Women's Hoops Guru

By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com

Hi everyone,

As Mel has alluded to a few times recently, we're moving this blog to a new platform. From now on, you'll find us at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/womhoops.

There's also a new RSS feed URL that you'll find at the new blog for those of you who read us via Google Reader or other such programs. The short link http://go.philly.com/womhoops still exists, but has been changed to direct you to the new blog.

This version of the blog will stay alive for a little while longer for archival purposes, but there will be no new posts on it.

So come join us at the new site.

By Mel Greenberg
I
f Tuesday was quite a night for Tennessee in taking the NCAA women’s basketball championship over Stanford at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., then Wednesday was equally sensational.

After spending little sleep time after accepting the trophy, the four Vols seniors and junior sensational Candace Parker gave valedictory addresses at a morning press conference and then all headed off to the WNBA a few hours later in nearby Palm Harbor to become draft picks of the 14 teams in the pro league.

Parker, the nation’s top player and eligible to be selected, became the first overall pick of the three rounds as the Los Angeles Sparks quickly made the move everyone expected to make her Leslie Leslie’s new teammate.

However, the Chicago native will report to camp with one of her college teammates – guard Shannon Bobbitt, who was taken by the Sparks at the top of the second round and 15th pick, overall.

Alexis Hornbuckle was a first-round pick, the fourth overall selection by the WNBA runnersup Detroit Shock.

Right after Bobbitt was chosen, the Minnesota Lynx, who took Stanford star Candice Wiggins as the third overall pick, selected Tennessee’s Nicky Anosike. Alberta Auguste was not abandoned -- she went 35th overall in the third round as a selection by the New York Liberty.

While Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was able to celebrate her eighth title, she certainly let everyone know at the Hyatt Hotel press conference prior to the draft what lies ahead once the hoopla dies down in Knoxville.

“I’m not going to be nearly as smart this next year,” Summitt said. “We’re going to have a young team, but we’re going to have talent. It’s going to be quite a different transition but I’m looking forward to our incoming freshmen and I’m just excited to start working with them when classes start.”

As for her departing players, the Hall of Famer saluted them, saying, “This is a special class. I love them all. I’m obviously going to miss them, but they are going on to pursue their dreams in the WNBA and I wish them all well. They certainly gave so much to our program.”

Summitt may also lose assistant coach Nikki Caldwell, who is considered a leading candidate for the vacant UCLA job.

“I have a great staff,” Summitt said of potential changes. “There are a lot of jobs out there that are actively pursuing our staff. I would never hold back one of our staff from being a head coach and running their own program. We will know something in about a month or so with people trying to make decisions after the Final Four.”

Summitt did not join her players at the draft, opting to return with the undergraduates to Knoxville for a fan celebration later in the day.

In discussing Parker’s future as a pro, the Tennessee coach said, “Candace is going to have a great impact on the league. With her talent, her skill set, and her ability to play multiple positions, she will go in and be able to have an immediate impact. I’m really proud of how hard she has worked to expand her game. She’s worked very hard in all aspects and will be a very positive player in the league. She will be a great spokesman for the WNBA.”

Parker was asked if she might still be around if a WNBA team in a lesser market than Los Angeles owned the first shot at the lucrative senior class from across the nation.
“One thing that I live my life by is the certain. I don’t go by the what-ifs. I just try to live in the moment. Going into the WNBA… I just feel like it is my time,” Parker said.

She was asked about Sunday’s semifinal in which she executed the offense in the last seven seconds to enable Tennessee to edge LSU just before time expired.

“We have a coaching staff that prepares us for different decisions, for every situation,” Parker said. “I think at the time, we didn’t quite understand coach’s thoughts and the logic of making us run drills over and over and over again. In the end, we did it.

“ It’s weird how everything at the end comes together. There is something special with our team, and down by one point, we were going to find a way to win. That’s what great teams do. Some people call it luck, but we practiced that. I just call it pulling together and winning the game. I think it encompasses everything that we are.”

Auguste and several other players compared last year’s title experience with Tuesday night’s triumph.

“Last year I did not know what to expect, this year was different because it was a special team and we were all seniors and we wanted to go out with a bang,” she said.

Hornbuckle added, “Last year’s championship was more exciting, we didn’t know what to expect …we came out and tried to play hard. There was a lot of pressure on us to win.”

Anosike observed, “There was more pressure this year. We had to go out with a bang. We did all we could for this program. I’m more satisfied this season than I was last year.”

She was asked about Parker’s WNBA future: “As long as we aren’t playing against each other I think she’ll have a great impact. No, I’m just kidding. She’s a great player I don’t know what she’ll do without me. I’m just kidding. She has great versatility. No matter what happens she’s going to be successful.”

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Candace Parker’s farewell gift to her Tennessee teammates Tuesday night was another NCAA women’s basketball title at the expense of Stanford. Now it’s on to the WNBA where she’ll likely be the overall No. 1 draft pick in Wednesday’s draft.

The Chicago native dashed off the court in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., shortly before the Vols’ 64-48 victory became official and flashed eight fingers to the sellout crowd of 21,655. Parker’s gesture indicated the number now needed by Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt to display all of her championship rings.

Stanford’s score was a season low for the Cardinal.

It was the second straight title for Tennessee (36-2), which had lost to Stanford , 73-69, in overtime in December in Palo Alto, Calif. The Vols avenged their other loss Sunday in the semifinals, beating LSU, 47-46, in the last second after the Tigers had won in Knoxville in the regular season. They also beat LSU in the Southeastern Conference title game.

Summitt, with a career record is 984-182, is just two short of the NCAA total acquired by legendary UCLA men’s coach John Wooden.

Parker, a junior who is eligible to turn pro because she missed her freshman season, repeated last years Most Outstanding Player honor after scoring a game-high 17 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and swiping four steals.

“My experience here at Tennessee has been great,” Parker said after joining Southern Cal’s Cheryl Miller, former Vols great Chamique Holdsclaw, and Connecticut’s Diana Taurasi as two-time MOP honorees at the Final Four. “I look back at my growth, not only as a player but also as a person.

“And I feel it’s been the best four years of my life,” Parker continued. “I wouldn’t change anything about it. I love my teammates, and I’m just very, very fortunate to have won two national championships. But we worked hard for it. And we deserved it.”

Shannon Bobbitt added 13 points and senior Nicky Anosike, also likely to be drafted, had 12 points and eight rebounds.

The draft will be held outside Tampa.

Jayne Appel scored 16 points for Stanford (35-4), which shocked overall top seed Connecticut in the semifinals. Senior Candice Wiggins, who could be drafted as high as third behind Parker and LSU senior Sylvia Fowles, had 14 points and grabbed four steals. But she also committed six of the Cardinal’s 25 turnovers in the face of constant Tennessee defensive pressure.

“Their pressure was much more intense this time,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer compared the two contests against the Vols. “They pressed and trapped basically the whole game this time.

“We just made too many mistakes to give ourselves a chance,” she added. “Our turnovers killed us. And I just think if that if you want to know a lot of the difference, this was just a much more physical game than the December game, just in terms of how the game was played.”

Wiggins also spoke of Stanford’s frustration on offense.

“They were really aggressive,” she said. “They were jumping, they were in passing lanes. I think it would have really helped us if we starting attacking maybe a little bit earlier.”

Tennessee spurted from a 7-7 tie early in the game to a 25-15 advantage with 6 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first half and Stanford failed to make any significant challenge the rest of the night.

Wiggins, the daughter of the late Alan Wiggins, who played baseball for the San Diego Padres, reflected on the close of her career, becoming the Cardinal’s only departing career.

“I don’t think maybe it has set in yet,” she said a few sentences before losing her composure briefly. “I wouldn’t want to be on any other team in the country, any other team. And it happens that we ended our season with a loss and that hurts. Because we wanted it. And this team is a special team.”

Many expect Connecticut, which fell short of the national title after its first finals in four seasons, to regain its former supremacy next season when a star-studded freshmen class arrives. The rookies will be highlighted by Wilmington’s Elena DelleDonne, the top high school recruit, and Germantown Academy’s Carolyn Doty. The veterans will be led by Maya Moore, who was the top newcomer this past season.

But Summitt, who could reach 1,000 career victories next season, promised she won’t be going anywhere soon, although passing Wooden’s record is not as among the reasons for hanging around Knoxville.

“I guess I’m along for the ride,” Summitt smiled. “They took me on a great one this time. And as long as I love the game, I’ll stay in it.

“Do I have a desire to try to beat Coach Wooden’s record? No. I just want to help the next team, next year, and get back to the Final Four. That’s always our goal every year,” she continued.

“And as long as I can be effective as a teacher and coach, that’s what I want to do. The day I walk in the gym and I don’t have the passion is the day I give it up.”

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

When Connecticut beat Tennessee and won the first of five NCAA women’s titles in 1995, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, reflected afterwards that it had been a fairytale season and a happy ending was meant to be.

UConn did not take the lead in that game until the closing minutes and went on to finish at 35-0.

On Sunday night at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., the pseudo Cinderella crown belonged to Stanford, whose 82-73 national semifinals victory over UConn advanced the Cardinal (35-3) into Tuesday night’s championship for the first time since 1992.

Several hours later defending champion Tennessee (35-2) won in another photo finish, beating LSU, 47-46, on Alexis Hornbuckle’s putback with seven-tenths of a second left in regulation.

Unlike the Vols’ similar narrow win in February over Rutgers in Knoxville, this triumph was free of controversy.

No stalled clock was involved, but the brilliant collegiate career of Sylvia Fowles was frozen shut along with senior classmates Erica White, Quianna Chaney, and Ashley Thomas, among four others, one game short of that elusive championship.

Fowles, who scored 24 points and pulled 20 rebounds, will be back in news on Wednesday as the No. 2 overall pick behind Tennessee junior Candace Parker in the WNBA draft, which will be held near Tampa.

Parker, who struggled with a shoulder separation injury but finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, now gets a chance to exit college with another title before turning pro, while Tennessee coach Pat Summitt will seek to improve her championship ring collection to eight.

Joining LSU (31-6) and Connecticut (36-2) on the sidelines is the fervent season-long desire of ESPN, which took a frenzied approach to a potential UConn-Tennessee title match after Summitt cancelled the regular rivalry between the two powers last summer.

Until another potential matchup looms next season, one now has all summer to get caught up in the history of the stillborn series in Richard Kent’s new book: Lady Vols and UConn: The Greatest Rivalry (iUniverse Inc., $14.95).

Although both coaches have not commented publicly on the precise cause of the breakup, each deferring to the other to speak first, Auriemma had stated several months ago he would address the issue once the season was over.

With the autopsy on the demise of the overall top-seeded Huskies virtually concluded almost as soon as Sunday’s game ended, look for the media pack to pursue Auriemma. He has some free time now with only two official duties remaining in Tampa. One is to accept the United States Basketball Writers Association’s coach of the year award Tuesday morning. The other is to handle obligations in his role as the next president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

In the wake of their respective defeats, both the Connecticut and LSU contingents addressed the adversities life can dispense along with the joyous occasions.

The Huskies, who had to overcome the season-ending knee injuries to starters Kalana Greene and senior Mel Thomas, seemed capable of gaining a sixth title, primarily on the play of freshman sensation Maya Moore. She finished with 20 points, scoring 14 in the second half as UConn tried to rally.

Ever since leaving Mississippi to lead the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA titles, LSU coach Van Chancellor found a way to rise above all those Southeastern Conference disappointments with the Rebels in a league ruled by Tennessee.

Chancellor’s WNBA success begat his achievement as the first male coach of the United States Olympic women’s team in 2004, which enabled him to guide the Americans to a gold medal in Athens.

That additional triumph earned him induction in September to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, which already includes Auriemma and Summitt. All three and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer are also members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

Chancellor returned to the collegiate level last spring after a very brief retirement following his WNBA career and led LSU into a fifth straight Final Four. The Tigers routed Tennessee in Knoxville in February after a deep deficit early in the game. They later lost a close encounter with the Vols in the SEC championship.

“Life’s thrown a lot of things at us this particular season,” Auriemma said Sunday night. “Took away two of our players. Limited one of them. And now the fairytale didn’t have a happy ending. But that’s life.”

The setback to Stanford was a reversal of a victory in November when a healthy Huskies squad beat the Cardinal, 66-54, in the Virgin Islands.

The loss Sunday meant the end of the UConn careers of Charde Houston, Brittany Hunter, and Mel Thomas.

Chancellor opened his postgame remarks, saying, “Tough way to lose a basketball game. I really feel for our seniors. They have done everything I’ve asked them to do since I was appointed LSU coach.

“And they’ve done so much and overcome so much and I’m really proud of them graduating. They do such a great job. And I am sorry I couldn’t help them win.”

Chancellor agreed on the loss being the toughest of his career.

“Yeah, especially when I thought we had it won, and I had it won …” he said.

“(LSU) Up 1, they’ve got to go the full length of the court. And it’s really a tough loss when I think about these kids and what all they have gone through for four years. I really feel for them,” Chancellor said.

In recent seasons, the Tigers have had to deal with former coach Sue Gunter’s death caused by cancer, a controversial resignation last season by former coach Pokey Chatman before the NCAA tournament began, a run to another finals under assistant Bob Starkey, who was briefly in charge as an interim head coach; and the hiring of Chancellor.

LSU’s first finals appearance in 2005 was a last-second loss to Tennessee on a steal. The Tigers blew a huge lead to eventual champion Baylor in 2006 and were routed by Rutgers last season.

“Just because you’ve been here five times in a row, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your turn,” White said. “You have to make it your turn. The game of life isn’t fair. Basketball isn’t fair.”

Meanwhile, if any team is making the Finals its turn, it’s Stanford, which will try to make it two straight over Tennessee this season, including an overtime triumph in Palo Alto, Calif., in December.

The Cardinal, carrying a bruised ego since being made a No. 2 seed behind Maryland in the Spokane Regional, is on a roll right now under VanDerveer, who also coached the U.S. to a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Perhaps Stanford’s positive omens could have been found a few days ago in senior Candice Wiggins, likely the No. 3 pick in Wednesday’s draft.

The daughter of former baseball player, the late Alan Wiggins of the San Diego Padres, she was a surprise Wade winner selection Saturday as the WBCA’s player of the year.

Wiggins followed a few hours later with another top honor, receiving the Lowe’s Senior Class Award that emphasizes academic success.

She made good on the accolades Sunday night against UConn with 25 points and 13 rebounds. The Cardinal also have other threats to avoid the focus on Wiggins, courtesy of freshman flash Jayne Appel (15 points, 10 rebounds), and Kayla Pedersen (17 points).

Despite Connecticut’s setback after missing the finals the last three seasons, the Huskies could return stronger than ever with a blue chip recruiting class highlighted by Wilmington’s Elena Della-Donne. The nation’s top recruit, she was the MVP of the winning Red team Saturday in the WBCA’s high school all-star game in Tampa.

Auriemma promised he and his Huskies will witness Tuesday’s title game, although he is required to do so anyway in his role with the WBCA.

“It’s part of who you are. It’s part of what you do,” Auriemma said. “It’s our game.”

Erin Semagin Damio contributed to this story from Tampa.

By Erin Semagin Damio

TAMPA, Fla. _ So, the past few days have been pretty busy. I'm trying to finish a lot of schoolwork and spent most of yesterday at basketball events or traveling to basketball events.

Yesterday morning, we saw the announcement of the WBCA All-American team and the Wade trophy go to Candice Wiggins of Stanford (as posted previously). Wiggins is certainly a worthy winner -- she has scored two 40+ point games during the NCAA tournament so far -- but most of the audience was probably expecting the award to go to Candace Parker of Tennessee, last year's winner. Parker is likely to be the first pick in the WNBA draft, going to the Los Angeles Sparks, and has led Tennessee to a 34-2 record this year. I didn't vote, obviously, so I don't know what the deciding factor was, or even the voting margins. Anyway, both players have had fabulous seasons. Parker has won several Player of the Year awards this year, and the other players were clearly happy for Wiggins.

The high school WBCA team was also in attendance, as were several teams who had an All-American on the roster. Stacey Dales, an Oklahoma graduate and player for the WNBA's Chicago Sky emceed and used the forum to announce her retirement -- although it had already been rumored. Dales said that she had been known as a defensive stopper, and told Candace Parker that she'd have an easier time player in Chicago without Dales there.

We also visited the St. Pete Times Forum Arena to see some open practices and press conferences. We saw the Lady Vols going through security -- I guess the arena really is being careful, no exceptions.

All teams seemed eager to play each other. Van Chancellor said he thought his LSU team was being disrespected because papers were all looking ahead to a potential Tennessee-Connecticut matchup. Geno Auriemma (or "Gene Arina," if you are to believe whoever presents the Associated Press Coach of the Year Award) said that "tomorrow night can't come soon enough for all of us."

I took a few other pictures and videos from the practice -- cell phone quality, sorry. I was not able to get out to watch all the teams' practices, so Stanford and LSU fans, sorry, I swear I'm not just trying to hype certain teams. It really is only a coincidence.

(these are also kind of unfortunately silent, but the band was playing here)

This is a Lorin Dixon layup during the Uconn practice:

Tennessee preparing their post players for Sylvia Fowles:

I was able to watch a lot of the Uconn practice. There was a big crowd.

The team spent a lot of time running plays. For those fans who think there's any kind of a Sampson effect with Charde Houston and her hair (though admittedly doubtful after the past few games), the long hair seems to be back.

Freshman Lorin Dixon spent almost the entire time on offense, at the point, practicing running the team against tough defenses. Good thinking, since she's the primary backup for Renee Montgomery and Ketia Swanier.

By Erin Semagin Damio

TAMPA, Fla. _ So, the past few days have been pretty busy. I'm trying to finish a lot of schoolwork and spent most of yesterday at basketball events or traveling to basketball events.

Yesterday morning, we saw the announcement of the WBCA All-American team and the Wade trophy go to Candice Wiggins of Stanford (as posted previously). Wiggins is certainly a worthy winner -- she has scored two 40+ point games during the NCAA tournament so far -- but most of the audience was probably expecting the award to go to Candace Parker of Tennessee, last year's winner. Parker is likely to be the first pick in the WNBA draft, going to the Los Angeles Sparks, and has led Tennessee to a 34-2 record this year. I didn't vote, obviously, so I don't know what the deciding factor was, or even the voting margins. Anyway, both players have had fabulous seasons. Parker has won several Player of the Year awards this year, and the other players were clearly happy for Wiggins.

The high school WBCA team was also in attendance, as were several teams who had an All-American on the roster. Stacey Dales, an Oklahoma graduate and player for the WNBA's Chicago Sky emceed and used the forum to announce her retirement -- although it had already been rumored. Dales said that she had been known as a defensive stopper, and told Candace Parker that she'd have an easier time player in Chicago without Dales there.

We also visited the St. Pete Times Forum Arena to see some open practices and press conferences. We saw the Lady Vols going through security -- I guess the arena really is being careful, no exceptions.

All teams seemed eager to play each other. Van Chancellor said he thought his LSU team was being disrespected because papers were all looking ahead to a potential Tennessee-Connecticut matchup. Geno Auriemma (or "Gene Arina," if you are to believe whoever presents the Associated Press Coach of the Year Award) said that "tomorrow night can't come soon enough for all of us."

I took a few other pictures and videos from the practice -- cell phone quality, sorry. I was not able to get out to watch all the teams' practices, so Stanford and LSU fans, sorry, I swear I'm not just trying to hype certain teams. It really is only a coincidence.

(these are also kind of unfortunately silent, but the band was playing here)

This is a Lorin Dixon layup during the Uconn practice:

Tennessee preparing their post players for Sylvia Fowles:

I was able to watch a lot of the Uconn practice. There was a big crowd.

The team spent a lot of time running plays. For those fans who think there's any kind of a Sampson effect with Charde Houston and her hair (though admittedly doubtful after the past few games), the long hair seems to be back.

Freshman Lorin Dixon spent almost the entire time on offense, at the point, practicing running the team against tough defenses. Good thinking, since she's the primary backup for Renee Montgomery and Ketia Swanier.

By Mel Greenberg

Will the NCAA Women’s Final Four transform into a season-long anticipated two-ring circus with Tennessee and Connecticut matching up for the national championship – one more time?

That question will be answered Sunday night in Tampa, Fla., when the two longtime national rivals who no longer meet in a prelim will try to dispense with two powerful hurdles.

Connecticut, the overall No. 1 seed who is back in the tournament for the first time since 2004, will meet Stanford, which hasn’t advanced this deep since 1997.

Then the crowd in the St. Pete Times-Forum will watch a third meeting and rubber game between Tennessee and LSU. The Tigers took the first game in Knoxville before the Vols gained revenge in the Southeastern Conference title game.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain: There has never been this much star power at a Women’s Final Four among the coaches and players.

The focus of the second game is the matchup between Tennessee’s junior Candace Parker and LSU’s Sylvia Fowles, who are likely to be the 1-2 pick in Wednesday’s WNBA draft, which will be held near Tampa at the Innisbrook Golf and Country Club.

Parker, who is said to have shaken off a shoulder injury obtain in the Oklahoma City regional title game against Texas A&M, had been a roll of national player of the year honors again until Saturday when the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced Stanford’s Candice Wiggins as the winner of the Margaret Wade Award.

The native of Chicago, who is eligible for the draft because she would otherwise be a senior had she not sat out her first season with an injury, recently announced her decision to turn pro.

The Los Angeles Sparks have the first pick. Fowles will likely be taken by the Chicago Sky. Wiggins has already been mentioned, while Connecticut has managed to overcome season-ending knee injuries to starters Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas because of the sensational play of freshman Maya Moore.

