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Archive for February, 2012

an expert in Virginia area/CAA stuff: Former ODU assistant, University of San Diego coach Fisher, wins Coach of the Year honors

You loyal readers of the WHB aren’t totally surprised by this, but you might be by this little nugget: “picked to finish seventh in the WCC, [the team] is in a tie for second place with Brigham Young.”

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wouldn’t you say?

Here’s what Debbie Antonelli, Kara Lawson, Rebecca Lobo and Stephanie White, Beth Mowins and Brenda VanLengen have to say about a season “that featured non-traditional teams and players emerging, new teams jumping into the top 25 and exciting games being played across the board.” (WHB note: Except for most every Big Monday game…)

Memorable moment from a particular venue or fan base of a game you covered?

LOBO: My moment happened after the UConn at Baylor game ended when fans were allowed to come onto the court. A bunch of elementary and middle-school-aged kids began playing basketball and the Baylor men’s team joined them for an impromptu pickup game. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was awesome.

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“Battle of the Bays” poster is prepared for fans attending the Bears v. Cardinal game this Sunday, 9pm, EST. This could be a seriously important “Notice us!”game for Cal.

The NCAA tv/streaming page says it’s on FSN (Fox Sports Net). My local NYC listings says it’s also playing on MSGPlus (channel 48). Fingers crossed I’ll be late for work on Monday.

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their tournaments, others are still playing their regular season games.

For instance, if you ignore the big fat liar that is ESPN, there were several games yesterday.

Poor Houston Baptist is not having a season to write home about.

In the battle of the Ohios, (Miami) (11-5, MAC) beat Ohio (6-10), 51-49.

Kelly Packard did a great job managing the players she inherited from Tracy Roller, but since winning the Maggie Dixon RCOY, Ball State has fallen on tough times. On the other hand, how many ADs are paying attention to Toledo coach (and Purdue grad) Cullop’s fine work? The Rockets experienced five-consecutive losing campaigns prior to Cullop’s arrival. Since then: 72-30, not including this season’s 20-8 record. (BTW, if named queen of all women’s basketball websites, I would decree that a team’s current record be listed at the top of their schedule/results page.)

In the battle of the Michigans, Central (8-8, MAC) upset Eastern (13-3), 61-46. Hmmm, wonder if Toledo sent the Chippewa’s seniors a thank you.

Bowling Green just wailed on Kent State.

Mizzou had the lead over Texas at the half, but they couldn’t hold on.

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co-founder of the Women’s Hoops Blog Sara Sampsell-Jones.

Yes, she is cool…. But Sara. Ted. You don’t write, you don’t call…. whatupwiththat?

Love,

The WHB

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Congrats to 2012 RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National High School Coach of the Year Marcia Pinder of Dillard High School (Fort Lauderdale):

Florida’s all-time winningest high school basketball coach, Pinder recorded her 800th career victory on Feb. 9 and currently leads all Florida high school girls’ and boys’ basketball coaches with an 804-175 win-loss record. She won her third consecutive –– and seventh overall — state championship as coach of the Panthers this past Saturday.

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Next Goal for the Blue Hens: Undefeated Conference Season

A win against William and Mary on Wednesday would mark an undefeated season in conference play for the Blue Hens. This perfect season would be the first in 10 years for any Colonial Athletic Association team.

“We started something really special, and now it’s time to finish it,” said Coach Tina Martin. “For these kids, for my players, this is a dream come true.”

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Doug sends along the following story: Spotlight shines on Delle Donne, No. 8 Delaware

Delaware star Elena Delle Donne’s stature is growing with every game. The vice president—of the country, not the school—even made it to a recent game to see the nation’s leading scorer.

Vice President Joe Biden, an enthusiastic alumnus, watched Delaware beat Drexel on Jan. 22 and spoke to the team after the game. He slipped into the sold-out arena, sitting near midcourt with Delaware Governor Jack Markell.

