"I don't have ballplayers, I've got GIRLS!"

[Petrel]

In any first person story, you're obligated to give your name so that others aren't forced to guess it. So my name is Mark Hawkins, otherwise known as "The Ballhawk", a name which one can't translate into Turkish. The reason I mentioned the Turkish part is to tell you where it all really started - where a grown 28-year old man is crying his eyes out in a locker room in Istanbul.

 

I was crying because I realized that my right foot was broken. It was the third break, a break so bad that I could actually hear it crack when I put weight on it. The doctors had warned me that one more break to that foot - a foot that had been surgically repaired two years earlier, a foot that I had painfully rehabbed one year earlier - would be very difficult to repair. Getting back to playing pro basketball - even in Turkey - had been like climbing Kilomanjaro, and it was as if I had climbed one side of the mountain and fallen down the other.

 

It was December 9th. It was at that moment that I knew that my basketball career was over - a career where I saw the third round of the NBA draft, where I ended up in the D-League, then in Russia, then in Greece, then back in Russia, then in Turkey but I never saw time in an NBA game. All six feet of me had kicked around the planet in the hopes of landing in an NBA arena like a randomly thrown dart. I was a point guard for a top ten team at James Madison that went to the Final Four, but that would be the high point of my basketball career.

 

It was over. It wasn't the sound of a foot breaking, but the sound of a door slamming shut that reduced me to tears.

 

The Turks took one look at my hoof and knew that I wouldn't be seeing another game that season - so they sent me home. I could almost hear the displeasure when I told my agent, a sudden intake of breath on his part that made what he said irrelevant. It took him forever to shop me around to Turkey and he knew he had a wounded mule on his hands. My job was to keep him informed of my rehab. He didn't want to say anything else.

 

More pins. More nails in my foot. Rehab was awful; I didn't look forward to it. With my foot in a cast awaiting another surgery, I flew back to my hometown of Millstone, KY - which was worse, because my mother threw herself into taking care of me. I spent about two weeks in seclusion, not needing any of my old high school friends to see the burnt-out basketball star.

 

I watched way too much People's Court. It didn't take long for my fellow Duke, a player by the name of Powerhouse Pondexter to find me in Kentucky - even though I never gave him my number. Michael Pondexter was my teammate at Madison and our relationship was - well, there was always an antagonism. He was a New York high school baller; I was bump-ugly country. When we didn't flat-out hate each other, we resorted to what I called a "civil teasing", where each of us tried to rub our triumphs into the other's face.

 

He was in Greece. "Hey, little man," he said, "I heard you busted your foot again. What, you going to come out on the court with a cane? Referee won't let you use a cane."

 

"I'm about to hang up this phone if you won't shut up."

 

"Hey, pity you ain't here in Rhodes. You could see some real ball played here."

 

"How big's that gym?" I asked. "Twelve hundred? How are those hairy Greek women? You getting some of that? I hear they don't shave."

 

"Hey, man, listen to me," he said, seriously. "You like that rural ****, right? All country? What do you think of South Dakota?"

 

"The only thing I think of it is cold. Why?"

 

"I have a friend who has a friend who needs a coach up at South Dakota. I think it's time for you to retire your sorry ass. Man, you're smart. You could get into coaching. You was always trying to tell everybody what to do anyway and you was so stuck-up that I thought, 'man, that's a coach if I ever saw one'. Go get your clipboard."

 

"Craphouse, I don't know where the hell your friend has a college, but it can't be much of one. What division is it, Division Four?"

 

"****, man. I don't know. All I know is that my friend's uncle was big into JMU when we were riding high. So his uncle asks my friend to ask me if I wanted to come to South Dakota. I said, '**** no' but I thought that that would be your gig 'cause they got more cows than people. So I thought I'd, you know, set you up."

 

"Thanks for nothing," I said.

 

"Look man, you want it or not? Else I got to talk to this guy."

 

I sighed. "Send me an e-mail. I'll answer it. I ain't got nothing else to do today."

 

(* * *)

 

As it turned out, the link was from Dennis Bohler at the University of South Dakota. The Coyotes. Division I, amazingly enough, but not for very long. They've only been D-I since 2009, which is why I had never heard of them. He was one of those old men of college ball, in his mid-sixties, serving as the Coyotes head coach. He answered my e-mail "Ballhawk!" and wrote about how glad he was to get me and about my 28-point game against Georgia in our Final Four year. (He said nothing about that six point game where North Carolina knocked us out.)

 

The Coyotes were suffering a 4-15 season. He had planned on ditching the most assistant-y of his assistant coaches, a guy called James Cruz. We takled on the phone. "He hates being here and I hate him being here. Ballhawk, we could use you with our point guards, they need a mess of help. They treat a basketball like it's covered in man squeezings. You could handle the rock, son. You were the best point guard I've ever seen. A regular Mo Cheeks on defense.who could shoot like Frazier!"

 

When he mentioned my name with Cheeks and Frazier, I was hooked. I needed a massive ego boost, and I would take it even from the coach of the Coyotes even if I thought he was deluded. He sounded like he'd be fun to talk to, if anything else. "Do you mind watching film?" he asked. "Breaking it down for us?"

 

"Sure."

 

"What about recruiting? It can be tough out there on the road."

 

"I don't mind." I figured my foot would be healed up by that point.

 

"It doesn't pay much. Long hours."

 

"You have to start somehere," I said. At that point, I would have washed the uniforms. "But my foot's all - messed up. I'd have to hobble."

 

"Well, get your rehab, son," he said. "I can't pay you now no how. I have to wait until this nightmare of a year is over. Then I can throw Cruz to the wolves. And I will warn you, it's effin cold up here in Vermillion."

 

(* * *)

 

So I got my surgery, suffered my mother, and waited it out with Coach Bohler. I followed the Coyotes at a distance from the Sioux City Journal and the Yankton Daily Press websites and other papers of renoun in South Dakota. There were the calls from Coach Bohler, which were less frequent as he played out the rest of the year. (He never won another game that season.) "As soon as this season is over, I'm going to can Cruz. Gotta save my job."

 

Of course, I could have been thrown to the wolves too, sooner or later, but I didn't plan for that to happen. I talked myself up to my mother, and to my friends, and to Powerhouse Pondexter. I was going to be a coach at the Division I level. Knowledge is Liberty, baby. I was going to be a big man. I was going places. Who knows, maybe to coaching an NBA squad?

 

As soon as the Summit League tournament was over - and as soon as Coach Cruz had gotten the boot - I got on the plane from Lexington to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Sioux City, Iowa and then rented a car to drive to Vermillion, South Dakota. I had made arrangements to rent an apartment, and I figured that I'd buy a car when I started working in Vermillion.

 

No sooner did I get the keys to my apartment that morning that I turned around and drove to the DakotaDome, the home of everything athletic at South Dakota. I knew the basketball team played here and I looked forward to the Coyotes ringing the rafters. I decided to ring Coach Bohler to let him know I was coming.

 

"Coach, I'm in Vermillion."

 

There was silence from the other end. "I'm no longer with the University," he said.

 

I didn't believe I heard what he was saying. "Wait. You're kidding me?"

 

"No. I was fired by the AD. This morning. They're going to announce it. Everyone's gone. Burbank is going to announce it in about an hour. He gave me the news about fifteen minutes ago, Ballhawk."

 

"What the hell?"

 

"There's no job for you here in Vermillion. Not with my staff, anyway. You should talk to Willie Burbank and ask him if there's something for you. That would be your best bet. Sorry, hoss. Best of luck to you."

 

Bohler hung up. And that was that! No sooner than I had landed that I was out of a job. I wondered if there was any point in even entering the DakotaDome.

 

(* * *)

 

As it turned out, I made it just in time for the press conference. Willie Burbank was a fortyish-looking man with brown hair and a mustache who had played some football in his day.

 

"I regret to inform you of a change in the men's basketball depatment," Burbank said as I listened from a distance. "Due to the lack of academic progress of a number of players on the men's team and due to the gross insubordination of Coach Dennis Bohler, we were forced to terminate his position here."

 

So that was it! "Gross insubordination." Burbank almost winced as he said as if having a nail pulled. He didn't bother to say that he wished Coach Bohler the best.

 

"I'd like to introduce the new coach Gerard Acevedo. Coach Acevedo was an assistant at the University of Virginia and is aware of the new direction in which we want to take the Coyote program. He is familiar with the task of running a program that places an emphasis on academic achievement as well as athletic excellence. In addition, he will be bringing with him several like-minded individuals on staff."

 

One reporter asked about Bohler's old staff. "Regretfully, we have decided to wipe the slate clean." It sounded like a war with Bohler on the losing end.

 

That was it. Fired before I was even hired. My last chance for a job was a 3-point shot at the buzzer. I waited until Willie Burbank ended the conference, and decided to get a few words with him.

 

He must have thought I was a report. "Oh. Can I help you?"

 

I tried to cram my resume into a thirty-second introduction. I stated my background, my case, and any particulars that might have helped. I don't even remember what I said. He shook his head and said, "It's a horrible situation, but really Mr. Hawkins, there's nothing I can do for you right now. I think that as far as basketball is concerned, we're full up."

 

That was it. No handshake. I was left to twist in the wind.

 

(* * *)

 

The next morning, I was sitting in the apartment waiting for the rest of my life. How I was going back to Kentucky, and what I was going to tell everyone. They'd think I just made it up.

 

My cell phone rang. I didn't even recognize the number.

 

"Hello?"

 

"Is this Mr. Mark Hawkins?" someone said.

 

"Speaking."

 

"Mark, this is Willie Burbank, the Athletic Director here at USD. We met yesterday."

 

"Well...uh...how can I help you?"

 

"We have a coaching opportunity for you. What do you think about women's basketball?"

 

"Uh...I don't watch it. They can play, they work hard. Not my thing."

 

"But are you open to the idea of coaching women's basketball?"

 

I had two choices. I could say "no" and run right back to Kentucky with my tail between my legs. Or I could say "yes" and claim marginal success in having a job in basketball, somewhere. "Right now...I'm open to anything." Rent had to be paid.

 

"Good. Can you get here? You need to meet me in my office. I'll see you this morning."

 

(* * *)

 

I showed up in the same suit I had worn the day before. A new shirt, and I hoped the AD didn't notice.

 

"We cleaned house," Burbank said. "We've been in Division I for less than five years, and both programs have experienced a significant downturn. Playing in the Great West Conference didn't help - we wouldn't have even gotten an NCAA berth for winning the tournament - and interest in the basketball program has dropped dramatically. Football is as strong as it ever was, but we're not playing that sport at a D-I level. I'm sure you're aware of the men's program, but how much do you know about the women's program?"

 

Honesty was the best policy. "Nothing at all."

 

"I'll clue you in. We've had a program since back in 1971, when Title IX was implemented. Most of our time has been in Division II, and we've had some very good teams. However, since we've made the move to Division I, we've hit the wall. The talent that won in Division II can't cut in in Division I. Every year, we've lost more than we lost the year before and this year, we had enough. We need to rethink what we want the Coyote program to be."

 

"Now," he concluded, "normally, we'd have a committee for an interview but I'm in a bit of a hurry. So I'll conduct the interview."

 

He asked me if I had ever supervised a large group of players before. (Answer: no, but I winged the question.) He asked me what my plan was with working with the parents of players, with the media, with members of the university community. (Didn't really know the answer to that one either: wing-it time again.) He asked me how members of the basketball team would be selected. (Answer: I would build the most fantastic recruiting network known to human society, one to rival the Ancient Romans. I mean, crap, how am I supposed to know the answer to that one? I didn't think the interview would be that complicated.)

 

But he smiled, reached over the desk, and pumped my hands. "Coach Hawkins, you're the man for the job! Congratulations! The athletic department will do everything it can to help you lead the Coyotes to glory on the court! I have total confidence in you!"

 

I had a job. Hu-freaking-zah! "Thanks...uh...."

 

"...Willie."

 

"Thanks, Willie. So when will I be meeting the new head coach?"

 

"You are the new head coach. When Coach Jones left, she took her staff with her. I suspect she had another position lined up somewhere. Anyway, those coaches aren't coming back."

 

"Wait a minute," I said. "You mean...I have...nobody?"

 

"Well, you're our interim head coach now," Willie said. (This was the first time I heard "interim". Uh oh.) "So you'll have to get a staff up and running. I'm sure you're quite familiar with that. You'll definitely want to meet with the team, so we've scheduled a meeting for 11 o'clock."

 

It was 10:45 am. I had fifteen minutes to start my new job.

 

(* * *)

 

Okay. This might be the first ever women's basketball dynasty for Fast Break College Basketball. We'll watch Mark Hawkins either succeed or crash and burn horribly.

 

I really don't know where I should put the coach setting. I'm thinking of setting it to 14, due to my inexperience with playing the game in general. As you can see from my other thread, I thought I was doing well enough at a setting of 15. If it's too easy, well, it will be over soon.

 

This required a lot of modding the files. I modded the teams.csv file, obviously, to give teams a prestige value typical to that of the modern women's game. The conf.csv file was modded to include all of the conference moves associated with the last couple of years as well as to make the conference championship tourneys as close to what's currently out there as I could. Women's b-ball has different major tournaments, so the tourneys.csv file was modded.

 

In addition, all of the names .txt files were modded to represent female names. The height.ini file was modified by shifting everything six inches down - I believe that height distribution among men and women is generally the same, but the average female height is six inches smaller than male height. Nothing could be done about changing weights, so the program will still generate male weights.

 

The game will also have a timeline associated with it. We'll be projecting some future history here. Real names will be avoided, but when I talk about the women's head coach at Tennessee I'll give her another name but I'll be using you-know-who's picture.

 

Pictures of real players will be used - the names will be changed though. Real photos, fictional characters is the rule here. Any relationship between the fictional personality associated with a real photograph and the actual person photographed is fully coincidental.

 

The mod files are attached below. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: If you're going to use these mod files, change the names of the files currently resting in the destination folders. For example, you'll want to change the height.ini file that came with the game to something like height-original.ini before you start using the modified height.ini file, or you'll lose the original file forever! The same warning comes with the other files.

Women's College BB Mod Files.zip

[Petrel]

It looks like one cannot link to images in Imageshack. Since this dynasty - which uses a lot of Imageshack links - is a little visuals-friendly, I'll have to work on a workaround to this problem.

[Petrel]

I met with the team, which didn't take long. There was no drama, just me in a locker room with a bunch of women who pretty much figured out why their coach got fired. Most of them had a stunned look on their faces - all of them were still in shock. (I was surprised at how....non-diverse the team was. All a bunch of Minnesota farm girls, it looked like.) "Right now, nothing is going to change," I told them. "We are going to run the same practices and keep the same schedule."

 

I told the team captain from last year to meet with me that afternoon - which would give me some time to actually attach names to faces and not look too much like an idiot who couldn't tell the girl ballers from the South Dakota Glee Club.

 

However, the staff at USD consisted of...me. That had to change, and there was only one person who could help me. Ken Tomlinson, the old coach at James Madison, the man who recruited me. He retired a few years after I left, so he had his afternoons free.

 

"Coach, there's no way I could get you up here, is there?"

 

"Oh hell no, Mark," he said. "I'm too old for winters like that. Besides, I don't know about the ladies game. You're going to find out that it's a lot different coaching women. They're a lot more attentive, more focused, less individual-oriented. You have to handle them a bit differently, though. They're more fragile on some levels. If you get nasty at them, they take it personally and they hold grudges. I had a daughter that I saw through AAU, I chatted with a few coaches."

 

"You think I could get an AAU coach?"

 

"Not a good one," Coach Tomlinson said. "Those guys are pipeliners, they're never going to pipe anyone to South Dakota. Your only hope is to look at local girls high school coaches or the cast-off pile."

 

He explained. With the end of the women's B-ball season, teams were divesting themselves of their extraneous staff. In the meantime, other people were on the resume hunt. It was true. I hadn't even been in the office as head coach for a day and the fax machine was busy with resumes being faxed to my office, with people hoping to be hired in some capacity with the women's team.

 

"Are these guys any good?"

 

"You kidding?" Coach said. "They're has-beens, never-weres, and guys - maybe ladies, I don't know - with dreams but no experience. I tell you Mark, how you put this staff together is going to be a big factor as to whether or not you're successful. You'll have to interview these guys. But an old coach told me to remember three things and you can't go wrong."

 

"What are those three things?"

 

"Number one," Coach said. "No weirdos. If you don't think that your assistant is going to be behind you 100 percent, kick him to the curb. It's about your vision, not his vision. Number two - are they knowledgeable? Do they know their basketball? You don't want a dummy on the bench. Finally - are they hard workers? You gotta look at that resume and dig in. Look for any suspicous gaps that indicate that someone is coasting. Is this the kind of man - or woman - who will work a 20-hour day for you if that's the difference between winning a game and losing one?"

 

 

 

 

 

We'll move on to more assistant coach hiring later. But first, a look at the league set-up screen and some important comments.

 

The first comment is that the women's game has a 64 game NCAA tournament, so that will be our game setting. The women's league also has the WNIT as the secondary tournament, which is 64 games and the Women's Basketball Invitational which is the most minor of the post-season tournaments consisting of a bunch of Prestige =1 never-heard-of-you-teams. There are 16 teams in that final tournament, for 64 + 64 + 16 = 144 teams going to the post-eason.

 

Unfortunately, there is no setting for a 64-game secondary tournament in FBCB. So I chose the maximum size of 40 for the secondary tournament. I called it the CBI by mistake in the screengrab but fixed that later in the League Options screen. That left me 16 post-season teams short, so I activated the CollegeInsider.com tournament for that fourth-rank tourney.

 

Since the WNBA minimal requirements that one must be at least 22 years old and must have used up all of one's college eligibility, players never apply for the Draft.

 

Due to the fact that ACL injuries are a problem in the women's game, injuries are set to 110 percent. However, since most of the women in the women's college game seem to care about their studies - there's no big NBA payday waiting for them, and they'll probably have to get real jobs - academic probation is set to 90 percent.

 

Players may not refuse to redshirt.

 

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3434/leaguesetup.jpg

 

I decided to play Mark Hawkins at Level 13 - easy, but not the easiest setting the game offers.

 

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9890/leaguehawkins.jpg

 

And here's Mark in the South Dakota Hot Seat!

 

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8712/hs201105.jpg

[Petrel]

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7479/2011coachhiring.jpg

 

I thought it would take me about three or four days to hire a new coaching staff. It took a lot longer than that. For six weeks or so - from mid-March to the beginning of May - I was the sole member of the coaching staff at South Dakota.

 

The AD loved it. Willie Burbank knew that every day I didn't have a staff was one day that he didn't have to pay extra staff members. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded if I wiped the lanes mid-game and sold tickets before tip-off. Not finding anyone I'd put in charge of a broken light bulb, I asked him what the expectations for the Coyotes were for the 2011-12 season. "Try not to finish last in the conference", he said.

 

It was a freaking nightmare. The South Dakota location alone was enough to scare off a lot of candidates - they figured they could find a job somewhere less freezing, less isolated, less conservative. A lot of these people had been kicking around for a long time - I got resumes from everyone from 15 year olds to 69 year olds. Many of them ended up in what one could euphemistically call the crank file. I let my secretary Phyllis handle those.

 

One candidate I interviewed left a number to call back for a follow-up. It was a cell phone, and his service had been cut off between interviews. If he can't pay his damned bills, how is he going to put together a program? We're not going to pay his bills for him.

 

Some candidates were head coaches from high school and college that had horrible records: 4-24. 3-19. 0-28. They had the experience, but it wasn't the kind of experience I was looking for. Some of these people never hit double-digits in wins in their careers.

 

Sometimes, you could read between the lines. You would ask certain candidates why they left and they'd tell you they were Looking For a Greater Challenge. Then, you'd do some minor research or call around and find that they were one step ahead of a torch-wielding mob. One of the candidates was a registered sex offender!

 

It got to the point that I couldn't trust anyone. Everyone had someone to recommend, but it was cronyism - these were the kind of guys who would talk your ear off, but they were more the coach's drinking buddy. Other guys had no experience, and I was wary of that because I didn't have any either - no sense in two people on the bench that didn't know what they were doing.

 

Eventually, however, as May was getting closer, in the back half of April all of fhe pieces suddenly fell into position.

 

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1222/coachwilliams.jpg

 

The first hire was 41-year old Caitlyn Williams, a graduate of Howard University who had kicked around Maryland and Virginia since graduation. Her last job was coach of a middle school girls team somewhere in Northern Virginia where she did somewhat decently. I talked to her about coaching and her idea of an offense was "four down" - run four girls down to the baseline and have the guard throw it to one of them. She was pretty much clueless about Xs and Os. (I later found out that she was a walk-on at Howard - she must have loved basketball a lot because she averaged about two minutes a game when she played.)

 

But she had a way with words. She was bubbly and I was impressed with what she had to say about basketball - we spoke about the NBA because it was a common language. She could tell good players from bad ones without needing a boxscore, and she was an ebullient speaker, once holding up our lunch because she got into a 10-minute conversation with the checkout girl. She was all into the internet and youth culture, and I realized that I now had my recruiting coordinator. She was organized, she was very "clean-looking" - not sloppy, everything done up to a "T" - and very persuasive. She liked people. I could imagine her giving a recruiting pitch very easily and winning someone over to our program.

 

Race shouldn't matter, but it does matter in college basketball. It affects things that it shouldn't really affect, and our team has a grand total of two black players on it. I felt that Coach Williams could get South Dakota's foot in the door places where people might be reluctant to consider us. Diversity is good, I've come to learn, because no one wants to spend four years with a group of people that don't get your background. I was glad to hire her, because now I had a partner in crime - someone to sort through the resumes.

 

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5144/coachreavis.jpg

 

The next person we found was Raelynn Reavis, a 55-year old lawyer (of all things) that graduated from Gonzaga way back in 1978. "Back then, there wasn't a WNBA. There was the WBL. It was a women's pro league, you might not have heard of it." (I didn't.) "And they didn't want me there, so it was on to law school."

 

She got her law degree and started practicing law in Calfornia, but was always pulled toward basketball. Eventually, she gravitated for working for club teams and later the AAU. I assumed that she had seen a lot of basketball talent in about, oh, about 30 years or so. She knew more about the mechanics of basketball systems than Coach Williams did, and probably would have a better feel for what kinds of girls would fit into the system I planned on running. (As soon as I figured that out.) We made her our scout, and put her in charge of breaking down film.

 

We still needed someone thought to act as a coach for the post players and someone to give instruction when I was distracted with referees. Coach Williams was hopeless at that and I didn't think Coach Reavis knew enough about running a bench to do that.

 

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3157/coachulmer.jpg

 

I found 39-year old Katie Ulmer, a graduate of Mercer in Georgia. Ulmer had come out of a successful high school girls team in Nebraska, and had been their assistant coach. She was marginally better than Williams in knowing how to draw up plays. She had managed basketball camps, which is something that I wanted to do at USD. There was also something about her that I liked, she had attitude. She described one of her former schools as a "toilet school - you know, where the girls don't even know what a basketball is, where you lose by eighty points every game". She might not be the greatest coach that ever lived, but I knew that Ulmer took responsibility and believed that she was the sole authority - next to the head coach, of course. She would be my assistant that first year.

 

I ended up telling Powerhouse Pondexter about the new coaching staff. "Brother...you got a harem!" he said.

 

And that reminds me. Players. Can't live without 'em. More on the players next time.

[Petrel]

And now, an introduction to the University of South Dakota Coyotes!

 

Seniors

 

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/743/2011harleylewis.jpg

 

#23 Harley Lewis - SF (5-11) - Laurel, MS

Strengths: Great stamina

Weaknesses: 3-point shooting, inside shooting, ball handling, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

 

Interests: Twilight, Harry Potter

Major: Art

 

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/8154/2011morgantavarez.jpg

 

#44 Morgan Tavarez - SG (5-8) -Custer, SD

 

Strengths: vertical leap

Weaknesses: 3-point shooting, ball handling, perimiter defense, steals

 

Interests: Sports, running

Major: Economics

 

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3857/2011saniyahbarth.jpg

 

#30 Saniyah Barth - PF (6-1) - Hill City, SD (walk-on)

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: inside shooting, 3-point shooting, ball handling, offensive rebounding, post defense, perimeter defense, shot blocking

 

Interests: Karaoke, listening to music

Major: Criminal justice

Factoid: Saniyah's grandmother is from India

 

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7131/2011elliehester.jpg

 

#35 Ellie Hester - SF (5-11) - Lennox, SD

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: post defense, perimeter defense, steals

 

Interests: Scale model making

Major: French

 

Juniors

 

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/3754/2011emilyroque.jpg

 

#2 Emily Roque - C (6-3) - Aberdeen, SD (walk-on)

 

Interests: Reading

Major: Art

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, offensive rebounding (!), perimeter defense, steals, blocks

 

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8199/2011jaylynnadams.jpg

 

#0 Jaylynn Adams - PF (5-11) - Hartford, SD (walk-on)

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Inside shooting, jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rbounding, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

 

Interests: Antiquing, retro culture

Major: Criminal justice

 

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6964/2011ashleybrown.jpg

 

#12 Ashley Brown - SF (6-1) - Fowler, MI

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rebounding, post defense, blocks

 

Interests: Cuisine/cooking

Major: Marketing

 

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/1207/2011angelinachoe.jpg

 

#3 Angelina "Angel" Choe - C (6-0) - Watertown, SD (walk-on)

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Jump shooting, free throw shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

 

Interests: Dancing

Major: Criminal justice

 

Sophomores

 

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4199/2011ashleysayer.jpg

 

#52 Ashley Sayer - PF (5-10) - Siren, WI (walk-on)

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

 

Interests: Violin playing

Major: Social work

 

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/8236/2011jessicabing.jpg

 

#14 Jessica Bing - SG (5-10) - Zwickau, Germany

 

Strengths: vertical leap

Weaknesses: jump shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, dribbling, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

 

Interests: Blogging

Major: Marketing

 

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6549/2011jillianho.jpg

 

#1 Jillian Ho - PG (5-6) - Newell, SD

 

Strengths: quickness

Weaknesses: jump shooting, post defense, steals

 

Interests: Tapophilia (the enjoyment of cemetaries !)

Major: Economics

 

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/5166/2011iawilliams.jpg

 

#42 Analia Williams - C (6-3) - Canton, SD

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: 3-point shooting, passing, offensive rebounding, steals, blocks, stamina

 

Interests: Photography

Major: Marketing

 

Freshmen

 

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4060/2011bellagrier.jpg

 

#34 Bella Grier - PG (5-9) - Gregory, SD

 

Strengths: quickness, vertical leap

Weaknesses: passing, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

 

Interest: Computer games (World of Warcraft)

Major: Social work

 

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/8643/2011anzhelikabure.jpg

 

#25 Anzhelika Bure - SF (5-9) - Omsk, Russia

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: ball handling, passing, offensive rebounding, pass defense, perimeter defense, stamina

 

Interest: Guitar

Major: English

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/304/2011allisonriggle.jpg

 

#50 Allison Riggle - PG (5-9) - North Sioux City, SD

 

Strengths: quickness

Weaknesses: inside shooting, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, pass defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks, stamina

 

Interest: Video games

Major: Finance

[Petrel]

Obviously, the next step was to recruit some warm bodies. We had a very strange situation with our roster. We had four scholarships to sign new players - these were the seniors that were graduating. However, we had three juinor walk-ons and one sophomore walk-on. According to the new NCAA rules * I would be allowed to cut two of these non-senior walk-ons and free up two extra scholarship for a maximum of six new scholarships.

 

I definitely wanted as much fresh blood as I could get. I was soon set straight Coach Reavis said, "You'll lose the team if you start cutting players. You do know that they're never going to forgive you, and it's going to spoil whatever team chemistry we've got left."

 

Coach Williams said, "Look. I've only got so much money that USD is going to give us to recruit. There's a big difference between having to fill four roster spots, and having to fill five or six. I'd be tempted to suffer this year with everyone on board."

 

"Coach, these players are awful," was Coach Ulmer's suggestion. "Any of them that you can shove under the door are going to be plusses for us. I'd rather take my chances with half-ass freshmen. We're pathetic."

 

With my braintrust divided as to what to do, I decided I'd be bold. I would not out-right cut the players. I'd ask them to leave the team. My story would be that if they remained on the team, I couldn't promise that they'd see any playing time, and I'd try to be honest with them about their skill sets. They could remain associated with the team as assistant managers, they'd make it in the media guide and they'd be honored along with the players on what would have been their Senior Days if they had remained with the team.

 

Would I get any help in wielding the axe? Hell, no. The ladies didn't want any part of it. "You don't want it to get around that you won't meet your commitments," they said. But as far as I was concerned, the players I planned to cut were playing here only because I hadn't stopped them yet.

 

So which players went?

 

My first target was Emily Roque, my junior center. She was weak on the offensive glass and she had little stamina. Frankly, she wasn't in any kind of physical shape to play ball. It was my job to tell her.

 

"Emily...I'd like to thank you for helping out the university and the basketball team with our recruiting troubles...but we know why you're here in my office. There's a certain level of physical stamina that it takes to play basketball at the Division I level, and it doesn't seem like you're making any kind of progress with your conditioning...."

 

- once I let it out of my mouth, she looked like she had been punched in the stomach. I don't think it took her by surprise. I think she saw it coming. But I think at some mental level, she wasn't really prepared for the moment. I could tell that her feelings were really hurt. "Big girls are sensitive about their body," Williams warned me, and I tried to avoid anything like "chubby" or "fat". Even so, she had height - she was one of the two tallest players on the team - but she had no reacton time. She couldn't block shots. She was just flat-footed in practice, caught with that amazed look on her face whenever she was forced to make a decision on the court. I suspect she was brought in because the previous coaching staff needed height at any cost.

 

"Emily," I said quietly, "I don't know if we have a place for you on the team."

 

There was silence. Then she said, "I guess I have to go, then," saying it like she was telling someone they had cancer.

 

I told her that we'd let her be an assistant manager and that she'd be as big a part of the Coyotes as she wanted to be. She didn't say much. She just nodded and I got a lot of "yeahs" and "uh-huhs", withdrawn recognition that yes, I was talking to her and yes, she was hearing me.

 

"Is this okay with you?"

 

"Yeah," she said, dismally.

 

"I hope to see you with us this year. Coach Williams can let you know what we'll be needing of you on the manager side."

 

She left, a massive girl with her shoulders slumped. She met with Coach Williams the next day. She showed up for practice the next four days or so. And then...she just stopped coming. I never asked what happened to her. I'd see her on campus every now and then from a distance, but my asking her to walk off was the last time we ever spoke.

 

My old coach, Coach Tomlinson, always told us that cutting players was the hardest thing that he had to do as a coach. I always thought that was bull****, but now I wasn't so sure. I called Coach Williams. "We have another spot at center," I said. Our conversation was brief, and she didn't ask me much.

 

(* * *)

 

I knew that the word would get out among the rest of the team that Roque just booted from the squad. I had Coach Ulmer run the practice. She said that they practiced a lot harder than previously. "They could feel those fires," Ulmer said. "They know that you're serious now." (Easy for her to talk, she left me to do this myself.)

 

The next target was my sophomore PF Ashley Sayer. Very smart girl from our few conversations. She could actually play the violin, she had a pretty good GPA for someone who played violin and played basketball and was studying social work. My suspicion was that she was on the team to keep the team's academic progress report (APR) in shape.

 

The problem with Ashley S. - "Sash" as opposed to Ashley Brown - was that she could not play defense. Not at all. During practices, players would just blow right by her. She'd run into screens, she'd lose her man and after a certain point, she'd just give up. She was terrified of playing a defender close up. She couldn't shoot either, not even a bunny shot from close up. Her form was awful, more of a hopeful chuck in the direction of the basket than anything else. I wondered if she had ever played basketball before. "Sash! Have you ever played ball before?" I'd shout, but all I'd get is a nasty glare. (I suspected that I was very close to the truth.)

 

"Sash," I said during my Come to Jesus meeting, "I have to tell you that your defense is...it's nonexistent. Now, I know that you're smart. And I know that you're giving it all you've got. ({i]I lied about that part[/i].) But I don't know if I can put you on the court for even a minute without us giving up a bucket. Maybe more. That's just the God's honest truth. And I don't think I can teach you enough defense to make you a passable player, not when there are other girls out there that are farther along and would like to play at the Division I level."

 

After I told her that, I could tell that there was a range of emotions she was trying to hide, but none of them were positive. I don't know if pissed is the right word to use, but clearly, she thought I was just full of crap. She figured out that she didn't have a leg to stand on but she wasn't going to be co-ooperative, either. At one point, her arms folded and she just gave brief, quick nods when I started talking. At one point, she interrupted with, "Yeah, I get it."

 

"So you're okay with this."

 

"I said," she grumbled, "I get it." (Which meant, "No, you moron, I'm not okay with it but I don't suppose there's anything I can do about it so will you shut up and get to the point?")

 

I ignored the near-insubordination and let her know that she could be an assistant manager. "I'll think about it," she said, and rocketed out of that chair like she there was a tack in it. I didn't get to my "I hope you'll support the program" part of my speech before she just walked out the door, not bothering to acknowledge me.

 

Unlike Roque, Sayer actually came back as an assistant manager. I let her practice with the team but she knew that she wasn't going to be a Coyote ever again. She could really hold a grudge. It took four weeks before she gave me a smile. All and all, it was something I wouldn't like to do again - even though Sayer's agreement helped keep the team together and got me that extra scholarship I needed.

 

(* * *)

 

During this time, we were putting together our schedule as well. We could get the non-conference part of the schedule filled out first, but most of that work had been done by the previous staff. ** Our optimal schedule would be to play the weakest teams first - teams at rock bottom, which were basically our equals - and then move up slowly until we got to the point where we were playing national contenders before the Summit Conference schedule started. The good thing was that the previous staff had the same idea.

 

Even, so, there were still holes that I tried to fill, and it was hard to do. Getting good teams to come to Vermillion was very difficult. Teams just didn't want to make the trip hereBig school were definitely looking for squads to visit them and were offering what I call "packages". A package is a sweetening of the deal. There are message boards that schools use for scheduling and here were some of the entries.

 

***

 

Notre Dame is looking to complete the 2011-12 schedule with a HOME guarantee game on Tuesday November 29 OR Wednesday November 30. We will take care of you with a great guarantee, a great hotel and a steak dinner (or vegetarian equivalent) for the scheduling coach (I am NOT talking about Ponderosa.) Please call my cell at 574-xxx-xxxx or email me at xxxxx@nd.edu. Mmmm, good Midwest beef!

 

[from Brigham Young] Come to Hawaii December 2nd & 3rd to play two games gaurantee and $5k. Games will be played at BYU-Hawaii (flying into honolulu)and teams will stay at Turtle Bay Resort with discounted price. You will also have discounted tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center.We need ONE more team

 

University of Missouri offering guarantee games for $15,000 for 2012. Please contact me ASAP if you are interested.

 

***

 

Of course, you could ask for games on the same message board. You could set up home-home arrangements.

 

I despaired of getting enough teams to fit a decent schedule - much less quality competition - when it all suddenly came through. Both Iowa and Marquette wanted to come to South Dakota. Why, I don't know - they probably needed a road win to boost their RPI, and South Dakota wasn't that far away.

 

Furthermore - the Lady Vols were looking for someone to come to Thompson-Boling Arena and get slaughtered. Like most guys, the only thing I knew about women's basketball was that Tennessee and Connecticut were really good. The Coyotes would travel to Knoxville and take on legendary coach Claire Kelley, who had won over 1,000 games since the 1970s.

 

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5618/444dk.jpg

They say that a snake bit her once...and died.

 

Coach Ulmer looked over my "triumph". "We're playing Tennessee?"

 

"That's right."

 

"Not East Tenneessee State. Not Tennessee-Martin. But the Tennessee in Knoxville? Coach Claire's Tennessee?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Ulmer shook her head. "My grandmama always used to say 'you're gonna get shamed being above your ways'. Good thing my grandmama's dead now."

 

(* * *)

 

 

* - The "new NCAA rules" are basically whatever the current FBCB College Basketball rules allow me to get away with. There are not "quiet periods" or "dead periods", players can take visits at any time and coaches can visit players at any time. Even so, I'll try to work the AAU into some of this stuff. It's the Wild Wild West baby!

 

** - I should have made the schedule more random. When building it, I had forgotten that there was a previous staff that should been working on the schedule before my staff did, tying my hands somewhat. Oh well, can't be helped now.

 

Non-Conference Schedule

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 Record  RPI  Result  Score  Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/13/11    Seattle                     0-0    0                       
 11/15/11    at Southern Illinois        0-0    0                       
 11/19/11    at Murray State             0-0    0                       
 11/22/11    Wright State                0-0    0                       
 11/25/11    Iowa                        0-0    0                       
 11/29/11    at Missouri                 0-0    0                       
 12/03/11    at Akron                    0-0    0                       
 12/06/11    at Purdue                   0-0    0                       
 12/09/11    Marquette                   0-0    0                       
 12/13/11    at Xavier                   0-0    0                       
 12/17/11    at Tennessee                0-0    0       

[Petrel]

It was now time to recruit. We claimed a room that had been used for selling season tickets at the DakotaDome and turned it into our war room. Three white boards held the secrets of Coyote recruiting. We would meet here as regularly as we were able to and to confirm our choices for the upcoming year.

 

You might ask "well, where do you get your names from?" We had the advantage of the research done by the previous staff - we could just look at what they had paid for in some cases (Willie Burbank was very unhappy that he had to pay for some things all over again.)

 

* From the names on our Coyote Girls Basketball Camp list. You can guess that anyone filling out that questionnaire for more information was probably interested.

* From those who had written the coach's office for more information on the South Dakota Coyotes - we were partially limited in what we could send them, but those players ended up on our starting list.

* From certain for-pay lists of talent - there were quite a few people out there rating players on their own, and they'd share those ratings with colleges - for a price of course. It wasn't a gyp; if those guys weren't any good no one would buy their ratings packages. South Dakota subscribed to more than one.

* From recruiting services who were trying to promote the athletes and their families that had signed up for them - "we'll get your daughter recruited to a good school!"

* From Hoopgurlz.com, Rivals.com - what, you think we don't read that crap?

* From referrals - from alumni, from South Dakota high schools, from others that had an in with the university and wanted us to look at certain girls.

 

Granted, this system wasn't as good as it could have been, which was part of South Dakota's problem. My old coach at James Madison, Coach Tomlinson, brought me up to speed about what I needed to do.

 

* We desperately needed an on-line questionnaire. We didn't have that. We didn't have paper questionnaires either. "You need to do mass mailings," he said. "Okay, maybe the old coaches gave up because the rate of return wasn't good enough. But you got to be persistent! Recruiting is persistence!"

* We had virtually no in-roads with South Dakota high schools. "If you can't recruit in your home state you're nothing."

* Social media. Coach Williams clued me in to that. "You need a Twitter account," she said. "You have to get yourself out there where kids can see you." (I thought I was doing that during the recruiting.)

 

This list gave us a lot of names. We began the first part of the process - to send letters. We printed up questionnaires and invited players across South Dakota to respond to them. If they didn't respond, we'd know their interest was low; if they did, we'd move up to higher levels - we'd actually look at their stats (trust me, we were not looking at stats during the first mail-out; we just needed a list of warm bodies). If we liked the numbers, we'd request some game video.

 

We also included an invite for our Coyote Basketball Summer Camp. The Summer Camp made money for the school. I'm sure a lot of girls were left with the impression that attending the camp would move them up on the recruiting list - but it didn't. "You got to have a camp," my old coach said, "that money goes right into your pocket!"

 

"Did you ever sign anyone off of a camp?"

 

"A handful of kids. But not many. Some of our recruiting targets went to a special one-day elite camp. But hey, they could say that they went to our camp! It might impress their friends, if no one else!" I knew I'd have to revamp the camp system at some future point.

 

(* * *)

 

We did have a big name that was actually interested in South Dakota. Her name was Addison Sherrod, a 5-9 shooting guard who scored 15.1 ppg and 7.0 rpg out at Chamberlain High School in her senior year. She was All-State and she was Miss Basketball of South Dakota as well. She - or her family - had definitely been in correspondence with us. She shot 45 percent from the floor and was a passable 3-point shooter.

 

The problem was something I read on Hoopgurlz.com - that South Dakota State was interested in Sherrod. There were only two Division I women's BB schools in South Dakota, and South Dakota State was the other one. Not only were the Jackrabbits the more prominent school in-state - and our major rivals - but they were perennial Summit Conference champions! All South Dakota State would have to do would be to hint to Sherrod that she'd have a shot of playing there and we'd be dumped like the President of the Chess Club during prom.

 

I just couldn't take a chance of proposing marriage to Sherrod and getting stood up at the altar. I knew we couldn't compete with the South Dakota States of the world - not right now, anyway. We could compete with the Bradleys and SIU-Edwardsvilles. We didn't have a shot at McDonald's All-Americans but we might have a shot at the kind of girl that ends up as the 12th or 13th player for UConn or Tennessee. Those were the players I was after.

 

Furthermore, Sherrod was just a little too short for shooting guard for my taste. I was looking for someone 5-10 or up. I needed someone who could defend the taller girls and I didn't need a pocket player out on the perimeter. As my coach used to say, "You can't teach height."

 

(* * *)

 

Coming up with a final list of players was hard. Even finding players ranked as two stars from the recruiting services (out of five total stars) was difficult, in many cases we were left combing over the one-star players. Most of these players were either stars at tiny little schools or second string players at better schools - while the starters went off to Baylor or somewhere.

 

A lot of the players had great difficulty in hitting free throws. I won't put up with that. When I read that some player somewhere is shooting 40 percent from the stripe, I don't care how well she's hitting from the field. I demand my players to hit at least 70 percent from the line. If they're posts, I might put up with 60 percent but with nothing less than that. This lack of basic skills curtailed the choices I wanted to make.

 

I wouldn't recruit anyone who didn't have at least average interest in South Dakota. We were looking at low-hanging fruit here.

 

I did find some players that I liked. 6-0 SG Catalina Stewart shot 18.9 ppg and had 4.6 rpg, shooting 77 percent from the stripe and a positive assist/turnover ratio. The top schools on her list were in Chicago - Illinois-Chicago and Chicago State, along with Northwestern. I thought I had a chance of swinging her to come to South Dakota, because I thought we might be able to outrecruit Valparaiso or Chicago State.

 

There were a pair of freak centers named Isabella Laboy and Nancy Hudak. Laboy is a freak of nature, a 6-8 center who averaged a double-double of 15.1 ppg/10.9 rpg and the only schools recruiting her were nobody places - Seattle, Pacific, Sacramento State. She's a California girl, and convincing her to come to USD would be tough, but I was going to give it my all.

 

Hudak was a Florida girl - her numbers were only 11.3 ppg/8.5 rpg, and she shot an atrocious 40 percent from the free throw line, making Shaq look like the next coming of Larry Bird. But she was 6-8! If I could just get her up to USD....

 

I had my eye on a couple of other shooting guards in case Stewart didn't work out. Bella Wampler was a girl out of New Mexico's Artesia High who averaged 19.0 ppg, and was only being recruited by small universities in the Texas/New Mexico area. She shot 78.9 percent at the free throw line. Grace Samaniego was a Utah girl from Kearns High School interested in local Utah schools. (I wondered if she was a Mormon. I didn't know what my selling point would be but I'd think of something.

 

As for small forwards and power forwards, the cupboard was almost bare. Annabella Bayer was a 6-1 SF out of Norcross High School in Georgia, looking at local schools. She averaged 12.8 ppg/5.7 rpg. 6-4 PF Charlotte Hedges had virtually no blocks, but her 8.5 ppg/9.2 rpg were virtually a double-double a game.

 

Beyond those players...I was just looking for warm bodies. We began evaluating as many players as we could. This involved trips to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Augusta, Orlando, Las Vegas, Akron, and other places where AAU tournaments were taking place. Who knows? Maybe we'd see something we'd like.

 

And of course, we had to make sure we packed the most important item - a red polo shirt in USD colors. There could be no direct contact between recruits and coaches at games. But I was soon to learn there were ways around that.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5169/201107calllistscreensho.jpg

 

We now have our Top Twenty List for Recruiting. I'll give you an idea of my minimums for height.

 

PG: minimum 5-8 height, good A/TO ratio, 12 ppg

SG: minimum 5-10 height, 12 ppg

SF: minimum 5-11 height, 12 ppg

PF: minimum 6-0 height, 12 ppg

C: minimum 6-2 height, 12 ppg, exceptions for players 6-5 and above

 

I need to fill two SF positions, two PF positions, one SG position and one C. The twenty players on my call list are six SF, six PF, four SG and four C. It might be a matter of "first come, first served" but I've not offered anyone a scholarship yet. That might be a mistake.

 

My monthly recruiting budget is only $10,000/month to recruit six players. I was actually able to evaluate 11 players, including Addison Sherrod, who is not on my call list but who is on my watch list. Hopefully, some of her favorite clubs will fail to make an offer but if just about any of them make offers, I'll drop her from the watch list - the schools that might be interested have such high prestige rankings that there's no way a school with a prestige rating = 0 (South Dakota) could compete with ratings of South Dakota State (61), Denver (37) or Wichita State (31). Western Illinois has a prestige rating = 9 - that's the kind of school I'd not be afraid to battle in a recruiting war - but any school with prestige > 20 is someone to stand clear of if they make an offer. I assume that if such a school makes an offer, the player would take it.

[Petrel]

August 2011

 

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/9581/2011haileyholmesr.jpg

 

After our initial round of calls, we got a very positive response. I'd say that the majority of people on our list were still interested. We had seen about half of them, the next step was evaluating the other half.

 

Some of the names we saw were busts - after looking at Annabella Bayer and Charlotte Hedges, I wasn't impressed. They were good against their high-school competition, but they didn't have the skills to play at the Division I level. Some of the players I wanted to evaluate - Wampler and Samaniego at shooting guard, Laboy and Hudak at center - had been left unevaluated. We'd have to catch those players on the second go-round. We had to save our money, and every visit had to count.

 

Coach Williams - the point woman at recruiting - told me that in general, a lot of these kids were glad to be recruited. Only two of them were turned off by a call from South Dakota. One was a small forward, Macy Black, out of Colorado. "Black told us that the University of Denver has offered her."

 

"We're not going to pursue," I told Williams, "take Black off the whiteboard. Take her off our call list. Ring her, thank her for her time, and forget her."

 

"Don't you even want to know if it's a verbal or written?" Williams said, mentioning the different kinds of offers. A verbal was a promise by Denver that they'd offer her a scholarship; a written was a signed letter to the effect where Black would be expected to sign the National Letter of Intent (NLI).

 

"Let's see. University of Denver, not so great in the Sun Belt but better than we are. She's from Colorado and Denver is next door. We're from South Dakota, miles and miles away. How do you think that's going to work out?" We took Black off our list. The offer by Denver, whatever it was, knocked us right out of the running. We could spend lots of time and resources attempting to counter-offer, but with no guarantees at all. I needed low-hanging fruit, not an arms race. I couldn't afford an arms race. Black was one of the busts anyway. For someone who had an offer from Denver, Black really wasn't a good rebounder and we'd be just as good with a walk-on.

 

We evaluated two shooting guards: Hailey Holmes out of Texas and Catalina Stewart, the girl from Indiana. Stewart wasn't a great rebounder in the AAU tournament that I saw her in, but she had a great move to the basket and she was money from close range. Holmes was flat out murderous at 3-point range, going 6-for-6 in a game I saw her in on a travel team in Austin. Not a great defender on the perimeter, but I figured she'd make up for it in points.

 

Holmes had some Texas schools there. I was wearing my South Dakota polo and sitting in the front seat. I was flanked by an assistant coach from Southern Methodist and the head coach at North Texas.

 

"Hey! Mark Hawkins!"

 

A man walked down to my seat and sat behind me. He was wearing a blue and gold shirt with the logo of the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. "Alan Gilmore. I'm the head coach at Oral Roberts."

 

Oral Roberts. One of the up-and-coming powers in the Summit Conference and my future conference opponents. I extricated myself from the Texans and went to sit up near him. "I suppose you're here for Hailey Holmes?"

 

"Among others," I smiled.

 

"You wouldn't mind me asking you where she sits in your evaluation so far?"

 

"Well," I said, "even a blind man could have noticed that perimeter shooting."

 

Gilmore laughed. "She's definitely good. You know she's a Pentacostal?"

 

I didn't know that at all. I associated Pentacostalism with the holy rollers and FCA types that hung around basketball. I knew that Pentacostals were a wide variety, but just about all of them were conservative Christians.

 

"No," I said. "But I think we could find a place for her among the Coyotes."

 

"That's good," he said. "A few more Christian girls and we could turn the whole Summit Conference around. Well, good luck to you."

 

"You too."

 

I didn't know if Gilmore was trying to get into my head or what. Was he trying to convince me that there would be no way that Holmes would sign with USD, that Oral Roberts had her sewn up? Or was it the reverse, that he didn't want her at all and wanted me to add a bum player to my team? It made me rethink everything about Holmes. I resolved to call Coach Williams and to get a better impression from her.

 

In the meantime, I'd try to pretend that I didn't hear anything Gilmore had told me. So did I go after Holmes or Stewart? Both, I thought. Both were good players, but Holmes was more in demand. Stewart wasn't. I had a better chance of getting Stewart, so Stewart became my #1 target and Holmes my #2.

 

We had the right to have an assistant coach visit a player. Williams would visit Stewart and Holmes, and then I'd come in later for an actual home visit for both of them. In the meantime, we'd evaluate everyone on our player list that we didn't evaluate the first time.

 

Mary Black was off our list. We needed another small forward. But I had to worry about Holmes for now. I wasn't allowed to sit on the bench or talk to the players, so at the end of the game I had to form "the line", to step in line with the attending coaches in favor of grabbing some of the coach's time.

 

The bigger fish got more of the man's time. I was at the back, with a couple of Division II coaches from the Texas area. He looked at me and said - slightly tired - "I'll bet you're here to ask about Hailey Holmes."

 

"I'm sure you've had to give the same speech a thousand times," I said.

 

"You won't get her," he said. "Oklahoma State came sniffing around here this morning. SMU is also interested. Big name schools." He looked at my USD logo distastefully. As an AAU coach, he wanted to get his girls affliliated with big colleges, not unlike a pimp looking for expensive customers. If Holmes signed with the Cowgirls, his status as an AAU coach was boosted.

 

"Well, I either need her or a 3."

 

"I have a swing man. She's not on my Silver Squad, she's on my Blue Squad." Some AAU teams had more than one traveling team. Clearly, the Blue Squad was rear guard. "Would you give her a look?"

 

"Sure," I said. Why not? It got me closer to Hailey Holmes.

 

"Her name is Guadalupe Rigney. Half Mexican. About 5-11. The Blue Squad's done, but I can take your card and tell her to call. She'll play tomorrow, you'll be here to evaluate her?"

 

"I'll give her a look." Actually, I had things to do. But if I had to stay an extra day in Austin for a shot at Holmes, why not? My current bunch of players wouldn't need any instruction from me. Coach Ulmer could teach them to lose gracefully just as well as I could.

 

(* * *)

 

Later that month, I would learn that Coach Claire Kelley, the head coach of the University of Tennessee, would be diagnosed with early-onset dementia. She was only 59 years old. The diagnosis shocked everyone in women's basketball; it was about the only thing my fellow coaches could talk about.

 

I didn't know Claire Kelley, but when I talked to Coach Tomlinson, he said, "if she were a man, she'd be ranked up there with Wooden and Dean Smith. She's smarter than most of the men coaches. Maybe not me, but all of the other ones."

 

Of course, as lot of people were thinking about what would happen at Tennessee when Claire Kelley finally left Knoxville. (Kelley stated that she was giving up just about all of her duties except for instruction and the actual coaching.) They suspected that one of her many proteges would take over in her place. Kelley promised to hang on for as long as possible, but no one knew how long that would be.

 

I realized that I would be one of the handful of people who led a team against Claire Kelley's Lady Vols. In one way, I had become part of history.

