gave the Hawks the lead again before Rich brought the Mountain Hawks to another tie with 40 seconds remaining.

Acker then committed a turnover and Jenna Loschiavo fouled Lehigh’s Tricia Smith, putting the rally in danger of being a loss cause.

But Smith missed her second foul attempt, giving the Hawks’ Timisha Gomez the opportunity to become the heroine of the night.

She did that well, hitting a pair of foul shots fir a 60-59 lead with four seconds remaining. Then Gomez got her hand on the ball at the other end as Kristen Dalton drove to the basket.

The score stood and the Hawks were on the way to happy bus ride back to campus.

Relieved was the best way to describe St. Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin.

“Anytime you have a season opener, you don’t know what to expect,” Griffin said afterwards. “And anytime you open as early as we do now, you really don’t know what to expect, especially with a young team.”

But Gomez, the only senior with major experience, provides at least one area of reliability.

“She didn’t shoot the ball well,” Griffin said of Gomez’s performance and 3-of-13 effort from the field. “But she did everything else really well. She rebounded the ball, her defense was solid, and that’s what we need. We need to get some balance across the board.

“We knew we were going to have trouble scoring and didn’t know where our points were going to come from, and when that happens, you rely on your front court and they did a good job.”

Gomez had 12 points and nine rebounds, while Acker, a 6-foot-3 center from Nanticoke, Pa., was impressive in her debut with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Ashley Logue, a St. Hubert’s graduate who saw little action as a freshman, scored a team-high 16 points for St. Joseph’s.

Sophomore Brittany Ford was on the sidelines needing another week or so to recover from minor knee surgery.

Rich’s 17 points for Lehigh was the game high of the night. Smith was also in double figures with 10 points.

Click the link to "jump" to the rest of the report

(Guru's Note: This is our DVD-style enhanced version of print coverage of Villanova-La Salle limited by space. Kathleen will be along at some point with her take on game.. Musings on other Friday local-national results are now included with late updates).

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Villanova offered highlights of past Wildcat eras all in one game Friday afternoon coach Harry Perretta's squad rallied, squandered, and than got tough at the finish in a 64-58 victory over La Salle that was the season and Big Five opener for both teams.

Senior Stacie Witman played the lead role in "the Shelly Pennefather era of the late 1980s," dominating the game with a career-high 31 points.

Witman, who missed the early part of last season with a broken foot, also was the heroine at the finish after Villanova nearly squandered all of a 17-point lead that near the top of the second half.

Holding a slim 54-52 lead with 1 minute, 46 seconds left to play, Witman nailed a pair of three-pointers and hit four straight foul shots to enable the Wildcats to prevail.

"I was feeling it, but was a team effort," the Plymouth-Whitemarsh graduate season. "Everyone was making extra passes, getting an extra rebound or helping on defense."

Villanova at the outset resembled last season's mediocre attack that led to a worst-ever 8-21 record.

The Wildcats fell behind, 9-2, as La Salle senior Carlene Hightower scored seven of her team-high 20 points. She also had 13 rebounds.

"Our shots weren't falling, but you know what? Harry tells us to keep shooting and our shots were going to eventually start to fall," Witman said.

"We knew we had to dig ourselves out of it and we weren't going to go home with a loss," Witman said of Villanova's tough finish. "Last year, we wouldn't have dug ourselves out of a hole, but we dug ourselves out of a hole this year."

"She's been playing really, really well in the preseason," Perretta said of Witman.

Helpful to Villanova's ability to forge ahead was the Wildcats' three-point shooting, symbolic of several years ago in the Trish Juhline era that led to the famous win over Connecticut and run to the NCAA elite eight in 2003.

The Wildcats connected on 11-of-33 trey attempts, led by five from Witman.

La Salle, which also got 10 points from Jamie Walsh, outrebounded Villanova, 34-22, but the Wildcats' defense forced 16 turnovers, while Villanova only had eight miscues.

