Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Dawn Staley may have departed for South Carolina, but is it possible the next Temple women's coach who will succeed her will also have a national reputation as a past All-Star point guard in the WNBA?

An individual who fits that description and also has local ties to Philadelphia is one Debbie Black, the former St. Joseph's and WNBA defensive specialist and playmaker who is currently an assistant to her Hawks coach Jim Foster at Ohio State.

"Since the word got out about Dawn, I've been getting a lot of calls from friends in Philadelphia asking if I'd be interested," Black said Wednesday.

"I'm really happy working with Jim at Ohio State, but I also think I'm ready to take that next step and be a head coach," the former Archbishop Wood star added.

"Is Temple that situation? I can't say either way right now, but it's intriguing and I'll have to learn more about where they're heading and what their expectations are," Black continued.

"But I think it's a tremendous opportunity for someone while at the same time it will definitely be a challenge to follow Dawn after all she did to raise the program's profile."

Temple athletic department officials are wrapping up details of the job internally with Temple's human resources department personnel and are expected to formally advertise the vacant position some time Thursday.

They are also completing spots on the search committee, which will be diverse in representation, said Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw. He has also been an AD at DePaul in Chicago and at La Salle.

This is the third time in the last several years Bradshaw has had to fill a major coaching position. The other two involved the hiring of Al Golden to succeed Bobby Wallace in football as well as former Penn coach Fran Dunphy to succeed Hall of Famer and legend John Chaney in men's basketball.

"Each of those spots were different in terms of how we had to make the hire," Bradshaw said, noting Dunphy's success as a head coach of the Quakers and Golden's rising reputation while serving as a youthful assistant at the University of Virginia.

In the early going, Temple officials do not have a particular candidate targeted considering that Staley's exit caught most by surprise because of South Carolina's ability in Columbia to top Staley's substantial Temple salary by $150,000 to $650,000.

Susan Walvius, the Gamecocks' previous women's coach in the Southeastern Conference, was estimated to be making around $280,000, which was well below Staley's Temple deal that was in the first of a six-year extension agreed to in April a year ago. That contract also had a $500,000 buyout, which South Carolina officials said they will help Staley pay.

Two members of Staley's former staff remain -- assistant Fred Chmiel and operations director Mary Wooley, who was scheduled to depart sometime this summer, without regard to Staley's move, to pursue her post-graduate education.

It's not known if Chmiel has interest in the job himself -- he was away for a few days this week and couldn't be reached for comment -- but as an individual popular with the Temple players, he might be kept by the new coach to provide continuity from the Staley era.

Many schools and new coaches have gone that direction in the past, especially in situations of sudden exits by the previous head coach.

When it comes to offering the best type of candidate for the Temple vacancy, there is not a clear consensus among the Temple faithful, as well as coaches elsewhere, in terms of the qualities needed to succeed Staley. The three-time Olympic gold medalist recently turned 38 but was only 30 when she joined the Owls.

Given the recent public revelation of Temple's available financial resources to pay Staley, a salary considered to be in the top ten of Division I women's coaches, some believe that a head coach with extensive experience would be best to fill the spot.

But that person should also be able to relate to today's youth, that even Staley, herself, conceded at times is quite different than in her collegiate days when she starred at Virginia in the early 1990s.

In that regard, others, noting the ties after Staley that have to be rebuilt within the community and among the Temple alumni base, believe an assistant from a national program with a record of recruiting success could quickly generate the same excitment Staley brought with her hire in April, 2000.

However, it is also conceded that a first-time head coach, even with that aforementioned background, would be in a different situation than recruiting for an existing top 10 power such as Connecticut, Tennessee, or Rutgers, for example.

Rhode Island assistant Ervin Monier, a former Temple assistant who plans to apply and landed all-American Candice Dupree in 2002, said he already has experience in the Temple dynamic, "because I already have done all of it under Dawn."

Although Temple officials will be attending Atlantic Ten Conference annual spring meetings this weekend, it's possible Bradshaw, while away, could begin preliminary talks with key candidates who are known to be interested or others who have been suggested.

Bradshaw and associate athletic director Kristen Foley are likely to hear other suggestions from Atlantic Ten colleagues, if they haven't already done so.,

The Temple AD noted that in his past experience involving hires, such as those at Temple, e, the search doesn't really narrow until the interviews get under way.

Bradshaw mentioned how frontrunners have fallen by the wayside after meeting with the committee.

"I've seen it both ways over the years," Bradshaw said. "There are candidates that might be real high on different lists but then go through the motions during their interviews.

"On the other hand, there have been candidates that you initially might consider strongly, but maybe not ranked as high on the list as other candidates. Then those individuals come in and really express a strong passion about wanting the job and being part of the university community."

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is an enhanced version of a Tuesday print edition noteboook in the Inquirer sports section area of philly.com)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA — With the Dawn Staley era over, Temple is about to begin a new one as it searches for her replacement as women’s basketball coach.

Staley resigned last week to become the coach at South Carolina. Owls athletic director Bill Bradshaw is forming a search committee to go through the list of candidates.

"We're still in the process and not all of the members of the search group have been chosen," Bradshaw said Monday night.

He added that associate athletic director Kristen Foley, who preceded Staley as the Temple women's coach, would most likely be in charge of the day-to-day activities.

Assistant coach Fred Chemiel and operations director Mary Wooley have remained and will probably run the basketball office," said Bradshaw, who met with the Temple players Monday afternoon before they complete final exams in the classroom and head home for summer vacation.

As of now, everyone, including the previously committed recruits for this fall, plan to remain on the team, Bradshaw indicated.

Temple will be posting the address for applicants interested in becomig the next Temple coach and once it is known, the same address will be posted in the blog.

It could take up to a month to name the next coach, Bradshaw said, only because his schedule includes the annual Atlantic Ten spring meetings in a few weeks.

"We'll see how it goes," Bradshaw said.

The conference, incidentally, is still seeking a successor to former Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno.

Meanwhile, a few Temple hopefuls stated their intent Monday to apply.

Cheryl Reeve, a former La Salle star who is an assistant to Bill Laimbeer with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, said Monday she would apply for the job. The South Jersey native also was an assistant with the Charlotte Sting, head coach at Indiana State, and an assistant at George Washington.

Holy Family coach Mike McLaughlin, whose Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II women’s tournament, said Monday he also intended to apply.

Former La Salle women’s coach John Miller, who led the Mount St. Joseph’s girls to a state title last season, has been mentioned as a candidate as well.

"I just had my best year in coaching," said Miller, who was named the Associated Press’ girls’ coach of the year in Pennsylvania. "But given my friendships (with Bradshaw and Temple men’s coach Fran Dunphy), I would certainly listen to what they had to say."

Former St. Joseph’s coach Stephanie V. Gaitley is not a candidate. The former Long Island coach was named Monday as the coach at Monmouth, where her son, Dutch, plays for the men’s team.

ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck, a former coach of Florida and 1999 NCAA champion Purdue, as well as the former WNBA Orlando Miracle, said she is not seeking a return to the profession, for now.

"I'm just busy getting ready for the start of the WNBA," Peck said Monday of Saturday's season openers.

California coach Joanne Boyle, who previously coached Richmond in the Atlantic Ten before rebuilding the Bears into prominence, said she intended to remain in the Bay Area, noting she turned down Duke a year ago when the job opened. The native of Philadelphia had been a Blue Devils assistant under former coach Gail Goestenkors, now at Texas, prior to moving to Richmond.

