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

[Petrel]

March 2013

 

 

WBCA Top 25, March 4 2013

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv  Conference                          
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Ohio State               (52)    27-2    1779    1  Big Ten Conference                  
  2.  Stanford                  (8)    26-2    1671    2  Pacific-12 Conference               
  3.  Notre Dame                (1)    25-2    1624    4  Big East Conference                 
  4.  Baylor                    (1)    25-4    1605    3  Big 12 Conference                   
  5.  Duke                      (4)    25-2    1528    6  Atlantic Coast Conference           
  6.  Connecticut               (6)    25-2    1459    5  Big East Conference                 
  7.  Oklahoma                         23-4    1349    8  Big 12 Conference                   
  8.  Maryland                         25-3    1330    7  Atlantic Coast Conference           
  9.  Kentucky                         24-3    1228   10  Southeastern Conference             
 10.  Bowling Green                    25-2    1110   11  Mid-American Conference  

 

I expect the top four seeds in the NCAA tournament to be Ohio State, Stanford, Notre Dame...and someone else.

 

(* * *)

 

In the first week of March, we had tournament week with the Big South and Ohio Valley conferences getting an early start. Our job wasn't spent on watching women's basketball. For the players, it was on catching up on studies and on preparing for North Dakota State in the opening game of the Summit League Touranment on Sunday, March 10th.

 

I was very concerned about the way we finished the season - after a 6-2 start, we went 3-5 in the back half. Neither Coach Reavis nor Coach Ulmer had any idea of what was going on. On the other hand, I didn't think much of either one of them. I suspect that when Coach Williams and I were out of town that practices were fairly light on teaching. I had seen them in their teaching roles, and both were lacking.

 

Therefore, I'd have to ask the players themselves. The problem was in asking the wrong person. If you asked the wrong person, everyone else would clam up when word got out and you'd never find out anything.

 

So who do you interrogate when you have to find out what's going on? It should be obvious. A freshman.

 

"Mark," Coach Tomlinson said, "I'd ask the freshmen. Three reasons. Why? First, because they're the ones most disposed to thinking well of the team. The dew ain't off the lily yet. When they're seniors, they'll probably just bitch about a hundred different things. Second, they haven't heard your bullshit for four years. After that fourth year, they start to tune you out. I tell you, there's a reason you only have college students for four years; five and you can't do nothing with them!"

 

"What's the third reason?"

 

"You can intimidate them more. Seniors are young men - or young women, in your case. They clam up."

 

It made sense. I had four freshmen on the roster - Catalina Stewart, Leah Alexander, Adalyn Matz and Maliah Lewellen. Matz and Alexander had seen no time this year and I doubted they ever would. Maliah was a spark plug, but my hope was that Catalina would find her voice and accept a role as a team leader.

 

So I brought Catalina into my office and I asked her about the team's state of mind. Were there any resentments? Had something happened that I didn't know about? Did someone hate something else?

 

You would have thought that Catalina was being interrogated in Guanatanamo the way she looked in my office. She gave me a bunch of generalities. Everything was going great. No, she didn't know what was going on. Everyone liked each other. Her answers completely danced around my questions. I was really disappointed. "If there's some sort of high school drama on this team," I said, "I'll find out what it is. Players that can't be mature enough to put the team first? I don't know what to think about that."

 

What about asking Lewellen? They loved her on the court but they hated her off it. Loud, mouthy, constantly complaining. I wouldn't ask her because if there was any drama, it was probably about her.

 

So who next? I settled on Abagail Merkle. Merkle was a real believer in Jesus Christ; she wouldn't have lied to me about anything if her life depended on it. She was sweet-natured and hard working. She was a junior though, but she was a little naive and might be more open to a direct approach.

 

"I'm sorry to put this burden on you, Abagail," I said. "But is there something going on with this team? Do you have any resentments against anyone on this team? Do you know anyone else who does?"

 

She sighed. "I don't know. I think...you know the seniors...they...they're not as a friendly sometimes."

 

"Okay."

 

"I mean...they really aren't friendly. It's like they closed ranks on us this year. At the beginning of the season they had a meeting of the upperclassmen - seniors and juniors - to talk about what this season was going to mean to us. So me and Caroline (Harrington) figured that we were invited, but they shut us off. "You're not invited," Ashley Brown told me. "You're a part of that other team."

 

Before I could interrupt, Abagail said. "I thought that Ashley said that because she hated sisters - you know, black people. But Jillian and Jessica and them they don't like Catalina either, and she's really sweet. Maliah? Maliah don't care. She'll just give it right back to them."

 

"What did they mean by 'other team'?"

 

"You know," Abagail said. "The players that you recruited. They all hang out with each other. They don't hang out with us too much. I don't think the players from the old coach like us that much. If I had know this - I wouldn't have come to South Dakota."

 

Wow. All I could do was offer my apologies.

 

"That's all right," Abagail said. "I figure it will be better 'cause we got three seniors leaving this season."

 

"Can you play with them? On the court."

 

"I can play with anybody. It's 'can they play with me'? Cause, honest coach, they really act like they're a lot better than we are. I just feel sorry for people like that. Their hearts ain't right."

 

 

(* * *)

 

On March 9th - the last day of the ACC regular season - the ACC regular season title was up for grabs in a Top Ten matchup between #5 Duke and #8 Maryland. Duke was 12-1 on the regular season, and the Terrapins were 11-2. The winer of this game took the title and the #1 seed in the tournament.

 

At Cameron Indoor Stadium the Blue Devils marched to a 79-64 victory to go 27-2 on the season. Duke shot 51.9 percent from the field and hit 21 out of 24 free throw shots (to just 2 of 2 for Maryland). Three Dukies scored in double figures. The win should shore up an argument that Duke deserves to be a #1 seed in the post-season - but they have to get through the ACC Tournament unscathed.

 

(* * *)

 

My focus for the North Dakota State game was teamwork. I knew - for the first time - that there was a fissure in the team. We really needed to build trust without calling someone out.

 

We began to work on team-building exercises on the court. We paired upperclassmen up with underclassmen and had them pass the ball between each other - chest passes - while moving their feet defensively. Players would have to learn how to be patient with each other and to focus on the speed and abilities of their fellow player. Deceptively simple but long ignored.

 

We worked on the man-to-man more and focused on breaking free occasionally from the strict man-to-man to know when to help and trap. I made sure that the players who did the best in these drills got some kind of reward, even it was just "good job" and I tried to keep my eyes open for those moments when players really did work together. I thought a lot of that flatness was due to fatigue - remember the ice towels? - but I suspected that it was a teamwork issue; they were letting setbacks...uh...set them back instead of using those experiences to pull together.

 

I made some of the drills very difficult - new stuff that I knew they had trouble grasping. "Anyone can be exposed out here!" I said. "It happens to the best of them. But if you have someone backing you up, you can recover very, very quickly."

 

I didn't know if I'd be able to get the team to start thinking like one and overcoming its internal divisions - not within a week, anyway. But they say, "there's always next year" and well, next year would be coming very very soon.