"That's average for us," La Salle coach Tom Lochner said, but against Villanova it gets mangnified.

The game also featured the debut of Villanova junior transfer Laura Kurz, who previously played at Duke and who starred at Germantown Academy.

Kurz shot 4-of-12 from the field, was 0-for-4 on three point attempts, finishing with nine points.

"I was a little rusty," Kurz said. "I missed shots I should have made."

Perretta noted that Kurz has technically been out of the flow more than a year.

"You know last week she mentioned that this is going to be her first real game in four years," Perretta said. "She played at Duke. But it's the first game where her play is going to matter whether we win or we lose."

Perreta was happy to get a quick win after losing two straight to start last season.

"We're a better team," he said. "My concern was could we make shots on the road. And in the beginning of the game, it didn't look like we could. And then at the end it the game, it didn't look like we could.

"But the difference was Stacie has grown up a little bit.We're faster, we're bigger, but we're one year older.We're still not old.We still have one senior that plays but we're older than we were last year," Perretta continued.

"Kids mature. They physically mature. They mentally mature. But you saw our immaturity because we blew the lead. And we blew it, basically, because we couldn't make a shot."

In some fairness, the lead diminshed after junior Lisa Karcic went to the sidelines when she was hurt on the farhead colliding with another player.

"When she got hurt, I knew we were in trouble because Laura is not ready yet. I thought she looked tentative out there. That's going to take time. I'm just happy for the kids' sake."

Villanova actually flourished in an uptempo attack.

"The problem is we can't play a lot of people. So I don't know if we can run for 40 minutes."

Lochner was philosphical afterwards over the Explorers' performance.

"You have to give Villanova credit," he said. "They came up and executed well. They put up 35 on us in the first half and then maybe 14 points in the first three minutes of the second half. But we did battle back from a big deficit, so I was really proud of our resiliency.

"We made a couple of mistakes late and Villanova took advantage. We had a couple of shots, which sat on the rim and they made the plays at the end.

"Harry's going to have a nice team this year. They're going to do allright."

Lochner also said the afternoon start Friday was his fault in scheduling the game and then running into an in-house conflict with an Explorers volleyball game that was played afterwards.

However, the crowd of 624 was about the norm for the Explorers.

Villanova's Juhline is back as her alma matter as an interim assistant coach while she takes post-graduate nursing courses. She had been an assistant at Drexel.

When mentioned to her that Villanova might be making threes again because she can serve as the pratice dummy, Juhline responses, "No. I'm the practice smarty."

Your Guru was presented a La Salle "Greenberg No.1" jersey before the game in recognition of last June's Women's Basketball Hall of Fame induction.

We noted that the jersey should not be confused with the number of Kelly Greenberg, the Boston U and former Penn coach who starred at La Salle.

Continue the rest of the report by hitting the link right after this sentence.

(Guru's update notes several hours later upon our return from providing coverage following these additions:

It appears our Big Five + Drexel women's preview finally made print in Friday's edition. here's the link.

Secondly, speaking of the J, we did a podcast preview, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Thirdly, we'll be on the scene at La Salle today (Friday) for a 4 p.m. opener against Villanova for print coverage. There's also rumours of ourselves being a subject of a pre-game ceremony for those of you planning to attend. Kathleen Radebaugh will be covering for the blog.
On Sunday night, since we'll be on the desk here, barring change, Stephen Lee at Rutgers will file an account of the Rutgers-Stanford game. Our Saturday plans are in flux -- could be St. Joe at Lehigh or a quick trip to Penn State, depending what opening night on Friday reveals in Happy Valley.)

By Mel Greenberg

PISCTAWAY, N.J. – Third-ranked Rutgers enjoyed the calm before the storm Thursday night in its only public exhibition game as the Scarlet Knights topped the Chinese National Team, 77-61, at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

Ok, so it wasn’t totally delightful for the 1,537 fans, an intriguingly low number considering coach C. Vivian Stringer’s squad enters the season this weekend with all five starters returning from the Cinderella group that advanced to the NCAA championship.