Some other names, several of which were noted in the Guru's blog when Staley talks with South Carolina intensified a week ago, have also been mentioned by head coaches in side conversations as potential candidates worthy of the Temple position.

Army's Dave Magarity, a native Philadelphian who has moved the Black Knights forward after the tragic death of Maggie Dixon after the 2006 season ended, was mentioned.

"You can't tell me Temple can't top Army with a package,"quipped one coach.

It's not known if Ohio State assistant coach Debbie Black has interest in returning to her native city.

A feisty point guard who became nationally known in the WNBA and former American Basketball League is a native of the Philadelphia area who starred at St. Joseph's.

Black couldn't be reached for comment on Monday.

Another well-known coach familiar with the Atlantic Ten mentioned South Jersey native Lisa Cermingnano, a former George Washington assistant now an aide at Vanderbilt.

"Coming from GW and Vanderbilt, and the recruiting success she's had would make her a good candidate," the source noted.

Connecticut assistant Tonya Cardoza is believed interested, according to several sources, but has yet to be reached for comment.

The former Virginia star was a teammate of Staley's in the Cavaliers' Final Four-era in the early 1990s and is a lifelong friend of the three-time gold medalist who decided to stay with the Huskies in 2000 when Staley wanted to bring her aboard on Staley's first staff.

Because of the friendship, Cardoza has known much about Temple over the years Staley was building the Owls into prominence, although the closest the two schools came to meeting each other was last November when UConn and Temple were in the Paradise Jam tournament in Puerto Rico.

Honoring Perretta.

On Saturday night, about 200 friends, former players and past assistants attended a salute to Villanova women’s coach Harry Perretta, who has completed 30 seasons with the Wildcats.

Villanova men’s coach Jay Wright and former Wildcats coach Rollie Massimino were among the speakers and the guests included Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese and former Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno, who was once in charge of the Big East women before moving to the Atlantic Ten.

Former 76ers and Comcast-Specator executive Dave Coskey, who was once the women's sports information director for Perretta, also attended.

Perretta, who is found of handicapping horses, jokingly recalled the time he coached a Big East summer all-star team in Toronto and when he learned the team was being housed across the street from a race track Perretta said, he immediately exclaimed, "I love you Linda."

Assistant Shanette Lee, who played for Perretta, offered a humorous impersonation of the coach talking to his team during a time-out.

Lynn Tighe, a former player who is ‘Nova’s women’s athletic director, also spoke, as did Drexel coach Denise Dillon and former players Trish Juhline and Lisa Angelotti Gedaka.

Dillon recalled Perretta’s recruiting pitch to her in a parking lot after a high school game: "You’ll never learn to play unless you come to Villanova."

Wright humorously noted that Perretta actually has coached for 120 years considering that "he coaches his own team, of course he coaches my team, he's coached John Beilen's men's teams at West Virginia and he coaches the Tennessee women."

The latter was a reference to Perretta's friendship with Vols Hall of Famer Pat Summitt.

The Wildcats' men's coach recalled a time when George Washington coach Karl Hobbs was visiting Wright and Perretta had barged right into the office, a trait that is common to most everyone Perretta deals with at the Main Lline school.

"`You know, you're zone is terrible,'" Wright said Perretta said to Hobbs after being introduced.

Between the jabs, however, each speaker professed a love for Perretta and some recalled how the famous upset of Connecticut in the Big East title game in 2003, ending the Huskies' NCAA-record 70-game win streak enabled the graduate of Bonner High and Lycoming College to become appreciated nationally.

Perretta offered a 25-minute retrospective of his life, from his boyhood days in West Philadelphia as a Monsignor Bonner student to the present. Virtually everyone from managers to assistant coaches to players to PR directors got a mentioned.

He remembered the time early in his era when "we once played three games in three days and drove the vans almost a 1,000 miles. We won the first two before we got tired from the travel."

Guests were given Perretta bobblehead dolls, which will also be a give-away at a Villanova women's game next season.

Afterwards, all the former players, including some who pre-dated Perretta's arrival, posed for a group shot.

As the Guru looked at the dias, he mentioned how it had just struck him that each of them had once been covered by the Guru as undergraduates. The exception was Maria Caramanico, who was one of the founding members of the Villanova women as a nursing student.

"I covered here, also," the Guru said, "but as a parent of a famous player."

Diana Carmanico became Penn's all-time scorer as a senior in 2001 when the Quakers won their first Ivy League title.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is an enhanced version of the print story in the Inquirer Sunday sports section area of Philly.com with added information. Quotes are from the South Carolina web site which has more detail of the press conference.)

By Mel Greenberg

Dawn Staley’s transition from Temple University to South Carolina, as the Gamecocks’ new women’s basketball coach, became official Saturday when her $650,000 annual package was approved in the morning by the board of trustees.

Soon after, the Dobbins Tech graduate was introduced at a news conference in Columbia.
The deal, which gives Staley an increase from her $500,000 Temple package last year, was completed Tuesday, and both schools announced the three-time Olympic gold medalist’s departure the next day.

“It was a very difficult decision, but sometimes things happen,” Staley said of her decision to leave the Owls after making them a six-time NCAA participant in her eight seasons at
Temple.

“I think professionally I like to be challenged just to reassure myself as a coach. I thank Temple University for giving me the opportunity to hone my skills as a coach. This opportunity fits me.”

Staley joins a school that competes in the Southeastern Conference against such schools as Tennessee, which has won seven NCAA titles, including the last two.

"Some people say, `Why USC?' I say why not?" Staley said of her decision. "They have the commitment, facilities and coaches; it's a great time to be part of the movement at USC. I'm so happy because this is the first time I can speak on it now that everything has been approved.

“We’re going to work extremely hard at everything we do,” she said. “We’re going to work at turning this program around. I know [South Carolina athletic director] Eric Hyman said it’s going to take some time. I’m patient, but I’m not that patient.”

When Hyman introduced Staley, he referenced a conversation with an Atlantic Ten rival coach of Temple, whom he did not name.

"When we were researching Dawn, I talked to one of her coaching counterparts in the Atlantic 10, and he prayed that we hired her," Hyman said. "He said for the benefit of his coaching career, we needed to hire her out of that conference."

It was a remark, with some perceived humor, that appeared to come out of the nation's capital, the home of George Washington, which had dominated the conference prior to Staley's arrival.

The Colonials have continued to do well, but the Owls won four Atlantic Ten crowns in Staley's eight seasons at Temple.

Staley, the Gamecocks’ first female African American head coach, met with five members of her team before the news conference. They were as giddy as the Temple players that day in April 2000 when she took over a program that had not had a winning record in a decade.

“At first, there was that wow factor,” said Jordan Jones, a guard who will be a junior this fall. “She’s a superstar, but she is really a down-to-earth person, real genuine. She’s all into working hard, so if we work hard there isn’t going to be any problem. She’s had success everywhere she’s been — at Virginia, the Olympics, and hopefully that will carry over into here.”

Temple will begin formulating its "nationwide search," as promised by athletic director Bill Bradshaw, early this week.

He had been away all last week at football meetings in Phoenix when the Staley talks with South Carolina intensified, but he was in constant touch with developments back home.

While Temple will want to move quickly, especially with most of Staley's staff also departed, the search committee, once organized, will begin with a large list of candidates. That situation is unlike eight years ago when Staley was hired at a time there was not much interest in the vacancy.

Not every candidate will be publicly acknowledge because of some who have interest would rather not create problems for themselves with their current employers.

With no NCAA rule requiring schools with vacancies to ask permission to talk to targeted candidates currently under contract, elsewhere, Temple is free to make direct approaches to persons of whom the search committee may have an interest.

