Guru's Local College Report: La Salle's Jeff Williams and Lincoln AD Dianthia Ford-Kee Honored By Black Women In Sport Foundation

(Guru’s note: There are three posts below this –one of women’s basketball and BCS conference terminology. Another on Sue Donohue’s departure from the NCAA where she has been vice president of Division I women’s basketball. And some more information on Bill Tipp, the former AAU girls basketball executive, who recently passed away. Click Mel’s blog on the right side to get to blogspot and the full archive to get to the other posts if you are reading this in melgreenberg.com. Next up notes from Rutgers media day and we will be caught up – the Guru thinks.).

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA – Early last Friday evening at the law offices of Mitchell & Titus, LLP, high atop the 29th floor of a center city office building with a magnificent panorama view, a presentation and reception was held for both second-year La Salle women’s basketball coach Jeff Williams and Lincoln University athletic director Dianthia Ford-Kee for receiving the Legends Award from the Black Women in Sport Foundation.

Tina Sloan Green, a legend herself as a former Temple field hockey and lacrosse coach who still teaches at the university, is the president and co-founder of the organization, which began in 1992 and among its many activities offers sports mentoring clinics in golf, tennis, lacrosse and fencing.

Alpha Alexander, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn., is vice president, and to learn more about BWSF please go to the organization’s web site blackwomeninsport.org.

Vera Jones, who starred at Syracuse and had been a broadcaster of women’s basketball events, as well as serving as an assistant coach at Indiana and Dayton, emceed the ceremonies and most recently has become a motivational speaker and writer, authoring several books, including Basketball Lessons For The Game of Life and New Best Friend – A Little Book of Faith.

Michael G. Horsey, treasurer and member of the board of BSF, presented Williams with his honor, noting his ability to find diamonds in the rough and giving them opportunity most recently in his previous role as associate head coach to Agnus Berenato at Pittsburgh where he recruited former University City star Marcedes Walker and current WNBA star Shavonte Zellous of the Indiana Fever to give the Panthers their best success with two Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Ford-Kee is in her fourth year at Lincoln and has helped elevate the school’s athletic program to NCAA Division II status and return membership to the Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA).

She was nominated by Lynsey Grace, softball and volleyball coach, who graduated Temple in 2005.

The Guru knew he could name drop former sports information director Rob Knox, now a member of ESPN’s statistics and research department after a previous stint at Kutztown, to the Lincoln delegation as a matter of introduction.

The La Salle delegation included athletics director Tom Brennan, Kale Beers, associate athletic director of of athletics/external affairs; associate head women’s basketball coach Ervin Monier, newly hired assistant Shayla Scott, who played at Pitt, and operations director Tenicha Gittens.

Williams’ wife Tamecia McCoy accompanied him.

Here is Williams’ acceptance speech, though some parts will be marked inaudible considering that the Guru was breaking in a new digital recorder at the event.

I just want to thank the foundation for the acknowledgement.

Anytime you acknowledge what you love to do, it is just tremendous.

I don’t consider it work. I enjoy being around young people. To me, all kids nowadays are at risk, because you never know what they encounter once they leave their homes.

Anyone of you out there could be receiving this award and I think we have to do all we can do to continue to educate, to motivate, to (inaudible) these young people who we come in contact with.

Mike (Horsey) is a guy that just has been very special in my life. He spoke when we met a number of years ago.
He didn’t tell you because he is a modest guy because how much he had to sell me on this young lady (Walker). She didn’t come with great academic credentials.

He said she was 250 (weight), she was 270 (laughter) – I saw her I was like “Wow.”

He called me every day and said you need to take a chance on this young lady. I guarantee you she will represent you will. She just needs an opportunity.

She needs to get out of Philly. She’s not in the best of situations at home. I guarantee you – and I went to see her and wow I loved her. I invited him to a game at Villanova – we actually lost by about 40 points.

I said, `There’s no way this youngster is going to come to the University of Pittsburgh.’ Mike convinced this young lady you need to be around people who are going to help you in the future.

We’re going to put you in position to be successful. He knew my track record. I had another young lady from Philadelphia who played under a legend Lurleen Jones over University High School. Her name is Denique Graves.

Kind of similar backgrounds. Denique graduated from Howard University (where he previously coached), Denique went on to play in the WNBA and became a model citizen.

And he convinced Marcedes Walker to take a chance to come to the University of Pittsburgh and leave her family.

This young lady was not only one of the all time great players at the University of Pittsburgh women’s basketball players history, but she’s also one of the great people we’ve ever had an opportunity to coach.

The community fell in love with her. At Pittsburgh, her senior year, they vote for the student athlete of the year and the student of the year, and you get your name engraved on a brick – it’s planted on the ground. So when you come on campus 50 years from now that brick with your name will be there.

Marcedes Walker’s name is embedded at the University of Pittsburgh and I think that was all because of Mike Horsey. Because he sold this kid to a lot of people and people didn’t bite. But he stayed on me and he said I guarantee you.

And to this day I think this young lady is the reason that I’m a head coach at La Salle University because she allowed me to win a lot of games – two Sweet 16s – again represented the university well.

So Mike I am forever indebted to you. I appreciate you.

Mike spoke on a historical piece on me being an African American male coach on the women’s side in the Big Five – I’m very fortunate my university – La Salle University took a chance on me.

I have to thank my president, who couldn’t be here tonight due to a prior engagement: Brother Michael McGinniss.

But more importantly, my guy. My athletic director Dr. Thomas Brennan.

He didn’t look at race. He didn’t look at gender. He just looked at who he thought could get the job done. And I really appreciate he did his research.

He said, Howard was struggling when you got at Howard and you rebuilt the program. And Georgia Tech was struggling when you got to Georgia Tech and a couple of years – NCAA tournament.

And Pittsburgh had won six games prior to you getting there. And six years you guys went to two Sweet 16. He said I’m interested in you as a builder.

Your credentials speak for themselves. I have tremendous support at that university. I know I can turn my back and my guy has my back so I’m just very happy and very fortunate to be working at the university where I have a great deal of support.
Service, community and faith – that is what the university is all about and I would be willing to bet that is what most of you guys are about.

So this is a tremendous bond that we are forming. Again, I have tremendous support here. I have my staff here. My associate head coach Ervin Monier – I have one of my assistants, she’s out working – someone has to. I have Shayla Scott who I recruited and coached at the University of Pittsburgh, I have as young lady who keeps the office running smoothly, my director of basketball ops, Tenicha Gittens.

And there are a lot of people. … They’re about helping these young people achieve, not only on the court but off the court. I think it is our responsibility that these young people have the tools to be successful and we point them in the right direction.

And finally, I have to thank my head coach, my beautiful wife.

She allows me to do what I do. She has a job, a very demanding job. She has a very demanding four-year-old. She has a very demanding 46-year-old.

But she also knows the importance of being a (inaudible). She came off a trip last week and I said, Baby we have a recruit coming in.

Would you mind cooking? She said no problem. How many? Twenty-five.

She gave me a little look but the next day the food was on the table. The tam loved it. I loved it. I think that’s what it is all about.

Both of us are graduates of Howard University. Shee grew up in an atmosphere of she knows what’s important in Black Women in Sport.

Her mother was the assistant commissioner of the MEAC conference.

So we both know what it’s about to get young people involved, keep them involved, keep them focused and using sport as a vehicle for success.

So we’re going to continue to do what we do. And I’m so happy this happened because it allowed me to cultivate some new relationships. That’s what this is all about.

So I look forward to getting to know you guys in the future and I just have to say thank you so much again for this honor. Thanks a lot.

-- Mel

Guru's College Report: A Rant About BCS Terminology in Women's Basketball

By Mel Greenberg

As Associated Press national women's basketball writer Doug Feinberg pointed out on Saturday when the preseason poll was released, this is the first time that no one from a non-BCS school-- the so-called mid-major conferences -- was among the list of 25 teams determined by a national panel of media members or, considering the BCS roots began in the early 1990s, the coaches who made up the board through the end of the 1994 season.

While it is an interesting statistic, the comparison began in recent seasons or in the last decade to go back more because of the so-called money crowd that make up the BCS and the perceived non-money group that make up the mid-majors in terms of resources.

But in the women's game, sometimes the comparison gets a little carried away.

On one hand, last year a slew of mid-majors entered the poll, in part, because traditional teams in terms of poll history, such as Rutgers, which is back in the preseason vote, was in a down cycle. Penn State, which had only a few appearances the last two years, is back in the preseason at No. 12 after having been a longtime AP resident through the early part of the last decade.

But in some cases there are teams in the mid-majors who stand up on their own merits without regard to where they play their conference competition. There was a time when the Atlantic 10 was considered more powerful than the Big East before Rutgers and Penn State went elsewhere.

Maybe the A-10 takes a hit because with George Washington having dropped from lofty heights, besides the exits of Penn State and Rutgers, as well as West Virginia and even Virginia Tech, there has been some unfamiliarity.

The Colonial Athletic Association is another league with numerous members who can compete with BCS teams.

When the Guru first looked back inside the database, there was a case of one school keeping the Mid-Major streak alive in early 2004-05 when DePaul was ranked, but at the time as a member of Conference USA.

The Blue Demons for the most part have been consistently good under longtime coach Doug Bruno before they entered the Big East and afterwards.

For that matter, when one looks at teams on their own merits Princeton has excelled far beyond the normal regard of an Ivy school when it comes to playing teams outside the league. The Tigers have come under consideration for a ranking the last two seasons because of what they have done versus their out-of-league opponents.

When the football lingo began in the early 1990s, no one was using the BCS or mid-major comparison in women's basketball because schools like Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion were two of the dominant powers of the poll who went out and got after it well beyond the different conferences in which they held memberships.

Take Texas, for example. Today the Longhorns and Big-12 are synonymous in terms of identity. But prior to the formation of the Big 12 when Texas was part of the Southwest Conference, until Marsha Sharp developed Texas Tech as a challenger, one could look back now and say at the time that the SWC was more mid-major than major.

Even the Big East was a one or two-team league in terms of marquee value in the women's game until the past changes in membership.

Xavier was ranked because of who they were and who they played beyond anything to do or not do with their Atlantic 10 affiliation. The Musketeers, incidentally, having finished fifth, has taken one of the all-time between season plunges in not making the poll after 46 weeks.

