The Guru Local Report: The Guru’s PhilahoopsW Brand Making Presence Felt in a Flood of Media Day Preseason Selections

Guru’s Note: When notice of annual conference media days presenting preseason picks came around several weeks ago the wonder came on how to cover a bunch with local teams involved on happening the same day. Fortunately at the same time former Temple women’s basketball sports information director Noreen Dougherty who is temporarily out of the profession didn’t want to stay sidelined from the season and so we welcome her for now as a girl Friday of sorts from her headquarters in Massachusetts who quickly showed her ability Tuesday to handle a bunch of events being zoomed while your Guru was live in New York at Big East Day.

Stay on the lookout real soon as she also launches her own podcast.

By Noreen Dougherty and Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK — When Denise Dillon made the choice several years ago of leaving a long, successful run at Drexel to return to her alma mater at Villanova in the wake of her former coach Harry Perretta’s retirement part of the decision making process involved taking the challenge of showing the ability to keep the Wildcats relevant in a world of the Big East.

No problem as shown last season with the ‘Cats ending super power Connecticut’s long run of wins over Big East rival and finishing second and earning a trip to the NCAA tournament.

Helping that run was Maddie Siegriest who became the overwhelming choice of the conference’s player of the year.

One year later at Tuesday’s annual Big East media day here in Madison Square Garden both were high in the mix with the picks of teams and players.

Following commissioner Val Ackerman’s address at the women’s portion in the afternoon the scene was like old times with the crowd around UConn’s table featuring Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma and several players as massive as the traffic outside the fabled arena on Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

But Villanova drew its own share also with the Wildcats picked third from the conference coaches behind the Huskies and Creighton, which made an NCAA run to the Elite Eight dispatching Big Ten Conference regular season and tournament champion Iowa on the Hawkeyes’ court. Siegriest entering her senior season was the unanimous pick.

The native of Poughkepsie, N.Y., whose first game will feature a homecoming road trip to play at Marist, broke the league scoring record averaging 27.9 points over the 17 game Big East schedule destroying the previous record of 26.6 that existed since 1991-92.

Though UConn was the annual unanimous pick since one can’t vote for one’s self, Villanova had the one first place vote that obviously was cast by Auriemma.

So what did it take to buy his vote that in many years has gone to DePaul and his buddy women’s basketball hall of famer Doug Bruno?

“A nice bottle of wine,” Dillon smiled.

Villanova also drew some attention in the annual Associated Press preseason vote Tuesday landing in a tie with Kansas for the third place also ran slot while Creighton made its first-ever appearance in the opening poll at 21st just ahead of state rival Nebraska, the first time both have appeared in the same weekly vote in the poll’s now 47-year history dating from its 1976 launch in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

UConn was sixth, a spot many teams would die for but for the Huskies, who will be without injured superstar Paige Bueckers this season, its the lowest spot in 16 seasons for the record 11-time NCAA champions dating to a vote in the preseason launch for 2006-07.

“I think it’s the expectations we placed on ourselves,” Dillon said of the national attention on her Wildcats, “when you return a player like Maddie Siegrist, who was getting recognized nationally. She led the way, did a nice job. Lot of youth,” Dillon said of the current roster, saying though the outlook pretty good.

Siegrist also got to play on a USA Basketball 3x3 team this past summer, a style of competition, Dillon says, suited to Siegrist’s style which features a lot of three-point shots.

“Just playing with those talented players, you learn things from everybody and the coaches, and just the 3 on 3 in general so much faster,” Siegrist said.

Siegrist was also responsible as Dillon revealed for the overall Big Five slate in which in a change will see each of the City Series round robin participants play two home games and two on the road.

In the recent past, Penn one season would play all its games at home in The Palestra and the next all on the road.

Dillon said it wasn’t originally drawn that the way it evolved this season but Siegrist had mentioned she never played in The Palestra, Nova’s recent games at Penn occurring during her redshirt season and last year being out at the time with a hand injury.

“I called Mike (McLaughlin) and he agreed to the switch,” Dillon said.

“It’s funny,” Siegrist said, “I first mentioned it in the spring, maybe after the Big Five dinner.”

Dillon said it’s hard to rank the five, “Temple right now is a great mystery,” she said of the Owls, who replaced longtime coach Tonya Cardoza with Towson’s Diane Richardson. “Saint Joseph’s will be better, La Salle will be better, and Penn, a lot of reasons they struggled last year which Mike will fix because he’s a good coach.”

All the media day picks will be under this narrative.

But since we’re here, behind Villanova, DePaul and Seton Hall tied for fourth with Marquette sixth, St. John’s seventh, and finishing out with Providence, a tie between Butler and Georgetown, and Xavier drawing the last slot.

Bruno, like Auriemma, a longtime coach in the conference with several championships at DePaul when UConn was playing over in the American Athletic Confernce that includes Temple, was asked if ‘Nova’s win at UConn was hope for the rest of the Big East.

“First, take nothing from ‘Nova and their season, but that UConn team is not this year’s UConn team,” he said, “even with Bueckers out.”

“People don’t realize how good Ayanna Patterson (the Big East preseason freshman of the year) is, because I coached her in USA Basketball,” he said. “That’s an upgrade.”

Meanwhile over in the Atlantic 10, defending conference champion Massachusetts was a No. 1 pick to win again but in a sign of better times, La Salle was second, while Saint Joseph’s, which dominated the postseason A-10 freshman voting, was sixth by the conference coaches.