 

(* * *)

 

March 11, 2013

 

Summit League Tournament - First Round - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

 

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3605/16580963bg1.jpg

 

#1 Oakland vs. #8 Western Illinois - 12:00 noon CST

#4 North Dakota State vs. #5 South Dakota - 2:30 pm CST

 

#2 South Dakota State vs. #7 Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne - 6:00 pm CST

#3 Missouri-Kansas City vs. #6 Nebraska-Omaha - 8:00 pm CST

 

 

South Dakota (12-17, 9-7) vs. North Dakota State (13-16, 9-7)

 

January 10: @South Dakota 68, North Dakota State 48

February 9: @North Dakota State 60, South Dakota 47

 

We spent that Saturday in South Dakota. I got the chance to talk to a few reporters - the usual media access stuff for a handful of reporters. We also got the opportunity for a brief practice on the Sioux Falls Arena court.

 

But the hard part would be waiting for our chance to play on Sunday. We had to wait until thirty minutes after Oakland and Western Illinois left the court before we took our chance at winning South Dakota's first Division I tournament game. To win just one Summit League tournament game would be a great experience to bring into next season.

 

North Dakota would be just as tough as they ever were. The Bison ran off the energy and drive of two players, sophomore guard Saige Christie (14.4 ppg, third in Summit League) and senior guard Haylee Mull (13.7 ppg, fourth in Summit League). Sophomore center Claire Ramirez scored 5.6 ppg and averaged 7.9 rpg, their answer to Angelina Choe.

 

Of the 60 points or so NDSU scored per game, about two-thirds of those came from the starters. However, senior guard Mariam Rapp had missed the season game with tendonitis after starting 28 games and she was still suffering. She had not been cleared to play, so this would leave North Dakota State to figure out who to put in that fifth spot. On the other hand, we hadn't been bitten by the injury bug since Allison Riggle got hurt.

 

"I want you to remember that talent wins games. But teamwork and intelligence wins championships. This is the time of the year when you have to make things happen. Because now, there aren't going to be many second chances, if any. And this is when we need to come together as a team more than any other time in the year."

 

"You can't be afraid out there. You can't be afraid of North Dakota State. You can't be afraid of each other. You have to try. You have to rely on each other. Everyone wearing a South Dakota uniform is part of a family. The family doesn't disappear when the uniform comes off."

 

"If we cannot play as a team - we will not win today. But I know you can play as a team. Because you are coming along. Last year, we learned what it takes physically to win ball games. But now, we have to learn what it takes mentally. Remember our game plan. We stay in the face of #11 (Christie) and #35 (Mull) all day. And we're not afraid to fall down. Because we know that someone will pick us up. We can be knocked down, but we won't stay down. We are Coyotes, and we are a pack."

 

"Now go out there and win for the state of South Dakota. Your family loves you, your friends love you, and I love you. Show some joy out there, and let's do something remarkable for this school and for each other."

 

(* * *)

 

South Dakota (13-17, 10-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    28   5-6   0-0   0   7   0  2  10
C. Harrington     PF   26   4-5   3-3   0   4   2  1  11
Jessica Bing      SF   30   3-8   3-5   1   3   2  2   9
Catalina Stewart  SG   25   3-7   4-6   1   6   3  3  10
Abagail Merkle    PG   26   4-7   5-5   1   1   2  1  13
Allison Riggle    PG   27   3-4   3-4   0   2   1  3  10
Maliah Lewellen   PF   19   0-1   2-4   1   5   1  1   2
Bella Grier       SF   12   1-2   0-1   0   1   0  1   2
Ashley Brown      C     6   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  1   0

Turnovers: 10 (A.Choe 2, J.Bing 1, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 
3, M.Lewellen 1, B.Grier 1, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 1)
Steals: 3 (J.Bing 1, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 1-8 (C.Harrington 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart 
0-3, A.Merkle 0-1, A.Riggle 1-1, B.Grier 0-1)

North Dakota State (13-17, 9-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Claire Ramirez    C    28   2-7   0-2   4  11   1  5   4
Addison Wood      PF   29  4-11   1-2   2   4   0  4   9
Abigail Borst     SF   28   3-8   1-1   2   3   3  4   9
Haylee Mull       SG   28   3-9   3-4   2   3   0  5   9
Saige Christie    PG   35  6-11   4-4   1   4   3  2  17
Anahi Vestal      PF   21   2-4   0-0   2   3   3  1   5
Erica Rochelle    SF   12   1-5   0-0   0   3   0  2   2
Addison Kushner   PF    6   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Kadence Lao       SG    4   0-3   0-0   1   1   0  0   0
Jocelyn Finlay    C     7   0-1   0-0   1   2   0  1   0
Isabella Warman   PF    1   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  1   2

Turnovers: 8 (C.Ramirez 2, A.Borst 1, S.Christie 2, 
E.Rochelle 1, A.Kushner 1, K.Lao 1)
Blocked Shots: 0 

 

We found our heart. It wasn't easy, but we found our heart.

 

It wasn't easy out there. Saige Christie had 17 points. Claire Ramirez had 11 rebounds. But it was a team effort at South Dakota. We had five players in double figures. Catalina Stewart had six rebounds and Angelina Choe had seven.

 

I didn't think we were going to do it. At halftime, we were down by one point, 24-23. We were down 23-14 with 3:47 left and then...we began to turn it around, finishing the half with a 9-1 run. I pressed that into their noggins at halftime. Abigail Merkle was fouled on the final shot in the first half and the and-one brought us within one.

 

"This is the time where you have to believe!" I said. "We scored nine out of the last 10 points. I swear to you - I promise you - that if you keep up the defensive pressure, they'll crack up!"

 

They did. We took the league and began to extend it. North Dakota State played as smart as they could - and they outrebounded us - but they kept sending us to the free throw line, committing 26 personal fouls (to our 15) in a game that had the Bison coach tearing her hair and more worried about the referees than us.

 

At the end of the game - when it became obvious that we were going to win it - Caitlyn Williams practically jumped out of her seat. The team was starting to have fun.

 

"Guys - who thought that two years ago we'd get this far? You just won South Dakota's first ever post-season victory in Division 1! I liked what I saw! Five players in double figures - what did you eat for breakfast this morning? No speeches! We have Oakland tomorrow! Hit the showers and rest, for God's sake!"

 

As the players answered their messages and e-mails and whatnot, I got some calls of my own - my mother was able to watch the game on "the advanced cable TV" of a neighbor. (Summit League women's basketball wasn't on TV a lot in Kentucky.) Another person enjoying higher end cable was my old coach Ken Tomlinson who wanted to talk my ear off. "Can't talk!" I said. "I've got a game tomorrow."

 

I got a text message from Powerhouse Pondexter. "Bout time you won something keep representing JMUDukes!"

 

But my favorite message came from Willie Burbank. He couldn't be there. He had suffered from macular degeneration in his left eye for years, and it had progressed to an advanced stage where he was virtually blind in his left eye. Therefore, he was having implant surgery for his left eye. (His right eye had not advanced to that point yet.) Due to his age - he was 71 - he was resting at home and had been ordered not to watch the game. (So he listened to it instead.)

 

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2308/implantr.jpg

 

He left a message on my cell.