But that was expected with four starters lost, including two WNBA first round picks in Ta'Shia Phillips and Amber Harris, and coach Kevin McGuff's departure to coach at Washington in the newly-named and expanded Pac-12.

"Those were great players but at Xavier the tradition will continue," said Amy Waugh during last week's A-10 teleconference with the league's coaches. Waugh moved up from being an assistant.

In the early games-to-watch list, circle a visit from Penn State to Delaware, where the CAA-favored Blue Hens and junior star Elena Delle Donne will be waiting to take their shot at national notoriety. A month later they will get another chance playing in Maryland's tournament.

Of course, Marist out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference could work its way back as could Gonzaga out of the West Coast Conference.

Now with this history lesson ended, class dismissed and go on to the next new post in either direction.

-- Mel

Guru's College Report: Sue Donohue Steps Down From the NCAA

By Mel Greenberg

As the Guru continues to play catch up this Sunday night on Halloween eve, one of the major news stories last week was Sue Donohue, vice president of Division I Women's Basketball, deciding to step down at the end of November from her position with the NCAA..

The Guru has learned it was a family situation that was involved in her decision, period, though when the announcement came out of the blue, knowing that the NCAA is undergoing a major internal reorganization, which sounds like an imitation of the newspaper business these days, he could not helo wondering whether this was the next shoe after longtime men's basketball honcho Tom Jernstedt was let go a little over a year ago after Mark Emmert took office.

A replacement will be hired, according to several sources, though how soon remains to be seen. Many quality names the Guru could think of who would make excellent candidates either don't want to move to Indianapolis, the headquarters of the NCAA, aren't interested in the demands of that particular job, or just flat out don't want to work for the NCAA.

Anyhow Sue will be missed. She, along with Rick Nixon, NCAA media liason for women's basketball, and her assistant Michelle Perry have been helpful over the years in getting the annual breakfast of the United States Basketball Writers Association -- women's division -- on the schedule during the Women's Final Four.

Sue was also helpful in just being able to clarify situations when they have arisen and others have spoken of the job she did inviting the media to participate in the mock bracket exercises at NCAA headquarters in recent years.

It seems like only yesterday that Sue shifted over from the men's championship to the women's side and the year she did was quite hectic because in 2000 the NCAA was moving from Kansas City to Indy, meaning some gaps occurred in staff positions left vacant by those not wanting to make the move.

It was also the year that Philadelphia was hosting the Women's Final Four, the first time the event was held in a major metro center. For most of the time in the transition the media position was vacant.

Now all this created some problems, especially since it was before media credentialing became streamlined via computers.

Cathy Andruzzi, who was head of the local organizing committee back then before going back into coaching, was media savy enough that she could do a lot of the site work in terms of seating chart, etc., to help fill the void.

But forms used to be mailed and then sent back and the system got a little waylaid in all the transitioning, which created a panic because reporters (back in the days when newspapers sent their reporters without regard to who was playing or where it was being held) were not seeing the application form in their mail boxes (as in U.S. Postal not email).

And when panic sets in with the media in NCAA matters, Guru Central's phone begins to ring off the belt holster. (We are in the cell phone age).

Anyhow, since the Guru knew pretty much who the regulars were and who all was legitimate, for those who still hadn't seen their form, the Guru devised a specially coded worded sentence so they could make the call to Sue and the request and get their application or get on the approved list instantaneously.

If you remember, the four teams were UConn, Tennessee, Rutgers and Penn State. With the latter two being locally followed, besides the Philly connections from UConn (Geno Auriemma) and Tennessee (Kristen "Ace" Clement from Cardinal O'Hara), the media request for the then-named Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia was huge and remains a record to this day.

And so does the feed Andruzzi provided for the media work room.

But the little plan worked and no one was left out of the mix and besides the regular Inquirer army assigned as the host paper, the Guru was able to get his special fifth column credentialed with the caveat that they run around the arena for him gathering notes for his part of the paper's coverage.

Anyhow, as Sue has been informed, she may be leaving the NCAA but not Guru nation and she is on the list for a special project the Guru plans to initiate here in early January.

But the Guru wishes her all the best in her next venture and also the NCAA all the best in being able to land the right candidate to replace her.

-- Mel

Remembering Bill Tipps

(Guru's note: There are posts above this or will be depending when you are reading)

By Mel Greenberg

A week ago it was mentioned here about the passing of longtime AAU girls basketball official Bill Tipps.

As it turns out his niece Linda K. Harris, who used to work with the Guru at The Inquirer, is actually back in Philadelphia and she sent along the funeral notice although since the funeral itself has come and gone those particulars will be deleted here.

Anyhow here is a little more on Bill.

Bill F. Tipps, 83, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, died Sunday, October 23, in Huntsville, Alabama. A Tennessee native, Mr. Tipps was the son of the late Ernest Floyd Tipps and Lillie Brown Tipps, and had been married for more than 50 years to the late Ann Tolley Tipps. He ran Motlow College Ancillary Services and formerly owned and operated Speedee Pantry, a convenience grocery store in Tullahoma, alongside a Jiffy Dip ice cream shop and miniature golf course, which he also owned.

Mr. Tipps was a longtime volunteer for AAU Girls Basketball and had been Chairman of AAU Girls Basketball for many years. He was a member of the nominating committee of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and was on the Olympic Selection Committee for Women's Basketball. In 1991, he was elected to the Women’s Basketball Volunteer Hall of Fame.

He is survived by one son, Randy Tipps, of Winchester, Tennessee, and one daughter, Gail Tipps, of Huntsville, Alabama; and two brothers and two sisters. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

-- Mel

Guru's College Report: Tennessee and Summitt Reach AP Poll Milestone

(Guru's note: The Guru has some catching up to do which will come in the next post late Sunday night covering La Salle coach Jeff Williams and Lincoln U. Athletics Director Dianthia Ford-Kee's Legends Awards Presentation Friday by the Black Women In Sport Foundation, among other items. But for now, here is more notes from the AP preseason women's poll kicking off the 36th season of the rankings.)

By Mel Greenberg

Though they have yet to play a game in the new 2011-12 season under their longtime Hall of Fame coach, the Tennessee Lady Vols and Pat Summitt hit an Associated Press milestone Saturday with the release of the preseason poll, making it the 600th time they have appeared in the rankings that began with the 1976-77 season.

Tennessee was not in that preseason vote, the only time Summitt's group has not been in the annual launching ballot, but they have rarely missed since. This is the 614th vote and the Lady Vols have missed just 14 times counting that first omission.

This also marks the 355th straight appearance dating back to the mid-1980s when Tennessee came off a 10-week no-show drought.

Second best is Connecticut on current steaks at 335, followed by Duke at 226, Stanford at 190, Baylor at 145, and Notre Dame at 78.

Baylor, as poll moderator Doug Feinberg, the AP's national women's basketball writer noted, is No. 1 for the first time in the preseason vote. Last season during a brief stay at the top of another season dominated by Connecticut in the voting the Bears' rise to No. 1 made Kim Mulkey the first person to play on and coach an AP team ranked No. 1.

On the court, she was with Louisiana Tech in the early 1980s.

Teams missing from the final poll of 20111-12 were Xavier, which had made 46th straight appearances, Michigan State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Marquette, Marist, Gonzaga, Georgia Tech, and Ohio State.

As for replacements, Penn State is back after a brief stay the last two seasons, starting at No. 12 in the heels of a preseason pick as the choice of media and coaches to win the Big Ten conference. Rutgers returns for the first time since a No. 25 in the preseason poll of 2009-10 at No. 25.

Georgia's return marks the 461st appearance for Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers, all with the Lady Bulldogs for second place behind Summitt.

Southern Cal, which gives coach Michael Cooper his first poll appearance, is back for the first tiem since Nov. 13, 2006, the second poll of that season. Purdue also broke a long absence having returned for the first time since Dec. 8, 2008.

Nikki Caldwell joined the two-timers club with the return of her new team LSU to the poll after having led UCLA back to the rankings.

The Bruins are still there but Cori Close, who succeeded Caldwell, has a distinction, though she has yet to get her first "W", in that she is now the 31st coach to play for and coach AP ranked teams. Close was captain during UC Santa Barbara's brief one-week appearance near the end of 1992-93 when she was a captain. Several years later the former Big West champions did become a staple in the weekly appearances for a while.

For the moment, Connecticut has been dislodged from its recent domination and the No. 4 is the lowest preseason vote since a No. 8 at the start of the 2007-07 season. The No. 4 also matches the lowest vote since the final poll of the 2007 season, which was also a No. 4.

There is a milestone ahead for the Huskies if they can win their early games because their 276 appearances in the Top 5 is only three short of Louisiana Tech for second place behind Tennessee.

Rutgers return has Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer closing in on third place on the all-time list of AP appearances with 389, which is just behind retired Texas Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt at 395. She is fourth on the active list behind Stanford's Tara VanDerveer at 408.

Stringer is one of a handful of coaches with three different teams in the AP poll, having previously led Cheyney and Iowa to the rankings, while VanDerveer's overall total also includes an earlier stint at Ohio State.

Incidentally, since the Guru from time to time hears questions about coaches who have yet to achieve the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame induction, off the all-time list and also in terms of eligibility here are those in the top 25 yet to be honored: No. 7 Jim Foster, who led St. Joseph's, Vanderbilt and Ohio State into the poll; 8 Rene Portland, who led St. Joseph's and Penn State, and though she had just left Colorado, the Buffaloes' roster of players earned a ranking the following season after her departure.

That's similar to Nikki Caldwell, who takes over at LSU, but her former UCLA roster is also in the poll.

Also yet to make induction, though eligible, is No. 14 Gail Goestenkors, off Duke and Texas, and Joan Bonvicini, currently at Seattle but has coached Long Beach and Arizona to AP status. Sherri Coale at Oklahoma is No. 19 but she may not been coaching long enough yet to earn eligibility.

To close out this post, here is the all-time and active lists of coaching appearances reprinted from the Guru's ongoing compilations.


By Mel Greenberg
Women’s Hoops Guru
(Oct. 29, 2011)

Updated file thru the preseason 2011-12 season Poll. This update since close of business for 2010-11 accounts for coaching changes in Division I since end of the season.

