Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

Crossing Paths – I: The selection of Maryland senior Crystal Langhorne of Willingboro, N.J., by the WNBA Washington Mystics in last week’s draft reunites for the moment two former prominent Philadelphia Belles AAU stars.

Gillian Goring was drafted a year ago out of North Carolina State after a sort of gypsy career caused in part by academics.

She was originally headed for Connecticut but didn’t meet NCAA eligibility standards and gravitated to a junior college from which she ultimately moved on to be productive for Kay Yow with the Wolfpack.

Langhorne, who has been cited for her academic success besides her work on the court that made her the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, had also been recruited by Connecticut but joined Belles teammate Laura Harper of Cheltenham High in signing with the Terrapins. The duo, of course, gave Maryland an NCAA title in 2006.

Crossing Paths – II: During the Villanova golden season of 2003 that featured the Wildcats reaching the NCAA Elite Eight and ending Connecticut’s record 70-game win streak in the Big East championship, Harry Perretta’s group recorded two upset wins of Colorado, including one in the Sweet 16 by a score of 53-51.

The Buffs, as the sixth seed, upset No. 3 North Carolina to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Guru covered that ‘Nova-Colorado contest in Knoxville and one of the Colorado stars was a three-point shooting guard out Warwick, R.I. who had nine points and six rebounds in the NCAA contest.

Kate Fagan went on to play a season with the winter pro-league Colorado Chill but then moved on to journalism.

Most recently, she has been at Glens Falls, N.Y. and also reviewed Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer’s new memoir for the Inquirer Book Section.

On Wednesday, Kate became a Sports Department hire primarily covering South Jersey high schools, making her, unlike the Guru, someone who actually played the sport.

It also means that this is the last we’ll comment on her career to avoid conflict of interest issues now that she is a colleague. But we will add she was also an academic star in the Big 12 and with that we’ll leave it up to the Guru's colleagues in the Big 12 to write any further reference as needed.

Remembering Randy: The Guru was shocked by the news Monday of the sudden death of Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer sports editor and columnist Randy Smith.

Our paths first crossed in 1995 as the Connecticut women rose to prominence and won their first NCAA title. Although he covered all sports in the Nutmeg State, he was a women’s hoops fan and was a delight to be around – especially when he had differences of opinions with UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

Just recently he asked the Guru if he thought that Renee Montgomery was better than Sue Bird when she played for the Huskies.

The Guru asked where did that observation come from.

Randy simply nodded in Auriemma’s direction and smiled without further comment.

Other Notes: Temple’s Lady Comfort did not get drafted but on Wednesday she signed a free-agent rookie contract with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.

That’s the same team that made Tennessee junior Candace Parker the overall No. 1 draft pick last week.

Last winter after the Phoenix Mercury won the WNBA title, general manager Ann Meyers Drysdale , anticipating grabbing a post player in the draft, had quietly hoped Tennessee’s Nicky Anosike would be around since she didn’t think she would have a chance at the bottom of the first round to grab North Carolina’s Erlana Larkins.

As it evolved, both were still up for pickings, but Phoenix went instead for another Tar Heel – LaToya Pringle, whose stock began to rise substantially soon after that conversation had occurred.

The Guru will cut it short by noting for those who inquirered that he will celebrate his decades-ago arrival on the planet Wednesday by going to the St. Joseph’s postseason dinner.

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: Now that I got your attention, this is not a basketball story. However, we do ocassional dabble in other sports and since this one came in too late to make most of the print editions, here is the Associated Press report of the NCAA Division I women's championship match,

Speaking of PSU, however, the basketball 64-55 victory at Bucknell Saturday night in nearby Lewisburg brought the season record to 9-3 and makes it the first time in five seasons the program has nine nonconference victories).

By The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Penn State played near-perfect volleyball in an amazing NCAA run, winning its second national title while dropping only two games in six tournament matches.