 

(* * *)

 

The Summit League finally released their conference schedule. I now knew exactly who and when I'd be playing. My instructions from Willie Burbank were simply to get enough Summit League wins to avoid finishing last.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/13/11    Seattle                                       
 11/15/11    at Southern Illinois                        
 11/19/11    at Murray State                          
 11/22/11    Wright State                        
 11/25/11    Iowa                                    
 11/29/11    at Missouri                           
 12/03/11    at Akron                               
 12/06/11    at Purdue                                
 12/09/11    Marquette                                      
 12/13/11    at Xavier                                  
 12/17/11    at Tennessee                               
 12/22/11    UMKC                                    
 12/24/11    Oral Roberts                                
 12/29/11    at IUPUI                                  
 12/31/11    at Western Illinois                           
 01/05/12    North Dakota State                               
 01/07/12    South Dakota State                            
 01/12/12    at Oakland                                 
 01/14/12    at IPFW                                           
 01/21/12    at Nebraska-Omaha                             
 01/26/12    Western Illinois                              
 01/28/12    IUPUI                                          
 02/02/12    at South Dakota State                       
 02/04/12    at North Dakota State                        
 02/09/12    IPFW                                       
 02/11/12    Oakland                               
 02/18/12    Nebraska-Omaha                               
 02/23/12    at UMKC                                     
 02/25/12    at Oral Roberts                            

 

I circled two dates - January 7th and February 2nd. The hated SDSU Jackrabbits, our state rivals, would play us then. The first game would be played at the DakotaDome, and the second down at Frost Arena at Brookings, South Dakota.

 

Our games against Oral Roberts weighed on my mind. The first was in South Dakota on Christmas Eve. That was an early Saturday morning game and then they were heading straight back to Tulsa. Our team would spend Christmas Eve together. My team.

 

We also played them in the last day of Conference Play. We were their Senior Day, and I'm sure they planned on sending their seniors out with an easy win. I would begin using that as motivational fuel immediately. "They've got us marked up for an easy win...easy win! You aren't an easy win, are you?"

 

"NO, COACH!"

 

"Good. We'll spoil Oral Roberts's Senior Day!" I said nothing about Nebraska-Omaha maybe spoiling ours.

[Petrel]

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/8714/305michiganavevalparais.jpg

 

September 2011

 

With September heading in, many of the major conferences were securing their recruits. Jaden Carter out of Alabama - who had never been that interested in us, but was willing to talk - was offered by Georgia Southern, and we stopped recruiting her. (We didn't think we could beat that offer - on her Hoopgurlz profile, we weren't even listed among the schools she was talking to, a bad sign.) By that, Coach Williams simply told the recruit that, "our needs have changed at South Dakota, and right now, we don't see USD making you a scholarship offer". Her 16.9 points a game as a small forward were no longer available, and we'd be looking for another recruit ASAP.

 

Whoever it was, it probably wouldn't be Guadalupe Rigney, where I spent a morning watching her timidly watch other players hit the boards in a morning AAU game . I will say that she had a great jump shot, but when would she get the opportunity to use it if I have questions about her toughness? The opposing SF in that game, 5-11 Ashley Johnson out of Caprock High School had three baskets and six rebounds, and went 4-for-4 at the line, including the game winner.

 

Her AAU coach was a lot friendlier. "Normally, I'd tell her not to talk to you," he said.

 

"Why, what's wrong with South Dakota?" I asked.

 

He pointed to a small logo on my red polo. "That. You're an Adidas school. The Crimson Queens, we're a Nike AAU club. Nike isn't going to like giving us a donation and then seeing all of our players sign with Adidas schools. But Ashley doesn't have any offers, and...you know...I can always say that I couldn't stop her. Nike won't mind if one player gets away."

 

If somehow Ashley Johnson turned out to be good, and we signed her as a Coyote, I'd have to write a letter to Phil Knight of the Nike Corporation, thanking him for his support.

 

But suddenly, it made a lot of sense. No wonder I got a lot of stares when I went to that Nike-sponsored AAU Tournament, as if I had stepped in something and brought it in the gym. All of South Dakota's shoes and uniforms were from Adidas. There were Adidas AAU sponsored events where I now assumed "Nike schools" would be just as unwelcome.

 

Even though Johnson wasn't on my call list, she'd be there now. That was three prospective players out of the same tournament in Austin, Texas. Generally, one went to tournaments to look at specific players, but both Rigney and Johnson somehow fell into my lap.

 

(* * *)

 

Some other news out of Texas wasn't so great. 6-6 center Alexis Adkins now had an offer from Wichita State and there were other bigger power conference schools on her favorite list. From nearby Mississippi, even though 6-5 center Kelly Fessler wasn't being recruited from a power conference, she had offers from Tulane, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana, and was still talking to Louisiana-Lafayette. With so many Division I local schools now making offers, I figured we had no shot at Fessler and we stopped recruiting her. She'd never notice we were gone.

 

This left two spots open for center. The monsters - Laboy and Hudak - weren't as good as I thought they might be. Laboy had a lot of arm strength to pull down a rebound - when she got her hands on one - but was otherwise an abysmal defender, even in the post. As for Hudak, she was just sorry. A below-average player in almost every aspect, a slow girl from a charter school of a community college who got her statistics by beating up on the other teams that belonged to the small schools system She hadn't played any real basketball at all, and she had such a lack of basketball instincts that she really wasn't better than what I already had.

 

We added a couple of players to our list of centers to replace Adkins and Fessler. Coach Tomlinson had a friend who was trying to find someone interested in a Junior College girl named Caroline Herrington. Caroline was 6-5 and playing out of Southside Community College in Virginia. She was a big girl, as in "donuts big" - her conditioning was an issue and no Division I school was interested, so she ended up in JUCO. I agreed to look at her, and that was all that Coach Tomlinson really wanted.

 

The other one was 6-6 Hannah Snell out of East Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina. Snell, apparently, dreamed of wearing either Tar Heel Blue or Duke Blue and had held suitors at a distance. According to her coach, she really wasn't interested in anything but a power conference. "But she's just not good enough to play at that level," he said. I told him to tell her to expect a call from us, whether she'd warm up to the thought of South Dakota was another question.

 

(* * *)

 

Our power forwards list remained unchanged. We didn't really have any great players out of that list, and one player we hadn't gotten around to seeing - 6-0 Grace Rowles out of Texas - had been offered by Texas Pan-American. We felt that if push came to shove, we could compete with Texas Pan-American and kept her on our list.

 

Likewise with Hailey Holmes. Holmes hadn't quite warmed up to us yet - but at least, we were on her radar and Coach Williams said she was warming up to us. The only schools that had made offers were Grambling and North Texas. The other schools on her list, Oral Roberts and Southern Methodist, had not yet come around. As long as an offer wasn't forthcoming from one of those places, we still had a chance.

 

Coach Reavis had swung out to New Mexico and Utah to catch Bella Wampler and Grace Samaniego. "These girls can play some ball," Reavis said. "I mean, they're not going to make all-Summit League, even, but they're a step above the players you've got."

 

I had to trust Reavis. "Would you sign them?"

 

"If I couldn't get Holmes or Stewart in a USD uniform, you're damn right I would sign them. Like I said, they're better than what you've got now."

 

I thought about our wealth of riches at the shooting guard position. Holmes, Samaniego, Stewart, and Wampler. We would have to step up their courtships a level. We had to be able to get one of these players. All I needed was one player, and we'd actually be a better team than we were last year.

 

(* * *)

 

The great thing about the NCAA's new rules was that we were able to now make multiple visits to a student's home - provided, of course, that they were willing to have us. The only restriction was that only one visit could be made a month by any head coach or assistant coach.

 

The question then became, what did you do? Do you just send out the assistant coach, do you send out the head coach and assistant coach, or do you send out a squad?

 

Coach Williams had already primed the pump for Catalina Stewart and Hailey Holmes. I decided that I would go alone to see one of them, but which one? Holmes, who was already in demand from Texas schools? (Maybe coming from South Dakota would impress them.) Or Stewart, who had no scholarship offers yet - she might not be as soon as Holmes but we'd be getting in on the ground floor, first school to make an offer?

 

We had to be safe. Catalina Stewart would get the first offer, and I'd be going down to Indiana to make it. Holmes would keep getting visits from assistant coaches so that she knew we were still interested, and Holmes would be the fallback if Stewart did not commit.

 

Our inside information about Stewart's family is that they were poor. Very poor. Despite their poverty, Stewart came from a two-parent household and both parents were hyper-involved - they really wanted Stewart to go to the best place and Coach Williams clued me in. "Catalina's a freaking hostage. You're not making the pitch to Catalina, you're making your pitch to her mom and dad." Williams had found it hard to recruit Stewart, because even though Stewart would talk on the phone, she got the impression that Stewart had no authority, sometimes even interrupting a call to talk to her parents who were undoubtedly listening in on the line.

 

I went in with an array of statistics. What was South Dakota's APR rate? Where would Catalina be on our depth chart? Would she have a chance to start? What kind of place was Vermillion? Who would be keeping an eye on Catalina?

 

"How will I know if I did a good job?" I asked Williams. "I mean, what should I look for besides the obvious?"

 

"The longer the visit," Williams said, "the better your chances. If they shoo you out of there, not so good."

 

"Great," I said. "A flight to Armpit, Indiana for what amounts to be a two hour visit - if I'm lucky."

 

"Well," Williams said, "if you don't like her or her family you can always give them the 'have your office call my office speech'. They might not like you, but they can't eat you. And you're the one who has the scholarship to give."

 

(* * *)

 

Valparaiso, Indiana was far from Armpit, Indiana. It was basically a Chicago suburb and the home of Valparaiso University, though oddly very white. I saw a picture of Stewart's varsity team and they looked like clones.

 

Her parents were very loud and very friendly - Stewart shrank away. My first thought was - "these are going to be the ******* kind of parents that are always in your business". But I never got that impression, they didn't put down other coaches, and didn't claim that their daughter would be better off if someone else did X or Y or Z.

 

The meal was good, and I began making my presentation, trying to keep as much eye contract with Stewart as I could. The parents drove the conversation 100 percent. What little I could squeeze out of Stewart was that she was glad I was there and that she had no questions. It was weird; Williams was right on the money. The parents would make that decision.

 

They hit me with a sidewinder question: college drinking. "How can we be sure that our daughter is going to stay away from that bar scene?" her mother asked me. (Hell, how was I supposed to know? I planned on keeping an eye on her but other than put a camera in her bedroom 24-7 there's no way I can guarantee that a kid won't take a drink. I sure took a lot of them when I was playing.) We went around and around on that one for four minutes and I don't think I satisfied either one of them.

 

I hit them with my array of stats, and I made the pitch - to the decision makers. "I would very much like to offer your daughter a scholarship to play basketball at the University of South Dakota."

 

"Catalina," her dad said, "isn't that great?" Catalina nodded, but I expect that anything other than an affirmative response would not have been wanted. My thought was, "folks, wait until this girl gets on a campus, we'll be lucky she doesn't come back home pregnant". Well, no, I didn't think that at all. You can say a lot about campus life, but the Coyotes - as far as I knew - had their heads on straight. If there was anything the previous staff did right, it was to keep character in mind.

 

We had made the offer. I wasn't eaten alive. I had survived my first home visit. But the 62-minute visitation time gave me pause. No matter how well you're prepared, I learned an important lesson that day - you can't been too prepared.

[Petrel]

October 2011

 

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7238/ffd3818ca03e440d8392518.jpg

 

The AAU seasons were over. The future class of 2016 were now in school, enjoying their senior years. It was one month away from the tip-off of the 2011-12 basketball season with the Preseason WNIT and I was still trying to get my house in order.

 

The good news was that we had only lost one player from our Top 20 list. 6-4 PF Rebekah Gray had an offer from UTEP, and South Dakota would have no capability to match it. Addison Sherrod, the native daughter of South Dakota who was sooooo interested in South Dakota had got an offer from Nebraska. I never saw any courtship of Sherrod as going anywhere; no major loss on the Coyotes part.

 

Furthermore, Hailey Holmes finally put the name of South Dakota on her hoopgurlz.com profile, even though she still went through the motions on our calls to her. The only schools that had made Holmes an offer were North Texas and Grambling. She told us that Oral Roberts had dropped her, so I didn't have to worry about a Summit League rival ending up with Holmes.

 

...on the other hand, after we offered Catalina Stewart a scholarship, another school entered the race. That one was Oakland. The schools interested in Stewart were local schools - Illinois-Chicago, Chicago State, Loyola-Illinois. Now, all of a sudden, a Detroit school comes out of nowhere.

 

This can happen a lot. There's a saying that the first scholarship offer is like a match to charcoal - once it became known that USD had offered Stewart, Oakland perked up and was suddenly interested. Furthermore, Oakland was a Summit League contender - they weren't a South Dakota State but like Oral Roberts, Oakland was generally in the running for a title. Oakland could just sweep in and make an offer - their record of success and their location would be enough to spirit Stewart right out from under our noses.

 

I couldn't worry about that too much. I had another worry. It was October, we finally got our players evaluated on our miniscule budget, and I didn't like very many of the prospects. We were getting a bunch of remaindered players. No wonder they hadn't signed with anyone - no one would be interested in them.

 

The only offer I had made was on Stewart. I had five more offers to give. What do you do?

 

My idea was to try to jump-start some recruiting. Stewart would get the offer of a campus visit - she could come to South Dakota and see if for herself. I had planned on having her room with a senior, Ellie Hester, but when mentioning the fact casually to my old coach at James Madison, Coach Tomlinson, he almost flipped.

 

"No, Hawkins, no! That's a disaster! You're going to lose that girl?"

 

"What the hell, Coach?"

 

"That's a mistake! You never room a recruit with a senior. You want someone who is going to puff up your school. What kind of interest does a senior have in doing that? A senior is more likely to tell the truth, and trust me Hawkins, you don't want that, not at South Dakota. You want some freshman kid as her roommate, someone who has only been there for two months and someone that thinks everything is wonderful. Someone who hasn't been screamed at for losing a game! Someone her own age!"

 

He was right. I gave up on the idea of having her room with Hester, she'd room with a freshman. I had my choice between two computer geeks (Grier and Riggle) and a Russian who spoke halting English. I put her in Grier's hands. Grier was the better player in practice; I hadn't had to yell at her as much in practice. Stewart would show up at the end of the month.

 

(* * *)

 

I decided to lower my standards a little bit. Instead of looking at players who expressed at least an average interest, I'd start looking at low-interest players who hadn't been offered by anyone yet. I'd evaluate them, and then I'd have them visited by an assistant coach. I would attempt to resuscitate their low interest with attention.

 

We added three players to our watch list - two small forwards, Harmony Ledet and Olivia St. Germain (the latter averaged a double-double in high school) and a 6-6 power forward who was interested - but was from Canada, and the distance scared us. With some money to spend, we decided to spend it.

 

(* * *)

 

This left us with Stewart's visit. What would she be like outside of the protective cocoon of her parents?

 

What Catalina didn't know is that this visit would be entirely scripted. I scripted every home visit. Whenever we got someone for a campus visit, we held a two-hour meeting about it that involved ever player on the team. Coach Williams went over everything in the player's profile: their parents, their personality, their hobbies, and the high points of their high school career. If a player liked Oreos, whenever the players went out with her they'd happen to mention something like, "Oh, I just love Oreo milkshakes!" The players knew the drill, because I busted them if we lost a recruit. I was playing hardball.

 

I started out the visit in my office, where I finally had a chance for some one-on-one with Stewart. By the way, Coach Reavis was with me. Reavis told me that when meeting with a player in a closed-door meeting to always make sure that there was a female coach with me. "You don't want to end up like that coach at LSU," they told me - I didn't need to lose my job from allegations of coach/player hanky-panky.

 

(You're probably asking, "was I interested"? You have to remember I didn't see these girls dolled up in perfume and dresses. I saw them sweaty and athletic most of the day. When you're explaining the intricacies of stopping the pick-and-roll, it isn't exactly the kind of romantic talk that will turn either party's head. They wanted to spend as little time with me as possible; to the upperclassmen recruited under the previous staff I was an invader.)

 

Stewart was very neatly dressed and polite. I wasn't there as much to sell the program as to set the tempo - the recruit was in my house now. I had to get them used to the script I was running. We'd have a team breakfast together the next day, and then the team would invite her out for an "informal pick up game".

 

(Note: there was nothing informal about those pick-up games. The NCAA let coaches do much more than previously, but oddly enough we couldn't practice with a recruit. So my players would be evaluating Stewart's performance, to see if she could survive a Division I schedule.)

 

Stewart was very interesting. Butter wouldn't have melted in her mouth, but according to Grier, Stewart hated both of her parents. (Wow. Who would have guessed that?) Grier grilled her about whether or not she was interested in South Dakota, or whether or not her parents were.

 

"You know?" Stewart said. "I really don't know."

 

Stewart needed more selling. At the end of her visit, I presented her with a National Letter of Intent. "We really want to get you on board here," I said. "I know that you like the girls here and I know that they like you. I think you need to take the next step toward independence. Now I know that South Dakota is far away from Valparaiso, and that you'll miss your parents, but I warn you - you won't have much contact with them. That might be tough for some players...."

 

I was planting the idea in her head. "Come to South Dakota and we can guarantee that your parents won't be frequent visitors. Cut your apron strings permanently!" I couldn't say that explicitly, but damned if I couldn't hint at it.

 

If I could have gotten her signature on that NLI, that would have been a start. The problem was, that one parent had to sign it. A shame, really. Maybe I had discovered a new sales pitch.

 

(* * *)

 

Future Timeline

 

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3127/inteltrigate22nmtransis.jpg

 

The first 22 nanometer chips enter mass production. The new computer chips are made up of 3-dimensional transistors, which not only improve the performance of the devices using them but also provide a power savings as well.

[Petrel]

November 2011

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4259/nwitimes.png

 

Valpo High's Stewart Picks South Dakota

Catalina Stewart, a 6-0 shooting guard from Valparaiso High School, passed up several Chicagoland schools to take her talents up north. On National Signing Day, the talented senior signed with the Summit League's South Dakota Coyotes.

 

Out of all the school interested in Stewart, only South Dakota made a home visit and only the Coyotes brought Stewart on campus. The level of interest that South Dakota showed made the Coyotes the clear front runner.

 

"We knew that South Dakota would be a great school for Catalina," said Stewart's mother, Yolanda Stewart.

 

Stewart was a two-time All-Region Player. Last year, Stewart lead her team with 18.0 ppg and 4.6 rpg.

 

(* * *)

 

I brought the team in to celebrate with a pizza party - after all, they had recruited Stewart as much as I had. Even so, we were just a few days away from the start of the season and all I knew is that I had five more spots to fill.

 

Stewart's successful signing caused a mini-earthquake in our war room. All of the players that we previous had interest in - Hailey Holmes, Bella Wampler, Grace Samaniego - were of no more interest to us. North Texas had made an offer to Holmes; she could land there. Samaniego and Wampler fell off the list, they were left in the hands of fate.

 

We now moved to filling the power forward and small forward positions, where we had our greatest need. Olivia St. Germain and Harmony Ledet were added to our call list - although neither really expressed any interest. "Every time we call," Coach Williams sighed, "they always seem to have something else to do. Ledet in particular. I think I've tried calling her twelve times and I've only reached her once."

 

"Does she have any offers?" I asked.

 

"No."

 

"Keep her on the list," I said, "We'll keep looking."

 

"St. Germain is pretty promising. More promising than Ledet. But I keep getting this stay-away vibe."

 

"Give St. Germain a visit. See if she doesn't warm up. In the meantime, we'll keep looking."

 

(* * *)

 

On the power forward front, I still had the same bunch of stiffs that I had before. No one that really sparked any interest, but the more I found out about 6-6 PF Zoe McHale the more I liked her. McHale was from North Vancouver in British Columbia - practially an American, they have American television up there any anything and I knew she had seen a few college games. (I found out that she was a Vancouver Grizzlies fan in the brief time they were up north.)

 

McHale was a great shot blocker - she picked and chose her moments but when the 6-6 McHale blocked, she would send it to her fellow players rather than to the back row of the gymnasium. She wasn't a great free throw shooter - just 66 percent - but for her minutes, she was a decent impact player. One thing I didn't like is that for a 6-6 players she'd wander too far from the basket and do a Bill Laimbeer impression, corking up a couple of 3-pointers a game but hitting less than one out of 10. "I've tried to break her of that habit," her coach said, "but with height like that, I'm going to let Zoe do what she wants to."

 

From what I knew, no other American school had been even halfway interested in McHale. She was a steal. Furthermore, her coach was more than interested in talking to me. I felt that I had an "in" regarding what was going on with Canadian girls basketball, at least on the West Coast. McHale would definitely be getting a visit.

 

(* * *)

 

I then found out the advantages of having played overseas. I had played in Russia - one of my many stops - and I received a call from one of my former coaches. "I have a friend of a friend that is interested in playing American basketball. Do you have something for her? Maybe I could do a friend?"

 

I decided not to correct his grammar. "Well - we'd need to see some film at least. Who are you suggesting?"

 

"Film we have," he said. "Her name is Evgelina Varlemova. She does not have all of her eligible with the college basketball. This makes it very hard. No one is interested."

 

Varlamova had spent two years at a Russian university, and rather than finish her foreign-language education there, she thought she could play basketball in the United States rather than play for her bottom-dwelling team in Russia's university league. I knew right away what the problem was after a crash course in NCAA eligibility. Probably, other coaches were confused and thought she was a professional player. Furthermore, why bring a player in that might not adjust to American college life.

 

"How good is her English?" I asked.

 

My former coach laughed. "It is a lot better than mine is. She speaks, like, flowing English. It's very, very good."

 

"South Dakota is cold."

 

"So is Russia."

 

"Am I reading this right?" I asked, using my calculator. She's - five eleven?"

 

"One point eight meters. Yes. But she's a very hard worker. You should put her on your team."

 

I promised at least a call. It couldn't hurt. Maybe Anzhelika Bure wouldn't be so lonely any more.

 

(* * *)

 

Unfortunately, we were at the bottom of Division I and short on money. Even getting enough film McHale in Canada and Varlemova in Russia would cost money.

 

But as luck would have it, a 6-7 center out of Texas, Camino Andres, was suddenly warming up to South Dakota. Even though we weren't on her list of favorites, National Signing Day had come and gone and none of her favorite power conference schools had pulled the trigger on her. Her 2.36 GPA and 1020 SAT score made her a shaky candidate, one who might not be able to handle the books in college. Formerly listing power conference schools, she was now being chased by the Northern Illinoises and SMUs of the world. If we were willing to take the chance on her, who knows? She might see South Dakota as a safe landing place.

 

Ditto for 6-0 SF Addison Henry out of Indiana, who had no schools offer her despite 15.5 points per game and a 62 percent field goal percentage. Something must have scared schools off her. She shot an average of 1.3 free throws per game (!!) but at least she hit them. She could also hit the 3-pointer at a 25 percent clip. She had never shown any interest in us but since she wasn't exactly fighting off callers with a stick, I assumed she'd find time for us.

 

(* * *)

 

We were edging ever closer to our season opener against Seattle. Katie Ulmer and I had been working hard to get this team ready for the painful season it would have to endure.

 

I had a few ideas for this team: the first one was that it would be a shooting team. Defense is great, but if we can't score it doesn't matter how great our defense is. My goal is that we would shoot the ball and my first job was to attempt to improve our woeful shooting, We would go back to the basics - basic shooting drills. The players that I thought were the best shooters - Allison Riggle, Ellie Hester, Harley Lewis - would work more on their ball handling skills. The worst shooters - Choe, Williams, Brown - would work on their shot mechanics, even if it hurt their defense.

 

We would stay away from 3-point shooting and since we had no great strength either in the post or the perimeter we would try to distribute the ball - but not much. We'd run as much of an isolation offense as possible trying to keep the ball in the hands of Morgan Tavarez, or Jessica Bing or Alison Riggle. There would be no complex ball movement; I didn't trust anyone to be able to run a motion offense. Since we had no defensive skill, we'd rely on a man-to-man defense this season. It was an easy defense to teach, with one basic rule - if you can't put your hands on your man (or woman), you're not doing it right.

 

We started with simple one-on-one drills - but I found that teaching man-to-man was a lot harder than playing it. It's one thing to do something that natural talent has let you do all of your life, but it's another thing to tell someone else how to do it. I lost patience; I felt that my players were idiots and they probably felt that I was some kind of slave driver. Ulmer yelled so much that she was hoarse. I really felt lost here, and I imagined some horrible 0-29 season coming up. I think I lost ten pounds during practices strictly from yelling and I was covered with sweat.

 

Flop sweat.

 

(* * *)

 

We had done all that we could do. I felt as if I were trying to plug holes in a perpetually leaking boat. I barely slept. I had to worry not about a thousand things but two thousand. For every problem I solved, three more popped up - four if I accidentally created one.

 

I was so busy that I had to send Coach Williams to Russia to see Evgelina Varlemova. "Mark," Coach Williams said, "I don't know a damn thing about Russia."

 

We didn't have a major in Russian at USD. I couldn't spare myself and I definitely couldn't spare Anzhelika Bure. "My old coach knows English. Well, some English. Other people know English. Basketball is a universal language."

 

"It ain't that universal."

 

"It's an order. Do it," I said. "Besides, this Evgelina Varlemova loves South Dakota or so I've heard."

 

"Mark," Coach Williams said, "has everything I've said to you over the last week gone in one year and out the other?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"You remember what I said when I called her and told her we were calling from South Dakota?"

 

"No."

 

"I told her all about South Dakota. Our student body, and our programs, and our team. I finally got around to mentioning the Summit League, and she said, in crystal-clear English, 'But I thought that South Dakota was in your Big Ten league!'" Williams rolled her eyes. "She didn't sound too happy after that. You still want me to get on that plane to Russia?"

 

(* * *)

 

Okay, this one took forever. Sorry about that.

 

The training screens and the game plan screen are beyond me. I'll show you the training screen.

 

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4554/2011training.jpg

 

I had no idea what to do. I knew I wanted to change a few things, but didn't feel confident enough. So I tried to identify my strongest shooters and weakest shooters. Weaker shooters got a +1 bump in their recommended shooting practice time, and strong shooters got a -1 bump. If I needed points I usually tried to take them away from defense, and I stayed away from the stamina and academic setting.

 

What follows is the gameplan screen.

 

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/7871/2011gameplan.jpg

 

The most confusing part of this screen is the skill rating next to the defense. It appears that my team has no skill running any specific defense. Since I feel that the man defense is the most fundamental defense, I'll concentrate on the man-to-man this year.

 

We will not red-shirt any players. Trust me, I want to get rid of all of these red-red players as quickly as possible. Now - on to the season?

[Petrel]

Top 25 Preseason - 2011

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Connecticut              (66)     0-0    1794   NR
  2.  Duke                      (1)     0-0    1712   NR
  3.  Texas A&M                 (5)     0-0    1675   NR
  4.  Notre Dame                        0-0    1587   NR
  5.  Baylor                            0-0    1505   NR
  6.  Tennessee                         0-0    1443   NR
  7.  Oklahoma                          0-0    1337   NR
  8.  Stanford                          0-0    1256   NR
  9.  Ohio State                        0-0    1064   NR
 10.  Maryland                          0-0    1057   NR
 11.  North Carolina                    0-0     972   NR
 12.  Rutgers                           0-0     868   NR
 13.  DePaul                            0-0     829   NR
 14.  Florida State                     0-0     797   NR
 15.  Michigan State                    0-0     688   NR
 16.  Louisville                        0-0     669   NR
 17.  Vanderbilt                        0-0     583   NR
 18.  Iowa State                        0-0     563   NR
 19.  Texas                             0-0     507   NR
 20.  West Virginia                     0-0     376   NR
 21.  Louisiana State                   0-0     356   NR
 22.  Georgia Tech                      0-0     256   NR
 23.  UCLA                              0-0     213   NR
 24.  Georgia                           0-0     171   NR
 25.  Virginia                          0-0     120   NR

Texas A&M faces a challenge in Connecticut on the way to the repeat.

 

November 2011

 

I faced an interesting visit from two players on the team about a week before the season started. Seniors Ellie Hester and Morgan Tavarez dropped by unexpectedly. I thought it was initially about some team crisis.

 

"Coach," Hester asked, "you played overseas right?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"So...do you know anyone who would be looking for women's basketball players?"

 

It appeared that Hester and Tavarez weren't going to give up their dreams so easily. The two were so far off the WNBA's radar that it wasn't even funny. Tavarez was a 5-8 shooting guard known more for hitting the books than hitting the baskets. Hester was a 5-11 small forward who spoke fluent French, but not really fluent basketball.

 

"I...don't know," I said, trying to be polite. "You know, I'm kind of new to women's basketball."

 

"Right," Tavarez said. "We know that there are women's leagues in Russia and Greece, and I know that they have women's teams in those leagues. We just thought that you might know somebody."

 

I nodded. I'm sure three years ago I would have ridiculed the idea. But I knew what it was like to want to play at all costs.

 

"Have you ever considered coaching?"

 

"Not as long as I can play," Hester said. Then she shrank, when she saw the wounded look on my face.

 

I just wondered if anyone would let her play. Even on the men's side in Europe, there weren't a lot of representatives from the Summit League. I told them that I would see what I could do. I'd contact Coach Pan - his name was Pantiukhova and I never couldn't pronounce it right - and see what I could do on behalf of my players.

 

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4784/penza.jpg

Penza, Russia

 

Incidentally, Coach Williams made it to Russia and somehow survived her trip to Penza, home of great Russian hockey and occasional Russian women's basketball. She found Evgelina Varlemova, but Williams left about a zillion messages on my cell phone.

 

<"Mark, no one at the hotel speaks English. The waiter only speaks a little bit, and I don't speak Russian!">

 

<"Mark, if this Varlemova girl invites me to a rave is that an NCAA violation? My manual doesn't say anything!">

 

<"Mark, my GPS broke on me and I'm in the middle of a field!">

 

I told Williams to get as much film as possible, and we'd look at it later. She could bring back film of the waiters, of glowsticks, or of mad Russian cows. As long as she could justify the trip on our recruiting expense account, the university wouldn't mind if she got lost in a meadow in Russia.

 

(* * *)

 

After months of recruiting, after getting two players to give up their walk-on spots on the team, after working and working and working I was getting ready to walk onto the basketball court for the very first time as the head coach of a Division I university - even it it was "just women's basketball". It was November 13, 2011 and the Seattle Redhawks had come all the way to the Dakota Dome to face the South Dakota Coyotes.

 

We had a lot better crowd that I thought. I thought no one would be there. It looked like we had about 700 or so, which was announced as about 900. All of the three major groups of women's basketball fans were there (more on that later) as well as many curious students that had nothing to do in Vermillion and decided to see the Coyotes play. However, it was far from our maximum basketball seating of 6,000 and our maximum football seating of 10,000.

 

So how did we do? Were we victorious? Would we sing the South Dakota fight song?

 

November 13

 

Seattle 64, South Dakota 57

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emilia Cruce      C    28   3-6   1-3   1   5   1  2   7
Sofia Jablonski   PF   23   0-1   0-0   2   3   2  5   0
Paulina Jones     SF   32  7-11   6-8   0   1   2  2  20
Ava Langham       SG   32   5-6   5-6   0   1   2  3  18
Olivia Roush      PG   24   2-3   1-2   0   1   4  4   5
Natalie Berube    PG   22   3-7   1-2   0   4   1  0   8
Addison Streeter  SG    5   0-2   2-2   1   1   0  0   2
Daniella Munger   SF    5   1-2   0-0   0   0   0  2   2
Amiyah Dabney     PF   17   1-2   0-0   2   2   0  3   2
Jasmine Longo     C     9   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  2   0
Chanel Morgan     C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 8 (S.Jablonski 1, P.Jones 3, A.Langham 1, 
O.Roush 3)
Blocked Shots: 2 (E.Cruce 1, J.Longo 1)
Steals: 4 (P.Jones 1, A.Langham 1, O.Roush 1, N.Berube 
1)
3P FGs: 4-6 (A.Langham 3-3, N.Berube 1-2, A.Streeter 
0-1)

South DakotaStats  (0-1, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    40   3-5   3-7   3   6   1  3   9
Jaylynn Adams     PF   21   1-2   3-4   1   4   1  3   5
Saniyah Barth     PF   19   2-4   2-3   0   1   0  2   6
Ashley Brown      SF   39   4-7   0-0   4  10   2  2   8
Ellie Hester      SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Anzhelika Bure    SG   39  5-10   4-6   3   5   1  2  15
Morgan Tavarez    SG    1   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Allison Riggle    PG   16   2-3   2-2   1   2   2  5   6
Jillian Ho        PG    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Bella Grier       PG   24   4-8   0-2   1   1   0  1   8

Turnovers: 14 (A.Williams 1, S.Barth 1, A.Brown 5, 
A.Bure 5, A.Riggle 1, B.Grier 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Williams 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-3 (A.Brown 0-1, A.Bure 1-2)

Player of Game: SG Ava Langham (SEA)

 

 

The Coyotes shot 52.5 percent but the visiting Redhawks shot 55 percent from the field in a game where defense wasn't at the premium. The Coyotes dominated the boards by a factor of 29-14 but the Redhawks only turned the ball over eight times. Seattle shooting guard Ava Langham shot 3-from-3 behind the arc where the Coyotes only made three long range attempts, hitting one.

 

Analia Williams played all 40 minutes for South Dakota - she was dynamite, and we got great minutes out of Ashley Brown and Anzhelika Bure. We were just never in the lead for this game, and we only shot 58 percent from the free throw line so we couldn't take advantage of Seattle fouls. We seemed to be between 6-12 points away at any point in the game - Seattle was always two steps ahead of us. It was great effort, but not much to be happy about.

 

Jillian Ho sprained her ankle, so she won't be hopping around any tombstones this week. She's day-to-day, scheduled to be out maybe until we play Wright State at home on the 22nd.

 

We didn't have much time to mourn the loss. "A great player puts losses behind them," I said. "We have no memory of them. On to Southern Illinois and let's beat them there."

 

November 15

 

Southern Illinois 59, South Dakota 54

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    31   4-5   2-3   1   2   4  4  10
Angelina Choe     C     9   0-0   2-2   1   4   0  1   2
Jaylynn Adams     PF   23   0-1   1-4   0   6   1  5   1
Saniyah Barth     PF   16   1-3   3-3   1   5   1  5   5
Ashley Brown      SF   40  6-12   4-5   2   5   0  1  16
Ellie Hester      PF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Anzhelika Bure    SG   39  2-13   2-5   1   3   0  3   6
Morgan Tavarez    SG    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Allison Riggle    PG   28   4-8   3-4   3   5   3  3  11
Jillian Ho        PG   12   1-1   1-2   0   0   0  1   3

Turnovers: 10 (J.Adams 1, S.Barth 1, A.Bure 4, A.Riggle 
3, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Ho 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Williams 1, A.Choe 1)
3P FGs: 0-8 (A.Brown 0-4, A.Bure 0-4)

Southern IllinoisStats  (1-0, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Sage Davis        C    23   2-6   1-2   1   5   0  5   5
Gabrielle Jones   PF   30   3-3   0-0   1   6   0  2   6
Rayne Montoya     SF   33   5-8   3-3   2   6   1  3  13
Natalie Tollefson SG   17   2-4   1-6   0   1   1  4   5
Sarah Smith       PG   35  4-11   2-3   2   4   2  2  10
Hannah Toland     SG   22   2-5   5-7   2   3   1  4   9
Victoria Tait     SG    7   0-0   0-0   0   0   2  1   0
Aaliyah Jarrett   C    17   0-2   4-8   0   3   1  2   4
Addison Tingley   PF   10   1-1   3-3   0   2   0  1   5
Ava Marchant      SF    5   1-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   2

Turnovers: 9 (S.Davis 3, G.Jones 2, R.Montoya 1, 
S.Smith 2, H.Toland 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (G.Jones 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Jarrett 1, A.Marchant 1)
3P FGs: 0-3 (R.Montoya 0-1, S.Smith 0-2)

Player of Game: SG Rayne Montoya (SNIL)

 

This one made me angry, because we had a chance to win this game. The Salukis had two players on their roster suspended, and we got off to a lead that had the bench jumping! The Coyotes reeled off 13 straight points and the Salukis didn't score until seven minutes into the first half. Southern Illinois recovered but we led 32-20 at halftime.

 

As we moved into the second half, the Salukis continued to play us man-to-man, not bothering to zone us. We still led by five, 48-43, with six minutes to go. Then the home team scored the next four points and I was forced to call a timeout with us ahead 48-47. Then a foul by Ashley Brown gave Rayne Montoya two free throws and she hit both of them to tie it up at 51-51 with 3:30 to go.

 

Anzhelika Bure took two shots and missed them. Allison Riggle lost the handle for a Saluki steal. Jaylynn Adams missed a pair of free throws. We didn't make a single basket for the rest of the game. They put the screws to us defensively and they just outtoughed us. Most of our shots were desperation shots late into the clock to avoid the 24-second violation.

 

Bure shot us right out of the game. She was determined to take every bad shot there was. She shot 2-for-13 during the game, and 2-for-5 from three point land. Eight shots behind the arc by South Dakota and we didn't hit a single god-damned one of them. Clunkers, every single one.

 

The players oddly enough didn't cry after losing that first game - it was a game that they were never really in. But we blew a 13-point lead on the road, and there were a lot of tears in that locker room. You'd have thought we'd lost a Final Four game.

 

I called Coach Tomlinson. "It sounds like your bad shots killed you. But when you lose by five on the road? That's on you. That's one you should have won. If you're going to be mad at your players, be mad at that loss to Seattle. Don't be mad at them on this one, they were in this game. They could have gotten into that game, but you didn't coach the way you should have. A good coach will get those two extra baskets. But you'll learn, like all of us did."

 

Allison Riggle got hit in the face, but it wasn't a serious injury. We expected her back the next game.

 

(* * *)

 

November 19

 

The next game was in Murray, Kentucky against the Murray State Racers of the OVC. Even though it was in the westernmost part of Western Kentucky - and I grew up in Eastern Kentucky - my mom and about twenty of my family members and friends from high school took vans all the way from Millstone to Murray to catch me leading the 0-2 Coyotes against the 0-1 Racers, which had lost their home opener by eight points to 4-1 Butler.

 

One of those leaving to attend was my high school coach, Nick Moore. I'm sure the man was very busy on his own but he made the trip. He was only ten or so years older than I was, so he was still relatively young and still coaching high school basketball.

 

Part of me was flattered. The other part was distracted. I let everyone know that this wasn't going to be a fun trip and that I was on a tight schedule - even so, I'd have about fifteen minutes or so to catch up with all of my old friends. But I knew I'd have to be a lot nicer on the floor with a lot less shouty-shouty.

 

Murray State 61, South Dakota 49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    27   1-5   2-2   4   7   0  3   4
Angelina Choe     C    20   3-8   1-2   4   9   0  2   7
Jaylynn Adams     PF   15   0-1   1-2   0   3   0  3   1
Saniyah Barth     PF   18   2-4   0-0   1   2   0  4   4
Ashley Brown      SF   37  4-13   0-2   3   7   1  1   8
Ellie Hester      SF    3   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Anzhelika Bure    SG   32  6-15   0-3   3   5   0  3  14
Morgan Tavarez    SG    8   1-1   0-0   0   2   0  0   3
Allison Riggle    PG   37   2-5   4-7   1   1   2  2   8
Jillian Ho        PG    3   0-0   0-1   0   0   1  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (A.Williams 1, J.Adams 1, S.Barth 1, 
A.Brown 1, A.Bure 2, M.Tavarez 1, A.Riggle 3)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Williams 1, A.Brown 1, A.Riggle 1)
Steals: 2 (S.Barth 1, A.Brown 1)
3P FGs: 3-11 (S.Barth 0-1, A.Brown 0-3, E.Hester 0-1, 
A.Bure 2-5, M.Tavarez 1-1)

Murray StateStats  (1-1, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Madison Wickham   SF   28  3-10   1-2   6  13   2  3   7
Kaya Vera         SG   22   2-4   1-2   0   1   1  4   6
Emelia Winters    PG   33  2-12   1-3   2   5   4  3   5
Charlie Mancini   PG   18   0-0   0-0   2   4   2  3   0
Lillian Lebel     PG   12   0-1   2-2   0   0   2  3   2
Shania Tompkins   SF    8   2-2   0-0   0   1   0  1   4
Noemi Schrimsher  SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Janiyah Brooks    PF   23  6-10   3-4   1   5   0  2  15
Addison Olsen     PF   17   5-8   0-2   4   5   0  0  10
Giada Henry       C    23   2-6   1-2   1   5   1  1   5
Lillian Autry     C    17   2-5   3-3   2   4   1  1   7

Turnovers: 7 (M.Wickham 1, K.Vera 2, C.Mancini 2, 
J.Brooks 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Olsen 1)
Steals: 3 (C.Mancini 2, J.Brooks 1)
3P FGs: 1-7 (K.Vera 1-2, E.Winters 0-4, J.Brooks 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Janiyah Brooks (MRYST)

 

This was the first time that we faced a team that threw zones at us. The first two teams we played probably had sorry defenses, too, and they went with man-to-man for almost the entire game. And we fought the first half, using speed and quickness to work our way around the Racers zone. We were still within two points of the home team at half time, down 35-33.

 

Early in the second half we managed to tie it, 37-37. They threw multiple zones at us - a 3-2 zone? - and we were clearly stymied by the multiple defensive looks we were getting. Murray State was really going to make us think and they slowly began to pull ahead as our players just became too tired - mentally and physically - to deal with the Racers defense. We only shot 35 percent from the floor. Murray State wasn't much better at 41 percent, but we were 8-for-19 from the free throw lline, just terrible.

 

It was also the first real fight that we had on the boards. My power forwards didn't have any power; SF Ashley Brown picked up seen rebounds. At the 5, I had to give Analia Williams and Angelina Choe nearly equal minutes due to fatigue on their parts; Choe did well coming off the bench for us. But it was the only highlight of the game.

 

At least my mother had kind words for me. She and my entourage cheered wildly from behind the visitors bench, gaining a few glares from the bad guys at Murray State. "You looked so great in your suit!" my Mom said, which seemed to be the most important thing to her - her baby, the Coach.

 

Coach Moore congratulated me. "It's a lot easier to inherit something good than something bad," he said. "I had to turn our program around at Letcher County. Sometimes, it takes a long time before you figure out what you're doing. Be patient."

 

Easy for Coach Moore to say. If I go 0-29 this season, Willie Burbank isn't going to be patient at South Dakota. Furthermore, I thought we had passed the easy part of our schedule where we could steal a win or two. Our next opponent was 0-2 Wright State - but afterwards came the currently #10 team in the country, the Iowa Hawkeyes.

 

November 22

 

We returned to Vermillion. It was Thanksgiving week, and we had two games - a game on Tuesday against Wright State, a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, and then a game against Iowa on Friday.

 

It turned out that Coach Williams and Coach Ulmer were excellent cooks - and I mean frigging excellent. They would be in charge of Thanksgiving. It was very stereotypical - two African-American women arguing over who was the best coach. I was in the same boat with Coach Reavis, who said, "I barely know which end of the pot is up." I wasn't thinking too much about dinner, anyway - I was thinking about Wright State.

 

South Dakota 59, Wright State 41

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kayla Andre       PF   32   3-7   0-0   2   6   1  1   6
Kyndall Casillas  C    29   1-3   2-6   3   6   0  3   5
Georgia Whisenant SF   31   6-9   2-2   1   1   0  2  14
Sofia Cato        SG   24  4-10   3-3   2   2   1  2  12
Olivia Alpert     PG   34  1-17   0-0   1   2   3  2   2
Elizabeth Peoples SG   14   1-3   0-0   0   0   0  0   2
Alyssa Munger     PG   15   0-1   0-0   1   2   1  2   0
Jayda McClean     SF    2   0-0   0-1   0   0   0  0   0
Jaiden Workman    C    18   0-4   0-0   1   4   1  1   0
Karlee McCowan    C     1   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 9 (K.Casillas 4, S.Cato 2, O.Alpert 1, 
E.Peoples 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (K.Casillas 1, S.Cato 1)
Steals: 6 (G.Whisenant 1, S.Cato 2, O.Alpert 2, 
E.Peoples 1)
3P FGs: 2-16 (K.Casillas 1-1, S.Cato 1-7, O.Alpert 0-6, 
E.Peoples 0-1, K.McCowan 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (1-3, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    18   2-5   0-0   0   3   0  3   4
Angelina Choe     C    31   6-7   1-2   1  10   1  2  13
Jaylynn Adams     PF   25   3-4   0-0   2   7   3  1   6
Saniyah Barth     PF   26   1-4   0-0   1   6   5  0   2
Ashley Brown      PG   26   5-8   0-0   1   2   1  0  11
Ellie Hester      SF   20   3-5   0-0   3   6   1  4   6
Harley Lewis      SF    9   0-0   0-0   0   3   0  1   0
Anzhelika Bure    SG   21   3-5   4-6   0   1   0  1  10
Morgan Tavarez    SG   10   0-5   0-0   1   2   0  1   0
Allison Riggle    PG   15   3-4   1-1   1   1   1  1   7

Turnovers: 19 (A.Williams 2, A.Choe 2, J.Adams 2, 
E.Hester 2, H.Lewis 3, A.Bure 2, A.Riggle 6)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Bure 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Choe 1, S.Barth 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-6 (A.Brown 1-1, E.Hester 0-1, A.Bure 0-2, 
M.Tavarez 0-2)

Player of Game: C Angelina Choe (SD)

 

And we did it! We got our first win of the season! No 0-29 for the Coyotes this year!

 

Where did we win this game? We just outshot the Raiders 55.3 percent to 29.1 percent! All that shooting practicing did it, that was the game right there and our man-to-man took care of the rest. We turned the ball over 19 times, but the Raiders couldn't get the points off turnovers they needed.

 

They definitely didn't want to play our man-to-man and our guards just put the screws to the Wright State backcourt! The Raiders backcourt went 1-for-14 from free throw range and Ashley Brown absolutely dominated Olivia Alpert, who shot Wright State right out the game. Alpert shot 1-for-17 but Wright State's coach left her in.

 

Wright State took an early league, but the Coyotes didn't give up! We led 24-16 at halftime in a very low scoring half. They flopped between a 2-3 and 3-2 zone in the first and moved to a 2-3 when it became clear to the Raiders - did they even scout us? - that we weren't an outside shooting team. We made them pay. At one point we led by 20 in the second and it became clear to us all that the South Dakota Coyotes had won their first game.

 

The band played that victory song, and we celebrated like we had won the Summit League championship. Later when I got home, I'd call everyone I knew - my Mom, Coach Tomlinson, Coach Moore, and Powerhouse Pondexter. ("'Bout time you won something.")

 

What was my final speech? In its entirely:

 

"Great game! Practice tomorrow. Think about Iowa, cause #34 and #50 love to shoot that three! Turkey dinner on Thanksgiving and roast Hawkeye on Friday! God love ya!"

[Petrel]

November 2011

 

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8899/gno280.jpg

Nathan Padilla is a very unhappy man.

 

I had just gotten out of a meeting with the team's academic advisor - everything looked good so far - when I bumped into Coach Reavis. "Mark, I got some news that will make you happy and some news that will make you sad. Which one do you want?"

 

Since she said with with a smile, I didn't think it was crisis. "Give me the happy news first. I got word that someone from Sioux City or wherever wants to interview the 'youngest women's basketball coach' and they made me feel like I'm wearing a bib. Give the good news."

 

"Did you catch last night's ESPN3 game of UConn vs. Vanderbilt?"

 

"I was a little busy." I was more involved in my own problems that those of Nathan Padilla's.

 

"Caught it on tape delay," Reavis smiled. "UConn lost"

 

"To Vandy?" I asked. Reavis nodded.

 

"Well, this is going to be an interesting year," I answered. Nathan Padilla's Huskies were probably the best team in the country. They won 90 straight games to break the old UCLA men's record, but that didn't mean that Nathan Padilla was John Wooden. The word used to describe him was "outspoken" but I always thought he was kind of an ass. I guess he's "outspoken" if you're a UConn fan and he's an ass if your a fan of anybody else. All I know is that I didn't like him but I had a healthy respect for his abilities. I intended to bring the Coyotes someday to the meatgrinder in Storrs - my belief even before becoming a head coach is "to be the best, you've got to play the best."

 

"He's probably chewing off his tie," Reavis said. (She didn't like Nate much either.)

 

"How much did they lose by?"

 

"Nine points. 85-76. They were playing at the Maggie Dixon Classic, away from Storrs."

 

"No excuse. He'll kill them!" I wouldn't want to be in his gym. "What's the sad news?"

 

"Iowa just beat Eastern Washington 69-28." The Hawkeyes next stop - Vermillion. I didn't think playing at home would help us much against #16 Iowa. The Hawkeyes could move the ball and shoot the three. Hopefully, Iowa'd be loaded down with turkey, yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. When my team ate their Thanksgiving spread, I must have counted every forkfull. I didn't need them to be anchored down by carbs, but if I'd made them vegetarians I knew how big the job would be ahead of me.

 

November 25

 

Iowa 63, South Dakota 41

IowaStats (5-0,0-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Mya Campo         C    30   1-5   0-0   0   4   2  2   3
Karly Flowers     PF   34   5-7   3-3   3  10   0  3  14
Leslie Twitty     SF   28   2-7   2-3   1   2   2  1   7
Charlotte Rude    SG   25   4-9   0-0   2   5   2  1  12
Anna Badgett      PG   19   2-5   1-5   1   2   4  4   5
Alicia Barnett    SG   28   2-7   3-4   1   2   2  2   9
Deborah Kraus     PG   15   2-5   0-0   0   3   1  0   6
Emily Pilkington  PG    4   0-0   0-0   0   0   2  1   0
Aubrey Warner     SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Alyssa Cooper     PF   10   1-2   1-1   1   3   0  0   3
Faith Smith       PF    4   0-0   2-2   0   0   0  2   2
Sofia Klein       C     1   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   2

Turnovers: 12 (M.Campo 1, K.Flowers 2, L.Twitty 2, 
C.Rude 1, A.Barnett 1, D.Kraus 1, E.Pilkington 2, 
A.Cooper 1, F.Smith 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (K.Flowers 1, L.Twitty 1)
Steals: 10 (K.Flowers 1, L.Twitty 4, C.Rude 3, 
A.Badgett 2)
3P FGs: 11-28 (M.Campo 1-1, K.Flowers 1-2, L.Twitty 
1-4, C.Rude 4-7, A.Badgett 0-3, A.Barnett 2-6, D.Kraus 
2-5)

South DakotaStats  (1-4, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    23   1-3   0-0   0   3   0  3   2
Angelina Choe     C    28   3-7   0-1   2  14   0  3   6
Jaylynn Adams     PF   25   1-4   0-0   0   1   2  2   2
Saniyah Barth     SG   21   3-4   0-0   1   3   1  2   6
Ashley Brown      PG   21   0-3   0-0   1   3   1  0   0
Ellie Hester      SF   23   1-3   1-3   0   1   2  0   3
Harley Lewis      SF   13   2-6   1-2   1   2   0  2   5
Anzhelika Bure    SG   18   1-2   0-0   0   0   1  2   2
Morgan Tavarez    SG    8   1-1   3-4   0   0   0  0   6
Allison Riggle    PG   19   3-5   1-4   0   1   2  2   7
Jillian Ho        PG    1   1-1   0-0   1   1   0  0   2

Turnovers: 19 (A.Williams 1, A.Choe 1, J.Adams 2, 
S.Barth 1, A.Brown 3, E.Hester 4, H.Lewis 2, A.Bure 3, 
M.Tavarez 1, A.Riggle 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 6 (A.Choe 1, S.Barth 1, A.Brown 2, E.Hester 1, 
A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-1 (M.Tavarez 1-1)

Player of Game: PF Karly Flowers (IOWA)

 

Do you want to know what coaches talk about when they meet? I spoke with Libby Fulford briefly before the game.

 

"How was Thanksgiving dinner?" I asked.

 

"I thought I was going to bust my belt," she said. Words of wisdom to live by.