A few shouts of “USA,” “USA,” could be heard among the energetic bunch after Rutgers had squandered a 16-point lead in the first half to hold a 39-35 advantage at the break.

The chants were uttered when China, which had already lost to Texas A&M and North Carolina, managed to move to a 54-47 lead with just under 13 minutes left in the game.

But then Rutgers regained the attack with a 19-3 thrust and continued to keep the Chinese squad deep in its rear-view mirror the rest of the way.

Rutgers total was the most scored against the Chinese on their U.S. trip and the 16-point differential was the most over the visitors. Previously, No. 11 Texas A&M won 76-70 on Nov. 5.

In Thursday’s action, sophomore Epiphanny Prince led five starters in double figures with 20 points, while junior Kia Vaughn and senior Matee Ajavon each scored 17 points.

Ajavon also dealt 11 assists and enjoyed the delight of being injury-free to start the season for the first time in her collegiate career. It was her first double double since the second round of the NCAA tournament of 2006, which occurred against TCU.

“It’s been hard these past couple of years to always start behind my team, so this being along with them now is a blessing,” Ajavon said.

Junior Heather Zurich, admitting to be more confident in her shot, scored 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers, off an overall 5-of-10 effort on field goal attempts. Senior Essence Carson added 11 points.

``Obviously, I have more confidence in my shot right now,” Zurich smiled. “I’m just trying not to force anything and just taking the rotation. They were paying attention to Kia down low, so I had a few open shots and my teammates were finding me.”

Rutgers outrebounded the Chinese, 34-25, including 16-6 on the offensive boards. The Scarlet Knights grabbed 12 steals, including five by Prince and four by Ajavon, and forced 24 turnovers, while committing 14 miscues.

All of this had Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer in a serene mood afterwards, considering a year ago she had more questions about the prospects of her highly talented bunch with the games about to be officially counted in the record books.

“We were real pleased with the great effort I thought the team made,” Stringer said to open the postgame press conference. “In light of this being the first game, I thought the team played well.

“We know we’ve got a lot of things we want to brush up on, but given we had the opportunity to look at some tapes and see them (the Chinese) play against some outstanding teams, we have to pleased with the effort.”

What Rutgers had that it lacked 12 months ago was a cohesive attack among five veterans who had produced the chemistry of last season’s magnificent stretch drive.

“It’s really nice to see people play together and they read each other so well, it was great,” Stringer said. ``I enjoyed that they played hard. Defensively, we went to the boards and we moved the ball well. Timing is an issue that we’re dealing with and we just know that the competition we have is going to get tougher.”

That is the looming storm on a killer schedule that begins here Sunday night (ESPN, 8 p.m.) when No. 7 Stanford visits. The Cardinal are led by senior all-American Candice Wiggins, who is projected as a high first-round draft pick next spring by the WNBA, as are Carson and Ajavon.

It doesn’t get much easier, afterwards, with No. 4 Maryland, No. 14 George Washington, No. 5 LSU, and No. 10 Duke on the front part of Rutgers’ nonconference action.

“It’s a schedule built for people who are ready to play the moment you step on to the floor,” Stringer said. “You’ve got to.”

She noted the lost lead in the first half occurred as substitutions were being made.

“It wasn’t that it was any one person’s fault so much as it just broke the rhythm,” Stringer explained.

“That starting group, they just feel each other. Heather has played free and loose and she makes cuts she wants to make. She’s not asking, `Can I do this? Can I do that? She’s playing because she feels the game and she knows what she needs to do.

“They read off each other. And that’s got to be key.”

Stringer said the next move is to get more people into the rotation to allow more flexibility in game situation. But the schedule at hand will allow few opportunities for experimentation needed in light of the Big East opponents, featuring No. 2 Connecticut and five other ranked teams besides the Scarlet Knights.

“We’ve got to do that. (Ajavon) is playing with a lot of energy. It looks like she saved all three years. Never has she been able to play in September, October, or November,” Stringer continued.