 

"Mark, this is a great win for South Dakota and a great win for our school. You've done a great job so far. I'm busy recovering from this implant, so I'm going to be at home for a week. Anyway, as soon as the season is over, I want you to meet Dan Henderson. He's one of the boosters and we might bring him around to putting some money in the program. But right now, you just worry about winning games. I'll see you with my "bionic eye" when I get back."

 

A booster! We could sure use the money. Maybe I'd actually make it to the end of my contract in 2015. Maybe they'd even extend it.

 

But until then, there was work to do. The players were put into bed in a hotel at Sioux Falls. We had to change rooms but it was worth it. In the meantime, the coaching staff went over game film and tried to figure out what we were going to do against Oakland. We managed to make it to 2:30 in the AM before fatigue crushed us.

 

(* * *)

 

Summit League Tournament

 

Oakland 60, Western Illinois 37. You can win shooting 38 percent when you're playing Western Illinois. The Fighting Leathernecks were outrebounded 44-23.

South Dakota 43, IPFW 35. A real channel-changer and evidence for women's basketball haters - both teams shot 30 percent. The Jacks scored 11 points in the second half; they won anyway.

Nebraska-Omaha 64, UMKC 62. Kylie Davis hits a pair of critical free throws for the Mavericks to put UNO up by four with a half-minute left; the Cinderella season of the Kangaroos ends in a first round upset.

 

WBCA Top 10, March 12 2013

   #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv  Conference                          
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.  Ohio State               (52)    29-2    1780    1  Big Ten Conference                  
  2.  Stanford                  (8)    28-2    1674    2  Pacific-12 Conference               
  3.  Baylor                    (1)    27-4    1627    4  Big 12 Conference                   
  4.  Notre Dame                (1)    27-2    1611    3  Big East Conference                 
  5.  Duke                      (4)    27-2    1543    5  Atlantic Coast Conference           
  6.  Connecticut               (6)    27-2    1469    6  Big East Conference                 
  7.  Kentucky                         26-3    1344    9  Southeastern Conference             
  8.  Maryland                         26-4    1269    8  Atlantic Coast Conference           
  9.  Bowling Green                    27-2    1152   10  Mid-American Conference             
 10.  Oklahoma                         23-6    1140    7  Big 12 Conference        

 

I would venture to guess that Ohio State, Stanford and Notre Dame will get #1 seeds, barring disasters. But that fourth spot is up for grabs. Baylor is pretty weeak. It will probably be either Baylor, Duke, or Kentucky. Maybe Maryland if they can win the ACC Tournament.

 

March 12, 2013

 

Summit League Tournament - Semifinals - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

 

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3605/16580963bg1.jpg

 

#1 Oakland vs. #5 South Dakota - 12:00 noon CST

#2 South Dakota State vs. #6 Nebraska-Omaha - 2:30 pm CST

 

South Dakota (13-17, 10-7) vs. Oakland (27-3, 16-1)

 

January 22: @Oakland 63, South Dakota 42

February 23: Oakland 68, @South Dakota 55

 

Oakland. I'm glad to be here, but frankly, I would have rather played South Dakota State. This is the penalty for finishing in the middle of the conference. Oakland has won 90 percent of its games and they are still smarting over last year's Summit League finals loss to South Dakota State. They won't be happy with another WNIT appearance.

 

The crowds are looking good. I feel sorry for the South Dakota State fans waiting for the second game; they don't know who to root for or who to root against.

 

The Golden Grizzlies have a lot of weapons. Senior shooting guard Mckayla Musgrove averages 14.9 ppg, putting her at #2 in the conference. I'm more worried about junior small forward Jacqueline Grover, who averages 10.5 ppg and 9.9 rpg - almost a double-double a game. When she's hot, it becomes very hard to compensate. Junior PF Selena James has had some good games in the post as well.

 

Oakland is a very solid defensive team. They've won by an average of 13 points per game. Our plan is to let Mckayla Musgrove get her points and worry about Grover. Rebounding is one of the few places where we're competitive with Oakland; we have to win the battle of the boards or our journey is going to end right here against Oakland.

 

My approach? A simple one. "Guys, we are the luckiest team in the Summit League. Why? Because absolutely no one expects us to win. No one. And neither does Oakland, which is the luckiest thing at all. And therefore, there is no pressure on us. We have a luxury that other teams don't have. We can play hard. We can perfect our game and be free of anyone's expectations. We're the only ones that have to care about today's game."

 

"What you have to ask yourselves? When I step off that court today, and when I look in the mirror tonight before I go to bed...what do I want to see? Do I want to see with the face of a champion...the face of someone who gave absolutely everything they had to give, dripping in sweat, proud of their effort, and able to hold their heads up high in victory or defeat and stare anyone right in the eye who would claim you gave a second best effort? I'm sure that's the kind of person you want to see."

 

"But what you see...can change. It's right in front of you. Right now. The effort is out there to give, and you have to give us. You have to give your last full measure. You can't leave that court unsatisfied, you can't let yourself walk away thinking you didn't give it everything."

 

"So go out there. Make it hard on yourselves. Because you'll be making it hard on them when you do that. I love all of you, and let's go out there and do some bear hunting!"

 

(* * *)

 

Oakland 101, South Dakota 93 (3 OT)

South Dakota (13-18, 10-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe     C    38   2-8   0-2   2  14   2  2   4
C. Harrington     PF   33   5-9   4-7   2  10   1  4  14
Jessica Bing      SF   38  4-10   6-6   0   3   2  4  14
Catalina Stewart  SG   41  8-12   2-6   1   5   5  5  21
Abagail Merkle    PG   36  7-10   3-3   1   5   4  2  19
Allison Riggle    PG   30   3-6   4-5   1   4   5  3  10
Maliah Lewellen   PF   25   2-3   0-1   1   3   0  4   4
Bella Grier       SF   20   1-6   0-0   1   1   0  1   2
Ashley Brown      C    12   1-2   2-4   0   3   0  0   4
Jillian Ho        PG    2   0-0   1-2   1   1   0  0   1

Turnovers: 18 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 5, 
C.Stewart 2, A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 2, M.Lewellen 2, 
B.Grier 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Merkle 2)
Steals: 3 (C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 5-19 (C.Harrington 0-2, J.Bing 0-3, C.Stewart 
3-6, A.Merkle 2-3, A.Riggle 0-3, B.Grier 0-2)

Oakland (29-3, 17-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Julia Mellon      C    38   1-7   6-6   2   5   0  2   8
Selena James      PF   16   0-2   0-0   0   4   1  5   0
Jacqueline Grover SF   35  6-14  8-10   2   6   3  4  20
Mckayla Musgrove  SG   40  9-16   4-5   2   7   3  2  25
Luciana Overturf  PG   40  5-11   3-4   0   2   2  4  16
Grace Dupuis      PG   24  2-12   6-6   0   3   2  2  11
Angelica Brown    SF   11   1-1   0-1   1   2   1  5   3
Stephanie Tittle  PF   23   3-6   2-4   4   7   0  3   8
Nevaeh Chilton    SG    5   1-1   0-0   1   1   1  0   2
Amirah Carmona    C    13   2-4   0-0   0   1   0  0   4
Amelia Kimmel     PF   23   1-3   2-2   0   5   0  3   4
Addison Spinner   SF    6   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 11 (J.Mellon 1, S.James 2, J.Grover 1, 
M.Musgrove 3, L.Overturf 2, G.Dupuis 1, A.Kimmel 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (J.Grover 1, A.Carmona 3)
Steals: 8 (M.Musgrove 3, L.Overturf 3, G.Dupuis 1, 
S.Tittle 1)
3P FGs: 8-28 (J.Mellon 0-4, J.Grover 0-1, M.Musgrove 
3-6, L.Overturf 3-8, G.Dupuis 1-8, A.Brown 1-1)

Player of Game: SG Mckayla Musgrove (OAK)

 

That game was a game for the ages. If anyone pays attention to South Dakota women's basketball - if there's a six-year old historian somewhere - that game will go down as one of the greatest ever played, a triple-overtime thriller where we almost - but not quite - knocked Oakland out.