As for the coaches, the four have produced 14 national titles, three Olympic gold medals, and four WNBA titles.

“I think this is the greatest star power we’ve ever had,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor, who led the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA titles and the United States to an Olympic gold medal at the Athens games in 2004.

“I think if you went out and asked the average fan to name four players, they could name all four players. And that’s great for our game. It’s truly outstanding. And I think it’s a very good Final Four. You’re going to see some players do some exceptional things in this tournament.”

Tennessee’s Pat Summitt has won an NCAA six national titles, led the U.S. to Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984, and is the all-time leader in career victories with 981.

Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer has won two NCAA titles and an Olympic gold medal in the watershed Atlanta Games in 1996 when women’s athletics gained nationwide interest.

Auriemma has won five NCAA titles and was an Olympic assistant to Nell Fortner in 2000 in the Sydney games in Australia.

This is LSU’s fifth straight appearance at the finals, but Chancellor, who returned to the collegiate ranks last spring and never made it this far coaching Mississippi, criticized the media Saturday for already attempting to play up the Tennessee-Connecticut collision, which is still two wins away from becoming a reality.

“It’s been an amazing deal for me,” Chancellor observed. I’m amazed that a team that’s been to five Final Fours (is getting ) so little respect.”

Despite his experiences at the highest levels of women’s basketball as a coach, Chancellor has been thrilled with this year’s success with the Tigers, who beat No. 1 seed North Carolina in the New Orleans regional.

“This has been like a kid at Christmastime,” Chancellor gushed, “for me to make a Final Four with a great group of kids who beat a great North Carolina team.

“For me right now, it can’t get any better than this. To have this opportunity, to finally arrive here as a coach. But to arrive here with players you truly, really like,” Chancellor continued.

“Sometimes you coach players that you can’t wait until the season gets over with. This has been a special, special year, and I’ve really enjoyed every minute. So that makes that moment special.”

Topical Tampa: The front page of Saturday’s Tampa Tribune greeted hotel visitors outside their bedrooms, as well as regular readers, with this headline: Final Fouir Gives Lesabians Forum to Celebrate Women. … At the Associated Press awards, which gave Parker its players of the year and Auriemma it’s coach of the year, Auriemma was introduced to the media in attendance as Gene Aureema. … A lavish party by the host committee at the Aquarium featured a thundershower that inundated the section not containing a roof. ,,, La Salle senior Carlene Hightower, announced Friday as the Big Five women's player of the year, was a ,late-addition to the WNBA's pre-draft camp being held at the University of Tampa.

Erin will be reporting Sunday night’s games on the scene.

Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Less than 24-hours removed from her final moments as an active collegian, Rutgers' Essence Carson was on a telephonic call Wednesday afternoon, courtesy of the WNBA, as part of a discussion involving what promises to be one of the best-ever drafts of the pro league when it is held next Wednesday in the outskirts of Tampa, Fla.

Innisbrook Golf Club, the site of the draft, happens to be among the holdings of one Sheila Johnson, the owner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics.

Carson, who along with senior teammate Matee Ajavon, is expected to go high in the selection process, found herself addressing both the immediate future and past due to the short timing between Tuesday's loss to UConn in the Greensboro, N.C., regional final and the WNBA call.

Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne, who was also on the call, had a little more time to collect her thoughts, since her new designation as a former collegian was 48 hours old after Maryland's loss to Stanford in Spokane, Wash., on Monday night. Terrapin teammate Laura Harper,who is also draft-bound, was among the players addressed by several league coaches, as well as broadcast analyst.

The draft itself will be headlined by Tennessee junior Candace Parker, expected to go first overall to Los Angeles. The Chicago native isn't jumping once the Vols' season is done, since she is eligible because she would be a senior this season had she not had knee surgery around the time she arrived in Knoxville as a freshman.

The other part of the marquee picks at the top of the line is LSU's Sylvia Fowles, expected to be taken second by the Chicago Sky.

Ironically, the 1-2 draft punch will be going against each other Sunday night in one of the NCAA national semifinal games in Tampa.

"I think in this situation both players would be No. 1 if they came out in separate drafts," new Chicago coach Steven Key said.

Incidentally, if you think the poor players involved ran into a collegiate-pro overlap, it was even more adventurous for the writers who cover both sports, since the early afternoon phone call with the WNBA was immediately followed by the NCAA's interview session with the coaches of the Final Four teams.

The Guru was in transit during all this so understand all the quotes are off the transcripts, although there's nothing exclusive since the public can find both discussions at the Web sites of both organizations.

Carson, in her opening comments, noted, "To have the chance to play in the WNBA has always been a dream of mine, to take part in something that is growing and to be given such a great opportunity."

Asked to reflect on her immediate past, Carson said, "I believed we stayed consistent throughout the season, especially defensively. As the season progressed, the chemistry increased and everything clicked on all cylinders by the time we reached the tournament. We had a great tournament run and unfortunately it ended up in a loss, but this season was a success and in the face of adversity we continued to rise and fight for each other; we never gave up."

Carson described the immediate aftermath of the loss to Connecticut after Rutgers had bolted to a 14-point lead in the first half.

"The locker room scene was very quiet, we were just taking in the game. It defnitely hurt a lot; it hurts to lose. We came straight back to Jersey,it was a very sad flight and everyone was really hurt by ending our season too quickly."

Carson's coach C. Vivian Stringer, has a bunch of former players in the WNBA, accented most recently by Cappie Pondexter, who was the MVP of last summer's title run by the Phoenix Mercury.

"Every players that has come through her program has learned the game of basketball as a whole," Carson said of Stringer. "She teaches you the game; she breaks it down. She really is a teacher and I think she is one of the best at it.

"Off the court how to maintain yourself as a young woman, especially professionally, she has done that. How to carry yourself, especially when you are a role model and when everyone else in looking at you. She has definitely been my mother figure for four years and I believe she has done a great job of that."

Since the odds of playing together in the WNBA with Ajavon are long, she addressed the moment when the two friends will have to go against each other the first time.

"It will be a weird feeling after playing four years with her," Carson said. "Just thinking back to high school when we played against each other; it was always a tough match-up. She's so quick with the ball and able to get to the rim so quickly; she;s really efficient with that. Playing against her in practice for four years you just know what kind of competitor she is. It is really going to be a tough match-up and it is going to be a weird feeling."

Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper said both Rutgers stars should make an impact. He noted that defense was Carson's "best asset." He predicted Carson and Ajavon would go in the first round.

Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer, who holds the fourth pick, is focusing on Ajavon along with several other guards and predicted both would go in the top eight. "It just shows what a great program they have at Rutgers."

Laimbeer, observing the NCAA tournament to date, noted that most of the projected first round of player picks all played in the elite eight regional finals.

Langhorne and Carson both commented on the impact their collegiate senior class should make on the WNBA.

"I think that with our class we hope the league improves so much," Langhorne said. "I think so many players in our class will really help the league, the depth of the league and the overall quality of play."

Carson agreed, saying, "We've all had a sense of how deep this class is over the past few years and even back in high school. The same question was posed when we were coming into college on how the (high school) `Class of `04' would change the face of women's college basketball. We seemed to live up to what they expected and I believe that we will continue to do so because we are those types of competitors. We love to play, we love the game, we love to win, this is our passion. What more can we ask than to play basketball."

Meanwhile, Temple's Lady Comfort, Pittsburgh's Marcedes Walker (University City), and Coppin State's Shalamar Oakley (Camden Catholic) were among the pre-draft camp invitees announced Wednesday. Virginia's Sharnee Zoll (Highland) and Penn State's Kamela Gissendanner were also listed in the initial group that will be supplemented by other players whose collegiate seasons are just ending.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

GREENSBORO, N.C. - What got off to a very bad beginning here for Connecticut against Big East rival Rutgers Tuesday night in the Greensboro Regional final transformed into an uplifting finish as the Huskies emerged with a 66-56 victory to advance to the Women’s Final Four in Tampa, Fla., this weekend.

Connecticut (36-1) clinched the last of the four spots and a Sunday night date against Stanford, which had eliminated Maryland in Spokane, Wash., on Monday night.

With the triumph, the normally loquacious Huskies coach Geno Auriemma seemed a bit lost afterwards for words trying to fit his current edition into the context of previous UConn successes in the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t know how many Final Fours this is for us – nine?” Auriemma said. “The first one – because it was the very first – in 1991, was great. It was improbable.

“The one in 1995, because it was monumental – the team of the century. This one, for some reason, feels different. This one feels pretty incredible.”

The other national semifinal will be an encore presentation of last month’s Southeastern Conference title game. Top-seeded Tennessee (34-2) turned aside a challenge from No. 2 Texas A&M, 53-45, in Oklahoma City Tuesday night to move into a re-match and third meeting this season with LSU.

The Tigers topped top-seeded North Carolina in New Orleans on Monday night.

The Huskies’ win enabled the current senior class to avoid the stigma of becoming the first group since UConn became a national power in 1995 to not go to a Women’s Final Four.

Auriemma’s teams had not advanced this far since the 2004 three-peat accomplishment in New Orleans as Diana Taurasi finished her eligibility and continued into WNBA All-Star status and won a pro title last summer with the Phoenix Mercury.

Ironically, the MVP of the WNBA finals was teammate Cappie Pondexter, who was a rival at Rutgers when the two played several years at the same time at the collegiate level.

Tuesday’s game from the Connecticut side was a bit similar to the Huskies’ experience in their comeback against North Carolina in Storrs in February after the Tar Heels had overpowered them through much of the first half.

Likewise against Rutgers (27-7) , Auriemma’s group couldn’t buy shots in the opening minutes and the Scarlet Knights rode to a 14-point lead seeking a return to the Final Four.

“It was like everything Rutgers was shooting and doing was going their way,” said Ketia Swanier, who tied Renee Montgomery for team honors with 15 points. “We couldn’t hit anything. But there was never a point in time when I thought we were going to lose the game. Nobody on our team put our heads down or put or tails between our legs. We knew it was one possession at a time.”

Connecticut fought back to a competitive five-point deficit, 32-27, at the half. The momentum continued into the second half, but the contest between the two Big East powers was more like Rutgers’ close win at Piscataway rather than the Huskies’ lopsided win in Hartford.

As the minutes ticked toward crunch time, it was obvious someone was going to suffer heartbreak.

Maya Moore, the UConn freshman sensation who made the Associated Press all-America first team earlier in the day, had been held in check much of the night.

But the regional’s most outstanding player broke loose with a deep three-pointer that snapped a 49-49 tie with just under three minutes to go. That turned the tide as Rutgers lapsed into another offensive funk while the Huskies went a perfect 14-for-14 from the foul line the rest of the way.

“With this particular team, what’s really gratifying is that too many pieces have to fall just right,” said Auriemma, who lost starters Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas to knee injuries at mid-season. “Three of our perimeter players had to play 40 minutes. We don’t have all the answers to every question like we have in other years.

“We struggle at times just like other teams struggle. But this particular team didn’t necessarily get to the final four on talent, and the experience of having been there, and having three or four college All-Americans. This team got there on a lot of the intangibles that make you appreciate coaching.”

Kaili McClaren added 10 points and sophomore Tina Charles grabbed 12 rebounds.

That caused Auriemma to quip over last year’s performance by the former Christ the King star as a freshman in the regional title game.

“She got one more rebound than my daughter,” said of the New York City sensation. “My daughter didn’t get any rebounds and Tina got one.”

Charles started a parade of what has been three straight high school national players of the year committing to the Huskies. Moore was this year’s top recruit, coming out of Georgia, and Wilmington’s Elena Delle Donne of Ursuline Academy will be heading to UConn in September.

On Rutgers’ side, the Scarlet Knights’ two showcase seniors Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson scored in double figures with Ajavon collecting 18 points, while Carson had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Kia Vaughn added 11 points.

Sophomore Epiphanny Prince was held to 7 points.

A year ago, the Greensboro Colisuem was a scene of joy for the Scarlet Knights when they upset overall top seed Duke in the semifinals and then put down Arizona State to advance to the Final Four before losing to Tennessee in the national championship game.

On Tuesday it was a place of sadness as Carson and Ajavon closed their brilliant backcourt careers along with classmate Katie Adams.

“They (Ajavon and Carson) meant so much to our program,” said Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, who conceded her players tired as the game wore on. "They are perfect examples of what student athletes should be. It’s not about a show. It’s about working hard to get it done.

“To have two in the same year meant so much,” Stringer continued. “They had an impact on our nation and certainly our program. To see them go, it’s tough.”

Auriemma made a veiled critical remark toward the NCAA about his team having to play Rutgers in Tuesday night’s game as a 1-2 matchup that was based more on geography than the talent level between the two schools.

“In a real tournament run by real people, No. 1 plays No. 8, No. 2 plays No. 7, 3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5. They don’t worry about what part of the country you’re in, they don’t worry about whether they’re going to draw fans, not draw fans. They don’t care about that stuff. It’s about getting it right that the teams that played throughout the season to get to those spots, that’s who you play.

“So, did they do a good job of that? No. But at the same if you’re North Carolina you can’t be moaning and groaning about playing LSU in New Orleans in that environment.

“There’s frigging 4,000 people at the game. Big deal. If you can’t win there, you shouldn’t be going to the Final Four. I’ve never gotten caught up in where you play as long as you play the team you’re supposed to be playing.”

Looking ahead to Stanford on Sunday, Auriemma noted, in the manner of Tuesday’s win over Rutgers, “There’s going to come a point in time in that game where one team realizes they’re going to win and the other team realizes they’re going to lose.

“That’s kind of what I coach my team to do. In that particular moment, sense it, and be ready to take advantage of it.”

Auriemma saluted Rutgers: “I think they’re one of the top four or five teams in America and they don’t deserve to be playing the No. 1 No. 1. I just think in the NCAA tournament, their team is built for tournament play. I think they represented themselves and the Big East conference in a great way. And we’re going to do the same when we get to the Final Four.”

Mel

By Stephen K. Lee

Maya Moore’s go-ahead 3-pointer with under three minutes left in Connecticut’s 66-56 win over Rutgers in the Elite Eight not only punched the Huskies’ ticket to Tampa, it also ended one of the most intriguing seasons C. Vivian Stringer and her Scarlet Knights have ever seen.

Like many Rutgers seasons, the 2007-2008 campaign was an up-and-down rollercoaster ride. Here’s a look back at some key moments:

Nov. 11 – Stanford 60, Rutgers 58: Rutgers sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince was called for a controversial foul on Stanford star Candace Wiggins with 0.1 seconds remaining in the game. Wiggins made both free throw attempts to spoil the Scarlet Knights’ season opener and possibly foreshadow Rutgers’ future problems with fractions of a second remaining on game clocks.

Nov. 14 – Introducing the Fab Five (Class of 2012)!: Jasmine Dixon (Long Beach, Calif.), Chelsey Lee (Miami, Fla.), Brooklyn Pope (Fort Worth, Texas), Nikki Speed (Pasadena, Calif.) and April Sykes (Crawford, Miss.) signed their national letters of intent to join Rutgers next season. All five would later be named McDonald’s All-Americans and Pope and Speed would be named co-MVPs of the All-American game. This group has the potential to lift Rutgers from first-class status to elite-class status (i.e. Tennessee, UConn).

Nov. 25 – Rutgers 45, LSU 43: This game marked Rutgers’ first grind-it-out win over an upper-echelon opponent. RU junior center Kia Vaughn and LSU star Sylvia Fowles each scored 13 points in a hard-fought battle in the paint.

Nov. 28 – Rutgers 56, St. Joseph’s 50: The Scarlet Knights snuck past the Hawks in a game that should have been a Rutgers blowout. RU’s porous 33.8 percent shooting (8-of-37 in the second half) was a sign that the Scarlet Knights sometimes play down to their competition.

Dec. 3 – Rutgers 68, Maryland 60: Then-No. 3 Maryland was the highest-ranked team Rutgers had beaten at home in nearly four years. Rutgers trailed 33-23 at the half but roared back in the second frame. This is the first game when the Scarlet Knights showed signs of being the second-half Cardiac Crusaders. Prince shined with 22 points and 10 assists and seniors Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon added 15 points apiece.

Dec. 6 – Duke 49, Rutgers 44: A week removed from the messy win over St. Joe’s, Rutgers lost its first game of the season with a disappointing effort against a rebuilding Duke program. The Scarlet Knights shot an embarrassing 27.6 percent from the floor. Prince led the team with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, showing signs that she would be Rutgers’ steady rock throughout the course of the season.

Dec. 8 – Jan. 8 (America, meet The Pace-Setters!): Frustrated with the lack of sustained fire and momentum that her usual combination of starters (Ajavon, Carson, Prince, Vaughn, and Heather Zurich) and reserves (Katie Adams, Rashidat Junaid, Myia McCurdy, Brittany Ray, and Khadijah Rushdan) was producing, Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer decided to mix things up and swapped her starters for her reserves in various combinations. Stringer would ease in her regular starters a few minutes into the first half and the team experienced much success with this strategy, going 7-0 with wins over Army, California, Princeton, Temple, Pepperdine, St. John’s, and Marquette.

Jan. 29 – West Virginia 63, Rutgers 54: For Rutgers, this is the loss that ultimately cost them a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney. After the Mountaineers trashed them 41-26 in the second half, the Scarlet Knights started moving into the No. 2 seed classification.

Feb. 5 – Rutgers 73, Connecticut 71: In this Round 1 matchup between Rutgers and UConn, Prince took her game to another level. The sophomore guard scored 14 points in a three-minute span early in the second half to rally the Scarlet Knights back from a 40-30 deficit. Prince finished with a career-best 33 points as Rutgers handed UConn its only loss of the season.

Feb. 11 – Tennessee 59, Rutgers 58: From this day forward, the time “0.2 seconds” lives in infamy among Rutgers coaches, players, and fans. With the clock winding down and Rutgers ahead 58-57, Kia Vaughn was called for a foul on Lady Vols forward Nicky Anosike on a Tennessee offensive rebound with the clock reading 0.2 seconds. The clock, however, froze at 0.2 seconds for nearly a full second before the foul was called, meaning that the game was technically over and Rutgers had won. The officials missed the clock malfunction and the rest is history.

Feb. 19 – Rutgers 57, Notre Dame 51: In this game Myia McCurdy suffered a torn ACL, LCL and lateral meniscus in her right knee, ending her season. The loss of McCurdy essentially took away Rutgers’ use of Stringer’s ‘55’ press, as the sophomore forward was its key cog. The Scarlet Knights, which had lost freshman Khadijah Rushdan in the win over Temple, had to deal with an eight-player roster from here on out. Though they had had a few games with just eight earlier in the season, this was different because no one was coming back.

March 3 – Connecticut 66, Rutgers 46: In the Rutgers’ regular season finale, the Huskies outperformed the Scarlet Knights in just about every facet of the game. Though this loss certainly didn’t help Rutgers, it didn’t hurt RU too much either in its outside shot at a low No. 1 seed.

March 9 – Louisville 57, Rutgers 56: One week after receiving a 20-point thrashing in Hartford, Conn., at the hands of UConn, Rutgers came up short against Angel McCoughtry (20 points) and the Cardinals in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. With this loss and the fact that they hadn’t faced UConn a third time, as expected, before the NCAA tournament, the Scarlet Knights suffered a major blow to their standing at the potential top No. 2 seed. This loss may have been the reason why the NCAA committee put Rutgers in the same regional bracket with UConn.

March 17 - Selection Monday: Rutgers got dealt the Greensboro bracket where it would have to inevitably have to face UConn, the top overall seed, in the Elite Eight. Charlie-Brown sighs and eye rolls engulfed everyone in Piscataway. Not again!

NCAA Rounds 1 & 2, Greensboro Semifinals: In NCAA tourney play, the Scarlet Knights looked like they had fully recovered from their disappointing losses to UConn and Louisville. Kia Vaughn averaged 22.5 points per contest in the first two rounds while Epiphanny Prince averaged 19. In the first round win over Robert Morris, Brittany Ray notched a season-best 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting (4-for-4 from beyond the arc). In Rutgers 53-42 win over George Washington in the Sweet 16, Essence Carson matched a career best with 25 points. So, heading into their Elite Eight matchup against UConn, it looked like the Scarlet Knights found new life on offense to make up for their limitations on defense.

April 1 – Connecticut 66, Rutgers 56: The Scarlet Knights led by as much as 14 in the first half and looked poised for another Greensboro upset over a top seed. The Huskies answered with a big second half to come back and end Rutgers Final Four aspirations.

In addition to ending the Scarlet Knights’ season, Tuesday’s Elite Eight loss to UConn also closed an important chapter in the history of the Rutgers program.

The legacy of seniors Matee Ajavon, Essence Carson and Katie Adams lies in the giant leap that the Rutgers program has taken since the beginning of junior year. The trio, which is the most successful class in Scarlet Knights history (two Elite Eights, a Sweet 16, and a trip to the National Championship game), has demonstrated leadership on and off the court.

On the court, Carson and Ajavon each reached the 1,000-point mark. Carson maintained Stringer’s high expectations on defense, winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive years. Ajavon filled the intensity void left by Rutgers legend Cappie Pondexter by playing with flair and aggressiveness. Adams, set a good example for bench players everywhere with her passion for the game despite receiving little playing time.

Off the court, Carson was always the voice of the team. Whether it was taking the mike at after a rough game or taking the podium at the Imus reaction press conference, Carson always knew the right things to say.

Ajavon served as the loveable class clown. From “I want to go to Hollywood!” to “Congratulations, Vivian (in jokingly deep voice)” she always had something humorous to say to break the tension at practices or press conferences.

Adams was the mother figure of the group off the court. At the beginning of the year Myia McCurdy mentioned that Adams, who like McCurdy is an out-of-state student, got her settled as a freshmen, showing her around and even helping her set up a local bank account.