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pretty much showed’em who’s boss. No, I’m not a betting woman, but I would be wicked surprised if there weren’t a lot of Green and Gold in Denver this April.

In College Station, they’re talking about what almost was:

No. 1 Baylor women beat No. 17 A&M 69-62 and  Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims scored 25 points each and top-ranked Baylor used a late run to hold off No. 17 Texas A&M for a 69-62 win on Monday night.

In Storrs they’ve got the blues:

No. 3 Notre Dame gets in the final punch in win over No. 4 UConn and Huskies Swept Away By The Irish, 72-59 and It Really Was THAT Bad, UConn Fans and Geno Auriemma Takes His Team To Task

Things look golden from Curt Rallo: Notre Dame women’s basketball: Irish defense hushes Huskies

From the ESPN Folks

Graham: Irish have all the answers vs. UConn: Notre Dame plays like a team with no weak links, wins its first outright Big East title

Rebecca: Five Questions with Skylar Diggins

Mechelle: Auriemma frustrated, Novosel elated

Mechelle: Irish celebrate outright Big East title: Irish now shift their sights on winning Big East and NCAA tournaments

Now, they Notre Dame and rest of the crew will get ready for the Big East Tourney. FYI, by virtue of their victory over Georgetown, St. John’s will be the second seed.

Of course, some serious battling yet to be done. Check out the brackets for other conference tournaments. Get out and cheer on a basketball team or three, why dontcha?

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Baylor’s Athletic Program Hits the Big Time

The faithful descended on Baylor University earlier this month, their cars stalled in traffic on University Parks Drive.

They came for another athletic extravaganza, a smorgasbord of sport that featured three nationally ranked teams (women’s and men’s basketball and equestrian), one that is still undefeated (women’s basketball) and one that is 6-2 (baseball). Here, at the world’s largest Baptist university, they no longer view such dates as unusual. Now, they call them Saturday.

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her 700th game, does anyone notice?

VanDerveer quietly chalks up milestone

Tara VanDerveer barely had time to soak up her 700th career victory at Stanford before the longtime Cardinal coach was asked whether she’d be sticking around to make a run at 800.”That’s only three years if you can get 30 a year,” VanDerveer said.

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Podcast Alert!

Debbie & Beth’s guests include Graham Hays and Charlie Creme. Discussion include tonight’s Big Monday games, St John’s, Tennessee , and the upcoming NCAA tournament including seedings, predetermined host sites.

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Here.

Charlie writes about The toughest teams to figure out -Résumés of Delaware, Green Bay, UNC, Texas, K-State and OU? Tricky business

(Kinda wonder why CC doesn’t wait until tomorrow, since these games might have an impact.)

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It’s been thirty years since they won an Oscar or an SEC title. Writes Graham: Mathies making good on coach’s prediction

A chance to be one of the best players in the nation.

That’s how Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell described what the future might hold for A’dia Mathies not long before her sophomore season began. Almost two seasons later, her exact place on such an inexact list remains up for debate, but she is the go-to player on the first Kentucky team to win an SEC regular-season title in her lifetime. It’s a pretty good label in its own right.

I wouldn’t call it a “roll,” but it was a win over UNC that sent Duke to the outright ACC crown. Oh, and I can see why coach Hatchell is so concerned by physical play.

Virginia finishes up their first regular season under coach Boyle with a 66 -57 win over Florida State and a 9-7 ACC record.

26 in a row for the Blue Hens. No pressure….

Middle Tennessee finishes up the regular season perfect in the Sun Belt.

UTEP wasn’t so lucky, and the Owls pulled away in the second, sending the Bulldogs to their first loss in the C-USA.

In the battle of the Washingtons, it was the Huskies over the Cougars.

OK, what happened to the Shockers? Somebody? Anybody?

Redbirds came back in the second to send it OT, but it was Missouri State who came out the winners in the end, 80-76. They’re also 13-3  in the MVC.