All-time list of upper-ranked coaches remains the same other than footnoting those who are now at universities beyond those they guided to rankings and those not in collegiate competition because of moves to the WNBA, non-head coaching or their passing.

Teams in parentheses means coaches had ranked teams at all those schools with the last one being the current location or the last location when ranked and a footnote as to where they are now.

Those out of collegiate coaching are removed from the active list but if they return in the future, as was the case when Van Chancellor came back from the WNBA to LSU, for example, they will be re-inserted with their totals in place from where they existed.

Quick hits on AP poll (week 1 – for coaches’ appearances week No. 1 – Preseason )
(This is 614th poll after week 1). (Records on pages through week 1 -- Preseason, 10/29/11)

Coaches With Three Ranked Teams
C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney-85), (Iowa-155), (Rutgers-149), 389
Jim Foster (St. Joe-35), (Vanderbilt-164), (Ohio St.-147), 346
Gary Blair (Stephen F. Austin-79), (Arkansas-67), (Texas A&M-101), 247
Marianne Stanley (Old Dominion-141), (Southern Cal-24), (Stanford*-18), 183
Lin Dunn (Miami-2), (Mississippi-1), (Purdue-130), 133
Don Perrelli (Northwestern-52), (S. Conn.-20), (St. John’s-1), 73
Tom Collen (Colorado St.-34), (Louisville-17), (Arkansas-7), 58
Sharon Fanning-Otis (Kentucky-4), (Miss. St.-48), (Tenn.-Chattannoga-4), 56
Debbie Yow (Florida-2), (Kentucky-21), (Oral Roberts-1), 24

Co-Coaches
Kittie Blakemore, Scott Harrelson – West Virginia 8
Sonja Hogg, Leon Barmore – Louisiana Tech 51
Jill Hutchison, Linda Fischer – Illinois St. 3
Jim Jarrett, Joyce Patterson – Georgia St. 1
Marianne Stanley, Amy Tucker – Stanford 18
Jim Bolla, Sheila Strike – UNLV 18

Coaches All Time Ranking Appearances
1. Pat Summitt, Tennessee – 600 (missed just 14 polls in entire AP history)
2. Andy Landers, Georgia – 461
3. Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 408
4. **-Jody Conradt, Texas – 395
5. C. Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 389
6. Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 368
7. Jim Foster (3 schools – St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio St.) – 346
8. **-Rene Portland (2 schools – St. Joseph, Penn St.) – 336
9. **-Debbie Ryan, Virginia – 328
10. **- Kay Yow, North Caro. St. – 326
11. **-Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech (51-shared with Sonja Hogg) – 325
12. Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina – 313
13. **-Joe Ciampi, Auburn – 290
14. Gail Goestenkors (2 schools – Duke, Texas) – 288
15. **-Sue Gunter (2 schools – Stephen F. Austin, LSU) – 270
16. &&-Joan Bonvicini (2 schools – Long Beach, Arizona) - 267
17. **-Marsha Sharp, Texas Tech – 264
18. **-Van Chancellor (2 schools – Mississippi, LSU) – 261
19. Gary Blair, (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 247
20. **-Chris Weller, Maryland - 227
21. **-Theresa Grentz (2 schools – Rutgers, Illinois) – 225
22. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame - 217
23. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma 194
24. **-Marianne Stanley (3 schools – ODU, Southern Cal, Stanford*) – 183
25. **-Paul Sanderford (2 schools – W. Kentucky, Nebraska) – 182
26. **-Marian Washington, Kansas – 176
**-Not in college or not in as a head coach

Active Coaches-All Time AP Ranking Appearances
1. Pat Summitt, Tennessee – 600 (missed just 14 polls in entire AP history)
2. Andy Landers, Georgia – 461
3. Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 408
4. C. Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 389
5. Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 368
6. Jim Foster (3 schools – St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio St.) – 346
7. Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina – 313
8. Gail Goestenkors, (2 schools – Duke, Texas) – 288
9.&&--Joan Bonvicini (2 schools – Long Beach, Arizona) - 267
10. Gary Blair, (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 247
11. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame – 217
12. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma – 194
13. Kim Mulkey, Baylor – 170
14. Joanne P. McCallie (2 schools - Michigan St., Duke) – 148
15. Melanie Balcomb (2 schools – Xavier, Vanderbilt) – 145
16. Bill Fennelly, (2 schools – Toledo, Iowa St.) – 131
17. Kristy Curry (2 schools – Purdue, Texas Tech) – 124
18. Doug Bruno, DePaul – 122
18. Brenda Frese (2 schools, Minnesota, Maryland) – 122
20. %%- Joe McKeown (2 schools – New Mexico St., George Washington) – 116
21.)))-Chris Gobrecht (Washington) - 104
22.@@@@- Cathy Inglese (2 school, Vermont, Boston College) – 98
23. !!!- Jane Albright (2 schools – N. Illinois, Wisconsin) – 96
24. Debbie Patterson, Kansas St. – 91
25. Kurt Budke (2 schools -Louisiana Tech., Oklahoma St.) – 80
26. Pam Borton, Minnesota – 75
XX. Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona St. – 74 (On sabbatical in 2011-12)
27. ###-Joanne Boyle, California – 60
28. Tom Collen, (3 schools, Colorado St., Louisville, Arkansas) – 58
29. Sharon Fanning-Otis (3 schools: UT-Chatt., Kentucky, Miss. St.) – 56
29. Sue Semrau, Florida St. – 56
31. ***-Kathy Olivier, UCLA 52
32. ^^^-Kevin McGuff, Xavier – 50
33. Mike Carey, West Virginia – 47
34. Bonnie Henrickson, (2 schools -- Virginia Tech, Kansas) – 45
35. Harry Perretta, Villanova – 44
36. Suzy Merchant, Michigan St. – 41
37. Jeff Mittie, TCU – 38
38. Agnus Berenato (2 schools – Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh) – 37
39. Lisa Stockton, Tulane – 34
40. $$$- June Daugherty (2 schools – Boise St.,Washington) – 32
41. Nell Fortner (2 schools – Purdue, Auburn) - 30
41. Terri Williams-Flournoy, Georgetown – 30
43. Lisa Bluder (Drake, Iowa) – 28
44. () - Dawn Staley (Temple) – 26
44. Connie Yori (Creighton, Nebraska) – 26
44. Sharon Versyp, Purdue – 26
44. Jeff Walz, Louisville – 26
48. MaChelle Joseph, Georgia Tech – 23
48. Robin Selvig, Montana – 23
50. ///-Nikki Caldwell (UCLA, LSU) - 22

&&-Active at Seattle; )))-Active at Yale; $$$-Active at Washington State.; %%-Active at Northwestern; () - Active at South Carolina; !!!-Active at Nevada; @@@@-Active at Rhode Island; ()()-Active at Michigan; ###-Active at Virginia; ^^^-Active at Washington; ///-Active at LSU.

-- Mel

Guru Report: Longtime AAU Girls Basketball Icon Bill Tipps Passes Away

(Guru’s Note: If you are reading this thru links to melgreenberg.com and was looking for the Guru musing about Elena Delle Donne and the next WNBA draft, which was drawing higher traffic, click on mel’s blog to go back in the blogspot archive since only the most recent post shows at this link. Just trying to be reader friendly as always).

By Mel Greenberg

The Guru has been busy doing the organizational updates and such and not blogging on a daily basis for a bit, but here are some items he needs to get out there with updates to come as soon as possible.

First, Bill Tipps, a longtime leader in the AAU Girls Basketball program passed away early Sunday morning after battling health issues in recent years.

The Guru worked with his niece Linda K. Harris, now living in Atlanta, at The Inquirer back in the day and she coincidentally mentioned him just before the Guru actually met Bill for the first time several days later on a trip to Knoxville, near where he lived.

The Guru is still gathering details. Bill had been a member of the board of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, perhaps worthy of induction as soon as is possible.

But as Nan Elrod, a board member and former official with the Hall who also worked for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, among many other positions, noted, “AAU Girls Basketball wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for Bill.

“I remember when I worked for the WBCA and went to my first national (AAU) tournament, he went out of his way to make sure I had all the rosters and information on everything that I might need.

“He is going to be really missed.”

Tipps’ wife Ann, a longtime AAU volunteer, passed away in 2007 after a battle with cancer.

Mighty Macs’ Movie Debut

Well, upon further review, the Guru was incorrect earlier in the day Monday when he tweeted that the Mighty Macs movie debut over the weekend about Immaculata’s first championship looked good on the box office report in terms of being No. 12 (actually it looks like 15 overall) and the top draw of theaters below 1,000.

“People who were planning to go, especially if they were taking groups, really need to get out there this week,” said an official connected with the marketing of the film.

“It’s going to be an uphill climb. The problem is that with so many movies opening, it really has to look like a good buy for theaters to keep The Mighty Macs on their screens.”

Paranormal Activity 3, which appeared on over 3,000 screens, shocked those who follow these movie trends with the largest October opening ever, according to the numbers at boxofficemojo.com.

“The Mighty Macs actually beat Paranormal in Philadelphia (near the campus of Immaculata) but nowhere else, obviously.”

Reviews have been favorable and even if one critic gave it mixed blessings in a major market, there have been more positive citations in publications in the same location.

The Guru was unable to make a clean cut-and-paste copy of the chart here so go to boxofficemojo.com/weekend to look at the numbers.

And if further clarification is needed, he will update this post earlier in the day.

Atlantic 10 Outlook

Up next on the docket beyond breaking news is Wednesday’s annual teleconference from the Atlantic 10 at which time the preseason coaches’ picks for team and player honors will be released.

The Guru has been asked to make another of his frequent guest appearances in The Inquirer with the report.

With the graduation of former Xavier stars Amber Harris and Ta’Shia Phillips and the move of Kevin McGuff to Washington in the Pac-12, a new frontrunner is likely to head the 14-team field for the first time in several seasons.

The guess here is Dayton or Temple might become the new target of note.

-- Mel

Guru's Musings: Could Delle Donne Be In The Future For the WNBA Lotto Winner?

By Mel Greenberg

Tiptoeing in the middle of several media collegiate women's basketball preview events last week was the WNBA announcement that Nov. 10 will be the day the annual draft lottery will be held to determine the No. 1 overall pick as well as the second, third and fourth for the 2012 season.

It could produce an interesting turn of events and maybe not depending on who hits the jackpot.