“It doesn’t matter where you are picked, it only matters where you finish,” said Explorers coach Mountain MacGillivray, “but it’s nice to go from 14th in year one to preseason 2 that starts year five.

“I like where we are now, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Kayla Spruill of the Explorers made the A-10 first team that included UMass’s Sam Breen, while Claire Jacobs and the Hawks’ Katie Jekot were on the second team, and Saint Joseph’s Tayla Bruger was on the third team.

“Our first year here (Spruill and Molly Masciantonio) we were basically in last place and now we’re in second, so it’s one of those full circle moments and it’s really exciting.”

Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin, the dean of the local mentors after Perretta retired, said of her Hawks, “They’re sharing the ball, the balll’s moving, they’re making shots, we’re communicating at a very, very high level, and the buy-in has been tremendous.”

The conference has a new member in Loyola Chicago which placed 13th in the now 15-team A-10.

Over in the Ivy League, it was business as usual with Princeton, which also earned its first-ever AP preseason ranking, the choice of the league selected media members, with Penn tabbed fifth behind second place Columbia, Yale, and Harvard, whose longtime coach Kathy Delaney Smith retired after last season, and ahead of Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown.

“We have a very exciting group,” Penn’s McLaughlin said. “We have some veterans, a bunch of newcomers — we’re growing as a team and we’re trying to find out what we have and what our strengths are. They had a great offseason.”

Added Penn star Kayla Padilla, “I’ve been accustomed to just how gritty these Big 5 games are. Hopefully, that intensity can continue when we head into conference play.”

Noted Princeton coach Carla Berube, “Last year is last year. This is a brand new team, new players, new roles, new leaders. It’s a work in progress right now, but we have such a great group and staff that we’re working with on a daily and I’m excited to see where we’re going.”

One place will be No. 3 Texas, returning last season’s visit from the Longhorns, while another will be at Berube’s alma mater. At UConn.

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), which has been ruled many seasons by Quinnipiac, the Bobcats are picked first this time around and are coached for a long time by Trish Sacca-Fabri, who grew up across the river in South Jersey in Delran, the hometown of newly retired women’s soccer sensation Carli Lloyd, an alumna of Rutgers.

Rider, which on Nov. 7 will retire recent star Stella Johnson’s jersey at the season opener, was picked seventh.

A10

1. Massachusetts

2. La Salle

3. Rhode Island

4. Fordham

5. VCU

6. Saint Joseph’s

7. Davidson

8. Richmond

9. Duquesne

10. Dayton

11. George Washington

12. Saint Louis

13. Loyola Chicago

14. George Mason

15. St. Bonaventure

 

Preseason All-Conference First Team

Anna DeWolfe (Fordham, Sr., G)

Kayla Spruill (La Salle, Gr., G/F)

Sam Breen (UMass, Gr., F)

Sydney Taylor (UMass, Sr., G)

Addie Budnik (Richmond, Jr., F)

Sarah Te-Biasu (VCU, Jr., G)

 

Preseason All-Conference Second Team

Elle Sutphin (Davidson, R-Jr., F)

Asiah Dingle (Fordham, Gr., G)

Claire Jacobs (La Salle, Sr., G)

Destiny Philoxy (UMass, Gr., G)

Katie Jekot (SJU, Gr., G)

Brooke Flowers (Saint Louis, Sr., F/C)

 

Preseason All-Conference Third Team

Tess Myers (Duquesne, So., G)

Mayowa Taiwo (George Washington, R-Sr., F)

Tenin Magassa (URI, Jr., C)

Emma Squires (URI, Gr., F)

Tayla Brugler (SJU, So., F)

Kyla McMakin (Saint Louis, Sr., G)

 

Preseason All-Defensive Team

Megan McConnell (Duquesne, So., G)

Asiah Dingle (Fordham, Gr., G)

Mayowa Taiwo (George Washington, R-Sr., F)

Destiny Philoxy (UMass, Gr., G)

Brooke Flowers (Saint Louis, Sr., F/C)

 

IVY

1. Princeton

2. Columbia

3. Yale

4. Harvard

5. Penn

6. Cornell

7. Dartmouth

8. Brown

 

IVY

1. Princeton

2. Columbia

3. Yale

4. Harvard

5. Penn

6. Cornell

7. Dartmouth

8. Brown

 

MAAC

1. Quinnipiac

2. Manhattan

3. Niagara

4. Fairfield

5. Iona

6. Marist

7. Rider

8. Mount St. Mary’s

9. Canisius

10. Siena

11. Saint Peter’s

 

Preseason POY

Dee Dee Davis, Manhattan

 

Preseason All-MAAC First Team

Juana Camilion (Iona, Sr., G)

Dee Dee Davis (Manhattan, Sr., G)*

Angel Parker (Niagara, Sr., G)*

Mackenzi DeWees (Quinnipiac, Gr., G)*

Mikala Morris (Quinnipiac, Sr., F/C)

 

Preseason All-MAAC Second Team

Dani Haskell (Canisius, Jr., G)

Callie Cavanuagh (Fairfield, Gr., F)

Ketsia Athias (Iona, Sr., F/C)

Brazil Harvey-Carr (Manhattan, Sr., F)

Aaliyah Parker (Niagara, So., G)

 

Preseason All-MAAC Third Team

Andrea Hernangomez (Fairfield, Gr., F)

Kiara Fisher (Marist, Jr., G)

Zaria Shazer (Marist, Jr., F)

Miachaela Harrison (Mount St. Mary’s, Gr., G)

Makayla Firebaugh (Rider, Jr., G)