The trio also played a key role in building the future. Stringer credits the Class of 2008 for recruiting the highly-touted Class of 2012.

No, the Class of 2008 didn’t win a national championship. But, perhaps more so than any other class, it put the program in a position to win future championships.

Thanks for everything E, Mat and Katie. Good luck with wherever life takes you.

By Mel Greenberg

Well, the anything-but-terrible 2s prevailed Monday night when LSU beat top-seeded North Carolina in New Orleans and Stanford downed top-seeded Maryland in Spokane.

The results left the Atlantic Coast Conference, two years removed from its Boston trifecta, reduced to zero in representatives in the Women's Final Four.

While the Stanford coverage focused on the Cardinal's shock and outrage over not getting a No. 1 seed, the reality is both games could have easily occurred no matter who held which seed.

Rutgers, meanwhile, hasn't had as much problem with its No. 2, understanding what knocked the Scarlet Knights off the season-long projected top line in the bracket, It's just where they happened to be placed.

Coach C. Vivian Stringer's group against overall No. 1 seed Connecticut Tuesday night in Greensboro will be on the under-side of the "should-have-been" been Big East title game of several weeks ago. That went by the wayside, courtesy of the quarterfinal upset loss to Louisville, which went on to cause a slight stir against the Huskies in Hartford and challenged North Carolina in the New Orleans semifinals.

But given how two No. 2s are already on their way to Tampa, or is it Tampa Bay, in sunny Florida, perhaps the Scarlet Knights could easily adapt a battle cry of why not us?

Normally, in a matchup such as the Greensboro showdown, the postgame media interviews involving the Huskies and Scarlet Knights have as much anticipation as the actual game itself, considering who's involved and the sizeable number reporters who cover both schools.

However, because of the late hour start and deadlines, most of the after-commentary will probably light up a day or two after the sun rises on Tobacco Road.

The other Tuesday night game before the anticipated Big East superpower battle, which should draw huge TV ratings despite the 9-ish start, will be in Oklahoma City, where Texas A&M will try to bring down Tennessee, the defending champs.

But if the Vols make good on their favorites role, one piece of the Final Four will feature a Southeastern Conference title encore between Tennessee and LSU.

Whatever the completed Final Four field becomes late Tuesday night, not much money will need to be spent on scouting tapes.

Rutgers has played both Stanford, LSU and Tennessee, but not Texas A&M, in terms of familiarity from this season while Connecticut has played LSU, and Stanford, but not Texas A&M.

Oh, yeah, the Vols and Huskies didn't meet for the first time in 14 years so UConn coach Geno Auriemma's success record against Tennessee in second-chance opportunities the same season won't be tested.

Don't laugh. In some circles it has been suggested, besides her displeasure over UConn's recruiting of freshman sensation Maya Moore, that Tennessee's Pat Summitt canceled the series to prevent Auriemma from gaining an "extra" advantage in a tournament second meeting.

Meanwhile, schools still alive in the field have seen their share of droughts in their geographical locations. But drought relief occurred twice on Monday night and could happen again on Tuesday.

Stanford, the oasis in a primary women's basket desert West of the Rockies, has returned to the Women's Final Four for the first time since 1997, ending a series of frustration, especially in recent regional play.

Ironically, the Cardinal are actually heading South still alive, instead of a recent tradition of going south, as they say in fandom.

Although LSU is heading for its fifth straight Final Four, it's the first time for new Tigers coach Van Chancellor, who missed several times years ago with Mississippi before moving on to the WNBA in 1997 when he went on to take Houston to the pro league's first four titles.

"Sometimes it's even hard to win with great talent," Chancellor quipped from the team bus to a caller while returning from New Orleans to LSU's nearby campus in Baton Rouge.

Meanwhile, unless Rutgers can make it two straight Final Four appearances, the UConn seniors will earn their first Final Four appearances, snapping the longest Huskies drought from the national semifinals since they won their first title in 1995.

Texas A&M has never been that far, so the Aggies couldn't technically qualify as drought stricken. But one could hang the tag on coach Gary Blair, who took Arkansas to the finals in 1998.

The Razorbacks emerged from the West regional that began with No. 1 Stanford .. , well, let's not bring up unpleasant memories while the Cardinal finally has cause to celebrate.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

How it looks after the smoke clears from the two-night battles ahead Monday and Tuesday remains to be seen, but going into the fray, this is perhaps the greatest lineup of contenders at this stage in NCAA women's tournament history. That's especially true when you focus on just the talent level, which is almost like a USABasketball Olympic futures reunion.

Back in February at the NCAA mock bracket sessions as we assembled in Indianapolis, the Guru made a joke about how a lot of money could be saved by just holding an eight-team tournament with the seven top Associated Press teams and perhaps a play-in round or two for the last spot.

And that is eactly what happened. The entire top eight of the AP final poll has made it through. The 1-2 seeds have made it through. And while some bemoan the like of a deep parity in women's basketball, the next days are a far cry from the last part of the '90s and first part of this decade when everything was a dress rehearsal for UConn-Tennessee.

Having had Cinderella experience coaching Arkansas to a Final Four and the Tennessee FAB-Five coronation in 1998, Gary Blair is about to play the same role again with Texas A&M, which is the winner of that mythical play-in tournament.

In fact, his job to get to the South, but off the golf courses, is to find a way past the Vols in Oklahoma City, Tuesday night.

What's remarkable about the other seven is that however one would shuffle the deck, any matchup among them, besides the one ahead, is worthy of a title game. In fact, a large chunk of showdowns among the solid seven have already occurred during the regular season, notably by Rutgers, which faced five of the eight.

More story lines exist than one has room or time to write, except for my all-night pal out of Kansas City who can be found at ESPN.Com.

How would any of these confrontations fit with your desires if one could re-seed toward a title game.

Maryland-Stanford: Well, we're getting that one out West Monday night in Spokane. On one side for the Cardinal is Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel, while the Terrapins sport 2006 title vets Crystal Langhorne, Kristi Toliver, Laura Harper, Marissa Coleman. On the sidelines its the veteran Tara VanDerveer with Stanford against the newer generational Brenda Frese, who recently personality acquired two members of a brand new generation (her twins) being hatched this season.

Maryland-Connecticut: This could occur in the national semifinals and that group of media hounds north of here known as the Horde would be all over it, recalling the commit-nerver-mind decision by Harper as a high school senior to be reportedly declared for the Huskies on a Friday night, only to announce the Terrapins as her choice several days later.

Maryland-Tennesse: It's a game many thought would happen a second time in 2006 until North Carolina blocked the Vols' path. And that leads us to ...

Maryland-North Carolina: It happened already once in the regular season in Chapel Hill, with Erlana Larkins and LaToya Pringle carrying the the Tar Heels in overtime. The second ACC projected confrontation didn't happen in the conference tourney, thanks to Duke's upset of the Terrapins.

Maryland-Rutgers: It was a great game as the Jimmy V Classic at Rutgers in December when the Scarlet Knights rallied for a win.

Maryland-LSU: It was also a classic in the WNIT won by the Terrapins in a closely-fought battle.

Maryland-Texas A&M: Not quite the matchup any would have predicted, but it certainly would be interesting.

Rutgers-Connecticut: It's the didn't-happen Big East title tilt brought to Tobacco Road in the rubber match Tuesday night in Greensboro, N.C. Both sides and the conference office would have loved this to occur in Tampa, where, actually Big East member South Florida is the host school. Rutgers won the nail-biter, Connecticut won the quick TKO in the regular season. Does the Maya Moore sensational rookie story continue or will Scarlet Knights seniors Essence Carson, Matee Ajavon and Katie Adams be forced to say farewell. If the latter happens, the tears of Rutgers fandom will begin to dry after the postseason dinner as they eagerly await the solid gold recruiting class that will arrive in September.
And Kia Vaughn, Heather Zurich, and Epiphanny Prince will still be around.

Rutgers-LSU: Another encore classic from the regular season won by the Scarlet Knights in a physically-played game in Piscataway.

Rutgers-North Carolina: If this occurs, someone, somewhere will remember out of all the hubris since selection Monday, the Tar Heels were the team Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer had designated as the best of all of the poisons that potentially could have been dealt to her group by the selection committee.

Rutgers-Tennessee: A second-straight NCAA title showdown. And then there's the matter of a February game won by the Vols in Knoxville - tick,tick, tick ..., ..., tick.

Rutgers-Texas A&M: Blair and Stringer have a million stories they could tell trying to capture the nation's fancy.

Rutgers-Stanford: This went to the Cardinal on a controversial foul call at Rutgers in the season opener in New Jersey. It would be a great test to determine who went on to have the greatest endurance, especially the Scarlet Knights on their rugged schedule.

Connecticut-North Carolina: The Huskies shook off a first-half battery in Storrs in early February to create a Tar Heel meltdown the rest of the way. Yet another on this list that has classic written all over it.

Connecticut-LSU: It seems like only yesterday that Huskies coach Geno Auriemma was having makeup applied by the TV folks in the summer of 1997 in Houston so he could interview then-Comets coach Van Chancellor before the first WNBA title game. It was longer than that when both once hitched a ride to dinner in the back seat of the Guru's car so they could feel important during Olympic tryouts in Colorado Springs.
It seems like only last month, and it was, that the Huskies edged the Tigers in Baton Rouge, showing they had begun to shake off the effects of the season-ending knee injuries to Mel Thomas and Kalana Greene.

Connecticut-Stanford: The Cardinal caused a close encounter in the Caribbean in November when the then-totally Huskies were beating up on the rest of the world. Time heels all wounds, so Rebecca Lobo, the former UConn star who was "reluctantly" accepted by VanDerveer on the '96 Olympians, will be on the sidelines for this one with the ESPN crew.

Connecticut-Texas A&M: Blair and Geno in as surprise matchup, which would mean you-know-who wouldn't be participating in Tampa. It's the two former victims of the mythical "men's" bracket in the women's tournament -- notice how that doesn't come up anymore on Selection Monday. These two teams would be strangers, but Auriemma commented last week that at this time of year, the Huskies spend more time worrying about their own game plans, rather than reacting to one by the opposition.

Stanford-Tennessee: It's the overtime upset in Palo Alto, Calif., at home against the Vols that put the Cardinal on a road to a No. 1 seed that they plunged off of a week or so later with back-to-back losses to Southern Cal and UCLA. Potential foes in this one and this summer in the WNBA, Wiggins and Candice Parker are likely to be Olympic teammates in China.

Stanford-LSU: Same storyline as above except substitute Tigers senior Sylvia Fowles for Tennessee's Parker in the matchup with Wiggins.

Stanford-North Carolina: A great post-play war and a battle of wits on the sidelines in two Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coaches in the Tar Heels' Sylvia Hatchell and VanDerveer.

Stanford-Texas A&M: Researchers would spent overtime coming up with storylines for this one. But they would break tradition in being opponents who don't normally play each other out of conference. Of course, there's a matter of the Aggies carrying the honor of the Big 12 against the perennial Pac-10 rulers.

North Carolina-LSU: We're getting that one Monday night as the Tar Heels try to continue their streak of Final Four appearances and try to stop the Tigers at four. For LSU's Chancellor, it would mean completing some unfinished collegiate business that didn't occur in his former SEC days at Mississippi. Again, another great one worthy of the NCAA championship showdown, itself.

Tennessee-Texas A&M: A two-game streak over the Vols and, potentially, LSU, would be a feat Blair couldn't pull in the SEC back in his days at Arkansas.

LSU-Texas A&M: It would be a sideline matchup of country boys in Blair and Chancellor. The Tigers would be a heavy favorite.

North Carolina-Texas A&M: Another one for conference pride as the best of the Big 12 goes against the champion of the ACC.

North Carolina-Tennessee: Since beating the Vols in the 2006 Cleveland regional final, the Tar Heels have had close losses to Pat Summitt and company, including last season's Cleveland disaster in the second half of the national semifinals. After a narrow setback earlier this season at the hands of the Vols, perhaps UNC wants to show things are a little different now.

LSU-Tennessee: This could be the Southeastern Conference rubber match in the national semifinals after the Tigers won in Knoxville and the Vols took the conference championship. Bring plenty of towels because the WNBA folks, especially Los Angeles and Chicago, will be drooling over the matchup of No. 1 draft pick Parker and No. 2 draft pick Fowles in the Draft Camp special without draft camp.
Chancellor, incidentally, is on a potential track to be the first coach of women to pull a trifecta with WNBA titles, an Olympic gold medal and a potential NCAA crown. Sounds like he'd make great Hall of Famer material. Never mind, Chancellor's been there and done that in both Knoxville and Springfield, Mass.

Tennessee-Connecticut: This is No. 28 on this list of real and potential matchups at the hour this is being posted. It didn't happen for the first time in the regular season since the former rivalry began in 1995. We'll save all words on the topic until late Sunday night when the flow will begin to gush if this becomes the championship pairing.
But at least through this list, the Guru has made the point of what a tantalizing week is about to unfold.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

As the season went along, by mid-Decenber it had become apparent that there were seven teams in the national hunt, a few others that might be close, and then there's the rest of the country,

With one exception that form held Saturday in the New Orleans and Spookane Regionals.

Out West, Maryland certainly looked like the Terrapins NCAA title bunch of two years ago with an 80-66 viictory over Vanderbilt, while Stanford ended Pittsburgh's Cinderella run with a 72-53 win.

That set the stage for Monday night's regional showdown between the Maryland, the top seed, and Stanford, the No. 2 seed.

Down in Bayou Country, LSU handled Oklahoma State, 67-52, but North Carolina had to rally from an 18-point deficit to beat Louisville, 78-74.

The fact that North Carolina, after its second-half collapse at Connecticut at mid-season, held on for a girtty regular season win over Maryland in overtime and rallied Saturday, might mean that the days of ugly Tar Heel el foldo performances might be a thing of the past.

Louisville, off its upset of Rutgers and showing against UConn in the Big East tournament, along with its NCAA charge to Saturday's contest showed itself as a team that moved closer toward the elite crowd in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, if form holds, the Sunday afternoon bill in Greensboro, N.C., appears to be heading for more of the same where Rutgers is a strong favorite to beat George Washington in a rematch from earlier in the season, while Connecticut is expected to do likewise against Old Dominion, a team the Huskies beat several years ago in a regional final in Milwaukee.

Those outcomes would set up the "delayed" orginally projected Big East title tilt Tuesday night in the rubber match between No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Rutgers.

In the Midwest, No. 1 Tennessee will be a strong favorite in Oklahoma City over Cinderella-Notre Dame, while the No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 3 Duke contest could be competitive in that the duo probably were the real 8-9 teams on the "S" curve.

And that's it for now until Sunday's games are over.

-- Mel

(Guru's note. A small technical issue and being out from the home office caused a brief delay in this post, but, as always, Stephen has a worthy viewpoint.)
By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – For the second straight year, the Rutgers women’s basketball team finds its road to the Final Four running through Greensboro, N.C.

“I would call it a second home,” junior center Kia Vaughn said jokingly after practice on Thursday.

Last year, the Scarlet Knights (26-6) caught fire defensively in the NCAA tournament and opened the nation’s eyes by knocking off then top-seeded Duke in the Sweet 16.

This year, with key defensive cog Myia McCurdy lost to a knee injury, Rutgers is dominating in different ways. In addition to sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince’s season-long consistency and continued improvement, the Scarlet Knights’ edge over their opponents has stemmed Vaughn’s resurgence in the post.

“I don’t think anyone could stop Kia Vaughn in the last couple of games,” Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said after practice on Thursday. “Like they say, no time like the present.”

After averaging just 9.2 points per contest prior to the NCAA tourney, Vaughn exploded to a 22 and 23 points in the first two rounds. She attributes her recent success to opportunities in the paint presenting themselves.

“It was just there,” Vaughn said. “Some games it’s not going to be there. It was just there, and if that’s the winning way that we’re going to get out of it, then that’s where it’s going to go. Until they stop it, we’re going to keep going to it.”

Stringer believes that Vaughn has become more relaxed and breaking out of her yearlong funk.

“I think that she’s embodied the tune that it’s now or never and I think she’s determined that she’s going to play,” Stringer said.

In some ways it is now or never for the Scarlet Knights. Unlike last season, this year Rutgers will inevitably have to say goodbye to seniors Katie Adams, Matee Ajavon, and Essence Carson.

“Everything is for (the seniors) and I think that I would do anything in my power to prolong it because it’s great,” Vaughn said. “And it’s the greatest feeling to have them by my side.”

Carson detects that feeling among her teammates but she also knows that that’s not the only thing inspiring the Scarlet Knights.

“You can sense that – that they value this time that we have left,” she said. “Everyone’s playing their heart out right now. It’s just that sense of urgency.

“It would be our last game of our career here at Rutgers, but it would also be their last game this season. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to go home. We all want the same thing and that’s a national championship, so we’ll just have to take it a step at a time.”

Looking ahead to their Sweet-16 matchup with George Washington (27-6), the Scarlet Knights know not to expect a repeat of their 67-42 pounding of the Colonials way back in November.

“It’s like facing a brand-new team,” says Carson. “They’ve made many improvements since that time.”

Carson pointed to the improved play of GW center Jessica Adair, who managed just nine points on 2-of-16 shooting from the field. Through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Adair is averaging 14 points and 10.5 through the first two rounds of the tournament. Vaughn thinks that the entire Colonials team has gotten better.

“Their whole team – it’s just a different atmosphere, so it’s actually more like pumped, a little bit fast-paced,” Vaughn said.

Still, when the Scarlet Knights and the Colonials tipoff at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, keep an eye on the battle between Vaughn and Adair down low as both attempt to lead their teams to the Elite Eight.

By Mel Greenberg

Everything that was Villanova's roller coaster season became a one-game highlight/horror film in Bouler, Colo., Thursday night when the Wildcats were knocked out of the Women's National Invitation Tournament by a 16-1 closing run by host Colorado for a 64-58 defeat.

For most of the game, which the Guru tracked back here in Philadelphia, Villanova held a lead and appeared poised to join St. Joseph's as the only two Big Five teams to advance to the WNIT quarterfinals. The Wildcats also are the only Big Five team to advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament and in 1982, the last year of the AIAW tournament, coach Harry Perretta's teams advanced with Rutgers, the ultimate winner, Texas and Wayland Baptist to the Final Four at the Palestra.

Then, as has been the case of Villanova dry spells, it all fell apart in the high altitude and Colorado moved on to host TCU on Sunday.

Stacie Witman closed out her career with 20 points and Maria Getty had 15.

In the past, the Guru has found Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, the older sister of Duquesne coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, amusing as a former Virginia teammate of Dawn Staley, and later as an assistant to Theresa Grentz before moving on to her first head coaching job at Tulsa.

Well, as it turns out, Colorado also has some interest names on its roster, such as Whitney Houston and Brittany Spears, who played roles in the rally that produced the victory.

Guru's Ears Weren't Burning

Not really, but Stephen checked in from Rutgers after the team's pre-Greensboro press briefing to report he would be filing out of the interview session and noted that coach C. Vivian Stringer invoked the Guru's name and more ancient history involving Cheyney and the formative years of the poll.

We'll wait for the email before making any kind of rebuttal.

Waner's Latest AP Blog

The Associated Press is using blogging reports from Rutgers' Essence Carson, North Carolina's Erlana Larkins, Duke's Abby Waner, and Maryland's Crystal Langhorne, all of whom are still alive in the tournament regional semifinals.

Here's the most recent report, which comes from Waner.

THURSDAY, March, 27:

DURHAM, N.C. - Well, we finally made it home - but not for long! Last night was a great game versus Arizona State, and despite the not so friendly support from the Terrapins fans, we were able to pull out the win.

In case you didn't catch the game, Chante Black was a minor 26-point, 13-rebound reason for our success. It's pretty safe to say that this game was largely dependent on the post play seeing as ASU has Lauren Lacey and Sybil Dosty on the inside - which would explain why I avoided the paint for the entire game! Other than our 8-0 start from the tip, it was a tight game until we closed the game with free throws at the end.

So about 10 minutes to go in the first half, I had a literal run-in with Charli Turner Thorne. Quick rewind: Charli was my assistant coach this summer while I played with the U21 USA World Championship team, and it was so great to see her again before we played. Charli could be the all-time most fashionable coach, and last night was no exception.

Unfortunately, her stylish heels were a detriment to us both. I shot a three in the corner (and no, it was not my one make of the night ... that would be the wide open layup in the first three minutes!) and as I ran back, it clearly was not in a straight line because I managed to step out of bounds and directly on Charli's foot.

Seeing as how I am:

A. Not so coordinated/graceful in the least bit

B. Have zero elasticity in my ankles, my right ankle turned and I found myself on the ground like I too often do. I'm pretty sure Charli also took a spill, but I had to watch as my team attempted to guard 5 on 4. A quick tape job and re-lacing later, everything was fine. I'm not sure if I can say the same about Charli's heels.

So here is what's on tap for the next few days in Durham:

1. Laundry is a must; unfortunately, I can't talk Dave, our equipment guy, into throwing my personal laundry in with my practice gear.

2. Catching up on classes (Hear that, Coach P?). Coach P is always sure to send us friendly reminders/threats to get to class once we get back ... not saying that it would take a threat for us to go to class, of course!

3. Briefly scanning the 594 packet that will be waiting on my locker from Coach Brown regarding everything one might need to know about Texas A&M - favorite colors, shoe sizes and siblings' ages included.

Can't wait to tell more from Oklahoma City, Go Duke!

- Duke junior Abby Waner

WBCA Gives Less to UConn's Moore

Unless there is a freshman rule blocking eligibility under the WBCA guidelines, the Guru finds it quite remarkable that Connecticut freshman Maya Moore did not make the final 12 for the organization's player of the year.