Granted, this is the valley year between the UConn graduation of Maya Moore from the collegiate world last April until the departure of Baylor star Brittney Griner in 2013.

In terms of players among the senior class, Stanford’s Nnemkadi Oguwmike is the name considered the frontrunner, though it’s possible whoever lands the spot could make a trade for more experienced value.

The end result might be that the pick will be someone who fills the particular need of either the Tulsa Shock, which won only three games for an all-time WNBA low; the Los Angeles Sparks, which is almost guilty of criminality in being involved in another one of these selections; the Chicago Sky, who many believed should have made headway enough to hold off the late-charging Atlanta Dream or perhaps edged the New York Liberty; or the Minnesota Lynx, who don’t need much after winning their first WNBA title in dominating style.

The Lynx, with a chance to make it two in a row, are in position to grab another No. 1 choice courtesy of a trade before the season got under way that sent Nicky Anosike to the Washington Mystics for their first rounder.

It didn’t seem a big deal at the moment until Washington plunged from a franchise high in 2010 to the near depths of the WNBA with just six wins, though, injuries aside, the Mystics have more accountability than Tulsa, which was reduced to a virtual expansion-team appearance when the Shock moved from Detroit under new ownership prior to 2010.

But at the moment, there is a wild card in all this the same way one existed in 2007 when Tennessee All-American Candace Parker had a chance to leave early, per the eligibility rules, but stayed another year. However, that exist after a second straight Lady Vols NCAA title was still an early departure, but one in which she and Los Angeles crossed paths and she went on to claim the Rookie and MVP awards in her WNBA debut.

So Nov. 10 could be a very big day in the state of Delaware, though nothing much has to be said until the end of the season.

That’s where Elena Delle Donne plays with the University of Delaware, which on Tuesday was revealed as the conference coaches’ choice to win the Colonial Athletic Association – a first since joining the conference prior to the 2001-02 season.

For all the drama the last four seasons – the short stay at Connecticut, the flight to volleyball in 2008-09, the nagging injuries of 2010 and the Lyme illness of last season – a healthy Delle Donne is now once again the player who drew nationwide attention coming through Wilmington’s Ursuline Academy.

Last summer she was the leading scorer and rebounder on the World University Games squad composed of most of the top collegiate talent that earned a gold medal for the United States.

Several players who were teammates of Delle Donne last summer had nothing but praise in discussing her during the annual Big East women’s basketball media day in New York on Thursday.

“I think she was the best player out there,” said DePaul senior Keisha Hampton, a graduate of Philadelphia’s Engineering and Science, who was an unanimous pick for the preseason all-Big East team and could land somewhere in the first round herself next April.

“Her footwork is unbelievable,” gushed Notre Dame junior Skylar Diggins, who is probably 1-2 with Baylor’s Griner going into this season in terms of the national player-of-the-year contests.

At the moment, Delle Donne has said she plans to stay and complete her four seasons with the Blue Hens. Indeed, her stock will only rise higher by leading Delaware to prominence this season.

But this isn’t the pros where you play for a signed contract, though many would argue that a scholarship to ensure your education and life beyond sport is value unto itself.

There’s no question that the drive to excel has returned with Delle Donne’s health or she would never have headed to trials at Colorado Springs, Colo., let alone make the team that resulted in an extended stay away from home over the summer.

When Nov. 10 rolls around Delle Donne doesn’t have to hold a press conference or say anything on the topic. She has until late March to declare and by then, who knows, the Blue Hens could be ranked for the first time ever in the Associated Press poll or land in the NCAA tournament with the CAA’s automatic bid.

And in being the No. 1 overall pick, Delle Donne’s commitment to family values is a WNBA marketing arm delight in selling a league whose fate as a the sister league of the NBA and its labor problems remains to be seen.

Last season, Delaware got close to an NCAA berth when Delle Donne wasn’t near herself but was able to help the Blue Hens pull a string of upsets as a seventh seed in the CAA tournament all the way to the title game.

Maybe Tulsa will trade the pick, but if not, as one WNBA executive said late in the season, “All respect to them, but Maya Moore isn’t winning any titles this season if she had gone to Tulsa as a No. 1.”

But think of the other choices: If it’s Minnesota, Delle Donne could suddenly find herself a teammate of Moore after all and would have the same luxury, because of the Lynx’ talent-rich roster, of not having to be the sole focal point.

And in coach Cheryl Reeve, she’d have someone from basically back home in terms of Reeve’s youth in Washington Township, N.J., and collegiate years at La Salle in Philadelphia.

Washington would have been great in terms of the short distance from Wilmington, let alone providing hope for a fan base that soured on all the events after the 2010 season. However, it’s only a summer away from home in the cities of desirability, not an eternity that four years away at UConn would have seemed because of her deep family attachments.

In fairness, that is not to preclude if Teresa Edwards returns as coach of the Shock, there is a worthiness playing for a five-time Olympian with four gold medals.

Chicago is a fun city, it’s in the Eastern Conference meaning multiple trips to New Jersey (N.Y.), Washington and Connecticut, and Delle Donne could be the player who enables the Sky to finally break what is now a 0-for-6 futility in making the postseason since joining the league in 2006.

In Los Angeles, you’re talking about a team that under achieved, Parker injury notwithstanding, and perhaps the Sparks would be rediscovered in their own city,

So mark that date down on the eve of the Nov. 11th NCAA season openers because like last year for the Lynx, who actually had two of the four picks but less odds than Tulsa, a tiny ping pong ball could come up big for someone when the Olympic summer arrives in the WNBA next May.

-- Mel

Off-Broadway: UConn's Auriemma Sings The Realignment Blues

(Guru's Note: The Guru has separate coverage of the day at Philly.com for The Inquirer sports print section and more at Full Court Press where he will be providing a Big East women's notebook for the season.)

By Mel Greenberg

NEW YORK – B.B. King’s was an appropriate setting for Big East women’s basketball media day on Thursday because within a matter of minutes of the one-on-one interview sessions getting under way Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma belted into his version of the conference realignment blues.

Despite commissioner John M. Marinatto’s request to writers and broadcasters in his opening remarks to focus on the annual reason for the group of 16 schools and media to assemble, Auriemma was drawn into a chorus featuring Notre Dame as the subject of his dismay.

No, the loquacious coach had little argument over the Irish’s pick by his colleagues over a slim margin ahead of his Huskies to win the Big East, which is a first-time outright choice in the 17 years Notre Dame has been part of the Big East.

After all, superstar Maya Moore has moved on to winning championships in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx following her graduation and two NCAA titles in 2009 and 2010 bookended by two other Women’s Final Four appearances – one in 2008, which saw a loss to Stanford in the semifinals -- and another last season in which Notre Dame reversed three setbacks to the Huskies prior to the national tournament meeting in the semifinals.

However, when it came to the cash cow known as Notre Dame football, Auriemma wailed a different tune.

In the preceding weeks, Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced they were running away to the Atlantic Coast Conference, while TCU decided that the Big 12 was a better place than becoming a rival of UConn next season.

UConn, itself, had expressed an eagerness to also join the ACC if invited, while Rutgers echoed the Huskies’ sentiments.

Furthermore, Louisville, Cincinnati and West Virginia have all been mentioned as potential targets for a grab by the Big 12 if Missouri joins defending NCAA women’s champion Texas A&M in leaving that conference for the SEC.

And the Big East is scrambling to find replacements and ensure its relevance in the BCS with a 12-team football alignment.

“"In this whole thing, it's only one sure thing, Notre Dame doesn't play football in our league and that's a bone of contention with a lot of us," Auriemma said. "They don't play in our league and they never want to play in our league. To a lot of us, it's a huge problem.

"They've been in our league 18 years (actually 17), something like that. How long are we going to date before we decide this just ain't working? I'm not happy about it. That's not the opinion of the University of Connecticut, the Big East conference, my president, my athletic director. That's just Geno Auriemma's opinion. I'm pissed about it.

"If Notre Dame had come in as a football and basketball school when they came in, we wouldn't have a problem with this (expansion)," Auriemma continued. "Miami wouldn't have left. Virginia Tech wouldn't have left. Boston College wouldn't have left.

"We probably wouldn't have any of these issues. It's one school that holds the future of our league in the palm of their hands and they're really not that concerned about it."

"They're looking out for their best interest and I don't blame them,'' Auriemma observed. "But join us in football and then look out for your own best interest. I just don't like the way we've gone about it.

"If you know that you as a school have the ability to put a whole bunch of schools at ease, and have the Catholic mentality that we're here to serve and help. I went to Catholic school all my life. I love Jesus, and I'm not even a Republican."

-- Mel

Guru's College Notes: CAA Coaches Make Delaware Confront Its Destiny

Guru's note: There is also a men's/women's story at Philly.com covering both men and women on CAA day for The Inquirer sports department print section.

By Mel Greenberg

PENTAGON CITY, Va. – The Colonial Athletic Association does not offer Survivor when the conference holds its annual preseason media day for its collegiate men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Nevertheless Delaware veteran women’s basketball coach Tina Martin has certainly found the occasion to be her own reality show thanks to the greatest high school talent to come out of the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

And for Martin, she has had to have a certain constitution to persevere, not that her job has ever come close to being on the line, even when the Blue Hens experienced a recent two-year slump caused by graduation.

Four years ago in the fall of 2008 Martin had to offer a rat-a-tat non-stop string of no comment, not talking, statements at this event to friend and foe alike after Elena Delle Donne, the former national high school player of the year, had put the powerful Connecticut program and, for the moment, the sport she loved in her rearview mirror to return near her home and enroll in the Blue Hens volleyball program.

But over the ensuing winter after never having lifted much of a strong recruiting finger when the 6-foot-5 guard-forward Delle Donne was doing her thing at Wilmington’s Ursuline Academy, Martin found that answering a knock on the office door sometimes works even better than a home visit.

Delle Donne wanted back in the sport and she wanted it at a school in the CAA, a conference that continues to be one of the great quasi-secrets with the often-misused tag of mid-major to compare the competition to the likes of the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conferences.

And so a year later, Martin was doing a 180-degree turn when this affair was still being held across the Potomac River at the former ESPN Zone in the nation’s capital.