“That’s been part of the problem of our slow start. But this wasn’t a slow start this time. Maybe if I thought about it, the difference is ‘Mat is there.”

Stringer mentioned that Rutgers will be a prime target for all their opponents.

``Everyone is going to play their best game against us, so we’ll just have to play harder in practice.”

This is true of Stanford, which has more or less owned the Pac-10 and state of California in recent season, but no longer dominates the top of the landscape as coach Tara VanDerveer’s squad did in the early ‘90s.

Thus, a win over Rutgers, though even anything goes at times in season openers between Top 10 teams, would be a great catch for Stanford Sunday night.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Things to do on a Sunday while babysitting the wires in the office with everyone else focusing on Eagles-Cowboys as in NFL.

That said, here are school's total appearances this decade and overall in the top five and the top 10 of the AP poll through the 2007-08 preseason poll

AP Top Five 2000's (to present)

Tennssee 129
Duke 110
Conn. 99
LSU 56
North Car. 40
Stanford 34
Texas 29
Not. Dame 28
Georgia 26
Ohio St. 25
Oklahoma 25
Maryland 19
Kan. St. 15
Baylor 14
La.Tech 13
Purdue 10
Iowa St. 9
Tex. Tech 9
Vanderbilt 9
Penn St. 8
Rutgers 4
N.C.. St. 2
Wiscon. 2
Auburn 1

AP Top Five (All-Time Thru Present)

Tenn. 392
La. Tech 279
Conn. 199
Texas 157
Georgia 145
Stanford 132
Old Dom. 131
Duke 111
North Car. 77
Sou.Cal. 74
LSU 70
Auburn 66
Maryland 62
Lng Bch S 60
Virginia 57
Iowa 54
Vanderbilt 45
Penn St. 43
S.F. Aust.42
Purdue 38
Rutgers 38
N.C. St.. 34
Not. Dame 28
Ohio St. 29
Cheyney 25
Oklahoma 25
Way. Bpt 23
Colorado 22
Delta St. 22
Tex. Tech 22
Miss. U. 19
La.-Mon. 16
UCLA 16
Kan.St. 15
Baylor 14
UNLV 13
Sou.Car. 12
Kansas 11
Immac. 10
W. Ky. 10
Iowa St. 9
Alabama 8
CS Fulltn 7
Col. St. 5
Kentucky 5
Wash. 5
Mntclr St. 3
Wis. 2
Florida 1
Illinois 1
St. Jos. 1
Tenn. Tch 1

strong>AP Top Ten 2000's (to present)

Tenn. 143
Conn. 133
Duke 133
Stanford 86
LSU 81
Purdue 76
North Car. 68
La, Tech 62
Ohio St. 54
Georgia 52
Not. Dame 52
Baylor 51
Tex. Tech 51
Rutgers 48
Oklahoma 46
Iowa St. 39
Maryland 37
Kan. St. 33
Texas 33
Penn St. 32
Vanderbilt 27
Mich. St. 15
Minnesota 14
Ariz. St. 12
N.C. St. 9
Florida 6
Sou. Caro. 6
Arkansas 5
Auburn 5
Geo. Was. 4
UC S Bar. 4
Wisconsin 3
Colorado 1
DePaul 1
Houston 1
Miss. St. 1
Oregon 1
Tex. A&M 1
UCLA 1

AP Top Ten (All-Time Thru Present)