Huskies teammates Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery made the cut, but since the finalists,we believe, are picked off the 40 finalists for the WBCA's All-America team, we find it interesting that the other two, talented that they are, were picked by a coaches' panel ahead of Moore.

Philly Roots in the Sweet 16

Still alive from the City of Brotherly Love are former University City star Marcedes Walker with Pittsburgh, the first men's or women's Panthers squad to advance this far, The team is coached by South Jersey's Angus Berenato.

George Washington's coach Joe McKeown is a Father Judge graduate and redshirt junior Lisa Steele is from South Jersey, as is Ivy Abiona, and former Colonial star Lisa Cermingnano, who is now an assistant with Vanderbilt. Connecticut's Meghan Gardler is from Springfield, while Huskies coach Geno Auriemma grew up in Norristown.

And Rutgers coach C.Vivian Stringer's Cheyney background has already been noted.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Hello, all.

This will be short because the Guru is busy at an offsite location in the Philadelphia-area counting United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) all-American, coach, player, and freshman ballots, although two of those categories, as one might guess, don't require a lot of counting.

There didn't appear to be any new player-blogging at the AP site in the last 24 hours. We did deliver AP Doug back to his Manhattan residence on what was a rather quick trip South on the way back to here.

One record clear from a previous post -- Doug's train time spent on trips to Connecticut games is on Metro North mostly and not Amtrak.

Looking at the Sweet 16 field, in terms of AP Final poll teams, the first nine all survived. Cal was upset, but No. 11 Old Dominion, No. 13 Oklahoma State, and No. 15 Notre Dame, making it 12 of the AP's Sweet 16. The other AP teams still alive are No. 19 Louisville, No. 20 George Washington, No. 21 Vanderbilt, and unranked Pittsburgh, although it would be hard to make the Panthers a 100 percent Cinderella, considering they had been ranked during the season.

On the other hand, beating Baylor was still worth something. There was an oppportunity for all but one of the top 16 to make the field. The only intra-16 game was No. 15 Notre Dame's win over No. 14 Oklahoma.

No. 10 Cal lost to George Washington, No. 12 Baylor lost to unranked Pitt, as mentioned, and No. 16 Kansas State lost to No. 19 Louisville.

For those counting conference success, the Big East has already been addressed and has five of the Sweet 16, followed by three from the Atlantic Coast, three from the Southeastern, two from the Big 12, and one each from the Pacific-10, Colonial Athletic Association, and Atlantic Ten.

Officially Speaking

During the immediate fallout after the "Clockgate," episode involving Rutgers' last "extra" second loss at Tennessee, it was noted that if any of the officials who worked the game and didn't follow procedure and had been reprimanded in any meaningful way, perhaps their names wouldn't appear in NCAA tournament boxscores, namely because they might be suspended from the tournament.

Well, a glance at every boxscore in the first two rounds yielded this find:

Bob Trammell worked the Pittsburgh-Wyoming game in the first round and the West Virginia-Vanderbilt game in the second round; Tina Napier worked the Western Kentucky-UTEP game in the first round and the George Washington-California game in the second round, while Bonita Spence worked the Illinois State-Oklahoma game in the first round and the Oklahoma-Notre Dame game in the second round.

On another note, Dawn Marsh, who has played in the tournament for Tennessee, officiated one of the games. We caught her working some CAA games involving Drexel this season. Also working one of the games was Wanda Szeremeta, a former teammate of scoring sensation and now New York Liberty executive Carol Blazejowski when the two starred for Montclair State, which advanced to the first Women's Final Four format in 1978 under the AIAW.

Villanova Travels Memory Lane in the WNIT

The Wildcats will be in Boulder, Colo., to play the University of Colorado in a third-round contest. In 2003, coach Harry Perretta's squad upset a very good Ceal Barry-coached Buffs squad in Colorado's holiday tournament and the two later met again in an NCAA regional semifinal game in Tennessee, won by Villanova. The magic for the Wildcats ended the next game against the Vols, but that win made Perretta's group the only Big Five team to advance that far in NCAA history.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The Guru made the ride up here to take in a couple of games and provide chauffeur services to AP national women's swriter Doug Feinberg back to New York so he wouldn't be stranded.

While we watch the games unfold, here's some more AP player blogging, of which part of the headline was APs.

Those of you who saw a triple post earlier, was because the Guru hit the save button three times on the home office system in the middle of the night, which was slow at the time.

Erin and Jonathan took care of the cleanup. And now, until the games are over, here's Tuesday's player report as of halftime of the Louisville-Kansas State game here where the P.A. system actually played the Kansas fight song.

Carson, Rutgers Pumped Up for Greensboro

Let the Madness begin! College stars Essence Carson of Rutgers, Abby Waner of Duke, Crystal Langhorne of Maryland, and Erlana Larkins of North Carolina will provide a snapshot of their tournament experiences right up to the championship game in Tampa, Fla. on April 8:---

TUESDAY, March 25:

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDWEST . - I am writing just prior to the take-off back to the East Coast and New Jersey. It's always nice to board a plane after a win - and, of course - get some zzz's. We are still alive and Sweet Sixteen bound, I was told by the media - for the fourth straight year.

It was a tough game and Iowa State gave its best fight. The fans really turned out for the game and it was a great atmosphere for college basketball.

Although our defense has held us together all year long, our offense has really started to come around as of late and is clicking on all cylinders. Tonight, Kia Vaughn - again - played well (23 points). It seemed like she owned the paint. And the three guards on our side - myself, Mat (Matee Ajavon) and Piph (Epiphanny Prince) - put in double figures and it seemed like everything was rolling.

Iowa State really tested our defense and more so, our communication. We communicated very well (on the switches) and we elevated our game that much more. When it came down to it, we did the most important thing we could do tonight - and that was win. And earn another 40 minutes.

My teammates and I look forward to Greensboro. They treated us very well last year. We are hoping to go in there and play our game - once again, Scarlet Knight basketball.

I'm out!

- Rutgers senior Essence Carson

Waner's Blog

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - And it's onto round two!

Yesterday was a hectic day preparing for Arizona State seeing as how we only get one day in between each game. The morning started with breakfast at 10:30 a.m. - it really felt like we had eaten about two hours before that. One thing about being on the road is you can always count on being well fed - or overfed!

Meals come in abundance, along with snacks, cookies, post game sandwiches; baked goods from relatives, and well, you get the idea. Freshman 15 has turned into Road Trip 15! After a not-so-quick breakfast, we watched film and went over our scouting reports.

As with meals, there is never a lack of stats to go over with Al Brown as your assistant coach. I'm pretty sure if I were to ask him how many dribbles #22 takes before every jump shot she takes going left, he could give it to me down to the hundredth decimal point.

Luckily, we are positively well informed on the scouting end. After film and scout we went on to media at the Comcast Center, followed by a closed hour and a half practice, and finally we were back at the hotel.

So I have this thing with scary movies - well, I don't have a thing with scary movies, actually. I avoid them entirely. When we are on the road for an extended period of time, we tend to rent a few movies here and there, and it never seems like my vote counts.

What happened to women and the stereotypical chick flicks?? Scary movie after scary movie is rented, and yet again I find myself alone in my own hotel room watching anything that doesn't have ghosts, murders, or kidnappings.

Well, last night I decided I could grow up and attempt a semi-intense movie, Rendition. Turns out torture and bomb movies are not for me either. Needless to say, I had my own bed at the beginning of the movie, and at the end I had moved to the bed Krystal and Jas were on, leaving mine entirely empty. Luckily, second round games were on TV directly following the movie so I didn't have time to over analyze and scare myself even more.

There were some great games on if you didn't happen to catch them, Florida State and Oklahoma State as well as Cal and GW both went down to the wire. I think it was a great thing for our team to see how even second round games can be a toss up any given night.

Like I said before, funny things can happen in the tournament - whether it is a foul called with 0.1 seconds, or a missed box out that can cost you the game.

That being said, Duke is well prepared for a battle tonight - and when I say battle, that has nothing to do with actual blood, gore, or anything remotely frightening, because to be honest, I wouldn't show up!

More coming after the game ...

- Duke junior Abby Waner

---

By Mel Greenberg

Maybe Temple and coach Dawn Staley took the floor one night too early in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

A day after the Owls lost to Arizona State in an Oklahoma City Regional first-round game at College Park, Md., teams and coaches with Philadelpia-area connections were winners in second-round games that also featured some victimized "three" seeds.

The Greensboro regional finals are on target to become the Cheesesteak Classic in terms of the four potential coaches, two of which have been determined.

Rutgers, located within 65 miles of the home office and headed by former Cheyney coach C. Vivian Stringer, made her "adopted" homecoming visit one of smiles by the second-seeded Scarlet Knights' 69-58 victory over No. 7 Iowa State, whose campus is not far from the venue in Des Moines in which the game was played is within an hour's drive.

Stringer, of course, was once celebrated in the Hawkeye State as the coach of Iowa in the Big Ten.

The win advanced Rutgers to North Carolina and the Sweet 16 and the Scarlet Knights are suddenly on the same path as a year ago.

That was when Rutgers prevailed in the second round over Michigan State in the Spartans home gym, advanced to North Carolina and upset overall No. 1 seed Duke in the regional semifinals.

The overall No. 1 seed, however, potentially is one win away, not next up, if Big East rival Connecticut prevails over No. 8 Texas in Bridgeport, Conn.

The Guru will be on the scene for that one and if the Huskies beat the Longhorns, that will put UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, closer to the Final Four.

On Monday, Auriemma was named the Division I coach of the year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.

Stringer will be across from a Philly guy in the next round, facing Father Judge graduate Joe McKeown, whose No. 6 George Washington Colonials upset No. 3 California, 55-53, on a last-second basket by Sarah-Jo Lawrence at Stanford.

It's the second straight season that GWU is advancing to the Sweet 16 and while McKeown called the triumph one of the greatest in Colonials history, his team is about to face an opponent that gave the team one of its worst beatings ever back in December in the nation's capital.

The other looming Philly connection in Greensboro will become a reality of Virginia, coached by Trenton-area native Debbie Ryan, beats state rival Old Dominion Tuesday night in the Monarchs' arena in Norfolk, Va.

Meanwhile, after several frustrating losses against "next level" teams during the season, No. 6 Pittsburgh, coached by South Jersey's Agnus Berenato and featuring University City's Marcedes Walker, upset No.3 Baylor, 67-59, in Albuquerque, N.M., to advance to the Spokane Regional semifinals.

It's the first-ever Sweet 16 appearance for Pittsburgh, which will meet No.2 Stanford. The Cardinal advanced with an easy win over No. 7 Texas-El Paso.

Also in Albuquerque, No. 4 Vanderbilt advanced to the Spokane Regonal with a 64-46 win over No. 5 West Virginia. The Commodores are coached by Trenton native Melanie Balcomb,who is assisted by South Jersey's Lisa Cermingnano, a former GWU star.

Elswhere, No. 3 Oklahoma State needed a foul shot at the finish in overtime to survive No. 11 Florida State, whose pick by the tournament committee as an at-large team was widely criticized, although not by the Guru.

In Baton Rouge, La., No. 2 LSU enjoyed the comforts of home in easily beating No. 7 Marist to deprive the Red Foxes of another Sweet 16 Cinderella appearance.

Oklahoma State and LSU will meet in the New Orleans Regional semifinals.

No. 2 Texas A&M advanced to the Oklahoma City Regional semifinals with a one-sided 63-39 win over No. 10 Hartford. The winner awaits Tuesday night's winner between No. 3 Duke and No. 6 Arizona State.

The other Oklahoma City regional semifinalsts will be determined Tuesday night. No. 5 Notre Dame, coached by St. Joseph's graduate Muffet McGraw, will meet No. 4 Oklahoma,which is trying to return near home as a participant. No. 1 Tennessee will meet No.9 Purdue on the Boilermakers' court in West Lafayette, Ind.

Up in Bridgeport, Conn., now that the Big East tournament runnerup Louisville won't be playing the "home" team this time around, Huskies fans awaiting the start of UConn's game might adopt the No.4 Cardinals against No. 5 Kansas State.

The winner advances to the New Orleans against either No. 1 North Carolina or No. 8 Georgia, who play Tuesday night in Norfolk, Va.

The remaining game of note on Tuesday night's card has No. 1 Maryland at home against No. 8 Nebraska in College Park., Md. Of course, the host Terrapins feature, among others, Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne and Cheltenham's Laura Harper.

The winner advances to the Spokane Regional semifinal against Vanderbilt.

-- Mel

(Updating to include Essence Carson's blog transmitted later in the day)

By Mel Greenberg

Since a certain 13-0 run Sunday night by Arizona State over Temple Sunday night has caused us to break down the hotel room two days ahead of schedule to return to the home office, here are some more AP blogging player reports.

Wel'll be back later Monday night after the games are concluded, but first for you WNBA Chicago controvery fans.

We ran into former Temple star Candice Dupree, who made a quick trip to watch her alma mater, and she acknowledged the Chicago Sky might be trying to deal here, but felt she would ultimately remain in the Windy City this summer.

-- Mel
AP Player Blogs

Let the Madness begin! College stars Essence Carson of Rutgers, Abby Waner of Duke, Crystal Langhorne of Maryland, and Erlana Larkins of North Carolina will provide a snapshot of their tournament experiences right up to the championship game in Tampa, Fla. on April 8:

---
SUNDAY, March 23:

Langhorne's Report

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - It was the first game of the NCAA Tournament for us and we had a very tough game against Coppin State today.

I knew it would be a battle, but during the first half we just weren't playing our game. They were being very aggressive and we were playing pretty soft. At halftime, we were only up five and Coach B told us we needed to step it up on defense.

I knew we could step it up as a team because none of us wanted to go home. We were lucky that we were even up at half anyway. Another motivation was our great crowd that we had supporting us today. We didn't want to disappoint our home crowd by losing in the first round.

But in the second half, we played much better, but we still need to step it up if we want to go far in this tournament. Nebraska is our next opponent and they play hard. I think we match up better with them than Coppin State but they are still a very good team and we can't take anyone lightly.

There's a lot at stake for every team. From now on, we have to play like our lives depend on it - because now, it's win or go home.

- Maryland senior Crystal Langhorne

Larkins' Report

NORFOLK, Va. - It's just good to be playing again. We finished our conference tournament two weeks ago and then we had a few days off for Spring Break, so it's nice to be back on the court.

On Monday, the team gathered with friends and family at Tyler's, a restaurant in town, to watch the Selection Show. We were excited to see where we would be placed, and probably a little shocked to be in the New Orleans region with LSU as the No. 2, but I suspect other people probably were a little shocked too.

After that, though, the week went really quick. Coach Calder and the rest of the staff were already preparing for Bucknell Monday night, and then we practiced Tuesday and Thursday before leaving Friday.

We took a charter bus up to Virginia from Chapel Hill, and I was surprised when I woke up at the end of the trip to see that we were in Virginia Beach instead of Norfolk. I found out recently that the NCAA places teams in hotels based on seeding, and our hotel is definitely nice. We are right on the ocean and I may take a walk on the beach later if I'm not too tired after this afternoon's game.

So now we are moving on to round two to face a very talented Georgia team who pulled out a tough win over Iowa today. The competition just gets better and better from here. We will play again Tuesday night, hopefully in the early game so we can get home at a reasonable time.

And if we can pull out a win on Tuesday, we will travel home and turnaround and do it all again before heading to New Orleans for the Sweet 16.

That's where the real fun begins.

- North Carolina senior Erlana Larkins

---
Waner's Report

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - I am really excited about speaking for our team as we begin what we hope is a long run through March. And that being said ... March - the month that those in the basketball realm live and breathe for.

Well, technically the first weekend in April as well, but until there is a clever alliteration established for "Half of March and the First Weekend in April" then we are just going to stick with March Madness.

As you can imagine, a good majority of my friends are people that also have an infatuation with this most wonderful time of the year. I am starting to see a trend of our actions as of late, and am glad to know that I am not the only one who shows signs of otherwise abnormal behaviors. Therefore, here is my version of, "You Know You Love March When..."

- When your living room has been rearranged to accommodate 3 TV's, a minimum of 2 laptops, stadium seating, and a Double Shot.

- When your notes from Shakespeare class are composed of the strengths and weaknesses of each 5 and 12 seed so you can correctly pick which region will have the unavoidable upset.

- When you take on the slogan, "There are no Cinderella's," as your own.

- When your friendships become unstable due to differences in brackets, and ultimately, relentless and ruthless taunting on a game by game basis.

- When you feel like you have more of a relationship with Digger, Bob, Hubert, Reece, Trey, Stacey and Kara than you do your own parents.

- When you woke up on Thursday, March 20 more excited than you ever did as a kid on Christmas morning.

- When there is always a reason to go out at night - to celebrate victories or to distract from defeat.

- When you decide Georgia is suddenly "your team" as if the rest of the nation didn't jump on the bandwagon.

- When you don't eat breakfast or lunch for the sake of saving money to take that road trip to San Antonio/Tampa.

All of the above plus much more are indicators that it is March. March is a time for teams to thrive, despite what they have faced October through February. So many enthralling, inspiring, tragic, and thrilling stories have come through those months. Teams suffer and teams thrive. Players overlook injuries, coaching changes, exhaustion, and pressure in the face and push forward.

Ups and downs, wins and losses, successes and failures follow teams through the roller coaster ride of exhibition games to tournament championships.

But March - March is where all that is left behind.

March is to survive and move forward, or fail and think, "I should have, I could have, and I would have." To me, no time is truer in sports than March. Character, will, passion, and drive are revealed.

In the words of Pat Summitt, "There are many good teams. But there are not a lot of great teams."

The great teams are those that can endure the madness - and no one wants to be known as only one of the good.

- Duke junior Abby Waner

Carson's Report

DES MOINES, Iowa — So, I just looked in the mirror and my lip looks a lot better. The swelling is down so I am happy. On Sunday, we practiced. And practiced some more. Coach Stringer is very much about preparation.

After our many hours of practice, I was finally able to relax and catch a few games on ESPN2. My roommate Rah (Rashidat Junaid) and I watched Connecticut and Purdue earn first round victories. We have a very close-knit basketball family which helps during the season and especially when you are away from family and friends on holidays like Easter.

Tonight, we have our hands full playing Iowa State at the Wells Fargo Arena in their home state.

It is a tough task.

With their ability to knock down the three-point shot, it will really test our skill to defend the perimeter. It will actually be very exciting to play in front of 10,000 fans even if they are not our own.

LOL.

In other words, let’s play ball.

— Rutgers senior Essence Carson

And another Waner Report

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Win and advance. That is the only way to approach the NCAA tournament, and we were successful in the first round. However, Murray State didn’t go down without a fight. It was a close game the entire first half and opening the second half, Murray came out with a run that had the game within five.

At that point, we really stressed something that has become almost like a team word for us — poise. Coach P has really emphasized the use of poise and how losing it can cost a game and how retaining it can win a game.

Luckily, we retained!

Nish, Jas, and Te led our team in the second half and we never looked back. I really think this game is a great example of what has happened to women’s college basketball.

As recently as a few years ago, the first round games were generally blowouts from the opening tip for the one through four seed games. But women’s basketball has come so far from those days when UConn, Tennessee, and, well, UConn and Tennessee were the power houses. There is so much more parity and balance — and the next thing you know, you are in a tight five-point game in the first round.

For those of you that were not at the game, let me remind you that we are playing in College Park — the home court for the Maryland Terrapins. If you follow college athletics, I am pretty sure you can imagine the “warm” welcoming that we got as we stepped on the court.

Needless to say, there was not a lack of boos, name calling, and “Beat Dook” signs. Wait — am I confused or weren’t we playing Murray State? Who knew that every person in the state of Maryland is an adamant Murray State fan as well! Luckily, hostile environments are nothing new to anyone with the name “Duke” across their jersey.

So I’m going to wrap up the Murray State game seeing as how we have film on Arizona State in about 20 minutes. That’s the great thing about the tournament, there is never time to dwell — the only thing you have to worry about is win and advance!

On to Arizona State.

— Duke junior Abby Waner

By Mel Greenberg

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - We're on the scene down here primarily for Temple's game against Arizona State at the end of another marathon day in the 9:30 p.m. start at Maryland's Comcast Center.

Besides advancing the contest, which can be found in the print section of Philly.com, the Guru had a chance to keep an eye on everything else and it was certainly a day of mixed bag results in the Big East.

Rutgers, having a chance to take out its displeasure over its No. 2 seed by the NCAA tournament committee, took it out on No. 15 Robert Morris in Des Moines, Ia., with the rout of the day by the numbers -- 85-42.

While everyone was quick to think all is well again in Scarlet Knights land and it certainly looked that way, let's see if Rutgers can pass the next test of continuity when it meets No. 7 Iowa State (21-12) Monday night.

The Wildcats, who will play in their home state, advanced with a 58-55 win over No. 10 Georgia Tech.

Des Moines later in the night was also the scene of the upset special of the first round: No. 11 Florida State's 60-49 win over No. 6 Ohio State, marking not only another quick NCAA exit for the Buckeyes, but a second rapid departure in two weeks after their dispatch by Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

A lot of voices knocking the NCAA committee for picking the Seminoles as an at-large are probably a little quieter at the moment.

In another upset, the Big East took it on the chin when No. 10 Hartford beat No. 7 Syracuse, 59-55, marking the second time coach Jen Rizzotti's Hawks, champions of the America East, have felled an opponent from a higher-regarded contest.

The next opponent might be a bit tougher after No. 2 Texas A&M's 91-52 blowout of No. 15 Texas-San Antonio. One has to go back all the way to Mexico's romp at the Alamo to find the last time San Antonio took such a drubbing.