One person, not previously mentioned in the Guru's blog, who may be interested is former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve. a native of South Jersey who is one of Bill Laimbeer's key assistants with the Detroit Shock.

"I think Temple is a great opportunity for all the right reasons," Reeve said in discussing the position. "Bill Bradshaw, (Temple men's coach) Fran Dunphy, Big Five, Atlantic Ten. Dawn did a great job getting great kids to the program"

Bradshaw was the La Salle athletic director when Reeve was an undergraduate and Dunphy also has La Salle roots. She also was an assistant to Joe McKeown at George Washington and ran her own program for several years at Indiana State, besides holding an assistant WNBA position with the Charlotte Sting, coaching Staley at the time.

Olympic coach Anne Donovan will be job hunting once the Beijing Games end in China in August. Staley is an assistant on Donovan's staff.

When Staley was hired at Temple, she was away initially for her first several months playing in the WNBA and with the 2000 Olympic team in Sydney, Australia.

Former St. Joseph's star Debbie Black's name has been tossed around in recent days by persons who have followed Temple closely.

Currently an assistant coach at Ohio State, Black used to go head-to-head with Staley in a duel of All-Star point guards in the WNBA.

One name that won't be on the list is Long Island coach Stephanie Gaitley, who formerly coached St. Joseph's.

Several sources, including some at Villanova's salute dinner Saturday night to Harry Perretta for 30 years of coaching, indicated the former Wildcats star will be named the new coach of Monmouth in the next 24-to-48 hours.

Because of Staley's previous salary at Temple, which is said to be in the top 10 of Division I women's basketball coaches, and the return from her $500,000 buyout, Temple officials have the financial flexibility to either pay well an individual with extensive head coaching experience or scale back somewhat to a marquee assistant and then put the differential into building a strong staff of assistants.

Although departed from her hometown, Staley plans to continue to be involved in local affairs.

"Dawn wants to continue here," said Angelia Nelson, who heads Staley's foundation that aids urban youngsters. "Her heart remains in Philadelphia. Once she's finished with her first week or so getting situated, we will sit down and talk about how to proceed."

Staley's annual Black Tie & Sneakers Gala is still set to be held May 22.

She also has a one percent stake in the proposed Foxwoods casino project in center city.

Staley has refrained commenting on her involvement, but reports covering the bids for casino rights have said she plans to use her investment to aid the foundation by buillding playgrounds and other places in North Philadelphia to house after-school activities.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ The Guru, after continuing to execute a little journalism, had a late-night philly cheesesteak in the neighborhood of the home office with the South Carolina coach-select and one of her longtime assistants Wednesday, who is also heading to Columbia, as Dawn Staley took a brief break from packing up her current Temple office.

Watching all the mementos being assembled for transfer reminded the Guru of those scenes in Washington when the presidency undergoes a change and movement day arrives at the White House.

"Enjoy this," Staley grinned to Lisa Boyer. "These kind of places won't be open at this hour in Columbia, nor will several others on Sundays."

Why is the Guru even bothering to note this?

Because he realized the main reporting of Wednesday's news is all on the Inquirer sports print-side of Philly.com and he was looking for a way to detour all that wonderful record web traffic that has been flowing through here the last several days.

Philly.com gave the Guru a count of about 5,000 hits off of Tuesday's initial reporting of Staley's accelerated negotiations with South Carolina at the time.

Meanwhile, although the Guru's alma mater, Staley's lame-duck employers, are not paying the Guru to be a way station for those interested in becoming the next Temple women's head coach, more names are floating in this direction since the Guru first created a long list of possibilities earlier this week.

Since that posting, some additional names either whispered in our direction directly or through intermediates, some of which have yet to be confirmed, and especially those with Philly ties are Loyola of Maryland coach Joe Logan, a former St. Joseph's assistant to Cindy Griffin; Rhode Island assistant Ervin Monier, who was one of Staley's early Temple assistants responsible for the finding of one Candice Dupree; former Temple star Marilyn Stephens, who is coaching in Florida and is a graduate of Gratz; Connecticut assistant Tonya Cardoza, Baylor assistant Rich Barron, who previously was in this area as the head coach of Princeton; and former Illinois coach Theresa Grentz who is back in the area as assistant to the president at Grentz's alma mater of Immaculata.

The Guru will be on that phase of the Temple story once athletic director Bill Bradshaw returns from football meetings in Phoenix and the search team is assembled. The names heading in this direction is quite a different story than in 2000 when the last vacancy existed before Staley's hire.

If he catches the right train, the Guru will be making a quick trip to Manhattan for the late morning WNBA exhibition game in Madison Square Garden between the host New York Liberty and Washington Mystics.

On Saturday, it's off to the 30th anniversary salute to Villanova coach Harry Perretta on the Wildcats' campus for his three decades of coaching the women.

Penn State coach Coquese Washington will be in the area as part of the Nittany Lions' annual statewide tour of alumni groups that will also include football coach Joe Paterno and men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis.

Incidentally, Philly.com is undergoing a move to a new platform this weekend but our own Jonathan Tannenwald, who is deeply involved in the transition, informs the Guru site will be handled with care if involved this weekend.

-- Mel

by Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com

Temple women's basketball coach Dawn Staley is officially leaving for South Carolina, Mel reported over on the main Philly.com site this afternoon.

You can read Mel's story, including details of Staley's new contract, by clicking here.

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Talks have accelerated between Temple women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and University of South Carolina officials over the vacant Gamecocks coaching position, several sources familiar with the negotiations said late Monday night.

When noted that the annual Black Tie & Sneakers gala on behalf of Staley’s Foundation is several weeks away (May 22) and which Temple is very involved because of its high-profile women’s coach, one of the sources noted that if a deal is made it could be completed well before then.

“It’s very active,” the source said of the negotiations although it is not known if South Carolina has actually made Staley an offer.

Citing the different estimates of Staley’s Temple lucrative salary that have been recently reported, though none of the numbers have been confirmed, the same source acknowledged that South Carolina may have figured out how to tap Fort Knox to pry the three-time Olympic gold medalist and former WNBA all-star from her comfortable surroundings in her native Philadelphia.

On Friday, the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee estimated Staley’s annual salary at $400,000, not counting income from camps and other incentives, which would be double the pay of former South Carolina coach Susan Walvius, who resigned under pressure April 14, after 11 seasons.

Walvus, incidentally, previously coached at Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond.

The Tennessee publication is pursuing the story because of the candidacy of longtime Vols assistant and former Tennessee star Holly Warlick, who had a second interview Friday, according to the News Sentinel.

South Carolina officials are not commenting on their search, but The State in Columbia reported on April 28 that officials were planning to interview Staley, who was in China at the time as an assistant with the United States women’s senior national team at a tournament in Beijing.

Staley has since been interviewed, the News Sentinel reported, and another source confirmed.

A year ago, Staley’s name was on most everyone’s shopping list when an array of high-profile jobs became vacant, but Temple officials were able to sign the fabled coach to a six-year extension.

That deal includes a sizeable buyout, although the numbers haven’t been reported or confirmed.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, who has South Carolina roots, was briefly involved and interviewed by South Carolina, but withdrew Thursday, the News Sentinel reported.

Besides the buyout and keeping Staley’s salary at a high value, South Carolina would have to accommodate her current staff of assistants, all of which she could be expected to want to bring to Columbia if she becomes the new coach.

Another person thought to be a potential candidate is Chattanooga coach Wes Moore, who has led his team to seven Southern Conference titles in the last eight seasons.