She had Delle Donne in the fold but spent most of the day trying to calm everyone down pointing out the Blue Hens were definitely on the way back, courtesy of other talent being eclipsed by the media focus on Martin’s prized freshman.

Adjustments were going to have to be made all over the place and Delaware was definitely not going to transform overnight into a machine but the road ahead was definitely looking to become an expressway back to the glory days before the slump.

However, soon after a solid debut at St. Francis, Pa., in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, Delle Donne endured a bunch of nagging injuries that caused her go back and forth from domination on the court to sitting on the sidelines in the role of a cheerleader.

The most notorious was when she missed several games after accidentally stepping into a pothole in a parking lot near her dorm following a snowstorm.

There were a slew of excruciating losses in terms of narrow setbacks in the closing minutes against the top teams in the CAA of that season.

However, the rookie season ended with Delaware earning a bid to the NWIT and Delle Donne doing a rarity in the conference by claiming both the player and rookie of the year trophies.

So forward progress meant that last season had much ahead on the horizon. However, after being a scoring machine in the first few games, Delle Donne mysteriously removed herself during the opening minutes of the road stop at La Salle in nearby Philadelphia complaining of fatigue.

Martin had already suffered one loss overlooked because of the attention Delle Donne draws when point guard Kayla Miller couldn’t play because of back problems.

So first having to endure backcourt by committee, Martin had to steer the Blue Hens through much of the season not knowing if or when her star player might return.

Ultimately came the diagnosis of Lyme Disease, and once the treatments began Delle Donne, who averaged a nation’s best 25 points when she did play, willed her way back into the lineup near the end of the season and things began to happen.

Seeded seventh in the CAA tournament, Delaware shocked former perennial power Old Dominion in the quarterfinals, another rarity that perhaps sealed the fate of longtime Lady Monarchs coach Wendy Larry.

Then another upset occurred over UNC Wilmington, whose new coach Cynthia Cooper, the WNBA Hall of Fame legend, had quickly helped the Seahawks shed their doormat image in the conference.

Suddenly Delaware was one win away from a CAA tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

But playing a fourth game in four days against defending champion James Madison and senior scoring star Dawn Evans became too much to overcome.

All of that, however, was reduced to past history Tuesday morning with the announcement that for the first time since joining the CAA for the 2000-01 season Delaware was picked by the conference coaches to fulfill the promise.

And this time around Martin had plenty to say, ready to accept the challenge, and represented her colleagues on the women’s side with remarks during the official short program part of the day.

And why not?

Miller is healthy, five starters are back supported from the reserves by six more letterwinners, including former St. Joseph’s standout freshman Sarah Acker, who after a year back on the court following a transfer from the Hawks could fortify the post attack.

But Delle Donne is the biggest reason, having gotten back on track with a stellar performance for the United States gold medalists at the World University Games.

“It’s been an interesting journey to say the least with Elena,” Martin stated the obvious before drawing a stream of media seeking interviews. “Certainly the games she missed in the first two years have not helped us as far as where we want to be.

“But she is healthy now and if we can keep her healthy, there is a great expectation on this team,” Martin continued. “We have a couple of players who are nursing nagging little injuries but that’s part of basketball. That’s the way it’s going to be.

“There’s not a team or season when someone doesn’t have something wrong with them so you play through it, you do the best you can and hopefully you’re successful and you go to postseason and you have great years,” Martin added.

“And this season is no different. We’re excited. I think we have a lot of talent on our team. And now it’s a matter of pulling them all together and letting them play together so we can become the team that, on paper, everybody is looking at and trying to figure out how good is Delaware going to be.

“I really don’t have that answer yet. But we’re working at it. We’re working to be the team that a lot of people think we are.”

Martin did allow herself to look back to the struggles of last season, though Delaware finished 20-14 overall and a fifth-place tie in the CAA with a 10-8 conference record.

Now the question being whispered in the underbelly is whether Delle Donne, whose natural senior season is ahead, will forego her final year of eligibility in 2012-13 to make the same move as former Tennessee All-American Candace Parker did in leaping to the WNBA, which allows that kind of action from undergraduates.

“If they can’t afford it, I’ll gladly pay the travel expenses for anyone in the WNBA who wants to follow Elena this season,” one coach joked about finding away to limiting Delle Donne’s potential over the rest of the conference to a one-year stand.

Delle Donne has already said, like her good friend UConn’s Caroline Doty who has been set back by recurring knee injuries, that she plans to see her time in Newark all the way through.

However, with Baylor sensation Brittney Griner not due to graduate until 2013, there’s speculation that Delle Donne could become the overall No. 1 pick if she comes out after this season.

But the ownership of the top pick is unknown at the moment until the draft lottery. There is the chance that recently-crowned WNBA champion Minnesota, holding ownership of the Washington Mystics’ first-round pick, could land another overall No. 1 choice, which would be ironic considering the Lynx ran away with the regular season and the playoffs winning 7-of-8 games along the way.

Martin can’t worry about the far future. She has continuously said she will support whatever Delle Donne wants to do to bring herself happiness and as of Tuesday for Delaware the only future that has meaning is the one that has become now.

-- Mel

Linda Page's Life Celebrated At Her Funeral

(Guru's Note: For those having trouble finding it, here is the Guru print story for The Inquirer Sports Department that appeared in Sunday editions. There was some trimming to the original submission, but nothing that requires restoring the outtakes here.)

By Mel Greenberg

FOR THE INQUIRER

In an uplifting setting of celebration and gospel song, the life of former Dobbins Tech and North Carolina State women's basketball great Linda Page was marked Saturday morning in a funeral service lasting more than two hours at Resurrection Methodist Church in Southwest Philadelphia.

Page, best remembered for breaking Wilt Chamberlain's city high school record by scoring 100 points in a game in February 1981, died of a heart attack at age 48 on Oct. 3. Her passing was not made public until two days later.

"She played the game of life as hard as she played the game of basketball," noted the Rev. Michael Tyson in his eulogy. "She scored 100 points in a game, but she was more than that. . . . God was good to Linda for 48 years. . . . He made a three-point shot and took her home to victory."

Tyson presided over the ceremony in front of mourners that included about 300 individuals from her various walks of life along with members of her family. Page worked for 10 years in the city as a juvenile probation officer, ran a shooting clinic in Yeadon, and authored an autobiography a year ago.

The Wolfpack star acquired the nickname "Hawkeye" after her favorite men's player: North Carolina State's Charles "Hawkeye" Whitney.

During the service, a white marble urn containing Page's ashes was on a stand below the podium. A collage of pictures from her life was posted nearby alongside several floral arrangements, including one sent by the North Carolina State women's basketball staff and players.

Page's immediate family surviving her are three brothers, Willie C., Paul F., and Jeffrey C.; two sisters, Eartha L. Page and Betty Fowler; and her mother, Louise.

Former University City coach Lurline Jones was among notables in the church from Page's era in the Public League that included former Gratz stars Debbie Lytle and Marilyn Stephens, who went on to all-American stature at Temple and now coaches the women at Cheyney University.

Several players from Page's time at N.C. State made the trip to the funeral, including Virginia Commonwealth assistant coach Trena Trice-Hill, who played in the WNBA, and Robyn Mayo.

During the cocktail hour at Thursday night's annual Jimmy V dinner in New York City, Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and former Wolfpack men's star Derrick Wittenberg discussed Page's career.

"Every time she touched the ball, she scored," recalled Auriemma, who was then an assistant coach at Virginia. "You talk about whoever you want, Linda Page was as great a scorer as I've ever seen in a high school uniform, no question about it."

Wittenberg is known for the air ball that the late Lorenzo Charles rescued and converted into a dunk at the buzzer that gave Jim Valvano's Wolfpack the historic 1983 upset of Houston in the NCAA tournament title game.

"What a tragedy for one still relatively so young," he said. "She was a great player, a wonderful young lady. When she came to State, [the men] went to watch the games because we had never seen a dynamic scorer like her. She was unbelievable."

-- Mel

2011 Manhattan Clam Chatter

By Mel Greenberg

NEW YORK -- The Guru attended the annual Jimmy V dinner Thursday night at Pier 60 of the Chelsea Piers complex along the Hudson River, an event that sets the stage for the men's and women's collegiate basketball seasons by bringing in the coaches of teams in the Jimmy V classic.

In the women's game, defending NCAA champion Texas A&M will travel to play Connecticut so that meant the Aggies' Gary Blair and the Huskies' Geno Auriemma were in the house -- ok, on the wharf.

There was a pre-cocktail party part of the night allowed for formal/informal media interviews.

Because the Guru has to be up early for Immaculata movie day Friday, time does not allow yet for transcriptions of quotes, which will appear in ensuing stories, though the Guru's good friend Associated Press national women's basketball writer Doug Feinberg was on the scene and will be in Philly for the movie activity so look for his coverage.

Incidentally the Immaculata brigade is in town for an overnight stay to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Auriemma recalled the Mighty Macs as the "founding fathers" of women's basketball as it is known today, which, if that is considered an odd turn of gender, understand the run to the first UConn national title in the unbeaten season of 1994-95 established Auriemma's mark as being known as the founding mother, so to speak.

Incidentally, this was a rare moment because the event was totally devoid of the presence of The Horde, which covers UConn.

But this setting is when Auriemma is at his best mingling in both worlds speaking men's and women's basketball.

Also MIA was representation from the women's pro league, which used to be heavy, including the home office and the local franchise, which will be spending two more summers across the Hudson in New Jersey.

During the media event, Auriemma was besieged about the ongoing conversation involving the musical chairs actions of conference switching and the reports of UConn's desire to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but not unhappy to help save the Big East.

The Guru did point out last year that in the Huskies' present setting off of lopsided wins over Florida State, North Carolina and Duke, Auriemma was able to state a claim to both the Big East and ACC titles.

He also had nice things to say about Linda Page when he learned that the former North Carolina State star who broke Wilt Chamberlain's Philly high school record scoring 100 points in a game had passed away last week.

Auriemma was in Europe at the time on a brief tour with members of the USA Basketball Senior National Women's Basketball team.

The remarks will be part of the coverage of Page's funeral Saturday.

Former Wolfpack star Derrick Wittenberg, now an ESPN broadcaster who co-emceed the dinner and was involved in the winning play that gave the Wolfpack the upset over Houston for the NCAA title, was a contemporary of Page.

"The guys always went to the women's games just to watch Linda, because she was that good."