Meanwhile, another Big East setback occurred at the behest of last year's NCAA Cinderella Marist. The No. 7 Red Foxes, who wouldn't be considered the underdog by seed, overcame and 11-point deficit to dispatch No. 10 DePaul, 76-57, marking another impressive win for a mid-major.

On the other hand, the Big East could smile over No. 5 West Virginia's gritty last-minute, 62-60 over No. 12 New Mexico in the Lobos' tough arena in Albuquerque. No. 6 Pittsburgh was also on the on the winning side, producing a 63-58 win over No. 11 Wyoming, giving credence that perhaps the Panthers would have been a better No. 25 in the final AP poll than the regular season Big Ten champion.

Out West, No. 6 George Washington, which shared the regular-season Atlantic Ten title with Temple, made it two straight over No. 11 Auiburn this season with a 66-56 win over the Tigers in Palo Alto, Calif. In the other game in the doubleheader, No. 32 California had little difficulty beating No. 14 San Dego, 77-60. The ensuing next matchup of California and George Washington will be the first sideline competiton between the Colonials' Joe McKeown and Bears' Joanne Boyle since Boyle used to coach against him at Richmond in the Atlantic Ten.

On the social scene down here, the Guru arrived at the Marriott-Maryland Conference Center on Campus Friday night to be greeted by the young woman at the check-in desk who recognized the Guru because of her former role as an intern in the media room of the WNBA's Washington Mystics.

Needless to say, between that acknowledgement and our Marriott membership, we are in good surroundings.

Soon afer, the Guru was invited to Duke's team meal at a nearby hotel where he regalled Blue Devils' coach Joanne McCallie's husband about tales of how she landed the Auburn graduate assistant job back in 1989 under former coach Joe Ciampi when she found the restaurant by the lake in Tacoma where the Tigers were preparing for a Final Four appearance.

"I forgot you were there," McCallie noted to the Guru who told Mr. McCallie that she had the job wrapped up before she arrived but Ciampi wanted to put her through the paces.

After Saturday's media interviews, Maryland SID Natalia Ciccone and Duke SID Lindy Brown led a delegation to a spot in nearby Hyattsville where we were able to dine and watch some of the other games.

The best quote of the day down here belonged to Murray State coach Jody Adams, a former Tennessee player -- they're everywhere -- who in reacting to a question about Duke's high profile, said, "We're famous, too. They just forgot to put us on TV."

Click here on the "jump" to keep reading.

By Mel Greenberg

A note from a Rutgers fan to the Guru on Thursday suggested the NCAA web site still has the old principles and procedures that would not allow two conference teams meeting each other until the Final Four if they were placed in the top four lines.

That jagged the Guru's memory of what he reported at the time of the change last summer along with first-round/second-round sites expanded back to 16 locations. And, believe it or not, as challenging as the Inquirer's archive system is, the story was found.

The only mistake the Guru made was in perceiving ALL the changes were effective next year. But the flex change actually went in play now, as we all have seen.

So here's "Exhibit A" reported on Sept. 22 for your entertainment from a print story that was not also reported on the blog. And the example used will have two all-caps deignation in the paragraph.

NCAA announces changes for tournament in 2009
By Mel Greenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The NCAA women's basketball tournament is going back to the future in a move that may ultimately be seen as trading newer controversies for older ones.

The organization announced yesterday that, beginning with the 2009 tournament, the first two rounds will be played at 16 predetermined sites, instead of the eight-team pod system that's been in place since 2005.

The tournament committee also added some flex to its bracket placement procedures so that higher seeds from the same conference could meet each other in a geographic-friendly regional final. For example, Big East rivals RUTGERS and CONNECTICUT could meet in the 2009 regional final in Trenton. The change could also allow more teams in earlier rounds to play at sites closer to their fan bases.

Attendance and television ratings are the prime components driving the latest revisions. Last season, many teams that had no local interest at pod sites caused a TV eyesore, with vacant seats in large arenas in the early rounds.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Much of the reaction on the situation involved with Rutgers and UConn being 1-2 in the Greensboro regional has been the claim that the Scarlet Knights didn't get much respect.

The problem, based on Tuesday's explanation by the Guru involving geographical preference along with a side chat Tuesday night with someone familiar with the deliberations is that Rutgers got to too much respect.

That's not what the Guru was told in so many words, but in studying the methods of bracket placement and his own experience in the mock bracket deliberations, Rutgers was doomed in any event.

And again, the last two games were killers and the committee had nothing to do with that, only the factoring of the results.

If Rutgers was the top No. 2, then geography placed the Scarlet Knights in Greensboro.

If the Scarlet Knights were the second No. 2 behind LSU, then LSU's geographical proximity put the Tigers in New Orleans and if Rutgers was next, then once again Greensboro loomed.

It is hard to believe that Rutgers was anything lower, but even so, if Texas A&M was next, then Oklahoma City beckoned, and because Stanford was on the line, no matter where the Scarlet Knights stood, Spokane was closest for the Cardinal.

It appears the only thing that would have helped is if Duke had been a No. 2, which was on the Guru's private projection. That would have given the Blue Devils a shot at Greensboro, perhaps bumping Rutgers.

Off the Guru's projection, Duke and Texas A&M were close for the last No. 2 so the fact they could meet makes it appear that off the S curve they are the 8-9 on the overall chart.

Now, going to the third line, where Duke actuially was, let's look at the teams that landed as No. 3s: Duke, Baylor, California, and Oklahoma State.

Neither Oklahoma State nor Baylor could be placed in Oklahoma City because No. 2 Texas A&M was in place and the other two are Big 12 teams and would be targeted to meet in semifinals, which is prohibited by the aforemention principles, etc.

So however those two got the first shots, one was going to New Orleans and the other was going to Spokane off the computer mileage readout on the bracket.

Now as for Duke and California, some movement may have been made for balance in the same way we did in our mock bracket exericse a month ago based on data at the time when we moved North Carolina as a No. 2 away from Tennessee and made them a No. 1 in the West because we felt the matchup was too strong.

If you think about it, Rutgers, who played both schools, was spared playing Duke in Greensboro, and got California as a pontential semifinal opponent.

As for all these perceptions about what the committee says and does and conspires, they do not operate on the same mentality as we in the media -- they were probably entertained listening to us when we did the bracket exercise -- or as folks on the message board.

This is not a defense of the committee, only an explanation of the reality.

As for ganging up on the esteemed Rutgers coach, C. Vivian Stringer, and holding things from two decades ago against her, anyone around at the time is long gone. She and her success has been the constant. The committee is an ongoing evolvement of rotating members, and there has been mega change at NCAA staff levels also. Every committee member brings his or her own individual ideas to the table.

Over the years, Rutgers losing at ordinate times late in the season combined with whatever committee guidelines existed has been a contributor to the Scarlet Knights' placement and site, especially in earlier years when higher seed projections had existed before the upsets.

And considering the team was at a lower threshhold, nationally, during Stringer's third successful building process, or more acurately in the case of program, rebuilding process, they were at the same mercy other teams have had to deal over the years.

In 2000, Rutgers was sent West in the 2000 Final Four year with the awful late night East Coast start, that also caused the Guru of the host Final Four city on the scene to write 11 inches of Rutgers winning an hour before the opening tip -- yeah we also had one written the other way, in both cases to make deadline.

After that experience, changes were made to the tournament to avoid a repeat of such occurrence when an East coast team is involved.

Villanova's season still lives

The Guru will make the 35-minute trip from home Wednesday night to the land of the WNIT at Villanova where the Wildcats will host American in a first-round WNIT team game.

It must be nice to be a member of the Big East -- all 12 conference tournament teams are in the postseason.

In the case of revival, it's been an interesting few weeks for coach Harry Perretta's group.

After losing at Louisville, they went through a four-hour roller coaster until learning they had made the field of the Big East.

They lost a competitive contest to Pittsburgh in the first round. After again thinking they might be done, the Wildcats will take the floor with a win guaranteeing a non-losing seasons a year after the 8-21 debacle.

ESPN's Team?

OK, the Guru has seen the reference to Connecticut over the years because of the location of the mega-sports TV giant in proximity to the home(s) of the Huskies.

The Guru, because of print responsibilities involving two stories on deadline, could not get on the conference call with committee chair Judy Southard.

However, in studying the transcript a little while ago, the Guru noticed this unintented slip in answering a question involving Connecticut's geographical placement in terms of allowing more fans to follow the team.

"And when you look at the opportunity that they (the fans) have to go to Greensboro, that is probably about maybe a 525 mile trip from Bristol, which means a lot of their fans can pile in their cars and go down there and see them play."

Storrs is actually where the school is located. Bristol is the studio headquarters of you know who.

Going West to go East

That would be George Washington, which will open against Auburn as a No. 6 seed at Stanford against Auburn. If the Colonials prevail against the Tigers and potentially No. 3 California, coach Joe McKeown will hit a regional back near home in Greensboro in which the opponent won't be a No. 1.

Guru site record

Must be some interest in the tournament. On Tuesday, this site set a one day record with over a 1,000 hits, many of which came from links off message boards and women's hoops.

A year ago, a high of around 600 hits occurred several times because of the Imus controversy and the Penn State coaching changes.

And thanks to Stephen, who helped draw traffic with his Rutgers reaction piece, even though he was home on spring break near New Orleans.

And if he is reading this, the Guru was wrong about a question asked Tuesday night.

Apparently, based on the Southard transcript, there was a thought process involving Stringer's Iowa past and connections in dropping the Scarlet Knights into Des Moines.

-- Mel

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

By Stephen K. Lee

There are few things in this world that are certain.

Death. Taxes. The NCAA tournament committee stiffing the Rutgers women’s basketball team on Selection Monday.

And so it was that the Scarlet Knights (24-6) received their expected No. 2 seed in the NCAA women’s bracket.

At first glance, a No. 2 seed looks pretty good. After all, as a No. 2, all you’d have to do is beat a No. 15 seed and a No. 7 or 10 seed and you’re in the Sweet 16. Pretty sweet, right?

Wrong.

First of all, the tourney committee decided to place Rutgers in the Greensboro Regional with No. 1-overall seed and Big East rival Connecticut.

Rutgers faced top-seeded Duke in last year’s Greensboro Regional. Assuming the Huskies remain unstoppable over the next two weeks, the Scarlet Knights would once again have to beat the best team in the nation just to make it to the Final Four.

“I didn’t think there was any way on God's earth that this would happen,” said Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer in a press release of her post-Selection Show presser. “It’s not that I am afraid of Connecticut, I am just stunned and shocked. This is a mind-blower.”

The Scarlet Knights are bracketed to play their first two rounds in Des Moines, IA. So, before Stringer and her team can even fathom a third bout with UConn, they may have to concern themselves with the possibility of facing No. 7 seed Iowa State in its home state.

A second-round game against the Cyclones would mark the fifth time in the past six NCAA tournaments that Rutgers plays on a lower seed’s home court or home state.

Stringer, who coached at the University of Iowa from 1983-1995, views the trip to Iowa as a nice personal homecoming of sorts. Still, she recognizes the challenges and uphill road that her team may face.

“I don’t think we even know what it’s like to travel on the long and winding road unless we’ve had some bumps along the way,” she says. “I think that unless there are some obstacles and some things we would not know how to just put on our boots and journey along the way. So this is probably more consistent for us.”

Senior guard/forward Essence Carson said that she has gotten used to taking the tough road in the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t know anything else as long as I’ve been here,” Carson said regarding the rough seedings Rutgers has received in her four years. “It's been a tough journey. Especially with last year, the journey definitely proved to be worth it. At the end of the day, when it came down to it and we had that momentum going and that confidence was there, it pushed us forward, thrust us forward to the Final Four.”

For senior point guard Matee Ajavon, now that the buildup to Selection Monday is over, it’s time to take care of business on the court.

“Connecticut is a great team and LSU is a great team, Tennessee is a great team,” Ajavon said. “All of these are great teams and I am expecting to see some of them down the path. So maybe that will come earlier than expected. At this point, we are excited to be in the tournament and I'm ready to play.”

Junior center Kia Vaughn said that she is looking forward to a possible Elite Eight matchup with UConn. Like her teammates, Vaughn is ready to get to work.

“I think with the NCAA and people who place us, it’s always a surprise,” she said. “But it’s a good surprise. We have to use what we have to get what we want.”

Stringer said that she would like a taste of the dominance and respect that the national superpowers have.

“Quite frankly, I don’t enjoy playing a second position to anybody,” she says. “So until we dominate at a national level, it continues to hurt my personal feelings. That’s how I feel about it. It’s a heck of a strain. I do not enjoy being a bridesmaid to anyone.

“Until we dominate, so that the fans here come to expect excellence on a consistent basis. I want the fans here in New Jersey to feel the same way that the fans in Connecticut do.”

Rutgers will face Robert Morris (23-9) on March 22 in the opening round of the tournament. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Iowa Events Center and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

NOTES: Rutgers is making its 19th-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament and 10th under Coach Stringer…The Scarlet Knights are 11-4 all-time in first-round games and 5-0 in first-round play on a neutral court…Rutgers was the No. 4 seed in the Greensboro Regional in last year’s tourney and toppled East Carolina, Michigan State (in East Lansing, MI), Duke and Arizona State to reach last year’s Final Four.

By Mel Greenberg

Having experienced the mock bracket exercise last month at NCAA headquarters, the Guru took you through, here are estimates of what the field is likely to be.

Remember, the committee members each vote for 64, including the automatic winners and then when a consensus is not reached on teams on the overall ballot, they get tossed back onto the table for discussion, hence the bubbles, although that phrase is not used during the deliberations.

On the lock list, we'll use conference groupings, for the sake of counting,even though conferences themselves are not part of the formal discussions. When we get to the bubbles, then we'll look at them as teams, even though they will be derived as "let's give them another look" out of the conference list. A (W) means an automatic winner.

Here are the locks, which has changed little in numbers the last several days:The total here is 57 meaning 7 at-large berths must come from the bubble group.Team RPI and SOS will also be listed with records. ConferenceRPI is our source.*-Not regular season champion

Atlantic Coast (4) -- North Carolina (W)-(29-2 R-3, SOS-6), Maryland (30-3, R-5, SOS-9), Duke (22-9, R-9, SOS-4), and Virginia (23-9, R-15, SOS-11).

America East (1) - Hartford (W)-(27-5, R-53, SOS-179).

Atlantic Ten (3) - *-Xavier (W)-(24-8, R-41, SOS-78), Geo. Wash. (25-6, R-23, SOS-66), Temple (21-12, R-50, SOS-46)

Atlantic Sun (1) - East Tenn. St. (W)-(R-113, SOS-183)

Big 12 (7) - *-Texas A&M (W)-(26-7, R-7, SOS-7), Kansas St. (21-9, R-22, SOS-21), Baylor (24-6, R-10, SOS-13), Oklahoma St. (25-7, R-20,SOS-36), Oklahoma (21-8, R-13, SOS-8), Iowa St. (20-12, R-32, SOS-22), Texas (21-12, R-24, SOS-15).

Big East (7) - Connecticut (W)-(32-1, R-2, SOS-3), Rutgers (24-6, R-4, SOS-2), Louisville (24-9, R-12, SOS-5), West Virginia (24-7, R-19, SOS-30), Notre Dame (23-8, R-14, SOS-12), Syracuse (22-8, R-26, SOS-41), Pittsburgh (22-10, R-21, SOS-16)

Big Sky (1) - Montana (W)-(23-6, R-64, SOS-188).

Big South (!) - Liberty (W)-(28-3, R-29, SOS-125)

Big Ten (3) - *-Purdue (W)-(18-14, R-35, SOS-10), Ohio St. (22-8, R-36, SOS-60), Iowa (21-10, R-47, SOS-55)

Big West (!) - UC Santa Barbara (W)-(23-7, R-77, SOS-202)

Colonial (1) - Old Dominion (W)-(29-4, R-11, SOS-29)

C--USA (2) - *-SMU (W)-(24-8, R-46, SOS-95), UTEP (27-3, R-16, SOS-82)

Horizon (!) - *-Cleveland St. (19-13, R-135, SOS-178)

Ivy (1) - Cornell (W)-(19-8, R-155, SOS-315)

MAAC (1) - Marist (W)-(31-2, R-25, SOS-150)

Mid-American (!) - *-Miami-Ohio (W)-(23-10, R-58, SOS-83)

MEAC (1) - *-Coppin St. (W)-(22-11, R-131, SOS-216)

Missouri Valley (!) - Illinois St. (W)-(26-6, R-44, SOS-119)

Mountain West (2) - *-New Mexico (W)-(20-12, R-83, SOS-101),Utah (27-4, R-27, SOS-106)

Northeast (1) - Robert Morris (W)-(23-9, R-97, SOS-223)

Ohio Valley (1) - *-Murray St. (W)-(24-7, R-85, SOS-233)

Pac-10 (3) - Stanford (W)-(30-3, R-6, SOS-26), California (26-6, R-18, SOS-44), Arizona St. (21-10, R-33, SOS-34).

Patriot (1) - *-Bucknell (W)-(16-15, R-181, SOS-197)

Southeastern (4) - *-Tennessee (W)-(30-2, R-1, SOS-1), LSU (27-5, R-8, SOS-19), Vanderbilt (23-8, R-17, SOS-25), Georgia (22-9, R-34, SOS-45).

Southern (1) - Chattanooga (W)-(29-3, R-28, SOS-130).

Southland (1) - *-UT San Antonio (W)-(23-9, R-128, SOS-267).

Summit (1) - *-Oral Roberts (W)-(19-13), R-173, SOS-251)

Sun Belt (1) - Western Kentucky (W)-(26-7, R-30, SOS-75)

SWAC (1) - *-Jackson St. (W)-(18-13, R-205, 304)

WAC (1) - Fresno St. (W)-(22-10, R-90. SOS-170)

West Coast (1) - *-San Diego (W)-(19-12, R-118, SOS-149)

Bubble List and some regular season champs,The total is 20 and 13 have to be cut if the lock list holds. %-Regular season conf. champ.

Georgia Tech - (22-9, R-43, SOS-58)
Boston College - (20-11, R-68, SOS-93)
Florida St. - (18-13, R-59, SOS-37)
Nebraska - (20-11, R-31, SOS-24)
DePaul - (20-11, R-40, SOS-31)
Minnesota - (20-11, R-37, SOS-28)
Michigan St. - (19-13, R-52, SOS-33)
James Madison - (22-9, R-45, SOS-71)
Va.Commonwealth - (25-7, R-48, SOS-112)
Wis.-Green Bay - %-(26-5, R-49, SOS-169)
Bowling Green - %-(25-7, R-63, SOS-175)
North Carolina A&T - %-(25-7, R-88, SOS-264)
Wyoming - (24-6, R-38, SOS-91)
TCU - (21-11, R-56, SOS-62)
SE Missouri - %-(23-8, R-99, SOS-236)
Kentucky - (15-15, R-54, SOS-14)
Auburn - (20-11, R-61, SOS-69)
Florida - (18-13, R-42, SOS-20)
Middle Tennessee - (21-11, R-51, SOS-54)
Gonzaga - %-(24-8, R-39, SOS-76)

Reducing The Bubble (The goal is to cut 13)

For reasons of schedule, subtract the following regular season conference winners:
Wis.-Green Bay
North Carolina A&T
Bowling Green
SE Missouri
Gonzaga

That leaves us with eight to cut
For reasons of schedule and few compelling wins by comparison and some bad losses, cut
James Madison
Va Commonwealth

That leaves us with six to cut
Boston College is sliced on schedule comparison, some bad losses, even though there's a Georgia Tech win in there.

The Guru thinks putting a .500 team sets a bad precedent, so:
Kentucky is sliced.

That leaves us with four to cut
Florida State has some bad losses

That leaves us with three, though the committee may keep Florida State and cut elsewhere.

We like Florida better than Auburn, but think Auburn will make the field and the Gators, not.

That leaves with two.

It's not Middle Tennessee's year.

And the last out is -- TCU, but the committe may take them and cut Michigan State

We'll be back with seed line predictions early in the afternoon.

-- Mel

(Note: Ignore RPI numbers that are two days old. We'll be back in several hours after doing Sunday desk duty while the other gender has their day.)

By Mel Greenberg

Here's a quick catch-up through all games after which the Guru will be more extensive later Sunday night

Ignore RPI numbers, since we're using a little cut and paste action to speed up our entry.

On the lock side, we'll list conference afiliation, but will refrain on the bubble side since more teams are being added for discussion.