But a source in the Southeastern Conference believes that South Carolina, which was 11th in the SEC last season, has made it a priority to hire a minority female as its new coach.

Click here to keep reading

By Mel Greenberg

There's one program up in New England the Guru and the rest of the media crowd comments much about of which there's a belief next season's contingent could be coached blindfolded.

Now there's another program in the same general locale where its new head coach has already achieved one blindfold stunt.

The news earlier this week that former North Carolina star Sylvia Crawley had become the head coach at Boston College recalls an act she performed at halftime of the All-Star in the former American Basketball League during the 197-98 season at Disney in Florida in which she successfully dunked the ball blindfolded.

However, considering the competition in the Atlantic Coast Conference in which she once went up against on the court, Crawley could be counted upon this time around to coach the Eagles with her eyes wide open.

Meanwhile, as Crawley was taking over the helm in Beantown, several days later former Boston College associate head coach Erik Johnson was named Wednesday as the new head coach in Denver.

Calling It 30 for Perretta

In the newspaper business before email and contact information signoffs became the vogue in the modern era, reporters usually placed a "30" or an "endit" at the bottom of their copy to let editors at the next stop know that the file had been concluded.

The Guru mentions this only to note that the number 30 will loom large on the Villanova campus a week from Saturday when Harry Perretta is honored for his three decades running the Wildcats.

Unlike the denotation of the number in our copy, Perretta is not considered likely to be leaving the Main Line anytime soon.

There may be some roasting, but for the most part the event will be tributary from former players, associates and others who have enjoyed the pleasure of Perretta's relationships over the years.

And no, don't look for any "Spirit of Camp Perretta" accords to be signed by Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt.

Although the two Hall of Famers are at odds over Summitt's accusations to the NCAA through the Southeastern Conference of recruiting violations by Auriemma, the two both enjoy Perretta's friendship.

Neither, however, is expected to be in attendance.

Coast-to-Coast Bonding With the Sparks

While checking out a rumor, which proved unfounded, over the weekend, the trail led the Guru, initially, to send an email inquiry to Kathy Goodman, one of the two women who became owners of the Los Angeles Sparks last season.

A response came back within the hour in which the Guru, who had included some introductory paragraphs, was told by Ms. Goodman, she had his blog in her internet favorites bookmarks long before she became part of the Sparks hierarchy.

Since the Guru is known to conduct late-night calls from the East to still-early-night calls to the Pacific Time Zone, as the general manager of the WNBA-champion Phoenix Mercury can verify, a marathon conversation later ensued Sunday evening.

The Guru will simply state for now, there certainly seems to be has much energy in the front office as the Sparks are expected to produce in the Staples Center this season with the post-attack tandem of Lisa Leslie, returning from missing last season due to pregnancy, and first-round draft pick Candace Parker.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is an enhanced version on a print story in Sunday editions.)
By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Temple women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is high on the search list for the vacancy at South Carolina, and school officials plan to talk to her next week, The State in Columbia, S.C., reported in Saturday's editions.

Susan Walvius resigned earlier this month after 11 seasons. The Gamecocks finished 15-15 overall and 4-10, in 11th place, in the Southeastern Conference.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, who has roots in South Carolina, was interviewed last week, the paper reported. Tennessee assistant Holly Warlick is also on the list.

Hatchell's talks come at a time that the Carmichael Auditorium, the home of the Tar Heel women, is in the early stages of an extensive renovation that will continue through next season.

Staley, who signed a six-year contract extension with Temple a year ago, was in Beijing Saturday as an assistant coach with the U.S. national team, which lost to host China, 84-81, in the championship of the Good Luck Beijing Tournament. She could not be reached for comment

South Carolina officials are not commenting during the search.

Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw did not say whether South Carolina had called for permission to talk to Staley, who has led the Owls to six NCAA tournament appearances in her eight seasons guiding the team.

“Dawn and I have an agreement not to talk about those situations when they come up,” Bradshaw said.

“There’s no NCAA rule; it’s a matter of ethics. Some schools never call,” he continued. “It’s different than in the NBA.”

Former Tennessee star Michelle Marciniak of Allentown, an assistant at South Carolina, is not a candidate.

“We’re not in the mix, and the names I hear are the names everyone else has heard,” she said Saturday.

“We don’t know who will be retained, but I was already looking at moving up to an associate or head coaching position.”

taley is the winningiest women’s coach in Temple’s history at 172-80.

She quickly appears on wish lists when vacancies occur because of her success that includes four Atlantic Ten titles.

But schools would have to pay substantial money to extract her from Temple, especially when it comes to also providing salaries for a staff.

Details about either Walvius' salary at South Carolina or Staley's at Temple are not available but ooff of Staley's last contract and projected increases for this year, it appears that the Gamecocks would have to make a major commitment to lure the native Philadelphian from comfortable surroundings.

"Plus most of these deals involve a lot of money if someone leaves early in the deal," Bradshaw said speaking in general of contract arrangements with high profile coaches.

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma recently spoke of the situation involving staffs of new hires in terms of his own assistants, who often get mentioned when head coaching jobs become vacant.

If any of them such as Jamelle Elliott or Tonya Cardoza got a head coaching job, Auriemma said, they couldn’t hire assistants at many schools because “they can’t afford to live here on what they’re going to get paid.”

]The one place believed that would have a good shot at attracting Staley is Virginia, her alma mater.

But longtime coach Debbie Ryan, who will be inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June, is not expected to be leaving anytime in the near future.

The challenge of coaching in the SEC would be inriguing, but frontrunners Tennessee and LSU remain formidable opponents even as teams in re-tooling positions next season.

At Temple, it did not take long for Staley, who previously never coached, to quickly establish the Owls as a power in the Atlantic Ten and locally in the Big Five.

Temple has won a record 18-straight Big Five games and a record four straight 4-0 titles. Staley produced successive WNBA first-round picks in 2006 and 2007 with Candice Dupree becoming an All-Star with the Chicago Sky and Kamesha Hairston landing with the Connecticut Sun.

Warlick, if offered and accepted the job, would be the second loss for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Nikki Caldwell was recently named head coach of UCLA.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Everyone in blog land will be linking to this one so why should the Guru be different.

Three days after Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma at his wrap-up press conference on campus characterized what he said the reason was for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt cancelling the 13-year annually anticipated regular-season rivalry, ESPN detailed a series of complaints Tennessee had made to the NCAA about Connecticut recruiting.

Tennessee released the document under the Freedom of Information Act, which ESPN had used to obtain the information.

Here is the ESPN link:

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

In a late breaking email from Baylor before the stroke of midnight Eastern Time Friday night, the news was worthy enough to stop our departure from the desk shift to Chinatown to inform that former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore is coming out of retirement to be an assistant to Kim Mulkey at Baylor.

Mulkey was one of Barmore's early stars and was an assistant coach to him for 15 seasons with the Techsters and considered the heir apparent until the school and Mulkey couldn't agree on contract terms when Barmore retired the first time.

She went on to take the Baylor job, rebuilding the Bears into a Top 10 power and guide them to the NCAA title in 2005.

Barmore then ended his retirement briefly to return to the Techsters.

Ironically, Teresa Weatherspoon, another former Techsters all-time great, recently became an assistant coach at her alma mater.

At one time it was thought if Barmore got a WNBA coaching job, Weatherspoon would join him on the sidelines after her retirement.