 

The Grizzlies had their teeth in us early and we were down by 12 points at halftime, 44-32. But we answered with an 13-4 run that had Oakland reeling. (I didn't give a gung-ho speech, I just talked about defensive adjustments.) From there Oakland's lead began to rise and fall and we were only down by one, 55-54 with 6:15 left.

 

With 4:59 left in the second, Selena James fouled out and Allison Riggle went to the line. Riggle missed the first shot of a 1-1 - but Maliah Lewellen, our Crazy Girl, tipped the ball in after the miss to give us our first lead of the game, 56-55!

 

"Keep your mind on the right things!" I told the team. I didn't want them to spiral out of the control and I worked the clipboard on the sidelines. Mckayla Musgrove answered with a 3-pointer and Oakland was right back on top. I had a time-out to burn and I burned it, quietly stressing where we missed an assignment. "You'll pick that up next time."

 

Oakland kept trying to bury us with the 3, but we defended it well. Angelica Brown fouled out of the game for Oakland. WIth Oakland up 61-60, Jessica Bing got a crucial steel and we fast-breaked to a 62-61 lead with less than a minute left. Oakland had the ball and tried another three - no good, but they rebounded and burned enough time off the clock for a final shot. Stephanie Tittle took the shot and...

 

...they called Caroline Herrington for a foul with 0.9 seconds left. I went nuts! The other coaches had to hold me back and keep me from getting a T and losing the game! Tittle would take two free throws - if she hit them, Oakland was going on.

 

First shot: good.

SEcond: Nothing! Allison Riggle got the rebound and we had tied Oakland! Overtime!

 

In the first overtime, they continued to show us the same 2-3 zone they had played the entire game. It was close all the way. Musgrove hit a 3-pointer for the Golden Grizzlies to put them up 69-67 with 41 seconds left. They fouled Caroline Harrington to send her to the line - but she missed her second free throw. We were now down 69-68 and Oakland had the ball. With 27 seconds left, we were forced to foul and McKayla Musgrove hit one of two to put Oakland up 70-68.

 

Catalina Stewart was given the last shot and somehow Oakland expected us to go inside. She hit a mid-range jumper on a drive to tie the game with eight seconds left. Oakland would have one shot with Jacqueline Grover missing the shot that would have given Oakland the win. For the second time in a row Oakland had missed a shot that could have ended the game and we'd go into a second overtime, 70-70.

 

Jessica Bing fought her way into the basket with 57 seconds left in the second OT, putting us up 78-76. McKayla Musgrove made a pass into Row Z with 45 seconds left - Oakland was looking just as beat as we were. With 39 seconds left, they were forced to foul Catalina Stewart who would be forced to make two free throws. If she made them, we'd be hard to beat.

 

Cataline hit one of two to put us up by three, 79-76. Oakland made a fast drive to the basket and closed to 79-79 with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer. It would be up to us and with four seconds left, Angelina Choe found Abagail Merkle who had moved over to the free throw line in a no-look pass. Merkle hit the shot, and we were up 81-79!

 

With four seconds left, Oakland found Luciana Overturf. Abagail Merkle was on her and she was playing good, hard defense. It wasn't a prayer shot, but there was definitely difficulty involved - and Overturf lived up to the presure, hitting the final shot of the second overtime with a buzzer beater that sent us into Overtime #3, 81-81.

 

Everyone was trying to stay calm. But we were down to our last nerve. This was water torture, and Oakland was a mentally tough and capable team willing to go to a million overtimes if they had to. By that last overtime, we were like limp disrags. They knew we were whipped and we knew we were whipped. We had given the last full measure, and there was just nothing left in the tank. Halfway through the OT period the Grizzlies pulled ahead, slowly increasing the lead. An 11-0 run ended our dream of knocking off Oakland.

 

In the final minute of OT #3, Catalina Stewart fouled out of the game. She finished the game with 21 points and most impressively, she played 41 minutes of basketball. Carolian Harrington had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Angelina Choe had 4 points and 14 rebounds.

 

When we got back into the locker room, everyone was crying. Stewart was crumpled over in the corner. The emotion is just so much more raw in the women's game. You get hit with it when you go into the locker room. I was hoarse and could barely speak.

 

"Today...you won respect for this program. I can say...with every fiber of my being...that I am not ashamed of the way this team has come together. You gave absolutely everything. There wasn't an ounce of effort that wasn't left out there on that floor. We took the toughest team in the Summit League by the horns. We got close. We got damned close."

 

"There are no moral victories. We lost. We weren't good enough, and I could have coached you better than I did this year. But if I have anything to say about it, next year we're going to win games like this and the other team will be the one that's miserable."

 

(* * *)

 

Summit League Tournament

 

South Dakota State 75, Nebraska-Omaha 40. The Jacks led 42-19 at halftime in a snoozer. South Dakota shot 57.4 percent for the game to set up a rematch for the Summit League title against Oakland.

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Wow. We almost knocked off Oakland. Unbelievable. We finish the season at 13-18 and if a few baskets had gone in at the right time, we'd be in the conference finals.

 

Not this year. Maybe next.

 

Next time: Will we keep our assistant coaches, or will someone get fired? We make our March to Madness with the NCAA Tournament selection. I'll be adding a poll to the Dynasty section which I'll pull in three days.

[Petrel]

March 2013

 

 

March 13, 2013

 

Summit League Tournament - Finals - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

 

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3605/16580963bg1.jpg

 

Oakland 84, South Dakota 63. Jackrabbit fans who hoped that the triple-overtime game against USD would have drained the Golden Grizzlies were mistaken. A 10-2 run in the middle of the second half gave Oakland a lead it would never relinquish. Senior guard Mckayla Musgrove of the Golden Grizzlies scored 16 points and was named the Player of the Game as Oakland adds the tournament title to their regular-season title and heads to the NCAA Tournament.

 

(* * *)

 

For the rest of the week, the major conferences took part in their tournaments, so you knew you were going to get a lot of great matchups.

 

On Saturday, there were two great matchups. The Big Twelve Finals had #3 Baylor taking on #10 Oklahoma. Oklahoma had made it to the NCAA Finals the previous year and wanted to go deep again - starting the journey with the Big Twelve Title would be a big plus. Baylor was fighting for respect - they had suffered some inexplicable Big Twelve losses in the regular season and they were fighting for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Baylor was up 88-81 with three minutes left...but they didn't score another point for the rest of the game as they choked under pressure. Oklahoma held on to an 89-88 victory, winning the Big Twelve tournament title.

