Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Suzie McConnell-Serio went from being the signature player in Penn State women’s basketball history as a 5-4 point guard and NCAA career assist leader to having a signature career well beyond her days in Happy Valley while building a sizeable family of her own along the way.

“When something like this happens it makes you look back at everything you’ve done,” she said here Friday afternoon on the eve of her induction to the 10th anniversary class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

“It’s really been an incredible ride for me – as a player at the high school level, in AAU, college, the Olympics, the WNBA, every experience I’ve had at every level has been incredible,” said McConnell-Serio, who just completed her first season as coach of Duquesne in her native Pittsburgh.

“And then as a coach at Oakland Catholic, at Minnesota (in the WNBA), and now at Duquesne, each aspect of my career has been special in its own way. It’s unbelievable when you look back and how much I loved it and to be honored for that is pretty amazing.”

Her oldest son Peter was born between her appearances in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and then she retired to have three more children before resuming her stellar point guard role by becoming a member of the WNBA’s former Cleveland Rockers in 1998.

McConnell-Serio was named the WNBA newcomer of the year to differentiate from pure rookie status and then later earned a coach of the year award with the pro league’s Minnesota Lynx. She also coached Oakland Catholic to several Pennsylvania high school titles.

“If the WNBA had been around when I graduated college, I probably would not have had my four children when I did -- my son, at least, would not have been born in 1990, so I loved the way things happened and I would not ask for anything better.”

Late in the afternoon a busload carrying the McConnell family and other friends and associates arrived to celebrate McConnell-Serio’s big weekend.

She is being inducted along with veteran Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, referee Patty Broderick, former Australian star Michele Timms, who played in the WNBA and is now an assistant coach with the Chinese national team, recently retired Central Arizona coach Lin L. Laursen (970 wins), and Jill Rankin Schneider, who was an all-American at both Wayland Baptist in Texas and then at Tennessee after she transferred.

“I sent the hall keepsakes from both programs for the display cases,” Rankin Schneider said.

Ironically, McConnell-Serio’s sister, Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, played for Ryan at Virginia and will do the video introduction of McConnell-Serio during Saturday night’s ceremonies at the Bijou Theatre.

ESPN personalities Debbie Antonelli and Beth Mowins are emceeing this weekend’s festivities and contrary to the Guru’s original assumption on the previous post, the duo actually did produce a pod cast Friday night from the Hall, which will appear with the others on WBCA.org.

After a buffet dinner at the WBHOF that included barbqcue chicken, brisket, and pulled pork, those associated with inductees were invited to tell whatever tale they wished about the honorees.

McConnell-Miller, being connected to three of the inductees, injected humor to the occasion.

“I’d like to thank Patty Broderick who was responsible for most of my losses this season,” she said.

Turning to Ryan and talking about a squad in which Dawn Staley and Tammy Reiss were her teammates, McConnell-Miller said, ``If you had played me more, I would be up here instead of her (McConnell-Miller).”

Mika Ryan, who is a sister-in-law of the Virginia coach, was Debbie Ryan’s first assistant before she later moved on and someone named Geno Auriemma succeeded her.

She had just graduated North Carolina and was interviewing for the job when she first met Ryan’s brother Pat, who was a student in law school at UVA.

Ryan, who guided the Cavaliers to three straight NCAA Final Four appearances (1990-92), talked in the afternoon briefly about the 1991 overtime loss to Tennessee in which a shot by Reiss late in regulation was ruled not to be a three-pointer, factoring in the game being extended.

Broderick was involved with that call in New Orleans.

“I always felt in 1991 I left that group down, but having Patty Broderick here has helped me a lot because she talked about that call and everything.

“Tonya Cardoza was called for a blocking foul but there was no way she could do that because once the ball was released it was in the basket before the whistle blew.

“It stings, but only for them. It doesn’t sting for me. It’s not about me or my career, it’s really about my players and what I felt they deserved and what was right at that time.”

Broderick admitted Friday it was a call that should not have gone against Virginia.

“It was my toughest, lowest moment,” Broderick said. “But a lot of mistakes are made, so you just try to move on and learn from them. You don’t intend for them to happen.”

Alluding to the controversial ending of the Rutgers-Tennessee game here in February in which the clock froze for 1.13 seconds allowing the Vols to get to the line with the winning free throws, Broderick, who was not on that crew, said, “That’s part of the game. You’re going to have bad calls, whether it’s basketball, football, or tennis. It doesn’t matter – baseball. If you ref more than 30 years – hey, I have more than one. But you know what, I have a lot of great calls, too. You’re only as good as your last call.”

Ryan’s ongoing success off the court has been her battle against pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed in August 2000.

“I’m glad to be here, frankly, I’m glad to be anywhere,” Ryan said. “Being able to attend here is just an incredible thing for me. You don’t ever win that game because it’s not really something that you talk about. It’s more about being able to stay healthy and cancer-free is a blessing for me.”

Ryan will be introduced by former player Val Ackerman, who went on to become the WNBA’s first president and is now the first female president of USA Basketball.

Broderick couldn’t believe it when she was told of her honor a year ago.

“I never thought it would happen in a million years. But to follow in the footsteps of my two mentors (past inductees Marcy Weston and Darlene May), it means a lot. I’m a student and I’m proud of my coaches.”

Broderick will be introduced by veteran officials Sally Bell and June Corteau.

Judging by the large number of Broderick’s colleagues who were hanging out in the hotel lobby Friday night, it was surprising that the WNBA schedule had not gone dark for lack of referees.

Asked her best moment, Broderick said, “I’ve been involved in so many of them – collegiate moments, WNBA, Olympic moments (1988), my first CYO championship game. That probably is one of the biggest highlights I’ve ever had and to be in the hall of fame is just icing on the cake.

“Nothing I’ve ever, ever imagined. When I got the call, I was speechless. Like, no way. It was so emotional that I just was overwhelmed.”

Broderick during the night session told a story about the nightmare travels she experienced trying to get through an ice storm to work a Rutgers-Tennessee game in Piscataway, N.J.

Ironically, the Guru because of the same storm was heading up to cover the event and when he called the Scarlet Knights to say he was running late, he had been told, “Don’t worry, one of the referees is having trouble getting here.”

Why does the Guru remember that moment? Because Rutgers won the game, making it the first time in regular season that an unranked team had upset a No. 1 team.

Back to Friday’s activities, Laursen invoked a few laughs during the afternoon media session at one of the displays in which wax figures depict players in a timeout huddle. One of the buttons allows visitors to the exhibit to hear a recording of Villanova coach Harry Perretta.

Looking at the figurines as she moved to pretend to be coaching them, Laursen observed, “They look a little depressed. Come on. So what if you are down by 50 (points). And no turnovers.”

-- Mel