 

Early on, no one was hitting anything and it looked like a stereotypical women's basketball game. With eight minutes to go in the first half, the score was an exciting 6-6. No one was hitting anything. Then the Hawkeyes went on a 6-0 run to establish some distance. We only scored six points in the last nine minutes of the half, and were down 30-18 at halftime. Before the second half was half-over, they led by twenty. We were down by 27 at one point, the Hawkeyes threw in their scrubs and coasted the rest of the way.

 

Our first problem was turnovers. We turned the ball over 19 times. Iowa was just too fast for us. Leslie Twitty had three points but four steals. Karly Flowers, the player of the game at Iowa, had a double-double. We didn't have a single player break double-digits in scoring - PG Allison Riggle had seven points off the bench to lead South Dakota.

 

The big problem was the 3-pointer. I suspected the Hawkeyes would try bombing us out and they did. They went 11-for-28 from long range, taking 28 out of 48 shots from 3-point range. It negated our inside game because Iowa refused to play it. Charlotte Rude scored 12 points from the enemy bench, and took all but two shots from outside the arc.

 

It was the first time that I was interviewed by someone from the Associated Press. "I've never seen you before," I said. "Welcome." He explained that since the Hawkeyes were a Top 25 team, every game the Hawkeyes played would be covered by an AP rep...at least, until Iowa fell out of the Top 25. We had a grand total of three people covering our games at USD - the student reporter from the Volante which was the campus newspaper, the sports reporter for the Vermillion Plain Talk, and our assistant SID (Sports Information Director), Lauren Word.

 

Word was the only one required to show up and watch, it was her job. I didn't have any solace for the players - "You made us look stupid. You've got to defend the perimeter!" - although I was secretly glad we didn't lose by 50. Unfortunately, we were 1-4 and only Western Illinois had a worse W-L record than we did in our conference at 0-4.

 

(* * *)

 

The Coyotes were going to hunt as a pack on the road - four of our next five games were road games, starting in Missouri. There would be a lot of travel, and a lot of demands on our players, who were trying to prepare for finals of the Fall Semester.

 

However, I had a special trip to make. Sanford Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls - about a hour away from Vermillion - was looking for athletes to come and visit the kids at the hospital, some of whom were suffering from fatal illnesses. Therefore, we had the women's team come to visit the kids.

 

We had the idea of making up cards for each of the kids. They were baseball cards for each of the players, complete with statistics. Every kid got one card and that card was their player. "I want you to keep up with the kid that has your card," I said. "That child is cheering for you. So you owe it to do your best for that kid." I thought it was a way to instill a sense of responsibility and to let the players know that people were watching them that they might not be aware of. I wanted my players to be thinking of something else besides themselves, and to know that no matter how bad they had it, there were others out there who just might have it even worse and would trade places with them in a split second. The patients were given the e-mail addresses of our players - I hoped that something good would come out of it.

 

(* * *)

 

November 29

 

Missouri 77, South Dakota 48

SouthDakotaStats (1-5,0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    23   0-1   0-0   0   1   1  1   0
Angelina Choe     C    26   0-3   5-6   2   6   1  2   5
Jaylynn Adams     PF   27   2-3   2-3   0   2   2  4   6
Saniyah Barth     PF   22   3-6   0-0   0   3   2  1   6
Ashley Brown      PG   20   1-4   0-1   0   0   3  3   2
Ellie Hester      SF   22   3-6   2-2   0   4   0  3  10
Harley Lewis      SF    9   1-3   0-0   0   0   0  0   2
Anzhelika Bure    SG   21   2-7   3-3   1   5   1  3   7
Morgan Tavarez    SG    8   1-1   2-2   0   1   0  0   5
Allison Riggle    PG   19   1-5   3-3   1   1   3  2   5

Turnovers: 17 (A.Williams 3, J.Adams 3, S.Barth 2, 
A.Brown 2, E.Hester 1, A.Bure 2, M.Tavarez 1, A.Riggle 
3)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 1 (A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 3-4 (E.Hester 2-2, A.Bure 0-1, M.Tavarez 1-1)

MissouriStats  (3-1, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Riya Owsley       C    29   1-2   0-0   1   8   3  2   2
Skylar Gonzalez   PF   28   5-8   1-2   4   8   0  3  11
Olivia Hughes     SF   29  9-14   3-6   4   9   1  1  21
Eliza Knopp       SG   27  5-13   4-6   0   1   5  0  14
Nina Hunter       PG   25   4-8   0-0   1   3   1  4   8
Farrah Andino     PG   15   0-1   0-0   0   0   2  0   0
Juliana Collier   SG   20   5-6   2-2   0   1   2  4  13
Hadassah Briggs   SF   10   3-5   0-0   1   1   1  2   6
Elizabeth Rogers  SG    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Abigail Tanaka    C    10   0-1   2-2   1   3   1  3   2
Aubrie Hamm       PF    5   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 7 (R.Owsley 1, S.Gonzalez 2, O.Hughes 1, 
N.Hunter 1, J.Collier 2)
Blocked Shots: 4 (S.Gonzalez 1, O.Hughes 3)
Steals: 7 (R.Owsley 1, O.Hughes 1, E.Knopp 2, N.Hunter 
3)
3P FGs: 1-2 (E.Knopp 0-1, J.Collier 1-1)

Player of Game: SF Olivia Hughes (MO)

 

 

We managed to make it to one class on November 28th, and were off to the airport to play the 2-1 Missouri Tigers on Tuesday night. The Tigers were playing their home opener. Unlike the Hawkeyes, Missouri did not look that great and had shown no offensive rebounding power. But the Big 12 was probably the deepest conference in women's basketball, and even their bottom-feeders would be good.

 

For seven minutes, we looked pretty good against Mizzou. The problem is that games are forty minutes long. We were only down 18-16 in the first half until the Tigers went on a 12-2 run. We were down 32-21 with 7:24 to go and they went on a 21-6 run after that, and that was the ball game right there. When you're down by 26 in the first half, what are you supposed to say? Even by punching the clock, they beat us 26-21 in the second half.

 

One problem was that they were exactly the kind of team we were - a team that played man-to-man defense and depended on inside shooting. But their athletes were a lot better than ours were . We just couldn't keep up and our man-to-man (they shot 54.2 percent) was no match for theirs (we shot 35.9 percent).

 

We lost in pretty much every statistical category. Free throw shooting was better this game - we went 17-for-20 at the line - but it didn't matter, the high number of free throws they gave us was a testament to how well they defended us. They only turned the ball over 7 times; we had 17 turnovers. Game over.

 

We couldn't even get shots off. We looked like a grade school team. I'll be surprised if we win a game until Summit League play starts, or if we even come within 20 points of a team again.

 

I didn't want to remind the team of the internal promises they might have made during that hospital visit. "These games are about preparation for league play," I said. "You've been coddled too much. It will get tougher. The question you have to ask is 'will I get back in the ring when that bell rings, or will I give up?' The Texas A&M Aggies have a great saying - 'we didn't lose, we just ran out of time'. We needed a lot more time today, but we'll get that time. We'll get it. Hang in there."

 

(* * *)

 

December 3

 

Our next game was in Akron, Ohio to take on the Zips. The players were closing up the semester, but we were a good two weeks away from Final Exams.

 

Akron was suffering, too. They had a good point guard called Journey Johnson who was scoring 5.2 ppg so far this year but Coach Reavis said they had a lot of potential. Since their leading scorer was only scoring 7.2 ppg, they were chock full of potential at 1-4 and their only win was against St. Francis (PA) three days earlier.

 

There were ill omens regarding this game. The bus broke down on the way to Rhodes Arena, almost as if the game didn't want to be played.

 

Akron 62, South Dakota 35

SouthDakotaStats (1-6,0-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Analia Williams   C    29   1-3   0-2   0   6   0  2   2
Angelina Choe     PF   25   2-4   0-0   1   3   1  2   4
Jaylynn Adams     PF   25   0-4   0-0   0   6   0  1   0
Saniyah Barth     SG   20   2-3   2-2   0   1   1  4   6
Ashley Brown      PG   25   5-7   4-6   1   3   1  2  14
Ellie Hester      SF   21   1-7   1-1   2   4   1  1   3
Harley Lewis      SF   11   0-0   2-2   1   1   0  0   2
Anzhelika Bure    SG   18   1-7   1-2   0   0   0  2   4
Morgan Tavarez    SG    8   0-2   0-0   0   1   0  2   0
Allison Riggle    PG   15   0-2   0-1   0   0   0  2   0
Bella Grier       C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 2, J.Adams 3, S.Barth 3, A.Brown 
2, E.Hester 1, A.Bure 1, M.Tavarez 1, A.Riggle 2)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 1-7 (A.Brown 0-1, E.Hester 0-3, A.Bure 1-3)

AkronStats  (2-4, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chloe Bewley      C    31  6-12   3-3   0   4   0  2  15
Kai Hannah        PF   25   2-5   2-2   0   2   2  2   7
Marie Deible      SF   30   3-4   1-2   0   3   1  3   7
Mia Richard       SG   31   3-6   4-4   0   3   4  2  10
Journey Johnson   PG   29   4-9   2-3   0   2   3  2  11
Brooklynn Gibbs   PG   21   2-3   1-2   2   6   2  2   6
Evie Constantine  SG    7   1-1   1-2   0   3   0  1   4
Brenda Ingalls    SF   10   1-1   0-0   0   2   0  3   2
Lexie Tamez       PF   13   0-1   0-0   0   1   1  0   0
Kasey Walston     SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Heidi Kain        C     3   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 9 (C.Bewley 1, M.Deible 1, M.Richard 2, 
J.Johnson 2, B.Gibbs 2, B.Ingalls 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (C.Bewley 3)
Steals: 4 (C.Bewley 1, M.Richard 2, J.Johnson 1)
3P FGs: 4-10 (K.Hannah 1-3, M.Richard 0-2, J.Johnson 
1-3, B.Gibbs 1-1, E.Constantine 1-1)

Player of Game: C Chloe Bewley (AKRON)

 

The Zips zipped-zipped-zipped all over us, beating the Coyotes by 27 points. This was the kind of game I've feared all year. We were actually ahead in the first half, and I had the team try out combinations of 2-3 and 3-2 zones from high school, even though the team had virtually no experience with them. But they seemed to know what they were doing, and I kept the zone up. We were only down 22-21 at halftime.

 

But the second half was a disaster, where we were outscored 40-14. They adjusted to our zones and we could hit absolutely nothing against their man-to-man. For six minutes and forty-seven seconds we went scoreless, a big goose-egg, stuck at 23 points early in the half and unable to budge. Before the second half was half-over Akron was up by 20 - and all I could do was endure it.

 

We only shot 30 percent from the floor thanks to the Akron man-to-man but what really upset me - what got my goat - is that we only had four assists in the entire game. Anzhelika Bure went 1-for-7 from the floor and Ellie Hester also went 1-for-7. Ashley Brown gave us 14 points, but she was the only high point of the game.

 

It was horrible. I ripped the squad for their lack of teamwork. "If you lose, you're supposed to lose as a team! We didn't even lose like a team! You were all just doing your own thing!"

 

The loss put us at 1-6 for the year. We were going off to play another ranked team on their home court, this time Purdue, only three days later. It was not going to get easier.

 

December 6

 

Well, it got a little easier. Purdue lost to #19 Syracuse at home, their first loss after five wins. If we lost, at least it wouldn't be to a ranked team. We were the third Summit League team Purdue was playing all year, they were 2-0 against the Summit and had won both games by 40 points. The average margin of victory for the Boilermakers was 24 points.

 

Purdue had two great perimeter players, PG Rayna Johnson and SG Abigail Doolittle who were averaging 15.5 ppg and 14.5 ppg respectively. If we stopped them, we had a chance of stopping Purdue.

 

We'd have to learn how to play a good zone defense sooner or later. Since we had so much luck with it - at least for 20 minutes - during the South Dakota-Purdue game, why not try it now? We might need it to slow down Purdue.

 

Purdue 69, South Dakota 39

South Dakota Stats (1-7, 0-0):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    28   1-5   0-0   0   5   1  2   2
Ashley Brown      PF   26   1-4   0-0   0   5   3  3   2
Jessica Bing      SF   27   4-7   1-2   0   4   1  0   9
Bella Grier       SG   31   3-7   3-4   1   2   1  3   9
Allison Riggle    PG   31   4-7   0-0   0   0   1  2  10
Morgan Tavarez    C    22   0-7   2-2   1   5   0  3   2
Anzhelika Bure    SG   14   1-4   0-0   0   1   0  2   3
Jillian Ho        PG   11   0-1   0-0   0   2   1  1   0
Saniyah Barth     PF    5   1-1   0-1   0   0   0  0   2
Ellie Hester      SF    4   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Analia Williams   C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 18 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 
2, A.Riggle 5, M.Tavarez 3, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Riggle 1)
Steals: 5 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 1, J.Bing 1, A.Riggle 1, 
S.Barth 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (A.Riggle 2-4, M.Tavarez 0-2, A.Bure 1-2)

PurdueStats  (6-1, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Milan Randle      C    33  5-10   1-1   4  12   1  1  11
Paloma Newlin     PF   34   2-7   0-1   4  12   1  1   4
Elizabeth Chao    SF   27   2-7   3-4   2   5   5  2   7
Abigail Doolittle SG   18   3-6   5-6   0   2   1  4  13
Rayna Johnson     PG   32  6-12   3-3   2   3   2  2  18
Ava Fell          SG   16   1-3   0-0   0   0   1  0   3
Jayla Rodriguez   SF   12   1-6   0-0   2   4   1  0   3
Baylee Davis      SG   13   3-6   0-1   2   2   0  0   7
Miley Long        C     8   0-1   0-0   0   1   1  1   0
Eve Hyman         SF    1   0-0   0-1   0   1   0  0   0
Abigail Burrell   PF    4   1-2   1-2   1   2   0  1   3
Chloe Radford     C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0

Turnovers: 9 (M.Randle 1, E.Chao 3, A.Doolittle 3, 
B.Davis 2)
Blocked Shots: 7 (M.Randle 3, P.Newlin 4)
Steals: 6 (E.Chao 2, A.Doolittle 1, R.Johnson 1, A.Fell 
1, M.Long 1)
3P FGs: 8-20 (E.Chao 0-1, A.Doolittle 2-5, R.Johnson 
3-4, A.Fell 1-2, J.Rodriguez 1-3, B.Davis 1-4, M.Long 
0-1)

Player of Game: PG Rayna Johnson (PRDUE)

 

More of the same. Actually, a 30-point loss was pretty good considering that we only had a couple of days rest.

 

So where did this one go off the rails? I saw Purdue's speed during their warmups and I knew they'd blast it right open, so I switched back to the tried-and-true man-to-man. This time, we couldn't score in the first half and Purdue led 36-18 at the break. They beat us up on the boards by a 44-25 margin - Milan Randle had 11 points and 12 rebounds. We turned the ball over 18 times. We were "only" down 46-29 in the second and we were stuck on 49-29 for a long time but that 49 points was part of a 13-0 Boilermaker run that made the last six minutes of the game a moot point.

 

I didn't know if the team was learning anything, and I didn't know if I was learning anything either, except how to lose ball games. This time, I tried the carrot instead of the stick with my players. I tried to emphasize the positives in the 30-point loss. Purdue outshot us, but not by much. We had eight whole assists, double that of our effort against Akron. "Next year, we're going to be a lot better, trust me."

 

They probably thought I was insane. Maybe playing good teams would get us better faster. It would if the spirit wasn't completely beaten out of the players. Home at Marquette, and then against Xavier and to Thompson-Boling Arena to take on the Lady Vols in our final non-conference game. With what was looking like a future 1-9 record going in, they might refuse to play us for fear of lowering their RPI. (Our RPI? 325. I was happy that there were 18 or so worse teams than ours.)

 

(* * *)

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 Record  RPI  Result  Score  Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/13/11    Seattle                     1-5  296       L  64-57     0-1
 11/15/11    at Southern Illinois        1-5  253       L  59-54     0-2
 11/19/11    at Murray State             4-3  312       L  61-49     0-3
 11/22/11    Wright State                1-4  261       W  59-41     1-3
 11/25/11    #18 Iowa                    7-0  195       L  63-41     1-4
 11/29/11    at Missouri                 3-2   31       L  77-48     1-5
 12/03/11    at Akron                    3-4  162       L  62-35     1-6
 12/06/11    at Purdue                   6-1   64       L  69-39     1-7
 12/09/11    Marquette                   4-2  222                       
 12/13/11    at Xavier                   4-3  163                       
 12/17/11    at #3 Tennessee             7-0   39         

 

Before anything else, I want to thank heavyreign for rescuing this dynasty. I have set up my own tournaments - I mentioned the Maggie Dixon Classic - and some of these tourneys I manually seed. For example, there's a tourney called the Cal Poly Holiday Classic, so...you might expect to see Cal Poly in it. I manually end up seeding a lot of tournaments, but I only pick one team and let the AI do the rest.

 

The dynasty crashed due to a conflict between a chosen team and that team's non-conference schedule. Heavyreign saved my bacon, and if there's anyone reading this that he's helped before, you should thank him.

 

If you look at that list of scores, it looks like a Enron stock. The schedule is getting tougher and tougher. My theory is that the players will "learn" more by playing tougher teams, but this team is so weak that that theory might not hold water.

 

By the way, I'm only guessing at the general flow of the game based on the play-by-play. The game offers an option where you can coach games - it's on the Hot Seat screen - but I leave the CPU to do that. I'm just not compelled by that part of the game; I like to be taken a little by surprise, to push a button and have it all be over.

 

No personality stuff between the players and the coaches. They're too busy and I've been too busy.

 

Next time: Mark Hawkins on the recruiting trail! (In Canada!) The trip to Tennessee - will the Coyotes howl or get a taste of Orange Crush?. And at the end of it all - our first Summit League game against Missouri-Kansas City! Did all that hard work pay off?

[Petrel]

December 2011

 

While I was suffering through a horrible start at the University of South Dakota, my work in recruiting wasn't over. It was the "second season" of recruiting - we were still evaluating players and the NCAA would allow us to at least set up home visits and make offers. We had six scholarships to give out and only Catalina Stewart had signed with the Coyotes.

 

We lost three players from our recruiting list. Chloe Duncan got an offer from Eastern Kentucky - a bottom-feeding Division I school and her only offer - and she signed a NLI so fast it left scorch marks on the paper. San Jose State got a big recruiting win in signing OIivia St. Germain - we were interested but unfortunately, St. Germain was never interested in leaving home despite a visit from Coach Williams. Williams then visited Grace Rowles out of Texas, who made the same decision as St. Germain - to stay at home, as she signed with Texas Pan-American. We were 0-for-2 for the month on recruiting visits.

 

I was starting to feel a panic. "Who are we in danger of losing?"

 

"Zoe McHale," she said. The 6-6 power forward out of British Columbia was starting to get a lot of offers - Florida A&M, Elon, New Hampshire, and Cal State Fullerton had all pulled the trigger and put offers on the table.

 

"Is she still interested?"

 

"She seems to be."

 

"We've got to go all out," I said. "We need - I need to make a visit to Canada." Hey, when I visited Catalina Stewart I was able to sell the program, so why not Zoe McHale? I told Coach Williams to get my tickets to Vancouver ready. I'd leave after the Friday night Marquette home game and then fly to North Vancouver on Saturday, land, make my visit, and fly back on Sunday.

 

Furthermore, I contacted Zoe McHale personally. Williams had done enough, I would have to start calling McHale from now on. Generally, my goal was only to only involve myself in direct visits. However, I couldn't depend on Williams anymore. We needed a full court press.

 

McHale seemed very smart but she was emotionally reserved. Most of my call was recounting the glories and traditions of Vermillion and all I got was an "uh huh". (I would learn during my career that a lot of players are non-verbal, and those calls are the most painful to make. You feel like you're a car salesman.) "Zoe, we'd love to have you suiting up as Coyote next year. I know that Coach Williams has spoken to you about that possibility, and from what I've learned, you'd be a great addition to the team. I want to make a full offer of a scholarship."

 

"Well...thank you, coach," McHale said. She had had this conversation many times before and I was coming late to the party.

 

"I know you're going to sign with us," I said. "But I'd like to meet you and your family in person. Is that okay?"

 

"Well," McHale said, "if that doesn't bother you."

 

"Good," I said.

 

"I really don't think we're doing anything," she said. "No reason we couldn't have you over."

 

It was far from a ringing endorsement. I said my thanks, and extricated myself from the call. I felt as blind going into this one as I did the previous one, but McHale had a lot of similarities to Stewart. Non-talkative, but unlike Stewart, a little bit more confident and a little harder to impress. Unlike Stewart, McHale's family were pretty flush in cash. They could afford for McHale to go anywhere in Canada or the US, which made it a harder sell. A free scholarship wasn't going to impress the McHales, so I'd have to sell the team concept. If we could just get the team to play like a team, that would be a lot simpler.

 

(* * *)

 

We continued to work on the big board. We had lost three players, but we added players to our wish list like Kloe Holmes, who could hit 40 percent from 3-point range but only shot 54 percent from the line. We added Hazel Townsend, who was a 6-6 PF prospect without a single offer. (She shot 53 percent from the floor, but she shot horribly from the charity stripe and for a 6-6 girl in a small high school league in Louisiana she should be earning more than 6.7 rebounds per game.) There was a 6-6 center by the name of Cassidy Morris from New Jersey in the same mold, who was a little selfish for the ball. The only move she knew was taking it to the basket, she didn't work on rebounding and I suspected her 2.72 GPA was horribly inflated.

 

But beggars couldn't be choosers. We put them on the board, with an eye to signing them someday.

 

For 6-8 center Isabella Laboy - remember her - Coach Williams was allowed to call her and make an official offer of a scholarship. No other Division I school had offered her. I suspected that if she didn't pan out as a player, she could get a job holding up a roof somewhere, or getting cats out of trees.

 

(* * *)

 

Marquette 68, South Dakota 41

Marquett Stats (5-2, 0-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kamila Arenas     C    20   1-1   1-3   0   4   2  2   3
Aaliyah Baugher   C    29   3-6   0-2   3   3   0  1   6
Chloe Jurado      SF   31  5-12   2-2   1   9   5  1  16
Mya Strader       PF   33   2-5   0-0   0   1   1  2   5
Carmen Fitzgerald PG   32  7-11   2-4   1   1   1  2  19
Raina McGlynn     PG   16   3-5   0-0   1   1   1  1   8
K. Bannister      SG   14   1-2   0-0   1   1   3  2   3
Ava Hong          SG    7   1-3   0-0   0   0   2  1   3
Madison Macklin   SF    7   0-1   0-0   2   3   0  0   0
Hailey Simons     PF    5   2-2   1-1   1   4   1  0   5
Lailah Lima       C     5   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 6 (K.Arenas 1, A.Baugher 2, R.McGlynn 3)
Blocked Shots: 4 (A.Baugher 2, M.Strader 1, K.Bannister 
1)
Steals: 2 (A.Baugher 1, C.Jurado 1)
3P FGs: 12-21 (C.Jurado 4-7, M.Strader 1-3, 
C.Fitzgerald 3-4, R.McGlynn 2-3, K.Bannister 1-1, 
A.Hong 1-2, M.Macklin 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (1-8, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    28   2-7   2-2   6  10   0  2   6
Ashley Brown      PF   25   0-3   0-2   1   3   1  0   0
Jessica Bing      SF   27   2-7   2-2   2   3   1  1   6
Bella Grier       SG   31   6-8   0-0   2   2   1  0  12
Allison Riggle    PG   23   2-7   0-1   1   3   3  2   4
Morgan Tavarez    SG   10   1-5   1-2   0   1   1  5   3
Anzhelika Bure    SG   21   1-4   0-0   0   5   1  2   2
Jillian Ho        PG   15   0-2   0-0   2   3   0  1   0
Saniyah Barth     PF    9   2-3   0-0   2   2   0  0   4
Ellie Hester      SF    3   0-2   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     7   2-3   0-0   2   3   0  0   4

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, A.Riggle 
1, M.Tavarez 1, A.Bure 3, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Brown 1)
Steals: 1 (J.Ho 1)
3P FGs: 0-6 (J.Bing 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, A.Bure 0-1, J.Ho 
0-1, E.Hester 0-2)

Player of Game: SF Chloe Jurado (MRQT)

 

Same old, same old. Look at the season stats:

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player             Pos  GP  GS   Min  Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls    +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jessica Bing        SF   2   2  27.0  7.5  1.0  3.5  1.0  0.5  0.0  2.0  0.5  -13.0
Bella Grier         PG   4   2  22.3  7.3  1.0  1.3  0.5  0.0  0.0  0.8  1.0  -12.3
Anzhelika Bure      SG   9   3  24.8  7.0  0.9  2.8  0.4  0.4  0.1  2.6  2.2   -5.6
Ashley Brown        SF   9   9  28.8  6.8  1.4  4.2  1.4  0.7  0.2  1.9  1.3  -10.2
Allison Riggle      PG   9   5  22.6  6.4  0.9  1.6  1.9  0.2  0.2  2.8  2.3  -11.6
Angelina Choe        C   8   6  24.4  5.6  2.1  7.6  0.5  0.5  0.1  1.0  2.0   -7.0
Saniyah Barth       PF   9   4  17.3  4.6  0.7  2.6  1.1  0.4  0.0  1.0  2.0  -10.6
Analia Williams      C   9   7  22.1  3.9  1.1  3.4  0.7  0.1  0.2  0.9  2.1  -11.1
Jaylynn Adams       PF   7   7  23.0  3.0  0.4  4.1  1.3  0.0  0.0  1.7  2.7   -3.7
Ellie Hester        SF   9   0  10.9  2.4  0.7  2.0  0.4  0.1  0.0  0.9  1.0   -3.8
Harley Lewis        SF   4   0  10.5  2.3  0.5  1.5  0.0  0.0  0.0  1.3  0.8   -0.5
Morgan Tavarez      SG   9   0   8.4  2.1  0.2  1.3  0.1  0.0  0.0  0.9  1.2   -6.6
Jillian Ho          PG   6   0   7.2  0.8  0.5  1.0  0.3  0.2  0.2  0.5  0.5   -2.0

 

Man, those are some scary looking numbers. We wouldn't know an offensive rebound if it but us in the butt. Assists: non-existent. Offense: non-existent. Defense: non-existent. I'll grant you that a lot of players are getting minutes, because there's just no one here that I'd trust in playing 30 minutes a game.

 

High points:

 

* We did lead for the first 5:22

* We led as late as 11:33 in the first half, up 13-12 and were tied at 15-15 with 11:08 to go. The team can play ten minutes of good basketball. But a 10-2 run at the end of the first half revealed us for what we were.

* We're actually a better free-throw shooting team than Marquette! Good luck in the Big East Golden Eagles, with UConn and Notre Dame waiting.

* We outrebounded Marquette 36-27.

* Bella Grier had 12 points and shot 6-for-8. Angelina Choe had 10 rebounds.

 

At least the team gave it a much better try. Even though we lost, I was proud of the effort. (Despite the fact that Marquette shot 51 percent against the Coyotes.)

 

The kids will be busy over the weekend. Finals week of the Fall Semester, with road trips to Xavier (Cincinnati) and then to Tennessee. My College of Cardinals - my assistant coaches - would prep USD for those two games, but I was off to Canada to meet Zoe McHale.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8080/mchalehouse.jpg

 

British Columbia and the North Vancouver area are very pretty. They tell me it's a paradise on earth, but I never got much of chance to look at it. When you're a head coach, you get to see a lot of airports but you don't do a lot of sightseeing. At least when I was playing in Europe, games were a week apart or so and when the coaches weren't demanding hours-long practices - boy, they love practice in Europe, Allen Iverson would have friggin died in Europe because practice is almost a cult - you had some time to sightsee. But I didn't have any sightseeing time, my job was to worry about everything.

 

When I got to Zoe McHale's house, it was a beautiful split-level thing near a lake. Her parents had money. Her dad was some kind of academic and her mother - well, I don't know what her mother did for a living. Mommy and Daddy were both over six feet - taller than I was - and Zoe McHale topped out at 6-6, taller than a lot of male varsity players.

 

The parents didn't make any offer of dinner, so I was on my own. It's rare the parents won't at least offer to feed you; some make a big production out of it but a few days before we were e-mailed a message claiming that the father had some social function "and it might be hard to have both dinner and a long conversation". They sure as hell weren't going out of their way to make me comfortable.

 

I had brought my DVD setup extolling the virtues of South Dakota and the five of them - Zoe had two younger brothers - watched intently, Zoe more than her parents. I suspected that her parents were watching very clinically. They were very cool; not like Catalina Stewart's parents that would chat, chat, chat your ears off. Dad looked like he was grading an exam. (I don't think too many of my professors at JMU liked jocks, and I was getting that same vibe.)

 

After it was all over, Dad said, "Thank you, Coach Hawkins. Now let's get down to the nitty-gritty. We are very concerned about the stability of your program at South Dakota."

 

"How so?" I asked.

 

"Your school," he said, "was a Division II school not that long ago. Furthermore, your women's basketball program - is not very good. It hasn't been very good for a few years. You're 1-8!"

 

'Yes," I said, "and that's why I'm here because I believe that Zoe can help this team succeed. The point, Mr. McHale, is to stop this team from being 1-8."

 

"True," he said. "But you're also the youngest coach in American women's basketball. You have no pedigree in the sport. A year ago you were playing overseas. You've only played for men's teams. You don't know anything about managing young women. What can you bring to the table that would help Zoe?"

 

Here, I had the old man. You ever get into a situation where someone asks you something embarassing and you're caught flatfooted? Well, when I interviewed with Willie Burbank at South Dakota, I had been blindsided by questions just like those. And I had replayed that situation in my head for months afterward, this time with the right answers.

 

"Dr. McHale, first off you're correct. I'm not far away from being a player myself. But that gives me advantages that other coaches who are years removed from their basketball careers don't have. I have a better feel for what a player is capable of in terms of their on-court perfomance. I know when players can be pushed too hard, because I remember when I was pushed too hard and left exhausted before a big game, where I had to play through fatigue that handicapped me more than anything else. I remember all the coaches that gave me confusing instructions, or played favorites, or who weren't very good at their jobs. I have experiences close to the heart that help me relate to players."

 

"Hm," Dad said. "Well, we have other questions. We're worried about the diversity of South Dakota."

 

"Zoe has been a bit sheltered," Mom said, "growing up a young black woman in Canada."

 

"...Mooooooom!" Zoe said, a bit sharply. Whereas Catalina Stewart could hide her embarassment, I could tell Zoe was a colt fighting the bridle.

 

Mom ignored her. "And frankly, Florida A&M has made an offer. Florida A&M is a historically black college. Zoe could be with her own kind a bit more than she has in Vancouver."

 

"Yes...but I know that New Hampshire has made you an offer," I said. "Last time I looked New Hampshire wasn't exactly diverse."

 

Dad frowned. I suspect that Dr. McHale was man not used to being gainsayed, either in his home or his classroom or anywhere else. "We also have Elon with an offer, Mr. Hawkins. Have you heard of that school, Mr. Hawkins? Elon is a private university in the American South, widely acclaimed with students with an academically distinguished freshman class. And if there's anyone who needs the company of academically distinguished students, it's our daughter. Zoe."

 

Zoe looked mortified. Her grades would have translated into a solid C if they were American grades. Her SAT last time I looked was an unimpressive 970. She was scheduled for a retake but I saw no signs it would get much better. Oh yeah, Catalina might rebel when she gets to South Dakota but when this kid is away from home, she'll definitely be flying the pirate flag. How the hell Elon was offering her a scholarship, I'll never know.

 

"Dr. McHale," I said. "You want the best for your daughter. You want her to have an experience that she can't get in Vancouver. Florida A&M, New Hampshire, Elon, CS Fullerton are all great schools. I won't deny that. But I would like to claim that we are a great school, too. We have a great deal of pride in USD, and a lot of our alumni do as well."

 

"If that's the case," Dr. McHale said dryly, "then how come when I search the words 'University', 'South', and 'Dakota' that South Dakota State University shows up?" He made it sound as if SDSU had an offer that Zoe would be a Jackrabbit already.

 

(* * *)

 

The visit ended with me not getting in a single question to Zoe McHale. Dr. McHale shook my hand courteously, but briefly. "Thanks for coming," was all he had to offer me. I didn't even get a complimentary breath mint before I left the house.

 

At least I got my interview time up to 98 minutes. I was getting closer to Coach Williams's two hour mark. But these fifth degrees the parents were giving me were horrible. When was I going to get the chance to talk to the kid up close and personal?

 

Coach Williams asked me about the visit. "All this crap you're asking me to memorize doesn't help, I don't get a chance to say more than 100 words to a kid. Her favorite show could have been The Smurfs or Deadwood for all good it did me. I should have found out Dr. McHale's favorite show. He did all the talking."

 

"Didn't you try?" Williams moaned.

 

"What was I supposed to say? 'Shut up, old man, I want to talk to your daughter. He wasn't having any of that.' Those two boys staring at me didn't help, either."

 

"Yeah, but you didn't have to go to a Russian hotel where no one spoke English," Coach Williams said, referring to her latest recruiting trip.

 

"Listen...that was my whole year in Russian pro ball," I said. "I'll swap that experience with you and you can get grilled by these idiot parents," I barked. "Jesus, is there any kid out there who actually wants a scholarship from USD? I should have become a frigging Dean of Students!"

 

(* * *)

 

Being a coach is like being a player. No time to dwell on crappy experiences. You felt hurt and embarrassed? You felt like an idiot? Tough titty. Suck it up an deal. New challenge coming up right now, maybe you won't flunk this one.

 

But I had no illusions about Xavier. Oh, they weren't ranked. That didn't mean much, though. Xavier had been the powerhouse of the Atlantic 10 but they had beaten every non-power conference opponent this year. (5-0 against mid majors and below, but 0-3 vs. Oklahoma, Georgia, and Michigan). They had the 18th best offense in the country, scoring 77.4 points a game. (Best? UConn with 86.5.) They were pretty much Top 20-Top 40 everywhere else except in personal fouls - a testimony to their defense. They had a point guard named Gabriella Halverson who only played about 24 minutes a game but scored 9.5 ppg and had 4.5 assists per game, averaging only two turnovers.

 

They were a horrible free-throw shooting team, only hitting 56 percent of their gimmies. That was a plus. The minus was that we'd be playing them in Cincinnati.

 

We had a bigger minus the day before the game.#6 Tennessee, our next opponent, had gone to Oklahoma and lost a close game, 65-60. They were down 61-60 with the ball back in their hands when Oklahoma stole the ball and Tennessee was forced to foul to get it back. I imagined that Coach Claire Kelley would be in a foul mood and looking for someone to whip.

 

(* * *)

 

December 13

 

Xavier 64, South Dakota 42

South Dakota Stats (1-9, 0-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    27   0-3   0-0   3  11   1  0   0
Ashley Brown      PF   24   0-2   0-0   0   3   0  1   0
Jessica Bing      SF   19   3-7   1-2   1   2   0  4   8
Bella Grier       SG   29   3-3   0-0   0   2   2  3   6
Allison Riggle    PG   30   3-9   3-4   1   3   3  2   9
Morgan Tavarez    SF   26   4-9   5-7   2   6   0  1  13
Anzhelika Bure    SG   21   1-5   2-4   0   1   1  2   4
Jillian Ho        PG    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Saniyah Barth     PF    9   0-1   0-0   0   2   0  0   0
Ellie Hester      PG    9   0-2   0-0   0   0   0  2   0
Harley Lewis      SF    3   0-0   2-2   0   0   0  1   2
Analia Williams   C     2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 24 (A.Choe 3, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 4, B.Grier 
3, A.Riggle 5, M.Tavarez 3, A.Bure 2, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 3 (A.Riggle 2, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-10 (J.Bing 1-2, A.Riggle 0-2, M.Tavarez 0-1, 
A.Bure 0-2, S.Barth 0-1, E.Hester 0-2)

XavierStats  (6-3, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Mia McMillian     C    24   2-4   0-0   3  10   2  2   4
Tenley Batiste    PF   25   1-3   0-0   1   1   1  2   2
Demi Lowder       SF   25   2-7   1-3   1   4   4  2   5
Nina Tilton       SG   29   4-9   2-2   0   4   3  2  11
G. Halvorsen      PG   10   5-7   2-2   0   0   0  4  15
Alivia Simmons    PG   28  4-11   1-2   1   2   3  3   9
Khloe Cardinale   SG   10   3-5   0-0   0   0   0  1   7
Lily Howard       PF   25   2-5   0-0   2  12   1  3   4
Alexis Miller     SF   15   2-6   2-4   1   2   0  2   7
Elizabeth Pulver  SG    1   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Isabella Dupree   SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Addison Elbert    C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Natalie Black     C     5   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 14 (M.McMillian 4, T.Batiste 1, N.Tilton 2, 
G.Halvorsen 2, A.Simmons 2, K.Cardinale 1, L.Howard 1, 
A.Miller 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (M.McMillian 2, L.Howard 1)
Steals: 14 (M.McMillian 1, T.Batiste 1, D.Lowder 3, 
N.Tilton 4, A.Simmons 3, K.Cardinale 2)
3P FGs: 6-22 (N.Tilton 1-5, G.Halvorsen 3-5, A.Simmons 
0-6, K.Cardinale 1-2, L.Howard 0-1, A.Miller 1-3)

Player of Game: SG Nina Tilton (XAVR)

 

"You were lucky!" I screamed at the team after the game. "You were lucky Xavier didn't stomp you into the ground! Twenty-four freaking turnovers! Who lets that happen? What kind of self-respecting ball team lets that happen to them? God-dammit, you would have been better off playing 1-on-5! They took fifty-seven shots! You think Tennessee is going to let you get away with 24 turnovers? They'll bury you in Tennessee if you play like that!"

 

I was enraged, and the team was scared. Let me tell you, going 1-9 isn't pretty. The locker room looked like a losing locker room after games. These girls were not going, "oh, okay, we lost, but we don't give a damn since we're not going to win games this season anyway." No, they hated it and I hated it.

 

Halvorsen had 15 points for Xavier, but her counterpart - point guard Allison Riggle - cut her off from passing and scored nine points, playing some good defense for a change. Unfortunately, Riggle turned the ball over five times to lead the team. We only had seven assists, three steals, and not a single block. We couldn't do the little things that win games. (Just as I guessed, they'd play tough and send us to the line - at least we beat them there.)

 

I should have looked at the positives. We only lost by 22 points to a team with a past reputation as being an elite squad. Maybe we were starting to rise, just a little, figuring that we'd lose anyway so there was no excuse not to play all-out on the floor.

 

But I was angry partly because we'd lost our back-up point guard Jillian Ho. She played a grand total of one minute in the first half. She got tangled up with Halverson, Halverson stepped on her right foot and Ho went down. Blind zebras didn't even see it. She was grasping that foot and she was limping back to the bench supported by me and Coach Reavis. Ho was in a lot of pain and she had X-rays taken after the game.

 

They called us at the hotel. The radiologist looked at the film at some Cincinnati hospital and Ho had fractured her right foot just above the toe. "Expect a minimum of four weeks off that foot," the doc said. "Keep her off that foot. She'll be on crutches."

 

I broke the news to Jillian Ho. "Jillian, you've got to go back to USD. The doctor's clearing you to fly, but you've got to stay off that foot."

 

"But coach?" she asked. "How am I going to get back home? Who's going to drive me?" We had to drive at least an hour from Vermillion to a decent airport.

 

Lauren Word, our assistant AID, stepped in. She'd take care of Jillian Ho, get her crutches for her, and managed to get a seat upgrade for her at the airport complete with wheelchair assistance. Jillian found a friend who had a car who would pick her up at Sioux City. All of this comes with being a coach, and I didn't get to bed until about 1:30 am.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/215/cfiles587.jpg

 

This was Final Exam week at USD. The university, in its wisdom, figured it was cheaper for us all to cool our heels in mid-America rather than fly all the way to USD and then back all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee. Our players had been given an exam extension all the way to December 19th - they'd take all of their exams after coming back. This was arranged through the Athletic Department which had made arrangements with the various deans of the university to allow this.

 

This was a nightmare. Most departments were pretty cool about it, like the Beacom School of Business. The College of Fine Arts - Harley Lewis was an art major, probably the only art major who was also an athlete at USD - didn't like it at all.

 

"You have got to streamline your team. Academically," Willie Burbank told me.

 

I knew all about what he was called "streamlining". Classwork is a big problem for a coach in a number of ways, and not just making sure players stayed academically eligible. We had majors in art, economics, criminal justice, English, French, social work and marketing. Can you imagine trying to match up schedules in all of those majors so that you can get everyone on the court for practice without classes getting in the way?

 

Another problem was men's basketball. It was considered a "revenue sport" (even though I never saw any proof) and therefore, they were given the best practice times. Frankly, we were treated like second-class citizens - if the needs of the women's team and the needs of the men's team conflicted, we were told to walk away and make due. If the men wanted the practice courts, the men got the practice courts and we were left with sloppy seconds.

 

Our practices, for the most part, were early in the morning and when I say early I mean before the rooster flies. Sometimes at 5 am or 5:30 am. It was the only time we had the practice floor to ourselves, which made playing games at 7:30 pm a backbreaker. By that time, the team was nearing its need for sleep.

 

The solution was to streamline, or what others called "clustering". You would...uh..."convince" players to pretty much take the same major in a lot of cases. You would make special arrangements the department in charge of that major so that your athletes could get into classes, say, before 12 pm or to have all classes between 1 pm and 5 pm or whatever - all in the same block of time. The athletes would get first pick of classes. That way, you streamlined all of the schedules. They'd all be taking the same classes during Time X, they'd all be practicing during Time Y, with X and Y nice neat blocks of time hours long.

 

Some classes were hard to streamline. Anything that had a required lab - like French or a hard science - had weird hours and extra work required that clashed with practice schedules. This is why you see so many guys majoring in, hell, I don' t know, "General Studies" or "Social Work" even though they sure don't look like social workers. That major was going along with the needs of the athletics department. "Sure ,we'll give all of our required classes between 8 am and 12 pm! Sure. your athletes won't have to wait for classes! Sure, we'll make special arrangements for examinations! Whatever you want!"

 

That first year - sometimes - we were lucky to get seven players on the court for a practice. Bure had a required English class only taught at 4 pm. Ellie Hester had French lab at night. Harley Lewis needed to work on her Art portfolio, and obviously couldn't do that on the road. I lived off coffee and five hours of sleep a night.

 

I asked Willie Burbank to see what he can do. "Well, the university will do what it can, what it would give any student-athlete," he said. "And some schools at the university are more cooperative than the others. However, this is an ongoing issue."

 

"What direct help can you give me?" I asked.

 

"This is nothing about which he should be talking explicity," he said. "Maybe you can ask for some assistance directly for the various academic deans." He had given me a clue, and then he dropped it right away. "By the way, I'd be worried about that team of yours. You're taking a 1-8 team to Tennessee? How does that rebuild anything?"

 

"It preps them for Summit League play."

 

"Uh-huh," he scoffed. "I suppose they learn how to take defeat more graciously."

 

(* * *)

 

That same night of our Xavier loss, South Dakota State had gone up to Minnesota and beaten a Big Ten team in Minnesota, 69-64. SDSU was 6-3 on the year. Only Western Illinois was worse off than we were - they were 0-8 overall - but they had an NCAA RPI of #168. Our #295 RPI was rock bottom in the conference. Even Nebraska-Omaha looked better than us, and they were clocked by Nebraska, 78-29.

 

(* * *)

 

December 17

 

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9761/tba2.jpg

Inside Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville TN

 

We had arrived in Knoxville the night before. I was surprised by a phone call from, among others, Coach Claire Kelley of Tennessee. She apologized for not having a chance to take me out to dinner - "I appreciate you coming such a long way to get here" - and she wanted to offer the South Dakota team a tour of the facilities at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.

 

I agreed - foolishly, as it turned out, a mistake from a neophyte coach. It wasn't like they were going to dump pig's blood on us, nothing like that. Rather...well, I'll just say that we were treated to a display of freaking opulence. The visiting locker room was pristine...and as for the home locker room, the Tennessee Lady Vols had their own locker room and it was a thing of beauty compared to the measly place where we hung our uniforms.

 

This was the finest women's locker room - anywhere. Probably better than the WNBA's, I supposed. When I was playing - struggling, trying to make the NBA - this is what I dreamed that NBA locker rooms would look like.

 

* 1500 square feet of space. It was a freaking house.

* Living room area, and customized Lady Vols pool table.

* A trophy case that....well, I can't even come up with words for it. I was afraid the entire thing would sink into the floor as it was full of hardware of all kinds.

* Team meeting room with 60-inch plasma television set.

* Displays honoring great Lady Vols of the past, playing in the WNBA, the Olympics, and elsewhere.

* A set of showers that made you think you had walked into a Greek garden somewhere.

 

And everywhere - and I mean everywhere - you were reminded that the Lady Vols had been National Champions. A lot. Eight times. All of my players went green-eyed with jealousy, and all of them had been underminded by the tour. Training facilites. Leather couches. Top of the line. This is what I imagined the locker room of the New York Yankees looked like.

Oh, the university had been promising that a locker room upgrade might come sometime in 2015 or so, if they had the grant money. (If I was still coach then - there was a chance that I'd never see this locker room.) The sad thing is that the DakotaDome was probably the best sports facility in South Dakota. We had better facilities than South Dakota State! And yet....we had nothing close to what the Tennessee women's team had. Nothing.

 

Separate practice courts. I dreamed about such a thing. They had had those here for a long time. I saw visiting lockerrooms while at James Madison that were nothing as stylish as the ones we'd be playing in the next day.

 

I'm sure Coach Kelley was smiling inside. It was just another form of intimidation. She had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, but even so she was still playing those mind games that made her one of basketball's most impressive coaches - she always found a way to win.

 

(* * *)

 

The next day, we were warming up on the famed Claire Kelley Court. If you looked up at the ceiling, there were enough SEC Championship banners to build a tent city. Even while we warmed up, they had opened the doors and fans were flooding in.

 

Lauren Word looked at me. "Coach, you know how you'll sometimes look at someone's attendance and it says '1000' when you know it's just 250? Well, they average about 10,000. And it's a real 10,000."

 

You could look into the stands and it was an absolute sea of orange. They loved their Lady Vols in Knoxville. We took the team off the practice court. We knew that everytime that the Lady Vols did something great there would be 10,000 voices screaming in unison to cheer them on. We were about as outnumbered as you could get. None of those fans had ever heard of the University of South Dakota, although they guessed that we had one I'm sure.

 

The stats could not capture what Tennessee was. They were sixth in the country in blocked shots per game, but they had not played a ranked team all year. This team was considered to be weaker than previous Tennessee teams - I didn't know it but the women's game was getting a lot stronger - and they had yet to play a ranked team. We might be the worst team they played all year except for Wester Carolina, which they beat by 22.

 

I spoke to the team before the game.

 

"This is the last non-conference team we play before we start the Summit League season. The entire goal of this part of the season - the challenges I've put you up against - were designed to keep you out of the cellar. I'm having you play power teams from power conferences. A coach of mine once said, 'you want to make your practices like battles - that way, your battles will be like practices.' Each of these games is to challenge your physical and mental capacities to the utmost."

 

"But," I said, "there's a reason I wanted it to end here at Tennessee. From what you saw yesterday - and from what you'll see today with all those screaming fans - it might look like Tennessee is at the top and we're at the bottom. But it wasn't always that way. This women's program at Tennessee used to be nothing. They hired a 24-year old head coach for a women's program back in a day when few people knew women's basketball existed. And now look at it."

 

"Do you know why Tennessee is the way it is? Because someone decided, forty years ago, that they weren't going to take "no" for an answer. Because "good enough" was not good enough. It's not good enough at Tennessee - and it won't be good enough at South Dakota. This is where I want the South Dakota program to be. And I don't want to wait forty years for it to happen. Somebody somewhere is sitting in a house, surrounded by her grandchildren, and saying to herself, 'you see those crowds? You see that court? You see those championships? I started that.' They sacrificed their minds and their bodies to make it happen."

 

"Can you imagine?" I asked. "Can you imagine how many people? How many players, how many fans, how many students this program has uplifted? More than you can count. And it all has to start somewhere. And it's going to start here, with us."

 

"We're not scared of Tennessee. They built a mansion, but we've just got started in putting down a cornerstone. So let's build something. Hammer and nails, ladies. Hammer and nails."

 

(* * *)

 

Tennessee 76, South Dakota 44

South Dakota Stats (1-10, 0-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    25   0-2   0-0   1   6   1  0   0
Ashley Brown      PF   22   0-2   0-0   0   3   0  2   0
Jessica Bing      SF   23   2-6   0-0   2   4   3  2   4
Bella Grier       PG   28  5-14   0-0   0   0   0  3  11
Allison Riggle    PG   10   0-1   0-0   0   0   1  4   0
Morgan Tavarez    SG   23   1-3   4-4   0   1   0  0   6
Anzhelika Bure    SG   19   3-4   0-0   0   4   0  1   6
Saniyah Barth     PF   16   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Ellie Hester      PG   17   5-7   0-0   0   2   2  0  10
Harley Lewis      SF    9   1-1   0-0   0   2   2  1   3
Analia Williams   C    10   2-3   0-0   0   1   0  1   4

Turnovers: 15 (A.Brown 1, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 3, A.Riggle 
2, M.Tavarez 3, A.Bure 2, E.Hester 1)
Blocked Shots: 7 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 1, B.Grier 1, 
A.Bure 1, S.Barth 2, A.Williams 1)
Steals: 2 (J.Bing 1, S.Barth 1)
3P FGs: 2-6 (J.Bing 0-2, B.Grier 1-1, A.Riggle 0-1, 
A.Bure 0-1, H.Lewis 1-1)

TennesseeStats  (8-1, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Vanessa Keeney    C    24   3-7   0-2   6  12   1  0   6
Julia Kraemer     PF   24  2-11   0-0   3   9   3  2   4
Alisson Standley  SF   28  9-14   3-3   4   7   1  2  21
Abigail Chitwood  SG   26  4-12   1-1   2   3   1  2  11
Aaliyah Cassity   PG   28   2-8   0-0   2   3   6  2   6
Elyse Dorado      PG   12   3-5   0-0   1   1   0  2   9
Ansley Patel      SF   12   2-6   0-0   2   4   1  2   4
Nina Gil          SG   11   2-5   0-0   1   1   1  1   5
Tara Sargent      C    15   2-3   0-0   3   5   1  0   4
Abigail Dangelo   PF   12   0-0   2-2   0   1   2  1   2
Ali Lumpkin       PG    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Kylah Hollander   PF    3   1-2   0-1   0   0   0  0   2
Liliana Cunha     C     2   0-0   2-2   0   0   0  0   2

Turnovers: 6 (V.Keeney 1, J.Kraemer 1, A.Standley 2, 
A.Patel 2)
Blocked Shots: 8 (V.Keeney 2, J.Kraemer 2, E.Dorado 1, 
T.Sargent 3)
Steals: 10 (A.Standley 4, A.Cassity 4, E.Dorado 1, 
A.Dangelo 1)
3P FGs: 8-23 (A.Chitwood 2-6, A.Cassity 2-6, E.Dorado 
3-5, A.Patel 0-2, N.Gil 1-3, K.Hollander 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Alisson Standley (TENN)

 

The good news is that we outshot Tennessee. We hit 43 percent of our shots. Tennessee only hit 41 percent. Man, Claire Kelley was furious. I could see her out there screaming at her players.

 

The bad news was that we took 44 shots during the game - the Lady Vols took 73. We were down 44-14 at halftime. They outrebounded us 46-24, they had 17 assists and 10 steals. They knew how to fill up a box score. I'm just glad that we got seven blocked shots on them - they got eight - and I would take 15 turnovers against Tennessee.

 

With 11:32 left in the first, Tennessee was up 18-2. It was a game where spent most of the time looking at the butt of the lead dog. I was just glad to lose only by 32 points.

 

I talked to the reporters after the game. "Why did you schedule this game?" one young man asked. "Did you feel undermanned?"

 

"Undermanned and overwhelmed. We have a hammer and nails. They have an entire toolbox. And they have a coach that knows how to use every one of those tools."