“There are only two schools that could have gotten me out of retirement, Louisiana Tech and Baylor," Barmore said in a statement in the Baylor release. "At this time in my life I have no desire to be a head coach but I missed the game and still wanted to coach.

"After several talks with Kim, I decided Baylor was a perfect fit for me. I get to work for someone I know and respect, someone that has the same ‘doing it right’ attitude that I have and someone I know will take care of me. What Kim has done at Baylor is one of the most amazing success stories of all times and for a few moments, I’ll get to be a part of that. I appreciate Kim and Baylor for giving me this opportunity,”

Mulkey is looking forward to the reunion.

"I am really looking forward to working with Coach Barmore again," she said. "I have always thought that he got out of the game too early.

"He has a wealth of experience and a tremendous basketball mind that will greatly benefit our program. It is exciting that he thinks enough of me and this program that he would come out of retirement; we have high respect for each other," Mulkey continued.

"He's a Hall of Fame coach that has many more contributions to make to women's basketball. I welcome him to our program and look forward to him becoming a part of our Baylor family," said Mulkey, who is also expected to make another hire to her staff in the coming weeks.

Both Mulkey and Barmore are in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville and Barmore is also a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

“Words can’t express how excited I am that Coach Barmore has decided to join the Lady Bear staff,” Mulkey said. “This has to rank as one of my best recruiting jobs, albeit in a different way. I’m confident that Coach Barmore will have an immediate impact with our players and staff as we continue to build upon the success we’ve enjoyed the past eight years.”

The reversal at Baylor is somewhat similar, but not totally, to one at Temple where Lisa Boyer is one of Dawn Staley's assistants after the fabled point guard had played for her with the Richmond and Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball League.

Here is the data off the Baylor release:

A 2003 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Barmore orchestrated one of the most dominant programs in women's basketball history, guiding the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters to 13, 30-win seasons and 19, 20-plus win seasons. Barmore, the fastest coach in women's basketball history to reach 500 wins, retired Aug. 22, 2002, after 20 years as Louisiana Tech's head coach, posting an amazing career record of 576-87. In fact, his .869 winning percentage still ranks as the best in women's college basketball history.

In his 20 seasons at the program's helm, the Lady Techsters made 20 trips to the NCAA Tournament, which included a national championship in 1988, four NCAA runner-up finishes and four NCAA Final Four appearances. During his tenure, the Lady Techsters were ranked among The Associated Press Top 25 for 179 straight weeks and fashioned a 54-game winning streak. In addition, Barmore coached 12 WBCA All-Americas, four Olympians and 37 first-team All-Conference selections.

Prior to joining the Baylor staff, Barmore spent his entire career at Louisiana Tech as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Although announced several weeks ago in advance of Wednesday night's annual Big Five women's banquet, which broke with tradition, the stars of the five local schools who play in the round-robin received their awards at the Holiday Inn near the stadium complex in South Philadelphia.

During the dinner, junior Laura Kurz informed the Guru that a group of past and present Villanova stars were being assembled to be a "monster" team this summer in the annual Philadelphia Department of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League.

La Salle sports information director Kale Beers was the emcee.

Missing at the dinner due to basketball commitments elsewhere were Villanova's Stacie Witman who is currently a practice player at WNBA Connecticut Sun training camp in New London; Temple's Lady Comfort, who signed a training camp roster with the Los Angeles Sparks, and Temple coach Dawn Staley, who is in Beijing, China, as an assistant coach on the USA Women';s National Team at the Good Luck Beijing Tournament.

At the same time the Big Five tributes were being given, Drexel had its annual postseason salute to its men and women on campus as junior Nicole Hester received the V Foundation Comeback Award for coming back this season after being sidelined the previous 12 months battling Hodgkins' Lymphoma.

The national award was created to honor the memory of Jim Valvano, the late basketball coach and ESPN commentator, whose personal battle with cancer inspired the creation of the V Foundation. It is presented annually to a male or female college basketball player who has triumphed in the face of true adversity.

Here is the list of Big Five winners in case they haven't made it into print previously because the Guru was traveling at the time of the announcement..

Individual Honors:

Player of the Year: Carlene Hightower, SR. - F, La Salle University
Coach of the Year: Dawn Staley, Temple University
Rookie of the Year: Sarah Acker, FR. - C, Saint Joseph's University
Most Improved Player: Ashley Morris, SR. - G, Temple University
Sportsmanship: Mary Kate McDade, JR. - G, Saint Joseph's University

1st Team All-Big 5

Sarah Acker, FR. - C, Saint Joseph's University
Lady Comfort, SR. - C, Temple University
Carlene Hightower, SR. - F, La Salle University
Laura Kurz, JR. - F, Villanova University
Ashley Morris, SR. - G, Temple University
Stacie Witman, SR. - F, Villanova University

2nd Team All-Big 5

Carrie Biemer, JR. - F, University of Pennsylvania
LaKeisha Eaddy, SO. - G, Temple University
Margaret Elderton, JR. - G, La Salle University
Timisha Gomez, SR. - G, Saint Joseph's University
Lisa Karcic, JR. - F, Villanova University

All-Academic Team

Candice Borrows, SR. - G, Temple University
Melanie Gibbons, SR. - F, La Salle University
Timisha Gomez, SR. - G, Saint Joseph's University
Siobhan O'Connor, JR. - G, Villanova University
Anca Popovici, JR. - G, University of Pennsylvania

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

STORRS, Conn. - Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma isn't running for political office in Pennsylvania anytime soon.

However, when the subject of Tuesday's presidential primary in the Keystone State came up during Auriemma's wide-ranging postseason press conference in Gampel Pavilion Tuesday on Connecticut's campus, he mused he had the potential for success in the state in which he spent his formative years.

"I could run," said Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown after being born in Italy.

"I'd get the Catholic vote," he grinned. "I'd get the Italian vote. And I'd get the Philadelphia vote -- that would be real big."

He also agreed he would attract a lot of ballots in Pittsburgh, because former Huskies star Swin Cash was from the major city in the western part of the state.

"And now that (Former Penn State coach) Rene's (Portland) isn't there anymore, I'd probably get a lot of votes in State College."

When it comes to campaigning style, Auriemma said he'd drink Ballantine Beer during his stops in Philadelphia.

"I'd do it to honor Buddy Gardler," Auriemma said of his former high school coach at Bishop Kenrick and who's daughter Meghan plays for him at UConn.

"The only award I ever got when I was there was he once made me the Ballantine player of the game. -- Three rings," Auriemma said of the beer company's marketing logos.

"It was like the Olympic symbol. Three zeros. That was me. The boxscore said 0 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists,."

Meanwhile, don't expect the teams of Auriemma and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt to be on the same game ticket anytime soon unless it involves the NCAA tournament in doubleheader or head-to-head competition.

Summitt cancelled the decade-plus regular-season rivalry just before last summer but never quite elaborated on her reasons.

During the season it was reported that she was unhappy with his recruiting of Georgia's Maya Moore, who helped lead the Huskies to the Final Four and was the nation's top freshman.

Auriemma had said several months ago he would discuss the topic once the season was over, but when reporters got around to the issue during Tuesday's session, he playfully hesitated at first.

"I just said that to get everybody to stop asking about it," Auriemma said.

Biut then the words started to gush out.

"(Summitt) knows why we’re not playing," Auriemma said. "I’m not the one that made the decision not to play. So she should just tell you why we’re not playing instead of saying `Geno knows.’ I do know. She accused us of cheating at recruiting. She doesn’t have the courage to say it publicly. So, yeah, Geno does know. And I’ve said it."