Tenn. 475
La. Tech 373
Conn. 242
Georgia 240
Stanford 240
Texas 217
Old Dom. 179
Lg Bch St. 166
Rutgers 166
Maryland 156
Virginia 154
Penn St. 149
Duke 148
Purdue 147
LSU 144
North Car. 143
Tex. Tech 134
N.C. St. 133
Auburn 119
Sou. Cal 110
Vanderbilt 110
Iowa 108
Ohio St. 99
Miss. U. 94
S.F. Astin 79
Not.Dame 76
Cheyney 73
UCLA 67
Kan. St. 55
Colorado 54
Baylor 51
Oklahoma 46
Iowa St. 42
Way.Bptst 37
W. Ky. 37
Alabama 35
Kansas 34
Delta St. 31
So.Caro. 31
UNLV 29
Kentucky 26
Arkansas 24
La.-Mon. 24
Wash 23
Mntclir St. 22
Florida 18
Mich. St. 15
Ariz. St. 14
Minnesota 14
Arizona 13
Col.St. 12
Immac. 12
Queens 12
St. Jos. 12
Geo. Was. 11
Illinois 11
CS Fllrton 9
Oregon 9
Tenn. Tch 9
Miami 7
Missouri 7
Wisconsin 7
Miss. Coll. 5
Mo St. 4
UCS Barb. 4
Clemson 3
Nor'wstern 3
Memphis 2
SD St. 2
Va. Tech 2
Wm Penn 2
DePaul 1
Houston 1
Mercer 1
Miss. St. 1
Sou. Ct 1
Tex. A&M 1
Vald. St. 1

By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com

Mel sent me a new version of his omnibus spreadsheet schedule for you all to have a look at. Click here
to download it.

By Mel Greenberg

Judging by the vote in the Associated Press preseason women's poll, by the time the surviving teams get to the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa, Fla., the whole affair may be anticlimatic.

Tennessee is the overwhelming favorite to repeat after receiving all 50 first-place votes from a nationwide medial panel. But let us remember that a year ago at this time, few thought Maryland would be displaced in the Terrapins' quest to repeat as national champions.

It's also intriguing to guess what this preseason vote might had been at the top if North Carolina did not implode in its NCAA national semifinal contest against the Lady Vols

A year ago at this time, Rutgers, with a ton of potential but limited experience, was picked 12th in the voting.

The Scarlet Knights played a killer schedule early and quickly dropped out of sight. But the tests were tough enough for C. Vivian Stringer's group to eventually come together and launch its storied run to the NCAA title game.

To be fair, sometimes luck has to be involved. Rutgers is known as a great defending team, but the only time any defense is launched against foul shots is when a time-out is called in game-defining moments in attempts to "freeze" the shooter.

Who ever expected with virtually no time on the clock that senior Lindsey Harding, the best player on the No. 1 team in the nation at Duke, would miss two free throws at the regional semifinals to leave Rutgers in position to beat Arizona State and move on to the finals.

Soon thereafter, Blue Devils coach Gail Goestenkors was on her way to launch a new era at Texas, while Harding headed off to the WNBA where she ran into more bad luck with a midseason knee injury.

Rutgers will begin 2007-08 with the Scarlet Knights' highest preseason vote ever at No. 3 and a schedule even more difficult than a year ago.

The non-conference lineup includes Tennessee, No. 4 Maryland, No. 5 LSU, and a slew of seven Big East teams with rankings, including No. 2 Connecticut, the conference favorite.

The battles in the Southeastern Conference will also be tough with Tennessee, LSU, No. 9 Georgia, and No. 23 Vanderbilt leading the fight for the automatic qualifier.

Maryland must still contend with No.8 North Carolina and No. 10 Duke at the projected top of the Atlantic Coast Conference along with No. 19 Florida State.

No. 7 Stanford will be fending challenges from No. 12 Arizona State and No.13 California in the Pac-10. No.6 Oklahoma will be contending with No. 11 Texas A&M, the Big 12 favorite, along with No. 15 Baylor and No. 22 Texas.

While the scene may look familiar at first glance at the top of the poll, there are signifcant changes, to be sure. Big Ten favorite Ohio State is starting at No. 16 after being No. 7 last November. Purdue, which was No. 11 in the final poll in March, is out of the rankings for the first time in three seasons.

Depending on one's characterization of the Atlantic Ten, George Washington is the poster child of the mid-majors with a preseason ranking of No. 14.