 

Bella Grier and Ellie Hester would each score in double-digits against Tennesee - 11 and 10 points respectively. But my starters Choe, Brown and Riggle were held scoreless. They had no business being on that court with those Tennessee girls. But they didn't give up. They fought, and I gave each player a taste of the fight. All of my players had double-digits in minutes-played, except for Harley Lewis, and she was just over nine minutes played.

 

We picked up another injury - we didn't need an emergency flight, but it short-handed us just the same. Morgan Tavarez, a back-up shooting guard, had broken her middle finger of her right hand. The prognosis was that she'd be out a month. This left us with 11 active players, four short of a standard roster.

 

Nothing I could do about it. The hard part was over. I had run the players through the gauntlet, and the only hope was that they had learned something.

 

(* * *)

 

That same day South Dakota State beat visiting Northwestern 66-56. It was their second win against a Big 10 team. I knew who my favorites were in the Summit League race.

 

(* * *)

 

Monday, the Lady Vols dropped ten points in the polls - after a win. The was because of the new ranking system that included computer rankings. An experiment by the WBCA - Women's Basketball Coaches of America - was to add computer rankings into the polls and to produce a WBCA Poll that "would have immesurable influence in post-season play". When administrators start throwing out words like "immeasurable influence" coaches listen.

 

Goodbye AP and ESPN/USA Today! The WBCA poll was all important, and I suppose that the computers decided that Tennessee simply hadn't beaten us by enough. Texas A&M and Baylor were running neck and neck - two points apart - with 37 power points compared to Baylor's 35.

 

Shortly after the poll was released, we had one of the big games of the year: #2 Baylor (10-0) at #8 Connecticut (9-1). Mia Schaller had 23 points, and the Huskies crushed the Lady Bears 82-57. Nathan Padilla was putting the team on the right track. #3 Duke lost to Charlotte 70-69 on the same day and the polls would look very different the following week.

 

My players got back on the 19th, took their final exams, and began to prepare for the rigor of the upcoming Summit League season. We had two home games coming up.

 

The first was against UMKC (Missouri-Kansas City). The Kangaroos had started out about as well as we had, just 2-7 in the non-conference schedule. Both of their wins were against two winning teams (SE Missouri State and Alabama A&M) although they weren't playing teams like Iowa and Tennessee.

 

They had an Academic All-American point guard, a sophomore by the name of Ava Batchelor who averaged 11 points per game. She had 2.2 assists per game but turned the ball over 2.7 times per game. She was what made the Kangaroos just a little better than we were.

 

The goal was to put the shackles on Batchelor, tough it out against the other players, and hope that the home court advantage would give us the game. This first game would provide a big impression as to how the rest of the year would go.

 

South Dakota 61, UMKC 49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Janet Stonge      C    29   2-5   2-3   2   4   0  2   6
Mary Long         PF   25   2-9   0-0   1   6   1  3   4
Madison Bright    SF   29  5-12   1-2   0   2   1  1  11
Charley Hughes    SG   31   2-3   0-2   0   1   1  4   4
Ava Batchelor     PG   22   4-8   2-2   0   0   1  4  11
Sophie Gerl       PG   16   3-5   0-0   0   2   2  1   7
Mia Garnett       SF   16   0-3   0-1   2   2   0  0   0
Abigail Kennedy   SG    9   2-3   0-1   0   0   0  4   4
Britney Fields    PG    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Jemma Delarosa    C    17   1-1   0-2   0   0   1  3   2
Alaina Huskey     PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Madison Daniels   C     3   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 5 (M.Long 1, M.Bright 1, S.Gerl 1, B.Fields 
1, J.Delarosa 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 7 (M.Bright 3, A.Batchelor 1, S.Gerl 2, 
A.Kennedy 1)
3P FGs: 2-6 (A.Batchelor 1-2, S.Gerl 1-1, M.Garnett 
0-2, A.Kennedy 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (2-10, 1-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    32   4-5   4-7   5  14   2  3  12
Ashley Brown      PF   30   6-8   3-4   2   7   1  3  15
Jessica Bing      SF   24   2-4   2-2   0   0   1  3   6
Bella Grier       SG   33  5-10   2-6   1   4   1  3  12
Allison Riggle    PG   33   1-2   2-4   1   3   5  2   4
Anzhelika Bure    SG   23   2-4   0-0   0   2   0  3   5
Saniyah Barth     PF    7   0-2   1-2   1   4   1  1   1
Ellie Hester      PG   10   2-4   2-2   2   5   1  0   6
Harley Lewis      SF    2   0-0   0-0   2   2   0  1   0
Analia Williams   C     6   0-2   0-0   0   2   0  0   0

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 3, A.Brown 1, J.Bing 3, A.Riggle 
2, A.Bure 3, E.Hester 2)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 0 
3P FGs: 1-4 (B.Grier 0-1, A.Bure 1-2, E.Hester 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Ashley Brown (SD)

 

That is how you start off your conference season. We were up 37-24 at halftime and were helped by a 16-4 run against the Kangaroos in the first half. We kept our double-digit lead throughout the second half and led by 23 points at one point. The only reason the score was as close as it was was because we ran out of gas in the final four minutes.

 

Note that our starters got a lot of minutes. That's what you want conference play to be like. We're in it to win it!

 

Angelina Choe had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Ashley Brown had 145 points. Ava Batchelor got 11 points but we never let her get her rhythm.

 

We outrebounded UMKC 43 to 18, even though we took fewer shots and turned the ball over 14 times. The win was just as sweet as the win over Wright State, and I figured that in order for the Coyotes not to finish last in the conference, we needed at least two wins. We had one of them, and there were still 17 conference games to go. We'd be playing for pride this year, but we might have more opportunities to be proud this year than anyone figured.

 

Hammer and nails, baby.

 

(* * *)

 

I actually got out another post. How? Well, losing the internet for several hours today helped. Going crazy, I simply played Fast Break College Basketball.

 

If there's anything they want to see more of in this dynasty - more drama, more players, more stats, more background - just let me know.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player             Pos  GP  GS   Min  Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls    +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley Brown        PF  12  12  27.9  6.3  1.3  4.3  1.2  0.5  0.3  1.8  1.5  -10.6
Angelina Choe        C  11   9  25.4  5.2  2.4  8.4  0.7  0.4  0.2  1.3  1.7   -8.0
Allison Riggle      PG  12   8  23.0  5.9  0.8  1.7  2.2  0.3  0.2  2.8  2.4  -11.0
Jaylynn Adams       PF   7   7  23.0  3.0  0.4  4.1  1.3  0.0  0.0  1.7  2.7   -3.7
Analia Williams      C  12   7  18.1  3.3  0.8  2.8  0.5  0.1  0.3  0.7  1.7   -7.9
Bella Grier         SG   7   5  25.6  8.3  0.7  1.6  0.7  0.0  0.1  1.3  1.9  -12.4
Jessica Bing        SF   5   5  24.0  6.6  1.0  2.6  1.2  0.4  0.0  2.8  2.0  -10.4
Saniyah Barth       PF  12   4  15.7  3.5  0.6  2.5  0.9  0.4  0.2  0.8  1.7   -8.6
Anzhelika Bure      SG  12   3  23.8  6.5  0.7  2.7  0.4  0.4  0.2  2.5  2.2   -5.9
Morgan Tavarez      SG  11   0  11.4  3.5  0.4  1.7  0.1  0.0  0.0  1.3  1.1   -9.1
Ellie Hester        SF  12   0  11.2  3.2  0.7  2.1  0.6  0.1  0.0  0.9  0.9   -2.5
Harley Lewis        SF   7   0   8.0  2.0  0.6  1.4  0.3  0.0  0.0  0.7  0.9   -1.3
Jillian Ho          PG   7   0   6.3  0.7  0.4  0.9  0.3  0.1  0.1  0.6  0.4   -2.1

[Petrel]

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL    Pct  W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                   1   0  1.000  6   5  .545   29        42
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                 1   0  1.000  6   3  .667  142        38
IPFW Mastodons                             1   0  1.000  5   5  .500  114        25
South Dakota Coyotes                       1   0  1.000  2  10  .167  270         0
South Dakota State Jackrabbits             0   0   .000  8   3  .727  174        61
North Dakota State Bison                   0   0   .000  5   7  .417  195        30
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   0   1   .000  2   7  .222   68         0
IUPUI Jaguars                              0   1   .000  2   8  .200  183         4
UMKC Kangaroos                             0   1   .000  2   8  .200  293        14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     0   1   .000  0  10  .000  210         9

 

December 24

 

The entire Summit League would be playing on Christmas Eve, with a 2 pm game scheduled between South Dakota and Oral Roberts. I wondered if anyone would actually show up to a Christmas Eve game, but I figured that someone out there must love basketball. The campus was pretty deserted - the heavy snow hadn't started to fall yet and the temperature was in the high to mid 20s.

 

The Golden Eagles would take off as soon as possible to Tulsa, Oklahoma after the game was over. They were all wanting to go home for Christmas. We would need every edge we could think of - Oral Roberts contended for the Summit League every year. They loved putting points on the board and they had senior SF Myra Villasenor who was scoring 16.7 ppg (second in the Summit League) and sophomore shooting guard Lilian Bernier (10.8 ppg). Senior center Taylor Neighbors had 9.4 rebounds per game. Point guard Julia Sterner led the league in assists and Oral Roberts averaged 12.9 assists per game. Undoubtedly, Oral Roberts would be right in there with South Dakota State and Oakland.

 

Oral Roberts 50, South Dakota 40

Oral Roberts (7-3, 2-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Taylor Neighbors  C    36   3-5   2-8   5  12   0  3   8
Kendall Valerio   PF   33   1-7   0-0   5  10   1  3   2
Myra Villasenor   SF   31   4-7   6-7   1   5   1  3  14
Lilian Bernier    SG   31  2-11   4-4   2   7   1  3   9
Julia Sterner     PG   33  3-13   2-3   0   2   2  2   8
Leslie Cox        PG   16   0-3   0-0   1   1   0  3   0
A. Bosworth       SG    3   0-1   3-4   0   0   0  0   3
Zoe Wolford       SF    5   1-2   0-0   0   1   0  0   2
Aiyana Bennett    C     8   1-1   0-0   1   1   0  0   2
Sanaa Johnson     PF    2   1-2   0-0   0   1   0  0   2

Turnovers: 11 (T.Neighbors 4, K.Valerio 2, M.Villasenor 
1, L.Bernier 1, J.Sterner 3)
Blocked Shots: 1 (T.Neighbors 1)
Steals: 2 (T.Neighbors 1, L.Bernier 1)
3P FGs: 1-18 (K.Valerio 0-1, M.Villasenor 0-2, 
L.Bernier 1-7, J.Sterner 0-5, L.Cox 0-3)

South DakotaStats  (2-11, 1-1):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    30   3-5   1-2   4  14   0  4   7
Ashley Brown      PF   26   1-2   0-0   2   5   1  2   2
Jessica Bing      SF   30  3-13   0-1   3   4   2  4   6
Bella Grier       SG   32  4-10   0-0   1   7   3  4   9
Allison Riggle    PG   32   3-7   3-4   0   0   3  2   9
Anzhelika Bure    SG   26   2-7   1-2   0   0   0  2   5
Saniyah Barth     PF    7   0-0   0-0   0   2   0  1   0
Ellie Hester      PG   10   1-5   0-0   1   2   0  2   2
Harley Lewis      SF    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     3   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 4, B.Grier 2, A.Riggle 
1, A.Bure 3, S.Barth 1, E.Hester 1, A.Williams 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, S.Barth 1)
3P FGs: 1-4 (J.Bing 0-1, B.Grier 1-2, A.Riggle 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Myra Villasenor (ORLRB)

 

The awful part was losing at home. Given the handful of fans in attendance, I'm glad that we didn't lose in front of too many people.

 

God, this was a horrible game to watch. Everything you hated in women's basketball. ORU shot 31 percent for the game and we didn't do much better at 34 percent. The score was 17-17 at halftime. I joked to Coach Ulmer that "the fans aren't at home, they're in hiding." (She didn't appreciate the joke).

 

Even free throw shooting was horrible. The Golden Eagles hit 65 percent of theirs and we hit 56 percent. But we could not buy a call. "C'mon guys, it's Christmas!" I told a referee. No mercy. They sent the visitors to the charity stripe 26 times, compared to just nine visits for the Coyotes. We outrebounded them and we had 11 assists to Oral Roberts's 15. Oral Roberts tried a long range bombing attack - probably emboldened by our lack of perimeter D - but they went 1-for-18 from behind the arc.

 

Once again, we didn't have a player score in double digits but Angelina Choe had 7 points and 14 rebounds.

 

We were within four point of ORU, 44-40 with 1:46 left in the game, but Allison Riggle committed two stupid fouls. Then, with less than a minute left and the shot clock counting down, Anzhelika Bure can't find a shot and passes it out to Riggle, who panics and tries to get rid of it, giving it back to Bure before she could set up a shot. We had a shot clock violation called against us. That put the torch to any chance of digging out of an eight-point hole.

 

There's no way to coach your way out of that. That's just freshman stupidity. "Our seniors have to step up," I said in the locker room. "You had a chance to steal a win against Oral Roberts, and you let it go. Allison made some high school mistakes - but I don't think that anyone in this room hasn't made those same mistakes. We'll live with them...and we'll make sure that they aren't repeated. So get out of here, spend some time with your families and I'll see you in three days."

 

My plan was to get on a plane and spend one day in Kentucky with my mother, who had never been on an airplane. During our Final Four appearance, my mom drove with family and friends from Millstone to St. Louis. The thought of changing over on an airplane terrified her.

 

About two hours before going, I sent an e-mail to the team wishing them a Merry Christmas in whatever way they celebrated it. I knew that a lot of players were off campus and I didn't expect an answer. I got one from Anzhelika Bure, our freshman shooting guard shortly after.

 

"What are you doing for Christmas?" I texted.

 

"I am staying in South Dakota," she answered.

 

"Are you having dinner somewhere?" I answered.

 

"I am here on campus by myself," she said.

 

I couldn't believe it! I thought that one of my players would at least...I don't know, invite her to dinner or something. Hell, most of the team lived in South Dakota! Coach Williams was staying in town but Coach Reavis and Coach Ulmer had left with their families. I tried reaching Coach Williams but I got no answer. Maybe she was having fun with friends or something.

 

I called Mom. "Son, when are you coming home?" she said.

 

"Don't know, ma," I answered, resorting to my "country" side. "I have a player here who is all alone on campus. Anzhelika Bure, my Russian. She's here all alone."

 

There was a silence. "Then stay with her," Mom said. "Son, don't you worry about me. I have people visiting. I don't want you to leave anyone alone for Christmas."

 

"I could bring her to Kentucky...." (But I didn't know if it would be an NCAA violation.)

 

"No, son. You stay home. I didn't want you to come to the trouble of getting here." Mom was perpetually worried about the arctic shill of South Dakota which was all bluster...so far.

 

"Mom...."

 

"Go and get that girl something for Christmas if you can. I love you and God loves you, baby. Merry Christmas. I understand."

 

I managed to cancel my tickets. I tried calling Anzhelika Bure. "Anzhelika," I said. "Listen, you should be here for Christmas dinner. I'm planning on getting together with Coach Williams and we'll put something together."

 

"No coach!" she said. "No coach, don't do that!"

 

"Anzhelika, you're having dinner with us," I said. "No question about it."

 

"No, no! I can't, I can't! I'm too embarrassed, I can't!" she said. "No, don't embarrass me! Please don't embarrass me!"

 

It was strange. It was like pulling teeth. No force on Earth could compel her to have dinner with me. She seemed as if she'd do anything to stay alone in her room. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to say anything about how far I had gone out of my way for her. It was like The Gift of the Magi but instead of like getting a watch chain, I got nothing.

 

I finally caught up with Coach Williams on Christmas Day. Sure enough, she was having dinner with friends and I was embarrassed when she invited me to dinner but she didn't push it. "Nice thing for you to try to do."

 

"Yeah, I called again this morning. No answer. What's that all about?"

 

"No clue. You can't figure out teenage girls for the life of you. Girl from Russia, the first Christmas away from her family, who knows what's going on in her mind?"

 

"I don't know either," she said. "But she sounds awfully embarrassed. When the team gets together I'm going to give someone a piece of my mind."

 

The team got back together on the 27th of December and I called my seniors - Lewis, Tavarez, Barth and Hester - back to my office for what was a seniors-only meeting.

 

"I understand that you left Anzhelika Bure behind when you all went back home to your families for Christmas," I said. "That's reprehensible. I can't understand anything like that. You can't tell me that one of you couldn't break through to Anzhelika and invite her somewhere for Christmas? You're going to tell me that you left a teammate here on campus - alone - over the major holiday of the year? What's she supposed to think of you, huh? What kind of a team would she think this is where no one would reach out to her? This is her first year in America and I cannot understand something like that so one of you seniors better have a good explanation."

 

The four looked embarrassed and put on the spot. "Coach," Hester said, "we asked her but she didn't want to come."

 

"No she didn't. She probably felt like you were feeling sorry for her asking at the last minute. That's how she felt with me. She has some pride, you know."

 

"That's not it," Morgan Tavarez said. "We don't have anything against Anzhelika."

 

"Then what's your excuse?" I asked.

 

They looked uneasy. Barth said, "Uh...Coach, you might not know this but she's really close to this guy on campus...and...he didn't go back home for Christmas, either."

 

I tried to put it together. "I don't think he...uh...left his dorm," Barth said.

 

I got it. "Well...that's just...great. Tell me that she's using protection, or something."

 

"Yeah, I think she's on the pill and - !"

 

" - shut up! I don't want to hear about this anymoreI I don't even what to know what the AD would think if he heard of this! But one of you four better have a heart-to-heart talk with Bure and make sure that we don't have a Virgin Birth, if you know what I'm saying!"

 

They were very quiet. "Good Lord!" I said. "Some questions shouldn't be asked! I tell you what, next year, Christmas is on campus! I'm keeping my eyes on all of you - especially Bure! Now get out of my office!"

 

(* * *)

 

December 29

 

It was starting to get really cold in Vermillion. Near zero. The team was back together and on the road to Indianapolis, Indiana to take on IUPUI. At least we could leave from a major airport.

 

The Jaguars were 2-9 on the year and had lost to Oakland and IFPW in the Summit League. This was a chance for us to get another win, but getting it on the road would be tough. They had a lot of problems. They weren't battlers on the offensive board and they had a lot of trouble hanging on to the ball. They averaged 16 turnovers a game, a full 1/2 turnover more than we did. Their sophomore starting forward Olivia Ortiz scored 9.1 ppg but gave up 3.4 turnovers per game. She could be taken, but could we take advantage? Furthermore, they had a senior 6-2 center named Rylan Vang who could block a shot or two. This was going to be a battle of how well both teams did in the post. Were our hands quick enough to force Ortiz to cough up the ball?

 

South Dakota 61, IUPUI 53

South Dakota (3-11, 2-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    31   4-8   0-2   5  12   1  2   8
Ashley Brown      PF   27   2-3   0-0   0   8   2  3   4
Jessica Bing      SF   29  6-10   2-2   1   2   1  3  15
Bella Grier       SG   32  5-10   1-1   2   4   0  3  12
Allison Riggle    PG   33   1-9   6-6   0   1   6  4   8
Anzhelika Bure    SG   23  3-10   1-2   0   4   1  2   8
Saniyah Barth     PF    7   0-0   2-4   0   0   0  1   2
Ellie Hester      PG    8   0-0   0-0   0   2   1  2   0
Harley Lewis      SF    3   0-0   2-2   0   0   0  1   2
Analia Williams   C     8   1-1   0-0   0   3   0  1   2

Turnovers: 17 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 
2, A.Riggle 3, A.Bure 2, E.Hester 1, H.Lewis 2, 
A.Williams 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (J.Bing 2)
Steals: 6 (J.Bing 2, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 1, A.Bure 2)
3P FGs: 3-14 (A.Choe 0-1, J.Bing 1-2, B.Grier 1-1, 
A.Riggle 0-5, A.Bure 1-5)

IUPUIStats  (2-10, 0-3):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Luna Cusick       SG   27   2-6   4-4   0   3   1  2   9
Lindsay Moss      PF   28   1-7   1-2   1   1   0  2   3
Olivia Ortiz      SF   29  7-17   4-6   2   5   1  3  18
Zoe Brown         SG   14   3-3   0-0   1   1   1  5   6
Armani Fontenot   PG   33   3-8   1-2   2   6   1  2   7
Lizeth Bannon     PF   11   0-0   0-2   0   1   0  3   0
Rylan Vang        C    20   0-3   0-0   2  11   1  2   0
Kloe Lucas        C    13   4-4   1-2   0   1   1  2  10
J. Sadowski       SG   16   0-3   0-0   0   2   0  0   0
Jaylah Emrich     SF    6   0-1   0-0   0   0   1  0   0

Turnovers: 16 (L.Cusick 2, O.Ortiz 4, Z.Brown 2, 
A.Fontenot 3, L.Bannon 2, R.Vang 1, J.Sadowski 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (R.Vang 2)
Steals: 7 (L.Cusick 1, O.Ortiz 1, Z.Brown 2, K.Lucas 1, 
J.Emrich 2)
3P FGs: 2-8 (L.Cusick 1-2, L.Moss 0-1, O.Ortiz 0-2, 
R.Vang 0-1, K.Lucas 1-1, J.Emrich 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)

 

Our first win on the road! The number 61 was turning out to be our magic number. We won our last Summit League game by 61 and we were 2-1 in the conference! IUPUI and Western Illinois were now 0-3 in conference play. We might not finish last! We might - I couldn't even believe this - we mightqualify for the playoffs as only the top eight finishers went to the post-season.

 

We beat them in almost every aspect of the game - shooting, free throws (14-for-19 for a 73 percent hit rate) and rebounding. We had 12 assists, which I was particularly proud of. Jessica Bing had 15 points and Bella Grier had 12, both season highs.

 

We led by 10 points for most of the game. The Jaguars closed it to six points, 57-51, with 1:11 left. This time, it was Zoe Brown of IUPUI committing the unnecessary foul and sending Alison Riggle to the line. Riggle sank both free throws - making up partially for that Oral Roberts loss - and put us up by eight. (But she gave up an unnecessary foul with four seconds left on the 24-second clock and put IUPUI back on the line. I was now learning The Pain of Freshmen.)

 

IUPUI fouled Riggle again and she sank both of those. We were up 61-53 with 40 seconds left. IUPUI was looking for the 3-pointer but we harassed them defensively and they could not get the shot - Riggle harrassed the perimeter players and they kept looking in desperation for that open man. They finally coughed one up in the last second and missed it, we got the rebound and pulled our second conference win.

 

Saniyah Barth got my attention. "Hey, coach!" she said. "Merry Christmas! Sorry it's so late!"

 

"I'd rather have this," I said, "than a new tie!"

 

(* * *)

 

December 31

 

The end of the year. I used to watch a lot of television, but I hadn't followed a damned bit of news. What was going on in politics? I couldn't tell you. I knew there was a presidential election next year. I knew there was an Olympic games next year, but I barely paid attention to any of that stuff. My primary concern - my only concern, really - was to prepare for the upcoming games.

 

Our next opponent was Western Illinois. The Fighting Leathernecks hadn't won a game all season - between us we had three wins and 23 losses, and all three wins belonged to us. We'd have to go to Macomb, Illinois - that was the tough part, fighting in their house. However, Western Illinois was pretty much at the bottom of the league, only scoring 41.8 points per game, at the bottom of the league in rebounding and assists. They were only second in fouls, but that was because they didn't play defense great, either.

 

And of course, our look would have it that they had a slightly decent point guard in Angelique Rutherford. Other than that, the team was pretty much a waste. Our goals were to keep Rutherford from having a good game and not to freak out on the road - having two road wins in the Summit League going into January would be fantastic.

 

Western Illinois 47, South Dakota 37

South Dakota States (3-12, 2-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    32   1-6   0-1   4   8   1  2   2
Ashley Brown      PF   28   3-6   2-2   1   5   1  1   8
Jessica Bing      SF   26   3-7   0-0   2   5   0  2   6
Bella Grier       SG   31   1-4   2-2   1   1   1  4   4
Allison Riggle    PG   34   2-6   0-1   0   1   2  2   6
Anzhelika Bure    SG   26   3-7   0-3   1   4   0  3   7
Saniyah Barth     PF    6   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Ellie Hester      SF   10   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Harley Lewis      SF    3   2-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   4
Analia Williams   C     3   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 3, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 
1, A.Riggle 1, E.Hester 1, H.Lewis 1, A.Williams 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Choe 1, B.Grier 1, A.Williams 1)
Steals: 1 (J.Bing 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (A.Brown 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, A.Riggle 2-3, 
A.Bure 1-2, E.Hester 0-1)

Western IllinoisStats  (1-12, 1-3):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Nicole Elwell     C    26   0-4   2-2   2   8   0  2   2
Isabella Powell   PF   27   1-2   0-0   1   5   0  2   2
Carmen Pittman    SF   32   2-7   3-4   0   2   0  2   7
Eden Bittner      SG   33  4-11   5-6   0   1   0  1  16
A. Rutherford     PG   26   4-6   0-0   2   4   0  1   9
Katelynn Murray   SF   15   1-3   0-0   1   1   2  0   2
Yareli Morgan     SG   12   1-3   0-0   2   3   1  1   3
Amaya Mackay      PG    2   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  1   2
Mylee Mead        C    14   2-3   0-0   2   4   1  4   4
Brynn Tyler       PF   13   0-2   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 12 (I.Powell 3, C.Pittman 2, E.Bittner 2, 
A.Rutherford 2, K.Murray 2, M.Mead 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 3 (E.Bittner 1, A.Rutherford 1, M.Mead 1)
3P FGs: 5-15 (I.Powell 0-1, C.Pittman 0-4, E.Bittner 
3-7, A.Rutherford 1-1, Y.Morgan 1-2)

Player of Game: PG Eden Bittner (WIL)

 

And there I watched my dreams of a 3-1 Summit League start go up in smoke. Western Illinois had been waiting for us all year, looking to pick off a weak team all season - and as it turns out, we were that weak team.

 

That first half was some of the worst basketball I've seen since I played in elementary school. Western Illinois hung on to a 16-14 lead. Both teams shot under 40 percent and neither side could work its way through the other's defense - I suspect that Western Illinois's coach had been prepping for us specifically, working out the details of our man-to-man defense.

 

We kept it close during the second half, but the Leathernecks - yes, the women's team is the Leathernecks, just like the men's - began to slowly pull away. We were within six points, 37-31, with 3:26 left and then Western Illinos went on an 8-0 run. With our offense slowed down to a crawl, it was just too big to overcome.

 

We had posted our worst offensive performance this year against the worst team in the Summit League. The box score was a tally of mediocrity - the key to the Leathernecks win was Eden Bitner, who decided to get hot and shot 4-for-11 - but three from long range, shooting 5-for-6 at the charity stripe for 16 points to lead both teams. Our 4-for-9 performance from the free throw line didn't help any.

 

Ever felt like you swallowed a jug full of novocaine? I tried just about every trick in the book to light a fire. But the Coyotes were listless. They didn't respond. Maybe they were too high from beating IUPUI. Maybe they had already hit the wall and it was just the end of December. It was a real embarassment, a loss that didn't need to happen. We were still in sixth place technically - but we had South Dakota State at home that next Saturday. How long was that going to last when we faced the better teams of the Summit League?

 

"Listen," I said. "We will be defeated. You can't get through life without losing something. You didn't work hard enough for this victory, and they did. Remember that saying, "we might be beaten but we won't be outworked?" Well, they put the lie to us right there. They beat us and they wanted it more, so the only people that need to be blamed are the people I'm talking to. You've got to give a lot more effort than this if you want South Dakota to be taken seriously!"

 

(* * *)

 

December 2011

 

Two technological world wonders went on line. First, the Three Gorges Dam in China.

 

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9291/threegorgesdam.jpg

 

The Three Gorges Dam became one of the world's major suppliers of hydroelectric power. Second, the Wonthaggi Desalinization Plant in Western Australia.

 

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8248/ipadartwidedesalination.jpg

 

Both were rather controversial. Both were accused of having traumatic environmental impact and both were claimed to be expensive boondoggles whose goals could have been achieved a much simpler way. However, once both were declared fully operational it was a done deal. Neither project would be derailed.

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Since this dynasty takes place "in the future" you'll definitely see some (alternate) future history. The problem with writing a future history is that real life events can make a fool of you. So just remember - this is all taking place in an alternate universe. Trust me, when I write about the 2012 election maybe some of you will be glad it's taking place there and not here.

 

You'll continue to see little blurbs like the one above. Most will be technological, but some will be political. Some might even effect the in-game operation of the dynasty itself!

 

Next time: South Dakota undergoes a tougher part of the season schedule, and Mark Hawkins learns about the NCAA Compliance Division.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player             Pos  GP  GS   Min  Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bella Grier         SG  10   8  27.4  8.3  0.9  2.3  0.9  0.2  0.3  1.4  2.4  -9.8
Jessica Bing        SF   8   8  25.6  7.5  1.4  3.0  1.1  0.6  0.3  2.1  2.4  -7.0
Anzhelika Bure      SG  15   3  24.1  6.5  0.6  2.7  0.4  0.5  0.2  2.3  2.2  -6.4
Allison Riggle      PG  15  11  25.0  6.3  0.7  1.5  2.5  0.3  0.1  2.6  2.5  -9.6
Ashley Brown        PF  15  15  27.7  6.0  1.2  4.6  1.2  0.4  0.2  2.1  1.6  -9.4
Angelina Choe        C  14  12  26.6  5.3  2.8  9.0  0.7  0.3  0.2  1.5  1.9  -7.4
Morgan Tavarez      SG  11   0  11.4  3.5  0.4  1.7  0.1  0.0  0.0  1.3  1.1  -9.1
Jaylynn Adams       PF   7   7  23.0  3.0  0.4  4.1  1.3  0.0  0.0  1.7  2.7  -3.7
Saniyah Barth       PF  15   4  13.9  2.9  0.5  2.2  0.7  0.4  0.1  0.7  1.5  -6.9
Analia Williams      C  15   7  15.4  2.7  0.7  2.6  0.4  0.1  0.3  0.8  1.5  -6.1
Ellie Hester        SF  15   0  10.8  2.7  0.6  2.0  0.5  0.1  0.0  0.9  1.0  -2.3
Harley Lewis        SF  10   0   6.5  2.0  0.4  1.0  0.2  0.0  0.0  0.8  0.7  -0.5
Jillian Ho          PG   7   0   6.3  0.7  0.4  0.9  0.3  0.1  0.1  0.6  0.4  -2.1

[Petrel]

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                   4   0  1.000   9   5  .643   42        42
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                 3   0  1.000   9   3  .750  143        38
IPFW Mastodons                             3   1   .750   7   6  .538  137        25
South Dakota State Jackrabbits             2   1   .667  10   4  .714  162        61
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   2   2   .500   4   8  .333  152         0
South Dakota Coyotes                       2   2   .500   3  12  .200  274         0
IUPUI Jaguars                              1   3   .250   3  10  .231  232         4
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     1   3   .250   1  12  .077  257         9
North Dakota State Bison                   0   3   .000   5  10  .333  219        30
UMKC Kangaroos                             0   3   .000   2  11  .154  285        14

 

From the beginning of the month until our first game in 2010, the temperature dropped 20 degrees in Vermillion. I remember the first time I heard that the temperature had hit -1 degree Fahrenheit. However, there has been no snow. Very clear outside but no snow. I knew that if snow fell it would stick instantly. In Kentucky, -1 Fahrenheit was a big deal but in South Dakota it was a routine occurrence.

 

The recruiting season was not over. Hazel Townsend, a longshot if there ever was won, signed with Tulane, close to her home state of Louisiana. Two other persons on our board were removed not because they signed, but because they had offers on the table that we didn't feel that we could compete with. Harmony Ledet had an offer from Richmond in the Atlantic Ten, a mid-major. Addison Henry had offers from George Mason...and IPFW. Even though Addison was an Indiana girl, every time a conference rival made an offer I was tempted to check my desk for a secret bug sending messages to the Mastodons' head office.

 

However, there was some odd movement that Coach Williams told me about. "You'll never guess who I heard from today," she said.

 

"Who?"

 

"Zoe McHale."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Yeah, I call her all the time and I either get her or I get her answering machine. I keep telling her that she's free to call at any moment. But she never initiates a call. Well guess what? Zoe called us this time."

 

"That's great!" I said. "How much do we have in the budget to offer a campus visit?"

 

She sighed. "It's our budget for the entire month."

 

I sighed. "Damn. Is there anyone else that we need to touch base with?"

 

"Abigail Merkle. Power forward from Arkansas, sure shot free throw shooter like in The Fish That Saved Pitttsburgh. Northwestern State just made an offer."

 

"Can we beat them?"

 

"Well, it's closer to her home. Northern Louisiana or something like that. We've got to make a push."

 

I thought about it. "Okay. Merkle has good handles. I'm going to go and see Merkle. We'll make an offer. You go to Canada this time and see if you can't talk some sense into Old Man McHale."

 

"I've tried that."

 

"Try it again," I said. "Oh, and I've been having second thoughts about Isabelle Laboy," I said.

 

"Like what second thoughts?"

 

"Caroline Herrington is a better ball handler with more experience." Herrington had two years of community college. "Let's offer Herrington and withdraw the offer on Laboy."

 

"Coach," muttered Caitlyn Williams, "what kind of a message does that send to Laboy?"

 

"How long have we had that scholarship offered to her?"

 

"A couple of weeks."

 

"Did she say 'yes'?"

 

"No."

 

"You snooze, you lose. Laboy had her chance. We only verbaled her anyway. If she wants that scholarship, I'll deal with it later. Hopefully, Herrington will say yes, and Laboy will be yesterday's news."

 

(* * *)

 

The day before our next game, an exciting Big Twelve matchup took place between #1 Texas A&M - the defending national champions and soon to be leaving the conference - versus visiting Iowa State. Down 77-73 with 33 seconds left in the game, Iowa State's Zaniyah McCarthy hit the 3--ball to close to 77-76 with 25 left on the game clock. The Cyclones were forced to foul, but the Aggies only hit one of two.

 

With no time left, Delilah Hart of the Cyclones drove to the baseline and was fouled. Hart went to the foul line, and nailed both. 78-78, and going into overtime. With the Cyclones up 85-83 with 13 seconds left in the overtime period and Texas A&M with the ball, Delilah Hart stole the ball and the Aggies were forced to foul. Hart hit one of two with nine seconds left. Down 86-83, the Aggies looked to Kylie Collings on the left wing, but Collings couldn't get the shot off and Iowa State got the upset in overtime to win.

 

It looks like Stanford, barring a loss of their own, will probably move up to #1 in the WBCA poll.

 

(* * *)

 

January 5

 

Our next opponents were the Bison of North Dakota State. Coach Reavis presented a brief scouting report.

 

"In a lot of respects, an average team in the Summit League - a lot of players that probably couldn't get on in any other league. In all categories NDSU is in the middle of the pack. Best win of the year was a 2-point upset on the road against Idaho State, other four wins against RPI bottom feeders. Haylee Mull is PG and is their team leader; stopping her essential, scores 13.5 of the 57.5 points NDSU scores in the game. Will blow by you, fast hands, great ball handler. Watch out for Saige Christie, a real blue-chipper point guard that wanted to stay home; she has a lot of potential if she has good coaching. 9.5 points a game and only a freshman, very quick off the first move. This one will be tough and Allison [Riggle] will have to match the quickness of NDSU's point guards - which she can do - and keep them from stealing the ball or forcing her to turn it over...."

 

....what Reavis wanted to say was "...and she can't." Riggle would have to have a good game on both sides of the floor for us to have a chance.

 

There were a couple of more press people to talk to me before the game...but not about NDSU. Rather, they wanted to talk about the South Dakota/South Dakota State game two days later. We had been thinking ahead just a little bit, but the rule is that you can't overlook your immediate opponent. We can only play these games one at a time.

 

Morgan Tavarez was still working out that middle finger injury. She was now practicing with the team, but whether or not she'd see time against the Bison was a game-day decision.

 

South Dakota 67, North Dakota State 48

North Dakota State Stats (5-11, 0-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Avery Bishop      C    29   1-2   2-2   0   3   1  3   4
Addison Wood      PF   23   2-3   0-0   0   1   0  5   4
Haylee Mull       SF   31  6-15   2-3   0   1   1  2  15
Mariam Rapp       SG   28   0-4   1-2   1   4   1  3   1
Saige Christie    PG   25   1-6   0-0   0   0   5  3   3
Myah Wagner       PF   14   2-3   2-2   0   1   1  1   6
Abigail Borst     SG    8   1-2   0-1   0   1   0  2   2
Anahi Vestal      PG   20   1-4   0-0   1   4   1  1   3
Erica Rochelle    SF    9   1-3   0-0   0   0   1  1   2
Addison Kushner   PF    4   0-2   2-2   0   0   1  0   2
Claire Ramirez    C     9   3-5   0-0   1   2   0  2   6

Turnovers: 10 (A.Bishop 2, A.Wood 1, H.Mull 1, M.Rapp 
3, A.Vestal 1, C.Ramirez 2)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 8 (A.Bishop 2, A.Wood 3, H.Mull 1, M.Rapp 1, 
M.Wagner 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (H.Mull 1-3, S.Christie 1-2, A.Borst 0-1, 
A.Vestal 1-2)

South DakotaStats  (4-12, 3-2):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    32   4-5   1-2   1  13   0  2   9
Ashley Brown      PF   27   3-3   3-7   0   3   4  1   9
Jessica Bing      SF   29   5-6   1-2   1   2   2  2  11
Bella Grier       SG   31   4-9   3-4   3   4   1  2  11
Allison Riggle    PG   31   2-8   2-3   0   2   5  2   6
Morgan Tavarez    C    23   4-4   2-2   1  10   1  2  10
Anzhelika Bure    SG   10   3-3   0-1   0   0   1  1   6
Saniyah Barth     PF    6   0-1   0-1   0   1   0  2   0
Ellie Hester      PG    8   0-0   1-2   0   2   0  2   1
Harley Lewis      SF    2   1-1   2-2   0   0   0  0   4
Analia Williams   C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 16 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 
3, A.Riggle 4, M.Tavarez 1, A.Bure 2, S.Barth 1, 
E.Hester 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Bure 1)
Steals: 2 (J.Bing 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 0-2 (B.Grier 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1)

Player of Game: SG Morgan Tavarez (SD)

 

There were two real keys to that home win against NDSU, which put us at 3-2 in the Summit League and in fifth place. The first was that Morgan Tavarez came back in. Tavarez is nominally a guard, but in high school she was a four position player. I decided I'd put her in the post to spell Angelina Choe and see how well she did.

 

Tavarez only had a single offensive rebound - but 10 defensive rounds to finish with 10 points and 11 rebounds on her first game back for USD. We had three plyers score in double-digits. Choe was almost the fourth, with 9 points and 14 rebounds. We outrebounded North Dakota State 37 to 14.

 

The other key was field goal shooting. After the embarassment against Western Illinois, it seemed like we couldn't miss. We shot 65 percent from the floor, and lit up the Bison. It's hard to lose when you're shooting that well.

 

We were down 34-29 at halftime but we came storming out with an 14-4 run in the first ten minutes of the second half. For five minutes of the second half we would hold the visiting Bison without a single field goal and it all led to the biggest win of the year for the Coyotes, a 19-point victory. Morgan Tavarez was named the Player of the Game. As for the Bison, they were 0-4 in the Summit League.

 

NDSU was a good warmup. But in two days, we would take on our hated rivals, South Dakota State University. It would be a very important game in more ways than one.

 

(* * *)

 

January 7

 

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1429/2011billboard.jpg

 

There was still no significant snow yet in Vermillion. Temperatures were still in the just-below-zero area. It was a dry cold, one that could sap the moisture out of your hands and turn them cracked and chapped in just a minute of exposure. If you went outside without gloves and a cap, you'd get frostbite.

 

The Spring Semester was starting, and none of the players were on academic probation. Our APR - our Academic Progress Rate - would be within the guidelines of NCAA compliance. It was a weekend, students were stuck on campus...and the hated rivals of USD, South Dakota State University, were coming in for a visit.

 

Both women's basketball teams had been competing against each other since 1971, the first year of Title IX. There was a six-year gap when SDSU was in Division I and USD was in Division II and the two teams didn't meet. During that gap, South Dakota State's Jackrabbits had been a team that made the powers of women's basketball take notice, going as far as the second round of the NCAA tournament. With the arrival of USD in Division I, the rivalry could resume.

 

Willie Burbank gave me a call. "This is a big game," he said. "You'll probably get 5,000 or so fans in the DakotaDome today. There is nothing - and I mean nothing - that a USD fan looks more forward to than in beating South Dakota State at anything. This rivalry is the oldest in the United States between a state university and an ag school." I assumed that he was not talking about women's basketball, but I knew that the two school started playing football against each other in the 19th century.

 

"Win this," Burbank said, "and it will look good when we think about your contract at the end of the year."

 

Granted, none of our four wins came against a team with a winning record. (Our first loss of the year - against Seattle - was the only win that Seattle had.) The Yotes were still hopeful that we could deal a loss to the Jacks. The bottom of Morgan Tavarez's finger started to swell after that win against North Dakota State, so she still wasn't fully healed and was once again doubtful for the rivalry match. Coach Ulmer said it would be up to me to play her or not.

 

Player for player, there were about nine players who, man for man, were probably better than their counterparts on our team. Junior SF Cheyanne Hardiman averaged 16.4 points per game for second best in the Summit League. PF Chelsea Norris averaged 10.5 rebounds per game and 2.1 blocks per game. The Jacks led the Summit League in steals and rebounds and were second in points scored per game.

 

We'd have to play a truly great game to knock off the Jacks at the DakotaDome. But when you hear 5,000 cheering, clapping, screaming fans - and they're cheering for you instead of against you - you couldn't help but feel it. The players were amped up, and I was amped up, and the president of the Summit League and all of our major boosters were here. We were going to give it our all, both on the floor, and on the sidelines.

 

South Dakota State 60, South Dakota 34

South Dakota State (12-4,4-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
M. Donaldson      C    21   0-1   0-0   3   4   2  0   0
Chelsea Norris    PF   27   2-4   0-2   3  10   1  4   4
Cheyanne Hardiman SF   30  5-12   4-6   4   7   1  2  14
Isabella Goodwin  SG   28   3-3   4-7   0   5   0  3  12
Sloane Harris     SF   26   3-8   3-3   0   5   2  2  10
Susan Wisdom      PG   29  3-10   2-4   0   0   1  2   8
Jaliyah Weatherby SF   14   1-3   5-6   1   5   1  1   7
Emily Bentz       SG    7   0-1   5-6   0   0   0  1   5
Charley Davis     PF   11   0-1   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Yaretzi Boyd      C     4   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Dania Keck        SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Natálie Jezek     PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (C.Norris 1, C.Hardiman 2, I.Goodwin 3, 
S.Harris 2, J.Weatherby 1, C.Davis 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (C.Norris 2, C.Hardiman 3, J.Weatherby 
1)
Steals: 5 (M.Donaldson 1, C.Hardiman 1, S.Wisdom 1, 
E.Bentz 1, C.Davis 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (I.Goodwin 2-2, S.Harris 1-2, S.Wisdom 0-2, 
J.Weatherby 0-1, C.Davis 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (4-13, 3-3):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    27   1-4   0-0   2  12   2  1   2
Ashley Brown      PF   21   2-5   0-0   1   6   0  4   4
Jessica Bing      SF   25   3-9   0-0   1   1   0  3   6
Bella Grier       SG   27   1-6   1-2   0   1   0  3   3
Allison Riggle    PG   27   0-4   0-0   2   2   3  2   0
Morgan Tavarez    C    27   2-6   0-1   1   2   1  4   4
Anzhelika Bure    SG   20   3-8   2-3   0   1   0  1  11
Saniyah Barth     PF    9   1-1   0-0   0   3   1  1   2
Ellie Hester      PG   12   1-3   0-0   2   2   0  3   2
Harley Lewis      SF    4   0-0   0-1   0   0   0  3   0

Turnovers: 16 (A.Choe 3, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 3, A.Riggle 
1, M.Tavarez 3, A.Bure 1, E.Hester 2)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 3 (A.Bure 1, S.Barth 1, H.Lewis 1)
3P FGs: 3-7 (A.Riggle 0-2, A.Bure 3-4, E.Hester 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Cheyanne Hardiman (SDST)

 

The problem was that we weren't the only ones looking for a big win over our arch rivals. So was South Dakota State. We led 11-7 midway through the first half but the Jacks went on a 12-2 run that pretty much took us out of the game. We were down 26-17at hafltime and we were on to our worst loss since the Tennessee game.

 

Why? Foul trouble. We couldn't get any kind of call during this game (and the fans let the referees have it). South Dakota State went to the line thirty-four times. I don't think I've ever seen that in a game. They hit 67 percent of their shots, but we only went seven times...and hit three. Morgan Tavarez came back, but her only contribution was four points and four personal fouls.

 

Outrebounded. Six blocked shots. We turned the ball over 16 times, committed 25 fouls. One step forward, and then ten steps back.

 

Anzhelika Bure, our Kissin' Russian, had 11 points to lead the Yotes. But three Jacks hit double figures, including Cheyanne Hardiman to lead all scorers with 14 points. Norris only had four points but she had 10 rebounds. Together, they combined for five of the six blocked shots. They made it look easy. The 34 points was a season low - the previous season low came from the 62-35 loss at Akron.

 

I let them have it in the locker room. "You really let the university down and you let the fans down. You let the game of women's basketball down - if this is the only time a student comes to see the South Dakota women's team, they might not be back. The university is paying for your educations, and this game is below minimum standards."

 

"You owe it to our fans to continue," I said. "You had better focus on that game at Oakland next week because I guarantee you it will not get easier. I don't want anyone wearing this uniform taking our fans and the University of South Dakota for granted."

 

Silence. "Now let's move on," I said, "and forget this freakin' atrocity of a game."

 

(* * *)

 

With the Texas A&M loss, Stanford moved up to #1 in the WBCA poll.

 

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Stanford                 (72)    15-0    1800    2
  2.  Oklahoma                         13-1    1703    3
  3.  Texas A&M                        14-1    1679    1
  4.  Rutgers                          15-1    1553    4
  5.  Connecticut                      13-1    1545    5
  6.  UCLA                             13-0    1417    6
  7.  Tennessee                        13-1    1391    8
  8.  Duke                             14-1    1295   12
  9.  Florida                          13-0    1175   13
 10.  North Carolina                   14-0    1103   10

 

I was sure it wouldn't stay that way long. A day after the poll was released, #9 Florida visited #7 Tennessee in Knoxville and took their first loss of the year, a 79-59 whooping. Georgetown had come into Rutgers and beaten them 78-69 two days after the poll was released. When you're on top, the only way you can go is down.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8668/plownassau.jpg

 

During the second week of January, we finally got what I had feared. The temperature dropped to -13 in Vermillion - with a windchill much worse - and it began to snow. Frankly, it was a blizzard that hit the state dropping as much as 15 inches of snow in some places in South Dakota, shutting down virtually the entire highway system and putting the start of the South Dakota/Oakland game in jeopardy. Michigan was getting hit, too and I was wondering if we'd ever be able to leave the city. People caught in the storm were stranded in gas stations, restaurants, whatever.

 

How cold was it? The door to my apartment froze shut until I gave it a mighty big shove. My three co-coaches have it worse; I have a year in Russia pro ball that got me used to this weather. (That's a lie. You never get used to this weather. Wind stinging your skin like you shoved it in a fistful of needles. Hearing your shoes temporarily freeze to the pavement for the split-second that they touch ground. You don't forget that.)

 

I was at a little market near campus to try to get some food. I only lived a mile from campus, so against all sanity I decided to tough it out and walk the distance to shelter somewhere on campus, where I could warm my extremities. I ended up at a Stop and Gulp somewhere on the way to campus.

 

As I came in and let my face warm up, I got some coffee. The face behind the counter said, "Hi, Coach Hawkins." It was an older woman with a short, white, hair cut. "Cold enough for you?"

 

"Oh yeah. My mother was calling to make sure that I hadn't frozen to death. Do you like the Coyotes?"

 

"Season ticket holder," she said. "Football, men's basketball, women's basketball. I love 'em all." My kind of person.

 

As I got my donut and coffee ready, I took it up to the counter. "It's on me," she said.

 

I thought about taking the freebee. "Well, sorry," I said. "Can't do it. NCAA rules."

 

"That's just for players," the woman said. "Besides, your players come in here and get free stuff all the time."

 

That got my attention. "Ashley Brown. And uh, Anzhelika Bure. Whenever I see them I give them free soda and donuts."

 

"Well," I said. "You can't do that." I remember Coach Tomlinson at JMU. He used to shout, "Don't take nothing for free! Nothing! No cars, no hundred-dollar handshakes, no wink-and-a-smile! Nothing! The NCAA will come down on this school like a hammer! And don't think they ain't watching!"

 

"Oh don't worry," she said, smilling. "I can keep a secret."

 

I left my money on the table and left. I was torn. Do I really want to file an NCAA report on free soda and cookies? I came from the men's game, I heard of players that got five figures or more for signing at schools. I used to get all kinds of freebies, but I never saw myself as a bad player or a cheater because I'd get maybe a free snack there or someone at Mickey D's said, "On the house, Hawk."

 

Free food was probably all my players were going to get. Ever. And yet, there would be some busybody who would be glad to file a complaint. My task was to find out who the NCAA Compliance officer was at my school, and make good with them.

 

What should I do? Tell the Compliance officer? Dress down the team? Dress down Brown and my errant Russian? Do nothing? I was still stuck on the latter. That women's basketball fan probably wasn't going to say anything to anyone - but I was paranoid about the NCAA. The more I waited the more it was going to eat at me.

 

(* * *)

 

January 12

 

Over the week, the temperature managed to crawl to 11 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though we still faced intermittent snow, the road had been cleared enough for us to get to the airport and out to Michigan, where we would face the Oakland Grizzlies, undefeated in the Summit League.

 

Oakland had some girls who could play ball. Senior SG Hanna Audley led the conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game - I was glad that she'd be going back to Australia next year. Her defense wasn't too shabby either, with 1.4 steals per game. (However, you could defend her too, as she turned the ball over 3.0 times per game.) They had two good shot blockers in PF Amira Carmona and SF Jacqueline Grover. With both players at 6-4, you faced height right away and height was a rarity in the Summit League.

 

The Golden Grizzlies were #1 in the Summit League in points scored, #2 in total rebounds, assists and steals and #1 in blocked shots. We could also hope for mismatches but Oakland was a team that knew how to win, probably a Top 50 team in the country and my favorite to win the Summit League. Of course, teams are never given ball games - they have to play them.