South Carolina pulled away from Arkansas in the second half — both teams finish 10-6 in the SEC.

Take away Lucas’ 24pts and Penn State loses by 1. Fortunately, the Gophers aren’t allowed to do that.

Ohio State tried, but they couldn’t stop Nebraska freshman Emily Cady.

Come the second half, it was no contest: Dawgs over Tigers.

There was plenty of emotion, and the Vols finished up the regular season right: 16pt victory over Florida.

ESPN has its Championship Week results, bids link up.

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and other essential information with Rebecca Lobo’s 5 Questions, now archived.

Just an observation: now that espnW women’s basketball takes you directly to the ESPN wbball page, should Rebecca’s stuff be archived on, you know, the wbball page?

And where are Beth and Debbie’s podcasts?

And why do they waste all that page space with the scoreboard when it’s already run across the top of the page?

And if they can advertise the men’s game (G’town v. ND) tomorrow, why can’t they advertise the women’s game?

And why…?

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Could be emotional: Senior Day at Tennessee. (ESPNU, 3:30EST)

Could be a massacree: Duke v. UNC (3pmESPN2/3)

Could be a trap: Minnesota v. Penn State and Georgia v. LSU (5pm, ESPN2/3)

Could have implications: South Carolina v. Arkansas (3pm, ESPN3)

Could be a chance to rebound: Nebraska v. Ohio State.

Could be perfect: UTEP v. Rice.

Could be a spoiler: MSTU v. WKU (2pmEST, ESPN3).

Could be the start of a Colorado team making the tourney: Denver v. North Texas.

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Even, maybe, quietly, some of the Iowa State fans who’d made the trek to Stillwater?

Down by 4 at the end of the first, the Cowgirls rode freshman Liz Donohoe’s 27pts and 7 rebounds, and team defense, to snare the 71-63 win.

POP! That was Fresno State’s fer-0 disappearing: the Bulldogs (23-5, 11-1 WAC) go down to San Jose State (11-16, 6-6). It’s been nine years since that has happened.

And the jinx continues: CS Northridge (10-5, Big West) ran into Cal Poly (11-3) and it was the Mustangs who came out on top. Big.

Senior night, and Buffalo (9-20, 4-11, MAC) surprised Ohio (13-16, 6-9), 61-56.

NOT the kind of triple-double you want to notch: Iasia Hemingway had 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 turnovers in the Syracuse/Georgetown game.

You get a sense that both Louisville and DePaul are in the punch-drunk stage of the season, they’ve had so many injuries that they’re battling through. Meeting at the YUM Center inspired senior Becky “Big Shot” Burke, and she helped lead Cardinals to a 75-62 win.

Missouri is on a roll: They get their second Big 12 win (12-15, 2-14) over Kansas State (bound for the tourney), 61-56.

Bowling Green (13-2, MAC) kept their balance against Miami (OH) (10-5), 64-55.

Novosel exploded for 32pts, and Notre Dame needed every single one of them against the feisty Bulls of South Florida.

Big East win #1 for Seton Hall.

Texas Tech implodes in the first half and TAMU enjoys every second of it.

I just like typing this: CHSO Buccaneers over the CCAR Chanticleers, 70-55.

New Hampshire went to OT to get their 9th Am. East win, 59-52.

More OT: Dayton over Duquesne, 74-69.

More OT: FIU over South Alabama, 58-55.

More OT: SIUE over Moorehead State, 72-70.

Ummm, did Texas read Mechelle’s piece? They exploded in the second half, taking down Oklahoma 87-62.

Tennessee-Martin easily dispatched Jacksonville, and the Skyhawks are now 15-1 in the OVC.

Nice win for an improving program, Sacramento State, as they defeat the Portland Vikings, 84-82.

Princeton was the favorite in the Ivy, and they’ve met the challenge every since game. With their win, their First in the Nation (into the Tourney). If the brackets hold, it’s NJ v. NJ with the Tigers set to meet the Scarlet Knights.