More of what Wittenberg had to say will also be part of Saturday's coverage.

(Incidentally, the Guru just noticed that he accidentally omitted the 11a.m. start time several posts ago on information about the funeral arrangements.)

Auriemma in his dinner remarks at the podium quipped about playing the Aggies, "We haven't played the defending NCAA champion in a while."

Of course that's because his group had the role the previous two seasons.

Blair in the media session talked about how life has been since winning the title over Notre Dame and the trips to Disney World and the White House.

On the site, a multi-million dollar yacht was berthed at the next pier.

Auriemma remarked how the men's coaches were flying in their charters back to their respective campuses, but he and his wife Kathy were staying overnight to drive the car back to Hartford.

Blair later said from the podium that Geno may be taking a car, but since the Aggies won the title, "We're going home in that little water taxi next door."

After winning his first NCAA crown as a head coach, he observed that between Auriemma, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, and himself, the trio had won 16 NCAA trophies.

Auriemma also talked in the media session about life after Maya Moore, which will be the other major topic along with the conference shuffle as we go through the next several weeks, especially back up here next Thursday morning for Big East women's media day.

Incidentally, one of Auriemma's high school boys players from his Philly days in the Catholic League was at the event.

For any of you who don't know, the event powered by ESPN and the V Foundation is to raise money for the fight against cancer that took the life of Jim Valvano, the popular local figure here and coach of that Wolfpack men's team that upset Houston.

Considering the many ESPN operatives who were running around with their cell phones and the recent stories involving the sports network's role in the ongoing shuffle, the Guru observed it was nice to see the group on conference calls instead of calling conferences.

Incidentally, ESPN communication honcho Rosa Gotti, who began life in the public relations world at her alma mater Villanova as the first female sports information director over an entire athletic department at a Division I institution, said she planned to be at the Immaculata Red Carpet event at the Kimmel Center Friday night.

"That was my time," Gatti noted.

ESPN officials, incidentally, who sponspor the United States Women's Basketball Writers' women's awards breakfast at the Final Four are enthusiastic about the Guru's new initiative to get the women's awards named after former stars and coaches as is done on the men's side of USBWA.

Anyhow that is it for now. The Guru will be tweeting and everything else throughout the day Friday which begins with an informal luncheon hosted by the movie group before the press sessions begin at a center city hotel.

But at least you know what's ahead throughout the weekend.

And to be honest and fair, the dateline for this post says New York, which is where it occurred, but the Guru is actually on his keyboard and iPad in a diner near his home after getting back to the area on a late train.

So time for some shuteye for now until the marathon weekend continues the next three days.

-- Mel








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2011 Manhattan Clam Chatter

By Mel Greenberg

NEW YORK -- The Guru attended the annual Jimmy V dinner Thursday night at Pier 60 of the Chelsea Piers complex along the Hudson River, an event that sets the stage for the men's and women's collegiate basketball seasons by bringing in the coaches of teams in the Jimmy V classic.

In the women's game, defending NCAA champion Texas A&M will travel to play Connecticut so that meant the Aggies' Gary Blair and the Huskies' Geno Auriemma were in the house -- ok, on the wharf.

There was a pre-cocktail party part of the night allowed for formal/informal media interviews.

Because the Guru has to be up early for Immaculata movie day Friday, time does not allow yet for transcriptions of quotes, which will appear in ensuing stories, though the Guru's good friend Associated Press national women's basketball writer Doug Feinberg was on the scene and will be in Philly for the movie activity so look for his coverage.

Incidentally the Immaculata brigade is in town for an overnight stay to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Auriemma recalled the Mighty Macs as the "founding fathers" of women's basketball as it is known today, which, if that is considered an odd turn of gender, understand the run to the first UConn national title in the unbeaten season of 1994-95 established Auriemma's mark as being known as the founding mother, so to speak.

Incidentally, this was a rare moment because the event was totally devoid of the presence of The Horde, which covers UConn.

But this setting is when Auriemma is at his best mingling in both worlds speaking men's and women's basketball.

Also MIA was representation from the women's pro league, which used to be heavy, including the home office and the local franchise, which will be spending two more summers across the Hudson in New Jersey.

During the media event, Auriemma was besieged about the ongoing conversation involving the musical chairs actions of conference switching and the reports of UConn's desire to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but not unhappy to help save the Big East.

The Guru did point out last year that in the Huskies' present setting off of lopsided wins over Florida State, North Carolina and Duke, Auriemma was able to state a claim to both the Big East and ACC titles.

He also had nice things to say about Linda Page when he learned that the former North Carolina State star who broke Wilt Chamberlain's Philly high school record scoring 100 points in a game had passed away last week.

Auriemma was in Europe at the time on a brief tour with members of the USA Basketball Senior National Women's Basketball team.

The remarks will be part of the coverage of Page's funeral Saturday.

Former Wolfpack star Derrick Wittenberg, now an ESPN broadcaster who co-emceed the dinner and was involved in the winning play that gave the Wolfpack the upset over Houston for the NCAA title, was a contemporary of Page.

"The guys always went to the women's games just to watch Linda, because she was that good."

More of what Wittenberg had to say will also be part of Saturday's coverage.

Auriemma in his dinner remarks at the podium quipped about playing the Aggies, "We haven't played the defending NCAA champion in a while."

Of course that's because his group had the role the previous two seasons.

Blair in the media session talked about how life has been since winning the title over Notre Dame and the trips to Disney World and the White House.

On the site, a multi-million dollar yacht was berthed at the next pier.

Auriemma remarked how the men's coaches were flying in their charters back to their respective campuses, but he and his wife Kathy were staying overnight to drive the car back to Hartford.

Blair later said from the podium that Geno may be taking a car, but since the Aggies won the title, "We're going home in that little water taxi next door."

After winning his first NCAA crown as a head coach, he observed that between Auriemma, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, and himself, the trio had won 16 NCAA trophies.

Auriemma also talked in the media session about life after Maya Moore, which will be the other major topic along with the conference shuffle as we go through the next several weeks, especially back up here next Thursday morning for Big East women's media day.

Incidentally, one of Auriemma's high school boys players from his Philly days in the Catholic League was at the event.

For any of you who don't know, the event powered by ESPN and the V Foundation is to raise money for the fight against cancer that took the life of Jim Valvano, the popular local figure here and coach of that Wolfpack men's team that upset Houston.

Considering the many ESPN operatives who were running around with their cell phones and the recent stories involving the sports network's role in the ongoing shuffle, the Guru observed it was nice to see the group on conference calls instead of calling conferences.

Incidentally, ESPN communication honcho Rosa Gotti, who began life in the public relations world at her alma mater Villanova as the first female sports information director over an entire athletic department at a Division I institution, said she planned to be at the Immaculata Red Carpet event at the Kimmel Center Friday night.

"That was my time," Gatti noted.

ESPN officials, incidentally, who sponspor the United States Women's Basketball Writers' women's awards breakfast at the Final Four are enthusiastic about the Guru's new initiative to get the women's awards named after former stars and coaches as is done on the men's side of USBWA.

Anyhow that is it for now. The Guru will be tweeting and everything else throughout the day Friday which begins with an informal luncheon hosted by the movie group before the press sessions begin at a center city hotel.

But at least you know what's ahead throughout the weekend.

And to be honest and fair, the dateline for this post says New York, which is where it occurred, but the Guru is actually on his keyboard and iPad in a diner near his home after getting back to the area on a late train.

So time for some shuteye for now until the marathon weekend continues the next three days.

-- Mel








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Guru's Report: Auriemma and Summitt Laud Immaculata Movie

(Guru's note: There is a post below this with some information on the funeral for former ACC and Philly star Linda Page, who died last week. She is known for breaking Wilt Chamberlain's local high school record of 90 points, scoring 100 in a game for Dobbins Tech in 1981 prior to a prolific career at North Carolina State. If you first arrived in the Guru's melgreenberg.com blog click on Mel's blog on the left column and you can get to the full archive in blogspot)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA -- Though many schools have already begun practice leading to Friday night's formerly official Midnight Madness date off a recent NCAA rules change a year ago allowing a jump start under certain conditions, another kind of madness is gaining momentum heading into Friday night's "Red Carpet" advance screening of The Mighty Macs, about Hall of Fame coach Cathy Rush and the first national championship won by Immaculata College in 1972.

The event will be held at the Kimmel Center a week before the film makes its public debut in theaters Oct. 21.

Attire calls for Black Tie but attendees can also dress in apparel relating to the 1970s considering the three-year title run by the Mighty Macs from 1971-72 through 1973-74.

Former star center Theresa Grentz, who went on to a successful coaching career at Rutgers and Illinois, while also being the 1992 Olympic coach, has been back at her alma mater as a vice president for fundraising for the school, which several years ago went co-ed allowing enrollment by men.

Never one to be technically challenged, Grentz this week to promote the film joined the twitter world at @TheresaGrentz12. Another twitter account offering tidbits is from the actual movie marketing group at @MightyMacsMovie.

Grentz and Rush will be part of the media blitz on Friday beginning with an afternoon press conference. For once local personality Phil Martelli, the longtime coach of the St. Joseph's men's team, is going to be eclipsed by his wife Judy (nee Marra), who was also a member of the squad.

Apparently, two of the local major sports team, unfortunately, are contributing to the '70s theme. You see back then Immaculata's first achievement was a relative secret, except for the West Chester paper in the western suburbs and the local radio station, until after the Macs won the first title.

"We flew out standby but after we won we came home first class," former Penn State coach Rene (nee Muth) Portland, another star of the team, said over the years.

Well, it so happens that in those days the pro teams here were really awful so with Immaculata becoming a champion, the local papers in the city, which were then more plentiful, jumped on the bandwagon.

So here we are re-visiting that period of time and this week we find that the NFL Eagles have really hit a low and the magnificent Phillies in one week's time came up real short in the postseason of the promise that magnificence created with a 102 wins.

The original inspiration for the movie, directed by Tim Chambers, who stayed the course to keep the film on track after shooting was completed in 2007, was when the Women's Final Four was held here in 2000 at the now-called Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.

The movie was originally targeted for the 2008, the year Rush entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. It began filming under the title of Our Lady of Victory, a pre-game prayer used by the team, until it was re-named under the current title to enhance marketing and landing a distributor.