 

Oakland 82, South Dakota 42

South Dakota Stats (4-14, 3-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    29   0-5   0-4   1   4   0  3   0
Ashley Brown      PF   19   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  2   0
Jessica Bing      SF   22   1-4   5-8   0   3   3  4   8
Bella Grier       SG   31  3-11   0-0   0   1   1  3   7
Allison Riggle    PG   14   2-4   0-2   1   1   0  4   5
Morgan Tavarez    SG   21   2-4   2-4   0   7   0  4   6
Anzhelika Bure    SG   22   0-3   6-8   0   0   1  2   6
Saniyah Barth     PF   11   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  3   0
Ellie Hester      PG   16   3-5   2-3   0   2   1  4   8
Harley Lewis      SF    5   1-2   0-0   1   3   1  1   2
Analia Williams   C     8   0-0   0-0   0   1   1  0   0
Jaylynn Adams     PF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 3, A.Riggle 
1, S.Barth 1, E.Hester 2, H.Lewis 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, H.Lewis 1)
3P FGs: 3-11 (J.Bing 1-1, B.Grier 1-5, A.Riggle 1-2, 
A.Bure 0-2, E.Hester 0-1)

OaklandStats  (11-6, 6-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Isabella Stafford C    13   2-6   0-0   0   2   0  4   4
Selena James      PF   27   1-2   3-3   1   8   2  1   5
Jacqueline Grover SF   27  5-11   5-9   6   9   2  1  17
Hannah Audley     SG   22   3-7   6-6   1   6   1  4  15
Luciana Overturf  PG   27   3-6   3-6   2   7   1  1  11
Grace Dupuis      PG   14   1-2   0-0   0   0   2  4   3
Mckayla Musgrove  SG   19  5-12   4-6   0   2   1  3  16
Stephanie Tittle  SF   15   2-7   4-6   4   5   1  3   8
Ava Dunning       PG    5   0-0   0-2   0   0   0  0   0
Nevaeh Chilton    PF   12   0-0   1-2   1   3   1  1   1
Olivia Ramos      PF    4   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Addison Spinner   C    10   0-1   2-4   2   4   1  0   2
Amirah Carmona    C     4   0-0   0-0   1   3   0  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (I.Stafford 1, S.James 2, H.Audley 1, 
L.Overturf 2, G.Dupuis 1, M.Musgrove 1, S.Tittle 1, 
A.Spinner 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (H.Audley 1, M.Musgrove 1, A.Carmona 1)
Steals: 5 (S.James 1, L.Overturf 2, G.Dupuis 1, 
S.Tittle 1)
3P FGs: 10-21 (J.Grover 2-3, H.Audley 3-5, L.Overturf 
2-5, G.Dupuis 1-2, M.Musgrove 2-6)

Player of Game: SF Jacqueline Grover (OAK)

 

If I had any illusions about South Dakota being a spoiler, they were dashed in this game. We shot 31 percent in the game and Oakland made it clear from tipoff that they weren't going to go easy on us. It was a war out there. Oakland played physical, like they were in a boxing match.

 

The refs had to work for their pay. USD had the whistle blown against it 30 times. Oakland committed 22 fouls themselves. No one fouled out, but the Golden Grizzlies outrebounded us 50 to 24! They led 51-16 at halftime!! They rushed out to a 12-0 lead and the 22-6 lead they held after ten minutes made it cleaer that we'd be playing catch-up all night.

 

We were 15-for-29 at the free throw line. Oakland was 28-for-44. Talk about a slow game, half of it was spent standing around waiting for someone to shoot free throws. The Oakland fans that showed up should have gotten an award for endurance, but I'm sure they'll take their 6-0 conference record instead.

 

My mood going into the locker room was foul. This whole Donutgate thing was bothering me and I let it out. "You played Oakland's game today. You had your own game, but you didn't play it. Don't bitch that you haven't played the 2-3 zone; if you didn't play it in high school, something is wrong with you. So don't let yourself off the hook. To figure out who lost this game, just look in the mirror."

 

"Furthermore," I said, "There are some things I've been hearing about certain players on this team. Things that are taking place off the court, and things that I don't like."

 

You could have heard a pin drop. "We have less than 48 hours before we take on IPFW. You had better get yourselves together. This game will show what you're made of."

 

(* * *)

 

Donutgate bothered me so much that I called my old coach at James Madison, Ken Tomlinson. "Coach, I've got something on my mind, but it has to be in confidence."

 

"Spit it out," he said. So I told him about Ashley Brown and Anzhelika Bure and the free snacks they were getting.

 

"Jeez, Louise, when did that bug crawl up your butt and die?"

 

"What?"

 

"Mark, let me ask you a question. I'm retired, and it's just you and me. Did you eat at places for free when you played for James Madison."

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Mark, everybody does it. And I mean everybody. Football, basketball, wrestling. Probably swimming and ping-pong. ****, when I played college ball there used to be a pizza place that gave me free slices, so you're not talking to an innocent man! I figured my players were going to do it too, so I didn't ask any questions. Hey, even a home-cooked dinner now and then is just fine. A scholarship doesn't cover everything, and sometimes, people want to help out a kid. Innocent stuff. Sometimes, Mark, when you're a coach there's such a thing as the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. What do you think the spirit of the law is?"

 

I thought about it. "I guess so that there's no French restaurant in Vermillion that's serving them three-star dinners every day."

 

"Right. If something like that was going on I'd be sprinting to the compliance officer. Or at least, I'd like to think that I would. Someday, I might tell you more horror stories from coaching but you're not ready yet. But life as a coach is a series of moral judgments and sometimes you'll make one that puts you on the wrong side of the line. The question is, how comfortable are you? If it was me, I'd be pretty comfortable if I was in your shoes. How is your compliance officer at South Dakota?"

 

"I haven't met her. I think she's like the head-ranking senior female admin. Something like that."

 

"That's probably good. Law degree?"

 

"I don't know."

 

"Small department? How many compliance officers are there?"

 

"Don't know."

 

"I'll let you know something about NCAA Compliance. They can be your friends or your enemies. Usually the latter. If the compliance officer is an ex-jock or a friend of the athletic department, and if they've got grey hair you can usually expect a forgiving hand. They'll let little things slide. If the compliance offer is some thirty-year old prick with a law degree, expect him to bust your ass every time. And one final thing, Mark...a smart AD can use the compliance officer for his own benefit. They can turn a whole lot of little crap into a "pattern of noncompliance". Think about that when your contract comes up."

 

Coach Tomlinson took a lot off my mind. I wasn't going to go screaming to compliance over the $50 or so of donuts that Ashley and Anzhelika had scammed over several months. (Anzhelika did grow up in Russia and they're not adverse to taking free stuff that's offered to them, rules or no rules.) However, I promised myself that when we got back to South Dakota we'd review the rules on athletic benefits. Whether they ate for free at certain places or not would lie on their own consciences.

 

( * * *)

 

January 14

 

We stayed on the road for our game against IPFW, or Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons were in fourth place in the Summit League with a 4-2 league record and an 8-8 overall record.

 

Like any decent team, the Mastodons had a good point guard in senior Amanda Tiller who scored 15.3 ppg for IPFW. Tiller had 4.1 assists per game with just 2.5 turnovers per game.They depended on junior center Isabella Britton in the post, who scored 10.3 ppg and 7.9 rpg. The Mastodons loved to pass the ball (#1 in assists in the Summit League, #2 in points). Even if you could stop Tiller at the point, the Mastodons led the league in fewest turnovers, with only 10.3 turnoers per game. However, they were the worst fouling team with 19.5 points per game.

 

We needed to play a very physical man on man and hope that the refs blow the whistle on the Mastodons. We wanted to take the win here, because after this game we had six days off and even with the horrible weather, Vermillion was starting to grow on me.

 

IPFW 72, South Dakota 52

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    28   2-3   0-1   0   6   1  2   4
Ashley Brown      PF   23   3-3   2-4   1   4   0  1   8
Jessica Bing      SF   26   1-6   1-2   0   1   0  1   3
Bella Grier       SG   29   3-7   1-2   0   0   2  1   7
Allison Riggle    PG   29   3-4   0-2   0   0   4  2   7
Morgan Tavarez    C    24   3-5   2-3   0   7   0  2   8
Anzhelika Bure    SG   19   3-7   3-5   0   3   0  0  10
Saniyah Barth     PF    9   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Ellie Hester      PG    9   0-1   1-2   0   1   0  0   1
Harley Lewis      SF    4   0-0   4-4   0   1   0  0   4
Analia Williams   C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 17 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 
1, A.Riggle 4, A.Bure 2, E.Hester 1, H.Lewis 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Grier 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (A.Choe 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, B.Grier 0-2, 
A.Riggle 1-2, A.Bure 1-3)

IPFWStats  (9-8, 5-2):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee       C    25   2-3   0-0   0   0   3  2   4
Kayleigh Buchanan C    20   3-7   2-3   0   6   1  3   8
Elianna Gonzalez  SF   24  8-13   1-1   2   4   1  3  17
Jaidyn Shanks     PF   25   2-4   1-1   1   3   0  3   5
Amanda Tiller     SG   31  7-10   1-1   2   3   6  1  19
Kai Eady          PG   22   2-6   1-2   1   3   2  4   5
Aimee McIntyre    SF   20  3-11   2-2   1   5   1  0   8
Azul Shoffner     SG    8   1-2   0-0   0   1   0  3   2
Emily Sellars     PF   13   2-2   0-0   0   3   0  1   4
Janiah Johnson    C     9   0-0   0-0   1   2   0  1   0
Lilly Thompson    C     2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0

Turnovers: 9 (E.Vallee 2, K.Buchanan 2, J.Shanks 1, 
K.Eady 2, A.Shoffner 1, L.Thompson 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 4 (E.Gonzalez 1, A.Tiller 3)
3P FGs: 4-12 (E.Gonzalez 0-1, A.Tiller 4-6, K.Eady 0-3, 
A.McIntyre 0-2)

Player of Game: PG Amanda Tiller (IPFW)

 

Well, what do you do? Three Summit League games in a row lost, each one lost by at least 20 points. Only one player in double figures for USD (Bure) in the game. No players at USD have a season scoring average in double figures - our "leader" scores 7.9 points per game.

 

We just could not hold on to the ball. We turned the ball over 17 times and just about all of those turnovers led to the Mastodons scoring - we shot 50 percent for the game but only took 36 shots. IPFW took 58 shots, and hit 52 percent from the field. That pretty much did it.

 

The Mastodons got off to a 9-2 run and I was forced to call my first time out with only 2 1/2 minutes off the game clock. For most of the game !PFW had a double-digit lead. We had no business being here.

 

It looks like my motivational techniques - what few I have - are falling short. I want to have faith that there's light at the end of this tunnel. But I don't see anything right now.

 

(* * *)

 

In the meantime, Oral Roberts went to South Dakota State and lost 54-46, losing 40-24 on the boards to the Jacks. At the end of the year, it will be either Oakland, South Dakota State, or Oral Roberts.

 

 Date        Opponent                 Record  RPI  Result  Score      Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/13/11    Seattle                    1-15  274       L  64-57         0-1
 11/15/11    at Southern Illinois       3-14  272       L  59-54         0-2
 11/19/11    at Murray State            10-9  333       L  61-49         0-3
 11/22/11    Wright State               6-10  138       W  59-41         1-3
 11/25/11    #17 Iowa                   16-0  112       L  63-41         1-4
 11/29/11    at Missouri                5-10   87       L  77-48         1-5
 12/03/11    at Akron                    9-6  209       L  62-35         1-6
 12/06/11    at #21 Purdue              12-3   50       L  69-39         1-7
 12/09/11    Marquette                  11-4  111       L  68-41         1-8
 12/13/11    at Xavier                  11-4   60       L  64-42         1-9
 12/17/11    at #7 Tennessee            15-1    3       L  76-44        1-10
 12/22/11    UMKC                       4-13  313       W  61-49  2-10 (1-0)
 12/24/11    Oral Roberts               12-4  149       L  50-40  2-11 (1-1)
 12/29/11    at IUPUI                   4-13  279       W  61-53  3-11 (2-1)
 12/31/11    at Western Illinois        1-16  320       L  47-37  3-12 (2-2)
 01/05/12    North Dakota State         7-12  208       W  67-48  4-12 (3-2)
 01/07/12    South Dakota State         14-4  171       L  60-34  4-13 (3-3)
 01/12/12    at Oakland                 12-6   53       L  82-42  4-14 (3-4)
 01/14/12    at IPFW                     9-8  203       L  72-52  4-15 (3-5)
 01/21/12    at Nebraska-Omaha          4-12  207                           
 01/26/12    Western Illinois           1-16  320                           
 01/28/12    IUPUI                      4-13  279                           
 02/02/12    at South Dakota State      14-4  171          

 

(* * *)

 

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3162/sams1cmlcd111.jpg

 

In world technology, OLED screens began to go into production. OLED stands for "Organic Light Emitting Diodes".

 

The screens on these televisions are as thin as credit cards. Furthermore, the organic components make the screens less polluting when they are disposed of. The colors on HDTV become much better and when the image is tilted to the side it does not lose its color, its brightness, and most importantly its resolution. Of course, this made a slight problem as the octopus of wires to various peripheral devices could no longer be connected to the screen itself - the screens were too thin for that now.

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Wow. It seems to be taking forever to produce these write-ups. But I've managed to move parts of this dynasty to the Grey Dog Software Forum. Right now, this forum is still the sport where an update will be posted first, if anyone's interested.

 

One problem I've noticed in the last two game sims - I don't coach the teams play-by-play; I let the game engine do that - is that we seem to have switched from a Man Defense to a 2-3 Zone Defense. I have no clue why. In previous games, I've tried to switch it in the Game Plan screen with no luck whatsoever...and now, without asking, it forces the team into a much less effective defense. I'll let this go for two more games and if South Dakota doesn't switch back to the man-to-man I might have to report it as a bug.

 

Next time: The team gets a week off and the halfway point of the conference regular season is reached. Mark Hawkins gets an interesting letter that might explain a lot. The Yotes are 3-5 in the league, but will they win another league game all year?

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player             Pos  GP  GS   Min  Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls    +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bella Grier         SG  14  12  28.0  7.9  0.9  2.1  0.9  0.2  0.3  1.5  2.4  -11.4
Angelina Choe        C  18  16  27.1  4.9  2.4  8.9  0.7  0.2  0.2  1.7  1.9   -9.1
Ashley Brown        PF  19  19  26.6  5.8  1.1  4.4  1.2  0.4  0.2  2.1  1.7   -8.7
Jessica Bing        SF  12  12  25.6  7.3  1.1  2.6  1.2  0.5  0.2  2.3  2.4   -8.4
Allison Riggle      PG  19  15  25.1  5.9  0.7  1.4  2.6  0.3  0.1  2.6  2.5  -10.0
Anzhelika Bure      SG  19   3  22.7  6.9  0.5  2.3  0.4  0.5  0.2  2.1  1.9   -6.8
Jaylynn Adams       PF   8   7  20.3  2.6  0.4  3.6  1.1  0.0  0.0  1.5  2.4   -3.3
Morgan Tavarez      SG  15   0  14.7  4.4  0.4  3.0  0.2  0.0  0.1  1.2  1.6   -7.7
Analia Williams      C  18   7  13.4  2.3  0.6  2.2  0.4  0.1  0.2  0.7  1.2   -5.6
Saniyah Barth       PF  19   4  12.8  2.4  0.4  2.0  0.6  0.4  0.1  0.6  1.6   -7.0
Ellie Hester        SF  19   0  10.9  2.7  0.6  1.9  0.5  0.1  0.0  1.1  1.3   -2.9
Jillian Ho          PG   7   0   6.3  0.7  0.4  0.9  0.3  0.1  0.1  0.6  0.4   -2.1
Harley Lewis        SF  14   0   5.7  2.1  0.4  1.0  0.2  0.1  0.0  0.8  0.8    0.2

[Petrel]

January 2012

 

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1549/309472467981f88d574b.jpg

 

All I can figure out is that God must have had it in for South Dakota. I grew up in the hills of Kentucky, where two inches of snow could make an unpaved road impassable - it wasn't like there was a salt truck that was ever going to come by. And I had thought I had seen some tough winters.

 

But this! This was like that terrifying year I spent in Russia, despite being relatively warmer. Vermillion ducked a blizzard that hit the western part of South Dakota and closed just about every highway there. In mid-January, the weather stayed in the 20s and actually got up to 30 degrees at one point. But it was a mirage, as the temperature dropped back into the teens again and we were hit by freezing rain the weekend of our trip to Omaha, Nebraska to play the Mavericks, the last of our nine opponents in the Summit League. We'd play everyone one more time until the end of the regular season.

 

In my e-mail I received an interesting e-mail.

 

Dear Coach Hawkins,

 

Thank you for your recent trip to North Vancouver, here in British Columbia. I'd like to apologize again for the brief amount of time that we were able to spend with you. Our daughter, Zoe, truly appreciated your trip. We enjoyed the presentation and hearing your discussion about the opportunities of an education at the University of South Dakota. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Dr. Joseph McHale

 

(* * *)

 

The e-mail left me dumbfounded. "Well what do you think about that?" I said to Coach Reavis, showing it to her.

 

"McHale?" she said. "That Canadian kid that gave you so much trouble?"

 

"Her family, really," I said. "Her father treated me like I tracked mud in the house. It wasn't like I was being clasped to their bosom or anything. He gushed about how great Elon was and that Florida A&M would be a better fit for her."

 

"Something happened," Coach Reavis said. She used to be a lawyer. "I'll bet that's it. I'll bet that one of those offers dried up and one of those schools dropped her. Now they're scrambling. They figure that USD is better than nothing at all."

 

I grumbled. "Hmph."

 

"What's your plan, Mark?"

 

"We'll keep on pursuing her," I said. "Look, the family might not like me...but I don't have to coach the family. Besides, they're not the only ones who are desperate. I have six scholarships to give out and only one taker so far. If this is a shotgun wedding...well, starting singing, 'Here Comes the Bride!'

 

(* * *)

 

In Norman, Oklahoma #6 ranked Baylor took a visit to the #2 ranked Sooners. Baylor had a 42-36 lead at halftime but Oklahoma fought back to take the lead late in the game. Up 64-62 with three minutes to go, Oklahoma scored ten of the final twelve points. Sooner SG Sophia Wakefield shot 9-for-20 and scored 23 points, but scored none of the points for Oklahoma during the final three minutes.

 

As for #1 Stanford (16-0), they would take on #5 conference rival UCLA (15-0). UCLA would lead most of the game, and Stanford would close to within five points late in the second half, but the Bruins would hold on to win 89-80 under a 20-point, 10 assist performance from Kaylee Caceres. There would undoubtedly be a new #1 team in the nation the next week.

 

 

January 21

 

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                   8   0  1.000  13   6  .684   70        42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits             7   1   .875  15   4  .789  148        61
IPFW Mastodons                             6   2   .750  10   8  .556  167        25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                 6   2   .750  12   5  .706  163        38
South Dakota Coyotes                       3   5   .375   4  15  .211  263         0
North Dakota State Bison                   3   5   .375   8  12  .400  229        30
IUPUI Jaguars                              2   6   .250   4  14  .222  273         4
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   2   6   .250   4  14  .222  230         0
UMKC Kangaroos                             2   6   .250   4  14  .222  316        14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     1   7   .125   1  17  .056  337         9

 

Every feel the back end of a bus sliding down an icy street? Not fun. Not looking forward to that again.

 

It was a slippery ride from Vermillion, SD to Sioux City, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska entirely by bus. Coach Reavis stated that the Coyotes and the Mavericks were very much alike. They didn't have any really great players - sophomore PG Brianna Padilla had potential but UNO didn't start her - and even our conference records and win-loss totals were very much alike.

 

Once again, we were coming to play a team with a sizable losing streak - the Mavericks had lost seven straight. Furthermore, this was their fifth game in nine days, and they were just coming home after a four game road trip seeing Fort Wayne (IPFW), Auburn Hills (Oakland), Denton (North Texas) and Martin (Tennessee-Martin). That was a lot of miles to travel and we hoped we could take advantage of any fatigure from the Mavericks.

 

Our back-up point guard, Jillian Ho, was performing limited workouts after sitting out a month due to a foot fracture. She would be a gametime decision.

 

South Dakota 55, Nebraska-Omaha 52

South Dakota Stats (5-15, 4-5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    30   1-5   0-0   5  12   2  4   2
Ashley Brown      PF   26   4-5   0-0   3   8   0  3   8
Jessica Bing      SF   31   2-8   2-2   1   3   1  2   6
Bella Grier       SG   32   4-8   5-6   0   3   5  2  13
Allison Riggle    PG   18   2-7   1-4   1   1   1  4   5
Morgan Tavarez    PF   28   5-9   0-0   2   3   2  0  11
Anzhelika Bure    SG   18   2-7   1-2   0   3   0  1   6
Jillian Ho        PG    9   1-1   0-0   0   0   2  1   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    1   1-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   2
Ellie Hester      SF    4   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     3   0-0   0-0   1   2   0  1   0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Brown 1, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 2, A.Riggle 
1, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, E.Hester 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Brown 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, J.Bing 1)
3P FGs: 2-10 (J.Bing 0-2, A.Riggle 0-3, M.Tavarez 1-1, 
A.Bure 1-4)

Nebraska-OmahaStats  (4-15, 2-7):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chanel Stevens    C    32   0-4   2-2   3   6   1  1   2
Kylie Davis       PF   29  7-10   2-4   3   9   0  2  16
Janelle Ainsworth SF   28   5-7   1-3   1   2   2  2  11
Dulce Diaz        SG   25   1-4   0-0   0   0   0  1   3
A. Sappington     PG   32  2-10   3-4   0   0   5  2   8
Brianna Padilla   PG   20   2-3   0-0   0   3   0  2   4
C. Mondragon      SF    9   0-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Halle McCully     PF   14   1-2   2-2   1   4   2  0   4
Sophia Schaaf     SG    6   0-0   2-2   0   1   0  0   2
Eloise Espinosa   C     5   1-3   0-0   1   2   0  0   2

Turnovers: 11 (C.Stevens 1, A.Sappington 2, B.Padilla 
4, H.McCully 2, E.Espinosa 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (D.Diaz 1)
Steals: 2 (K.Davis 1, D.Diaz 1)
3P FGs: 2-10 (J.Ainsworth 0-1, D.Diaz 1-2, A.Sappington 
1-5, C.Mondragon 0-2)

Player of Game: PF Kylie Davis (OMAHA)

 

This one was a real battle. The Mavericks led 31-29 at halftime, a two point lead that could have been four points had UNO not foolishly fouled Bella Grier on the final inbounds play of the half by South Dakota. Bella made both of those shots.

 

This was a fight and for most of the second half, neither side was more than a single basket away. We played a man defense, whereas Nebraska-Omaha settled for a series of switching zones. I suspected that they were as confused by their zones as we were.

 

With less than a minute remaining, the score was 52-52. Nebraska-Omaha had Kylie Davis on the charity stripe for an "and one" but she missed the shot. This gave us the shot and the goal was to put it in Bella Grier's hands on the right baseline. Grier picked up the foul (UNO had 18 personal fouls to our ten) and this sent Bella Grier to the line again with 39 seconds left.

 

First shot: no good.

 

Second shot: good. We were now up by one point, 53-52 but we needed a defesive stop. With 28 seconds left, Jessica Bing got the steal from Halle McCully when she drove inside and the Mavericks were forced to commit the quick foul.

 

Bing hits both. We're up 55-52 with 26 seconds left. We were looking for a drive inside and a foul, but when UNO began moving the ball around, we knew they were looking for the 3-ball. With time expiring on the clock, they put it in the hands of Janelle Ainsworth. But she missed it, and we got the rebound as time expired.

 

Bella Grier scored 13 points for us, and went 5-for-6 at the line. Angelina Choe had 12 rebounds. Morgan Tavarez chipped in 11 points, and even though Kylie Davis of the Mavericks was named Player of the Game with 16 points, I would take this win and we would definitely celebrate on the drive back.

 

On the bus, I asked Jillian Ho how she felt. She had played nine minutes, taken a shot, and hit it. Two assists. "I feel great!" she said. Music to my ears.

 

(* * *)

 

On Monday, we had a new #1 team in basketball

 

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Oklahoma                 (69)    17-1    1797    2
  2.  Connecticut               (3)    17-1    1731    3
  3.  Tennessee                        17-1    1656    4
  4.  UCLA                             17-0    1584    5
  5.  North Carolina                   17-0    1512    9
  6.  Iowa                             18-0    1399   12
  7.  Texas A&M                        16-2    1358    7
  8.  Stanford                         17-2    1347    1
  9.  Bowling Green                    17-1    1222   10
 10.  Tulane                           18-0    1154   13

 

Despite beating Stanford, UCLA could get no love but had jumped to #4. There were only three teams in American without a loss - UCLA, North Carolina, and Tulane in Conference USA. North Dakota was still fighting the Big Sky over the use of its Fighting Sioux nickname, and had the only women's basketball team without a single win this year at 0-20.

 

(* * *)

 

On January 24th, after several weeks of dismal weather, we finally had our first above-freezing temperature. There had been snow warnings early in the week but the mercury climbed to 37 degrees on January 24! Could we hope for an early thaw?

 

No. More snow warnings during the week. The thermometer dropped down below freezing the next day, turning whatever snow had melted into more ice. Then we were back in the teens again. The weather was crazy.

 

But the thermometer wasn't the only thing that was moving. #1 Oklahoma went to Kansas State and got clobbered 63-52. The Wildcats had a hot night and shot 48.1 percent from the field. It looked like Connecticut was going to crawl back into the #1 spot by default.

 

(* * *)

 

January 26

 

With a wind chill factor below zero, at least the Yotes had the advantage of staying at home. Western Illinois was coming to Vermillion this time. The Fighting Leathernecks only had one win in nineteen games this season - a 47-37 win against South Dakota. They had come close to winning games, losing back to back against IUPUI and North Dakota State at home by one point in each of those games (47-46, 62-61). Aside from steals - and turnovers - they were at the bottom or next to the bottom of every category in the Summit League.

 

This time, I practiced the players a bit harder than usual. Morgan Tavarez and Jillian Ho were coming off injuries and I needed to get them into as good a shape as I was able to. Furthermore, I'm sure the players remembered that humiliating 10-point loss to the Fighting Leathernecks. Our goal was that in the DakotaDome the outcome would be a lot different.

 

South Dakota 42, Western Illinois 37

Western Illinois Stats (1-19, 1-9)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Haleigh Tessier   C    27   3-7   0-2   1   4   0  2   6
Carmen Pittman    SF   25   2-6   2-2   0   4   2  0   6
Yareli Morgan     SF   17   1-4   1-1   1   4   0  3   3
Eden Bittner      SG   31   1-6   0-0   0   2   1  3   2
A. Rutherford     PG   26   1-4   0-0   0   1   0  0   2
Brynn Tyler       PF   18   3-4   0-1   2   5   1  3   6
Isabella Powell   PF   15   1-4   1-1   1   4   0  0   3
Chloe Martinez    SF   21   3-4   3-4   1   5   0  2   9
Amaya Mackay      SG   14   0-3   0-0   0   1   1  0   0
Mylee Mead        C     5   0-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 6 (C.Pittman 1, E.Bittner 2, A.Rutherford 1, 
B.Tyler 1, M.Mead 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Tyler 1)
Steals: 2 (C.Martinez 1, A.Mackay 1)
3P FGs: 0-6 (C.Pittman 0-1, Y.Morgan 0-1, E.Bittner 
0-1, A.Rutherford 0-2, B.Tyler 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (6-15, 5-5):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    32   3-9   1-2   6  13   3  3   7
Ashley Brown      PF   26   1-5   0-0   2   7   0  2   2
Jessica Bing      SF   23   3-5   1-3   0   2   1  3   7
Bella Grier       SG   32  5-12   0-2   0   4   0  2  11
Allison Riggle    PG   29   3-7   0-0   0   0   2  0   6
Morgan Tavarez    SF   27   0-1   2-2   0   1   2  2   2
Anzhelika Bure    SF   18   2-5   0-0   0   5   0  2   5
Jillian Ho        PG   10   0-1   2-3   1   3   0  0   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 5 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 2, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-6 (A.Brown 0-1, B.Grier 1-2, M.Tavarez 0-1, 
A.Bure 1-2)

Player of Game: C Angelina Choe (SD)

 

Well, they say that any win is a good one. We'll take this one, although it came to us disassembled and missing all of the necessary parts.

 

We were actually behind at half time, 20-15. Rather than curse the team for its deficiencies - and there were a lot of them - I focused on the game plan - turn the game into a defensive struggle and let the Fighting Leathernecks fade in the distance. In the back half of the game we extended a 31-30 lead to a 38-30 advantage with 2:36 left to go. I could tell they were starting to melt down because they committed three consecutive in-bounds with two minutes left on the game clock.

 

Jillian Ho hit a couple of free throws and we were up 40-33 with 1:58 left. But Brynn Taylor drove to the basket for Western Illinois, got the basket and got the foul. Down 40-35, Taylor aimed at the basket with what Coach Tomlinson would have called a "five iron throw" - the ball bounced off the basket and was designed for one of the Fighting Leathernecks to rebound. It's a hard play to draw up - who deliberately tries to miss free throws? It goes against every player's instinct.

 

But they did it. They boxed out, got the rebound, and Carmen Pittman got the shot baseline. Western Illinois was within three, 40-37, with 1:03 to go. The goal was for Allison Riggle to get the ball, to let about 30 seconds go off the clock, and then drive to the basket from the strong side. She did it! 42-37, but Western Illinois would get the final shot.

 

We went into a full court press. I wanted the Fighting Leathernecks to feel our breath, and our team did a great job. With about 20 seconds in, Pittman attempted a 3-pointer that failed, and Brynn Tyler got the rebound, weaved her way out to behind the arc, coughed up another 3-pointer - and that one failed. Jillian Ho got the rebound with 0:04 left on the clock.

 

They fouled her for the one and one. Ho missed the shot, but even though Western Illinois got the rebound, we were on top of them. They tried a beyond-the-midline shot that didn't count, since time had already expired.

 

Our center, Angelina Choe had seven points and 13 rebounds for her second Player of the Game award. Bella Grier added 11 points. With a 5-5 record in the Summit League, I figured that our magic number was five. If we could win five games - or if Western Illinois could lose five - we'd finished at least ninth. An eight-place finish would get us to the Summit League tournament.

 

We'd have no time to celebrate. We'd host IUPUI on Saturday.

 

January 28

 

Back against IUPUI, this time at home. This time the roles were reversed. We had beaten IUPUI on the road, 61-53 and this time they'd come to South Dakota and seek revenge. IUPUI was exactly one step above Western Illinois, hanging in at 2-8 in conference standings with eight conference games to go.

 

There were only eight players in the Summit Conference that averaged double-digits, and Olivia Ortiz was one of them with 11.0 points per game (but 2.8 turnovers per game). PF Rylan Vang averaged 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game.

 

I didn't really feel that IUPUI were a better team than we were. The Jaguars were the only team in the Summit League that turned the ball over more than we are. (14.7 TO/G vs. 15.4 TO/G.)

But I knew that among the battle of the bottom-feeders, anything could happen.

 

IUPUI 47, South Dakota 45

IUPUI Stats (5-16, 3-8):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Armani Fontenot   PG   28   1-4   4-4   0   2   2  2   6
Lindsay Moss      PF   30   1-7   2-2   0   3   1  2   4
Luna Cusick       SF   30   2-4   8-9   1   4   1  4  12
Zoe Brown         SG   18   0-2   2-2   0   0   0  4   2
Addisyn Nolasco   SG   30  4-10   0-0   3   9   1  1   8
Lizeth Bannon     C    17   2-4   0-2   1   5   0  1   4
Rylan Vang        PG   23   3-6   3-5   0   2   1  0   9
Cheyanne Levan    PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
J. Sadowski       SG   13   1-5   0-0   1   4   1  1   2
Jaylah Emrich     SF    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Kaliyah McQuiston C     3   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  1   0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Fontenot 1, L.Cusick 3, Z.Brown 1, 
A.Nolasco 2, R.Vang 1, J.Sadowski 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (L.Bannon 2, R.Vang 4)
Steals: 1 (J.Sadowski 1)
3P FGs: 0-10 (A.Fontenot 0-2, L.Moss 0-2, L.Cusick 0-1, 
Z.Brown 0-1, A.Nolasco 0-3, J.Sadowski 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (6-16, 5-6):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    29   2-5   0-0   1   7   0  3   4
Ashley Brown      PF   14   1-2   2-4   3   6   1  4   4
Jessica Bing      SF   21   1-5   0-0   1   1   2  5   2
Bella Grier       SG   33   2-7   3-4   1   5   1  2   7
Allison Riggle    PG   33   2-4   2-2   0   1   4  2   7
Morgan Tavarez    PF   25   4-8   1-2   1   8   1  3   9
Anzhelika Bure    SF   20   4-8   0-2   0   3   1  1   8
Jillian Ho        PG   12   1-1   0-0   0   0   1  2   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    8   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Ellie Hester      SF    4   1-2   0-0   0   0   0  2   2

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 
1, A.Riggle 1, M.Tavarez 4, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, E.Hester 
1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 1 (A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-5 (A.Riggle 1-3, M.Tavarez 0-1, A.Bure 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Rylan Vang (IUPUI)

 

And just like that, our two-game winning streak went up in smoke. The final score makes it seem like a lot closer than it was. It was 32-19 in favor of the Jaguars at the half.

 

Down 13 points, we began to claw our way back. With 11:01 to go we got the lead down to single digits. With 9:40 to go we got it to within a couple of buckets. With 8:33 we were actually within three points. With 2:29 to go, we were within two for the third time in the half.

 

But we could never get over the wall. A drive by Armani Fontenot put the Jags up 45-41. Bella Grier was sent to the foul line on her next drive to the basket, and she hit both to close us to within 45-43 with 1:39 left. The Jags were all about working the clock down with their next possession, and the team knew that it wasn't to foul. But Jessica Bing gave away a stupid foul with five seconds on the shot clock, and the basket went in. 47-43, in favor of IUPUI.

 

Luna Cusick missed the free throw, and Morgan Tavarez got the rebound. There was 1:01 on the clock. The play was a quick strike where the person serving as point guard - whoever brought it over the mid-line - would find Bella Grier in the left corner and Grier would knock it down. But Tavarez couldn't find Grier, driving to the top of the key, then to the right side of the court. Grier had to go and find Tavarez, and then, failing to improvise, wished to go back to the left corner. Grier couldn't hit it, and Lizeth Bannon got the rebound.

 

We fouled Bannon. Bannon missed both of her throws. We had 17 seconds left and the ball in our hands. We were trying to find the right wing but our players were horrible at moving the ball. "Just drive! Drive!" I screamed.

 

Finally, with four seconds left, IUPUI fouled Allison Riggle. Riggle hit both of her free throws, but IUPUI had the ball, and virtually sprinted to the other end of the court. The shot from the top of the key failed, and we got the ball, but we couldn't even bring the ball across the midline.

 

Final: IUPUI 47, South Dakota 45

 

I only had myself to blame for that one. If you lose by twenty points, it's your team's fault. If you lose by two, it's the coach's fault. They beat us despite shooting 33 percent from the floor. They went 0-for-10 from 3-point range and still beat us. Maybe it was their six blocked shots that beat us. I don't know. I'd have to take a disspirited team to Brookings to take on our arch-rivals, South Dakota State, a team which had gone to Oakland and were beaten soundly, 72-59. They'd want to take their frustration out on the Yotes.

 

(* * *)

 

#1 Oklahoma - they were still technically #1 despite the loss to Kansas State on Wednesday - went out to College Station to face the #7 Texas A&M team, soon to depart for the Southeastern Conference. They would lose 86-75 against the Aggies, where Texas A&M would outrebound them 35-24 and five Aggies would score in double figures. Wherever Oklahoma ended up on Monday, it wouldn't be at #1.

 

Top 10

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Connecticut              (72)    19-1    1800    2
  2.  Tennessee                        19-1    1728    3
  3.  Texas A&M                        18-2    1656    7
  4.  Stanford                         19-2    1584    8
  5.  UCLA                             18-1    1508    4
  6.  Tulane                           20-0    1442   10
  7.  Oklahoma                         17-3    1370    1
  8.  Bowling Green                    19-1    1272    9
  9.  North Carolina                   18-1    1229    5
 10.  Notre Dame                       17-3    1133   12

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

It's odd now that I've place these posts on the Grey Dog Software Forum, the hit count here has exceeded in a few days what it's taken months to achieve on this board. Even so, I'm fond of this board because of all the helpful replies I get here.

 

We will definitely have a new "mod pack" as soon as this season is over. A few teams (Texas A&M, Syracuse, Villanova, Belmont, Campbell, Seattle, NC Central) will be moved to different conferences. In addition, I plan on doing something about that thing where a lot of player names begin with the letter "A".

 

Next time: A new player commitment! Will it be Zoe McHale or someone else? Also: Mark Hawkins tries to get some help in "clustering" majors.

[Petrel]

February 2012

 

We were still chasing players in the beginning of February. I was used to a world where everyone signed by the first week of November. I had six scholarships to give away from the University of South Dakota, and only one taker - Catalina Stewart. Even though the team was doing better than expected on the court, it wasn't doing as well as expected in recruiting. My terror was that by the end of the final signing period in April I'd have a grand player of one person signed.

 

I still had my eyes on the elusive Canadian, Zoe McHale. Coach Williams was still trying to guide her through the process, trying to tease her to consider South Dakota the way you'd tease a mouse with a piece of cheese tied to a string.

 

"How's our reluctant Canadian?" I asked.

 

"Awful," Caitlyn said. "She's grown cold on me. I thought we were establishing a nice rapport, you know, girl to girl but now she's gone cold on me again. She's been talking about Florida a lot."

 

"Yeah. Florida as in 'Florida A&M'." Florida A&M was a historic black university. I needed some diversity on my squad but McHale's parents wanted her among other African-Americans. (Or is it African-Canadians?) She was definitely better than what was out there.

 

But knowing that Florida A&M was sticking with it brought me face to face with temptation. Some young woman on their squad was killed. She had been murdered by what appeared to be her unmarried partner in a domestic dispute. Her female unmarried partner.

 

As a recruiter, I could have gone with the lesbian issue right away. Later in life, I experienced parents who asked me, point blank, "Are there any lesbians on your team?" (My answer: "If there are, they've never said anything to me about it.") Some coaches - I won't name names, not yet - will go right after recruits and say "you don't want your daughter playing on Team X - that's a lesbian team!" They'll even go after unmarried head coaches. I've never been in a room where a coach directly said to me, "that coach over at Crosstown State is a lesbian," but I'll bet they use it when they talk to families.

 

Coach Tomlinson, politically incorrect as always, said, "****, I don't know Mark." (I was now "Mark" - Coach Tomlinson was starting to see me as a member of the brotherhood.) "I couldn't use that in my recruiting. Not with fellers. I couldn't say, "there's nothing but a bunch of fags on that team, or 'that coach over there is a fag, you don't want your son playing for him.' But if I had the chance - well - I did some pretty tricky stuff in my day, I'm not pretending to be a saint. I'm not saying I would ever have done it but I know for a fact that there were male coaches, who if they coulda done such a thing - you bet! Some coaches would slit your throat ear to ear for a prime piece of meat and leave you bleeding on the sidewalk."

 

"So I shouldn't pull that trigger."

 

"Mark," Tomlinson said, "it ain't God you have to answer to, it's that man in the mirror when you're shaving."

 

Now I'll be the first to tell you that on a men's team, no one would have stood for another player being gay. (At least, I think we wouldn't have. Things were already changing during my first year as a women's basketball coach.) But I don't know. I've bumped into people that I suspected were gay - and there were some guys in high school that the jocks picked on for being gay, so gay they practically floated - but I got the impression that the gays more or less wanted to be left alone. My father threw the F-A-G word around a lot, but he also said, "Son, never pick on someone who ain't hurting you just for breathing." Gays never did me any harm.

 

I never out and out asked a player if they were gay. (But later on in life...they would tell me, unasked.) Frankly, I thought it was disgusting. Not players being lesbians - like Coach Tomlinson said, you look into the mirror and you live with whatever it is you do. I thought it was disgusting to peek around in someone's bed, or to make some kind of wild-ass accusation based on something someone couldn't defend himself about. It was just underhanded and devious, shooting down a coach or a team for something that took place in someone's bedroom, probably miles away from a basketball court.

 

Besides, I suspected that Dr. McHale wouldn't like me bringing up the whole lesbian angle. I believed that if I even mentioned it, I could kiss my chances of getting Zoe McHale goodbye. And then it hit me - for all I knew, Zoe could be gay! I could just imagine that disaster playing out. Of course, her parents could say, "Hallelujah! This nice Mark Hawkins saved my daughter from the lesbians!" and they'd ship her right to USD. But she'd hate every second of the place, and she'd hate me for it.

 

I was going to see if I could win this one honestly. "Caitlyn, it's time for me to visit Zoe McHale again. Let's see if they don't throw me out after an hour."

 

"You promised to see Abigail Merkle?"

 

I had promised to see Abigail "Sure Shot" Merkle, the Arkansas junior college player who hit 91 percent of her free throws. But I was running out of hours in a day. "Okay, after McHale I'll try to squeeze Merkle in. Will we have the cash?"

 

"That depends, Mark," Caitlyn said, "How soon can you order the tickets?"

 

"Look for flights to Vancouver first. No!" I suddenly shouted. "No, I'm through with going over there! I want this player! I want McHale! Let's have her here for a weekend visit!"

 

"Coach," Caitlyn said, "do you even know what you're saying? You'd definitely have to bring her and a parent. You'll have to entertain her. The cost of that alone - that's going to eat up our entire budget for the month!"

 

She was right. We were as poor as church mice. I resigned myself to going to Canada again. There was only one thing that made me feel better about it - if it cost USD five figures to bring Zoe McHale to campus, it would cost much more for Florida A&M to do it!

 

But then I thought about it again. Who was left in the till, so to speak? Who was left for us to recruit. It was February. The litter of puppies had been picked over and the only ones left were runts. If there was some hidden gem out there, we were never going to find them.

 

"Caitlyn, do it. It's time to stop going to Mount McHale and let Mount McHale come to us."

 

(* * *)

 

February 2

 

I hadn't been looking forward to that ride to Brookings for a long time. Brookings, South Dakota was the home of South Dakota State University and SDSU would be giving us a greeting that only a Jackrabbit can give.

 

http://img802.imageshack.us/img8

 

If you don't recognize the object hanging from the billboard, it isn't an effigy. It's a dead coyote, South Dakota State's response to the billboards that USD posted all over the states. (At the game, there would be several T-shirts reading "IT COMMITTED SUICIDE". It would be inexplicable to USD visitors, but everyone at SDSU would get the joke.)

 

The 40 mile an hour winds that were sweeping across South Dakota didn't help. The weatherman-given temperature outside during the game was eight degrees, but with those winds it felt like we were in Antarctica. I swore I could hear the bus freaking sway as we drove from Vermillion to Brookings. It was a good day for going indoors and watching women's basketball, or Scrabble, or paint drying, or anything. But trust me, the fans that showed up wanted to be there and they packed the place.

 

The season hadn't gone the way SDSU had hoped. Oh, they were 8-3 in the Summit League and had a 16-6 regular-season record. They would probably win 20 games. But they were third place in a league they considered their league, behind Oakland at 11-0 and freaking IPFW at 9-2. They were not getting national attention and were no longer the bracket-busting darlings of the NCAA. However, they could still shoot for state supremacy.

 

SDSU's post play was still great. PF Cheyanne Hardiman was scoring 15.7 ppg and 6.8 rpg. C Chelsea Norris led the Summit League in rebounding with 10.7 rebounds per game and 2.1 blocks per game. The Jackrabbits led the Summit League in rebounding, and their scoring differential was +9.7 - they were winning games by almost double-digits.

 

After a 78-68 road loss to IPFW and a 72-59 followup road loss to Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies swept the Jacks in the regular season - the Jacks had lost back to back games for the first time this season. In Brookings, our difficult task would be to continue SDSU's losing streak.

 

South Dakota State 58, South Dakota 48

South Dakota Stats (6-17, 5-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    31   3-3   0-0   1   9   0  2   6
Ashley Brown      PF   26   1-3   4-5   0   3   0  3   6
Jessica Bing      SF   29   3-7   2-4   1   2   2  3   9
Bella Grier       SG   32   2-9   0-0   0   3   2  2   4
Allison Riggle    PG   24   2-5   5-8   0   2   3  4   9
Morgan Tavarez    SG   22   1-6   0-0   1   7   1  4   2
Anzhelika Bure    SG   14   3-8   1-2   0   1   1  3   7
Jillian Ho        PG   10   1-2   0-0   0   0   3  0   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    8   1-2   1-2   1   1   0  1   3
Ellie Hester      SF    3   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 3, A.Riggle 
1, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, A.Williams 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 1)
Steals: 4 (A.Riggle 1, A.Bure 3)
3P FGs: 1-6 (J.Bing 1-1, B.Grier 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, 
M.Tavarez 0-1, A.Bure 0-1, J.Ho 0-1)

South Dakota StateStats  (17-6, 9-3):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
M. Donaldson      C    24   0-6   0-2   0   1   1  4   0
Chelsea Norris    PF   36   1-4   4-6   3   9   2  3   6
Cheyanne Hardiman SF   34   7-9  8-11   1   8   0  2  22
Isabella Goodwin  SG   30   0-7   3-4   1   4   3  2   3
Sloane Harris     PG   29   4-7   3-6   2   7   1  2  11
Susan Wisdom      PG   14   4-6   0-0   0   2   1  5  10
Jaliyah Weatherby SF    9   1-2   0-0   0   3   0  2   2
Emily Bentz       PG   15   1-2   2-2   0   1   2  1   4
Charley Davis     C     7   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Annabel Archer    C     2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 13 (M.Donaldson 1, C.Norris 3, C.Hardiman 2, 
I.Goodwin 1, S.Harris 1, S.Wisdom 3, E.Bentz 1, 
C.Davis 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (C.Norris 3)
Steals: 3 (M.Donaldson 1, S.Harris 1, J.Weatherby 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (I.Goodwin 0-4, S.Wisdom 2-3, J.Weatherby 
0-1, E.Bentz 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Cheyanne Hardiman (SDST)

 

Well, we went into the meatgrinder and only lost by ten. Our players held up pretty well under the catcalls from the SDSU fans. We led the game by about one or two baskets for the first five minutes and it was close enough for us to sneak back into the lead, 20-18 with just under five minutes left. The Jacks were leading 29-28 with less than four seconds left but reserve PG Emily Benz caught us sleeping as time expired in the first half with another bucket. SDSU led 31-28 at halftime.

 

The second half could be explained as "too much Cheyanne Hardiman", who would finish with 22 points and eight rebounds. Three of the Jacks would finish in double figures and once again, the Yotes didn't have a player who finished above nine points. (But we had two players with nine points, Jessica Bing and Allison Riggle.)

 

We had six more games left this year,. No time to rest. All of those games will take place this February, and the Summit League tournament will start on March 4.

 

There would be no time to mourn. Back to the classrooms for Friday, a quick practice Friday night, and then a six hour bus drive off to Fargo, North Dakota to take on North Dakota State University.

 

(* * *)

 

That Friday night, North Dakota State's fellow school - the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, the team with the contentious nickname that was in danger of being thrown out of the Big Sky Conference - won its first game of the year in 21 tries by thumping visiting Eastern Washington by a score of 62-38. That morning, they'd be on a plane to play Montana to see if they could extend their one-game win streak.

 

(* * *)

 

February 4

 

Back against North Dakota State. We beat the Bison 67-48 at home, our best offensive output of the year. Freshman point guard Saige Christie was living up to the potential that Coach Reavis thought she'd live up to, scoring 11.4 points a game. The other half of the offense for the Bison was SF Haylee Mull. After those two players, the offense dropped off sharplye, even though I thought that backup freshman SF Erica Rochelle might live up to something someday. If you stopped Christie and Mull, you could stop North Dakota State. They didn't turn the ball over a lot, but they played an uncontrolled physical game that led to a lot of referee whistles.

 

We were 6-17 on the season. It had been a long winter, our RPI was #280, and we needed a ray of sunlight.

 

North Dakota State 66, South Dakota 36

South Dakota Stats (6-18, 5-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    28   3-7   0-1   5  12   0  3   6
Ashley Brown      PF   25   3-5   0-0   2   5   0  3   6
Jessica Bing      SF   26   2-6   2-2   1   5   1  2   6
Bella Grier       SG   20   0-6   0-0   0   0   2  4   0
Allison Riggle    PG   28   1-6   0-2   0   1   3  0   2
Morgan Tavarez    SF   27   0-4   1-2   1   2   2  3   1
Anzhelika Bure    SG   18   2-8   0-0   0   0   0  1   5
Jillian Ho        PG   13   1-5   2-2   1   1   0  1   4
Saniyah Barth     PF    8   2-2   0-0   0   0   0  1   4
Ellie Hester      SF    3   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     3   1-2   0-0   1   1   0  0   2

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 
1, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-5 (B.Grier 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, A.Bure 1-3)

North Dakota StateStats  (11-14, 6-7):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Claire Ramirez    C    27   6-7   3-4   0   7   0  2  15
Addison Wood      PF   29   0-2   4-6   0   3   1  2   4
Haylee Mull       SF   30  6-12   2-2   2   9   1  2  15
Mariam Rapp       SG   25   2-4   2-2   0   1   0  2   8
Saige Christie    PG   30   1-4   2-2   0   1   3  1   5
Myah Wagner       SG   18   3-3   2-2   1   4   1  0   8
Abigail Borst     SF   15   3-4   0-0   0   2   0  2   6
Anahi Vestal      C    15   1-2   0-0   0   0   1  0   2
Erica Rochelle    SF    4   1-2   0-0   0   1   1  1   2
Addison Kushner   C     3   0-0   1-2   0   0   0  0   1
Mallory Day       PF    4   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (C.Ramirez 1, A.Wood 3, M.Rapp 3, 
S.Christie 2, A.Vestal 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (C.Ramirez 1, A.Vestal 1)
Steals: 4 (H.Mull 3, M.Rapp 1)
3P FGs: 4-9 (H.Mull 1-2, M.Rapp 2-3, S.Christie 1-2, 
A.Borst 0-1, A.Vestal 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Haylee Mull (NDSU)

 

When two players - Haylee Mull and C Claire Ramirez - outscore your entire starting five, you know it's going to be a long night.

 

We made the first half interesting - 29-21, despite the fact that the Bison ended the half on a 6-0 run. But it was the 14-0 run that NDSU went on in the second half that absolutely killed us. For six whole minutes, South Dakota simply - forgot to play basketball. What started out being down 31-25 ended being down 45-25. We would only score eight more points in the last ten minutes of the second half.

 

We couldn't hit anything. We shot 29.4 percent from the field. NDSU shot 57.5 percent for the game. That was it right there.

 

What burned me was that they weren't playing a particulary physical game, either. They were only whistled for 12 fouls to our 18. They went to the line 20 times, we went to the free throw line nine times and only hit five shots.

 

Bella Grier and Morgan Tavarez were a combined 0-for-10 shooting. WIth the loss, we fell to 5-8, sixth place in the Summit League with five games left to go. We could finish no better than fifth place.

 

"Okay," I said in the locker room to our crushed team. "Maybe this was good for us. Maybe it was good that we got taken behind the woodshed. It means that we now realize how accountable we are, because everyone at USD - our friends, our classmates, our family - are going to read about how we got taken apart up here. I just don't want you to dwell on this. Dwelling on this is a luxury we can't afford. Not so close to the end of the season. Our finish in these next five games is going to determine a lot - not just about whether or not we go to the Summit League, but whether our heart is in this or not."

 

"We have to go home and forget this. It's an order. You don't have an option. You can't take it back. Forget it. If you thought North Dakota State was tough, we have IPFW and Oakland at home next week. Take the positive out of this if there's anything to take, and let's move on."

 

(* * *)

 

WBCA Top Ten Poll

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Connecticut              (72)    21-1    1800    1
  2.  Tennessee                        21-1    1728    2
  3.  Texas A&M                        20-2    1656    3
  4.  UCLA                             20-1    1584    5
  5.  Oklahoma                         19-3    1481    7
  6.  Tulane                           22-0    1444    6
  7.  Notre Dame                       19-3    1351   10
  8.  North Carolina                   20-1    1340    9
  9.  Southern California              20-1    1224   11
 10.  Stanford                         20-3    1152    4

 

The second week of February we got word that Zoe McHale would be coming to USD for an on-campus visit. She'd arrive on Febuary 10th, the day after our match with IPFW. She'd remain for our match against Oakland, and leave on Sunday. Coach Williams would spend the week drilling players on Zoe's hobbies, movies, television shoes, the names of her brothers and favorite foods. We took nothing to chance.

 

This week would be busy for me in other ways. Not only did we have to prepare against two of the toughest teams in the Summit League - Oakland had secured at least a tie for the regular season championship with a 13-0 league record - but I would be making visits to the deans of the schools at USD for help with a long-range project.

 

I was very interested in working with the academic departments with regards to class scheduling. Willie Burbank, the AD at USD, suggested that the women's basketball team's majors be clustered - that undecided players should be steered toward the same majors, with the same classes, with required course scheduled early in the AM in order for practice time to be kept free later in the day.