Whoa, Wright State. They go off for 100 points, and earn their 12 win in the Horizon.

Beth Mowins would be proud: Lafayette scared the youknowwhat out of American, but the Eagles escaped with a 58-54 win.

Post celebration let down? San Diego State (11-2) got surprised by Colorado (9-4, MWC), 68-65.

More surprises: SE Louisiana (6-8, Southland) takes down the Central Arkansas Bears (12-2), 58-53.

Hampton (13-1, MEAC) survives the Rattlers (12-2), 46-43, and Howard (14-2) kept pace by smooshing Delaware State, 67-52. The victory gives the Lady Bison the most wins in a season since 1997-98 when they went 23-7.

In the battle of the Montanas, it was the Griz over the Bobcats.

In the battle of the Oregons, it was the Beavers over the Ducks, 68-53.

Gonzaga claimed the WCC regular season crown by taking down challenger BYU with enthusiasm, and in front of a sold out crowd,  77-60.

I didn’t jinx’em, but I seemed to have inspired the Portland Pilots to put up a fight: San Diego wins, 51-46. With the win, the Toreros tie a program record with 21 overall wins, and set a program record with 12 WCC wins.

Okay, I’m keeping an eye on perennial doormat, St. Francis (NY) (3-14 NEC) because they just defeated Farleigh Dickinson (8-9), 62-47.

Win #700 for Tara featured the Ogwumike’s teaming up for 31 and 19rebs. Orrange had 12 on 5-8 shooting.

The Southern championship is going to be fun: Chattanooga (15-4) took down Davidson (16-3), 55-48.

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Specifically, the injuries and suspensions that might have spelled disaster. Yet, writes Mechelle, this season, when other teams are using injuries as an explanation for their poor season, Duke keeps overcoming setbacks

Friday morning, I listed some of the candidates for the coach of the year … but, of course, there are always others who deserve mentioning. One, in fact, got a big victory Friday night.

Duke maintained its mastery over Miami, and in the process earned the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament and at least a share of the league’s regular-season championship.

The No. 7 Blue Devils’ 74-64 victory over the No. 5 Hurricanes moved Duke’s all-time record over Miami to 9-0. And Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie did it with a team that doesn’t really look like what she was hoping/expecting it to when the school year began.

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Oops

Mallard suspended, won’t play vs. A&M

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the ACC/SEC/BEast Conference tourneys turn out, the #1 and #2 seeds could radically change.

Start your viewing pleasure tonight with Miami v. Duke, 7pm on the 3.

I’m not ignoring North Carolina and Kansas — really I’m not…. BUT:

Harvard has another shot at the Tigers.

Missouri State (18-6, 13-3 MVC) could build on a good season when they play the Sycamores.

Fairfield needs to finish strong if they want to battle Marist – they play Joe Logan’s Greyhounds.

Creighton is dealing with some off-court coach stuff and Northern Iowa is not having the kind of follow-up to the 2010-11 season they wanted — makes for an interesting 9:30pm game on the 3.

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Encouraging, but still a slow process: Maryland’s Brenda Frese stays positive as 4-year-old son battles leukemia

There’s a problem with little Tyler tonight, and Mommy is just about beside herself. Tyler just turned 4. He has leukemia — but this has nothing to do with that. Tyler is extroverted and lovey-dovey, a world-class hugger, a chatterbox. And until this very day, he loved the Maryland Terrapins, especially the women’s basketball team, unconditionally. He was red, black and yellow, through and through. Attended every game his illness allowed. Wouldn’t even think of wearing blue — because blue is Duke. And Duke, as everyone knows, is bad.

But Tyler met a new playmate the other day, and the other boy was a few years older — which meant he knew everything — and the older boy loved Duke. And so now, here is Tyler, standing in the middle of his family’s basement rec room in Laurel, wearing a Maryland T-shirt, surrounded by Terrapins memorabilia, declaring to all present that Duke is not only cool — but is also about to beat Maryland in this game of two-on-two basketball on the five-foot toy hoop set up in a corner of the room.