The Immaculata run, off its famed rivalry with Queens College in New York City, also caused former Inquirer sports editor Jay Searcy when he came from the Times to suggest to some young everyjob at the paper to launch a weekly Top 20 poll, which two years later became part of the Associated Press collegiate report.

Many former Immaculata stars such as Grentz, and current WNBA Washington Mystics assistant coach Marianne Stanley, have cameos in the movie and area collegiate stars also were extras in the cast such as former Penn star Diana Caramanico and the Guru believes he spotted Katie Davis, who was a star on the Villanova team that won the 2003 Big East title.

One of the co-producers is Pat Croce, who oversaw the NBA 76ers during their last run to glory. And considering the recently concluded WNBA season resulted in the Minnesota Lynx's first championship, what many of you youngsters don't know is that Groce, when with the NBA squad, was an eager advocate to try to land a franchise here, but Minnesota beat out the 76ers' bid the year the Lynx became an expansion team.

WIP sports radio host Anthony Gargano developed and wrote the screenplay.

Hall of Fame coaches Geno Auriemma, the UConn mentor who grew up in the Northwest suburb of Norristown, and Tennessee's Pat Summitt, whose upset in the finals of the 1977 AIAW tournament in, believe it or not, Minneapolis, signaled the end of the Rush's stint, have ties in their growth to the era.

Summitt's was just mentioned, while Auriemma worked at Rush's camps in the summer in the Pocono Mountains in upstate Pennsylvania.

Both of them recently communicated support of the movie, which has been on the sneak preview circuit at colleges, and permission was given the Guru by all parties, as it probably has been to others, to publish here.

Auriemma: "We are all indebted to the Mighty Macs for what women's basketball is today. Tim Chambers has done a wonderful job of capturing the essence of Cathy Rush and the story, and I hope everyone will be in theaters Oct. 21 to see the movie.

"Even though we will have started practice by then, I'm going to do everything possible to see The Mighty Macs on opening weekend. This movie is worth the effort."

Summitt: "What a great film about a special time in the growth of women's intercollegiate athletics. I fondly recall when we played the Immaculata Mighty Macs in the Consolation of the Finals of the 1977 `Final Four' in Minneapolis, Minn.

"They were the veteran team who had hung all the banners .. we were a newcomer on the national scene. Our Lady Vol team was elated to have defeated one of the toughest teams in women's hoops in the 1970s! This film is a `must watch' and truly captures the spirt of the awesome team the Mighty Macs were back in the day."

As a postscript from back then, the Guru later this week will re-tell the famous tale of Texas visiting Immaculata at a local high school in the suburbs on a cold winter night that 1976-77 season and the Guru after the game-- a win by the home team -- taking then-athletic director Donna Lopiano and then-fledgling Longhorns coach Jody Conradt out for some hospitality and what transpired when the dorms, which Texas was staying, had been locked at the stroke of midnight.

Could Fallout From the NBA's Labor Woes Impact The WNBA?

Meanwhile, on another note, what post-championship surprise might occur this time in the WNBA after another successful season for the league.

Over the years there has always been something. Last autumn saw the announced exit of Donna Lopiano as the second president followed by a search that lasted almost to the start of the 15th anniversary season before Laurel Richie was chosen from the marketing world to climb aboard and take control of the wheelhouse.

There was also the ambush dispatch of former New York Liberty longtime executive Carol Blazejowski followed several weeks later by the cost-cutting jettison of general manager Angela Taylor and coach Julie Plank by the Washington Mystics.

In previous years, there was the Sacramento Monarchs breakup and the move of the three-time champion Detroit Shock to Tulsa, preceded by the Charlotte Sting and storied Houston Comets franchises, to name a few.

While Richie and other league operatives in the WNBA have expressed confidence in the league moving forward despite the current lockout and labor crisis in the NBA, one needs to hope that one fallout won't be a hastened exit of NBA commissioner David Stern, who had already said this would be the last negotiations on his watch.

As long as Stern has been running the show, the WNBA through all its retraction and growth pains has survived to the chagrin of doomsayers. (See the $10 million Boost Mobile deal late in the season.)

Though there is somewhat quasi independency these days in terms of ownerships not tied to NBA teams, one has to be leery who the NBA ownership crowd would anoint following a Stern exit.

Deputy commissioner Adam Silver has been a strong supporter over the years but anyone else becomes a wait-and-see proposition if a change comes about.

Stay tuned.

-- Mel

Funeral Services Set For Ex-ACC And Philly Star Linda Page

(Guru's note: There is another tidbit post on the news of the day above this but given the nature of this topic, the Guru did not want to mix the two in the same post.)

By Mel Greenberg

The Guru has received and been told to pass along information about funeral services for former Dobbins High and North Carolina State star Linda Page, who died last week, reportedly of a heart attack at age 48.

Information on Page's passing was posted here in the Guru's blog and he also authored a print obituary for The Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Section in Thursday's editions of 10-6-11, which can be found on a goggle search in Philly,com.

In 1981 Page scored 100 points in a high school game for Dobbins High, which is also the alma mater of Dawn Staley, in the Public League to set the local school record for both boys and girls, eclipsing the 90 points scored by the late great Wilt Chamberlain in 1955 for Overbrook High.

She went on to star for the late Hall of Famer Kay Yow at North Carolina State, then played overseas and won a championship in Spain before returning to Philadelphia where she spent 10 years as a juvenile probation officer helping youngsters at risk.

She also had a shooting clinic in Yeadon, Pa., in suburban Delaware County, which had continued until her recent passing and Page also authored a book a year ago about her life.

Funeral services will be Saturday, Oct. 15, at Resurrection Methodist Church art 6204 Lindbergh Blvd in Southwest Philadelphia at the corner of 62nd and Dicks Streets. It is not far from the Philadephia Airport.

-- Mel

Guru Report: Ex-Temple Star Becomes a Harlem Globetrotter

By Mel Greenberg

Now South Carolina coach Dawn Staley somewhat has a distinction recently held by former Kansas coach Marian Washington and the late LSU coach Sue Gunter, both Women’s Basketball Hall of Famers.

Washington held it for guiding the same individual in having coached a WNBA and Harlem Globetrotter star when Naismith and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard, also an Olympic gold medalist, became the first female to join the Globetrotters in 1985.

Gunter coached Joyce Walker, who was signed several weeks later after Woodard, and in later years was a coach of Seimone Augustus, who on Friday night became the Most Valuable Player of the WNBA finals after helping to lead the Minnesota Lynx to their first title by sweeping the Atlanta Dream, 3-0, in the best-of-five series.

Jackie White, who played at LSU one year just prior to Gunter’s arrival in 1982, was also a Globetrotter.

Staley, off her eight-year era at Temple, has also now coached two individuals doing one of each. WNBA All-Star Candice Dupree of the Phoenix Mercury became one of the Owls’ two most notable great players, joining Marilyn Stephens, cirrently the Cheyney head coach, from the early 1980s, from 2002-06 when she helped lead Temple to three straight Atlantic 10 titles.

Fatima Maddox has just been announced as a member of this year’s Globetrotter rookie class and she becomes the first woman on the entertainment squad since 1993, when Manny Jackson took ownership and became the first Afro-American to own a sports/entertainment organization, according to the Globetrotters’ website.

Maddox becomes the ninth woman to play with the Globetrotters.

A 5-foot-6 guard, Maddox will play under the nickname TNT, which is interesting because the only time a blast was associated with her name at Temple is when Staley, one of the prolific point guards of all time, would explode at practice if Maddox wasn’t running a drill correctly.

But understandably all point guards who play for Staley could suffer that fate.

Maddox is a resident of Colorado Springs, Colo., the home of the U.S. Olympic Training Center and transferred from New Mexico to play for Temple from in 2005-06 through 2006-07.

That actually made her a teammate in Dupree’s senior year in 2006 and, ironically, the Globetrotters, when not touring, are headquartered in Phoenix, the home of Dupree’s WNBA team.

It is not known if they will cross paths because with the WNBA season concluded Dupree plays in Europe in the winter.
Maddox, who averaged 11.4 points per game as a senior, recently played professionally in Sweden.

Additionally, Sandra Hodge of the University of New Orleans played for the team and last winter while recuperating from her third knee injury, Germantown Academy grad Caroline Doty from Doylestown, who made a couple of trick shot videos, worked out with the Globetrotters at UConn’s Gample Pavilion, where she’ll be a redshirt junior this season.

Sign Of The Rutgers Times

You know Midnight Madness is almost here when leaves start to fall and the Rutgers women going into a season of promise suffer a key injury before games get under way.

On Friday the Scarlet Knights announced that Chelsey Lee, a 6-foot-2 senior forward from Miami, will miss the season, but will return next season.

Lee, the team’s leading rebounder the last two seasons, including a 7.5 average in 2010-11, recently underwent shoulder surgery for an injury suffered in a co-ed pickup game.

The Madness Before Midnight Madness Begins

So the pro season, as mentioned, is over with the WNBA finals concluding in Atlanta, and already the coming week is filled with events and options on the Guru’s grid leading to the season opener.

For example, on Wednesday, the same day the Apple IOS 5.0 operating system becomes available on devices such as the Pad, iPod, and iPhones, Hofstra is hosting a media day and so is UConn.

On Thursday, Maryland is hosting a media day while the annual Jimmy V preview dinner will be held in New York with this year’s women’s opponents being defending NCAA champion Texas A&M meeting UConn in Connecticut.

The Aggies’ Gary Blair, who is making his second appearance, and UConn’s Geno Auriemma, are expected.

Friday night is the Red Carpet advance screening of the Immaculata movie The Mighty Macs in downtown Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center. The movie hits theaters on Oct. 21 a week later.

On Sunday at Villanova at 10 a.m. is the annual Women’s Big Five and Drexel-sponsored Coaches vs. Cancer Clinic. All six squads are expected to participate. Check any of the Big Five school website for further details.

Barnes Foundation

No, this is not about the fine arts organization in the Philadelphia area.

New Washington assistant (as in state) Adia Barnes to incoming coach Kevin McGuff isn’t any less busy now that her other job as color analyst for WNBA Seattle Storm games are done for the season.

As mentioned previously, Barnes is running a major fundraising event for a good cause on Oct. 22 in Seattle to benefit a cancer victim.