 

The other marquee matchup was the Big East Championship, with #4 Notre Dame taking on #6 Connecticut in a rematch of Top 10 teams that Notre Dame won at Storrs. Backyup PG Kinsley Futrell of the Huskies had the game of a lifetime, going 6-for-8 from 3-point range and knocking them down when it counted as Connecticut knocked out the Fighting Irish 69-60 to take yet another Big East title.

 

There were of course surprises, with two #1 seeds in major conferences falling on Saturday. #2 Stanford lost to UCLA in the Pac-Twelve championship, with UCLA only fouling 8 times to the Cardinal's 23 times - Stanford went 1-for-3 at the free throw line. Florida, with a 3-13 record in SEC play and seeded #12 out of 13 teams knocked off #1 seed Kentucky 63-60 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to face Tennessee in the conference finals.

 

On Sunday, #5 Duke would take on #8 Maryland for the ACC title. The Blue Devils were hoping for a #1 seed and they were in control for the entire game, winning 83-74 to clinch the regular season title and the tournament. Senior SF Emely Oakley had 20 points for the Blue Devils.

 

The more interesting game was the Big Ten Championship, with #1 Ohio State facing Iowa. However, the Buckeyes were upset 96-77 as the Hawkeyes shot 58.8 percent. With the upset loss the night before the Tournament Selection Show, Ohio State's hope of a #1 seed was in jeopardy.

 

(* * *)

 

2012-13 Conference Tournament Champs

Conference                           Team                          Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
America East Conference              Boston University       17-15 (10-6)
Atlantic 10 Conference               Temple                  24-10 (10-4)
Atlantic Coast Conference            Duke                     30-2 (13-1)
Atlantic Sun Conference              East Tennessee State     31-3 (15-1)
Big 12 Conference                    Oklahoma                 26-6 (13-5)
Big East Conference                  Connecticut              30-2 (15-1)
Big Sky Conference                   Montana                  22-9 (15-1)
Big South Conference                 Coastal Carolina         15-17 (9-9)
Big Ten Conference                   Iowa                     27-6 (12-4)
Big West Conference                  Cal Poly                 18-15 (9-9)
Colonial Athletic Association        Delaware                 24-8 (14-4)
Conference USA                       Rice                     21-12 (9-7)
Horizon League                       Butler                  22-11 (11-7) 
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference   Marist                   27-5 (17-1)
Mid-American Conference              Bowling Green            30-2 (16-0)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference      North Carolina A&T       24-8 (14-2)
Missouri Valley Conference           Illinois State           28-4 (15-3)
Mountain West Conference             Fresno State             26-7 (10-6)
Northeast Conference                 Long Island             15-17 (7-11)
Ohio Valley Conference               Tennessee-Martin        15-17 (11-7)
Pacific-12 Conference                UCLA                     27-6 (14-4)
Patriot League                       Lehigh                   24-8 (11-3)
Southeastern Conference              Tennessee                27-5 (14-2)
Southern Conference                  Elon                    18-14 (12-8)
Southland Conference                 Lamar                    29-2 (14-0)
Southwestern Athletic Conference     Arkansas-Pine Bluff     19-13 (12-6)
Summit League                        Oakland                  29-3 (15-1)
Sun Belt Conference                  Arkansas-Little Rock     30-2 (15-1)
West Coast Conference                Gonzaga                  27-4 (13-3)
Western Athletic Conference          Texas-Arlington          19-12 (9-5)

 

2013 NCAA Tournament

 

Spokane Region

 

1) Ohio State (31-3, Big Ten at-large) vs. 16) Arkansas Pine-Bluff (19-13, SWAC Champions)

8) Southern California (24-8, Pac 12 at-large vs. 9) Georgia (23-9, SEC at-large)

 

4) Kansas State (24-8, Big Twelve at-large vs. 13) DePaul (19-11, Big East at-large)

5) East Tennessee State (31-3, Atlantic Sun Champions vs. 12) St. Bonaventure (22-8, Atlantic Ten at-large)

 

2) Stanford (30-3, Pac 12 at-large) vs. 15) Cal Poly (18-15, Big West Champions)

7) Gonzaga (27-4, West Coast Champions) vs. 10) Michigan State (22-9, Big Ten at-large)

 

3) Florida State (23-7, ACC at-large) vs. 14) Montana (22-9, Big Sky Champions)

6) Illinois State (28-4, Missouri Valley Champions) vs. 11) Fresno State (26-7, Mountain West Champions)

 

 

Norfolk Region

 

1) Duke (30-2, ACC Champions) vs. 16) Coastal Carolina (15-17, Big South Champions)

8) Oakland (29-3, Summit League Champions) vs. 9) Hampton (27-5, MEAC at-large)

 

4) UCLA (27-6, Pac-12 Champions) vs. 13) James Madison (23-9, CAA at-large)

5) Louisville (23-8, Big East at-large) vs. 12) Mississippi (20-11, SEC at-large)

 

2) Kentucky (27-4, SEC at-large) vs. 15) Elon (18-14, Southern Champions)

7) Boston College (22-10, ACC at-large) vs. 10) Charlotte (23-8, Atlantic Ten at-large)

 

3) Oklahoma (26-6, Big TWelve Champion) vs. 14) Butler (22-11, Horizon League Champion)

6) California (26-6, Pac-12 at-large) vs. 11) UC Santa Barbara (24-7, Big West at-large)

 

Oklahoma City Region

 

1) Notre Dame (29-3, Big East at-large) vs. 16) Tennessee-Martin (15-17, Ohio Valley Champions)

8) Purdue (25-7, Big Ten at-large) vs. 9) VCU (24-9, Colonial at-large)

 

4) North Carolina (22-8, ACC at-large) vs. 13) Texas (18-12, Big Twelve at-large)

5) Lamar (29-2, Southland Conference Champions) vs. 12) Arizona State (20-11, Pac-12 at-large)

 

2) Baylor (29-5, Big Twelve at-large) vs. 15) Texas-Arlington (WAC Champions)

7) Xavier (24-7, Atlantic 10 at-large) vs. 10) Georgetown (22-11, Big East at-large)

 

3) Iowa (27-6, Big Ten Champions) vs. 14) Rice (21-12, Conference USA Champions)

6) Texas A&M (13-3, SEC at-large) vs. 11) New Mexico (25-7, Mountain West at-large)

 

Trenton Region

 

1) Connecticut (30-2, Big East Champions) vs. 16) Long Island (15-17, Northeast Champions)

8) Marist (27-5, MAAC Champions) vs. 9) Harvard (26-3, Ivy League Champions)

 

4) Bowling Green (30-2, Mid-American Champions) vs. 13) North Carolina A&T (24-8, MEAC Champions)

5) Arkansas Little-Rock (30-2, Sun Belt Champions) vs. 12) Louisiana State (20-12, SEC at-large)

 

2) Maryland (28-5, ACC at-large) vs. 15) Boston University (17-15, America East Champions)