Relief in Cali: Long Beach State player hospitalized in Cal Poly women’s basketball team’s victory – 49ers’ Bianka Balthazar is reported in ‘good condition’ at Sierra Vista Medical Center after she collapsed during the second half

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Mechelle says the race is wide open.

So what does the Academy Awards show have to do with the coach of the year race in women’s basketball? Nothing, really. It’s just that the Oscars are Sunday, and I enjoy making these forced links to one of the few areas of pop culture in which I still attempt to stay current.

Perhaps I should connect a coaching award to the Best Director nominees. But there are only five of those, and I have six coach nominees. Plus, some of my forced links are just to movie titles, not actually to what the movie was about. I really couldn’t cheat that same way with using the names of the directors.

So here we go, by alphabetical order, with the Best Picture candidate the nominee represents (if only in my own mind). Then at the end, the Oscar winner … er, my pick right now for coach of the year.

I love her “others deserving mention.”

Names I’d add to the ODM list: Rick Insell (MSTU),  Niki Reid Geckeler (Howard) and Adrian Wiggins (Fresno State).

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What are you doing July 16th? (Starts pondering her next “stalking” trip…)

 The 2012 USA Basketball Women’s National Team’s exhibition schedule was announced today and will include exhibition contests against Brazil in Washington, D.C., on July 16, and Great Britain in Manchester, England, on July 18. Additionally, the USA is scheduled to play in a four-team tournament hosted by Turkey in Istanbul, July 21-24. The remaining two teams and the tournament schedule will be announced at a later date.

What do you think of the new logo?

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(thanks to Nate) via a link on Swish Appeal: The Asian American Basketball Leagues That Helped Create Linsanity

“Basketball emerged in a segregated setting,” says Kathy Yep, a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who spent her childhood playing in Asian American leagues just south of San Francisco. Yep is also author of the book “Outside the Paint: When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground.” “People were segregated by law in terms of immigration, citizenship and marriage, and then de facto white privilege regarding housing and employment. It made sense for them to have their own leagues in part because of the segregated environment of that time period.”

When, in 2004 or so, I obsessively worked to put together the Women’s Basketball Timeline, I remember reaching out to Professor Yep as I teased out information about Japanese-American leagues on the West Coast in the 20’s & 30’s, games played (and photographed) in the internment camps during World War II, and Chinese-American teams in Massachusetts as part of the Settlement House movement. There was more stuff on the men’s teams, but there was also information on women’s leagues and players. Cool to see she has a book capturing this fascinating vein of basketball history.

Hmmm… I need to take a summer and refresh a lot of those old links…. sigh. Like that’s going to happen.

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First win for Arkansas — ever — in Knoxville against the Vols. It took OT, and Stricklen is going to be kickin’ herself for a while. But I know that my friends Candy and Teddy are jumping up and down (even though T is an enormous Pat/Vols fan.). For Charlie, the Vols are still a #2.

First Big Ten win of the season for Indiana, as the seniors go out on a good, but tense (the win rested on the shoulder of a 44% FT shooter. Sound familiar?), night with a 2pt win over Wisconsin. The photos remind me of what Navratilova said about herself compared to, say the #100 ranked player: Winning is easy. Coming back, game after game, when you’re losing? That’s hard.

A first for Senior Night and Ohio State’s program: Prahalis scores a record 42 and makes sure the Gophers don’t even SNIFF an upset.

It’s been a season of firsts for Nikki Caldwell as first-year coach at LSU. The Tigers beat Vandy and earned their 20th win of the season.

A first-class stomping of Nebraska by the surging Spartans: 73-53.

First time I’ve said this: Shockers get shocked by Redbirds, 68-62.

Not really a first, but up there in terms of accomplishment: 6,532 in attendance at UTEP to witness the Miners’ earn the C-USA regular season title.