Here’s the link to her foundation for information.

Help The Guru

Among the Guru’s many duties, despite those of you fooled a year ago by the word retirement upon leaving The Inquirer, is to serve as the women’s representative on the board of directors of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
There are some quiet behind-the-scenes discussions going on about finally putting names on some of the major awards and establishing some new ones to equate some of the men’s USBWA honors.

For example, their player of the year award is known as the Oscar Robertson Award and likewise there is the Hank Iba Coach of the Year Award.

Sponsorship would be a nice idea, also, if any of you followers/readers know a way to go.

As recently mentioned, a women’s national player of the week will join the men’s winner, which is selected from a group of all the conference player of the week honors. That stands alone as just that.

But here are a few things cooking and while the group at this end will make final decisions, the Guru tosses some democracy out there by allowing you to communicate nominations either through discussions with links to this paragraph the Guru can follow to back to your message boards or by commenting in the appropriate places at either melgreenberg.com or on blogspot.

The theme, as announcements are made later in the season, is going to be The Year of Legacy and the Guru and media friends are looking to put names from the past that will be on honors given the notables of the present.

On exception, if someone from the past already has a major award in their name, then they are already are in good steed.

Here is some, but not all, of the considerations to get you started.

Player of the Year (Existing award but adds a name).
Coach of the Year (Existing award but adds a name).
Freshman of the Year (Existing award but adds a name).
All Freshman Team (new if approved).
Good Guy (New but perhaps called something else due to gender considerations.)
NCAA Scoring and Rebounding Champions (New with names, especially if a sponsor can be found.)
Most Courageous (Existing for men and women and is known as it is already stated).

That’s it for now.

-- Mel

Guru's WNBA Report: Fate And Destiny Ultimately Led Minnesota To A Title

By Mel Greenberg

When a team finally comes together with all the pieces interlocked to win a championship as the Minnesota Lynx did Friday night completing a 3-0 sweep in Georgia of the Atlanta Dream with a 73-67 victory at Philips Arena to claim the 2011 WNBA title, there are moments in the past to reflect upon over how things began to fall into place.

Bill Laimbeer Joins the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves Coaching Staff

The former NBA Detroit “Piston” Bad Boy after a long run and three WNBA titles with the former Detroit Shock had been in place with the T-Wolves when an opening occurred in the winter of 2009-10.

Cheryl Reeve, a native of Washington Township in southern New Jersey across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, had become a member of his staff and after Laimbeer departed, she stayed as an assistant but also became the pseudo general manager while Rick Mahorn, another former “Bad Boy,” moved up to the head coaching position.

A year later the Shock were jettisoned by the Pistons and moved to Tulsa under new ownership. Meanwhile, Minnesota became open when the Lynx and interim coach Jennifer Gillom couldn’t totally agree to terms and she departed as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks, a run that ended early into her second season in July when she was dismissed.

Laimbeer, meanwhile, backed Reeve for the Lynx spot getting into the ear of the Lynx ownership and she was hired in the winter of 2009-10.

Reeve, incidentally, was a finalist along with Anne Donovan when the Washington Mystics hired Julie Plank, which turned out OK in terms of the Mystics achieving their best-ever record in 2010 and a tie for first in the Eastern Conference.

That didn’t last long when the Mystics front office let both GM Angela Taylor and Plank go in cost-cutting moves last winter followed by some key injuries and a wholesale roster change resulting in Washington finishing with a franchise second-worst 6-28 record this season.

Reeve, incidentally, a few years earlier was a finalist for the Rhode Island job that went to former Boston College coach Cathy Inglese.

“I always look at Atlantic 10 head coaching jobs when they open because they can be good positions and I am familiar with the conference,” said Reeve, who starred at Philadelphia’s La Salle University in the late 1980s.

However, a year earlier she declined to get involved in the Temple job after Dawn Staley left, saying her heart was in the WNBA. At the time, as is the case every year, several jobs were on the verge of opening in the pro league.

What Do Reeve and Alexander Graham Bell Have In Common?

Well, the inventor of the telephone knew he had something going three centuries and five years ago on March 10, 1876, when he uttered the famous words into the speaker “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.”

Watson responded to complete the experiment, which, of course, helped revolutionize the world.

Likewise, though longtime veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin will turn 41 on Oct. 20, age was not a detriment last winter when Reeve picked up one of Bell’s descendant smartphones to call the free agent then with the New York Liberty, perhaps saying, “Taj – come to Minneapolis – We need you.”

Reeve knew that “Mama Taj,” whom she spent time with when both were winning a title in Detroit, was perfect to bring a defensive presence and unite a roster that was going to be a mixture of very young talent with some others who had been around with experience such as former LSU star Seimone Augustus.

“Playing her kind of defense, that’s what we talked about and keeping everything on an even keel – no real highs or lows,” McWilliams-Franklin said several weeks ago about being asked by Reeve to join the Lynx cause.

After beating the Phoenix Mercury 2-0 in the Western Finals, McWilliams-Franklin looked ahead to the finals saying the meal had been good but she was looking forward to the desert. Hope she had enough bubbly Friday night to wash it down at the victory celebration.

Deal Maker

As Reeve was about to sign her contract with Minnesota a year ago, the Lynx were holding an overall No. 1 pick and the Connecticut Sun fan base and media were having tantalizing fantasies about ways to grab that choice and land UConn star Tina Charles.

Reeve eventually warmed to the idea of sending the pick and former UConn all-American Renee Montgomery for homegrown talent and All-Star Lindsay Whalen, who had her best season after previous stellar performances with the Sun.

Whalen also would be a major shot in the arm to boost attendance.

“It may go down as the greatest deal in the history of the WNBA,” Sun coach Mike Thibault said several weeks ago about the swap.

The move reminds back in the time when the Sun media crowd envisioned prying former Huskies great Asjha Jones from the Washington Mystics, which ultimately occurred.

Bad Is Good

Being awful has ways of eventually making things good in the WNBA.

Terrible Phoenix teams begat former UConn great Diana Taurasi as a first round overall No. 1 pick on the Mercury in 2004, former Rutgers star Cappie Pondexter as an overall No. 2 in 2006, and veteran Tangela Smith in a draft-day deal from Minnesota in 2007 after picking Lindsey Harding (now with Atlanta) as the overall No. 1 pick.

The result in 2007 several months later was a first-WNBA title followed by another one in 2009 before Pondexter was shipped to New York the ensuing winter in a mega three-team deal involving Chicago. That swap saw former Temple star Candice Dupree move from the Sky in the Windy City to the Mercury.

Likewise, Minnesota landed Augustus, the MVP of the finals, as an overall No. 1 in 2006, followed by former UConn star Maya Moore, the rookie of the year, this season and the overall No. 1 after beating out the Tulsa Shock, ironically, in the lottery ping pong ball procedure.

They also got Rebekkah Brunson as the overall No. 2 pick off the dispersal draft of the roster of the former Sacramento Monarchs, with the Liberty taking former Stanford star Nicole Powell as the top pick.

Reeve in April also had a fourth overall pick, courtesy of a trade with the Connecticut Sun a year ago sending draft pick Kelsey Griffin out of Nebraska and Xavier star Amber Harris was selected.

She also signed former George Washington star Jessica Adair, who had played for Joe McKeown, now with Northwestern. Reeve spent five seasons as his assistant with the Colonials in the 1990s helping them reach the Elite Eight in 1997.

That makes two former players on Atlantic 10 champions who picked up WNBA titles in their resumes Friday night.

Prior to Reeve’s arrival a year ago, former Stanford star Candice Wiggins was a high pick, and last year Reeve was able to take former Virginia star Monica Wright as a high pick.

Incidentally, the winning Lynx just picked up $10,500 per player, for being the champions, while the Dream, after being dispatched 0-3 in the finals for the second straight year (please don’t use the NFL Buffalo Bills comparison), collected $5,250.

And in keeping up with the building block moments theme, the Minnesota organization should find a way to get some of that $10,500 to veteran Tina Thompson, the last of the original 1997 WNBA players, who now is with Los Angeles.

In the final week of the season a year ago, Thompson hit a last-second shot against Minnesota that ultimately put the Sparks into the playoffs and the Lynx in the lottery and in position to get Moore.

Getting Richer?

A preseason deal with Washington that sent former Tennessee star Nicky Anosike to the Mystics returned their overall No. 1 pick, which is now in the lottery, so it is possible that even as a champion the Lynx could very well being making an overall No. 1 selection in April.

Hometown Joy

Moore in winning the title in Atlanta was able to have many of her hometown folks from where she grew up in the suburbs to be part of what was a franchise record sellout crowd of 11,543 in the arena making three strong attendance numbers when considering the two 15,000 plus crowds in the Target Center in the Twin Cities for Games 1 and 2.

Former UConn star Charde Houston is also on the Lynx roster.

At the rate things are going, soon women’s inductees from UConn into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., are going to be as plentiful as past greats of the NBA Boston Celtics.

For now, only coach Geno Auriemma is an inductee since most of the top candidates are still playing. But one of these years Rebecca Lobo, who broadcast the finals for ESPN2, should get a nod, while Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix) should be first-eligible picks in the fifth year of their future retirement.

Hartford coach Jen Rizzotti and UConn broadcaster Kara Wolters, by the way, played on the 1995 NCAA champs for the Huskies and later were on the roster of the WNBA champion Houston Comets, which disbanded two seasons ago. Wolters also has a gold medal.

Now with two NCAA titles and a WNBA crown with a potential Olympic Gold medal next summer, Moore also joins the list as future leading candidate upon her eligibility.

Perhaps Swin Cash might also be in the mix with three NCAA crowns, WNBA titles in separate cities, and an Olympic gold medal.

Good Luck Glen

Lynx owner Glen Taylor, who is also the owner of the NBA parent Timberwolves, is having to through mixed emotions the past several weeks.

With the WNBA team, there has been the thrill of the title run and kudos tossed his way for not giving up on the team in hard times on the court and in the stands.

Tuesday there will be the victory parade and downtown celebration in Minneapolis.

However, in his other role with the T-Wolves, Taylor is on the owners’ committee currently embroiled with the players in labor negotiations that are threatening the NBA season.

“I just knows when he’s here, he loves watching his Lynx,” Reeve said the other day.

What’s not to love?

-- Mel