The scrappy Nittany Lions even found a way to stun top-seeded Stanford on Saturday night, getting 26 kills from Megan Hodge and 19 from Nicole Fawcett against the very same school they beat for their first title in 1999.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we won,” Hodge said. “It’s surreal. I’m on a high.”

A day before her 21st birthday, Fawcett served on match point and Penn State capped its 26th straight victory on another powerful kill by MVP Hodge, winning 30-25, 30-26, 23-30, 19-30, 15-8 exactly three months to the day after losing a five-game thriller to the Cardinal — the last defeat for the Nittany Lions.

“We just talked coming in about how we were going to win,” Fawcett said. “So, we just had to go back to how we were playing in the first two games. There was no way we were going to lose it.”

It was a classic for volleyball fans considering each side had three first-team All-Americans. Trailing 4-3 in the decisive game, Penn State (34-2) scored six straight points and got two kills each from Christa Harmotto and Alisha Glass for a 10-4 lead and Stanford called timeout.

National and Pac-10 player of the year Foluke Akinradewo and Pac-10 freshman of the year Alix Klineman each had 18 kills for the Cardinal (32-3), who tried to become the first team since UCLA in 1991 to rally from a two-game deficit to win.

“This is why we take the court every day and work hard in practice, so we can win a national championship,” Akinradewo said. “It’s worth taking the risk.”

Stanford fell short for the second straight season, missing a chance to give senior starters Bryn Kehoe and Franci Gerard another title after winning when they were freshmen in 2004.

Penn State coach Russ Rose had no intention of shutting down Stanford’s stars. What his team did was keep points alive by chasing down tough loose balls and hitting the floor for athletic digs to end Stanford’s 12-game winning streak and deny the Pac-10 its sixth title in seven years.

“Anything can happen in a short game, but I was confident if we got to Game 5 and had enough offense we could do some things,” Rose said.

Stanford, which barely advanced out of the semifinals after a 3-2 win over Southern California on Thursday night, was seeking its seventh title in 16 seasons. Now, after five straight championships by the Pac-10, 2006 winner Nebraska and Penn State are bringing more parity to the college game.

The Cornhuskers were the only other team to beat Penn State this season. The Nittany Lions are 31-0 when they win the first game of a match and this was only the fifth time they had to go the distance to win — and fresh legs could have been a factor in this one. Penn State breezed past California 3-0 on Thursday.

Fawcett had served into the net on game point in Game 3, but made up for it later.

This marked the third time these teams met in the championship, with Stanford winning in 1997 and Penn State two years later. These are the only two teams to make all 27 NCAA tournament fields since its inception in 1981.

Stanford freshman libero Gabi Ailes extended her own single-season digs record to 533 with 10 digs Saturday.

In the opening game, the teams combined for five service errors among the first 14 points. Fawcett’s kill made it 26-23, then she had a key block for her team’s 29th point and the game-winning kill.

Kate Price, Penn State’s senior outside hitter, chased down several tough saves along the right sideline.

Rose, in his 29th season at the school, was national coach of the year and Saturday’s triumph was his 925th career victory.

The championship drew 13,631 for a total of 26,679, the second-highest attendance mark in NCAA volleyball history behind Omaha, Neb., last year (34,060).

-- Mel

(Welcome to those linking from the original blog,since that continues to be an initial point of entry for many of you who click by for a visit).

By Mel Greenberg

If former Northwestern star Anucha Brown Sanders' successful sexual harrassment suit against the New York Knicks ultimately results in the $11.6 million judgement awarded her by a jury in the Big Apple on Tuesday, she will be receiving a value nearly equivalent to a large chunk of the current overall payroll in the WNBA.

For many of you who had yet to reach the planet when Brown joined the Wildcats north of Chicago, Brown was a freshman for the 1982-83 season when the NCAA celebrated its first birthday in charge of women's sports championships.