First the locks (W-automatic qualifier) -- 57 - listed

Atlantic Coast _ North Carolina-W, Maryland, Duke, and Virginia.
America East winner -- Hartford-W.
Atlantic Ten - Xavier-W, Temple and George Washington.
Atlantic Sun winner - East Tennessee State-W
Big 12 - Texas A&M-W, Kansas St., Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma St., Oklahoma, Iowa St.
Big East -- Connecticut-W, Rutgers, Louisville, W. Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Big Sky winner - Montana-W.
Big South winner -- Liberty-W
Big Ten -- Purdue-W, Ohio State, Iowa
Big West winner -- UCSB-W
Colonial winner -- Old Dominion-W.
Conference-USA winner -- SMU-W, UTEP
Horizon winner -- Green Bay fell in the semifinals so it will be Cleveland State-W
Ivy winner -- Cornell-W
MAAC winner -- Marist-W
MAC winner -- Bowling Green fell so it will be Miami of Ohio-W
MEAC winner -- North Carolina A&T, another No. 1, fell to Coppin State-W
Missouri Valley winner -- Illinois State-W
Mountain West -- It will be, surprise, New Mexico-W in the Mountain Mess along with Utah.
Northeast winner -- Robert Morris-W
Ohio Valley winner -- Murray State-W
PAC-10 -- Stanford-W, California, Arizona State
Patriot winner -- Bucknell-W
Southeastern -- Tennessee-W, LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Southern winner -- Chattanooga-W
Southland winner -- Not Texas State, another fallen No. 1 seed, it's Texas-San Antonio-W
Summit winner -- Oral Roberts -W
Sun Belt -- Western Kentucky-W
SWAC winner - Jackson St.-W
Western Athletic winner -- Fresno State-W
West Coast winner -- San Diego-W

The Bubbles, including wrong losers that need to be discussed -- Jerry Palm's RPI in parenthesis -- 17 listed, need to cut 10
Georgia Tech (43)
Boston College (67)
Florida State (58)
Nebraska (30)
DePaul (40)
Minnesota (36)
Michigan State (52)
James Madison (44)
VCU
Wyoming (38)
TCU
Wis-Green Bay
Kentucky (54) W-L 15-15
Auburn (60)
Florida (42)
Middle Tennessee (51)
Gonzaga (39)

Here are high conference tournament seeds who have been caught in the carnage:

Atlantic Ten -- Top seed Temple lost to No. 3 Xavier in title game. No. 2 George Washington, the conference co-champ, lost to Xavier in semifinals.
Big 12 -- No. 1 Kansas State and No. 2 Baylor both fell.
Big East -- No. 2 Rutgers fell in quarterfinals.
Big Ten -- Top seed Ohio State fell in quarterfinals.
Conference-USA -- UTEP fell in title game.
Horizon -- Green Bay fell to Cleveland State in semifinals
Ivy -- Well, Cornell gave it away, but might get it back against Dartmouth
Mid-American -- Bowling Green fell to Cleveland State in semifinals
MEAC - No. 1 North Carolina A&T lost in the title game.
Mountain West -- No. 1 Utah lost to 0-16 Colorado State in quarters. No. 2 TCU and No. 3
Wyoming did not make it to title game.
Northeast -- Top seed Quinnipiac fell in semifinals
Ohio Valley -- Top seed SE Missouri fell early.
Patriot -- Top seed American fell early.
Southland -- Overall top seed Texas State lost
SWAC - No. 1 seed Prairie View lost in the title game.
Western Athletic -- No. 2 Boise State fell in semifinals.
West Coast -- No. 1 Gonzaga lost in title game
Additionally, Old Dominion rallied from an 18-point deficit and Liberty won at the wire or we'd have a record 18.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Put together top seed contenders mostly from the same locale, combine with regional sites that will gum up the geography, and then deal with an over abundance of teams from three conferences who are not allowed to meet in the early rounds and one can visiualize a lot of head scratching beginning to take place in that hotel room in Indianapolis where the NCAA women's committee will attempt to at-least identify the field of 64 the next several days before getting into seeding.

By the time the smoke clears Monday night, some mid-major teams are going to back into some pretty good seeds. In fact, once one goes beyond the first seven or eight teams on the "S" curve, a big mass begins to develop.

How weird has it become. One mid-major coach told the Guru her people would be thrilled with a seed range of 10-12 because of the belief they could play with most anyone likely to appear opposite those numbers in the first two rounds of the tournanment.

By virtual of the first-up-gets-the-best-geography concept, Connecticut, projected to be the overall No.1 seed, could end up in a regional in Oklahoma City as easily as one in Greensboro, N.C.

For Friday's exercise, let's just work on the locks and bubble list, the latter of which we will add more teams for comparison sake. The lock list includes the automatic qualifiers or projection as such, even though 12 No. 1 conference seeds have already lost their shot at some March Madness hardware.

On the lock side, we'll list conference afiliation, but will refrain on the bubble side since more teams are being added for discussion.

First the locks (W-automatic qualifier) -- 57 listed

Atlantic Coast _ North Carolina-W, Maryland, Duke, and Virginia.
America East winner -- Hartford projected.
Atlantic Ten - Xavier-W, Temple and George Washington.
Atlantic Sun winner - East Tennessee State-W
Big 12 - Texas A&M, Kansas St., Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma St., Oklahoma, Iowa St.
Big East -- Connecticut-W, Rutgers, Louisville, W. Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Big Sky winner - Montana predicted, but Idaho State is given a shot,
Big South winner -- Liberty projected
Big Ten -- Purdue-W, Ohio State, Iowa
Big West winner -- UCSB predicted.
Colonial winner -- Old Dominion predicted
Conference-USA winner -- SMU-W, UTEP
Horizon winner -- Green Bay predicted.
Ivy winner -- Harvard or Cornell or make it Dartmouth or Cornell
MAAC winner -- Marist-W
MAC winner -- Bowling Green predicted
MEAC winner -- North Carolina A&T predicted
Mid-American winner --Bowling Green predicted
Missouri Valley winner -- wide open
Mountain West -- TCU as projected wrong winner, Utah as wrong loser
Northeast winner -- Long Island or Robert Morris decide Sunday
Ohio Valley winner -- Murray State-W
PAC-10 -- Stanford-W, California, Arizona State
Patriot winner -- Bucknell-W
Southeastern -- Tennessee-W, LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Southern winner -- Chattanooga-W
Southland winner -- Not Texas State, another fallen No. 1 seed
Summitt winner -- Oral Roberts -W
Sun Belt -- Western Kentucky
Western Athletic winner -- Boise State or Fresno
West Coast winner -- San Diego

The Bubbles, including wrong losers that need to be discussed -- Jerry Palm's RPI in parenthesis -- 14 listed, need to cut seven
Georgia Tech (43)
Boston College (67)
Florida State (58)
Nebraska (30)
DePaul (40)
Minnesota (36)
Michigan State (52)
James Madison (44)
Wyoming (38)
Kentucky (54) W-L 15-15
Auburn (60)
Florida (42)
Middle Tennessee (51)
Gonzaga (39)

We'll be on the scene from CAA

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma’s worst nightmare made his Huskies’ Big East dreams come true Tuesday night at the XL Center.

Senior Charde Houston, with whom Auriemma has had his share of disappointments over her collegiate career, gave an MVP performance to help top-ranked and top-seeded Connecticut hold off a challenge from Louisville for a 65-59 victory and another Big East title.

A year ago, the Huskies (32-1) stood here stunned after Rutgers glided by with a closing rally to deny Connecticut its seemingly annual trip to the Big East hardware store.

And for a time, a different breed of red was poised to cause heartache to local populace here again when Louisville (24-9), the seventh seed in the 12-team field, rallied from a 34-19 halftime deficit to get within a point at 48-47 with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left in the game.

But Connecticut put a stop to any further incursion and was able to once again pull its traditional double of Big East regular season and tournament trophies.

Houston was a big part of all this, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds along with two blocks and two steals.

When her name was announced afterwards as the most outstanding player, Houston was mobbed by her teammates as if they all had just won a sixth NCAA title, which is where Connecticut will be focused next.

“As far as my performance, it is what’s expected of me,” Houston said. “I just want to make sure that I build off of every single game leading to the (NCAA) tournament.

“I am overjoyed, but if it weren’t for my teammates I wouldn’t have been able to get this far. After everything I’ve been through this season, everybody on the team just made sure that I was in good spirits no matter what.”

Renee Montgomery, who had a team-high 20 points built on 11-for-11 from the foul line after shooting 4-for-19 from the field, was elated for Houston’s success.

“She had to go through so much in the media and in practice,” Montgomery said. “It’s the day-to-day basis that she has been through so much. To see her fight through all the things she’s been through and come out MVP of the tournament was just really good to see. I feel that she has a strong will and it shows.”

Auriemma’s testy relationship with Houston goes back several years to when he called her out in the media after she missed a shot that cost Connecticut a chance to beat Duke in the regional title game in Bridgeport, Conn., in 2006.

Her potential contributions this season became eagerly anticipated after Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas suffered season-ending knee injuries.

Houston was a key player in Connecticut’s second half comeback against North Carolina, but several games later Auriemma was critical again following the loss to Rutgers and noted “I can’t play her.”

They later met to air their differences and the Huskies proceeded on their march toward a Big East title.

“She really took on a leadership role for the first time,” Auriemma said of her performance. “That’s one thing Charde’s not been able to do in the four years she’s been here is be any kind of a leader because she’s had too many of her own struggles

“But today she actually showed some of those qualities that are going to help her down the road,” Auriemma continued. “It’s been a long time coming, but in two weeks we’re going to see whether there’s a carryover. I hope there is. But I’ve always hoped there is. Now I’m really hoping there is. Now I’m praying there is.”

Connecticut’s Maya Moore, the Big East freshman and player of the year, added 13 points, but did not make the all-tournament team that included the Huskies’ Tina Charles and Montgomery, along with Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry and Candyce Bingham, and Pittsburgh’s Marcedes Walker, a University City graduate from Philadelphia.

McCoughtry had a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, while the Cardinals’ Brandie Radde added 12 points off of four treys, and Bingham added 11 points and 14 rebounds.

The win, of course, gave Connecticut the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Huskies’ season body of work that was dented only by a 73-71 loss at Rutgers is expected to produce the overall No. 1 seed in the 64-team NCAA field.

Auriemma was quickly lobbying for a fair bracket afterwards in light of concessions to geographical placement of top teams in the past according to the NCAA’s principles and procedures.

“If we’re the overall No. 1 team, we should get the No. 8 seed, otherwise it’s not a real tournament,” Auriemma said. “But I don’t care where they send us.”

The four region sites are Greensboro, N.C.; New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Spokane, Wash. Two early-round sites are nearby Bridgeport and College Park, Md.

Tennessee, the Southeastern Conference champion, and North Carolina, champion of the Atlantic Coast, are also expected to get No. 1 seeds, with the last top spot going to either Pac-10 champion Stanford, or Rutgers, Maryland, or LSU.

The Big East tournament was also a dress rehearsal for the NCAA event with seven teams likely to get at-large bids, while DePaul, a potential eighth representative, is on the bubble.

At the moment, Louisville coach Jeff Walz, a former Maryland assistant who took over the Cardinals this season, was too emotionally spent to think ahead to the NCAA field.

He cited the homecourt advantage Connecticut gets in this event, though Auriemma later noted that his team has lost the Big East tournament in this arena as well as at the Huskies’ campus venue at Gampel.

“If you’re good enough to win it, well … “ Auriemma said, his voice trailing off.

Louisville was good enough to cause fits after dispatching Rutgers in the quarterfinals.

“It was 15 points at the half and I bet all of you had us written off and this game was off and there was no way for us to come back,” Walz said. “I told them in the locker room that if they wanted to pack it in, we can get on the bus and have everyone wondering where we were in the second half.

“They wanted to come out, we gave them a game plan and they followed it; it was a one point game and we had the ball with about four and a half left. They just fought and fought. Everyone wants to say that we’re a one-person team but they unfortunately do not know much about the game.

“Angel McCoughtry shot the ball 10 times in the second half and goes six for 10, but everybody on this team hit big shots for us tonight.”

Asked what Louisville might take from his team’s effort into the NCAA tournament, Walz responded quickly and tersely, “It sucks to lose.”

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ First, we'd like to confirm that St.Joseph's men's coach Phil Martelli confirmed to us after the Atlantic Ten women's game on Hawk Hill that Geno Auriemma's son Michael will be joining the team next season, as was noted in the Hartford Courant.

Auriemma, will be busy, otherwise, but maybe not for real long Tuesday night, against Louisville in the title game of the Big East tournament in Hartford.

We're heading up for the coronation, but it shouold be noted that Louisville coach Jeff Walz is as good a candidate as any out there for the WBCA's Maggie Dixon award that goes to the rookie head coach.

In other conference action ahead on Tuesday:

Big 12 First Round: How far has this conference come? Almost as far as the Big East where all four games have meaning in the opening round. Eighth-seeded Iowa State, a bubble team, is seeking some wins to find a way into the NCAA field, while No. 9 Colorado is looking to get back to where the Buffaloes hit their stride in mid-season.
No. 5 Oklahoma, considered an NCAA title threat back in the preseason, is looking to enhance it's seed position by starting out with a win over No. 12 Missouri.
No. 7 Texas is trying to do likewise against No. 12 Texas Tech as Longhorns coach Gail Goestenkors makes her Big 12 tourney debut.

No.6 Nebraska wants to make sure it has some extra wins to insure an NCAA bid as the Cornhuskers open against No. 11 Kansas.

No. 1 Kansas State, No. 4 Texas A&M, No.2 Baylor, and No. 3 Oklahoma State are all trying to squeeze into second or third NCAA seeds. The quartet has byes until Wednesday.

Mountain West: One play-in game, even if it isn't described as such, involves No.8 UNLV and No. 9 Colorado State.

Mid-American: It's the quarterfinals and the biggest game is East No. 1 Bowling Green against East No. 5 Kent State because Bowling Green needs to win this whole thing to get an NCAA berth.

MEAC: Three out-bracket games comprise the first round as No. 10 Bethune-Cookman meets No. 7 South Carolina State; No. 6 Morgan State meets No. 11 Norfolk State; and No.8 Howard meets No.9 Florida A&M.

Summit: Oral Roberts, the fourth seed, meets IUPUI, the third seed for the championship. Top-seeded Oakland will be taken by the WNIT.

Sun Belt: The right two teams advanced to the championship in No. 1 Western Kentucky and No. 3 Middle Tennessee, but Western Kentucky has a better chance of rescue off the bubble list if the Hilltoppers don't win this tournament.

Ok, class, once again let's play the numbers game again in terms of who gets into the NCAA tournament and who is on the fence. Some teams will be moved into locks from the bubble/discussion list, because the Guru believes as such, although the committee may go in a different direction. The bubbles will include wrong loser, for the purpose of counting. The locks wil include conference automatics. A "W" means the automatic qualifier has been secured. At this hour 10 of 16 conference No. 1 seeds have not repeated regular season championships in their tournaments.

The Locks -- 57 slots

America East winner -- Hartford projected.
Atlantic Coast: North Carolina -- W, Maryland, Duke, Virginia
Atlantic Ten: George Washington, Temple, Xavier -- W
Atlantic Sun winner: East Tennessee St. -- W
Big 12: Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas
Big East: Connecticut, Rutgers, Louisville, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Big Sky winner: Montana projected
Big South winner: Liberty projected
Big Ten: Purdue-W, Iowa, Ohio State
Big West winner: UCSB projected
Colonial winner: Old Dominion projected
Conference-USA: SMU-W, UTEP
Horizon winner: Wis.-Green Bay projected
Ivy winner: playoff survivor among Cornell, Hartford, and Dartmouth. On Friday, Dartmouth and Harvard meet at Columbia, with the winner meeting Cornell, which won the bye, at this same location.
Metro Atlantic winner: Marist-W
Mid-American winner: Bowling Green projected
MEAC winner: North Carolina A&T projected
Missouri Valley winner: Illinois, Drake or Evansville, but only one.
Mountain West: Utah, Wyoming
Northeast winner: Long Island U. or Robert Morris
Ohio Valley winner: Murray St. - W
PAC-10: Stanford-W, California, Arizona State
Patriot winner: Bucknell or Holy Cross
Southeastern: Tennessee-W, LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Southern winner:Chattanooga-W
Southland winner: Texas State???
Summit winner: Oral Roberts or IUPUI
Sun Belt winner: W. Kentucky meets Middle Tennessee
SWAC winner: Somebody
Western Athletic winner: Boise St. or Freshno St. projected
West Coast winner: San Diego - W

Bubbles and (WL) wrong losers worth discussion for comparison
(15 below, 8 must be subtracted)

Georgia Tech
Florida State -- slim
Boston College -- slim
Iowa State
DePaul
Minneosta -- slimmer
Michigan State -- slimmer
Illinois -- for discussion
James Madison
TCU
Kentucky -- 15-15 sets a bad precedent
Auburn
Middle Tennessee
Gonzaga -- WL
Oakland -WL
-- Mel

(Guru's note: While we were handling print coverage of the Atlantic Ten final, which will be at philly.com at the Inquirer sports section, Kathleen stopped by right off mid-terms at St. Joe's to file the following report.)

By Kathleen Radebaugh

PHILADELPHIA _ Temple is still looking for a fight.

Despite losing tonight to Xavier, 47-42, in the championship round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Head Coach Dawn Staley and her Owls are already talking about their next game in postseason.

With the win, Xavier earned the league’s automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Championship.

“This will be a huge off-season for us,” said Head Coach Kevin McGuff. “This group of young women have a really high ceiling of what we can achieve, but we need to stay hungry in the off-season and make sure we really improve.

Temple struggled with their offensive force, but executed a solid defense, running the boards and forcing 20 turnovers.

“We executed the game plan defensively and held someone to 47 points,” said Staley. “We are going to go far in someone’s tournament.”

Temple’s field goal percentage for the game was only 25 percent, shooting 16-of-63 in the field.

Temple struggled with the quick tempo of the game.

Temple players are not slow, actually it is the complete opposite. Try doing suicides against LaKeisha Eaddy-you won’t even make it to half court. It was the forced shots that tripped Temple and caused them to hit more rim than net.

Temple saw this ineptitude before in their conference game against Rhode Island, but Staley noted that this vulnerability in the field never lasted for 40 minutes.

Senior guard Ashley Morris went 4-of-20 from the field and only converted two three-pointers. She led the team with 12 points, but Xavier had three players finish the night in double digits.

Senior Lady Comfort was only 2-of-8 in the field, but lead the team in boards with 11.

“We just struggled. I struggled. I am the head of this monster, and when I struggle nothing goes [well] for the team,” said Morris. “I take full responsibility for the part of the game offensively.”

Of course, Morris is going to be upset. She is a senior looking to “repose” the A-10 Championship trophy.

Last season, Temple beat Xavier, 59-58, during the regular season but was unable to beat the Musketeers when it mattered the most in the semifinal round of the tourney, 54-53. The Owls wanted the win too much that nerves and pressure got the best of them and their shots.

Staley commented during the press conference that the best team and the hardest working team won the game tonight and her team wasn’t it despite leading most of the stat categories.

Staley is right, because the players never took a deep breath, found themselves looking at the scoreboard more times than at each other, and lost the fun, the win, of the game.

There was a point during the game when Xavier sophomore forward Amber Harris raised her hands to the taunting Temple crowd that kept shouting her name, because she plays better when she hears her name coming from the crowd, even if it’s jeering.

Harris jeers back with 12 points and six rebounds.

The amount of pressure to make the NCAA Tournament is enormous and something that a non-basketball Division I athlete may never understand, but there has to be a point during the game where a player turns to her teammates, drops her shoulders, and tries to remember why she plays the game in the first place.

Morris wasn’t the only one on the court not changing the scoreboard.

Taking full responsibility for lack of offensive prowess for Temple doesn’t make it any less of a loss. Despite Morris’ weak showing in the first two stanzas, the last possession for her team was going to her for a quick three, displaying how much her teammates and coaches trust her and want her to succeed.

“We wouldn’t be here without Ashley,” said Staley. “Ashley is our bread and butter. She is the one that got us here and we wanted her to hit a quick three. I know she feels bad about the game, but she put us in a position to continue playing and we will play post season somewhere.”

Both Morris and Comfort made the All-Championship team, while Ta’Shia Phillips was named Most Outstanding Performer. Phillips finished the night with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

The final thought on every Owl’s mind, including the pep band, was getting second chance at postseason.

“We just want another chance,” said Comfort. “We want another opportunity to play to show everybody else that we can win and be a threat in this game.”

By Mel Greenberg

Ok, class, let's play the numbers game again in terms of who gets into the tournament and who is on the fence. Some teams will be moved into locks from the bubble/discussion list, because the Guru believes as such, although the committee may go in a different direction. The bubbles will include wrong loser, for the purpose of counting. The locks wil include conference automatics. A "W" means the automatic qualifier has been secured.

The Locks -- 57 slots

America East winner -- Hartford projected.
Atlantic Coast: North Carolina -- W, Maryland, Duke, Virginia
Atlantic Ten: George Washington, Temple, Xavier (Temple or Xavier in final_
Atlantic Sun winner: East Tennessee St. -- W
Big 12: Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas
Big East: Connecticut, Rutgers, Louisville, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Big Sky winner: Montana projected
Big South winner: Liberty projected
Big Ten: Purdue-W, Iowa, Ohio State
Big West winner: UCSB projected
Colonial winner: Old Dominion projected
Conference-USA: SMU-W, UTEP
Horizon winner: Wis.-Green Bay projected
Ivy winner: playoff survivor among Cornell, Hartford, and Dartmouth
Metro Atlantic winner: Marist-W
Mid-American winner: Bowling Green projected
MEAC winner: North Carolina A&T projected
Missouri Valley winner: Illinois, Drake or Evansville, but only one.
Mountain West: Utah, Wyoming
Northeast winner: Long Island U. or Robert Morris
Ohio Valley winner: Murray St. - W
PAC-10: Stanford, California, Arizona State
Patriot winner: Bucknell or Holy Cross
Southeastern: Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Southern winner:Chattanooga or W. Carolina
Southland winner: Texas State???
Summit winner: Oakland projected
Sun Belt winner: W. Kentucky projected
SWAC winner: Somebody
Western Athletic winner: Boise St. or Freshno St. projected
West Coast winner: San Diego - W

Bubbles and (WL) wrong losers worth discussion for comparison
(14 below, 7 must be subtracted)

Georgia Tech
Florida State -- slim
Boston College -- slim
Iowa State
DePaul
Minneosta -- slimmer
Michigan State -- slimmer
Illinois -- for discussion
James Madison
TCU
Kentucky -- 15-15 sets a bad precedent
Auburn
Middle Tennessee
Gonzaga -- WL

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Not so fast.