No firsts involved, just noting that EUI got surprised by Morehead State, and SIEU beat Eastern Kentucky, so the OVC got a tad tighter.

FIU (W flashback: Nagy’s alma) and MTSU of the Sun Belt and FGCU of the A-Sun all won. (Which is a mini-one/won pun, which is a blogger’s version of a 1st, which is what you get when you participate in the inanity!)

First time I can blame Sue for  jinxing a team (or did they jinx themselves?): CS Northridge (10-4) goes down to UC Santa Barbara, 61-44.

First time I’ve paid attention to the Northeastern Huskies of Boston because, well, they’ve kinda stunk it up since forever. They earned their third-straight victory for the first time since the 2009-10 season after taking down Old Dominion, 78-66. The Northeastern coach is Daynia LaForce-Mann, a former Georgetown player with strong coaching roots in New York (LIU, St. John’s).

Wright State continues to grow: they’re 11-4 in the Horizon.

Ditto with the Toreros: San Diego (11-4 WCC) takes down St. Mary’s (10-5), 74-59. Get your tickets for the conference tourney, y’all!

Okay, so maybe there’s no separation: UCLA 53, Arizona State, 38. Hey, did you see this WATN? Natalie Nakase: Ex-UCLA player 1st female coach in Japanese men’s basketball league

Colorado looked good (or was it the Cards looking bad?) in the first half… then they got stampeded by the champeens.

Yah, SC and UK should have been on the 3.

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in her chat today: In Texas, it gets hot quicker – Goestenkors (Texas), Henrickson (Kansas), Curry (Texas Tech) have teams on bubble

The pleasantries are the same as always, but there’s not much reality behind them. You say, “Hi, how are you doing?” to Texas coach Gail Goestenkors. She says, “I’m good, how about you?”

You know, of course, that “good” is not how Goestenkors feels at all. It’s the morning after her Longhorns lost 80-59 to Baylor in a game they never looked to have a chance to win. It dropped Texas to 15-12 overall, 5-10 in the Big 12.

Right now, Texas is a perfect example of a team that I would not “reward” with a trip to the tourney just because they’re in a Big Six conference or have an RPI of note. I mean, why? Why not give it to a mid-major team who DESERVES a reward?

When it comes to bubble teams, I’m all for popping the Big 6.

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Online stream alert TN

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you ask….

Marist is kickin’ some Iona butt on ESPN3 — updated to say “not as much as earlier on.”

Hofstra v. James Madison ought to be a good game. On the 3 at 7pm.

Sorry none of the ESPNs are carrying the South Carolina/Kentucky game.

Now that people have pointed a finger at’em, how will Towson (7-8, CAA) handle going up against UNC-Wilmington (9-6, CAA)?

Minnesota plays Ohio State — will the Gophers continue their role as upsetters?

Come on, Houston Baptist — see if you can win one in the Big West.

The Shockers (11-3, MVC) v. Redbirds (10-4, MVC) could be fun.

Alabama (2-12, SEC) v. Auburn (3-11) could be ugly.

LSU (19-8, 9-5) v. Vandy (20-7, 8-6) could be significant.

Which Vol team shows up tonight?

I am not saying nothin’ about UTEPs chances against S. Methodist (5-8, C-USA)

Don’t envy Colorado (5-9, Pac-12) going up against Stanford.

Time for some separation by Arizona State (9-6) as they go against UCLA (7-7).

The Dons (3-11, WCC) have a chance at win #6 when they face Portland (3-11).

So, anyone taking bets on Fresno State v. Hawai’i?

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the New York Times: It’s a Beautiful Move, and Effective

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Over at HoopFeed: Dishin & Swishin February 23, 2012 Podcast

Today’s podcast features St. John’s women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico and a mini-roundtable with Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press and Wendy Parker of Basketball Times.

There’s also a Dishin & Swishin Special: Pokey Chatman from Russia on the signing of Ticha Penicheiro

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