When the poll closed shop in March for the summer, Middle Tennessee (17th), Bowling Green (20th), and Wisconsin-Green Bay (No.21) had forced their way into the limelight.

That later was reflected in the tournament when Marist, an unranked squad, advanced to the Sweet 16.

In terms of the Big East, the conference is reaping the efforts of commissioner Mike Tranghese, who lured the best of Conference USA to solve the football mess and now has former C-USA members DePaul (No. 25), and Louisville (No. 21) along with longer-standing Big East schools: West Virginia (No.18), Pittsburgh (No. 20), and No. 24 Notre Dame.

Marquette, another former C-USA squad was ranked last season.

But even here, Pittsburgh is the only charter conference squad, a category also including Connecticut.

Beyond conference identity, Pittsburgh and West Virginia should be commended for commitments to the sport that allowed the Panthers and Mountaineers to rise from doormat status.

"You have to go the night before, now," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said about hitting a fine Pittsburgh dining establishment well ahead of game-time.

West Virginia is making its first appearance in the poll since No. 14 in the final poll of the 1992 season when the Mountaineers were a member of the Atlantic Ten.

"Mike, I want to see how you deal with being on top top," Villanova coach Harry Perretta joked at Big East media day to his colleague Mike Carey after West Virginia was picked third in the conference.

One thing that can be expected is that more teams than ever might make their way into the poll as the season moves along.

Incidentaly, one aside as the polling season begins: People, that column after won-loss records reflect points, not votes. One never hears someone say 1,250 votes for a team at the top of the poll, but down below someone will surely say that Purdue, with 96 points, just missed being ranked by 12 votes.

Now, to save you all from seeking the preseason poll, itself in an early post we mounted as breaking news, here's the AP vote again. And if the 17 new voters have been adjusted in place of the 17 no longer involved, the AP web site will show how each of us threw darts in the lower areas to complete our ballots.

And no, that one point to Temple in the also-rans is not from me. Incidentally, the preseason all-America vote will be announced Sunday. We were only allowed five picks -- three had to be a lock -- as opposed to the end of the season when we each select three sets of quintets.

The Women's Top Twenty Five
By The Associated Press
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' preseason women's
college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses,
final records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place
vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last season's final
ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Tennessee (50) 34-3 1,250 3
2. Connecticut 32-4 1,175 4
3. Rutgers 27-9 1,122 15
4. Maryland 28-6 1,109 6
5. LSU 30-8 1,049 12
6. Oklahoma 28-5 949 9
7. Stanford 29-5 898 5
8. North Carolina 34-4 890 2
9. Georgia 27-7 825 13
10. Duke 32-2 809 1
11. Texas A&M 25-7 777 16
12. Arizona St. 31-5 629 10
13. California 23-9 615 –
14. George Washington 28-4 525 14
15. Baylor 26-8 504 19
16. Ohio St. 28-4 458 8
17. Michigan St. 24-9 355 23
18. West Virginia 22-11 336 –
19. Florida St. 24-10 323 –
20. Pittsburgh 24-9 298 –
21. Louisville 27-8 220 25
22. Texas 18-14 205 –
23. Vanderbilt 28-6 184 7
24. Notre Dame 20-12 131 –
25. DePaul 19-13 108 –
Others receiving votes: Purdue 96, Wisconsin 90, Middle
Tennessee 65, N.C. State 62, Auburn 52, Xavier 38, Georgia Tech 35,
Wyoming 19, Illinois 17, Oklahoma St. 8, Marquette 7, Marist 4,
Texas Tech 4, Mississippi 2, Drake 1, Kentucky 1, S. Dakota St. 1,
Southern Cal 1, TCU 1, Temple 1, Tulane 1.

By Mel Greenberg

Since we signed off keeping records of the AP poll history until it came time to update a few things for the new season that is about to begin, some 49 coaching moves occurred in Division I.

That totally, incidentally, is equivalent to the number of states that have at least one Division I program, including Hawaii, but not including Alaska. (So how are you spending your roll-back hour to standard time?)