Although the Guru, who is down here in Philadelphia with the Atlantic Ten, was not on the scene in Hartford, he initially was inclined to agree 100 percent with the postgame quote by Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer following the upset loss to Louisville in the Big East quarterfinals.

But Rutgers does not have exclusive rights to making a muck of things and because of that, anything can still happen when the seeds play out.

For one, although in many of the conferences the point is moot over wrong winners, eight of 11 top seeds had gone down at the close of business Sunday night and a few more were at risk going into Monday. Several more might be also on shaky ground when the second wave of conference tournaments begin Tuesday and Wednesday and continue through the weekend.

First, in terms of No. 1 seeds, Rutgers might actually back into the last one. But anything can happen and to really take this discussion further, one should wait for the PAC-10 game with Cal and Stanford to play out and likewise for the Big 12, but the Guru knows you're an impatient bunch.

Three No. 1s have been determined in Tennessee, Connecticut and North Carolina.

But, in the messing things up department, it is going to be a very close call in the overall No. 1 department between Connecticut and Tennessee. So credit the cancellation of the Tennessee-UConn series to make things a bit more murkier, assuming Connecticut wins the Big East.

The basketball argument tends to tilt somewhat to UConn, especially the way the Huskies overcame the season-ending injuries to Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas. The mathematical argument has an ever-so-slightly tilt toward Tennessee.

But, based on the way we went through our mock bracket exercise at NCAA headquarters, there will be a bunch of individuals on the committee voting on computers to try to get to some consensus and there is no single clear guideline to make their initial votes a slam dunk.

Now, had LSU beaten Tennessee, Sunday, the Tigers probably would have had a case to leap into a No. 1 slot, especially after the Rutgers defeat. But it didn't happen.

So at this hour, and based on CollegeRPI for the math since the computation was completed before sunrise, we're looking at four candidates for the last No. 1 slot.

LSU stands at 27-5 and an RPI ranking of No.8; Stanford is at 29-3 with one game to play and a ranking of 6. Maryland is 30-3 and a ranking of 5. And Rutgers is at 24-6 and No. 4. The Nitty Gritty sheets tell a lot more in the comparisons but let's way a day for that topic.

Into this discussion, one will have to look at the finish of the Stanford game and the clockgate loss to Tennessee, which, by the way, could enable Connecticut to get the overall No. 1 if the Rutgers outcome is used against the Orange. Only ten points, in round numbers, are the difference between three wins, which are now losses for Rutgers.

Meanwhile, Duke, off its upset of Maryland, could become the missing last No. 2 seed on the second line, because the Blue Devils saw tougher competition than Baylor (24-5, RPI-7) or Texas A&M (23-7, RPI-9), either of which must still win the Big 12 to become part of the mix.

The others are whoever doesn't get the No. 1 out of aforementioned four candidates. Rutgers' math still is competitive, but the injury factor will work somewhat against the Scarlet Knights the way it is working for Connecticut.

The Stanford result is really needed to get more into the No.1 discussion, so the Guru will re-visit the topic in the next 24 hours.

But there are three additional observations involving the Rutgers discussion.

The first is how strange the karma that when the Scarlet Knights were being edged by Louisville, over in the once-proud Big Ten, Illinois, the No. 9 seed under new coach Jolette Law, the former Rutgers associate head coach, was suffering a similar heartbreak ending to go with a bunch of them the Illini suffered through during the season.

Furthermore, it would have been symbolic for a No. 9 seed to become the Big Ten champion since the conference is likely to be without a team in the AP poll if Ohio State gets bounced.

Secondly, watching Tudy Reed help a rebuilt Xavier team advance to the Atlantic Ten title game down here, one wonders how much help she might have become staying at Rutgers, a muse only in terms of the injury affect.

Thirdly, the Guru also wondered about distractions of the book tour but wasn't going to go there until he saw the topic addressed on the Rutgers message board.

First, understand, these stops are scheduled well in advance, so the Rutgers outlook in terms of being able to do both in this brief period had to be rosy at the time.

But what has also happended is the 10-ton elephant that the Guru will simply refer to as "The Imus thing," has managed to find its way back into the Rutgers family when it had begun to fade as the basketball returned to become the focal point of the season.

The offseason coverage extending from the Imus affair carried into the Stanford opener, somewhat, and in the last week, with non-basketball types writing stories about coach Stringer, the Imus issue returned and in the process players were once again being interviewed on the topic. Now, they are young students and it is mid-term time, additionally, so there had to be a hidden mental fatigue factor, especially added to the weight of the killer schedule and limited roster.

But there are two weeks to refresh and re-group, although to come full circle on this post, there will be a todo of sorts once the bracket and seeds are announced next Monday night.

Meanwhile, when George Washington fell in the semifinals to Xavier, the loss by the Colonials, who will still be NCAA bound, continued a streak of bad homecoming appearances for coach Joe McKeown when the tournament has been in Philadelphia at either Temple or St. Joseph's.

McKeown, a Father Judge graduate, had two Atlantic Ten strikeouts before winning in 1995. Since then, GW is Atlantic Ten tournament appearances, not games, has gone 0-7 after Sunday to make the personable coach 1-9.

Next year the tournament will be in Charlotte and then move to a neutral site in 2010.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

As the Guru's keyboard submits the characters creating the readibility of this post, those people who quickly jumped off the Rutgers bandwagon following Tuesday night's blowout loss at Connecticut are having second thoughts after having declared Maryland as the recipient of the projected NCAA No. 1 seed that had been in possession of the Scarlet Knights.

While coach C. Vivian Stringer's team enjoyed the role of spectators in the first day of Big East action in Hartford, Rutgers was given some help elsewhere down in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Duke upset Maryland, costing the Terrapins any shot at a No. 1 and flipping the projection back in possession of the Scarlet Knights. An advance to the Big East title game, mostly likely against UConn a third time this season appears to be all that's needed for Rutgers to be named atop one of the four NCAA regions when the 64-team field is annoinced Monday night.

Stringer's bunch gets into the fray in Sunday's quarterfinals when Rutgers plays Louisville. A potential semifinal game against third-seed West Virginia Monday night would negate the earlier loss to the Mountaineers in Morgantown, W. Va.

North Carolina will be in the No. 1 seed discussion by beating Duke, Sunday, for the conference championship, while the Blue Devils strengthened a case for a No. 2 without regard to a second straight upset.

The other big game of note is in the Southeastern Conference where LSU and Tennessee will meet in the championship. Tennessee is looking for revenge after blowing a 19-point lead.A Tigers win also puts LSU into the top seed discussion and this topic will be re-addressed Sunday night when all the results are in.

Rutgers fans have interest in the Big Ten championship where Illinois, under new coach and former Scarlet Knights' associate head coach Jolette Law, is in the title game against Purdue.

A ninth seed has never advanced this far in the conference, once again saying something about the competition this year. Nevertheless, the Illinis might have gotten a shot at an at-large bid if they don't capture automatic bid that would come with a Big Ten title over Purdue.
Illinois' success put Michigan State and/or Minnesota at risk for at-large status once those teams get placed in comparisons among the bubble teams.

Meanwhile, Cornell's Ivy hopes were renewed with a win over Princeton, while Harvard lost at Yale, and Dartmouth won a close one at Brown, creating a three-way tie at the finish. Penn's upset of Columbia has, according to inference from the league web site, caused people with Ivy educations to spend several days figuring out how the NCAA representative will be chosen through a set of tie-breaking games Friday and Sunday at Columbia.

Here's a look at the other conference tournaments continuing into Sunday.

Atlantic Ten semifinals: Temple likely wraps up an at-large bid with a win over Dayton, considering the Owls tying George Washington for the regular season title. The Colonials are a lock no matter what happens against Xavier, which could gain at-large strength either with a win in the semifinals. The NCAA committee may also want to note that the Musketeers got stronger from mid-December with the addition of a few transfers, including forer Rutgers player Tudy Reed, who won the A-10's sixth player award

Big East quarterfinals: Pttt and Notre Dame, both NCAA bound, look to better their seeds by staying alive. DePaul, on the ropes, meets top-ranked Connecticut a week after a near-upset of the top-ranked Huskies in Illinois. Rutgers needs to take care of business against Louisville, which likely will land an NCAA bid win or lose Sunday. South Florida, fresh off an upset against Syracuse, which will still get an NCAA bid, looks to upend West Virignia.

Conference-USA championship. Top-seed UTEP helps other bubble teams by beating No. 2 SMU, which is one of those bubble teams.

Metro Atlantic championship. Top seed Marist certainly will give bubble teams a sigh of relief by beating second-seed Iona, which has no shot, otherwise, at NCAA field. Marist as a wrong loser would have the best case for at-large rescue status.

Northeast Conference semifinals. Only the winner of this tournament is getting a bid, which is through automatic qualifier status. Top-seed Quinnipiac meets No. 4 Long Island, while No.2 Robert Morris meets No. 6 Monmouth.

Pac-10 semifinals. No. 3 Arizona State and No. 2 California, both NCAA-bound, try to better their seed outlook, especially Cal, while top-ranked Stanford tries to hold serve on No. 5 UCLA. which eliminated Southern Cal's NCAA hopes in the quarterfinals.

Patriot semifinals: Top-seed American advanced against No. 5 Bucknell, which edged No.4 Army in overtime at the U.S. Military Academy. No. 2 Holy Cross meets No. 3 Lehigh. It's a one-bid league

Southern semifinals: Top-seed Chattanooga, with little hope of at-large rescue, goes against No. 5 College of Charleston, while No. 2 Western Carolina meets No. 6 Elon.

West Coast championship: Top-seed Gonzaga seeks automatic bid against No. 3 San Diego to become one of a handful of pure West teams in the NCAA field.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - The Atlantic Ten tossed in the towel Saturday afternoon, actually several of them, to plug a leaky roof at St. Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
And with that move, action was expected to eventually get under way after at least an hour and a half delay, possibly more, involving four games that stood the chance of extending deep into Saturday night.
Temple, the top seed in the field, was slated to play eighth-seeded Richmond at noon.
However, the downpour that hit the area soon caused water to drip from the roof of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, which is slated to undergo a major renovation after the tournament is completed.
During the delay, as St. Joseph's officials attempted to come up with solutions on the roof situation, Atlantic Ten officials were looking at possibilities to move at least the back end of the four-game schedule to another location.
La Salle was unavailable, while Temple, which had bid for the tournament, had events going on at both of its venues in the Liacouras Center and McGonigle Hall.
There was a chance, however, that McGonigle would be available later in the day. The final game, St. Joseph's vs,. Xavier, was set for 6 p.m. and a start of 9 p.m. would mean a short turnaround time before the winner of that game took the floor Sunday at 2 p.m. in the semifinals.
-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

We're going to do this drill conservatively. Only real sure teams are going to go on the lock list so the remainder can be determined in terms of size vs berths and for comparison sake to move teams forward.

Oh, left over from the previous post: The Ivy doesn't have a tournament, per se, but Harvard needs to beat Yale to win the automatic Saturday night or Cornell to lose Princeton. If that happens in direct reverse, a tie emerges, which could also become three-way if Dartmouth beats Brown and the other two Ivy schools lose.

The "Locks" -- 53

America East winner -- projects Hartford -- tournament next weekend
Atlantic Coast -- North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and Duke --- one of which will be automatic
Atlantic Ten -- George Washington, which is projected winner.
Atlantic Sun winner -- East Tennessee or Jacksonville
Big Ten -- Ohio State, Iowa
Big 12 -- Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas
Big East -- Connecticut, Rutgers, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville
Big West winner -- projected Santa Barbara
Big Sky winner -- projected Montana
Big South winner-- projected Liberty
Colonial Athletic winner --projected Old Dominion
C-USA winner -- projected UTEP
Horizon winner --projected Wis.-Green Bay
Ivy winner -- projected Harvard
Metro Atlantic winner -- projected Marist
MEAC winner -- projected North Carolina A&T
Mid-American winner -- someone
Summitt winner -- projected Oakland
Missouri Valley winner -- projected Illinois State or Evansville
Mountain West -- Utah, Wyoming
Northeast winner -- projected Quinnipiac
Ohio Valley winner -- Eastern Illinois or Murray State
Pac-10 -- Stanford, California, Arizona State
Patriot winner -- someone
Sun Belt winner -- projected Western Kentucky
Southeastern -- LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Southland winner
Southern winner -- projected Chattanooga
SWAC winner -- someone
Western Athletic winner -- projected Boise State or Fresno State
West Coast winner -- projected Gonzaga

"Bubbles" -- 17 candidates for 11 vacancies thus needing six eliminations
Georgia Tech
Florida State
Xavier
Temple
Purdue
Minnesota
Michigan State
Iowa State
DePaul
James Madison
SMU
Illinois State or Evansville
TCU
Southern Cal
Middle Tennessee
Kentucky
Auburn

By Mel Greenberg

It's another short circuit departure for Ohio State, although there probably is still some season left for the Buckeyes, who will also soon depart the Associated Press women's poll.

The Buckeyes, who were given a quick enough ejection a year ago in the NCAA tournament, were given one Friday in the Big Ten quarterfinals. This one was handed by Illinois and new coach Jolette Law, the former associated head coach to Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer.

The Illini's upset makes them the lowest seed at ninth ever to reach the Big Ten semifinals.

Elsewhere, Georgia, which only two months ago was considered a No. 1 NCAA seed possibility, was given its exit by Kentucky in the Southeastern semifinals.

SE Missouri, the top seed in the Ohio Valley, was upset with no hope of rescue as an at-large candidate by the NCAA committee.

Boston College's hopes for an at-large were diminished in the Atlantic Coast, while the only major upset of note in the Atlantic Ten here in Philadelphia was Rhode Island beating St. Bonaventure, costing the Bonnies a third straight and final attempt to set a record for wins in the season for the school. Richmond ended Duquesne's season by two points with a half-minute left.

And with that reacap, let's head to Saturday's action.

Atlantic Coast semifinals: North Carolina meets Virginia, and Maryland meets Duke. All four are NCAA bound, but Maryland and North Carolina are contending for No. 1 seeds, while Duke and Virginia are trying to better their placements with opportunities to rise as high as a No. 2 with a conference title.

Atlantic Sun championship. Top-seeded East Tennessee State will be out to preserve its NCAA dance card against No. 2 Jacksonville. Failure is fatal here.

Atlantic Ten quarterfinals: Here in Philadelphia, George Washington is a lock, while Temple and Xavier are trying to strengthen a decent claim for at-large status.
Temple, the top seed after a regular-season tie for first with George Washington, gets the day going against Richmond. Dayton, a senior team that finally blossomed, meets Charlotte, under new coach Karen Astin, a former Texas and Baylor assistant.

George Washington gets an easier opponent after Rhode Island's upset of St. Bonaventure, and host St. Joseph's wraps up the day against Xavier in a repeat of last season's championship game opponents in Cincinnati.

Big East first round: Villanova, the last in, opens the action against Pittsburgh, which struggled down the stretch. DePaul, trying to rescue a bid, goes against Marquette for the dubious right to meet Connecticut in the quarterfinals. Louisville, which is trying to better its NCAA status, meets St. John's for the right to meet Rutgers. Syracuse, also a likely NCAA team, will be out to better itself playing South Florida.

Big Ten semifinals: The half-full view - This conference is really competitive vs. the half or more empty outlook _ what a sad state things have become in this league. That said, Iowa is more NCAA-bound than Purdue, so Boilermakers need another win. On the other side, the newly-crowned Cinderella status of Illinois is on the line against Michigan State, which probably needs another win. Ousted Minnesota might need Iowa or Purdue to win the tournament to hold onto its art-large candidacy.

Conference-USA semifinals. Second-seeded SMU meets sixth-seeded Marshall needing a win to hold on to slim NCAA at-large hopes. Top-seeded UTEP can lock up an NCAA bid most likely with a win over Southern Miss, but the conference title would bring gratitude from those on the bubble.

Metro Atlantic semifinals: Top-seeded Marist meets St. Peter's for the third time in two weeks with the bubble crowd across the nation cheering for the Red Foxes. Fairfield meets Iona with a WNIT bid looming for the winner, assuming Marist is going to survive here.

Northeast Conference quarterfinals: It was Anything Can Happen Day a year ago when top seed Long Island lost this round on its home court. It's another one bid situation, so top-seeded Quinnipiac needs a good start against Mount St. Mary's. In other games, LIU meets Fairleigh Dickinson, Robert Morris meets St. Francis of New York, and Sacred Heart meets Monmouth.

Ohio Valley championship: Eastern Illinois, replacing top-seed and ousted SE Missouri as the new favorite,meets No. 3 Murray State for an NCAA automatic bid.

PAC-10 quarterfinals: It's a three-spot situation, period. One of the trio, Arizona State, opens against Washington; California, one of the others, meets Oregon. Stanford, gunning for a No. 2 NCAA seed as is Cal, meets Oregon State, while Southern Cal can maintain prayer status with a win over UCLA.

Patriot quarterfinals: Two years after the magic of the late Maggie Dixon took Army to its first title shortly before her untimely passing, the tournament begins on the banks of the Hudson. Top-seeded American meets Colgate, before Army meets Bucknell, Holy Cross meets Navy, and Lehigh meets Lafayette.

Southeastern semifinals: Upstart Kentucky goes against LSU. The Wildcats are trying to get into the NCAA building while the Tigers are seeking space in the penthouse. Vanderbilt, likely to get an NCAA bid, will try to gain some in-state pride going against Tennessee, whose legendary coach PatSummitt is 0-1 this week against the Raccoons. Where's Davey Crockett when you need him?.

Southern quarterfinals: Completing round play features two games: Georgia Southern against the College of Charleston, while Elon meets Davidson. Top-seeded Chattanooga, the prohibitive favorite, has previously advanced to the semifinals.

Summitt League quarterfinals: A one-bid league.Top-seed Oakland opens
against Centenary, while Oral Roberts meets IPFW, Western Illinois meets Mo.-Kansas City, and IUPUI meets Southern Utah.

Sun Belt quarterfinals: The bubble crowd is cheering for top-seed Western Kentucky against North Texas; The rest of the Saturday story in this league has Arkansas State against South Florida; Middle Tennessee, hoping to strengthen its NCAA cause, meets Troy, and Arkansas-Little Rock meets Florida International.

West Coast semifinals: The bubble bunch wants top-seed Gonzaga to beat Santa Clara, assuming we have the re-seeding right here; San Diego meets St. Mary's in the other game.

And on a local note, Holy Family goes for its conference title Saturday afternoon against Dominican.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

On a day that Connecticut's Geno Auriemma was announced as one of four finalists for the annual Naismith coach of the year award, his own high school coach Buddy Gardler announced he was leaving the profession.

The other three finalists are Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, and LSU's Van Chancellor.

Meanwhile, we forgot to mention the other day that return of Virginia to the Associated Press poll for the first time in several seasons blocked Ohio State's Jim Foster from moving up a notch in teams with total appearances.

Foster, who also coached at St. Joseph's and Vanderbilt, had moved to within one spot of the Cavaliers' Debbie Ryan, who in one place has made 293 appearances.

In local news here in town, Drexel's win down at Georgia State in Atlanta to finish the regular season Thursday night gave the Dragons a tie for third and the dreaded fourth-seed in the Colonial Athletic Association playoffs next week in Newark, Del.

Dreaded because Old Dominion looms in the semifinals, although Drexel came very close to shocking the Monarchs in the semifinals in 2005.

Drexel was picked eighth and recovered from a shaky nonconference start.

That said, here's Friday's competition:

Atlantic Coast: The quarterfinals arrive as the heavyweights get involved. Fourth-seeded Virginia meets Georgia Tech a week after the Cavaliers escaped with a double-overtime victory.

North Carolina, which is gunning for a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs as is Maryland, meets Clemson, which upset North Carolina State, 65-60, in overtime and may have ended the Wolfpack hopes for another dance trip.

Maryland meets Boston College, certainly a bubble team that could make a name for itself with an upset of the Terrapins. Finally, Duke meets Florida State. The Blue Devils are looking to improve their position, NCAA-wise, while the Seminoles are seeking to gain access.

Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State is the No. 1 seed and begins play in the semifinals against No. 5 Lipscomb. Gardner-Webb meets Jacksonville in the other semifinal in a one-bid league is which the wrong loser goes elsewhere.

Atlantic Ten: There's still basketball to be played here in Philadelphia before St. Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse undergoes its renovation. We'll be here through Monday and will attempt to enhance our print duties.

In the first round, Duquesne and first-year coach Suzie McConnell-Serio begins action at noon against Richmond. Dayton, one of the most improved teams in the league, which earned Jim Jabir the coach of the year, will meet Massachusetts. St. Bonaventure, another improved team, meets Rhode Island, before the host Hawks meet Saint Louis with each looking to advance against Xavier, which has a bye. Temple, George Washington, and Charlotte also have byes.

Big Ten: Having dispatched Wisconsin, Illinois moves on against top-seeded Ohio State as new Illini coach Jolette Law seeks to make a little noise in Indy. Iowa, which is probably a near NCAA lock, will try to put a stop to Michigan's hopes.
Michigan advanced by dispatching the Nittany Lions of Penn State with their 12th straight loss.
Purdue meets Indiana in a battle of bubble teams, while Michigan State and Minnesota wrap up the day's action. The Spartans will need to beat the Gophers to have NCAA hopes, while that kind of setback only worsen's Minnesota's seed potential.

Conference-USA: SMU, trying to catch attention, hosts Tulsa, while UAB and Marshall meet before Houston goes against Southern Miss. Texas-El Paso, the conference regular season champ, meets Rice with bubble teams elsewhere pulling for UTEP to run the table and limit the action here to a one-bid situation.