7) Temple (24-10, Atlantic Ten Champions) vs. 10) San Diego State (25-6, Mountain West at-large)

 

3) Tennessee (27-5, SEC Champions) vs. 14) Lehigh (24-8, Patriot Champions)

6) West Virginia (24-7, Big East at-large) vs. 11) Delaware (24-8, Colonial Champions)

 

Last Teams In

 

St. Bonaventure

James Madison

Texas

DePaul

 

First Teams Out

 

Mississippi State

Georgia Tech

Middle Tennessee

Iowa State

 

Conference Representation

 

Big East (6)

Southeastern (6)

 

Pacific-12 (5)

Atlantic Coast (5)

 

Atlantic Ten (4)

Big Ten (4)

Big Twelve (4)

 

Colonial (3)

Mountain West (3)

 

Big West (2)

MEAC (2)

 

America East

Atlantic Sun

Big Sky

Big South

Conference USA

Horizon

Ivy

MAAC

Mid-American

Missouri Valley

Northeast

Ohio Valley

Patriot

Southern

Southland

Summit

Sun Belt

SWAC

WAC

West Coast

 

Summit League Schools

 

Oakland is the representative for the Summit League in the NCAA Tournament. They are a #8 seed and will play MEAC at-large team Hampton in the first round of the tournament.

 

South Dakota State was seeded #9 out of ten teams in the WNIT Midwest Region. They open tournament season on the road against #8 Marquette from the Big East.

 

(* * *)

 

As mid-March was rolling around, my thoughts turned to the performance of my coaching staff. I had not been really happy with their performance over the last two years. It was sheer desperation that led to them becoming my coaching staff in the first place - when I got to USD I thought I was going to be an assistant coach of men's basketball. Instead, I found myself looking for a job after a mass firing hit the women's basketball team and I stepped into a role - basically unprepared - and found myself building a staff out of nothing.

 

Two of my coaches had experiences as head coaches of failed high school teams. One had watched a lot of AAU ball. They were the best I could get and I hoped that they would grow into their roles, but it seemed like that was too much to hope.

 

I spoke to my old coach Ken Tomlinson. "Look Mark," he said. "Change comes with a program. You have to be flexible. You're always one step away from being fired. Loyalty is admirable, but if you don't get rid of these people, they're going to end up getting rid of you. So to speak. It is almost impossible to carry a bad coach on a winning staff. If you have to, you can shove a bad player to the bottom of the bench. But a coach has to do too much and if they can't meet their responsibilities, you'll see the adverse impact on the team. The team comes first. Trust me, if South Dakota thought that you were the big problem with their team reaching the next level, you'll go and nothing will stop them."

 

"I guess I just see myself being in their shoes too much. It's going to hurt."

 

"Oh yeah," Tomlinson said. "I don't think anyone likes being fired."

 

"I was talking about me."

 

"Me too. If you don't feel a stab at your gut at firing someone, no matter how useless they are, you've got to be a heartless sonofabitch. I don't like taking a paycheck away from someone who works for a living. So let me ask you a question - do you want a winning program at South Dakota?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Are these people going to get you there? Unless the answer is "yes" you need to start looking around. Bite the bullet and do yourself and them a favor."

 

I didn't have anything to say. "One other thing. Talk to your AD. Don't just go firing them yourself. Every school does it different these days, it seems."

 

 

March 19, 2013

 

WNIT First Round

 

Marquette 62, South Dakota State 57: The Jackrabbits season comes to an end in Michigan. Senior Cheyanne Hardiman had 26 points and 11 rebounds in her final game for South Dakota State.

 

(* * *)

 

With Willie Burbank still recovering from what we called his "bionic eye" surgery, I found myself in the office of the assistant Athletic Director Robert Hanson.

 

"Mark, great to see you," he said, shaking my hand. "Great job with the Yotes and congratulations on your conference performance. I'm hoping than in a couple of years we can be winning some championships. Time for the flagship university at South Dakota to reclaim its prominence."

 

"Thanks."

 

"Good thing you came to me, too about this firing business. So...you have three coaches. Who are you letting go?"

 

"How many can I let go?"

 

He stared at me. "Your entire staff?"

 

"If I could get away with it."

 

"I'd advise against it. Williams and Ulmer are two of only a handful of black admins at South Dakota. That sets a bad example. I'd keep at least one of them. And isn't Reavis a lawyer?"

 

"Right."

 

"I'd just fire one of them."

 

"Robert," I said. "I won't fire all of them but I want to let two of them go. I'll take your point on it being a bad idea to fire both Williams and Ulmer. But I want Reavis to go with Williams."

 

"Okay. Can you tell me why you're firing them?"

 

I knew he'd want specifics. "Caitlyn has a lot of rapport with these kids. But recruiting isn't just about making phone calls, it's about making inroads to territories and I think I've done a better job of it than she has. I'd talked to a lot of Texas AAU coaches and they feel that they can talk to me and than I'll listen to them. Caitlyn thinks that her job begins and ends with talking on the phone to a prospect. She doesn't like to travel by herself when I can't make a home visit with her. She's very reluctant to use our computer system and her notes are very spotty. There's just a general sloppiness there."

 

"Go on."

 

"And she can't close the deal. That put us behind last year when I was running my ass off all over the place. Then again, I had to replace six players last year. This year, we only had two players to recruit and we wanted a blue-chipper. Two high-profile targets and she couldn't close either one of them. She's the one spending time with them, they are willing to talk to her and every deal that she can't close burns x number of hours that we can't get back."

 

"What about Reavis?"

 

"I don't think we were adequately prepared for some of our teams. There were a lot of times we were surprised. Sometimes I asked her about the statistics of some of our opponents, she was clueless. I thought a lawyer would be a lot better prepared. She really stood up for a couple of players during that first year in filling out the roster and I don't think the players she stood up for were very good. For someone who is in the job of projecting players - either our opponents or potential recruits - I've not been impressed. She seems to be scouting for AAU and not Division I."

 

"Then why would you choose Williams? Why not Ulmer?"

 

"I don't think much of Ulmer either. I have to leave the program in the hands of Reavis and Ulmer when Williams and I are on a joint visit. I strongly suspect that our practice time when I'm not looking becomes a girls' high school gym class - run around for two hours, shoot the ball some, and go. No teaching. But Ulmer is a disciplinarian. She doesn't put up with crap. Williams is too timid and Reavis wants to be the friend of these girls and not their coach."

 

"Do you have someone in mind to replace these coaches with?"

 

I laughed. "Ha! Last year, we were rummaging through what resumes we got."

 

"Then we need to move as quickly as possible. I'm going to set up these meetings," Robert said. "Schools are going to be firing their assistants at this time of year. I'll set up a meeting tomorrow. You, me, and someone else from the department. Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

 

Who is? "Robert, we can't move the program to the next level if they're here next year."

 

"Okay. Then let's do what we have to do."

 

March 21, 2013

NCAA First Round

 

A lot of upsets way out west....

 

13) DePaul 79, 4) Kansas State 56 - The Wildcats were held to just 29.3 percent shooting in an embarrasing upset.

12) St. Bonaventure 56, 5) East Tennessee State 54 - Ruth Lamp's final shot falls short and a great season for the Lady Bucs ends.