 

This entailed a visit to the most popular athletic major on campus - recreation. None of the women's players majored in recreation, but it wouldn't help to have allies in case my newer players were interested.

 

I quickly found out why "recreation" was such a popular program for jocks. The first thing was that it was essentially a three-year program and it had a lot of electives. The electives part made it very easy to choose courses that fit one's schedule. The second thing was that the senior year of recreation was all specializations and minor courses in the fall and an "internship" outside the classroom in the spring was basically consisted of one "course" that lasted 8-12 hours a week. Once you had a degree in recreation, you would then be able to direct activities in your local park or activity center. Whether you could get a job with such a degree was beyond me, but lots of athletes flocked to "recreation" as a major. (There was even a program that let you get your B. S. Recm. in three years as opposed to four. The fourth year of NCAA eligibility for women's basketball could be used being a graduate assistant. It looked promising.)

 

The problem was that there was no person in charge of the department. It was a division of the education department - I think. Currently, there wasn't anyone in charge of the program, just an assistant professor. The person nominally in charge of the program was the Dean of Education, who was the Dean of a Lot of Other Programs as well.

 

That three-year recreation program was tempting, but I felt it would be a mistake to pin my plans on an assistant professor. It looked to me like a lot could fall through the cracks of that program. (No wonder jocks liked it so much.) At the very least, there needed to be one person that I could be sure would be there for a long time. Until that day came, my plans would have to be put on hold - but that didn't mean that I wouldn't move on.

 

(* * *)

 

On Wednesday, the ESPN2 game would be #1 Connectictut visiting South Bend to take on #7 Notre Dame. Connectitcut had "The Mias" - SG Mia Schaller and SF Mia McKinnon - as well as PG Resse Koseter, each of whom averaged 17.2, 13.6 and 13.2 points per game respectively. Notre Dame's game was run by senior PG Aaliyah Armes, who averaged 8.1 assists per game to 1.9 turnovers per game. But defensively, the Huskies were top with 10.3 steals per game and they led the country with 83.3 points per game. Notre Dame was #7 with 80.2 points per game - everyone was looking forward to the show.

 

Both point guards blew up in the game. Koester scored 27 points and had nine assists. Aaliyah Armes had 24 points and seven assists. UConn led 41-34 at the break, but with 6:20 left Notre Dame finally tied the game.

 

With 45 seconds left, Notre Dame had an 80-76 lead and it was time for Connecticut to start foullng. Aaliyah Armes hit two free throws to put the Fighting Irish up 82-76. And then, within the course of eight seconds, PF Mia Gibson of the Irish stole the inbounds pass and went for the breakaway to put the Irish up 84-76, get the crowd roaring and basically seal the game. Notre Dame hit all of their free throws, and beat #1 Connecticut 87-81 for the Huskies second loss of the year.

 

(* * *)

 

February 9

 

It was 4:15 pm on Thursday afternoon. I was at the DakotaDome preparing for the game against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. My private cellphone number for RECRUITS ONLY began to ring.

 

"Hello, Coach Hawkins speaking."

 

<"Coach Hawkins?"> The voice sounded black and country. <"It's Abigail Merkle!"> (She pronounced it Ab-HAH-Gail.)

 

"Hello, Abagail! I hope you're doing well at Arkansas Baptist! Is there anything I can do for you?"

 

<"Coach...is that offer of a scholarship still up?">

 

My heart skipped. "Yes, Abagail. Yes it is."

 

<"Well, I'd like to sign now. I want to play for South Dakota next year.">

 

Don't talk after the close! "Abagail," I said, "I think you've made the best decision! Let me tell you what you have to do." Very patiently, I spelled out what Abagail would need to do. She'd need to print out a copy of a National Letter of Intent.

 

Coach Williams told me the story of Abigail Merkle. She was a ward of the state and a multiple foster-child. Her father abandoned her soon after her birth and her mother had a history of substance abuse and Abigail was eventually pulled out of school. She ended up at some coach's house in fourth grade and picked up basketball - but the state of Arkansas wouldn't allow long term foster care due to the involvement of Abigail's mother in on-again, off-again drug abuse. Coaches and other well-wishers wanted to do more for her and tried to keep her involved in basketball but this was very difficult due to her circumstances.

 

Even so, she hung in there in two high school and finished high school with a 2.96 GPA and a 1050 SAT. She wasn't signed by a Division I school, and one of the few schools she could afford was Arkansas Baptist College, a four-year historic black college. She was majoring in Religion but South Dakota had no religion degree, which was a stickler.

 

She was an okay jump shooter and ball handler for a 6-0 power forward. But at the free throw line! She hit virtually all of her free throw shots in JUCO, hitting over 95 percent of her free throws made. I had to have "Sure Shot" Merkle, even though there were better players. And now I had her!

 

<"That sounds good coach!">

 

"Abagail, you know that when you sign I won't be able to bring you up here to South Dakota. I'm glad your coming, but I wish you could have seen our school."

 

<"That's all right. I think I would have had a good time anyway.">

 

"The NLI will have the right number. Make sure you sign it and have your guardian sign it."

 

<"Coach,"> Abagail said, laughing. <"I'm my own guardian! Just let me know what else you need me to do.">

 

I didn't know why Abagail wanted USD, but I'd never look a gift horse in the mouth. The fact that Abagail was black was a bonus. If Zoe's family were looking for other black students on the team, Abagail signing put the grand total for 2012-13 at one.

 

(* * *)

 

It was 22 degrees outside, but don't let that fool you. This was the "warm spell" after a blizzard that lasted all of Tuesday and Wednesday and put the IPFW game in doubt. No matter. The airports were back open on Thursday and while South Dakota was busy digging itself out of its second major snowstorm of the year - at least the temperatures weren't as bad as the previous one - the IPFW Mastodons somehow made it to our game.

 

It was amazing, really. We must have some of the worst winter weather in the United States, and yet as far as I know no Summit League game has ever been cancelled.

 

Mastodon PG Amanda Tiller was still getting the job done for IPFW, scoring 16.6 points per game with 4.2 assists to 2.6 TO per game. USD would have the misfortune of playing the #2 offense of the league vs. IPFW, followed by the #1 offense on Saturday with Oakland. The key to the game would be defense - IPFW turned the ball over only 10.7 times per game and we'd need to tilt those numbers in our favor.

 

Three of the four coaches were very concerned about this game. But I sensed Coach Williams was a bit distracted. Abagail Merkle had signed with the Coyotes!

 

South Dakota 74, IPFW 71


IPFW Stats (14-10, 9-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee       C    27   3-9   2-2   2   5   1  2  10
Kayleigh Buchanan C    27   2-3   6-7   3   7   3  3  10
Aimee McIntyre    SF   30   3-5   2-2   0   3   4  3   8
Jaidyn Shanks     PF   27   2-5   1-1   1   2   0  2   5
Amanda Tiller     SG   34  5-14   0-0   1   5   5  3  13
Kai Eady          PG   18  3-11   2-4   0   1   1  4   9
Azul Shoffner     SG   14   3-4   2-2   0   1   1  2   8
Elianna Gonzalez  SF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Emily Sellars     PF   13   3-5   2-2   1   2   0  2   8
Janiah Johnson    C     7   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  2   0

Turnovers: 11 (E.Vallee 1, K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 2, 
J.Shanks 1, A.Tiller 4, K.Eady 1, E.Gonzalez 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (E.Vallee 1, K.Buchanan 1)
Steals: 6 (E.Vallee 1, A.McIntyre 2, A.Tiller 2, 
A.Shoffner 1)
3P FGs: 6-17 (E.Vallee 2-2, A.Tiller 3-8, K.Eady 1-6, 
A.Shoffner 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (7-18, 6-8):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    26   1-6   1-2   3  11   2  3   3
Ashley Brown      PF   27   2-2   2-2   2   5   1  2   6
Jessica Bing      SF   29   2-5   4-5   5   7   2  0   8
Bella Grier       SG   31  9-12   2-4   0   4   1  4  20
Allison Riggle    PG   26   3-6   1-1   0   2   3  5   8
Morgan Tavarez    C    23  4-11   5-7   1   3   1  3  13
Anzhelika Bure    SG   19   3-3   5-8   0   1   1  1  12
Jillian Ho        PG   13   2-3   0-0   1   2   1  0   4
Saniyah Barth     PF    4   0-2   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Analia Williams   C     3   0-1   0-0   0   2   0  0   0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 
2, M.Tavarez 1, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Brown 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Bing 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 2)
3P FGs: 2-5 (A.Riggle 1-4, A.Bure 1-1)

Player of Game: SG Bella Grier (SD)

 

At halftime, IPFW led 38-33 and it looked like it was going to be another tough loss, our fourth in a row. Bella Grier had finished the first half with eight points, but I didn't know it was going to be a banner day for Bella. As late as 10:25 left in the second half, IPFW led 55-47.

 

But with 3:50 left, with the score IPFW 67-63, Azhelika Bure was fouled by IPFW on a foul the the baseline. She hit one of two shots to close to 67-64. We would remain within 3-4 points for a long time but when Amanda Tiller was found with no one on her on the left wing, she hit a 3-pointer that put the Mastodons up 71-65 with 2:57 left.

 

We came back. Morgan Tavarez was fouled on a shot that she would have missed if they hadn't touched her, and hit both free throws. We kept them from brining it inside in the follow-up possession, and then Anzhelika Bure tried a 3-pointer on a drive to the right. I closed my eyes and was about to swear at Bure but she hit it! We were down by one point, 71-70, with 1:37 left and the Mastodons called a timeout.

 

"Look for Tiller!" I shouted. "They're going to give it to their go-to player! Bella, don't lose #14. Everyone else, be prepared to switch off because it's coming to #14, you can put money on that!" And I was right! Sure enough, the Mastodons looked for Tiller, who had no clear path from the baseline. She missed, and Bella got the rebound, we moved the ball quickly to Morgan Tavarez on the inside who got the bunny shot and we were ahead, 72-71.

 

IPFW still had a time out, but they didn't use it. They went for Tiller, and with Bella Grier unable to get to Tiller - IPFW had smartened up - Anzhelika Bure was all over her. And Tiller choked! Five-second violation, 40 seconds left on the clock, and the Yotes had the ball back!

 

The Mastodons fouled right away. Morgan Tavarez hit both of her free throws, and now we were up 74-71 with 38 seconds left. IPFW called the timeout.

 

"I'm still looking for Tiller!" I told the team - which was a mistake, because IPFW's coach wasn't going to give the ball to Tiller - they knew that we knew. They were trying to work the ball to Emma Vallee, who would work the ball inside, close it to two, and probably foul us on the next posseession. We were not a great free throw shooting team (even though we had gone 20-for-29 that night, for a 69 percent average) and they hoped to take advantage of that. But with the spotlight on South Dakota, we didn't choke. Vallee couldn't work her way through, and the shot was missed...and eventually ended up in the hand of Bella Grier, who sprinted away from the Mastadon defenders and hurled the ball up into the air as the clock counted down.

 

Yotes win! Yotes win! Yotes win!

 

Bella Grier had 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting and was the player of the game. Morgan Tavarez and Anzhelika Bure had 13 and12 points respectively. Our offense deserved a lot of credit - we only had two more turnovers thatn IPFW. Whatever measure you want to use to determine a win, we didn't win by some ref's bad call. It was the first time that USD had beat a winning team this season and even though we knew that Oakland would be no pushover we felt a lot more positive at the prospect of fighting the Summit League's toughest team.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2879/hotspringssentinelrecor.gif

 

Another Lady Buffalo will move to the next level with power forward Abigail Merkle signing a letter of intent with the University of South Dakota. The Coyotes play in the Summit League of NCAA's Division I.

 

Merkle is a sophomore religion major at Arkansas Baptist College who is scoring 11.0 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game. Head Coach Brandee Bright said, "We're very proud of Abagail Merkle here at Arkansas Baptist, for the hard work that she has put in both on the court and in the classroom. Abagail is definitely ready to play at the next level.

 

(* * *)

 

On Friday, Zoe McHale would visit the University of South Dakota. Like Catalina Stewart's visit, we were treating this as a state occasion. Coach Williams would pick up Zoe McHale at the airport and bring her to South Dakota. (She'd have to forgive the snowbanks - for a Canadian, this should be like a visit to Regina or Winnipeg.) And the great thing was that neither of her parents would be with her!

 

In the meantime, it wasn't Zoe's visit that was causing that chaos at South Dakota. With Abagail Merkle's unexpected signing, this forced us to reconsider our recruiting priorities. We now needed two small forwards, a power forward, and a center. Zoe would be our last power forward if we could get her signed. But what this meant is that we'd have to start expanding our recruiting of small forwards and a few of the power forwards we were looking at we would not longer pursue.

 

Some changes were easy. Hannah Struble and Jordynn Ellsworth - both power forward prospects - would now longer be called. They had failed to show their proper enthusiasm and this left us with a short list of Zoe McHale, Evgeyina Varlemova, and three other girls - Leah Alexander, Chaya Christ, and Charlotte Hedges.

 

As for the small forward candidates, I didn't know what was left on the tree in late February. It couldn't be any good, whatever was left.

 

I met Zoe, alone and away from her parents for the first time. We made some small talk and I found her to be almost the same. She was still a young woman of few words, but her words were deliberate and forceful. She thought about things before she said them, and you could tell there was a real take-charge attitude, like a general saving her verbal ammunition. I definitely thought she'd be an asset to the squad in terms of chemistry - I suppose growing up in a houseful of Top Dogs she'dnever get a chance to bark until she parted from their company.

 

"Zoe, if you can tell me, how's Florida A&M coming along?"

 

"All I know is that they said that the offer still stands. They say they'll be as patient with me as they can. They keep telling me they really want me."

 

"Was that offer verbal or written?"

 

"Written. They want me to play there. The coach told me that anytime I wanted a scholarship to just let them know."

 

It was confirmed. We have real competition. A signing war. "Have they offered a campus visit?"

 

Zoe smiled. "I'm not supposed to talk about that," she said. "But I can say that I'd definitely like to see Florida before this is all over."

 

"Zoe," I said. "Other school might have better resources, or better weather, but I can tell you one thing that they don't have. They don't have the passion that we have at the University of South Dakota. We are each other's best assets here. What make a great academic experience? The teachers and the students surrounding you. What makes a great athletic experience? The team that's surrounding you."

 

"Yeah, coach," Zoe said, "but can we win games?"

 

"I know you can win games," I said. "And if you can win games, we can win games. We just beat IPFW last night in a great game that our players will undoubtedly tell you about. And my hope is that you'll see us give Oakland a run for their money on Saturday. We need you there in the stands...and next year, we need you on the court."

 

(* * *)

 

McHale got the chance to watch our Friday practice in its entirety. It was a tough balancing act - I was trying to prepare the team against Oakland but at the same time not say something stupid that would kill my chances. I felt that McHale would be a real benefit to this team and we had spent thousands on recruiting her. Ready or not, we would battle Oakland on Saturday.

 

(* * *)

 

February 11

 

Game prep. NCAA recruiting rules forbid recruits from taking part in "game day" simulations. Zoe would only be able to hang around to a point. She wouldn't get a chance to sit on our bench, but we'd give her as close a seat as we were able to.

 

Oakland was just as tough as they ever were. Senior SG Hannah Audley out of Australia led the team - and the Summit League - with 17.4 points per game, but other starters were pretty good too. (C Jacqueline Glover, 9.2 ppg, SG McKayla Musgrove 8.9 ppg, PG Luciana Overturf, 8.6 ppg.) They had five players at 6-2 or taller - they weren't scorers, but they made beating Oakland very difficult.

 

In our last match against Oakland, we lost by 40 poitns. All of the above players scored in double figures with Grover scoring 17 points and nine rebounds. Our starting five was held to just 20 points. The led the league in point scored.

 

"This is going to come down to effort," I told them. "I don't care whether or not you can outscore Oakland. I just want to know if you can outwork them."

 

Oakland 73, South Dakota 38

Oakland Stats (19-6, 14-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Isabella Stafford C    21   2-3   2-4   0   5   2  4   6
Selena James      PF   28   4-7   2-3   6  10   0  0  10
Jacqueline Grover SF   28   3-7   1-3   2   6   2  0   7
Hannah Audley     SG   28  5-13   3-7   1   1   1  0  16
Luciana Overturf  PG   27   5-8   1-1   2   5   3  2  14
Grace Dupuis      PG   13   2-3   0-0   1   2   6  3   4
Mckayla Musgrove  SG   14   2-8   2-2   3   4   0  1   7
Stephanie Tittle  SF   18   0-5   2-4   3   7   0  1   2
Ava Dunning       PG    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  0   0
Nevaeh Chilton    PF   11   1-2   0-0   0   0   0  0   3
Olivia Ramos      C     9   2-3   0-0   0   1   1  2   4

Turnovers: 7 (S.James 2, H.Audley 1, L.Overturf 2, 
G.Dupuis 1, M.Musgrove 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Grover 1)
Steals: 7 (S.James 2, H.Audley 3, G.Dupuis 1, O.Ramos 1)
3P FGs: 8-23 (J.Grover 0-2, H.Audley 3-10, L.Overturf 
3-5, M.Musgrove 1-4, S.Tittle 0-1, N.Chilton 1-1)

South DakotaStats  (7-19, 6-9):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    23   1-2   0-0   1   8   0  4   2
Ashley Brown      PF   22   3-5   0-2   0   2   0  3   6
Jessica Bing      SF   17   2-4   0-0   1   3   3  4   4
Bella Grier       SG   19   2-7   1-2   0   2   0  4   5
Allison Riggle    PG   30   1-4   0-0   0   2   2  1   2
Morgan Tavarez    SG   23   2-5   1-3   1   4   0  3   5
Anzhelika Bure    SG   23   3-6   0-0   0   1   1  2   6
Jillian Ho        PG   16   0-4   1-2   1   2   1  1   1
Saniyah Barth     PF   13   1-1   0-0   0   1   1  1   2
Ellie Hester      SF    7   1-1   1-1   0   2   0  0   3
Analia Williams   C     7   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   2

Turnovers: 19 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 
5, A.Riggle 4, A.Bure 3, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1, A.Williams 
1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 0-8 (J.Bing 0-2, B.Grier 0-2, A.Riggle 0-1, 
M.Tavarez 0-2, A.Bure 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Luciana Overturf (OAK)

 

It was too much to hope for. Oakland is too good. They just toyed with us all afternoon. Remember when our starters were held to 20 points in the first game? This time, they were held to 19.

 

They started with an 8-0 run. Before even 10 minutes were over, they were leading 26-6. They led 45-18 at the half. They rebounded whenever they wanted to and they played zone defenses against us. Boy, those players were fast. They had seven steals and we turned the ball over 19 times.

 

I should have been screaming at them. But for what reason? Oakland was at a different level. The level that I hoped USD would be at someday.

 

It was another crushed locker room, this time on our home turf. "I don't know what else I can do," I said. "I have a lot to do with this. We were not prepared. We didn't plan well enough for them. The things that we worked on doing were either the wrong things, or they were inadequate things. Don't sit here and worry about letting us down. We let you down."

 

"Next week," I said, "we have our last home game of the season. Senior Day against Nebraska-Omaha. We have a week to prepare for it. When we get out of this locker room, let's forget it. I suggest one way of forgetting it is to drop by Allison's dorm room tonight and treat our newest recruit to some South Dakota hospitality. But next week, we want our seniors - #44, #30, #35, and #23 to get all of the attention. Practice next week. Three more Summit League games, people. Three more games."

 

(* * *)

 

That same night, Western Illinois visited IUPUI and broke a 47-47 tie with two minutes left for their second season win, 51-48. Any combination of a win by us or a loss by Western Illinois, and we would be guaranteed not to finish last in the Summit League.

 

We were 6-9. UMKC was 3-11. Any combination of wins by us or losses by UMKC that added up to "two" put us in the post-season tournament, where only eight of the ten Summit League teams would be invited.

 

(* * *)

 

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2585/taravanderveer.jpg

Sloane Hunt on the job at Stanford.

 

That same night, the #4 team in the country - UCLA - went to Palo Alto to visit #10 Stanford. The Cardinal had only lost three games all season. The first was an 89-80 loss to Los Angeles. That shook them up so much that two days later they went on the road and lost back-to-back for the first time in a long time, an inexplicable 66-64 loss to Utah. The third time was against #9 Southern Cal.

 

UCLA had a 47-45 lead at halftime, but after Stanford coach Sloane Hunt screamed at her charges at the break it was Cardinal all the way. The Cardinal got the lead early in the second half and never relinquished it on the way to a 93-81 win. Four players scored in double figures for Stanford, including Player of the Game center Jada Fawcett (18 points) and PF Lyric Greenberg (17 points, 10 rebounds).

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Wow. That took a while to finish. A lot going on.

 

I don't know very much about the Recreation Major at South Dakota, so consider anything and everything I write about South Dakota academics a complete work of fiction until proven otherwise.

 

I'll leave you with the schedule and the season stats for the players.

 

Next time: Senior day. Mark Hawkins has to scrape the bottom of the recruiting barrel, more on clustering majors and the regular season of the Summit League wraps up.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 Record  RPI  Result  Score      Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/13/11    Seattle                    4-21  317       L  64-57         0-1
 11/15/11    at Southern Illinois       5-20  268       L  59-54         0-2
 11/19/11    at Murray State           14-11  309       L  61-49         0-3
 11/22/11    Wright State               9-15  254       W  59-41         1-3
 11/25/11    #14 Iowa                   20-4   87       L  63-41         1-4
 11/29/11    at Missouri                7-16  153       L  77-48         1-5
 12/03/11    at Akron                   14-9  131       L  62-35         1-6
 12/06/11    at #19 Purdue              19-4   21       L  69-39         1-7
 12/09/11    Marquette                  16-7  100       L  68-41         1-8
 12/13/11    at Xavier                  18-5   74       L  64-42         1-9
 12/17/11    at #2 Tennessee            23-1    2       L  76-44        1-10
 12/22/11    UMKC                       6-19  325       W  61-49  2-10 (1-0)
 12/24/11    Oral Roberts               17-7  126       L  50-40  2-11 (1-1)
 12/29/11    at IUPUI                   6-19  318       W  61-53  3-11 (2-1)
 12/31/11    at Western Illinois        2-22  342       L  47-37  3-12 (2-2)
 01/05/12    North Dakota State        12-15  222       W  67-48  4-12 (3-2)
 01/07/12    South Dakota State         20-6  119       L  60-34  4-13 (3-3)
 01/12/12    at Oakland                 19-6   57       L  82-42  4-14 (3-4)
 01/14/12    at IPFW                   15-10  134       L  72-52  4-15 (3-5)
 01/21/12    at Nebraska-Omaha          6-19  277       W  55-52  5-15 (4-5)
 01/26/12    Western Illinois           2-22  342       W  42-37  6-15 (5-5)
 01/28/12    IUPUI                      6-19  318       L  47-45  6-16 (5-6)
 02/02/12    at South Dakota State      20-6  119       L  58-48  6-17 (5-7)
 02/04/12    at North Dakota State     12-15  222       L  66-36  6-18 (5-8)
 02/09/12    IPFW                      15-10  134       W  74-71  7-18 (6-8)
 02/11/12    Oakland                    19-6   57       L  73-38  7-19 (6-9)
 02/18/12    Nebraska-Omaha             6-19  277                           
 02/23/12    at UMKC                    6-19  325                           
 02/25/12    at Oral Roberts            17-7  126                           

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player             Pos  GP  GS   Min  Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley Brown        PF  26  26  25.8  5.7  1.2  4.6  0.9  0.3  0.2  1.8  2.0  -7.6
Angelina Choe        C  25  23  27.5  4.8  2.6  9.3  0.8  0.2  0.2  1.6  2.3  -7.5
Allison Riggle      PG  26  22  25.5  5.8  0.5  1.4  2.6  0.4  0.1  2.2  2.4  -9.4
Bella Grier         SG  21  19  28.1  8.1  0.6  2.4  1.1  0.3  0.2  1.8  2.5  -7.9
Jessica Bing        SF  19  19  25.4  6.8  1.2  2.8  1.4  0.4  0.1  2.0  2.5  -7.4
Jaylynn Adams       PF   8   7  20.3  2.6  0.4  3.6  1.1  0.0  0.0  1.5  2.4  -3.3
Analia Williams      C  23   7  11.3  2.0  0.5  2.0  0.3  0.0  0.2  0.6  1.0  -5.0
Saniyah Barth       PF  26   4  11.1  2.2  0.3  1.5  0.5  0.3  0.1  0.6  1.3  -6.3
Anzhelika Bure      SG  26   3  21.6  6.9  0.3  2.2  0.5  0.5  0.2  1.8  1.8  -6.4
Morgan Tavarez      SG  22   0  18.0  5.0  0.6  3.3  0.5  0.0  0.1  1.2  1.9  -7.5
Ellie Hester        SF  24   0   9.5  2.4  0.5  1.7  0.4  0.0  0.0  0.9  1.1  -2.5
Jillian Ho          PG  14   0   9.1  1.6  0.5  1.0  0.7  0.1  0.1  0.8  0.6  -3.6
Harley Lewis        SF  14   0   5.7  2.1  0.4  1.0  0.2  0.1  0.0  0.8  0.8   0.2

[DavidCorperial]

This is pretty interesting, keep up the good work.

[Petrel]

David: Thanks for the compliment. I'll try to keep it as interesting as I can!

 

(* * *)

 

 

We had a full week of practice ahead of us, but we still had Zoe McHale to worry about. She went off with Bella Grier and Bella's friends on Saturday Night after the game and we all had breakfast together before the final meeting in my office on Sunday.

 

Coach Tomlinson said, "Recruiting is like preaching - start with your theme. Then repeat your theme. Then conclude by repeating your theme." I said, "Zoe, if you sign with this team, it shall contend. This school is closer to your home than Florida A&M. This school is a good fit for you, you've met the players on the team, you like them and they like you. With Abagail Merkle signing, you won't be the only person of your race on the team. Everything you need to be successful is right here at USD, and it's time to make the leap."

 

"Coach, thanks," she said. "I had a great time here. But I have a lot to think about right now." I kept pushing - coming close to the hard-sell but not crossing the line - but no dice. Zoe would not decide yet. I wished her the best and told her I hoped to hear from her soon.

 

(* * *)

 

The new WBCA Poll came out on Monday.

 

Top 10

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Tennessee                (72)    23-1    1800    2
  2.  Connecticut                      22-2    1728    1
  3.  Texas A&M                        22-2    1656    3
  4.  Notre Dame                       21-3    1563    7
  5.  Oklahoma                         21-3    1533    5
  6.  Southern California              22-1    1440    9
  7.  Stanford                         22-3    1368   10
  8.  UCLA                             21-2    1296    4
  9.  North Carolina                   21-2    1224    8
 10.  Duke                             20-3    1119   11

 

It looks like UConnn's loss to Notre Dame only dropped them by one spot in the polls, while the Lady Vols rose to #1. The poll consists of traditional women's basketball powers. The only surprise there is USC, with just one loss hanging in at #6. The Trojans (sometimes called the Women of Troy) had beaten #7 Stanford 71-66 earlier that year, they would play #8 UCLA later this month.

 

(* * *)

 

With Zoe McHale out the door, I had a full week to look into the clustering issue. What was the second most popular major for jocks besides recreation? Business.

 

Unlike the Recreation Department, USD's Dean of the Beacon School of Business was not a fill-in. His name was George Bayer, and he was a very busy man. Not only did he take part in seemingly every business association in South Dakota, but he was available for just about any media activity, talking about everything from mundane business activities like price fluctuations to philosophical discussions about the ethics of capitalism. He had also spent years of fundraising for a new building for the School of Business.

 

On Tuesday, I visited him, passing the rolling stock ticker which was a prominent feature of one of the student lounges. His office was surprisingly rather littered, the mark of a person who didn't like to think except when surrounded by the tools of thinking.

 

I did the best to explain my goal for visiting without being insulting. I didn't want to leave the impression that I wanted him to turn the School of Business into a cake class department for women's basketball players. What I was looking forward to was some help in scheduling issues that might pop up for women's basketball players choosing a business major.

 

"Well, we certainly are very popular," Bayer said. "I really don't know why though. I was actually hoping that you could give me insight as to why so many athletes want to be business majors. Mr. Hawkins, I don't want to walk away from this conversation with the impression that you're pressuring your athletes to take business as a major."

 

"It's not that. I would be happy with my players if they took nuclear engineering as a major. But there are some programs that have lab requirements that eat up a lot of spare time. Generally, these are scheduled at inflexible hours - either take the class at Time X, or lose the opportunity. This wreaks havoc with our ability to schedule practices. There have been times this year when I've only had five players available for a practice due to French Lab or some other thing."

 

"I understand," Bayer said. "But we suffer from the same constraints. Not enough teachers to teach a course. Sometimes, certain required courses can only be taught at a certain time because there's really one professor that can teach what we want to teach. If we work with your team, Mr. Hawkins, you have to work with us. Maybe we could teach a required course on Tuesday and Thursday as opposed to three or four times a week. We try to make as much of an accomodation with the USD athletic departments as possible."

 

"Yes," I said. "But can you do anything beyond and above?"

 

"Well...I'm willing to be a little bit more flexible. One thing I've found is that athletes tend to be competitive and successful, and donate to the university after achieving career success. I can say that I'm very sympathetic, and I'm willing to do what I'm able to do without compromising the integrity of the School of Business."

 

"I would never ask you to do that," I said. "You can count on that."

 

He smiled. "Well, when it comes time for the university to pass its budget someday, maybe when you're a national champion women's coach you can put a bug in the word of the president of the university about the business department."

 

"If we can get there," I laughed, "it will be the first thing I talk to him about!"

 

"Fair enough!" he said. I gave him some tickets to the game against Nebraska-Omaha - not expecting him to use them. The next season, the business department would offer more flexibility in its required courses, hiring more professors. I never had a problem with the School of Business. Thinking back on it after I left the office, I felt sad. The first thing I did when I got home was call James Madison University and make a donation for $100.

 

(* * *)

 

If there's anything that can be treacherous in South Dakota - usually not South Dakotans - it's the weather. Early this week it looked like the sun was finally going to show itself, with temperatures actually in the low 40s on Tuesday. I thought I'd see something I hadn't seen in weeks - ice and snow melting.

 

But it didn't last. On Wednesday, we heard of a blizzard hitting western South Dakota. And on Thursday, I saw my first whiteout.

 

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/993/whiteoutl.jpg

 

What is a whiteout? The overcast combined with all the snow that had fallen - and the snow we were getting from the western part of the state - combined to create an optical illusion that made visibility near zero. It was like walking in a fog. I usually walked to campus but for about five minutes I had to kneel down on the sidewalk because I literally could not see five feet in front of me. I thought it was going to last forever. It was a really frightening moment.

 

And then on Thursday we got freezing rain and snow despite a high temp of 32. Two inches of snow fell in just six hours. The ground was still rock-hard and once again, Vermillion suffered another South Dakota winter.

 

At least we wouldn't have to play basketball on Thursday - we had a bye that week. Before Thursday's scheduled Summit League games the Summit League looked like this:

 

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                  14   0  1.000  19   6  .760   57        42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits            12   3   .800  20   6  .769  121        61
IPFW Mastodons                            10   4   .714  15  10  .600  139        25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                10   4   .714  17   7  .708  119        38
North Dakota State Bison                   7   8   .467  12  15  .444  219        30
South Dakota Coyotes                       6   9   .400   7  19  .269  266         0
IUPUI Jaguars                              4  10   .286   6  19  .240  321         4
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   4  11   .267   6  20  .231  280         0
UMKC Kangaroos                             3  11   .214   6  19  .240  325        14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     2  12   .143   2  22  .083  342         9

 

FEBRUARY 16, 2012 SCHEDULE

 

Games:

 

* IUPUI (6-19) at North Dakota State (12-15) : IUPUI still had an outside shot at fifth place in the conference, but needed to run the table. Not going to happen. Four Bison score in double-figures and turn a six point half-time lead into a 25 point blowout. North Dakota State 66, IUPUI 41.

* Western Illinois (2-22) at South Dakota State (20-6) : South Dakota State still had title hopes, whereas Western Illinois was only fighting for pride. I was left in the odd position of rooting for the Jacks, because a win by the Jacks meant that USD could finish no worse and avoid the dreaded cellar. The Fighting Leathernecks make a go of it, but SG Emily Bentz shots 7-for-8 off the bench with 18 points. South Dakota State 69, Western Illinois 39. The South Dakota Coyotes will not finish in last place this year!!

* UMKC (6-19) at IPFW (15-10): IPFW was chasing second place and UMKC was chasing Nebraska-Omaha for that eighth place spot. In the Battle of the Acronyms, IPFW leads 30-27 at halftime. With 30 seconds left the score is tied and UMKC's Jenna De la Rosa misses a pair of free throws. The Mastodons get the ball but miss the three-pointer, and on the follow up possession, Janet Stonge hits the shot. When IPFW tries their next shot, De la Rosa redeems herself by rebounding the missed shot and then gets to go to the line to hit two free throws with eight seconds left. UMKC 63, IPFW 59.

* Oral Roberts (17-7) at Oakland (19-6): Oral Roberts was the last serious candidate to try to throw a wrench into undefeated Oakland - after Oral Roberts the Golden Grizzlies would face UMKC, Western Illinois and IUPUI. This one was tied at halftime 35-35 and I wish I could have been there. ORU had a 68-67 lead with 41 seconds on the clock, and the Golden Grizzlies sent the Golden Eagles to the free throw line. Myra Villasenor of ORU hit both free throws to make it a 70-67 game. But with 13 seconds left, Hanna Audley nails a 3-pointer to tie the game. On the last possession, wtih 0.4 seconds on the clock, Nevaeh MacNeil of ORU hits the buzzer beater to win it for the Golden Eagles! Oral Roberts 72, Oakland 70. A 10-game winning streak by Oakland is snapped and the Grizzlies will not go undefeated in Summit League play!

 

February 18

 

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                  14   1  .933  19   7  .731   61        42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits            13   3  .813  21   6  .778  133        61
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                11   4  .733  18   7  .720  103        38
IPFW Mastodons                            10   5  .667  15  11  .577  162        25
North Dakota State Bison                   8   8  .500  13  15  .464  223        30
South Dakota Coyotes                       6   9  .400   7  19  .269  271         0
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   4  11  .267   6  20  .231  282         0
IUPUI Jaguars                              4  11  .267   6  20  .231  320         4
UMKC Kangaroos                             4  11  .267   7  19  .269  316        14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     2  13  .133   2  23  .080  340         9

 

Today was Senior Day. After today we'd have to leave the comfort of the DakotaDome and the bleachers they roll up to the basketball court constructed in what is essentially the middle of a football field. We'd say goodbye to

 

* Harley Lewis, SF (#14): The only Mississippian on the squad. The only black player on the team. Unfortunately, she was the final player off the bench. There was no point in giving her a scholarship because she had been a non-scholarship player all four years. Definitely a very smart player - and an art major - but she simply couldn't step up into the role of leader, even from the bench.

 

* Morgan Tavarez, SG (#44): I never had a problem with Morgan Tavarez. She played 22 games for us this year, averaging about 5.0 ppg, coming off the bench in all of those games. She still had this dream of finding a post somewhere overseason on a European women's basketball team, but honestly I didn't think it was going to happen. She seemed to believe that her minimal accomplishments in Division I women's basketball were somehow major ones.

 

* Saniyah Barth, PF (#30): Barth started in four games this year (out of 26) but produced virtually nothing offensively. She was a great goal-setter, but couldn't achieve any of them on the basketball court. She's a criminal justice major, so I hope that she can achieve her goals in law enforcement.

 

* Ellie Hester, SF (#35): Came off the bench in 24 games, averaged 2.4 points per game. Definitely very driven, but I think she's a litte naive in believing that Europe is going to be knocking down her doors to have her come play basketball for them. Her ability to speak French won't get her on a team.

 

* Ashley Sayer, manager: She gave up her walk-on scholarship for the team. She was our manager all year, and I promised her a senior day and by God, she was going to get one.

 

Three of the four were South Dakotans. I got the chance to meet Lewis's parents for the first time. They were pleasant enough but we didn't have a lot to talk about, or they didn't want to talk to me.

 

Our best hope for a celebration of Senior Day was to defeat the visiting Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha. A win against UNO would secure USD going to the postseason. If we won, we'd have seven Summit League wins and the best that UNO could from this point would be six wins. Western Illinois could only get five at best, so we'd finish no worse than eighth...and eighth was good enough.

 

As for UNO, they were ninth out of ten in rebounds, assists, steals, and turnovers. The only high point for UNO is that they had the fewest fouls per game. None of their players averaged in double digits.

 

"If we play right," I said, "and if we play smart...we can win this and get that reward we've been wanting all year - the postseason!"

 

Nebraska-Omaha Stats (6-21, 4-12):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chanel Stevens    PF   29   4-6   0-0   6   8   3  1   8
Kylie Davis       C    23   6-7   1-2   0   4   0  3  13
Dulce Diaz        SF   26   2-7   0-0   2   5   1  1   5
Aaliyah Dube      SG   28   1-6   2-2   0   0   2  3   4
A. Sappington     PG   29   2-8   0-0   0   0   1  3   6
Brianna Padilla   SF   12   0-5   0-0   1   2   1  4   0
Janelle Ainsworth PG   12   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Halle McCully     PF   18   2-3   0-1   0   1   0  1   5
Sophia Schaaf     SF   11   1-4   0-0   0   1   1  3   2
Eloise Espinosa   C     8   0-0   0-0   0   2   0  1   0
Cecilia Reilly    PF    2   0-0   0-0   1   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 12 (C.Stevens 2, K.Davis 2, D.Diaz 1, 
A.Sappington 4, J.Ainsworth 1, H.McCully 1, E.Espinosa 
1)
Blocked Shots: 0 
Steals: 4 (D.Diaz 2, A.Dube 1, J.Ainsworth 1)
3P FGs: 4-17 (D.Diaz 1-5, A.Dube 0-5, A.Sappington 2-5, 
H.McCully 1-1, S.Schaaf 0-1)

South DakotaStats  (8-19, 7-9):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    31   3-5   0-0   5  12   3  2   6
Ashley Brown      PF   28   4-6   4-8   3   8   1  1  12
Jessica Bing      SF   25   3-9   0-2   0   1   1  3   6
Bella Grier       SG   32   4-6   5-6   1   3   2  1  13
Allison Riggle    PG   32   3-5   2-2   0   0   5  2   8
Morgan Tavarez    PF   26   1-2   0-2   0   4   2  2   2
Anzhelika Bure    SG   17   4-6   1-2   1   1   1  1  11
Jillian Ho        PG    3   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Saniyah Barth     PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Ellie Hester      SF    2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Analia Williams   C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 2, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 2, A.Riggle 
3, M.Tavarez 3)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Choe 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-7 (A.Brown 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, A.Riggle 0-2, 
A.Bure 2-3)

Player of Game: PF Ashley Brown (SD)

 

We lead 26-11 at one poin the first half and 32-18 at halftime. Three minutes into the half, we led by twenty. It was no contest. We shot 56 percent for the game and had 15 assists. No Maverick scored in double figures, while three players (Ashley Brown, Bella Grier, Anzhelika Bure) had double digits.

 

Furthermore, for the first time in South Dakota's history in the Summit League, the Yotes would go to the post-season. (We used to be in the Great West Conference, the lowest of the low.)

 

"That was a great win," I said. "You had your destiny in your hands, and you didn't drop it. We were going to build the foundation of a great program here - and today, we put down the cornerstone. Great work. We still have UMKC and Oral Roberts on the road. We have a shot at 10 wins this year! Let's shake some teams up and I'll see you at practice!"

 

What I'll really remember is going out for a team dinner with the visiting parents after the game, and as we collectively left the DakotaDome we were stung by a blistering wind. Morgan Tavarez's father turned to her and said, "Now you know why we didn't come up to visit you more."

 

FEBRUARY 18, 2012 SCHEDULE

 

Games:

 

* Western Illinois (2-23) at North Dakota State (13-15): The Fighting Leathernecks try to avoid finishing last and win some games while North Dakota State looks to clinch a .500 conference record. The Bison get their wish with another blowout loss from Western Illinois. North Dakota 69, Western Illinois 41.

* IUPUI (6-20) at South Dakota State (21-6): The Jacks need to run the table to have a shot of winning the regular season championship. The Jacks hold IUPUI to 27.5 percent shooting and lead 45-18 at halftime. South Dakota State 69, IUPUI 35.

* Oral Roberts (18-7) at IPFW (15-11): A win by the Mastodons would tie both Oral Roberts and IPFW for third place in the Summit. IPFW leads 38-34 at haltime, and the Golden Eagles were held to just 16 second half points as every Mastodon starter scored in double figures in a blowout home win. IPFW 72, Oral Roberts 50.

* UMKC (7-19) at Oakland (19-7): Oakland gets at least a slice of the regular season championship with a win; the 'Roos want to avoid any more losses. UMKC is only down by six at halftime, but the Golden Grizzlies shoot 7-for-20 from 3-point range and they are just too strong on the boards for UMKC to challenge. Oakland 71, UMKC 56.

 

This put South Dakota solidly in sixth place. If North Dakota lost its last two and we won our two we had an outside chance for fifth. This meant that we'd be playing either IPFW or Oral Roberts in the first round of the Summit League tournament. It gave me a lot to think about.

 

(* * *)

 

On Saturday, the #1 Lady Volunteers would host their state rivals, the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy shot 57.5 percent from the field and hit 12 3-point shots to run Tennessee out of Boling-Thompson Arena. SG Scarlett Martin went 7-for-13 from 3-point range to score 32 points as the 'Dores beat Tennessee 96-72, a devasating loss for the Lady Vols. So who would be the new #1 team?

 

WBCA Top 10

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Connecticut              (72)    24-2    1800    2
  2.  Texas A&M                        24-2    1705    3
  3.  Tennessee                        24-2    1679    1
  4.  Oklahoma                         23-3    1564    5
  5.  Notre Dame                       23-3    1532    4
  6.  Southern California              24-1    1440    6
  7.  Stanford                         24-3    1368    7
  8.  UCLA                             23-2    1296    8
  9.  Duke                             22-3    1224   10
 10.  Tulane                           25-1    1152   11

 

(* * *)

 

Over what spare time we could find we had to deal with our recruiting problems. Abigail Merkle's signing left us looking for small forwards. We were still looking to sign two small forwards, but had only made one scholarship offer - to Adalyn Matz, an Arizona gril who was a decent ball handler and a 38 percent free throw shooter.

 

We needed to bolster our call list. This left us to add these players to the list:

 

Lorelei Bergmann, a 6-0 player from Glencoe High School in Oregon, who scored 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds pergame, but shot only 57.8 percent from the line.

Olivia Marriott: 6-1 and a three-star player from Blanche Ely in Florida. 14.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Amelia Callen: 6-0 from College Park High School in California, near Diablo Valley College. 15.0 points per game, 6.4 rebounds.

 

So how come these players hadn't been signed?

 

Bergmann had a combined SAT score of 850 out of 1600. Oregon State had been giving her a long hard look but had made no decisions. Her scores put her in the bottom twenty five percent of the student body, maybe lower. She had some Division III offers, though.

Callen had an SAT score of 910. Her highest offers were from California DIIs and DIIIs.

Marriott had both Louisiana State and Iowa State thinking about her, but the 1010 SAT score was scary. The community around Blanche Ely is even scarier, and both schols wondered if Marriott would be a good fit.

 

The average SAT score at USD was about 970. I could probably get Callen in unless she changed her mind and stayed in California. Bergmann would be a real stretch...and every year, I'd have to worry about whether she'd flunk out. She was a student-athlete, emphasis on the athlete.

 

As for Marriott, Vermillion, South Dakota would be as different from Pompano Beach, Florida as a lush, green field would be from the moon landing. Blanche Ely served some of the most impoverished students in Broward County. Coming to USD would be a major adjustment.

 

In the meantime, we could start calling these students. (Coach Williams found Marriott hard to get on the phone.) But we couldn't visit or assess them. No time, no money.

 

(* * *)

 

On Wednesday action in the Big Twelve, the #4 Oklahoma Sooners were visited in Norman by the #2 team in the country, Texas A&M. Oklahoma had lost 86-75 in College Station when they were the #1 team in the country and they wanted revenge. Oklahoma was up 71-62 late in the second half but the Aggies went on a 9-2 run to close to 73-70 with 1:03 left. Texas A&M closed the defense on the Sooner and forced a shot clock violation. Texas A&M would have not one, but two chances to hit a 3-pointer...and missed both attempts as Oklahoma beats the Aggies 73-70 to undoubtedly force another shakeup in next week's poll.

 

(* * *)

 

2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                  15   1  .938  20   7  .741   63        42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits            14   3  .824  22   6  .786  134        61
IPFW Mastodons                            11   5  .688  16  11  .593  149        25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                11   5  .688  18   8  .692  105        38
North Dakota State Bison                   9   8  .529  14  15  .483  232        30
South Dakota Coyotes                       7   9  .438   8  19  .296  280         0
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   4  12  .250   6  21  .222  296         0
IUPUI Jaguars                              4  12  .250   6  21  .222  316         4
UMKC Kangaroos                             4  12  .250   7  20  .259  312        14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     2  14  .125   2  24  .077  341         9

 

We hit the road to take on the Kangaroos of UMKC in Kansas City, Missouri. By this time, I was glad to be getting out of South Dakota. On Monday we got eight inches of snow with over a foot of snow in Western South Dakota. The interstates were turned into skating rinks. Our parents stayed for a while in Vermillion, except for the parents of Morgan Tavarez who barely beat the blizzard to the airport.

 

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/1059/blizzardnightmaredozens.jpg

 

At UMKC we had the chance to do something that we hadn't done all year - sweep an opponent for the season. We won that first game - the first game of the Summit League season - 61-49. PG Ava Batchelor was still scoring 8.1 points a game - she played almost 30 minutes a game - to lead the 'Roos, but UMKC had two injured bench players. Even so, Batchelor turned the ball over more than a good point guard should. Senior C Janet Stonge averaged 6.7 points and 6.9 rebounds over 29 starts.

 

I didn't think the 4-12 record was representative of the Kangaroos; UMKC was tougher than the record. But if they were playing for pride, we were playing for a season sweep, eight conference wins and a shot at fifth place.

 

UMKC 56, South Dakota 49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    30   5-8   0-0   4   8   1  2  10
Ashley Brown      PF   30   3-8   0-0   2   9   1  0   6
Jessica Bing      SF   26   0-3   0-0   2   3   2  4   0
Bella Grier       SG   35  7-15   1-1   1   4   1  4  15
Allison Riggle    PG   32   1-5   2-2   2   2   2  4   4
Morgan Tavarez    C    24   2-4   1-2   0   4   1  3   5
Anzhelika Bure    SF   11   3-7   0-0   0   1   1  2   6
Jillian Ho        PG    8   1-4   1-1   1   1   0  0   3
Saniyah Barth     PF    2   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Ellie Hester      SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0
Analia Williams   C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 
2, A.Riggle 2, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 0-7 (J.Bing 0-1, B.Grier 0-1, M.Tavarez 0-1, 
A.Bure 0-3, J.Ho 0-1)

UMKCStats  (8-20, 5-12):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Janet Stonge      C    32   2-4   1-2   1   6   0  2   5
Jemma Delarosa    PF   32   2-5   0-0   2   9   0  0   4
Madison Reichert  SF   26   6-8   3-6   0   5   0  2  17
Charley Hughes    SG   29   2-5   2-4   1   2   3  2   6
Ava Batchelor     PG   30   3-9   1-2   0   1   0  2   7
Madison Daniels   C    12   0-0   2-4   0   0   0  0   2
Madison Bright    C     5   1-2   0-0   1   1   0  1   2
Alaina Huskey     SF   14   2-3   4-4   1   2   0  0   8
Mia Garnett       SG   18   1-4   3-6   0   0   4  1   5
Britney Fields    PG    3   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  1   0

Turnovers: 8 (J.Stonge 2, J.Delarosa 1, C.Hughes 2, 
A.Batchelor 1, M.Garnett 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (C.Hughes 1, M.Daniels 1, A.Huskey 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Delarosa 2, M.Reichert 1, C.Hughes 1, 
A.Batchelor 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (M.Reichert 2-4, C.Hughes 0-1, A.Batchelor 
0-1, M.Garnett 0-3)

Player of Game: SF Madison Reichert (UMKC)

 

Whatever we were playing for, it wasn't enough. No sweep.

 

This was a really tough loss because we played them close for almost a full forty minutes, never more than a couple of baskets behind. With 3:19 left in the game we had it tied 49-49.

 

And then we lost our minds. We had two players make terrible passes that ended up in the twelveth row somewhere. During this period of horrors, the Kangaroos went up 54-49 we called a timeout with 1:46 left. The plan was to get it to Tavarez but she missed the shot from the left wing. We fouled Madison Reichert - who was killing us all game - but she missed both free throws she took with 57 seconds left.

 

With 27 seconds left, Bella Grier tried for another three - but UMKC's man to man defense had zeroed in on her and she was being trailed. We couldn't set a screen and Grier drove inside for a shot attempt. No good. UMKC got the ball, we had to foul, and Ava Batchelor hit two free throws to make it a 55-49 game with 14 seconds left.

To add insult to injury, Saniyah Barth got tied up by Madison Daniels for a held ball...and the possession arrow gave the ball back to UMKC with three seconds left.

 

It was our twentieth loss of the season. I should have said something to calm them down. They were freaking out under pressure and I couldn't bring them back into the game. "This is something that we're all going to have to work on next year," I told our team. (By "all" I meant myself as well.) "We had the chance to sweep the Kangaroos and we just need to learn to finish. We need that killer instinct. Most of the year, we've not been in the position to be able to finish off an opponent. We let them press us, we weren't ready for it, we panicked."

 

"But look at it this way," I said. "We did a lot of things to be successful. We just didn't get that last step. We have to move to Oral Roberts on Saturday. We're going to need all the pieces to beat ORU, and not just some of them. We might have been able to defeat UMKC if not for a few mistakes, but Oral Roberts will be even tougher."

 

(* * *)

 

FEBRUARY 23, 2012 SCHEDULE

 

Games:

 

* IPFW (16-11) at IUPUI (6-21). IFPW tried to secure a shot at third place ahead of Oral Roberts, IUPUI was playing for its post-season life. IUPUI tried hard at home, and were down by three with 16 seconds left and had the ball, but Aimee McIntrye's steal puts the game away. IPFW 58, IUPUI 53.

* Oakland (20-7) at Western Illinos (2-24). A victory by Oakland would give the Golden Grizzlies the regular season title outright. Western Illinois fought hard, but the Fighting Leathernecks turned the ball over 22 times and committed 24 team fouls. Oakland 59, Western Illinois 49. Oakland wins the Summit League regular season championship.

* Nebraska-Omaha (6-21) at Oral Roberts (18-8). Nebraska-Omaha's post-season future was uncertain. Oral Roberts shot 8-for-18 from 3-point range to keep it that way and by the last five minutes had a commanding lead. Oral Roberts 62, Nebraska-Omaha 41.

 

(* * *)

 

That same night in Top 10 play, #8 UCLA came to visit #6 Southern California. The Trojans were leading the Pac-12 for the first time in forever, but could they hold off a challenge from their traditional rivals?

 

UCLA had a one-point lead at halftime, 49-48, and in the second half USC collapsed. The Bruns shot 66 percent from the floor and shot 18-for-25 from 3-point range. Oddly enough, that wasn't close to a national record in 3-pointers made. The most 3-pointers made in a game is 21, by New Mexico State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette in 2002. Neither was the 66 percent a record, not compared to the 76 percent that Vanderbilt scored against Alabama in 2007. Even so, it was an amazing game with UCLA beating USC 101-81. USC still held on to the Pac-12 lead, but only by one game.

 

(* * *)

 

February 25

 

Our final regular season game would take us to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play Oral Roberts on Senior Day. Our playoff future was secure while Oral Roberts needed the win to make sure that it didn't slip from third place and to get to that all-important 20-win benchmark. There was the chance that after this game, our first post-season game would be against...Oral Roberts.

