Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

In the last week as the Guru studied pontetial seeds, but never got around to saying some things aloud in this space, the Rutgers-Connecticut regional thing was looming as a potential happening.

The Guru was also quickly discounted on the topic by some friends when he ventured to the Big East title game in Hartford last week and noted that it would not be surprising to see Rutgers and Connecticut end up in the same draw.

So how could the Guru envision such an occurrence?

First, many discussions speculating the draw were obvlious of the fine print in the rules changes last summer that focused on a return to the 16-site format in the early rounds as compared to the present eight that has been used the last several years.

One changed allowed for two conference teams to meet in a regional final.

Secondly, when the Guru participated in last month's NCAA mock committee meeting in Indianapolis, we were told by staffers in establishing our guidelines that the WBCA told the NCAA its members preferred geography over seed and as such that request was given a top priority in the principles and procedures for establishing the draw.

We were also told that balance does not mean equal.

This meant that the overall No. 1 seed by virtue of all those parameters could end up seeing a No. 2 from its own conference in the regional final. Remember, we were still four weeks away from ther actual selections and a bunch of important games were still to be played.

However, the way the dynamic was playing out, a 1-2 potential of Connecticut-Rutgers, North Carolina-Maryland, or Tennessee-LSU existed out of the Big East, ACC, and SEC, respectively.

To review the season, LSU had fought back from some early losses against top teams, but the Tigers still needed to beat Tennessee in the SEC title game to be a No. 1.

Maryland fell in the Atlantic Coast semifinals to Duke but had enough in its body of work to still remain in contention for a No. 1. Incidentally, we liked Duke as a No. 2, but it's potential matchup as a No. 3 with Texas A&M makes it the same game.

When many rushed to give Stanford a No. 1 in the West because it won its conference, whereas other contenders didn't get to their conference title games, several past committee chairs all noted, as did the Guru agree, that Rutgers, Maryland, and LSU were still worth considering ahead of Stanford for the top line.

And as for Rutgers perceived as the lowest No. 2 because of the matchup with overall No. 1 UConn, that is not necessarily true.

Off the Cleveland regional placement controversy of several years, which also involved Rutgers, we were later told that "seed" is not the same as "bracket" and that Tennessee matched against North Carolina, which was the overall No. 1, did not mean the Vols were the true No. 8.

But Rutgers, as it did losing to West Virginia in 2005, contributed to its own situation by losing in the Big East tournament quarterfinals to Louisville, which, if this was a tight competition in figure skating, would be considered to have slipped on the ice worse than the other contenders.

Had the Scarlet Knights gotten to the title game against Connecticut, their perceived No. 1 seed would have been protected and they would have remained on the top line.

Also, by Rutgers not meeting Connecticut for a third time, which would have happened in the Big East title game, the committee was given a license, in what loomed as a tough deliberation to say, as the 1-2 matchup came on the scene, "But, hey, they didn't meet in the Big East, and they'd have to play each other at some point, so this will make everything else work."

Had the projected Big East matchup occurred, Rutgers would have been out of harm's way.

But the Scarlet Knights, as the Guru warned several weeks ago, would have still run into tough draws as a No. 1. A matchup with LSU in New Orleans loomed, which is what North Carolina drew. A potential matchup with Oklahoma somewhere in Oklahoma City loomed, as is what Tennessee drew. And a long trip to Spokane, Wash., also loomed, with Stanford as the potential No. 2.

By the way, if it means anything to the Rutgers fan base ego, it does not appear that everyone in UConn country began dancing in the streets when the Scarlet Knights loomed as the Huskies' barrier to a Final Four.

In this particular year, while parity from the top does not drop too far downwards, it is still deeper than the past and everyone has hurdles to surmount to win a national title.

Since winning the NCAA title was a goal for the Scarlet Knights beyond the past of just getting to a Final Four, a back-to-back UConn-Tennessee, in whatever order, combo loomed for Rutgers in Tampa at one point.

And to be blunt, if the Scarlet Knights play like they did at times, such as against Louisville, all of this reaction will have been just another exercise in frustration. On the other hand, if they play inspired and sharp, this journey may still have a happy ending in the season's final chapter.

Guru bats 63-for-63.

If there is noise all over the place at the top of the bracket, the reaction to the draw is the quietest in years elsewhere. There didn't seem to be much angst from teams that were omitted.

TCU needed to win the Mountain West, the way it played out in that conference tournament, or not have an un-projected team, as New Mexico was, gain the the automatic bid.

And, as the Guru checked his declared field in this space 24 hours ago, against the real team draw, the only school not on the Guru's final cut was Florida State and that was because of a miscount by the Guru when he was subtracting teams from the bubble. But the other 63 all made it, including all the declared locks.

NCAA Committee's Justice?

In awarding Connecticut ahead of Tennessee with the overall No. 1, it appears the committee went with the "basketball" argument ahead of the RPI mathematics. But in giving The Vols the third No. 1 behind North Carolina, the Guru wonders whether Tennessee was tagged with a virtual loss to Rutgers, which would have been reality, had "clockgate" not been allowed to happen by the game officials.

Incidentally, keep an eye on the early boxscores, because if any of the three that worked the game in Knoxville fail to appear, then their omission might be a result of an unannounced punishment for failing to use a stop watch against the monitor to verify the clock freeze that that was apparent to the rest of the world.

Close Call for Temple?

At Temple's selection party, coach Dawn Staley privately wondered whether her Owls were one of the last teams given an at-large, because of their 11th seed, which she had no complaints about.

Even if true, the Owls never appeared to be placed in real jeopardy by either conference "wrong losers" or other at-large contenders for the last spots because of their regular season Atlantic Ten co-championship with George Washington and their rugged out-of-conference schedule.

Been there and done that.

First-time Ivy champion Cornell drew Connecticut in the first round in Bridgeport.

That experience will be nothing new to Cornell coach Dayna Smith, who was involved in the same draw and location several years ago as an assistant to former Penn coach Kelly Greenberg, who is now with Boston U.

NCAA Rookies

East Tennessee St. -- Atlantic Sun champion
Cleveland St. -- Horizon champion
Cornell -- Ivy champion
Miami of Ohio -- Mid-American champion
Murray St. -- Ohio Valley champion
Texas-San Antonio -- Southland champion
Fresno State -- Western Athletic champion
UTEP -- At-large from C-USA
Wyoming -- At-large from Mountain West

Summitt milestone

If Tennessee surives the Purdue sub-regional, coach Pat Summitt will have reached her 100th NCAA triumph for herself and the Vols.

Big East power

All 12 Big East teams that played in the conference tournament went to the postseason. Eight are in the NCAA, tying last year's record for the conference and the NCAA, and four went to the WNIT.

Final Poll Data

This week's final Associated Press poll announced on Monday was the 20th of the season, the most ever in the 32-year history of the rankings.

Connecticut leads Tennessee, 7-5, in all-time finishes at the top.

UTEP, Marist, and California made their first-ever appearance in the final poll, while West Virginia made its second, and Oklahoma State its third.

California and Texas A&M made their first-ever top 10 appearances in the final.

Tennessee is the only school to place in all 32 final polls, with five No. 1 finishes, 29 in the top 10 and 24 in the top five.

In overall Top 10 appearances, the Top 10-Top 10 is:
Tennessee 494
Louisiana Tech 373
Connecticut 261
Stanford 259
Georgia 249
Texas 217
Rutgers 185
Old Dominion 180
Maryland 175
Long Beach St. 166
We'll have more data in the next several days

-- Mel