Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

Now La Salle coach Tom Lochner knows what life would be like at the close of the season if he had a similar job in the NFL.

"The Atlantic Ten is so competitive through the middle that if we lose Saturday night, we're the 13th seed and staying home from the conference tournament. But if we win, we could move up as high as the ninth seed," Lochner said from the team bus Friday night on the way to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne in what will be the last A-10 game of the day to determine the tournament seeds.

"Only a few points in a bunch of games have affected everything for us and other teams. We're going to approach the game against a good Duquesne team with the same purpose we do every game, although obviously there's more of an urgency among our seniors."

One of them -- Carlene Hightower -- is likely to land on the All-Atlantic Ten first team, even if Saturday night becomes her final collegiate performance.

Duquesne, incidentally, is coached by former Penn State star Suzie McConnell-Serio in her first season. Not given seriously consideration for the vacancy that opened at her alma mater last spring, who would have forecasted that her team at this hour has one more win than the Nittany Lions.

A victory over La Salle puts McConell-Serio's team in the tournament. Penn State, meanwhile, is on a school-record nine-game losing streak after a promising start under new coach Coquesne Washington, a quality hire who will eventually get the program back to respectability.

Meanwhile, The A-10 office, located here in Philadelphia, could quickly use some experienced loggers, and they're not talking about the modern day ones with internet expertise.

A mammoth logjam looms ahead to determine the seeds for next weekend's conference tournament here at St. Joseph's.

The Atlantic Ten has taken family ties to a new extreme all over the standings.

Only Fordham, on a path to dubious history in Washington Saturday afternoon, has made everything precisely clear without further need for mathematical comparisons.

The Rams (0-28), which have long since been eliminated from tournament participation, will be a heavy underdog at George Washington, which is tied for first with Temple. A loss will make Fordham the first team to ever finish at 0-29.

Unfortunately, the government is closed on the weekends.Thus, President Bush won't be traveling to the Smith Center for postgame ceremonies to declare Fordham a disaster area eligible for federal recovery funds for the Rams' recruiting budget.

If the NCAA held a collegiate draft of high school players, Wilmington's Elena Delle Donne would be heading for a future reputation as a Bronx bomber in New York City rather than one in the frozen tundra as a Connecticut Husky in Storrs.

Speaking of Storrs, Jonathan is making his first visit to the thirving suburb of Hartford to visit a friend at UConn and reported back of his initial impression: "This place is a cow town." Then, unaware of the obvious, he noted that he currently was at a dining place called "The Dairy Bar."

"Makes sense to me," your Guru responded.

Incidentally, Fordham is a case in point of why the RPI should not be an end-all.

While the Rams are being portrayed in the media as the worst-team ever, although the effort and desire of coach Cathy Andruzzi's players would tell a different story, the RPI simulations indicate that 11 teams can be found with a ranking lower than Fordham's 327.

Meanwhile, a quirk of league scheduling combined with team performances, have produced a fascinating afternoon for a conference that many refer to as mid-major, which might be a mis-identification.

The Guru is not going to supplant the conference in explaining every situation but will now take a look at things from the perspective of the three local members -- Temple, St. Joseph's, and, as mentioned, where the real fun exists: La Salle.

George Washington, the overwhelming conference favorite, is looking for help from Massachusetts against Temple, here at the Liacouras Center, to recover the top seed.

The Colonials held that spot in a three-way deadlock before Xavier lost a second time this season Wednesday night to Dayton, dropping the Musketeers to third.

That propelled Temple, which was looking at a No. 3 seed, to the No. 1 seed, because the Owls' win over George Washington gives them the tie-breaker. So the Colonials will be a No. 1 or No. 2, depending on the Owls, who could have the last laugh on a preseason conference poll picking them fourth.

If Temple, the lone city hope for an NCAA tournament bid, loses and Xavier beats St. Bonaventure, the Owls drop to third seed because of their loss to the Musketeers. Or they hold a nmumber two seed with a loss and a St. Bonaventure upset of the Musketeers.

St. Joseph's, which will host Rhode Island, is sixth no matter what, playing the last game at 6 p.m.on Friday's opening day of competition.

