(Updating -- Oops, forgot one -- the Immaculata movie, which is now under the noteworthy at the very end)
(Guru's note: We have a three-pack this New Year's Day to greet 2008. Make sure to read the two posts below this review. One of the stories has some updated AP Poll trivia, and the other is an on-the-scene look at Syracuse by blogging team member Acacia O'Connor, the new editor-in-chief of Vassar's student newspaper. Also, well wishes this day to Dan Fleser, the longtime Tennessee beat writer who recently had successful surgery involving colon cancer.)
By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA -- And so comes a first: We cannot let 2008 arrive without joining the media crowd who looks back at the previous 12 months, evaluating the stories and individual headline makers who dominated the news.
Recently, we were asked to submit nominations to the Inquirer sports department’s overall list of the year in review. Now, we’re going to do our own. Because we operate in a local/national setting, much of what is written falls into both categories in this space.
And so, with that reference point, and looking at the clip file, our No. 1 story of the year is a slam dunk.
Some of the most prominent layouts on the Inquirer sports pages, as well as other newspapers, involved the Rutgers women’s team, which easily becomes the Guru’s first-ever story of the year.
The Scarlet Knights dominated coverage, beginning auspiciously with a downward slide out of the AP rankings in early January as Hall of Fame coach C.Vivian Stringer scrambled to get a young squad, hit by some injuries, back on track playing the defensive schemes upon which she made her reputation.
By early February, Rutgers was again on the rise with some momentum, although two setbacks were to Connecticut along the way.
However, a week after the second loss to the Huskies, the Scarlet Knights stunned UConn in Hartford, of all places, to win a first-ever Big East title.
Several weeks later in Greensboro, N.C., in the NCAA regional semifinals, Rutgers pulled the upset of the year, rallying to edge overall No. 1 seed Duke, 53-52, in a finish that involved all-American Lindsey Harding, the Blue Devils’ best player, missing two foul shots with just a scant of time left on the clock.
Two days later, the Scarlet Knights earned their second-ever trip to the NCAA Final Four and first since 2000 by beating Arizona State.
Once arrived in Cleveland, Rutgers surprised again by routing LSU in the national semifinals and becoming the first-ever team to advanced from an unranked slot in the AP poll to the NCAA championship.
However, longtime nemesis Tennessee ended the Cinderella ride as the Vols captured their seventh NCAA crown.
But unknowingly at the time, Rutgers was not yet done becoming front-page news.
Nationally-known radio talk show host Don Imus in New York had watched the title game and the next morning made made some disparaging remarks about the Rutgers women during his broadcast.
The comments created a firestorm resulting in his firing, although he has since returned to the airways on another station after having apologized several times to Rutgers.
On the morning of April 10, Stringer and her players gained acclaimed in their response to the Imus in a nationally-televised press conference.
The Rutgers program had legs extend into the summer. Essence Carson, Matee Ajavon, and Kia Vaughn were on gold-medal winning USA Basketball teams.
And prominent Scarlet Knights alum Cappie Pondexter, perhaps the program’s all-time player, became the MVP of the WNBA playoffs when the Phoenix Mercury rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win their first pro-league title, beating the defending champion Detroit Shock in the Motor City to become then first in the league’s 11-year history to win a championship on the road.
On the front part of this season, Rutgers showed capability of returning to the NCAA title game and also made news on the recruiting front with one of the very elite recruiting classes.
``Can you believe that class she has?” Auburn coach Nell Fortner said to us when the Tigers were here last weekend for St. Joseph’s tournament, won by the Hawks over Fortner’s team.
Click here on the link to read the rest of the list
Turmoil and Serenity at Penn State
As to our choice for No. 2, the competition is tight, but the nod goes to Penn State involving the March 22nd resignation of coach Rene Portland after 27 seasons and the hiring of former Notre Dame associate head coach Coquese Washington a month later.
Portland, who built the program into a national power, left a month after a settlement in a controversial case involving a former player who had accused the longtime coach and former Immaculata star of discriminating against her for perceiving her as a lesbian, which the player denied. A month later Washington was hired with the task of restoring luster to the Nittany Lions, who suffered two straight losing seasons.
Prominent Coaches Dance the Post-Season Shuffle
Given a special 2-A ranking as a companion to runnerup story of the year was the major shuffle involving prominent coaches, as well as large salaries also given by schools to keep coaches in place.
Texas’ Jody Conradt and Illinois’ Theresa Grentz , a former Rutgers coach and Immaculata teammate of Portland’s, left the profession, while Duke’s Gail Goestenkoers replaced Conradt at Texas, and Michigan State’s Joanne P. McCallie moved to Duke.
Rutgers associate head coach Jolette Law replaced Grentz at Illinois. Washington’s June Daugherty was let go and then moved to Pac-10 rival Washington State.