Brown Sanders went on to be named the Big Ten Conference's player of the year twice and all-Big Ten three times. In 1985, she led the nation in scoring with a 30.5 average.

If Madison Square Garden, the corporation which owns the Knicks, the WNBA's New York Liberty, and several other teams in Gotham, wants to recoup most of the payout to Brown Sanders, executives could conside offering her a chance to own the Liberty, since she'll have more than enough for the required $10 million asking price the WNBA ordains for buying into a franchise.

Curse of the No. 1 Pick

You might remember a year ago during the WNBA season, we noted how every coach in the women's pro league, except former Houston mentor Van Chancellor, was gone within two years of making the overall No. 1 pick at the draft.

When Phoenix acquired the top choice for last April's selections, we jested our good friend Ann Meyers Drysdale, who had become the Mercury's new general manager, it might be a smart idea to swap the pick and dodge the curse.

As it evolved, the Mercury did execute such a move when Duke's Lindsey Harding was sent to the Minnesota Lynx for Tangela Smith.

On one hand, Phoenix's transaction helped land the Mercury's first crown. On the other, by executing the deal after making the pick, Phoenix became a victim of the sorry tradition last week when Paul Westhead left the club after a two-year stay for the NBA's Seattle franchise as an assistant coach.

A Visit to Beantown

So on Saturday, while the Phillies spent a day stalling on their winning march to the National League Eastern Division title in baseball, we took a round-tripper on Amtrak to spend the time in Boston, whose Red Sox had already wrapped up the American League Eastern crown.

The real goal of the journey was to soda & dine Erin (she doesn't turn 21 until early this winter) for all her fine work, especially her recent performance at the WNBA finals in Phoenix.

Upon our arrival, under gorgeous clear blue skies, Erin launched a walking tour through the North End, the old hangout of Paul Revere. Ethnic sector that it is, we lunched at a fine Italian restaurant. Then it was off to the harbor, where we sat and enjoyed the breeze across from the USS Consitution.

After enjoying that rest, it was time to stop for lunch dessert at Mike's, an establishment known for cannollis and capuccino.

Next came a quick trip on the "T" to the Copley Mall, where the Guru was used as an in-store fashion critic as Erin shopped for several items. Yeah, by the Guru's estimate, he was the oldest person on the premises.

Then it was on to dinner in Back Bay at a fine Spanish restaurant, followed by a stop at an ice cream parlor, and also followed by a walk to sit alongside the Charles River, the home water course for Erin, who rows for Northeastern.

The visit ended as Erin went home to feed her cats and the Guru grabbed the late train South, slumbering on the rails to a 75-song playlist on his I-pod.

Speaking of the baseball playoffs, the guru's niece Allison, who has been mentioned and appeared previously at the site for various reasons, will be sitting at Game 1 Wednesday afternoon in a special box seat section at Citizens Bank Park, courtesy of her new friend.

Social Set II

Villanova's Harry Perretta may have been coaching the Wildcats for more than two decades, but it's still possible to introduce him to new culinary delights -- such as Chinatown in center city.

That's what occurred Tuesday afternoon, with our party also including longtime Villanova athletic spokesman Dan Kenefick, and Drexel coach Denise Dillon, who once played for Perretta.

OK, so he was a runnerup for top-prospect Elena Delle Donne to Big East rival Connecticut, but Perretta found the spare ribs Tuesday as a nice consolation prize.

End of an Era

If a report we heard in the newsroom Tuesday is true, longtime Archbishop Carroll coach Barry Kirch is heading for retirement.

Kirch's teams were one of the longtime powerhouses in the Catholic League.

Fame and Marriage

The two went hand-and-hand during the University of the Sciences' annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday in the city's Southwest sector.

As former women's star Chauntrelle Clayton listened to the induction acceptance speech of her longtime boyfriend Shannon Overton, she found herself suddenly surprised when Overton offered a proposal of marriage right in the middle of his remarks.

-- Mel