The Hawks can finish in a three-way tie for fourth with Dayton and Charlotte if both lose Saturday and they beat Rhode Island. But they lost to both, so there's no gain through tie-breakers. They can also finish in a two-way for fifth with either of the aforementioned teams, but still lose on head-to-head tiebreakers with either.

They can also finish in sixth outright at either 8-6 id Dayton and Charlotte win above them. But, they can also be tied at sixth with a loss and a win or wins by St. Bonaventure and Richmond, which will be at Charlotte. St. Joseph's wins that two-way or three-way by virtual of the Hawks' wins over both.

We don't have to go into the next situation, locally, but we will mathematically note that if St. Bonaventure and Richmond lose, while Duquesne, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Saint Louis win, a six-way tie will exist for seventh.

It may come down to casting lots to break that tie or it may be done via Linda Bruno cutting a few deals to trade members with the CAA in one of her final acts as commissioner.

All that said, here are what all La Salle fans need to know other than the best ways to get around the Explorers' campus neighborhood at rush hour, let alone the Tom Gola Arena parking lot.

Obviously, a loss means Lochner will be joining us on the social circuit at St. Joe's next weekend and Hightower will attempt to land a tryout in the WNBA. She's also one of nine finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, so don't fret over her ability to land a job somewhere.

But if La Salle wins, they will be involved in one of eight tie-breaking situations to get into the tournament, let alone seed, and the Explorers win out in all but one. Furthermore, with every game Saturday determined before the Explorers take the floor, they will know exactly what they're looking at in terms of extending their season.

The one thing they don't want to hear looming ahead is a three-way tie for 11th with Duquesne and Massachusetts. The reason is in all scenarios above two-team head-to-heads, the records against each other as a group becomes the first tie-breaker to eliminate a team before continuing busting the deadlock for seeding among the survivors.

Here's how La Salle loses out. All three are 1-1, the Explorers deprived of a 2-0 because of a 66-63 loss at home to the Minutewomen. Therefore, records against the top teams in the conference in descending order are used.

All three are 0-1 against George Washington, 0-1 against Temple, assuming the Owls win today over Masachusetts. All three are 0-3 against Xavier. All three are 0-3 against Charlotte. But, against Dayton, whose Jim Jabir is a strong conference coach-of-the-year candidate, Duquesne and Massachusetts have wins, while, in a game we covered, La Salle lost in the final seconds at home, 45-43, to the Flyers, eliminating them from the tie.
Duquesne then gets the 11th seed off a win over Massachusetts, which becomes 12th.

Now, here are all the ways La Salle advances with a win.

(A) Two-way tie with Duquesne for 12th -- La Salle wins the head-to-head.

(B) Three-way tie for 11th among La Salle, Duquesne and Rhode Island

LaSalle moves forward at 2-0. Rhode Island eliminated at 0-2.

(C) Three-way tie for 11th among La Salle, Duquesne, and St. Louis, which starts Saturday's fun at noon at Dayton.

La Salle moves forward at 2-0.

Duquesne eliminated at 0-2

(D) Four-way tie for 10th with Duquesne, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

La Salle and Duquesne survive at 2-1. Massachusetts survives at 2-2, having played home-and-home with Rhode Island. Rams eliminated at 1-3. Then, in a three-way tie-break La Salle gets the 12th and final seed off same tie-break for 11th that would have eliminated La Salle. Then Duquesne gets the 10th seed off a win over Massachusetts, which is 11th.

(E) Four-way tie for 10th with Duquesne, Rhode Island, and St. Louis.

La Salle is 3-0 and gets the 10th seed, while other three are 1-2 and we didn't figure the tie-breaks here beyond La Salle's survival.

(F) And, in a five-way scenario for ninth, which quite possibly might happen, with Duquesne, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and St. Louis:

The group-against each other tiebreak gives La Salle the ninth seed off these records:

La Salle: 3-1
Duquesne 2-2
St. Louis 2-2
Massachusetts 2-3
Rhode Island 2-3.

St. Louis then gets the 10th seed off the head-to-head win with Duquesne, which gets the 11th seed. Now, depending who finishes higher between Dayton and Charlotte determines this.
If Dayton is higher, Massachusetts has a win and becomes the 12th seed, URI eliminated.
If Charlotte is higher, Rhode Island becomes the 12th seed with a win, Massachusetts eliminted.

That said, click the page jump button here and we'll talk about the Big East