Complaints out of the Southeastern Conference to the NCAA, reportedly instigated by Tennessee, had stated that former Huskies stars Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird had given Moore a ride in Atlanta to an awards show.

That later was refuted when it was determined that both WNBA All-Stars were playing overseas in Russia when the alleged violation occurred.

A second SEC protest, which was later considered to be a minor NCAA violation, involved a member of the Connecticut basketball office, who was not named, helping arrange a tour of ESPN in nearby Bristol for Moore and her mother during an unofficial visit in 2005.

There had been some speculation that Connecticut and Tennessee would resume the rivalry in December at the Maggie Dixon Classic in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Auriemma nixed that matchup Tuesday, although he expressed enthusiasm for playing in the event named for former Army coach Maggie Dixon, who died suddenly right after her first season as a head coach in which she led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2006.

"If you’re not going to play here or there, you’re not going tovolunteer play them at Madison Square Garden in a charity event that’s supposed to help a good cause," Auriemma said. "How could they be involved in that? That would be something that’s good for the game."

Connecticut will play Penn State, while Rutgers will again play Army, although the official announcement has yet to be made naming the doubleheader participants.

Asked under what circumstances Tennessee and Connecticut could play again if Summitt so desired, Auriemma jested a comparison to a recent Notre Dame-Connecticut football longterm football proposal that would not include any home games in the Huskies' stadium in East Hartford.

Auriemma said the series would have to be ten games -- eight in Connecticut, with the other two being in Nashville and Memphis, which would be in the Volunteer State, but not in Knoxville, where Tennessee's campus is located.

``That would be my proposal to them,’’ Auriemma said. ``That’s the only way I would do it.’’

Auriemma said at this point the only reason the breakup of the series is still discussed because the media won't let the story go away "even though everybody else has."

``It doesn’t irk me,’’ Auriemma said. ``With some people that’s just their style. They’re passive-aggressive. They always want to have somebody to blame for what’s going on. There’s a lot of things I know about a lot of people. That doesn’t mean I cancel the series. This is the same person who said if the Duke fans didn’t treat her players right she was going to cancel that series. So if people don’t stop misbehavin’ they’re only going to play a regular season scheduled with conference games. Unless that starts to bug them. So the bottom line is it’s not going to change. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not going to change.’’

Auriemma was presented with the coach of the year award from the Naismith Club in Atlanta.

He did have some serious and introspective comments about that honor, as well as addressing several other topics.

But since the Rich Elliott, the Guru's colleague at the Connecticut Post already transcribed all those remarks, the Guru will send you over there with this link and if more posts have just been added, you want to read the one called: Geno Being Geno.

And the Guru being the Guru, the ride back to Philadelphia is still ahead.

-- Mel .

By Mel Greenberg

VILLANOVA - The clock was winding down. A chunk of Big East pride was hanging on the ledge. And one of the officials on the floor was Bonita Spence, a member of the gang-of-three innvolved in the Rutgers-Tennessee clockgate scandal in Knoxville.

Not to worry.

Laua Kurz kept Villanova's season alive for one more night when she scored inside off a missed shot by teammate Stacie Witman with 0.6 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats a 53-52 victory over American Wednesday night in a Women's National Invitation Tournament first-round game at the Pavilion.

The win advanced the Wildcats against Wisconsin (16-13), which had a bye, in Madison, Saturday night.

American (18-14) was the regular-season champion of the Patriot League, while Villanova stumbled into the Big East tournament after a marathon series of tiebreakers and had lost five straight before Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (16-15) were the walking wounded going into the contest. Lisa Karcic was off the active roster after the Big East first-round loss to Pitt because of a season-ending knee injury. Siobhan O'Connor has a stress facture on her foot and is only available on game day. Witman suffered a fracutred pinkie finger on her shooting hand recently during practice. And Kurz sprained an ankle in the opening minutes.

“I was concerned because we were so banged up going into the game,” Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. “I knew for us to win, (the score) had to be in the 40s or 50s.”

American, which was trying to become the first Patriot team to win a WNIT game in for the first time in three tries, extended the Wildcats most of the night.

When Liz Hayes scored with eight seconds left after Kurz had missed a half-baked shot at the other end, it appeared American would become the second Patriot team to win in the postseason. (Holy Cross has a win in the NCAA).

But Nova, in uncharacteristic fashion for Perretta's normal patient attack on offense, tore down the floor and Witman put up an air ball that landed in Kurz's hands. She quickly heaved the ball toward the basket and it dropped in.

The winning score gave Kurz, a transfer from Duke, a total of 13 points, all secured in the second half. Witman grabbed 12 rebounds.

“I tried to do whatever I could because I knew there was little time remaning,” Kurz said of her game-winner. “I didn’t even think it was going in. I awkwardly shot it with my left hand. I guess it was my lucky day. I breathed a sigh of relief because you don’t want your season to end like that.”

American's Liz Hayes had a game-high 14 points.

Additionally, O'Connor's three-pointer early in the second half gave Villanova the NCAA record for treys made in a season with 306. The previous mark of 305 was held by Missouri State in 2005.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is an enhancement of the print story at Philly.com and includes postgame quotes from Holy Family)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - It was a day of complete bliss for Holy Family senior Kelly Killion, a graduate of Camden Catholic High.

Her brother Jack was married to Melissa Slaughter Saturday afternoon with Killion in attendance. The entire wedding party, still dressed in their finest attire, continued the celebration at night at Campus Center where the unbeaten and top-seeded Tigers moved to within a victory for the NCAA Division II Northeast Region championship.

Killion’s new sister-in-law watched in her white bridal gown near the top of the stands as Holy Family beat fifth-seeded Assumption, 73-49, in the second semifinal after third-seeded Franklin Pierce upset second-seeded Stonehill, 68-56.

The Tigers (31-0), ranked fourth in the coaches poll, will meet the Ravens (26-5) at 7 p.m. in Monday night’s title game in Northeast Philadelphia. The winner advances to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight finals in Kearney, Neb., March 26-29.

“Today was a big day for my family,” Killion said of what became a day for two celebrations. “It was a great experience. But my focus was totally on the team. My brother knew that. They all knew that. I went for the ceremony and I got out of there as fast as I could.

“Because my head and my heart are with my team right now, as much as I love my family. They totally understand that. But the focus is on this team and getting things done and continuing to do what we have to do to continue to win.”

Even though every game now threatens to be the last for Killion, she has taken her senior year in stride, especially as it approaches its final moments.

“Going into your senior year, you don’t think you’re going to be undefeated this far along. But this had been a great ride. We have great players on the team. We have consistent freshmen that came in and did what they needed to do for us.”

Although there was some concern over Assumption’s size, the Tigers didn’t have too much difficulty.

“Our energy level was tremendous,” Holy Family coach Mike McLaughlin said. “That’s what we talked about today at the shoot-around. We had to push out from underneath the basket. Size is only an advantage if they use it and we pushed them away.

“We wanted to have them guard us out on the perimeter and our players were able to beat them off the dribble.”

Melissa Brooks scored 16 points for Holy Family. Killion, a native of Pennsauken, had 13 points and dealt 12 assists, while Lindsey Tennett scored 14 points. Catherine Carr added 13 points, and Christine McCollum had had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“This has just been the best ride of my life,” said Brooks, a Neshaminy High graduate. “I couldn’t ask for a better decision to be here. I’m not saying it’s over yet. Because it’s far from it.”

Assumption’s Kayla Parker scored 16 points.

Holy Family exchanged streaks with the Greyhounds (22-10) in the first half before building a 32-21 lead at the break.