 

We were the dessert for the Golden Eagles Senior Day ceremonies. Three seniors would be honored, and it would be ignored that one of them was on academic suspension. One of those three seniors included SG Myra Villasenor, who was averaging 12.4 points a game to lead the Golden Eagles. PG Julia Sterner could always feed Villasenor the rock, leading the Summit League in assists and scoring 10.5 points a game herself. backup G Lilian Bernier averaged 9.3 points per game.

 

The other non-suspended senior, PF Taylor Neighbors, averaged 9.1 rebounds per game. C Kendall Valero was a force under the basket, but she had suffered a broken jaw earlier this season in the game where Oral Roberts delivered Oakland their only loss of the season.

 

Like it or not, where Oral Roberts was now is where I hoped that USD would be in the years to come. Great point guard play, and posts under the basket who could rebound any misses. We would do our best to prepare for this game - with the knowledge that I might be preparing for the next one, too.

 

Oral Roberts 70, South Dakota 67

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    35   3-9   0-2   5  16   2  3   6
Ashley Brown      PF   31   2-2   0-2   2   6   3  2   4
Jessica Bing      SF   33  9-13   2-5   2   5   3  3  22
Bella Grier       SG   26  5-14   1-1   0   1   1  5  11
Allison Riggle    PG   38   2-9   0-0   2   3   4  0   5
Morgan Tavarez    C    30   3-7   1-2   2   8   2  1   8
Anzhelika Bure    SG   18   3-5   3-4   0   1   0  1   9
Jillian Ho        PG    7   1-1   0-0   0   1   1  0   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    5   0-0   0-0   0   0   1  0   0
Ellie Hester      SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 
2, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 4)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Brown 1, M.Tavarez 1, S.Barth 1)
3P FGs: 4-8 (J.Bing 2-3, A.Riggle 1-4, M.Tavarez 1-1)

Oral RobertsStats  (20-8, 13-5):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Taylor Neighbors  C    34   3-7   2-4   5  12   2  2   8
Kadence Campuzano PF   31   1-5   0-0   2   6   1  2   2
Myra Villasenor   SF   27  5-11   2-2   0   4   0  5  15
Lilian Bernier    SG   34  4-13   3-3   0   2   1  2  13
Julia Sterner     PG   39  6-17   2-2   1   4   7  2  14
Leslie Cox        PG   20   1-2   2-2   2   3   3  3   4
A. Bosworth       SG    4   2-2   0-0   0   0   0  1   5
Zoe Wolford       C    17   1-3   0-0   1   2   1  0   2
Nevaeh Macneil    PF   15   2-2   0-0   1   4   2  3   4
Addison Catalano  SF    4   1-3   0-1   0   1   0  1   3
Harper Denton     C     1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 8 (K.Campuzano 1, M.Villasenor 1, L.Bernier 
1, J.Sterner 1, L.Cox 2, A.Bosworth 1, Z.Wolford 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (T.Neighbors 1)
Steals: 4 (M.Villasenor 1, L.Bernier 1, J.Sterner 1, 
N.Macneil 1)
3P FGs: 7-15 (M.Villasenor 3-5, L.Bernier 2-6, 
J.Sterner 0-2, A.Bosworth 1-1, A.Catalano 1-1)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)

 

We almost did it. Almost. But "almost" only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. To me, this was more agonizing than a 20-point loss.

 

We matched them evenly. We played man-to-man, they played man-to-man. We held them to just 40 percent shooting. Our girls outrebounded them, 40 to 37, with Taylor Neighbors getting her rebounds - 12 - but Angelina Choe picked up 16 rebounds for the Yotes.

 

Jessica Bing had averaged something like seven points a game but she blew up against Oral Roberts, hitting two of three 3-points shots and 9-for-13 overall, scoring 22 points. We led Oral Roberts 30-27 at halftime. For most of the second half, we kept up with Oral Roberts and we were within a point as late as 1:07 left, down 60-59.

 

With 23 seconds left, the Golden Eagles had missed their shot and we had the ball. Mrya Villasenor fouled Anzhelika Bure for her final foul of the game, scoring 15 points and fouling out. This sent Bure to the line for two free throws.

 

Missed the first one. Hit the second.. Oral Roberts had the final shot from Julia Sterner, but she missed it. Overtime! 60-60 all.

 

I felt good about the overtime - Oral Roberts was now missing its leading scorer and one of its lead rebounders. But with 1:07 left I felt we got called with a bull**** foul when Jessica Beng got her hands on a pass to Julia Sterner. It was one of those "glancing contact" things and I thought it was a dumb foul to call during an overtime game. Sterner hit both of her shots, and we were down 68-64 with 1:07 left.

 

I went to Morgan Tavarez for that shot from 3-point range, because I figured that Oral Roberts would keep their eyes on Bing. We got it to Morgan, but she couldn't hit it and then we were forced to foul. We weren't in the bonus yet, so this gave ORU the 1-and-1. They missed the first one, and we had the rebound with 39 seconds left.

 

This time we'd go to Bing. Allison Riggle couldn't find Bing, so she went to Bella Grier in the coner and Grier made a fundamental mistake. She got trapped in the corner and she should have dribbled backed out. Instead, she stopped her dribble and ORU trapped her, and then stole the ball with 10 seconds left.

 

Grier was forced to foul. Now Grier was out of the game and Lilian Bernier was at the line for the one and one.

 

First shot: good.

Second shot: good. Bernier had a great overtime period, and we were down by six with eight seconds left. Bing hit an emergency 3-pointer with time expiring, but too little too late.

 

Why did it slip away from us? First, we went 7-for-16 at the line. We only had one player shooting above 70 percent all season - Harley Lewis, a rarely-used bench player who would be graduating. If we had shot 66 percent at the line, we could have sent it into a second overtime. We hit four 3-pointers, but ORU hit seven. Jessica Bing was named Player of the Game, and that didn't happen with losing teams. We just didn't back her up.

 

Thinking about it, if one of their posts didn't have a broken jaw, it might not have even gone to overtime. I told the team to learn from this game. "No more room for error any more," I said. "We're getting so many things right. Good defense. Good shooting. But our thinking still isn't clear. We have to do the little things right like hitting free thows. The foundation has been put down, but we're not building on it."

 

We had to go to work. And so did I. I had to get better as a coach. But how?

 

(* * *)

 

FEBRUARY 25, 2012 SCHEDULE

 

Games:

 

Oakland (21-7) at IUPUI (6-22): IUPUI had the toughest task in securing eighth place - Oakland had already clinched the #1 seed in the Summit League tournament. Oakland led by 20 at halftime and took the rest of the game off. Oakland 57, IUPUI 38.

IPFW (17-11) at Western Illinois (2-25): IPFW was hoping for a third-place finished while the Fighting Leathernecks were hoping to finish Senior Day with a win. Three Mastodons scored in double figures while Western Illinois turned the ball over 19 times. IPFW 62, Western Illinois 49. IPFW clinches third place on a tie-breaker and will play South Dakota in the first round of the Summit League tournament.

North Dakota State (14-15) at South Dakota State (22-6): Could NDSU reach .500 for the season? This one was a real fight, with NDSU leading by five at halftime. It was tied with three minutes left, and NDSU could have had the upset but Mariam Rapp's shot fails to find its target. South Dakota State 53, North Dakota State 52.

Nebraska-Omaha (6-22) at UMKC (8-20). UMKC needed to secure seventh place, UNO made its push for the final Summit League tournament spot. The Kangaroos led 28-17 at halftime and the Mavericks never really challenged. UMKC 52, Nebraska-Omaha 45.

 

2011 Summit League Final Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                  17   1  .944  22   7  .759   78        42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits            15   3  .833  23   6  .793  121        61
IPFW Mastodons                            13   5  .722  18  11  .621  159        25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles                13   5  .722  20   8  .714  109        38
North Dakota State Bison                   9   9  .500  14  16  .467  215        30
South Dakota Coyotes                       7  11  .389   8  21  .276  282         0
UMKC Kangaroos                             6  12  .333   9  20  .310  312        14
IUPUI Jaguars                              4  14  .222   6  23  .207  306         4
x Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                 4  14  .222   6  23  .207  301         0
x Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks   2  16  .111   2  26  .071  335         9

 

(* * *)

 

February 2012

 

Queen Elizabeth the Second of Great Britain hit the 60 year mark as queen.

 

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7174/queenelizabeth.jpg

 

She inherited the throne on 6 February 1952 with the death of her father, King George the Sixth. She still has approximatedly 3 1/2 years to go to catch up to Queen Victoria, who ruled Great Britain for 63 years and 216 days. Nonetheless, Great Britain will officially celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER NOTES

 

Another long set of posts. Long term goals:

 

* A new mod for women's basketball, adjusting prestiges and conference membership.

* A coaches' file for women's basketball - this is a real iffy one.

* A "wish list" of improvements to FBCB, one of the best games around.

 

Next time: the Summit League tournament. Will the Yotes get a first round upset against IPFW? Or will they be one-and-done? And more on Hawkins's recruiting struggles.

[Petrel]

February-March 2012

 

WBCA Top 10 - 27 February 2012

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Connecticut              (72)    25-2    1800    1
  2.  Tennessee                        26-2    1728    3
  3.  Oklahoma                         25-3    1656    4
  4.  Notre Dame                       25-3    1584    5
  5.  Texas A&M                        25-3    1512    2
  6.  Stanford                         26-3    1440    7
  7.  UCLA                             25-2    1368    8
  8.  Southern California              25-2    1296    6
  9.  Tulane                           27-1    1224   10
 10.  Bowling Green                    26-2    1152   11

 

February turned into March, and we waited for Sunday, March 4th to arrive - the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the Sioux Falls Arena. There were no "rights" to the tournament or rotating locations - whoever paid top dollar got to host it. And the Sioux Falls Arena had been willing to pay the money.

 

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6608/siouxfallsarenaprofile.jpg

 

The Summit League tournament would be a long day. We'd arrive on Saturday, March 3rd and spend a lot of time waiting. The schedule of games looked like this:

 

Sunday, March 4

 

Game One: (1) Oakland vs. (8) IUPUI, 12 noon

Game Two: (4) Oral Roberts vs. (5) North Dakota State, 2:30 pm

Game Three: (2) South Dakota State vs. (7) UMKC, 6:00 pm

Game Four: (3) IPFW vs. (6) South Dakota, 8:30 pm

 

Monday, March 5

 

Game Five: Semifinals, 12:00 noon

Game Six: Semifinals, 2:30 pm

 

Tuesday, March 6

 

Game Seven: Finals, 3:00 pm

 

Our season record against The Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons was 1-1. We split the season series, losing 72-52 on the road on January 14th and winning 74-71 at home. But there was a big reason they were 18-11 and we were 8-21.

 

IPWF: 65.0 ppg vs. opponent 61.5 ppg (+3.5 differential: #3 in offense, #8 in defense)

South Dakota: 48.8 ppg vs. 59.9 ppg (-11.1 differential: #6 in offense, #7 in defense)

 

The only place where we had an advantage over the Mastodons was in rebounding, and it wasn't by a whole lot. On the other hand, they had advantages pretty much across the board against us.

 

So how do we stop IPFW? The key would be stopping PG Amanda Tiller, who averaged 16.7 ppg to lead the Summit League - as Amanda went, so went the Mastodons. She was the person that made the engine run, who had 3.8 assists to 2.5 TO per game. The game plan as written on the board:

 

* STOP #14! "Arms Length!"

* Deny the pass one pass away!

* Outside hand turned inside! (how one denies a pass)

* Ball control (IPWF had the fewest turnovers in the Summit League and we'd have to keep our own turnovers down)

 

Coach Reavis had watched a lot of game film of Amanda Tiller. We had drawn up a few plays to put pressure on Tiller; hopefully our players could remember them and execute them. "Time is of the essence!"

 

Until then, we'd wait for our start time. Since Sioux Falls was only an hour away, the students studied (if they could) the first part of the tournament - we didn't even take them out of the hotel until the start of the South Dakota-UMKC game. They watched part of that game briefly, then prepared to go downstairs, get taped up and get dressed, and get ready for our own game.

 

Across the arena: IPFW. The Mastodon players, playing the waiting game as well. Just like us, but I'm the kind of guy that feels that its more important to me than it is to anyone else. I was tired of waiting. I wanted to get down there and coach this game. And, optimistically, I brought three suits to the tournament.

 

IPFW 76, South Dakota 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    31   3-4   0-0   8  14   2  3   6
Ashley Brown      PF   27   3-9   5-5   3   3   1  1  11
Jessica Bing      SF   23   0-6   1-2   5   8   2  1   1
Bella Grier       SG   31  5-12   0-0   2   4   1  3  10
Allison Riggle    PG   29   3-6   0-0   0   1   2  3   6
Morgan Tavarez    SF   26  3-10   3-4   4   8   0  1   9
Anzhelika Bure    SG   14   1-9   2-2   1   2   0  0   4
Jillian Ho        PG    7   0-1   2-2   1   1   0  1   2
Saniyah Barth     PF    6   0-1   1-2   0   1   0  0   1
Ellie Hester      SF    3   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  3   0
Analia Williams   C     2   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 
2, A.Bure 3, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Riggle 1, A.Bure 2)
3P FGs: 0-6 (J.Bing 0-2, A.Bure 0-3, E.Hester 0-1)

IPFWStats  (19-11, 13-5):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee       C    26   2-2   0-0   0   2   0  2   5
Kayleigh Buchanan C    23   5-6   1-2   1   4   3  1  12
Aimee McIntyre    SF   23   2-5   2-2   0   5   1  2   8
Jaidyn Shanks     PF   26   1-5   2-2   0   2   1  2   4
Amanda Tiller     SG   34  7-12   2-2   0   1   4  1  21
Kai Eady          PG   28   4-8   5-6   3   3   2  0  14
Azul Shoffner     SG   21   2-4   1-2   0   3   2  2   6
Elianna Gonzalez  SF    5   1-1   2-3   0   1   1  2   4
Emily Sellars     PF    8   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Janiah Johnson    PF    4   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  1   2
Lilly Thompson    C     1   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  0   0
Ally Aviles       PF    1   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 8 (K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 2, A.Tiller 1, 
A.Shoffner 3, E.Gonzalez 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Tiller 1)
Steals: 6 (K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 3, K.Eady 2)
3P FGs: 11-21 (E.Vallee 1-1, K.Buchanan 1-1, A.McIntyre 
2-5, A.Tiller 5-8, K.Eady 1-4, A.Shoffner 1-2)

Player of Game: PG Amanda Tiller (IPFW)

 

Why did we lose? We forgot rule #1. Amanda Tiller averaged 16.7 points per game; she scored 21. She had four assists and only one turnover. As for keeping out turnovers down, we dropped our number to 14, which is about our average - but IPFW dropped their turnovers to eight.

 

We shot 14-for-17 from the free throw line, one of our best performances ever at the line. But IPFW shot 15-for-19, almost as well.

 

They hit 11 3-point shots and they just killed us without outside shooting. They led by 12 points at halftime, and we were never in it. In the back half they went on a 14-3 run at one point and with 6:12 to go we were down by twenty points.

 

Ashley Brown had 11 points and Bella Grier had 10, but that was it. We only shot 30 percent from the game, with Anzhelika Bure going 1-for-9 and Jessica Bing going 0-for-6.

 

Truth be told, Amanda Tiller was a senior. This was her last Summit League game and she must have decided that she wasn't going to lose in the opening round to upstart South Dakota. She went 5-for-8 from behind the arc, refusing to buy into our game plan; most of the time she shot before we could get a hand on her. The only good thing to take away was that we'd never have to face Amanda Tiller again.

 

The season was over. Finished. We went 8-22 for the year. The players were strangely subdued, even though there were a few sniffles. Most of the players had come to grips with the loss during the second half, it was no surprise.

 

I told my players that we'd have a lot to work on in the off-season. I thanked the seniors for the four years they gave to Vermillion. And that was it. Next year had already started.

 

(* * *)

 

I'll tell you how the rest of the Summit League tournament went.

 

Quarterfinals

 

Oakland 74, IUPUI 44: The Golden Grizzlies led the Jags 36-15 at halftime. This one wasn't really a contest.

South Dakota State 62, UMKC 50: Despite only shooting from free throw range, the Jackrabbits advance to the semifinals. The Kangaroos turning the ball over 22 times didn't help.

North Dakota State 74, Oral Roberts 64: The only upset of the opening round. The Bison stormed out to a 15 point lead at halftim and shot .500 for the game. Four Bison starters scored in double figures. The Golden Eagles could never recover from the first half.

 

Semifinals

 

Oakland 74, North Dakota State 62: Oakland once again had a commanding lead in the first half - 45-29 - and the only goal was not to lose it. SG Hannah Audley scored 20 points to lead both teams with SG McKayla Musgrove adding 17 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the floor.

South Dakota State 75, IPFW 63: Despite only 42 percent shooting from the Jacks, South Dakota State advances to another Summit League tournament final. Fouls killed IPFW as the Mastodons sent the Jackrabbits to the free throw line 31 times, committing 24 team fouls.

 

2012 Summit League Championship Game

 

South Dakota State 62, Oakland 51: Third time was the charm for the Jacks, which had been swept in the regular season by the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland started with a 6-0 lead, but South Dakota State followed with a 6-0 run and the game was on. Another 11-3 run by the Jackrabbits helped put Oakland behind 33-20 at the end of the first half. Oakland got to within eight points late in the game but could never make it a real contest. Both Cheyanne Hardiman (SDSU) and Hannah Audley (OAK) had 18 points each but the Player of the Game was South Dakota State's senior shooting guard Isabella Goodwin with 14 points and seven rebounds.

 

(* * *)

 

On March 6, 2012, I was back home in Vermillion. I didn't even know if I was going to be back in South Dakota next year, which depended on Willie Burbank removing the "interim" title from my position as women's basketball coach. The focus for the rest of the season would be recruiting. We still have four spots to fill and we were only a month away from the end of the NCAA official recruiting period.

 

That morning in my office at the DakotaDoma, I received a very early phone call. I recognized the caller ID - it was Zoe McHale.

 

"Hello Zoe!" I said. "How are you?"

 

"Fine coach," she said. Before I could say anything else, she said, "Coach, I just want to call and tell you that I won't be attending South Dakota. I've accepted the scholarship offer from Florida A&M."

 

I was crushed. After losing in the first round of the post-season tournament, this was another dose of horrible news. All the money we had spent on trying to bring Zoe McHale to USD - wasted. McHale's turning down USD changed everything. "Zoe," I said, "will you give us another opportunity to make our case?"

 

"No coach," she said. "I faxed the National Letter of Intent over to Florida A&M this morning."

 

That was that. The door was officially shut, and by NCAA rules I was forbidden to recruit McHale any more. Oh, there were some coaches who really pushed the envelope, but I knew Zoe McHale and I suspected that when she said things she meant them.

 

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," I said. "You're going to be a success in whatever it is that you do. But before I let you go for the last time, just one question - why Florida A&M? Why not us?"

 

"I just liked Coach Tomlinson's philosophy," McHale said. Not my Coach Tomlinson, but Coach Addision Tomlinson of Florida A&M. "She really wants to bring fun into her coaching." The implication was that I did not.

 

We chatted briefly. Once again, I wished her the best of luck. I then walked over to my computer and typed.

 

To: Caitlyn.Williams@usd.edu, Raelynn.Reavis@usd.edu, Katie.Ulmer@usd.edu

Fm: Mark.Hawkins@usd.edu

Re: Emergency Meeting

 

We just lost Zoe McHale to Florida A&M. Emergency meeting. TODAY. Clear your schedules.

 

--Mark

 

(* * *)

 

"We're screwed," I said. "We've got four spots to fill and we've got no one to fill them with. If I had gotten McHale, I would have been happy to let the chips fall where they may - Stewart? She's going to be great with the right coaching. Abigail Merkle? She can hit free throws, but how often is she going to get to the line? McHale was better than anyone on our team. Not as good as Stewart, but better than Merkle. And now we've got four slots and only crap to fill it with."

 

"We're worse off than that," Williams said. "Everyone on our calling list is starting to cool down. They've been jerked around by schools for months now. In November, it was like, 'Great! You're calling!" Now we're in March, and it's like, 'Oh. You again.'"

 

"Good Lord," Reavis said, "you are offering these kids a free education, you'd expect them to be enthusiastic about it."

 

"Yeah, well now they're thinking about those DII and DIII offers - or even if they're going to play basketball at all," Williams said.

 

"Who was that girl that got all those offers?" Ulmer said. "We should get her!

 

"Emily Simmons out of Texas?" Williams said. "Yeah, she got a ton of interest recently. Even SMU and Mississippi have started sniffing around her door. Looks like they're using her as a safety for that final roster spot."

 

Ulmer nodded. It seems like she and Williams had been talking about Simmons. "Well, why didn't you tell me about this?" I said.

 

"They didn't pull the trigger," Williams said, "so it doesn't mean anything."

 

"All right," I said. "Well, we've got four scholarships to give out. Adalyn Matz and Caroline Herrington have already been offered. We've got, what, nineteen names left? We've got to figure out who to offer to. By the end of the day, we're going to have all of these scholarships offered! We've got one month to make a full court press. That and the first week of April."

 

Before Williams could answer, I said, "I'm going to make the push. I'll visit the kids myself. If we don't get any signings, it's all going to be my responsibility anyway." I turned to Williams. "They'll be more impressed by me than by you."

 

I then looked at everyone in the room. "Besides, that 'interim' title hasn't been removed from my name yet. Another year of ****ing 8-22 and all of us are going to be out of a job!"

 

"Don't get mad, Mark," Reavis said.

 

"Don't get mad? We were 8-22! If there's anything in the world we should be mad about, it's 8-22! We can only say that it was the kids that failed the program for one season! After this season, if we don't budge that record up or get past the first round of the ****ing tournament, it's going to all be on us!"

 

(* * *)

 

At the end of the meeting, we had two more names to add to the list. The first was FF Chaya Christ, out of Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. Williams had been touting her for a long time, and supposedly had a good rapport with her. The other choice was SF Nora Goss out of Nevada, who had been on our call list like forever. I had liked her handles on the game film that I saw. She wasn't the best player out there - not by far - but she was one of the best that we had a chance to get.

 

It was done. We'd see Christ on the 17th and Goss on the 24th. We ordered airline tickets to New York and Nevada, and I hoped to get a win off the court if I couldn't get one on the court.

 

(* * *)

 

We were moving into the tournaments of the power conferences.

 

The first big upset was on March 8th in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. Louisville took the lead at the last minute to upset the #1 team in America, beating Connecticut 80-79 with SG Ava Paynter scoring 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting for the Cardinals.

 

There were more upsets to come on the 9th. In the Conference USA Tournament, Tulane - a #8 team with only one loss all season - lost to Houston 52-49 when Emily Rainbolt's 3-pointer to tie the game refused to fall.

 

In the Pac-12 semifinals, #7 Southern California - the regular season winner and #1 seed in the tourney - lost to Arizona State. Tied at halftime, the Sun Devils closed out the game with a 14-3 run. The other semifinal match had a battle of top ten teams, #4 Stanford vs. #9 UCLA. With four seconds left on the clock and the Cardinal up 92-91, UCLAS's SF Mya Ketcham stole the ball from Stanford, but SG Ayana Alexis could not get the shot off in time for the Bruins before the clock died.

 

The Big East had its second upset of the tournament on the 9th, with #21 Rutgers beating #5 Notre Dame, 65-57. The Scarlet Knights held Notre Dame to just 15 first half points and the Fighting Irish couldn't fight their way out of it.

 

There were two more days of tournament games - March 10th and 11th - before the NCAA Selection Show took place on Monday, March 12th. I planned on camping out in with my beer and pretzels.

 

(* * *)

 

That Saturday, I got a call at home from Caitlyn Williams. "What's up?"

 

"Remember Cayla Christ?"

 

"Uh huh?"

 

"Go to the Hoopgurlz site and look up her profile."

 

"Do I have to? Spell it out for me."

 

"Okay. Basically, Quinnipiac and Holy Cross have made offers. And we've not even made her list of top schools."

 

"Tell me about Quinnipiac and Holy Cross."

 

"I know they're both in New England. They're a lot closer to New York than South Dakota will ever be."

 

"Are they good schools?" I asked.

 

"Good enough. Their RPIs have been pretty good. Quinnipiac was 18-12 this season. Holy Cross was 14-16 in the Patriot League."

 

"So you're saying we should pull the scholarship offer on Christ?"

 

"I already called her. She was really evasive about whether they had offered."

 

I thought for a few seconds. "Okay. We pull the offer on Christ and choose someone else. I'm not going to call Raelynn and Katie on this one. Come over here and give me your best judgment."

 

(* * *)

 

We spent the entire Saturday at the DakotaDome going back over our call list. After about eight hours, we settled on PF Leah Alexander out of Brookhaven, New York. Williams's contacts with Alexander had been good ones. And frankly, she was the best of a bad lot. She only scored 3.9 points per game but averaged 10.1 rebounds per game. (Her 80 percent free throw percentage was a plus.)

 

She seemed to be interested in South Dakota - or at least intrigued. However, she had some good schools on her top schools list - William and Mary, Clemson, UTEP. None of them, however, had offered her a scholarship, as far as we could tell.

 

Williams called her that afternoon. She put in on speakerphone for me to listen in. Alexander seemed like a nice girl and didn't say anything that would set off alarm bells. It's hard to get an impression on someone from listening in on a conversation, but I heard nothing to make me hesitate.

 

After the call, I said, "Looks like I won't be going to New York, huh?"

 

"Mike, do you even know where Brookhaven is? It's on Long Island. We won't even have to change your plane reservations. Instead of thinking black and poor, think white and Catholic."

 

(* * *)

 

All that was left was for the major tournaments to play out. This would take place over March 10th and March 11th.

 

The big game for March 10th was the Big Twelve championship - #3 Texas A&M vs. #6 Oklahoma. It was Texas A&M's final Big Twelve championship, and they weren't going to let anyone get in their way, having no trouble with the Sooners in a 78-57 to claim their last trophy before fleeing to the Southeastern Conference.

 

(* * *)

 

Conference Representatives

Conference                           Team                              Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
America East Conference              Boston University            23-9 (11-5)
Atlantic 10 Conference               Xavier                       26-6 (12-2)
Atlantic Coast Conference            Duke                         28-4 (11-3)
Atlantic Sun Conference              East Tennessee State         29-3 (20-0)
Big 12 Conference                    Texas A&M                    30-3 (15-3)
Big East Conference                  Rutgers                      27-7 (10-6)
Big Sky Conference                   Portland State              21-11 (12-4)
Big South Conference                 Liberty                     21-11 (13-3)
Big Ten Conference                   Ohio State                   27-6 (14-2)
Big West Conference                  UC Santa Barbara            23-10 (13-5)
Colonial Athletic Association        VCU                          23-9 (12-6)
Conference USA                       Houston                     22-11 (10-6)                                              
Horizon League                       Butler                      23-10 (12-6)                                                       
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference   Fairfield                   22-10 (11-7)
Mid-American Conference              Bowling Green                31-2 (15-1)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference      Hampton                     21-12 (11-5)
Missouri Valley Conference           Northern Iowa                26-6 (14-4)
Mountain West Conference             Fresno State                 28-4 (13-3)
Northeast Conference                 Sacred Heart                 24-8 (13-5)
Ohio Valley Conference               Eastern Illinois            19-12 (15-3)
Pacific-12 Conference                Stanford                     31-3 (15-3)
Patriot League                       Lehigh                       25-8 (12-2)
Southeastern Conference              Tennessee                    31-2 (15-1)
Southern Conference                  Chattanooga                  25-7 (16-4)
Southland Conference                 Lamar                        25-7 (14-0)
Southwestern Athletic Conference     Mississippi Valley State    18-14 (12-6)
Summit League                        South Dakota State           26-6 (15-3)
Sun Belt Conference                  Middle Tennessee             26-6 (13-3)
West Coast Conference                Gonzaga                      27-6 (12-4)
Western Athletic Conference          Louisiana Tech               26-4 (13-1)

 

2012 NCAA Tournament

 

Fresno Region

 

1) Stanford (31-3, Pac-12 Champ) vs. 16) Hampton (21-12, MEAC Champ)

8) Boston College (20-10, ACC at-large) vs. 9) St. Mary's (26-5,.WCC at-large)

 

4) Rutgers (27-7, Big East Champ) vs. 13) Sacred Heart (24-8, Northeast Champ)

5) Baylor (23-9, Big 12 at-large) vs. 12) Michigan State (21-10, Big 10 at-large)

 

2) Oklahoma (27-5, Big 12 at-large) vs. 15) Portland State (21-11, Big Sky Champ)

7) Gonzaga (27-6, WCC Champ) vs. 10) California (22-9, Pac-12 at-large)

 

3) North Carolina (25-6. ACC at-large) vs. 14) Butler (23-10, Horizon Champ)

6) San Diego State (28-4, Mountain West at-large) vs. 11) Vanderbilt (22-9, SEC at-large)

 

Raleigh Region

 

1) Tennessee (31-2, SEC Champ) vs.16) Eastern Illinois (19-12, OVC Champ)

8) Xavier (26-6, Atlantic 10 Champs) vs. 9) Wisconsin (24-8, Big Ten at-large)

 

4) Tulane (30-2, CUSA at-large) vs. 13) VCU (23-9, CAA Champs)

5) Georgia Tech (25-7, ACC at-large) vs. 12) Middle Tennessee (26-6, Sun Belt Champs)

 

2) UCLA (27-4, Pac-12 at-large) vs.15) Liberty (21-11, Big South Champs)

7) Old Dominion (26-6, CAA at-large) vs. 10) Charlotte (23-8, Atlantic 10 at-large)

 

3) West Virginia (24-7, Big East at-large) vs. 14) Boston University (23-9, America East Champs)

6) Florida State (22-8, ACC at-large) vs. 11) Western Kentucky (27-5, Sun Belt at-large)

 

Des Moines Region

 

1) Texas A&M (30-3, Big 12 Champs) vs. 16) Mississippi Valley State (18-14, SWAC Champs)

8) Pepperdine (26-5, WCC at-large) vs. 9) DePaul (22-9, Big East at-large)

 

4) Bowling Green (31-2, MAC Champs) vs. 13) South Dakota State (26-6, Summit Champs)

5) Iowa (26-5. Big 10 at-large) vs. 12) Lamar (25-7, Southland Champs)

 

2) Notre Dame (27-5, Big East at-large) vs. 15) Fairfield (22-10, MAAC Champs)

7) Purdue (25-7, Big Ten at-large) vs. 10) Texas Tech (19-11, Big 12 at-large)

 

3) Southern California (28-3, Pac 12 at-large) vs. 14) Houston (22-11, CUSA Champs)

6) Fresno State (28-4, Mountain West Champs) vs. 11) Northern Iowa (26-6, MVC Champs)

 

Kingston Region

 

1) Connecticut (27-3, Big East at-large) vs. 16) UC Santa Barbara (23-10, Big West Champs)

8) Marist (29-4, MAAC at-large) vs. 9) Dayton (23-9, Atlantic 10 at-large)

 

4) Florida (27-5, SEC at-large) vs. 13) Chattanooga (25-7, Southern Champs)

5) Maryland (25-7, ACC at-large) vs. 12) Louisiana Tech (26-4, WAC Champs)

 

2) Duke (28-4, ACC Champs) vs. 15) Princeton (20-10, Ivy Champs (*))

7) Richmond (23-7, Atlantic 10 at-large) vs. 10) Arizona State (22-10, Pac 12 at-large)

 

3) Ohio State (27-6, Big 10 Champs) vs. 14) Lehigh (25-8, Patriot Champs)

6) East Tennessee State (29-3, Atlantic Sun Champs) vs. 11) St. John's (21-10, Big East at large)

 

(*) - regular season champ

 

Last teams in

 

St. John's

Michigan State

Vanderbilt

Western Kentucky

 

First teams out

 

Louisville

Syracuse

Kansas State

Green Bay

 

Conference Representation

 

ACC (6)

Big East (6)

 

Big 10 (5)

Pac-12 (5)

 

Atlantic 10 (4)

Big 12 (4)

 

SEC (3)

WCC (3)

 

Colonial (2)

CUSA (2)

MAAC (2)

Mountain West (2)

Sun Belt (2)

 

America East

Atlantic Sun

Big Sky

Big South

Big West

Horizon

Ivy

MAC

MEAC

MVC

Northeast

OVC

Patriot

Southern

Southland

Summit

SWAC

WAC

 

Summit League Schools

 

Oakland, the regular-season winner, was seeded #5 in the WNIT South. They will travel to #4 Texas Christian for their first game on March 15th.

Oral Roberts is seeded #8 in the College Basketball Invitational and will host #9 Texas-Arlington on March 14th.

IPFW is seeded #6 in the CollegeInsider.com tournament and will host #11 Coppin State on March 14th.

 

March 14 Results

 

Texas-Arlington 58, Oral Roberts 53: The Golden Eagles turn the ball over 14 timess to just six times for the Mavericks. SF Myra Villasenor is held to just four points for ORU. Texas-Arlington goes 15-for-17 at the free throw line compared to 5-9 for Oral Roberts.

Coppin State 62, IPFW 49: PG Amanda Tiller goes 2-for-10 in her final appearance as a Mastodon. IPFW sends Coppin State to the line 27 times, where the Eagles hit 18 shots.

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Looks like there's only one team alive in the Summit League. Hopefully, the detailing of game results doesn't bore too many. Nothing interesting in history, as I don't want to play out the Republican primaries and the Democratic primary is a foregone conclusion. Still, this is an alternate history so 2016 should be interesting.

 

Next time: Mark Hawkins makes his final (?) two home visits, a Summit League member announces that it's leaving the league and the post-season winds its merry way.

[Petrel]

March 15, 2012

NCAA First Round

 

1) Stanford 93, 16) Hampton 56 - Stanford can forget 1998 once again with a 52-22 rebounding margin.

2) Oklahoma 78, 15) Portland State 64 - Sooner PG Harper Gray had 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

10) California 72, 7) Gonzaga 37 - Zags held to 15 points in second half for Golden Bear slaughter, PG Kamila Richter scored 31 for Cal.

9) St. Mary's 73, 8) Boston College 65 - For the Gaels, 57 percent shooting was the key.

 

1) Texas A&M 78, 16) MVSU 55 - Devilettes held to just 19 rebounds by Aggies.

2) Notre Dame 71, 15) Fairfield 50 - Stags were down 44-19 at halftime.

7) Purdue 56, 10) Texas Tech 48 - Red Raiders only got two points from their bench.

9) DePaul 82, 8) Pepperdine 53 - Blue Demon PG Victoria Baker had 32 points.

 

3) West Virginia 77, 14) Boston U. 46 - Mountaineers win battle of the boards 40-23.

13) VCU 50, 4) Tulane 41 - Cinderella season for Green Wave comes to an end with second straight loss, both teams combined for 47 turnovers.

12) Middle Tennessee 84, 5) Georgia Tech 69 - 12-3 run early in second half by MTSU put end to Yellow Jackets hope of a Sweet Sixteen.

6) Florida State 63, Western Kentucky 55 - Seminoles win despite shooting 12-for-29 from free throw line (41.4 percent)

 

3) Ohio State 86, 14) Lehigh 62 - Four players score in double-digits for Buckeyes, including 21 points from SG Arya Evans.

4) Florida 54, 13) Chattanooga 46 - Less close than it looks - Gators led by 22 at one point in second half.

5) Maryland 81, 12) Louisiana Tech 57 - Maryland extends lead to 20 early in second half, takes 19 more FGA than Techsters.

6) East Tennessee State 76, 11) St. John's 70 - Red Storm were within five with a minute to go, but Lady Bucs were 6-for-6 at free throw line in final minute.

 

WNIT

 

Texas Christian 71, Oakland 66: Two Oakland starters shut out by Horned Frogs in an ugly turnover-filled game. Home field advantage a plus for TCU in final Big East year.

 

(* * *)

 

March 16, 2012

NCAA First Round

 

3) North Carolina 85, 14) Butler 69 - Butler kept it close for 30 minutes but Tar Heels were just too much.

4) Rutgers 54, 13) Sacred Heart 51 - SF Selah Williams makes final 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left, comeback by Pioneers falls short.

5) Baylor 70, 12) Michigan State 58 - Spartans fall to Bears despite 26 points from Michigan Staate SG Lily Logue.

6) San Diego State 77, 11) Vanderbilt 61 - Four Aztecs in double figures, bad year for SEC in general.

 

14) Houston 53, 3) USC 52 (OT) - The biggest upset of the tournament so far. Two missed shots by Trojans with final possessions send the game into 49-49 overtime, and for the next five minutes both teams scrap. Only one basket is made by both teams in OT period, and PF Luz Gasper of Houston misses two free throws that could have made it a 3-point game - the final possession belongs to USC, but Trojan SF Adyson Gill misses the final 3-point attempt that would have sent the game into double overtime.

4) Bowling Green 72, 13) South Dakota State 46 - The last of the Summit League teams falls in first round of NCAA. Jackrabbits held to 31 percent shooting.

5) Iowa 78, 12) Lamar 53 - Five Hawkeyes in double-figures with a 10 point, 12 rebound game from PF Karly Flowers of Iowa.

11) Northern Iowa 65, 6) Fresno State 56 - Great game from PG Addison Stevens of Panthers - 14 points, eight rebounds.

 

1) Tennessee 86, 16) Eastern Illinois 53 - Lady Vols 20-for-25 from free throw line.

2) UCLA 75, 15) Liberty 62 - Lday Flames held to just three points in final five minutes.

10) Charlotte 75, 7) Old Dominion 72 - With the game tied 72-72 and 51 seconds on clock, Charlotte SF Sofia Adams misses the basket, but C Sophia Hughes gets the rebound and resets the clock for the 49ers. Backup PG Sara Wieland's 3-pointer from the right corner as time expires goes in for the upset.

9) Wisconsin 89, 8) Xavier 71 - Badgers get 29 points from SG Hailey Eichhorn and an 11-point, 18-rebound game from C Arianna Christensen.

 

1) Connecticut 52, 16) UCSB 34 - Huskies try 31 3-pointers and only hit seven of them, both teams are a combined 38-124 shooting - 30.6 percent.

2) Duke 105, 15) Princeton 78 - Duke guards Emma Friedrich (23) and Alexis Jone (28) combine for 51 points.

7) Richmond 70, 10) Arizona State 55 - Sun Devils held scoreless in final five minutes.

9) Dayton 68, 8) Marist 64 - Tied 64-64 with one minute left, Marist 3-point attempt fails with nine seconds left and the Red Foxes down by two. They are forced to foul, and the Flyers make both free throws.

 

March 17

 

While the Better Half was about to change into the Sweet Sixteen, I was on my way to JFK Airport to take a visit to Brookhaven, New York out on Long Island. The airport was heavy traffic, and when I saw those two fratboys on the plane with the "KISS ME, I'M IRISH" shirts I knew what I had let myself in for.

 

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5927/stpatricksday.jpg

 

Getting through traffic was going to require the luck of the Irish. There were all kinds of things going on in New York City, including a family called The Alexanders that was waiting for me to show up and have dinner with them.

 

The Alexanders violated the profile of the typical Brookhaven residents. Three-quarters of Brookhaven was white, but the Alexanders were black. Brookhaven was Catholic, but the Alexanders were Baptist. Leah was the only child of two parent - her father worked for a local university but he had been killed in a car crash when Leah was eight years old. Mrs. Alexander had raised five kids, and Leah was the last one to leave the house.

 

My reception was surprisingly good. I had a great meal with Leah and her mother. They were both friendy, and both talkative. Unfortunately, this was back in the day when I was a young and stupid coach and was set in my ways of doing things. I probably didn't have to give the video presentation on the University of South Dakota - we were all getting along so well and we wouldn't have missed it - but I felt I had to give it, and so I did, probably killing some of my momentum.

 

After the video, we jumped into talking again. "I really don't know about South Dakota though," Leah said. "It just seems so far away."

 

"That's true," I said. "I won't deny it. But the truth is, you're never really more than a phone call away from home. Furthermore, we're a real family at South Dakota." I felt embarrassed having to fall back on vague crap, and frankly, it wasn't true. I had never felt close to the players from the previous administration, with the exception of some rare cases.

 

"Right, but I have a lot of family right here," Leah said. "I have some offers from Division II schools."

 

"Okay," I said, "but a Division II school might split your scholarship," I said.

 

"Adelphi Queens promised me a full ride if I'd come and play for them."

 

I should have anticipated that.. "Okay. But do they play at the level that we play at in South Dakota? We played Tennessee and Iowa last year. You won't experience that when you're playing in Division II. You'll meet girls from all over the country at USD. The ones here in Long Island are basically New Yorkers. This is a chance for you to expand your horizons."

 

"Yeah, Coach Hawkins, but I don't know."

 

"Okay, Leah. What's important to you? What's the big critical factor?"

 

She didn't say anything. She looked to her Mom, calling for help.

 

I skipped past Leah. "How do you feel about South Dakota?" I asked Leah's Mom.

 

"It's just so far away from home." She looked like a woman put on the spot. "I don't know."

 

On it went. It felt bad. I felt like a god-damned salesman trying to sell something that no one wanted. I spent the rest of the meeting trying to pitch the aspects of the program. I felt like I was repeating myself. They listened politely.

 

Total time (excluding food): ninety minutes. The flight to New York and back from New York each took longer than the total amount of time I spent in the Alexander household. It felt like I was fighting a losing battle. If I blew my chances at Alexander, then my visit to Nora Goss would become all the more important.

 

March 17, 2012

NCAA Second Round

 

Stanford 88, St. Mary's 40: Stanford PF Lyric Greenberg scores 27 points and 13 rebounds, SF Jayma Hans adds 21 for the Cardinal.

Oklahoma 66, California 59: The Sooners 36-21 rebounding edge proves to be the ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.

 

DePaul 66, Texas A&M 62: The defending National Champions are knocked out in the second round of the tournament! A close game with DePaul leading 35-34 at the break. DePaul's three point shooting - 10 for 23 - gave them what they needed to overcome the Aggies, but what will be remembered is that with the Aggies down 64-62 and with the ball, PF Macie Woolsey was whistled for an illegal screen with six seconds on the clock, giving the ball back to the Blue Demons and securing the game. DePaul PG Victoria Baker scored 19 points, with 15 coming off 3-point shots.

Notre Dame 67, Purdue 59: Purdue held to just 33 percent shooting.

 

Florida State 78, West Virginia 56: Another upset, as 28 points from Seminole SG Abigail Johnson led the way for FSU.

VCU 61, Middle Tennessee State 57: In the Battle of the Cinderellas, the Rams are 18-for-27 at the free throw line, with MTSU commiting 25 fouls.

 

Ohio State 88, East Tennessee State 68: Ohio State outscores the Lady Bucs 18-6 in the final five minutes.

Maryland 87, Florida 66: SF Lillie Applewhite scored 26 points and nine rebounds; Florida was never in it. Last surviving SEC team is Tennessee.

 

March 18, 2012

NCAA Second Round

 

San Diego State 70, North Carolina 67: Tar Heels led 41-36 at the half, lead 65-64 with 3:04 to go but only score two more points for the rest of the game. (1-for-4 from field.)

Baylor 73, Rutgers 50: Three Bear starters have 10 rebounds each, including C Allyson Pinkham (11 points, 10 rebounds) and SF Fiona Hubbard (14 points, 10 rebounds).

 

Northern Iowa 53, Houston 47: The other Battle of the Cinderellas goes to the Panthers, who overcome a six point halftime deficit. No Houston player breaks the double-digit barrier.

Bowling Green 80, Iowa 46: Hawkeyes are unable to put it together - Falcons only turn the ball over eight times vs. 19 for Iowa.

 

Wisconsin 78, Tennessee 71: The #1 team in the country falls to the Badgers! Wisconsin led 49-36 at the half and after a fiery speech from Claire Kelley, the Lady Vols tried to turn it around in the second half. They got close. They were within four with 1:06 left, but they need to hope that Wisconsin missed its free throws. They didn't.

Charlotte 101, UCLA 93: Another big upset of a Top Ten team. Four players combined for over 100 points (Charlotte: Leavitt 27, Adams 25, UCLA: Smith 30, DeCastro 25). UCLA couldn't keep from sending the 49ers to the foul line, where they hit 24 out of 33 attempts.

 

Connecticut 105, Dayton 83: UConn led 61-49 at the half. Five Huskies scored in double-figures including PG Reese Koester with 27 points and five assists.

Duke 69, Richmond 49: The Blue Devils led by 16 at the half and thoroughly controlled the game. Four Dukies in double figures, including C Addison Dial with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

 

March 22, 2012

Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-Finals)

 

Fresno, California

 

Stanford 71, Baylor 69: The Cardinal came closest to the ax than any time in the tournament. The Baylor Bears led 41-32 at halftime and extended their lead to as much as 14 points in the second half but an 11-2 run by Stanford tied the game up again. With 2:17 to go, the Bears led 69-64, but back to back 3-pointers by Stanford SF Jayma Hans gave the Cardinal the lead again. SG Mattie Moeller drove to the basket on Baylor's final possession, but was called for an offensive charge against Stanford C Jada Fawcell in...what was frankly a baloney call. Bears players, fans and coaches felt the game had been stolen from them, but Stanford advances.

 

Oklahoma 72, San Diego State 61: Too much Boomer Sooner, with the Sooners leading the Aztecs 43-29 at halftime. Both teams had some great long-range shooting - 10 3-pointers for Oklahoma, eight for SDSU - but Oklahoma was too efficient at moving the ball with 22 team assists. SF Lorelai Kubiac led Oklahoma with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.

 

Raleigh, North Carolina

 

Wisconsin 80, VCU 71: It looked for a while like the Rams would keep on rolling, leading the Badgers 40-35 at halftime. But VCU wanted to live by the 3-pointer, and therefore died by it, going 2-for-24 for the game, which negated their 43-30 rebounding margin. Four minutes into the second half, Wisconsin went on an 18-2 run and turned the game around. The Rams were never back in it. PG Addison Cook led Wisconsin with 27 points and seven assists.

 

Florida State 78, Charlotte 68: Both teams had to fight hard for this one after a tied first half. Game Two of the Raleigh Regional was once again the story of a team hanging its hopes on long-range shooting and failing - the 49ers went 2-for-19 from 3-point range. An 11-0 run by the Seminoles in the last five minutes sent Florida State to the Elite Eight. SG Abigail Johnson had a huge game for FSU, scoring 33 points on 12-for-19 shooting.

 

March 23, 2012

Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-Finals)

 

Des Moines, Iowa

 

Bowling Green 87, DePaul 59: The Falcons win their 34th games in 36 attempts this year with a decisive win where they shot 55 percent from the floor. The Blue Demons turned the ball over 21 times in the loss. Before the second half was half-over, Bowling Green led by 20 points and were off to the first regional final in their history. Player of the game was SG Karlee Weaver with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals.

 

Notre Dame 85, Northern Iowa 53: The Fighting Irish shot 63 percent from the floor and held the Panthers to just 18 rebounds. Northern Iowa had a 14 to 22 assist-to-turnover ratio, and Notre Dame got to visit the free throw line 26 times. ND point guard Aaliya Armes had 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

 

Kingston, Rhode Island

 

Connecticut 93, Maryland 91: The Huskies dodged another bullet on their way to the regional finals in a very close game. The Terrapins had a nine point lead at one time in the second half but you can't keep UConn down for long. The games was tied 86-86 with 1:03 yet when PG Mia Schaller of Connecticut hit a 3-pointer to put UConn up 89-86. SG Ella Godoy followed up with a fastbreak basket to close within one, 89-88, but Maryland would have to hope that Mia Schaller couldn't hit free throws...but she went 4 for 4 in the final moments of the game. Schaller finished with 32 points and four rebounds.

 

Ohio State 74, Duke 56: How do you win a game where you only shoot 33 percent from the field and your opponent shoots 54 percent? How about taking 38 free throws and hitting 28 of them. The whistle was blowing non-stop, and both teams were sinking 3-pointers like crazy. Duke, however, turned the ball over 21 times and committed 28 fouls. Five Buckeyes scored in double figures with SF Rebecca Pouliot the player of the game with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

 

(* * *)

 

The first of the Regional Finals games was likely to be over by the time I finished my visit to Reno, Nevada. I was pulling the slot machine arm for what might be the final time this season, in an attempt to pick up Nora Goss for the Coyotes.

 

That week, which I was preparing for this visit, there were many big things going on in women's basketball. The first big thing came from the Summit League itself

 

Oral Roberts announced that it was leaving the Summit League. There was an exit fee of $250K for any team leaving the Summit; Oral Roberts announced that they were leaving and paid the fee. Their landing spot? The Southland Conference, a conference which is for the most part headquartered in Texas with several Texas teams.

 

So why did ORU go? The Golden Eagles were the school with the smallest enrollment in the Summit League (slightly more than 3000). Located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they had to travel far distances across several states. (They were the Summit League's southernmost state.) The big reason was to save money. Oral Roberts hoped that by being in the Southland Conference that travel costs would go down.

 

The Summit League had no immediate replacement lined up. (Oral Roberts would not have to wait but would start play in the Southland Conference the following season.) This would drop the Summit League to nine teams, with the top eight teams still going to the postseason. It would lower the number of games we'd have to play in the conference per season (from 18 to 16), giving us two more non-conference games per season.

 

The second big thing was the hullaballoo around Claire Kelley of Tennessee. The Lady Vols lost in the second round to Wisconsin, and even though the Badgers were still in the tournament, no one expected the #1 team to be knocked out so quickly. Even though #1 teams had had early exits before...well, those teams did not have coaches which had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.

 

After the loss, the second-guessing began, with the women's college messageboards exploding. The question was whether or not Claire Kelley should retire. Should she retire? Should she be asked to retire? Should she be forced to retire? The plan had been that Kelley would keep coaching in Knoxville until it was clear that she was mentally incapacitated to the point where coaching would not be possible. But the problem with the plan is that this left the program unable to move forward long term. Every year, the program and its head coach would have to re-evaluated. It would make recruits very wary about making a four-year commitment.

 

And of course, with the loss the claim was that Claire Kelley should not have been coaching. The team's mistakes became Claire Kelley's mistakes. Was she mentally with it? Were any bad decisions made by the Lady Vols due to Kelley not being mentally up to it? Should someone have forced her to step aside? It was clear that with any close loss or unexpected loss, there would always be the argument made that Kelley was not mentally up to coaching and that she should go.

 

But the biggest thing in women's basketball was a new set of rules which had been passed by the NCAA. The NCAA had signed new "full cost of attendance" rules.

 

The first year I was coaching women's basketball, a scholarship covered what they called "essentials". It covered tuition, books, and board. Nothing else, just the bare necessities of a college education. For full time student-athletes, this left them at a disadvantage to their non-athlete peers. Basically, they had no discretionary income. If they wanted a pizza, that pizza came out of their own pocket, and a lot of these kids came from impoverished families where Daddy would not be sending an extra $20 a week to pay the telephone bill.

 

Of course, this system was abused by the more mercenary athletes who simply took money - lots of it - under the table. But the overwhelming majority of athletes, particuarly non-revenue sports like women's basketball, felt the pinch in a big way.

 

From now on, the NCAA scholarships would be bumped up to a "full cost of attendance" allowance. Student-athletes would be receiving the basic scholarship plus a "full cost of living" bonus that equaled the minimum of either

 

a) what it took to cover "incidental expenses" - laundry money, travel home, personal expenses, or

b) $3000 extra per year

 

For the students playing women's basketball, this was manna from God - if they could get it. Each conference would vote on whether or not to supply the full cost of attendance with a scholarship. The SEC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 voted immediately to make the offer of full cost. It was expected that the three other power conferences would fall in line soon.

 

The major question was who else would fall in line? For some schools living on the knife edge of a budget, this would be very difficult indeed. Every scholarship the school offered would have to be raised to the level above. Since Title IX was a federal law and not an NCAA law, every women's scholarship would have to be boosted. If a school had a football team - FCS or FBS - that was sixty scholarships that had to be bumped.