With the preseason vote official, we can now reflect how some of those moves affected the poll coaching appearance categories.

For example, at the signoff in March, on the all-time list former Texas coach Jody Conradt went off the active list at No.3, Penn State's Renee Portland was No. 5, Illinois' Theresa Grentz was at No. 19, while former Mississippi coach Van Chancellor was No. 20, but returns to the active list with a leap to No. 12 at LSU.

Furthermore Gail Goestenkors' move to Texas from Duke earns her membership in the "doubles club" with the Longhorns' appearance in the preseason vote. A more elite group led by Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer has had three different teams ranked. That list has not grown. But the doubles group now has a new member also in Chancellor.

Also, the parallel departures of Conradt, Portland, and Grentz, along with a few others is causing upward momvent of coaching veterans.

Stringer, for example, is now No. 3 on the active list with 357 total appearances at Cheyney, Iowa, and Rutgers.

Connecticut's Geno Auriemma has jumped to No. 7 on the active list at 291 and will quickly pass his former boss, Virginia's Debbie Ryan, if the Cavaliers do not make the next two polls.

Another Auriemma former boss -- Ohio State's Jim Foster -- trails the Naismith Hall of Famer by 16 appearances at No.8.

Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw is now two rankings away from cracking the all-time top 25 group now that the Irish made the preseason vote. She has 140 appearances, two behind the retired Ceal Barry, who was at Colorado.

Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, who moved up to No.4 on the active list in front of North Carolina State's Kay Yow. She will soon pass Portland on the all-time list with the next six appearances at No. 5.

Incidentally, of the coaches in the all-time top 20 group, and the allowance that Virginia's Debbie Ryan will be inducted in June, the only ones not already in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville are Portland -- the only of the first 10 --, Foster at No. 12, Arizona State's Joan Bonvicini at No. 14, Texas' Goestenkors at No. 17, and former Maryland coach Chris Weller at No. 18. No. 21 Marianne Stanley, now an assistant coach at Rutgers, is also enshrined.

To see all the lists, follow the jump below. First, we'll show the all-time top 25, followed by a deep list of actives that also experienced some movement at the bottom with departures of such persons as LSU's Pokey Chatman. Then, for all those SID friends of mine who love visiting here for game notes, we'll run the up-to-date doubles and triples list.

Depending which direction you are traveling, there are more items this preseason Saturday in posts just above here.

(Updating late Saturday nite with some preseason performance categories)

By Mel Greenberg

Tennessee and Connecticut may no longer be beating in the regular season, but the media panel voting in the Associated Press preseason poll expects the two to hook up in the NCAA championship.

The Vols were an unanimous No. 1 choice, collecting all 50 first-place votes, while UConn, the Big East favorite, was picked second.

Rutgers, which will meet both teams this season, earned a No. 3 pick, the highest preseason vote ever for the Scarlet Knights. It's also the second highest overall vote in the 32-year history of the rankings. The program reached No. 2 four times in the past under former coach Theresa Grentz.

The Big East placed seven teams in the preseason vote, only the second conference to achieve that distinction along with the Southeastern Conference that did so in prior polls.

We'll have still more to say later Saturday night, using free extra hour of daylight savings retraction, but here's the poll, along with last year's preseason and final poll, and other categories

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

The 32nd season of voting in the Associated Press women's rankings will be launched Saturday afternoon with the release of the preseason vote.

Rutgers, which advanced to the NCAA title game last year without ever making one appearance all season in the top 10, is expected to reach some new highs in the preseason voting and also a level not enjoyed in quite a while.

Several other teams are also expected to score some "firsts" and highest-evers in the preseason vote that could be dominated by the Big East, considering the number of conference teams that have already been ranked in various preview publications.

We'll be back with lots of stats and notes late Saturday afternoon after the poll is released by AP.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ Tricks and treats abounded in the Comcast Center Wednesday night as the USA National Select Team launched its eight-city collegiate tour with a 90-73 win over Maryland that wasn't decided until after the second half got under way.