The Tigers roared from there the rest of the way.

“Each team, we know they are going to go on runs,” Killion said. “But we stay composed. The same thing happened last game. Our team, as young as we are, we have great, great team chemistry. And the composure of our younger players is unmatched.

“We have players who can handle the ball at any point in the game. And people are willing to make great shots, which is what we did.”

In the opener, Franklin Pierce’s Johanna Leedham, a native of England, scored 30 points, while Kelsey Simmons scored 20 points for the Skyhawks (27-5).

“Leedham is very, very good,” McLaughlin said of the star of tomorrow night’s opponent. “She is going to be very difficult to guard.

“They like to get out and run. They’re tough. I only saw them live, twice, but I saw them on video.”

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Everything that needs to be said ahead of time has been said of Rutgers-Connecticut, Chapter II.

Monday night's prize in Hartford is the regular season championship. Next week's prize in the XL Center is the Big East tournament title and NCAA automatic bid. Could a fourth prize involve the two. That would be the NCAA championship in Hartford.

Come back to this space for more on this item early Tuesday morning.

There's No Middle There

It finally happened. When it came time to vote Sunday night in the weekly Associated Press Poll, stump the panel finally arrived. Going down the list and keeping true to our previous ballots, the first seven were easy enough.

And then the nightmare began. Teams eight through 13 took losses. Now Notre Dame is a fine team, but it felt a bit much to give the Irish that high a jump based on being the next winner.

And there was no place to really punish California, Baylor, and Oklahoma, though they all needed it. So some teams were held in place in sort of a neutralized state.

Meanwhile, the way the landscape is forming this season, with the exception of a very few teams beyond the Rockies, one could start selling beachfront property in women's basketball along the Colorado River and not get accused of bad business practices.

The Guru's line of the night to a person familiar with the committee deliberations: "When they get in that room next week and it comes time to speak on behalf of local teams, the representatives from the West are going to feel like public defenders taking the cases of obvious suspects."

Conference Brackets: First Look

Now that our sheets are in place, here's a look at some of the conference tournaments already set up.

Atlantic Coast: Talk about fish eating fish. Virginia was unbeaten in the ACC minus North Carolina, Maryland, and Duke, which was unbeaten in the ACC minus North Carolina and Maryland, which was unbeaten minus North Carolina, which was just plain unbeaten and the No. 1 seed.

Key games: N.C. State vs. Clemson - Wolfpack need to win from the get-go or no Cinderella-style move like last year. Georgia Tech and Virginia could quickly meet again in the quarterfinals after Sunday's double overtime thriller won by the Cavaliers, Virginia is trying to move up the NCAA seed ladder, the Yellowjackets are trying to solidify their grip on the NCAA door. Maryland and North Carolina are gunning for NCAA #1 seeds, while Duke is gunning to move up some NCAA seed notches.

Atlantic Sun: Top-seed East Tennessee State needs to know one thing _ Just win, baby, or pick your alternate trip between the WNIT and WNIC.

Atlantic Ten: Temple, George Washington, and Xavier all trying become part of the semifinals and hope that's good enough for two of them to get NCAA at-large bids if the third gets the automatic through the conference title. Suzie McConnell=Serio made noise as a new coach at Duqusne as she did in the late 1980s when PSU was in the A-10. The Dukes open play Friday for everyone, meeting Richmond.

Big Ten: If you insist. What can you say about a conference this season in which Indiana made a phantom point in scoring to win a game, while few points could be made about the competition. Ohio State will go to the NCAAs no matter what. So the Buckeyes are playing for some decent seed possibilities. Iowa's at-large candidacy strengthens with advancement in Indianapolis. Minnesota, Purdue, and Michigan State will try to attract attention, but not all will be successful. Penn State is now trying to snap an 11-game losing streak, but if that fails, the Nittany Lions will have to wait until next season to snap a 12-game one.

Conference-USA: Everyone's cheering for top-seed UTEP since none of the potential also-rans are getting any respect in at-large and bubble talk. And, UTEP, is not a sure at-large lock, either, depending who lands on the bubble.SMU has the most likely shot at an upset.

Metro Atlantic: All the bubble teams in America are cheering for top-seed Marist to keep the aisles from getting crowded by winning the conference title. Last year, the Red Foxes did a little housecleaning of their own all the way to the Sweet 16.

Ohio Valley: SE Missouri is the top seed but has no chance of rescue work as an at-large team if it takes a tumble in the conference playoffs.

PAC-10: If UCLA upsets Southern Cal in the quarterfinals, it's a three-team deal with Stanford, Cal, and Arizona State. But it could be just a two-team deal short circuiting Arizona State so the non-Stanford side of the bracket will be interesting.

Patriot League: American is the top seed. Host Army is the sentimental favorite in its own arena on the second anniversary of late coach Maggie Dixon leading the Black Knights into the NCAA tournament.

Southeastern: Where have you gone Mrs. Robinson, a nation now now turns its eyes to the Big East for fun and excitment. Well, Tennessee-LSU for the championship will be the Rutgers-UConn of the SEC with the same NCAA top seed implications. Vanderbilt and Georgia are playing for better seed money, while Auburn is trying to make it a fivesome.

Southern: Chattanooga is the top seed here and the same goes for the regular season champs as we said goes for UTEP over at C-USA, well, sort of, anyway.

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky is the top seed and hopefuls elsewhere are counting on the hilltoppers to be Hellraisers in this conference.

West Coast: Gonzaga dominated. But that and only a runnerup finish will earn the Zags invites from either the WNIT or WNIC. And we'll be back after Rutgers-UConn.

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Several years ago when Villanova was considered to have been slighted by the NCAA tournament committee, an official later noted on the side how the Wildcats' fortunres rose and fell during the final day of deliberations before the bracket was announced.

"They were in the tournament and out of the tournament several times," the official explained of a process the Guru got to experience first hand several weeks ago participating in the Mock women's committee sessions at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.

On Saturday, coach Harry Perretta's team went through a smiliar roller coaster that left the Wildcats hanging on the edge for the final conference playoff slot going into the last day of the regular season on Monday night.

It was a day Villanova could have taken care of its own destiny and was theoretically in next week's Big East mix put on hold throughout the afternoon at the Pavilion exchanging leads before succumbing, 71-64, to Marquette.

That left the Wildcats looking at the scoreboard for help from friends elsewhere in the conference.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, a Big Five Hall of Famer and St. Joseph's graduate, helped the cause by taking down Seton Hall.

That left it up to Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato, who is a native of South Jersey, and her Panthers to do likewise against South Florida.

But the Bulls, the host school for the Women's Final Four in Tampa, Fla., prevailed by a point at the finish to carry the waning bid into Monday night.

The Wildcats (15-13, 5-10) will travel to Kentucky to play Louisville (*20-8, 9-6) as a heavy underdog. Meanwhile, Marquette (16-12, 8-7), having temporarily taken Villanova aside, can put Perretta's group back in play by beating South Florida (14-14, 4-11)

In Saturday's action, after Wildcats seniors Stacie Witman and Claire Hannenberg were honored, Witman went on to score 19 points, Lisa Karcic scored 12, and Laura Kurz had 10 points.

(Guru's note: This is an enhanced version of print coverage with quotes and added info, including the A-10 pairings, which arrived late Saturday night)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - That hefty diet of nationally-ranked opponents Temple coach Dawn Staley fed her players in the front part of the season has paid off handsomely with the arrival of March Madness.