Metro Atlantic: It's a one-bid league, but attention is on the MAAC unbeaten champ Marist, which will probably be rescued. But bubble teams want the St. Bernard's to stay off the slopes and one way is for Brian Giorgis' team to get things going with a win over Canisius.

Ohio Valley: It's the semifinals in a one-bid league. Top-seed SE Missouri meets Eastern Illinois, while Samford goes against Murray St.

Pac-10: A quiet day in the outbracket competition, although each of the teams is hoping to obviously pull a surprise or two. Anyone staying up late to get results, Oregon meets Washington State for the right to meet California, while Oregon State meets Arizona for the right to play Stanford.

Southeastern: In the quarterfinals, top-seed LSU meets Mississippi as coach Van Chancellor goes against the Rebels he coached in yester-year before the WNBA was born. Auburn, on the bubble, meets thirs-seed Vanderbilt, Kentucky will play bubble ball against Georgia, and Florida goes against Tennessee as Candace Parker begins her farewell SEC appearances.

Southern: It's a one-bid league, so top seed Chattanooga needs to beat UNC Greensboro. Western Carolina completes the quarterfinals against Wofford.

Meanwhile, the seeds were determined for next week's Big 12 fiesta. Oklahoma, once thought of as a potential No. 1 NCAA seed, will open against Missouri, while Iowa State will meet Colorado, Texas will meet Texas Tech, and Nebraska will meet Kansas.
The top byes went to top-seed Kansas State, No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Oklahoma State, and No. 4 Texas A&M.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

The Guru returns after spending a day extended in the Hartford area using innovative technological to file some stories for print in Wednesday's editions.

It is interesting how fast the bracketologists and several scribes quickly yanked Rutgers' looming NCAA tournament No. 1 seed away from the Scarlet Knights and awarded it to Maryland following the blowout loss to Connecticut.

True, the Rutgers hold got a little looser but it might be too soon to be sending coach C. Vivian Stringer's charges down to line two on the bracket, where things might be either interesting or a non-factor depending on who would be the No.1 seed in the same column.

One wonders if the same would be said of UConn had the result gone in the opposite direction.

In recent projections, one of the two ACC powers -- Maryland or North Carolina -- was going to get a No. 1 if they both reached the title game this weekend.

However, when body of work comes into play, Rutgers could hang on the top row, although it's "S" curve placement might be a notch lower.

There's a history over the years of Tennessee getting shocked in the SEC tournament and still holding its No. 1 seed when the TV lights turned on to present the 64-team draw.

But what's really important is a factor that doesn't get talked much about because it is not public, but, as we learned during last month's mock committee bracket session at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, it carries a lot of weight.

It's called the regional advisory ranking system, to coin a phrase.

Several times during the stretch drive of the season, the national commitee breaks into four regional groups and then are each joined by coaches appointed to keep an eye on the local action.

A ranking is then made of all the potential NCAA contenders, including projected automatic winners in low-profile conferences.

The East, because of the size of the area, is the largest and usually has more teams than elsewhere when it comes to upper seeding.

This year, a particular dynamic is in play -- most of the No. 1 seeds being discussed come from the East -- Connecticut, Rutgers,. Maryland, and North Carolina.

The Mideast could be interesting because of LSU wins the SEC, the Tigers could end up being ranked ahead of Tennessee.

The Midwest's best team -- Baylor? Oklahoma? will not be No. 1 worthy. Nor will the West's best team, which is Stanford. In fact, the only reason the West will have any length is all the conference winners will be part of the group.

The NCAA staff told us the ranking is important because the coaches are the one in the battle lines day-to-day either playing the NCAA hopefuls or seeing them appear on scouting tapes in their own game preparations.

So, if Rutgers gets to the Big East title game, and manages to cancel out the West Virginia loss along the way if the opportunity arises, it could be that the ranking will go 1-2 to UConn and Rutgers, the order perhaps determined by the winner of the conference championship.

And if that's the case, they might both still be holding No. 1s, although Connecticut's grip has gotten tighter.

Incidentally, former Rutgers player Tudy Reed was named the Atlantic Ten's sixth player winner Wednesday when the conference's postseason awards were announced.

Inside Guru: Technology on the Fly

If you read the print edition story at Philly.com, you were fed an fascinating account of some wild hours experienced by Villanova Monday night after the Wildcats' loss at Louisville during which coach Harry Perretta's team thought the season had ended and then learned there was still life.

The reason involved an elaborate series of tie-breakers to break a three-way logjam in 11th place among South Florida, Villanova, and Georgetown, which had erroneously declared a clinched berth after the Hoyas' win on Saturday.

Well, here's the way it unfolded onto the Guru's attention and then eventually found its way onto, and wasn't the Guru surprised, page one of Wednesday's sports section.

The Guru left the XL Center in Hartford late Monday night believing that Villanova's season was over based on some quick conversations over the weekend involving what was required to gain the field.

Then about 1 a.m. as the Guru dined on a late-night snack in a nearby diner, a noise out of the blackberry heralded an email arrival with the Big East bracket.

As the Guru opened the attachment, the first thing to strike his vision was the opening game: Villanova vs. Pittsburgh.

A few minutes later, Connnecticut's SID Randy Press, who was wide awake updating his Huskies notes, confirmed to the Guru that it took a lot of time to get the ties broken, but, yes, Villanova was in the field.

The following morning as the Guru was about to check out of his hotel to head South, he mentioned Villanova's deal to an editor, who quickly gotten fascinated and wanted the play-by-play.

But with no hotel workstation available any longer to operate, here's how the coverage got done on the fly.

The Guru, by good timing, reached the Villanova contingent on the team bus heading back from the airport in Philly and interviewed some of the players about their emotions using the speaker phone on the blackberry and a microcasette recorder to tape the conversation.

A few minutes later, the same procedure was used to talk to Perretta, who checked in from Ohio where he had gone to recruit after the loss.

Once the information was in hand, the Guru found a shopping mall that contained a FedEx center that had a place to use the new laptop. Transmission was simplified because on the other side of the wall was a Penera Bread restaurant, which has free wifi.

The signal was strong enough to make contact with the laptop and thus send the story into the home office.

Ironically, there's a bit of amusement in the Pittsburgh-Villanova matchup to open the entire Big East deal Saturday at noon.

On Saturday, after Villanova lost to Marquette at home, the Wildcats needed help from Pittsburgh, among others, to make the field. But South Florida rallied to beat Pitt by a point.

Then on Monday night, the Panthers trounced Georgetown to put Villanova in position to gain the 12th and final spot.

So the reward for all this is now Pitt has to play the Wildcats, the team that drives everyone daffy with Perretta's patient execution.

This is not the first time, Villanova has gone through the experience of Monday night and Pitt was the team involved in a previous episode years ago.

It went like this: A very bad Panthers team upset Villanova in the final game of the regular season and then a week later, bounced the Wildcats out of the Big East field in the first round.

Believing their NCAA opportunities had imploded, Perretta let the team take off from spring break.

Lo and behold, a week later the NCAA bracket gets announced and out of nowhere, Villanova is on the board.

Apparently, the committee got caught in a situation where it still needed teams and at that point in the deliberation, Villanova had enough wins over teams in the field and teams tryiing to get in the field to get selected as an at-large entry.

Somehow, everyone was found to quickly return to campus. Villanova also got another break because the Wildcats got to host the higher-seeded North Carolina State team because of a conflict involving the Wolfpack's arena.

The game went to the wire before North Carolina ultimately escaped.

The Conference Wars Begin: Thursday's action.

Here's a look at the conference slate on the first day of action:

ACC: Georgia Tech vs. Miami -- The Yellowjackets could use a win to strengthen their NCAA cause, which isn't in terrible shape .N.C. State vs. Clemson; Boston College vs.Va.Tech; Florida State vs.Wake Forest - N.C. State, Boston College, and Florida State all need wins to advance their cause.

Big Ten: Michigan vs. Penn State -- The Nittany Lions, who have lost 11 straight, could get a little feel-good attitude in the offseason with an upset of Michigan, which could ruin the Wolverines' hopes for an NCAA bid.; Indiana vs. Northwestern vs. Indiana is an opportunity to become a Cinderella for the winner if that winner takes the Big Ten title; Wisconsin vs. Illinois -- The same goes here as the previous comment, although the Illini could oplay the role, but so could the Badgers.

Conference USA -- The top four have seeds and thus, no compelling storylines yet.

Metro Atlantic - Canisius meets Niagara for the right to meet MAAC heavyweight Marist in the next round.

Southeastern Conference - Florida needs to beat South Carolina to keep hopes alive, which Auburn needs to do likewise with Arkansas. Georgia is most likely a lock, but it's seed situation will suffer with a loss to Alabama.

West Coast - Big game is Gonzaga vs. Pepperdine since bubble teams elsewhere need the Zags to win the tournament and avoid an extra team out of here.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - March Madness took off in a frenzy Saturday as soon as the calendar paid adieu to a rare leap day in February by getting on with the business at hand.

How crazy was it? Welcome to a little "Inside Guru."

Don't credit Ketia Swanier's last-second heroics for rescuing No. 1 Connecticut at DePaul Saturday night without knowing a stand-by scramble by yours truly and the AP's Doug Feinberg created the waves of karma that traveled to the Midwest in time for her to keep the luster on Monday night's Big East and national showdown between her Huskies and Rutgers in Hartford.

The Guru's long day into night into morning went like this.

Stephen, who has done an outstanding job on our behalf at Rutgers, kept the scene under control up north on senior day -- read his report below -- in a win over Syracuse while we were here in town at Temple tracking the Atlantic Ten scramble at the finish and the Owls' bid for a No. 1 seed in the conference tourney.

At the same time, we were keeping tabs on St. Joseph's across town in terms of their seed and La Salle's bid for a berth that would have been the Explorers' out of a potential five-way tie if they would have beaten Duquesne at Pittsburgh.

Oh yes, and out in the suburbs Villanova was trying to land a Big East berth. All of those is addressed in previous posts along with a print story at Philly.com.

And by the way, congratulations to fourth-ranked Holy Family for staying unbeaten and moving past the quarterfinals in the Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference quarterfinals. Likewise to Cabrini, who followed up on their big victory at Madison Square Garden during the season by upsetting Gwynedd Mercy to win the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference crown in Division III.

And guess who the men's champion of the PAC is? -- That would be Immaculata in its third or fourth season as a program and also the first that saw the return of famous alum Theresa Grentz as an advisor to the president.

Anyhow, so having taking care of afternoon affairs, the Guru remained in the Liacouras Center technological catacombs housing the media room, where cell phone and blackberry transmission don't work very well.

At the same time, we continued to work on the software migration to the new laptop. It's going well. We even did our routine file of the print story into the office on our own.

Suddenly, an urgent message from Doug snook into the Guru's unit requesting an urgent return call.

"UConn's down at the half to DePaul, when was the last time an unranked team beat a ranked team?" he asked. "We better get ready."

Unfortunately, the Guru's poll data had not yet made it into the new laptop and was a mile down the street in the home office and since we were trying to install the device that will allow us to watch TV -- really -- we could not scramble out of Temple fast enough to help Doug.

However, he had a copy and the Guru kind of remembered Villanova the year after "the year" and thought something had occurred since. We were able to nail that and the Guru gave him Rachel's number at the Big East to confirm tie-breakers in terms of Monday night.

Having gotten all that under control, we parted with the idea that now that we ran the info fire drill, UConn would find a way to win.

So Erin (who will be with us in Hartford), we know you're happy Ketia came through, but only because we got prepared for her to do otherwise.

Conference Brackets are Getting Set

Next weekend is the first mega-wave and small ripple, too, of conference tournaments determining automatic seeds.

Marist, which earned its first AP ranking, finished the MAAC unbeaten and will be obviously the top seed. You know about the Atlantic Ten with the info in a previous post below.

American will be the top seed in the Patriot League at Army.

UTEP, which earned its first AP ranking this season, became the first C-USA team to go unbeaten in the regular season and will be the top seed, having byes with SMU, UAB, and Houston.

On Sunday, the Big Ten draw will be set with Ohio State and Iowa tied going into the last day of the season and Penn State trying to stop a nine-game losing streak. The same goes for the Atlantic Coast, where Maryland meets North Carolina State, while North Carolina and Duke clash.

Ivy Changes Leader

Two narrow losses by Cornell at the finish at Dartmouth, Friday, in the last seconds, and at Harvard, Saturday, has moved the Crimson a game ahead of the Big Red with one weekend left in the Ivy League -- the lone conference out of 31 that does not hold a postseason tournament..

Penn, incidentally, beat Brown, Saturday night in the Palestra to make it a sweep of the Bears and the Quakers' only two conference wins.

Bubbles Weary of Upsets

We'll run another list Sunday night, but for teams on the so-called NCAA bubble, and there are not many, here are the places to cheer for top conference seeds to win and avoid joining the deliberations as at-large candidates:

America East - Hartford

Atlantic Ten - Avoid the NCAA monkey wrench we were given at the mock brackets by making sure some one other than Temple, George Washington, or Xavier doesn't win the tournament.

Big South - Liberty.

CAA - Old Dominion (the following weekend)

C-USA -- UTEP

Horizon - Wis.-Green Bay

MAAC - Marist -- They go no matter what.

Missouri Valley -- Illinois State

Mountain West -- Utah and Wyoming to play for the title.

PAC-10 - Stanford, or Cal, or Arizona State to win. USC has faded quickly.

SEC - No Cinderellas

Southern -- Chattanooga. (Not that they'd make an impact but they'd be on the table.)

WAC - Fresno State or Boise State, which is not to say the other is a lock to get an at-large

West Coast --Gonzaga

Drexel Stays in Postseason Hunt

Guru get out of here. You have to cover senior day and the Dragons' hunt for third or second or, at fourth, fourth place at 1 p.m. when George Mason visits.

Rutgers' NCAA Situation

Just testing if you're still with us this deep in the post.OK, now that the Scarlet Knights have taken care of almost all their business by beating Syracuse, here's the good and bad news at what's ahead, assuming they'll get to the Big East title game, with one or two UConn games the only potential losses remaining that wouldn't be damaging.

The good news is that it is now almost impossible for Rutgers to get anything but a No. 1 seed. And that honor would at least keep last season's NCAA runnersups free and clear of Tennessee, Connecticut, and either Maryland or North Carolina until the Final Four if they run the table.

So when the TV gets to that moment a big cheer is going to go up all over Central New Jersey and alumni land. And then it will be short-lived, which is not to say the team couldn't get its job done if everyone involved avoids hysterics.

But thanks to the coaches' association's request for geography over seed in terms of the bracket, which we learned in Indy, and the way teams are coming into the finish line and where the regionals are located, and whatever regional balancing is done after the initial top of the bracket is drawn by the committee, here's the option, and it doesn't make a difference which No. 1 Rutgers is given.

If the Scarlet Knights are in Greensboro, they stand a chance of dealing with Duke or Maryland or both or, if they stumble Sunday and in the ACC tourney, North Carolina as a barrier to Tampa.

A placement in New Orelans means a likely rematch with LSU. And a trip to Oklahoma City is going to involve one or more of Oklahoma, Baylor, or in the earlier game -- Oklahoma State.

And to avoid all that means a trip to Spokane, Wash., bringing the travel coast-to-coast nightmare repeat into play, and a most likely clash with Stanford to advance.

So there it is. You can start the debate for the next two weeks at what is the least poison. But then, that's what modified parity does, it removes all those easy regional semifinals and finals of the past.

And now we will remove ourselves from the office until late Sunday afternoon.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Connecticut took care of its business Monday night with a win at LSU and by doing so virtually assured itself a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament field. Maya Moore, by her performance, perhaps put away all the national freshman of the year honors, also.

If the outcome had gone the other way, a lot of "ifs," would have entered into play and LSU would have taken another step into the mix.

But with just one or maybe two games against Rutgers left, as long as the Huskies do what's expected -- losses to Rutgers wouldn't be fatal -- UConn appears to be in a "lock" state along with Tennessee.

What losses to Rutgers would do, is cause discussion on which team would be the higher No. 1 seed. The Huskies helped the Scarlet Knights' bid for a No. 1 also.

With a head-to-head win over LSU and the Tigers' loss to UConn, Rutgers wins that discussion.

In looking at Rutgers' case, coach C. Vivian Stringer's team compares favorably against Maryland and North Carolina, who will fight it out in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the remaining No. 1 slot.

The Scarlet Knights compare favorably at the moment against either team based on the data in the Nitty Gritty component simulations.

Atlhough Maryland currently has an RPI ranking one notch higher, the reason is the Terrapins played more games courtesy of the preseason NIT that gave the Terrapins extra wins. Rutgers still has a stronger strength of schedule.

That opponents will get even more stronger with games against DePaul, Syracuse, and Connecticut just ahead. There's also the head-to-head win against Maryland.

Now with that said, Rutgers still needs to win the games not involving the Huskies or otherwise the injury situation will become more dominant in committee deliberations.

Now with that said, here's another update on how the bubble list is shaping up. Even though some teams in the "discussion," column we would take quickly, we know that's where they will land. Fortunately for most of them, our count shows that not many would have to be eliminated to make the field. Some teams could still find their way on and out of the list as we go through the next several weeks.

Incidentally, in a note of trivia, Ohio State's loss to Indiana assures that the regular season Big Ten champion will have the most losses ever in the history of the conference at five.

Here's the lock and discussion list. In some games we're projecting names of conference winners in what will be one-bid situations. If some get upset, they will certainly enter the discussion group, such as Marist, which earned its first ever AP ranking on Monday. In a few situations, a conference race is so murky, we're unable to project a winner and will just name the slot.

The Locks

Total -- 50

North Carolina
Maryland
Duke
Virginia
America East winner -- Hartford
George Washington
Atlantic Sun winner -- ETSU
Baylor
Oklahoma
Kansas St.
Oklahoma St.
Texas A&M
Connecticut
Rutgers
West Virginia
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Big Sky winner -- Montana
Big South winner -- Liberty
Ohio State
Big West winner -- UCSB
Old Dominion
C-USA winner -- UTEP
Horizon winner -- Wis.-Green Bay
Ivy winner -- Cornell
MAAC winner -- Marist
Mid-American winner
MEAC winner -- N. Car. A&T
Missouri Valley winner -- Illinois St.
Utah
Wyoming
Northeast winner
Ohio Valley winner -- SE Missouri
Stanford
California
Arizona St.
Patriot winner
LSU
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Southern winner -- Chattanooga
Southland winner
Summit winner
Sun Belt winner -- Western Kentucky
SWAC winner
Western Athletic winner -- Fresno or Boise St.
West Coast winner -- Gonzaga

"Discussion" group -- 16 for 14 vacancies

Georgia Tech
Florida St.
Boston College
Xavier
Temple
Nebraska
Iowa State
Texas
DePaul
Iowa
Minnesota
Michigan
SMU
TCU
Southern Cal
Auburn

By Mel Greenberg

This is a very short exercise for lack of other things to do on a Friday night.

The following is a rough cut to identify how big the so-called bubble group will be versus the amount of forecasted total of open slots for at-large teams in the NCAA women's tournament field.

We'll do this every so often the next two weeks and changes can be made. The "lock" list now includes slots for conference automatic qualifiers from leagues likely to send just one team. For now, it will be whomever the leader is at the close of business prior to a particular post.

So change can occur.

Once the real conference tournaments are decided, we'll add to the bubble mix any perceived winner that dominated the regular season but got upset.

We will not identify a particular forecasted conference winner in the major conferences because it is not necessary for this particular exercise on this particular date.

Some teams we'll refrain from placing in the lock category because they may not be so in the combined private thinking of the committee at the moment, even if we like them. As it is, many of those types are still likely to make the field of 64 in the 33 at-large slots. So this is just a roll call of sorts and nothing more.

But feel free to discuss among yourselves as many of you did during our recent "insiders" guide during the "mock tournament committee sessions" in Indianapolis.

Incidentally, we're only using the conference standings to identify teams, not number of representatives.

The Locks (52):

North Carolina
Maryland
Duke
Virginia
*America East - Hartford
George Washington
*Atlantic Sun - East Tennessee St.
Ohio State
Kansas St
Baylor
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St.
Nebraska
Texas A&M
Texas
Connecticut
Rutgers
West Virginia
Pittsburgh
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Louisville
*Big West - UCSB
*Big Sky - Montana
*Big South - Liberty
Old Dominion
UTEP
*Horizon - Wis.-Green Bay
*Ivy - Cornell
*Metro Atlantic - Marist
*MEAC - N.Carolina A&T
*Mid-American winner
*Summit - South Dakota St.
*Missouri Valley - Illinois St.
Utah
*Northeast Conference - Quinnipiac
*Ohio Valley - SE Missouri
Stanford
California
Arizona State
*Patriot - Army
*Sun Belt - W. Kentucky
LSU
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Auburn
*Southland - Texas State
*Southern - Chattanooga
*SWAC winner
*Western Athletic - Fresno St.
*West Coast - Gonzaga

The Bubbles (17 --for 12 slots if the above becomes accurate)

Note: Some teams in this comparisons are obvious stronger than others.
This means that if the above holds firm with no wrong winners in perceived one-team conferences, it is not so large a bubble in which only five of the below must be sliced to produce the remaining at-large OR conversely the best 12 must be picked from the same group. This list will change as we go. We might like some teams a week from now we didn't mention in this first go-round. And we might also cut others that are currently listed below.

Florida State
Georgia Tech
Boston College
Xavier
Temple
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Iowa State
DePaul
James Madison
TCU
Wyoming
Southern Cal
Middle Tennessee St.
Florida
Kentucky

--Mel