Though only an exhibition game, the event marked the opening of Maryland's new quest for a second NCAA title after the Terrapins failed last spring to defend their thrilling championship that was captured in Boston in 2006.

Halloween was noted by several female fans, who provided the tricks by dressing in a blonde wig and stuffing a pillow beneath their outer wear in the personna of Maryland coach Brenda Frese, who is expecting twins in February.

The Terrapins, incidentially, are also noting Frese' future event on Nov. 30 when Ohio State visits as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Maryland is running a promotion for the game, trying to set a record by giving Frese "the world's largest baby shower."

Meanwhile, there was much to feel good on both sides Wednesday night. The Terrapins, who were named fourth in the preseason coaches poll earlier in the day, seemed to regain the swagger that carried them to the 2006 title.

The Associated Press poll will be released Saturday.

Despite all-America Crystal Langhorne of Willingboro sidelined with a sprained ankle, senior Laura Harper of Cheltenham High -- the other Philadelphia area product on Maryland's roster -- fueled a first-half effort with 14 of her 20 points and the Terrapins went to break trailing by a mere basket at 40-38.

"We had a ton of fun tonight," Freese said afterwards. "I loved the way we come out and competed against the best team in the country. There are nothing but positives to take out of the game today."

Junior Kristi Toliver, whose three-pointer in Boston sent Maryland into overtime against Duke in the NCAAt title game in 2006, ran Maryland's show from the point and finished with 18 points.

Toliver also got the Terrapins to within a basket at the end of the first half, going length-of-the-court and nailing a trey.

Afterwards, the USA's Diana Taurasi, the former UConn star who is a member of the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury, gushed about the play of Toliver.

"At the end of the game, I turned to (former Connecticut teammate) Sue Bird and I told her that's the best point guard in college right now,"Taurasi said. "I don't think anyone can control a game like she can with her scoring and her ability to push the ball up the floor, and get people open. She a very tough player, she really is."

It was later noted to Taurasi that she might have thought restraining herself somewhat,considering the USA's next stop is at Storrs Friday night to play her alma mater, where Huskies fans believe they have a pretty good point guard in Renee Montgomery.

"I guess I'm going to have say that about everybody's point guard after we play them," Taurasi said with a big grin.

Later, Taurasi was chatting up Maryland stars, several of whom have played on USA teams, bragging about the numbers of quality teams in the Big East, of which UConn is a member.

"Even the Villanova of old was better," Taurasi said while pretending to run Harry Perretta's patient offense.

The Terrapin group bragged about the Atlantic Coast Conference and having the top three in the AP poll several times the last several years.

If Maryland was elated, so was USA coach Anne Donovan over the return of Lisa Leslie, who missed the WNBA summer for the Los Angeles Sparks after givng birth to her first daughter in June.

Leslie admitted to being rusty after shooting 3-for-13 and scoring eight points.

Donovan saw enough to believe one of USA's all-time stars will soon be back to her MVP form.

"I can't get past the fact that four months ago Lisa had a baby," Donovan said. "She's doing a great job."

Leslie readily admitted her performance has a way to go to meet her standards.

"I have high expectations and we know the level I play at," the former Southern Cal all-American said. "I feel like a backup post right now. "It's my first game back in a year and it's a lot of fun to be out here. I think when I get my legs back, it will help."

Harper, who had to defend Leslie and blocked a shot, spoke of her feelings going against a player she watched while growing up in suburban Philadelphia.

"I've been a fan of her since I was 9 or 10, so obviously I was honored to be playing on the same court as her," Harper said. "I wasn't really thinking about playing against her, but I loved being on the same floor as all of these amazing players."

Harper then admitted to once owning a Lisa Leslie jersey.

Kara Lawson, a former Tennessee star who plays for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, had 17 points, whiile former LSU star Seimone Augustus of the Minnesota Lynx scored 16. Taurasi had 15 points, including 3-of-5 made three-pointers.