 

The conferences that didn't - that couldn't make the bump would face a severe disadvantage. Because all things being equal, if a student has to choose a scholarship that covered essentials or one that covered "full cost" - they would sign with the school covering full cost. If your conference voted aginst paying full cost, then you faced a disadvantage in your recruiting. This disadvantage would be felt almost immediately.

 

As one coach told me, "I always used to be able to say to a recruit, 'Look, you might like that big fancy school, but in the end, they can't offer you any more in their scholarship than we can give you in ours. Now, they can give more. And what the hell am I supposed to say to that?"

 

(* * *)

 

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/687/renonevadarenoarch.jpg

 

But that Saturday, I was thinking about none of the above. I was thinking about Nora Goss, a very large SF at 6-4 out of Wooster High School. Nora was biracial, her father was black and her mother was white. Her father visited and paid child support but he didn't live with the Gosses. Her mother was sort of the hippy-dippy type from what Coach Williams said, very liberal, socially involved, etc. etc.

 

Nora was a very plain looking girl, and she was very laid back during my home visit. However, on the court she was a tiger. She was a real gym rat, she loved the game and she was very vocal - her basketball skills might have been lacking and she played ole defense but she ran that high school team like a tyrant. On the court she was opinionated and bossy. I liked the vocals, that showed leadership. I just hoped that the leadership wouldn't go out of control and that she could adjust to a role off the bench if that's where I needed her to play.

 

The Gosses were wealthy. They lived very well, they were "1 percenters". I'm sure that Mrs. Goss could have paid for Nora's schooling - but why should she? If organized women's basketball was going to give scholarships, why shouldn't her daughter have one?

 

Talking to the Gosses was very...laid back. I wouldn't say they were quiet or controlled like the McHales, but everything was always spoken very softly. There was no "punch" in anyone's speech. When they made a comment, it was always a polite comment which displayed as much enthusiasm as was needed to be doled out - I couldn't imagine Nora Goss shouting at anybody.

 

However, the first question out of Nora's mouth was, "what are my chances of playing?"

 

"Very good," I said.

 

"Well, does that mean I can start or not?" she asked.

 

"Everyone plays for every spot," I said. "If you think you can beat a senior out of her starting spot, be my guest. I start players based entirely on merit. If I think I can win with five freshmen, then I'll play five freshmen. Whether you start or not is just as up to you as it is to me."

 

Goss smiled. A quiet smile, but a very satisfying one. I knew she was imagining taking someone's spot from them.

 

"Am I going to fit in?" she asked.

 

"We've got a lot of different kids at the university," I said. "Trust me, it's not all just South Dakotans. You should fit in fine."

 

The smile went away. Maybe I didn't convince her. "Yeah, but...I'd like to see the university. Before I make up my mind."

 

"Nora, how many offers do you have?"

 

"I have two. I have your offer and I have an offer from Colorado Springs."

 

"That's D-II right? We can't make an offer for a campus visit. It's too late in the year. If some money shows up, I can invite you but you'd be put right on the spot."

 

Nora was quiet. "Colorado Springs said I had to sign by next week."

 

"Yeah," I said, "they're deadlining you. They hope to get you signed right away, probably because they have someone else on their list. They're going to move on if you don't sign by the end of the month. But South Dakota is not going to move on. We're staying till the end."

 

"What if someone else comes along?"

 

"Right now, you're the person. We want you to sign with us. My job is to leave here with a signed NLI."

 

But it didn't happen. Colorado Springs was a lot closer to Reno, Nevada that Vermillion. "They might not even offer you a full scholarship at D-II! They might offer you something partial. They're allowed to do that. Come to South Dakota and you will receive a full ride scholarship!"

 

"Coach," she said. "I am so close to signing. I would sign right now if I could. But I have to talk to Colorado Springs. I have to see what they're going to offer me before I sign. I have to give them an equal shot, because it wouldn't be right otherwise."

 

"Fair enough," I said. "I want to send you more information about South Dakota. You don't mind if I call?"

 

"No, I don't mind," she said with a smile. I planned on calling Nora Goss every night if I had to do it.

 

We talked about the majors at South Dakota and about how well a 6-4 SF with leadership skills would fit in at South Dakota. She asked a lot of good questions, and I took that as a good sign. Total time at the Gosses - 2 hours and 15 minutes. I had no reason not to feel good about that visit. If I could sign Goss, I would feel that the season ended on a high point even if Alexander didn't sign. If I get four girls signed, it will be a freaking miracle, I told myself.

 

(* * *)

 

March 24, 2012

Regional Finals

 

Fresno, California

 

Oklahoma 92, Stanford 89. Another traditional women's basketball power falls, as the #2 seed in Fresno advances to the Final Four in Denver. Both teams shot over 50 percent in an amazing game, but the Cardinal lost despite outrebounding the Sooners and scoring 17 of 23 shots from the free throw line. Chalk it up to 26 assists from Oklahoma, as the amazing PF Harper Gray make her case for being a #1 WNBA draft pick with 12 points and 11 assists. But the player of the game was SG Sophia Wakefield with 28 points in 27 minutes, shooting 8-for-9 from 3-point range with astonishing marksmanship.

 

The Cardinal had the lead for most of the second half, but were tied 82-82 with 4:22 remaining. From then on it was a struggle, but the Cardinal led 87-84 with 48 seconds left, but Sophia Wakefield hit a 3-pointer when Harper Gray found her right away. Tied 87-87, and C Jada Fawcett throws the ball away on Stanford's next possession. Stanford fouls PF Breanna Davis on the Sooner possession, and Davis hits both to make it 89-87.

 

With 17 seconds left, senior SF Jamya Hans draws the foul and hits both shots for the Cardinal to tie it at 89-89. Stanford plays a 3-2 zone and waits for the ball to go to Wakefield, but instead Oklahoma puts the final shot in sophomore SF Lorelai Kubiak's hand as time expires. She hits it, and Oklahoma is in the Final Four!

 

Raleigh, North Carolina

 

Florida State 88, Wisconsin 52. One team would go to the Final Four for the first time, but Wisconsin's Cinderella season would come to an end as the #9 seed In Raleigh was crushed by the Seminoles. Florida State led by 11 at halftime and held Wisconsin to 33 percent shooting. A 38-28 advantage in rebounding by Florida State maintained their dominance. Senior SG Abigail Johnson was the player of the game with 25 points and got to cut the nets down in Raleigh!

 

March 25, 2012

Regional Finals

 

Des Moines, Iowa

 

Notre Dame 75, Bowling Green 54. The Mid-American Conference had never sent a team to a regional final in women's basketball before, but that would be the end of the road for the Falcons. The Fighting Irish led by 14 at the half and outrebounded Bowling Green 43-26. Notre Dame led by 20 with five mnutes left and the outcome was never in doubt. Player of the Game was Notre Dame senior PG Aaliyah Armes, with 22 points and 10 assists.

 

Kingston, Rhode Island

 

Connecticut 106, Ohio State 103 (OT). This one was a battle to be remembered, but the Huskies came out on top in a game where both teams were prepared to come out galloping, attempting to run their opponents into the dust. The score was Buckeyes 55, Huskies 54 at the half. PF Ashley Wicklund could have tied it with the final short for Connecticut, but the miss from the top of the key sent the game into overtime. Even though the game was close, once Connecticut took the lead in the overtime, they never relinquished it.

 

(* * *)

 

March 27, 2012

CollegeInsider.com Championship

 

Harvard 66, Coppin State 64. The Crimson win their first "national championship" in women's basketball, winning the fourth-tier CollegeInsider.com championship on their home court. Coppin State could have tied it at the last second but PG Miriam Trinh's jumper falls short.

 

March 30, 2012

Women's Basketball Invitational Championship

 

St. Bonaventure over Mississippi State (62-71, 60-53, 58-42).

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES: We're getting to the end of Season One. I didn't think I'd even get this far, but the collapse of another messageboard I post on...well, it freed up some time.

 

I honestly don't know how things are going to play out. I haven't simmed ahead of time - I try not to do that so that the game can still surprise me.

 

As for the NCAA changes listed above, these have happened/are happening, with one exception. The limit on the full cost of attendance passed by the NCAA this week is $2000, not $3000. I decided to make the change because I needed something that would make this a distinct alternate universe. Right now, March 2012 doesn't look that much different from October 2011.

 

Next time: How did Mark Hawkins's last two recruiting visits go? How did the Final Four turn out? And what kinds of changes will be taking place in women's basketball for the 2012-13 season? And possibly: a visit with Athletic Director Willie Burbank...and someone unexpected at USD.

[Blackgamer2009]

I just stumbled upon this. This is very interesting to me in particular due to the fact that I'm currently <em>attending</em> the University of South Dakota. I might want to show this off to other people around me because they'll be particularly interested in knowing that someone out there is paying attention to little old Vermillion, South Dakota. You know that I like what you're doing here. Keep up the good work.

[Petrel]

I just stumbled upon this. This is very interesting to me in particular due to the fact that I'm currently attending the University of South Dakota. I might want to show this off to other people around me because they'll be particularly interested in knowing that someone out there is paying attention to little old Vermillion, South Dakota. You know that I like what you're doing here. Keep up the good work.

 

Thank you. It's a little difficult trying to figure out what the University of South Dakota is like from the comfort of Atlanta, particularly since it's hard to find detailed information about student lifein Vermillion, etc. etc. on the web. (Most of the web stuff about USD is obvious promotional stuff and the university websites.) So in a lot of ways I'm just guessing, so chime out if I'm getting anything egregiously wrong.

 

There might be a brief delay in the dynasty until I can figure out how to actually move Oral Roberts out of the Summit League without crashing the game.

[Petrel]

March 31, 2012

 

2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four

Denver, Colorado

 

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9702/4398429.jpg

 

Oklahoma 60, Florida State 41: The Sooners go to their first NCAA women's championship game since 2002, where they lost to Connecticut. The big question on the media' s mind was "What happened to the Seminoles?" The game was tied at 24-24 at halftime but Florida State would only score 19 points in the second half, with the Sooners starting the second half with a 13-2 run that kept the lead for Oklahoma in double-digits for the rest of the game. Oklahoma had a commanding rebounding advantage in the second half, with PF Breanna Davis finishing with eight points and 15 rebounds.

 

But more amazing was Oklahoma's 18-5 assist advantage, as the Soooners 2-1-2 zone was impossible to crack by eithe junior PG Vida Marcos (4 points, 1 assist) or backup PG Georgia Householder (5 points, zero assists). When Marcos was forced to shoot - and with the lanes closed the ball was often in her hands - she went 2-11 for the game after averaging double-digit points for the season. Brianna Davis would be named the Player of the Game and Oklahoma PG Harper Gray would finish with 9 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

 

Notre Dame 85, Connecticut 68: The Fighting Irish return to their second straight National Championshp game, and will once again face a Big Twelve opponent. This was very much like the previous night's game - both teams almost tied (the Irish led by two), and at one point in the second half the Huskies found themselves on the wrong end of 12-2 run and Notre Dame was just too skilled to let Connecticut come back to within single digits.

 

The Irish had the advantage at the free throw line, going 17-for-22 to the Huskies 7-for-10. In terms of quality it was a much better game than Oklahoma-Florida State, and the media would pick Notre Dame as the favorite over Oklahoma in the title match.

 

SG Mia Schaller had a great game for Connecticut with 19 points, but four of the Fighting Irish scored in double figures, led by SF Elizabeth Weimer with 26 points and seven rebounds. But the player of the game was Notre Dame PF Mia Gibson who shot 7-for-10 with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

 

(* * *)

 

The next Monday, April 2nd, I got some good news and some (possibly) bad news. The good news was that Caroline Herrington, the junior college player out of Virginia, had accepted a scholarship from South Dakota. That filled three of my six roster spots. The recruit list looked like this:

 

SG Catalina Stewart, 6-0, Valparaiso, Indiana (Valparaiso HS)

PF Abagail Merkle, 6-0, Hot Springs, Arkansas (Arkansas Baptist College)

C Caroline Herrington, 6-5, Winchester, Virginia (Southside Community College)

 

Regarding Herrington, I would call Coach Tomlinson and tell him that Herrington came through. A friend of his had asked Coach Tomlinson, who asked me to look at Herrington, and even though Herrington was more of a Stacey King than she was a Charles Barkley she had enough going for her to stay out of the discard pile. If we could keep her away from the training table, we might make something out of her.

 

"Good," Tomlinson said. "I'm glad to be able to do a positive for someone, but you're really going to have to work with Herrington. Good work ethic on the court but a bad one off it. How's the recruiting game treating you?"

 

"I'm still trying to pull the trigger on a few girls. I've got three spots to fill."

 

"Three spots? Holy crap, Mark!" Coach Ken didn't say "crap". "Who is doing your recruiting for you?"

 

"Caitlyn Williams?" I posed.

 

"You need to fire her. I would have fired anyone who let me down like that."

 

"I don't think it's her fault."

 

"My assistant coaches would have signed cats off the street before they left a scholarship offer hanging in April."

 

"Well, I threw a month's worth of money at a recruit and it didn't fall through." I was still thinking about Zoe McHale.

 

"Even so, Mark. Even so."

 

We didn't talk for too long after that. I suspected tha Coach Ken wanted to say something to me but he wouldn't say it. It made for a really awkward conversation. One of these days I was going to force it out of the old bastard. I wondered if I needed to make a trip to Virginia to corner the lion in his lair.

 

Of course, there had to be some bad news on April 2. Coach Williams stated that neither Leah Alexander nor Nora Ross had budged on their positions. Alexander was still in that "almost there" mode. Part of the problem I suspected was that a lot of schools were talking to Alexander: William & Mary was still hanging in there, but Alexander worried if she could academically cut it there. Clemson and UTEP had dropped out, but were replaced by Central Connecticut State, George Washington, and Holy Cross - all good schools.

 

But none of them had pulled the trigger. We had the only offer out there. It looked like Alexander was going to wait until the very very end to make her final decision - and if any of the above schools made a scholly offer we'd probably be left in the dust.

 

As for Nora Goss, we had made the only offer. But she was still thinking about Colorado Springs. It said a lot about our program at USD when a Division II school could compete with us.

 

Then there was Adalyn Matz, our 38 percent 3-point shooter. The only contact we had had with her was by telephone. There was no time.

 

But then we got some good news from Williams. "Coach, I've been looking at our recruiting budget. I've talked with the athletic department, and according to their numbers, we should be alloted a full month's worth of budget for each "partial month" that falls into the sport calendar. This means that we've been alloted for April!"

 

"How much?" I asked.

 

"The full amount!" Williams said with a smile. "We can do visits of just about any kind!"

 

Part of me was a bit angry. I thought we were done for the year financially - how could Williams not know about the extra money? If we had known that, we could have planned better and not run around like mad chickens at the end of the year. However...we still had a shot at things! We might still get Alexander and Goss and Matz! South Dakota was still alive!

 

"Emergency meeting. My office," I said.

 

"What about the Finals?" Williams said.

 

"Okay. Emergency meeting, my apartment," I said.

 

"No. My apartment," Williams said. "Yours is a train wreck."

 

(* * *)

 

"Here's the deal," I said that night. "We have a certain amount of money to spend on three people. Matz, Goss, and Alexander. I've already seen Goss and Alexander. What about Matz?"

 

"She had 13 points a game. Very interested," Coach Reavis said. "I think she's just waiting for someone to show her interest back. If no other school other than D-II is biting, you could seal the deal on Matz."

 

"Then I'm going to go for a visit to Matz before the end of the week. (The end of the 2012-13 signing period was the end of the week.) This leaves Alexander and Goss. Who gets the offer to come to campus if we can only bring one person?"

 

"Those schools like Alexander," Coach Ulmer said. "Now she likes you, but you don't know who she's been visiting or who is going to make a visit this coming week. I say where there's smoke, there's fire. Alexander's got fire. Get Alexander."

 

"Yeah, but Goss doesn't have any offers," Williams said. "Less competition, get the big win."

 

"Right," Ulmer said. "A big win that ain't worth having. Why would those other schools be interested if Alexander wasn't any good?"

 

I pounded the table slightly in frustration. "Katie, you convinced me. It's Alexander who get the home visit offer. We swung and missed on McHale, let's not go 0-for-2. If i have to pull Riggle or Grier out of class for an entire day, I'll do it." Allison Riggle and Bella Grier were my freshmen, and they'd be the first choice to host an on-campus visit. Anzhelika Bure was the other freshman, but as a Russian with okay English skills at best I couldn't trust her to make a sale.

 

"That leaves Goss," Reavis said.

 

"Caitlyn," I told Coach Williams. "That leaves you to go visit Nora Goss and do everything that you can to swing her and her mother into seeing South Dakota as a landing spot. We've done all that we possibly can. Alexander gets the visit to USD, and we press Matz and Goss in person. In five days, the recruiting deadline hits. See if we can get Alexander here from April 4th through 6th. Caitlyn, make the calls to both Matz and Goss. We both leave tomorrow."

 

"It's do or die time. And I know you've all played basketball, so you all know what that means. Now let's watch the game.

 

(* * *)

 

April 2

NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game

Denver, Colorado

 

Oklahoma Sooners (#6, 32-5) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (#7, 32-5)

 

Notre Dame 81, Oklahoma 59: Notre Dame wins its first women's basketball championship in ten years with an 81-59 victory over Oklahoma in Denver, Colorado. The Fighting Irish had a 41-29 lead at halftime and the closest the Sooners could get in the second half was niine points. By the last five minutes they were already celebrating in South Bend. A 16-4 run by the Irish over the final four minutes of the first half would be enough to keep Oklahoma behind the eight-ball for the rest of the game.

 

The Sooners turned the ball over 21 times in the game. Heralded Oklahoma point guard and potential #1 WNBA draft pick Harper Gray was held to just two points in 34 minutes (although she did have 7 rebounds and 6 assists.) The player of the game was Notre Dame junior SF Elizabeth Weimer, with 26 points on 10-for-21 shooting, with six rebounds (four offensive boards) and four steals. Notre Dame senior PG Aaliyah Armes scored 14 points and eight assists in her final game for the Irish.

 

2011-12 OVERALL AWARDS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:

SR PG Kiersten Bunce  Kansas State  15.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 8.1 APG 2.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Sophia Wakefield  Oklahoma  16.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.5 APG 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Abigail Coles  Tulane  30 - 3 (15 - 1) 

All-league 1st Team:
C  SR Andrea Yale  South Florida  14.8 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.7 BPG
PF SR Alexis Loyd  Tulane  16.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 2.5 BPG
SF SR Jamya Hans  Stanford  16.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG
SG SR Emma Friedrich  Duke  16.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.9 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PG SR Kiersten Bunce  Kansas State  15.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 8.1 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C  SR Chloe Jones  Brigham Young  13.8 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 2.1 BPG
PF SR Lyric Greenberg  Stanford  18.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.7 BPG
SF SR Elsie Decastro  UCLA  18.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG
SG SR Mia Schaller  Connecticut  17.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.4 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Aaliyah Armes  Notre Dame  12.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 8.1 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.4 BPG

All-league 3rd Team:
C  SR Lilly Trueblood  Dayton  14.2 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.3 BPG
PF SR Ella Gordon  Lipscomb  15.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.8 SPG, 3.5 BPG
SF SR Harper Gray  Oklahoma  10.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG JR Kylie Collings  Texas A&M  18.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PG SR Victoria Gallo  Middle Tennessee  15.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C  FR Alexis Hoffman  Syracuse  7.3 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.8 BPG
PF FR Anika Green  Maryland  6.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.3 BPG
SF FR Alexus Bolick  Old Dominion  10.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.6 BPG
SG FR Irene Mann  Delaware  17.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Sophia Wakefield  Oklahoma  16.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG

 

2011-23 SUMMIT LEAGUE AWARDS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:

SR PG Amanda Tiller  IPFW  16.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.8 APG 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Saige Christie  North Dakota State  11.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.3 APG 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Ava Welsh  Oakland  24 - 9 (17 - 1) 

All-league 1st Team:
C  SR Taylor Neighbors  Oral Roberts  5.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG
PF JR Chelsea Norris  South Dakota State  7.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.8 BPG
SF JR Cheyanne Hardiman  South Dakota State  15.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG
SG SR Hannah Audley  Oakland  16.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Amanda Tiller  IPFW  16.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C  SR Isabella Stafford  Oakland  5.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PF JR Kendall Valerio  Oral Roberts  6.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SF SR Myra Villasenor  Oral Roberts  12.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.0 BPG
SG JR Aimee McIntyre  IPFW  9.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG JR Haylee Mull  North Dakota State  11.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C  FR Addison Spinner  Oakland  2.0 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PF FR Lindsay Moss  IUPUI  4.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SF FR Yareli Morgan  Western Illinois  4.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.0 BPG
SG FR Emma Vallee  IPFW  6.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Saige Christie  North Dakota State  11.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG

 

(* * *)

 

Three Summit League teams walked away empty-handed during the post-season awards. Those teams were UMKC, Nebraska-Omaha....and South Dakota.

 

It wasn't like I had a whole lot of time to mourn our poor showing in the post-season awards. I was on my way to Show Low, Arizona (population 12,000), getting on the earliest possible flight from Sioux City, traveling to Phoenix with one stopover, and then driving two hours or so to get to Show Low. The name of the city has something to do with a card game, with one street called "Deuce of Clubs Street".

 

Adalyn Matz was very much like a lot of women's basketball players, coming out of a single parent house. This was a little bit different. You tend to think "black player raised by mother" and not "white player raised by father", which is what Adalyn Matz was. Matz had a 12 year old sister and an 11 year old sister. Even though Show Low was fifty percent Mormon, the Matz's were Southern Baptists. Her father work as a manager at some apartment complex; money was hard to come by and the Matzes were squeezed into an apartment probably too small for them.

 

Adalyn was the caretaker of the house, squeezing in household duties - cleaning, cooking, and babysitting - with basketball practice. The other two sisters worked as well. Both of the younger girls played basketball. "It gets everyone out of the house," was Mr. Matz's explanation. "I like to have the girls running around. I think it keeps them out of trouble, too. I want them in with the right crowd. This ain't a great area around here, despite what people will tell you."

 

Even though Adalyn was the family cook, she would not be cooking for me. The Matzes took me out to a chain restaurant to eat. It was a little difficult to talk there, and I'll tell you one thing - recruiting visits that take place at chain restaurants suck. It's hard to hear yourself talk over all of the noise, and you're constantly distracted when out in public.

 

Furthermore, Adalyn seemed to have a case of the giggles. Her sisters giggled. They would say something stupid, and then they'd start giggling and then Adalyn would start giggling. Her father seemed to ignore it - it looked like Daddy depended on basketball coaches to apply the discipline. There was something about Adalyn that seemed very childlike and a little bit out of control. I knew she'd definitely have to learn to take things more seriously if she ever got out of Show Low; that giggling would turn off everyone but the horniest of horndogs.

 

I was relieved when we got back to the apartment, because the two younger kids were a bit embarrassing, always cracking jokes about something. (They would whisper to each other almost constantly, even during the video presentation.) I would just have to put up with the two of them, Mr. Matz didn't send them away.

 

"Adalyn, this is a chance for you to sign with a Division I program at South Dakota," I said. "We have three commits in a huge recruiting class and we want you to be number four. You won't have to worry about seniors elbowing you out of a chance to play."

 

It was the first time I got a chance to hear Adalyn instead of her father. "Well, I really don't know Coach Hawkins," she said. "I mean, Terry and Laurie, I have to take care of them and who is going to do that with me in South Dakota? I have three offers in New Mexico. Division II, and they all want me. And if something happens, I can get back home."

 

"Did they offer you a full scholarship, or a partial?" I said.

 

"Oh they said they'd pay my way," Adalyn said.

 

"Yes, but Division II schools have the right to offer a partial scholarship instead of a full one. Do you know which type they're offering?" Adalyn's only answer was a stupid look on my face.

 

"I'd like to see Addie's school paid for," Mr. Matz said. "Her grades are very good...but not in the classroom."

 

"I saw Adalyn's SAT scores, there will be no problem with her getting in at South Dakota. So tell me, Adalyn...do you want to be a Coyote?"

 

Instead of it being a question that packed emotional punch, it just sent Terry and Laurie Matz to giggling again and making jokes. (Laurie was slightly growling, and this made Terry giggle even harder. I wanted to slap that kid so badly, but I tried to be patient.)

 

Stayed there for two and a half hours. It was a horrible slog of an interview and could have taken half as long if it weren't for those two little brats. I would miss my plane coming back and would not get back until the following day. My body felt like it had run a marathon, but at least I wouldn't have any more home visits...not for a few more months, anyway.

 

(* * *)

 

That Wednesday, I had a meeting scheduled with Willie Burbank, the Athletic Director - I had to have it rescheduled due to my late-arriving flight. I felt pretty beat up from my last recruiting visit and I let him know that I had just got off a flight from Arizona.

 

He told me to have a seat...and then shut the door. "Well, Mark," he said. "It wasn't the kind of season I was hoping for. I think that pre-season schedule hurt you very badly. You finished 7-11 in the conference, and the athletic boosters were very happy with that - we were worried about a last place finish."

 

"I wanted us to play the toughest teams we could," I said. "If we don't win the conference, it doesn't matter anyway."

 

"Even so," he said. "Ten wins would have looked a lot better than eight. If you had scheduled just a couple of gimmies, you might have hit double digits. Tennessee? Really, we had no chance to win that game and we had no right to be there."

 

"Tennessee paid us a lot of money to come to that game," I said. "And our players needed to see what an elite program looked like."

 

"We are an elite program," Burbank said.

 

"Division II doesn't count," I said.

 

"If we didn't have success at Division II, Mark, we wouldn't be a D-I school now, and you wouldn't be sitting in that chair right now," he said. "Yes, I know you went to James Madison, but the whole world isn't D-I. Or do you want to put down our FCS football program, too?"

 

I let it go. "Anyway, as for D-I, they're going to let Claire Kelley go."

 

"What?" Claire Kelley at Tennessee was the most successful women's coach ever.

 

"You didn't see that coming, Mark? I have a friend who is a big booster at UT. First big game Kelley loses, they're going to nibble her to death with that disease she's got. Dementia, what a shame. I don't know what Claire Kelley will do without being a head coach. That's a shame. I feel sorry for who replaces her in Knoxville, they won't let that coach have a moment's peace either. If she doesn't win eight national championships, they're going to say about her replacement, 'well, she's no Claire Kelley'. Mark my words, we've seen the high water mark of the Tennessee women's program. So you can tell your grandkids that you played against Claire Kelley's Lady Vols in the final year that she was a coach."

 

"But anyway," Willie Burbank said. "Tell me about the new class."

 

I pumped up Stewart, Merkle and Herrington. Stewart was easy. "She's the jewel of this year's class. Underlooked, undervalued, and just needs the right coaching. That Valparaiso didn't get her is beyond me."

 

"Two JUCO players in this new class?"

 

"South Dakota State has the state tapped out in recruiting. I have to get players where I can."

 

"You have...four seniors? And three signees? Were you out looking for number four in Arizona?"

 

Willie Burbank couldn't count, or he didn't care to. "Yeah."

 

"You're a little behind, aren't you?"

 

"It's a tough year. The previous coach didn't leave me with much to work with."

 

"Hmph," Burbank said. He didn't agree, obviously. "Maybe you should look for more players in South Dakota, and fewer in Russia. Anyway, we've been keeping an eye on your program, Mark. We didn't want the Coyotes to finish last in the Summit League. You didn't finish last, so...we're happy. It's all we could have asked for."

 

"Therefore," he finished, "effective immediately, we shall remove the 'interim' tag from your title as head coach. I'm also offering you a contract for two years. Will you take it?"

 

Take it? If someone had asked me a year earlier...I wouldn't have known. Back then, I still had dreams of playing ball - shattered dreams, but I still saw myself as a pro ball player, or a semi-pro player, or an assistant coach on the men's squad. But the previous year...well, I think it ate my identity. For about 16 hours a day, I had been living, eating, drinking and sleeping women's basketball. I thought of myself as a head women's basketball coach, that was my new identity. To think of leaving it for something else seemed stupid.

 

"Sure," I said.

 

"You might want to read the contract first," Burbank said. "Not much of a raise."

 

Where was I going to go, anyway? "It will probably be all right," I said. "I'll have my lawyer look at it." (The only lawyer I knew was Coach Reavis, so I needed a lawyer that I didn't have to share salary information with.)

 

"In a few weeks, we'll talk with the trustees again. Thanks for helping us out at the University." I guess that was the most thanks I was going to get - it wasn't like Burbank would be adopting me into his family any time soon.

 

(* * *)

 

That same evening, Leah Alexander arrived on campus. She would stay for two days. I knew that no other university could be offering her an on-campus visit, which was a good sign. Bella Grier would be assigned to follow her around - Grier had been Catalina Stewart's escort, whereas Allison Riggle had been Zoe McHale's escort. Grier bitched about it, but I was going to go with my strengths.

 

Next year, we'd be bringing parents onto the campus. The new NCAA rules allowed us to pay for two parents to attend a campus visit. But this time it would be Leah Alexander all by herself.

 

She got the campus tour and the personalized attention of all three coaches - namely, because the team was in the middle of classes for most of the day. There were some advantages in that I knew the students couldn't take her on a wild party on Thursday night with classes the next day. Furthermore, Alexander could see what life was like at USD at a time when the temperature wasn't -15. (Even though it was still pretty cold, we were starting to thaw out. It was early April.)

 

Even so, Alexander had a lot of good things to say in our final meeting at my office before we took her back to the airport. "I feel very comfortable here," she said.

 

"Good," I said. "Then you can sign on the dotted line."

 

"Coach," she said. "I have to wait this out. South Dakota is a great place with a great campus. The team's great too. But if Central Connecticut State or Holy Cross make an offer - I have to balance that out. I can visit home a lot closer in New England."

 

"You've got a large family that can take care of your Mom," I said. "Holy Cross is a Catholic institution. You're not Catholic. And George Washington is coming very late into the game. We've followed you for a long time."

 

"Coach, when I get home," she said. "I'll call all of the coaches and I'll give you an answer as soon as I can."

 

That didn't help much. 11:59 PM on Saturday was the signing deadline. The money was gone. "Leah, we really want you here. But I'm not going to twist your arm. But I am going to say that we really want you at South Dakota."

 

It was about all we could do. Except for making sure that the phone was as close by as possible, and that it remained charged. The coaching staff would be camped out in our offices on Saturday - planning the following season....

 

(* * *)

 

At 7 am that morning I was shaving to get ready for the final signing day when my cell phone went off. "Hello?"

 

"<Coach Hawkins? This is Leah Alexander.>"

 

My heart skipped a beat. Before I could greet her, she said, "<Coach, I want to play at South Dakota next year.>"

 

It took all I could do not to shout out or pump my fist. "Leah, that's great news! Welcome to the South Dakota family!"

 

"<Coach, what do I need to do to get ready?">

 

"Leah," I said, "the first thing you need to do is to fax that National Letter of Intent. You make sure your mom signs it, and that all the blanks are filled out. And I want to emphasize this - don't stop faxing it until you get a receipt!"

 

(* * *)

 

I had made it to the DakotaDome by 8 am that morning, to share the good news with the the coaching staff that Leah Alexander had signed the National Letter of Intent. As I came into my office, my assistant coaches wanted to celebrate with me, showing me Alexander's faxed NLI when I entered the room.

 

At 8:15 am I received a call at my desk from Nora Goss. It brought our party to a halt. Goss would not be coming to South Dakota, preferring instead to attend a Division III school in California, Whittier College. I had never really spoken to her that much, she was Caitlyn Williams's project. Williams had made a last-minute visit to the Gosses in Nevada and now she had struck out.

 

We had four scholarships to give away, and at this point, we were pressing the phones. While we were trying to make some contacts on the phone, calls came into our office from players we had been talking to for over a year that were making their minds up on that final day. They were our safeties in case we couldn't land Alexander or Goss or Matz.

 

No. No. No. No. It was like a stock broker getting news off a stock ticker during the days before the Stock Market crashed. Everything going down. We could still call Adalyn Matz but I didn't want us to look any more desperate than we were.

 

At 9:38 am I received a call on my cell phone. It was Adalyn Matz. This was going to be big.

 

"Hello, Adalyn!" I said. "What's the big news today?"

 

"Coach," she said, "I'm coming to South Dakota!"

 

BOOOOOOOM!! I had stuck in there with her bratty sisters and it had paid off! Matz was now a Coyote! "This is great, Adalyn! Welcome to the family! You're going to love it here at USD!"

 

"Well, this is a pretty big jump for me, Coach! I have to leave everything behind."

 

"Adalyn, you know that we're going to do everything that we can to make you a success at South Dakota." Given her drive, I suspected that she'd be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting herself. We now had five signees. In my best dreams, I thought I would get four scholarships but both of my home visits paid off! Maybe I was doing something right!

 

"Guys," I told the coaches. "Let's get our #6 commit today before we get out of here!"

 

But it wasn't that easy. We went through the list of everyone we had ever contacted. It didn't take long. By a quarter after 10, we had learned that all of our prospects had committed to other schools. As we went through the list, we crossed names off the whiteboard and at 10:17 am every single name in our War Room either was crossed through or had a star next to it. Beyond this point, we'd just be picking scouting reports at random and cold calling.

 

I didn't see any point in that. "Okay. We did what we could. We had to replace 40 percent of the team. We managed to sign five players. I don't know much about this game, but I think that's pretty good. We had a real shot at six with Zoe McHale. I think that this season is now officially over. On Monday, we're going to erase this damn board and throw up twenty new names. Those names are our candidates for the Class of 2017. Start thinking about them...now. See you on Monday."

 

(* * *)

2011 Recruiting Rankings

     # Team                  Conference          Best Player  Rtg  5*  4*  3*  2*  1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  217. Oakland                   Summit         SG Kayla Toy  ***   0   0   1   1   1
  247. IPFW                      Summit        SG Mya Sevier   **   0   0   0   2   1
  252. South Dakota              Summit  SG Catalina Stewart   **   0   0   0   1   4
  254. Nebraska-Omaha            Summit     PF Khloe Hopkins   **   0   0   0   1   2
  269. IUPUI                     Summit      SF Emily Nguyen   **   0   0   0   2   0
  272. North Dakota State        Summit   PF Isabella Warman   **   0   0   0   1   2
  311. Western Illinois          Summit    PF Claire Griffin   **   0   0   0   1   1
  312. UMKC                      Summit        PF Ryann Hunt    *   0   0   0   0   3
  316. South Dakota State        Summit    SG Lizbeth Ovalle   **   0   0   0   1   0

 

(* * *)

 

Recruiting season didn't begin until May, which gave the coaching staff a chance to relax. But there wouldn't be much relaxing. In the middle of the week, the "head count" Division I sports coaches at the University of South Dakota were invited to a special coaches-only meeting by Athletic Director Willie Burbank. The meeting was a semi-emergency meeting, held only four hours or so after he announced it.

 

So what is a "head count" sport? For men, it was football and basketball. For women, it was basketball, tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. Since there wasn't a women's gym team at USD, that left five coaches in total. Each of these sports could only offer full athletic scholarships. The rest could offer partial scholarships. For example, a baseball scholarship could be split among three players - 50 percent to one player and 25 percent to the other two. Such splitting was not premitted in a "head count" sport, for those sports one head = one scholarship.

 

I didn't feel like I was the odd man out. There were a handful of coaches that had been at USD for just five years or less. The men's basketball coach, Gerald Acevedo, was coming off a six-win season, not able to do much with Dennis Bohler's recruits. There was more than one fresh-looking face in the room. The coach emeritus of the group was Nathaniel McCaskill, who had been the men's football coach for nine years at Vermillion.

 

Burbank came into the room with two other people. One was Cody Johnson, the senior associate AD and head of external relations for the athletic department. (I had never met him.) The other was Chelsey May, the senior female representative of South Dakota Athletics and the school's NCAA Compliance Officer.

 

"I'd like to thank all of you for coming here on such short notice," Burbank said. "I've just come from a long day of conversations with the president of the university, John Hutchinson. Over the past week, I've spoken with the Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors and the Howling Pack board. These conversations were held to prepare us for a meeting of the Summit League. As you know, the NCAA recently passed legislation allowing conferences to determine whether or not they wished to pay the full cost of attendance for academic scholarships in Division I sports. Conferences would be allowed to play scholarship players the minimum of the full cost of attendance or $3000."

 

"The guidelines state that the stipend should be applied universally to all sports within a school's primary conference. By "primary conference" they mean the conference in which the majority of the school's sports compete. For the Coyotes, this is the Summit League."

 

"After a thorough review," Burbank said. "Given the present state of both the South Dakota economy and the national economy and after consultation with the governor and prominent USD supporters - the University of South Dakota felt that a "yes" vote on this resolution was not feasible for the university and its mission. A majority of Summit League teams agreed, and therefore the Summit League shall not offer a full cost of attendance scholarship. Instead, we shall offer the basic scholarship options that we have traditionally offered, a necessity-based scholarship in the majority of our sports. It is our hope that you coaches can keep us competitive in the Summit League."

 

There was silence. McCaskill simply asked, "Was this an unanimous vote?"

 

"It was not," Burbank said. "But there were only two schools that voted against the resolution - Oakland and North Dakota State. They might want to pay the full cost of attendance, but they're bound by the decision of the conference. Unless -- "

 

" -- unless they leave the conference," Johnson said. "There will be a lot of fallout from this decision. Hopefully, either Oakland or NDSU will stay with the Summit League. If both leave, we'd lose our automatic NCAA qualifier in basketball, and that would be a disaster."

 

McCaskill said, quietly, "What does this mean for football?"

 

"The Missouri Valley Football Conference will probably vote no, too," Burbank said. "The MVFC is hurting for money is what I've heard," Burbank said. "So that makes competition just a bit tougher and - !"

 

"Listen, Willie," McCaskill said, "this last season we had a Top 25, nationally ranked squad in the FCS. The football team drives the money for this university. We struggled to pull the Yotes out of Division II into Division I. And now you're telling me we're going to go backwards?"

 

"South Dakota State will be bound by the same restrictions as - !"

 

" - I don't give a shit what the Jacks do or don't do! This is a major reneging on the commitment of this university! You're taking this football team and turning it into a second rate team! How the hell am I supposed to compete for recruits if anyone can just swoop into this state and say, here you go, there's an extra $3000 for you, go buy yourself an X-Box?' Why the hell would the Summit League do this to us?"

 

"It isn't the League that did this to you," Burbank said. "This was a decision based on economic necessity. Do you know how much extra cash we'd have to scrounge up to compete with the Pioneer Leagues of the world?"

 

"We're building a new basketball arena," Acevedo said. "But it's not going to matter if we can't put anything in it. You can spend money for a 6,000 seat arena but it won't matter if the Yotes are just one step above Division II!"

 

"People, I'm going to show you where the fish pees," Burbank said. "The President of the University is not going to allocate more money. The building fund is already committed, and we're not going to have a half-completed basketball arena. The Boosters at Howling Pack have already maxed out. They're looking for the money, and they can't find it. Times are tough in this state. We could unilaterally raise student fees, but that might end up driving down admission and the President doesn't want future USD students going to South Dakota State. We could put it to a vote, but who knows what the students might decide? It would just be a contentious public nightmare. You saw what happened in North Dakota over that Fighting Sioux nickname? Every asshole in South Dakota would be putting his two cents in in a matter that does not involve him!"

 

"You want to blame me, Nate?" Burbank said. "Fine. Blame me. I'll fall on the sword, but I've been busting my ass trying to find cash that doesn't exist. I suggest that you go out there and whore for the boosters!"

 

"That's supposed to be the job of the AD!" McCaskill said, hotly.

 

"It's a lot more complicated that that. There are Title IX issues that have to be dealt with, too."

 

"Oh no you don't!" It was the voice of Keith Lee, the tennis coach. "No shunting this problem over on Title IX. If you don't like it, coach, go to the public and tell them why the male players are getting extra cash and the female players aren't."

 

"Because football is a revenue sport." McCaskill said.

 

I don't know what the hell got into me, but I opened my mouth. "Not enough revenue, it seems."

 

I found myself with an angry Coyotes football coach glaring at me. "Kid, you'd better pray football remains popular at this school. Your job depends on it."

 

But now Lee and Pullham - the other women's coach - were emboldened. "So how much of our programs are founded by student fees?" Lee asked. "And how many students at USD are women? I'm sure they'd have something to say about how student fees are allocated if they - !"

 

"Enough!" Burbank said, eager to stop this conversation before it reached a topic he didn't want to discuss. "McCaskill, shut the hell up! Title IX is federal law! Not state law! Not something that the Summit League pulled out of its ass! Federal law! It applies at Division I, Division II and - !"

 

" - and whatever-the-hell division we end up in!" McCaskill said. "This is a joke. This is the worst decision that we've made since we moved up. I've invested almost a decade in shaping this program, and now I don't know what to think. What am I going to tell my players when their high school teammates get recruited by other schools. 'Hey, guess what, Bobby? I'm getting $1200 more than you are. I guess you made a mistake in picking USD.' Because I'll tell you, Willie, they're going to ask and they're going to transfer."

 

"There is no money!" Burbank said.

 

McCaskill stood up and very quietly walked out the door. Burbank ignored him.

 

"This is reality, people," Burbank said to no one in particular. "Maybe someday. Maybe someday the Summit League will change its mind. Maybe someday we'll find the cash and move on to a different conference. But people, you have got to stick with the university. The future of Coyote sports depends on all of you!"

 

Lee whispered to me. "Burbank doesn't want to tell the truth."

 

"What's he lying about?"

 

"The university had Division I dreams," he said, "and then the price tag went up."

 

(* * *)

 

Lee and Pullham invited me to Mexico Viejo, a nice Tex-Mex restaurant down on Cherry Street. It was odd. We had never spoken to each other except in passing.

 

"God, what a nasty shot," Lee said. "At old McCaskill. Most people consider him a god, you know. He might kill people for saying less than that. He let you live, so you're lucky."

 

"Yeah, but isn't football a revenue sport?"

 

"He should create some revenues, then," Pullman said. Drew Pullman was the volleyball coach. "All that revenue that football supposedly generates for the school? It goes right back into football. Look at the salaries of McCaskill's assistant coaches. More that any of us get combined, except for Jerry Acevedo. I'm as big a Yote football fan as any, but it's a big money suck when you see it close up."

 

"It's harder on us, though," Lee said. "More pressure on us to win. The winning is supposed to make up for the limited resources. You're lucky. There are a lot of girls in this state that like basketball, but how many quality tennis players are there? This isn't exactly a tennis playing state."

 

"You think he'll stick around?" I asked.

 

Lee and Pullham looked at each other. "Man, I don't know," Pullham said. "I'm sure there are a lot of schools that would like a winning football coach. Schools that pay that $3000 stipend. He might not stick around yet. The U is between a rock and a hard place. I expect fees to go up sometime in the future."

 

"Can we recruit?" I asked, and that led into a long discussion about the difficulties of recruiting where we all shared woes. We all spoke to each other of how we scouted and recruited athletes.

 

"So which recruiting software do you use?" Pullman asked. "FieldRush? TeamBuilder? What's working for you?"

 

"I have no clue," I said. They both looked at me oddly.

 

"Uh," Pullman asked. "You do use recruiting software?"

 

"I have a recruiting coach. Caitlyn Williams. She uses it, I suppose."

 

"But how do you know what to focus on during your calls?"

 

"Caitlyn and I will talk about it, or she'll send me a written note."

 

"Riiight," Lee said. "And what are you going to do when your recruiting coach walks out the door?"

 

"And takes her notes with her?" Pullman said. "Then you're screwed. Didn't you say that you had recruited five out of six prospects?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Well, if I were you," Pullman said. "I'd get some decent software. Software that both of you share. You sound like you're stuck in 1954."

 

"And I would also fire your recruiting coach," Lee said. "You have to have some benchmarks for success. You're the head coach here."

 

"When did this become 'gang up on Mark Hawkins'?" I said.

 

"How many years were you an assistant?" Lee asked.

 

"None. I came into this job right off a court in Turkey."

 

"Well, I would talk to some other basketball coach. Maybe Jerry Acevedo. Recruiting has more to do with your success than anything else in this game."

 

"I know that, but Xs and Os matter."

 

"Anyone can do Xs and Os," Pullman said. "There's a movie I need you to see that will tell you everything about being a head coach. It worked for me in a big way."

 

"What is it?" I asked. "Hoosiers? Or A League of Their Own?"

 

"Have you ever heard of Glengarry Glen Ross?" he asked me.

 

(* * *)

 

During the 2012-13 season, several changes would take place in women's basketball:

 

Belmont left the Atlantic Sun Conference and joined the Ohio Valley Conference. Both leagues had voted against the stipend, so this changed little for Belmont. Campbell would also leave the Atlantic Sun Conference to join the Big South. Campbell wanted to improve its football profile, and the Big South had voted for the stipend, so once again little changed.

 

Texas Christian abandoned its single year in the Big East for the Big Twelve. They would be replacing Texas A&M, who would be joining the Southeastern Conference. These shifts had been in the news for a long time and were well-expected. Missouri had already made its peace with the Big Twelve and would play one final year of Big Twelve basketball in 2012-13 before joining the Southeastern Conference.

 

Oral Roberts left the Summit League for the Southland Conference. Travel issues were the major concern.

 

Texas Arlington left the Southland Conference for the WAC - basically, UTA was being replaced by Oral Roberts. Oddly enough, Texas Arlington had committed to the move before the issue of the stipend. The WAC was in favor of the stipend, and now some fans of Texas Arlington wondered if the school would survive the move to FBS football.

 

Seattle was finally accepted into the WAC, leaving its status as an Independent. They joined the WAC as a non-football playing member.

 

Two other teams left their statuses as Independents. North Carolina Central and Savannah State joined the MEAC conference, a conference of historically black colleges and universities. Savannah State had been put on hold by the MEAC for years until they could get their financial house in order, and just when the MEAC seemed to be satisfied the news that they'd have to pay out $3000 full cost of attendance stipends to their football players was not pleasing. North Carolina Central's finances were in better order and they felt they'd have no problems keeping up with the rest of the MEAC.

 

(* * *)

 

Over the course of April 2012, the final conferences came to a vote on the whole NCAA full cost of attendance issue. Several conferences had already made up their minds - the power conferences had no trouble in adopting the new rules.

 

The conferences which decided not to offer full cost of attendance were:

 

Atlantic Sun

Big Sky

Horizon

Ivy

MAAC

Ohio Valley

Southland

Summit

SWAC

 

The Ivy League was a special case. They had the money but refused to offer it, sticking to their ideas of pure amateur sport.

 

Other conferences struggled with the vote. The power conference schools were generally wealthy schools, easily finding a few extra million to give to their athletes. However, some conferences had a great division between their haves and their have-nots. Schools in one camp would find themselves dragged into the other camp by the conference majority, and it usually wasn't a place they wanted to be. It would be a while - years in some cases - before schools finally came to grips with the realities they were facing and abandoned their conferences, or downgraded their football programs . There was the threat that some schools might leave Division I all together.

 

Some schools, like the Missouri Valley Conference, found themselves betwen big rocks and very hard places. The MVC was affiliated - somewhat - with the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The MVC voted yes to the stipend, but the MVFC schools voted no. So if you were a football playing school in both the MVC and MVFC you had a case of football players not being offered the stipend but everyone else getting it. Teams with their feet in two difference conferences - and their fans - found the new guidelines confusing at best and infuriating at worst.

 

The MAAC had been split down the middle. They would hold off on the stipend for the 2012-13 season, but the matter would come up for a vote again in 2013.

 

In the meantime, the Big Sky, Horizon and MAAC women's basketball all took hits. They would find it much harder to recruit, having been effectively reduced from mid-majors to low-majors. (The Summit would take a hit, but not as hard as those three conferences.) The new stipend rules planned to make life very interesting for several schools - if they managed to survive the experience, that is.

 

(* * *)

 

At the end of April, the announcement was made that Tennessee head coach Claire Kelly was retiring at the end of a 38-year career that saw her win eight national championships.

 

The University came to believe that the program was in jeopardy. The team had been to 13 title games since 1984. Kelley's Lady Vols keep the university in the news. But Kelley's dementia diagnosis was threatening to overshadow the entire program. The Vols were rumored to have lost three recruits to better schools, recruits who felt that they couldn't be sure that Kelley would be with them all four years.

 

No one knew the truth about what had happened. Kelley in later years would call the experience "humiliating" when she was asked to retire by the women's athletic director at Tennessee (who would go on to call it "my most terrifying moment.")

 

Initially Kelley refused. The news leaked out somehow to reporters, and Kelley held a press conference saying "I am not retiring and I have no intention of retiring. That's not how I do my job."

 

An arrangement was offered to keep Kelley in the Tennessee program as an "emeritus coach" if she left now. Kelley rejected the offer. Finally, Tennessee told Kelley that they would simply wait until the end of the 2012-13 season, and then buy out the remaining contract year of the 2013-14 season.

 

"That was when I knew," Kelley said, "that I didn't have a job. They were going to get me to go no matter what."

 

A class act all the way, Kelley did a 180 degree turn. At the end of the month, she confirmed what everyone suspected. She was leaving the game. For all the talk about how supportive her fans and well-wishers would be when she announced her diagnosis, they turned on her the moment the Lady Vols lost a big game.

 

"You might think I'm most proud of the eight national championshps we won at the University of Tennessee," she said. "But you'd be wrong. I'm more proud of my players for what they've achieved away from basketball, rather than for what they've achieved on the court."

 

Kelley was one of the all time greats. She would be missed, and Nathan Padilla at Connecticut would become the undisputed king of women's basketball...for now, anyway. The next thing to be determined would be Kelley's successor at Tennessee.

 

(* * *)

 

April 2012

 

During this month, the Combined Forces Command between the United States and South Korea was dissolved.

 

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/6725/20100910usfk1salcido.jpg

 

This command supported the multinational security force in South Korea. The dissolution of the command meant that operations of the North Korea/South Korea demilitarized zone would be turned over to the South Koreans.

 

Joint command between the United States and South Korea was also dissolved. From now on, the South Korean military forces would operate independently from American forces on the Korean peninusla. The South Korean Army consisted of about 650,000 troops with about 30,000 American troops stationed there.

 

The plan was not for the Americans to be leaving any time soon. However, this was at a time when relations between North Korea and South Korea were not good. Technically, the two states were still at war with each other. North Korea still insisted on large-scale military exercises and missile testing near the South Korean border. Tensions were still very high between the two countries after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel by the North Koreans almost a year earlier.

 

The hopes were that there would be no return to the war between 1950 and 1953 which cost 140,000 South Korean soldiers and untold North Koreans their lives. (As well as the lives of 36,000 American soldiers.) South Korea saw it as an important step forward in taking responsibility for their own fate. The North Koreans called it "the first step of ending imperialist rule over South Korea and the first step in reclaiming sovereignty of a United Korea".

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Well, that took a little while. Figuring out how things were going to end up with these new NCAA rules is what took the most part. A lot of time - too much time, perhaps - was determining on figuring out how conferences would vote.

 

I had to do two things I didn't want to do:

 

a) look up the endowments at a lot of universities, and

b) figure out the conferences of college football - I don't want this to be an exercise in figuring out college football to figure out college basketball.

 

I used a randomized standard of my own to determine how an individual team would vote. Without reproducing the specific rule, the rule was "the greater the endowment of the school, the more likely the school would be to vote for the full cost of attendance/$3000 stipend."

 

So what changes will be made in the 2012-13 season?

 

a) All of the conference changes listed above will go into effect.

b) The current academic probation setting moves up from 90 percent to 100 percent, which is the original game universe setting. The NCAA recently bumped the RPI rating and this change mirrors that effect. Each year, I'll randomly determine if female athletes have fully adjusted to the new standards.

c) Every conference which was determined to have voted against the stipend will be artificially lowered to a Prestige Rating equal to one (1) until either

c1) The schools change their minds and vote the stipend in, or

c2) The conference breaks up.

 

Oh yeah. And the Claire Kelley problem. The game won't let me artificially retire her, so I've wiped out her record and replaced her with her successor - who shall be replaced, and so on. We need a way to artificially retire coaches.