Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

Sources: Immaculata Championship Era '72-74 Earns Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Honors

( Guru's note: A full extension of this post will appear on philly.com Sunday afternoon. )

By Mel Greenberg

NASHVILLE --
Six years after former Immaculata coach Cathy Rush was inducted in 2008 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the three Mighty Macs squads she guided to AIAW national titles in 1972-73-74 will be joining her as part of the Class of 2014 honorees on the weekend of August 7-9 in Springfield, Mass.

Several sources confirmed Sunday that the Mighty Macs' championship era will be among the inductees introduced when the official announcement of this year's class is made Monday at the NCAA men's Final Four at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the Hall or Immaculata and the announcement was not yet official.

Judy Marra Martelli will represent the team at the press conference in Arlington, where her husband Saint Joseph's men's coach Phil Martelli is also in town for the men's finals.

Several persons here at the women's finals were aware of the Immaculata honor but people have declined to speak until after Monday's press conference.

"They deserve to get inducted," said Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma of the reports here at the Women's Final Four prior to guiding his unbeaten Huskies (38-0) against Stanford (33-3) in the national semifinal game Sunday night at the Bridgestone Arena.

Auriemma saw the Mighty Macs play when he was growing up in suburban Philadelphia.

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