14) Montana 59, 3) Florida State 44 - The biggest upset of the day. The Lady Griz held the Seminoles to just 23 rebounds.

11) Fresno State 75, 6) Illinois State 60 - 28 fouls doomed the Redbirds, Fresno State hit 28 of 36 free throw attempts.

 

4) North Carolina 85, 13) Texas 66 - The Tar Heels's Grace Reynolds had 34 points and 10 assists in an amazing game.

5) Lamar 104, 12) Arizona State 89 - Lamar's starters scored 93 points combined. A-State's Genevieve Keller tried to lift the team single-handedly to victory with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists - almost a triple-double.

3) Iowa 67, 14) Rice 44 - The Hawkeyes made it rain by hitting 13 3-point shots.

11) New Mexico 73, 6) Texas A&M 60 - New Mexico was down in the first half, but a great game from Ava Angelo with 33 points helped lift the Lobos to victory.

 

1) Duke 80, 16) Coastal Carolina 59 - Duke was up by 20 at halftime and coasted in the second half.

9) Hampton 65, 8) Oakland 46 - The last Summit League teams goes belly-up, missing 18 of 18 3-point attempts.

3) Kentucky 82, 15) Elon 57 - The Wildcats finish with 20 assists.

10) Charlotte 80, 7) Boston College 65 - Turnovers will kill you. In BC's case, it was 20 TOs.

 

1) Connecticut 75, 16) Long Island 57 - The Blackbirds had some fight in them, and were only down by five at halftime. But when it's dog vs. bird, Huskie usually wins.

9) Harvard 79, 8) Marist 67 - Marisol Parker (25 points) and Isabella Rhinehart (20 points) rah-rah for Harvard.

2) Maryland 75, 15) Boston University 54 - The Terriers were held to just 26 percent shooting.

10) San Diego State 81, 7) Temple 75 - Temple got within two with about three minutes left, but no closer.

 

March 22, 2013

 

When I walked to my office today - it was going to be the last day of work for Raelynn Reavis and Caitlyn Williams. They both had meetings scheduled with the assistant AD - but they didn't know that I was going to be there.

 

As I stepped in to the administrative area of the DakotaDome I heard song playing from Steely Dan from someone's desk.

 

"When Black Friday comes / I'll stand down by the door / And catch the grey men when they / Dive from the fourteenth floor"

 

Great. Yep, Black Friday had definitely come.

 

Robert Hanson gave me advice on firing people. "Listen. When should you fire someone? When you begin to suspect that you should. No one wants to make a mistake. But you don't double down on the mistake. You cut the loss early. And in sports, you definitely cut early. Firing is more brutal in this profession because it's much more of a judgment call. You have no paper trail to back you up. You say, "I don't think we can win with you." My motto is to fire often and keep the best."

 

Caitlyn Williams came in first. She was definitely shocked to see me there - she expect to talk to Hanson one-on-one, and not be talking to three people. "Have a seat, Caitlyn," Robert said. From there on....he'd hand it to me.

 

(* * *)

 

"...and with that in mind," I said, "I am presenting you with your termination letter." I handed her the letter. "Caitlyn, I want to thank you for your help at the University of South Dakota, and feel free to use me as a reference."

 

She nodded. She was still in shock.

 

"Caitlyn, do you have any questions?" Hanson said.

 

She shook her head. "No. No questions. I have no questions." Her left hand was shaking.

 

I walked over to her. "Caitlyn, good luck."

 

I reached my hand out of her to shake...and not only did she shake it, but she gave me a hug! "Thank you, Mark," she said. "So...should I talk to the team?"

 

"No," I said. "That's not necessary." (It really wasn't any of their business anyway. If they didn't want Caitlyn to be fired, maybe they should have won more games.)

 

"You need to clean out your desk," said the human capital representative for the university. (They no longer called it "human resources".) I had logged into Kong and locked Caitlyn out of the recruiting system. Caitlyn was led out of the room.

 

It was just me and Robert Hanson there. "Whoa," I muttered.

 

"Yeah," he said. "Ain't so fun, is it? It's like watching someone get shot." I didn't know if I would ever see Caitlyn Williams again.

 

(* * *)

 

NCAA First Round

 

1) Ohio State 97, 16) Arkansas-Pine Bluff 55 - The #1 Buckeyes eclipsed Pine Bluff 43-21 on the boards.

9) Georgia 57, 8) Southern California 53 - USC sinks a couple of free throws with 16 seconds left to close within two, but they are forced to foul and Georgia won't miss.

2) Stanford 91, 15) Cal Poly 51 - Cal Poly's C Elize Zachary: 0 points and 2 rebounds in 21 minutes played.

10) Michigan State 63, 7) Gonzaga 60 - Senior SG Addison Roop hits a top-of-the-key 3-pointer as time expires to give the Spartans the upset.

 

1) Notre Dame 78, 16) Tennessee-Martin 49 - Tennessee-Martin C Addison Sowers - 0 points, 3 rebounds, 23 minutes played.

9) VCU 57, 8) Purdue 49 - Boilermakers 2-for-4 at the foul line; VCU 16-for-22.

2) Baylor 83, Texas-Arlington 47 - Lady Bears were up by 24 at the break.

7) Xavier 69, Georgetown 63 - With the Musketeers down 60-59, Georgetwon was held to three points in the final three minutes of a close game.

 

4) UCLA 72, James Madison 56 - Sophomore SG Ava Meyer had 25 points for the Bruins.

5) Louisville 71, 12) Mississippi 66 - The Cardinals were up by 15 with 5:42 left but the Rebels almost pull it out.

3) Oklahoma 84, Butler 67 - The Sooners had 26 assists in the game.

6) California 77, UC Santa Barbara 50 - Five players score in double figures for Cal; no one scores in double digits for UCSB.

 

4) Bowling Green 71, North Carolina A&T 55 - Neither team shot 40 percent but Bowling Green was good enough to win.

12) Louisiana State 69, 5) Arkansas-Little Rock 64 - LSU took 37 free throw attempts.

14) Lehigh 75, 3) Tennessee 65 - The biggest upset of the tournament! Lehigh was up 38-34 at halftime. The Lady Vols closed to within five with 1:16 left but couldn't find the spark. In the last two years of NCAA tournament play the Orange and White are a miserable 1-2.

11) Delaware 68, 6) West Virginia 61 - The Blue Hens led by 11 early in the second half but had to keep the Mountaineers an arms-length away for the rest of the half. Backup senior guard Olivia Short scores 11 for Delaware.

 

(* * *)

 

The next firing was Raelynn Reavis. "I have some advice for you, Mark," he said. "I'd never hire a lawyer as a coach. So we have to bring in a lawyer to make sure that she doesn't sue us."

 

The minute she saw me in the office she figured it out in three seconds. "You didn't have the balls to fire me in person?" Raelynn said.

 

"I don't have unilateral hiring authority, and likewise with letting anyone go," I said and the lawyer for the university practically jumped out of his seat, fearing I'd say something that could be litigated for five years.

 

"Raelynn, there are a few things you need to hear," Robert Hanson said.