Controvery also involved LSU, which advanced to a third straight Final Four after Pokey Chatman resigned as the NCAA field was announced. She left in the wake of charges of being involved with a former player. She was later replaced by Van Chancellor, a former Mississippi coach who had retired the previous fall as coach of the WNBA’s Houston Comets, winner of the league’s first four titles. Chancellor also led the U.S. to gold in the 2004 games in Athens, Greece.
Meanwhile, Stringer, Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, Temple’s Dawn Staley, Ball State’s Tracey Roller, and California’s Joanne Boyle were among coaches given new contracts by their current schools wanting to keep them in place.
Tennessee Seals' Seventh Crown
Tennessee’s seventh title and first after a long absence and the play of tournament MVP: Candace Parker, is third on the list. There was also the brief suspense over whether Parker would jump to the WNBA, legally allowed, after her sophomore season.
N.C. State'sYow a Profile in Courage
Story No. 4 is the courageous battle against breast cancer by Kay Yow, took a large chunk of the season off and then returned to lead the Wolfpack to the Sweet 16. Recently, a health initiative in her name in the fight against cancer was announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and the Jimmy V Foundation.
Mercury Boils to the Top of the WNBA
Story No. 5 is the run to the WNBA title by Phoenix in the second-year of coach Paul Westhead’s motorized offense. Besides Rutgers’ Pondexter, the squad also included former Connecticut star Diana Taurasi, who suffered playoff near-misses her first three seasons.
Westhead returned to the NBA as an assistant at Seattle after the championship and replaced by assistant Corey Gaines. (A story on Westhead appears in the Inquirer print section today from our NBA writer at Philly.com).
Phoenix was also involved in a historic WNBA draft day in which the Mercury took Lindsey Harding as the overall No. 1 pick and then traded her to Minnesota for veteran Tangela Smith a key component in the title run. Draft day also saw San Antonio No. 2 overall pick Jessica Davenport out of Ohio State dealt to the New York Liberty for franchise star Becky Hammon, who led the Silver Stars to the Western Conference title round.
Delle Donne Eyes Gold in Yukon -- Oops -- UConn
Story No. 6 is the decision by Wilmington’s Elena Delle Donne to go to Connecticut, giving the Huskies their third straight overall No. 1 acclaimed high school prospect. For a brief period, there was a possibility Delle Donne would chose Villanova.
The class will also include Germantown Academy’s Carolyn Doty. Meanwhile, freshman Maya Moore, this season’ overall top freshman, will be here Thursday night when Connecticut opens the Big East at Villanova.
Summitt Says `Nyet' to Huskies
Story No. 7 is the decision by Tennessee’s Pat Summitt to cancel the 12-year regular-season series with Connecticut for reasons which have never been publicly specified, though different causes have been reported. (OK. Some will argue a higher slot, but when the story broke, we were involved in a certain, ahem, induction at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June.)
National/ACC Showdown on Tobacco Road
Story No. 8 is the Duke-North Carolina game won by the Blue Devils on the road in nearby Chapel Hill. The teams were ranked 1-2 in early February and were also the last two unbeaten Division I teams at the time – the deepest in the season that situation occurred.
USA Basketball's Summer of Gold
Story No. 9 is the USA Basketball success, the national squad qualifying for the Olympics this summer in Beijing China by winning the FIBA Americas Tournament, the success of the other squads, and Temple coach Dawn Staley, an assistant to Olympic coach Anne Donovan, coaching the U.S. to a gold in the Pan American games.
Hawks Shock Colonials
Story No. 10 is St. Joseph’s upset of then-No. 8 George Washington in the Atlantic Ten semifinals at Xavier in Cincinnati after the Colonials had heen unbeaten in conference play.
Lest We Forget
Other events of note was the East’s surprise win over the West in the WNBA All-Star game, Temple winning a third straight Big Five title and then setting a current City Series win streak record of 16 straight. The Owls’ Kamesha Hairston was the second straight Temple player to become a WNBA first-round pick, taken by the Connecticut Sun.
Villanova’s struggle to a worst-ever 8-21 record was noteworthy as well as the revival to date of the Wildcats, who have been on a three-point shooting spree.
(Updating this item) As summer arrived, so did a Hollywood movie crew in the suburbs to film "Our Lady of Victory" about Immaculata's first national title under Cathy Rush. The plans are to release the finished product around the time of this season's Final Four.
There’s also the recent overtime upset of Tennessee, which had been No. 1 from the start of the season until last week after Stanford’s overtime win.
In terms of courageous cancer fights, include the return of Drexel’s Nicole Hestor, who missed all of last season. Delaware gained an at-large NCAA bid but the Blue Hens are struggling with an 11-game losing streak.
-- Mel
Philly.com discussions are intended to be civil, friendly conversations. Please treat other participants with respect and in a way that you would want to be treated. You are responsible for what you say. And please, stay on topic.
These boards are monitored by Philly.com staff. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Personal attacks, especially on other board participants, are not permitted. We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.