The Owls beat Massachusetts , 64-46, at the Liacouras Center Saturday afternoon to finish in a tie for first with No. 15 George Washington in the Atlantic Ten.

Temple, however, will begin conference quarterfinals play Saturday at St. Joseph’s as the top seed because of a 68-66 win over the Colonials here on Jan. 19.

The Owls (19-11, 12-2 Atlantic Ten) had struggled in narrow losses to such nonconference powers as Duke, Stanford, Georgia and blowouts by Rutgers and Maryland.

But once they hit the A-10 schedule, they shook off an opening setback at Dayton to win 12 of 13 games the rest of the way.

The Owls also carried a chip on their shoulders because of a preseason conference ranking of fourth, the lowest forecast in several years.

``It feels great,” Staley said, “because no one in the A-10 or anybody else really gave us a shot at where we are today. I’m very proud of our team for fighting through a tough season.

“The only way you are going to get better throughout the course of a season is you have to measure yourself. We took our hits, but we learned from it, people grew up, and everybody got better and improved. This is how you want your season to end – better than people expected and certainly heading into the tournament, I think we’re playing good basketball.”

Temple is playing well enough that it’s chances have improved considerably of making it five straight seasons of NCAA tournament participation.

"I would hope so," Staley said. "If they (the NCAA committee) would look at what we've done over the past 13 games, I think we've done exactly what the committee wants -- we won basketball games. We haven't lost a whole lot of games coming down the stretch of the season. I hope they're kind to us. I hope they remember us from years past and know we always put on a good show once we get to the tournament."

George Washington (24-5, 12--2) secured its share of first-place conference honors and the No. 2 seed Saturday in Washington by beating Fordham, 66-27, as the losing Rams became the first NCAA team to finish winless at 0-29.

St. Joseph’s (16-13, 8-6), meanwhile, drew the sixth seed by beating Rhode Island, 72-60, at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. The Hawks will play a first-round game Friday night at 6 p.m. against Saint Louis (10-19, 5-9), the 11th seed.

La Salle (12-17, 4-10) took the floor at Duquesne (15-14, 6-8) Saturday night in Pittsburgh with the knowledge that a win would put the Explorers in a five-way for ninth and land them a ninth seed.

Instead they'll be in the stands as a result of a shutdown on offense that enabled the Dukes to romp to a 62-35 victory and return to the A-[10 tournament for the first time in two seasons.

La Salle senior Carlene Hightower finished her collegiate career with 12 points.

It's appropriate that Duquesne, as the ninth seed, will open the tourney at noon Friday against No. 8 Richmond (13-16, 6-8) because it will be Dukes coach Suzie McConnell-Serio's first conference action since she was a senior all-American at Penn State in 1988 on the way to an Olympic gold medal. Her alma mater jumped to the Big Ten several years later.

A former WNBA All-Star as well as coach of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, McConnell-Serio took the Duquesne coaching job last spring in her native Pittsburgh and has improved the Dukes from a record of 7-20 last season.

Temple celebrated senior day by honoring Ashley Morris, a former Central High star who blossomed her final year; Lady Comfort, Candice Borrows, and Nicole Pittman.

The quartet will be remembered, for now, as the only four to win all 16 games of their Big Five careers since the round robin began in 1979-80.

Staley praised Morris: “I don’t know who the player of the year is in this league but my vote goes to Ashley, by far. You take her off our team and and we’re nowhere near the top.”

Morris and George Washington's Kimberly Beck are considered the top two candidates, while La Salle's Hightower is likely to land on the all-conference first team.

Temple's LaKeisha Eaddy scored 16 points against Massachusetts (13-16, 5-9), which as the 12th seed will return to town Friday to open against fifth-seeded Dayton (23-7, 9-5). Comfort had 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Shanea Cotton had 12 points, and Shaqwedia Wallace scored 10. Morris scored eight and dealt 11 assists.

Comfort has been a mainstay since her arrival from Florida as a freshman. Morris, however, spent the previous three seasons eclipsed, in part because of veteran point guards in front of her and in part because of a demanding coach who became a prolific player at the position throughout her own career.

As much as Temple has surprised with its finish, Morris was an equal delight, carrying the Owls through difficult times and staying consistent most of the way in elevating her game this season.

"When we closed the season last year, I left last year behind me," said Morris, who blossomed in Temple's first-round NCAA win over Nebraska in Raleigh, N.C. "I just wanted to be a different person, a different role player. I wanted to be much more significant so whatever I did two-three years ago, I just left that behind me."

Morris spoke of the team's reaction in the fall when the preseason conference poll was announced.

"We didn't like it, but it kind of was expected," Morris said. "We didn't have an all-American (Kamesha Hairston) on our team, or anything like that. We just had a group of girls that wanted to win and I think that helped us get through. Being the underdog kind of helped, too, because we wanted to win and we knew we were capable of doing it."

Staley echoed her sentiments. "With this particular team, when you lose the (A-10, Big Five) player of the year, people think you have a huge drop off. But when you lose that type of player, they leave something here. They leave a winning attitude. They leave players real confident in coming back and doing the things we've done."

Meanwhile, over on Hawk Hill, St. Joseph's paid tribute to seniors Timisha Gomez, Krista Hutchinson, Amy Wold, and managers Kim Hartzell and Liz Ryan before beating the Rams (11-18, 5-9), which as the 10th seed, will open Friday against No. 7 St. Bonaventure (18-11, 6-8).

Freshman Sarah Acker had 19 points and 10 rebounds for St. Joseph’s, while Gomez scored 14 points, and Ashley Logue had 13 points.

Temple, George Washington, Xavier (21-8, 11-3), and Charlotte (18--12, 9-5) all drew byes as the top four seeds.

The tournament draw at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse is as follows:

First Round - Friday:

No. 9 Duquesne vs. No. 8 Richmond, 12 p.m.
No. 5 Dayton vs. No. 12 Massachusetts, 2 p.m.
No. 10 Rhode Island vs. No. 7 St. Bonaventure, 4 p.m.
No. 11 St. Louis vs. No. 6 St. Joseph's, 6 p.m.

Quarterfinals - Saturday

No. 1 Temple vs. No. 9 Duquesne-No. 8 Richmond winner, 12 p.m.
No. 4 Charlotte vs. No. No. 5 Dayton-No. 12 Massachusetts winner, 2 p.m.
No. 2 George Washington vs. No. 10 Rhode Island-No. 7 St.Bonaventure winner, 4 p.m.
No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 6 St. Joseph's-No. 11 St. Louis winner, 6 p.m.

Semifinals - Sunday

Temple - bracket and Charlotte bracket survivors, 12 p.m. (CSTV)
George Washington - bracket and Xavier bracket survivors, 2:30 p.m. (CSTV)

Championship - Monday

Semifinal winners, 5 p.m. (ESPN2).

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: We were down here in Philadelphia handling Temple's successful bid for the A-10 top seed after tying George Washington for first. Stephen was on the scene again at Rutgers. Our story is in the Sunday print section and we'll blog more on events later. Here's Stephen's coverage. -- Mel)

By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In front of a sellout Senior Day crowd of 8,079, the Rutgers women’s basketball team upped its game from the perimeter to down Syracuse 64-49 and give the seniors one final home win.

Rutgers honored Essence Carson, Matee Ajavon and Katie Adams with a pregame ceremony in which head coach C. Vivian Stringer and RU officials presented the trio with framed jerseys, flowers, roaring applause and hugs.

“Whether people realize it or not, they probably saw three seniors and perhaps some of the greatest players that have been here ever,” Stringer said after the