 

"I'm exercising my right to skip all of that," Raelynn said. "I'm too old for that. If you're going to let me go, I'll leave - but it would have been common courtesy not to ambush me like that. You could have given me some advance notice. After all I've done for this team, I expected better."

 

"You seem determined to make this unpleasant," Hanson said, but at the end he was talking to Raelynn's back. She was out the door. Her session lasted a grand total of thirty seconds.

 

Hanson looked at the HC representative as if he was an old hand at this. "Go down in about fifteen minutes to her office. See if she's collected her personals. If she hasn't, box her stuff. Leave a message on her phone if you have to and send her anything she needs to sign in the mail."

 

"If she refuses to fill anything out," the university human capital representative said, "we mail it to her. If it doesn't come back, we note it and life goes on."

 

And that was it. Raelynn Reavis was out the door.

 

March 23, 2013

NCAA Second Round

 

DePaul 66, St. Bonaventure 58 - DePaul holds on for the win, 7-for-21 3-point shooting makes the difference.

Montana 72, Fresno State 62 - Montana shoots 57 percent in a decisive win to become first #14 seed in women's basketball history to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

 

North Carolina 68, Lamar 41 - Lamar was held to just 10 first half points by the Tar Heels.

New Mexico 64, Iowa 61 - Two held balls in a row - flipping a possession back to New Mexico - and a missed 3-pointer by Iowa knock out the Big Ten champs.

 

Duke 74, Hampton 60 - Duke freshman forward Alyssa Moore had 18 points, 9 rebounds to lead Blue Devils.

Kentucky 81, Charlotte 80 - Down 78-73, a 6-0 run late in the game helps the Wildcats escape elimination

 

Connecticut 98, Harvard 46 - The Crimson only scored 14 second half points.

Maryland 80, San Diego State 59 - Terps took 72 shots to just 50 by SDSU.

 

March 24, 2013

NCAA Second Round

 

Ohio State 77, Georgia 70 - Despite 31 points from Georgia PG Adalynn Flake and a 33-23 rebounding advantage, #1 Ohio State advances.

Stanford 87, Michigan State 73 - 17 turnovers from the Spartans didn't help.

 

Notre Dame 63, VCU 50 - The Rams were up 25-22 at the break, but the Fighting Irish outscored VCU 18-5 in the last seven minutes.

Xavier 91, Baylor 80 - Another major upset with #2 seed Baylor falling. Baylor senior guard Mattie Moeller scored 34 points but a 54-38 halftime lead by the Musketeers was too much to overcome.

 

Louisville 93, UCLA 69 - The cards had a 23-point lead at halftime and shot 13-for-26 from 3-point range.

Oklahoma 71, California 39 - The Golden Bears shot 32.7 percent for the game; not good enough against the Sooners.

 

Bowling Green 72, Louisiana State 52 - Three Falcons in double figures with a 42-25 rebounding edge.

Lehigh 80, Delaware 78 - Aaliyah Payton makes the final drive for the Mountain Hawks to become the second #14 team to make it to the Sweet Sixteen just one day after Montana does it.

 

(* * *)

 

That Friday, Lauren Word printed the release on the university website. I called Katie Ulmer.

 

"Yeah, I talked to Caitlyn. She said she got fired. Are you firing me too?"

 

"No." Because I can't fire the entire staff. You've got another year, Katie, so you'd better hope we win big.

 

"Good."

 

"You need to be with me at 2 o'clock. Team meeting."

 

I spoke to the team. "I don't know if you heard, but we've just let go Caitlyn Williams and Raelynn Reavis. The reasons we let them go are entirely related to job performance and the judgment of what's best for the program. I've spoken to the assistant AD who is in charge with Willie Burbank recovering, but Willie knows what's going on. Don't think that I don't love each and everyone one of you, and I don't want their dismissal to be interpreted in any way as a sign of a lack of commitment to you as South Dakota players. You deserve the best...and that's part of the reason that they're not with us any more."

 

"We had a great year," I continued. "But 13-17 is not where this program should be. We had a great year. We beat South Dakota State. Finished above .500 in conference. Went to the conference semifinals. Gave Oakland hell. Still not good enough. Our goals are about the highest."

 

"We're going to brand new places. We want you to have faith in this program and in this university. Soon, we'll have new staff members and we need you to give them your full support. Any questions?"

 

There were no questions. The team accepted it, but looked sad. Caitlyn Williams had recruited them, but part of the job of a recruiter is that you recruit someone and don't spend much time with them afterwards - you're on to the next class. Truth be told, the team would move on faster than I would, at least on the surface. What was said in dorm rooms and apartments would be something that I'd never know.

 

(* * *)

 

March 28, 2013 - NCAA Sweet Sixteen

 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

 

Notre Dame 87, North Carolina 83 - The Tarheels led 46-40 at halftime and threw a scare into the defending NCAA champions. The Fighting Irish caught up in the middle of the second half and from there it was touch and go. ND led 80-70 with four minutes left but North Carolina almost came back, scoring 11 points in the last minute of the game on a tip-in and three straight 3-pointers.

 

Xavier 78, New Mexico 73 - Tied 62-62 with five minutes left, Xavier would take the lead and keep it. For Xavier, 52 percent shooting made the difference. Of New Mexicos 63 shots, 32 were from behond the arc.

 

Trenton, New Jersey

 

Connecticut 67, Bowling Green 63 - Bowling Green goes deep again in the tournament, but Connecticut was just too deep for them. The game was won on the boards, with the Huskies having a 49-29 rebounding advantage. Junior post player Ashley Wicklund only had 6 points for UConn but had 16 rebounds.

 

Maryland 69, Lehigh 60 - Could little Lehigh be the Cinderella of the ball? The Mountain Hawks fought Maryland to a 33-33 tie in the first half but the second half was all Terrapins as four Terps scored in double digits.

 

March 29, 2013 - NCAA Sweet Sixteen

 

Spokane, Washington

 

Ohio State 75, DePaul 65 - Ohio State led by seven at the break and made the most of its opportunities, keeping a double-digit lead throughout the second half. They key to the game was fouls, with Ohio State being sent to the line 27 times and hitting 70 percent of their shots. Four buckeyes finished in double figures.

 

Stanford 79, Montana 45 - Stanford was up by six at halftime and then ten minutes after halftime...they were up by 20. The Lady Griz had their passing game destroyed by the Cardinal defense, held to just four assists for the game and only 24.3 percent shooting.

 

Norfolk, Virginia

 

Duke 79, Louisville 49 - Duke led 37-17 at haltfime in a blowout. Louisville sophomore Angelica McCollough scored 19 points for the Cardinals...but no one else did. Duke senior Addison Dial had 23 points on 11-for-19 shooting.

 

Oklahoma 79, Kentucky 58 - Another snoozer, with the Suooners up by 19 at the break in a tough, physical battle. Oklahoma shot 55.6 percent for the game with three Sooners in double-digits.

 

March 30, 2013 -NCAA Regional Finals

 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

 

Xavier 69, Notre Dame 59 - Cinderella's at the ball as the Musketeers knock off the defending National Champions! Xavier led 40-27 at halftime and held Notre Dame to just 35.9 percent shooting. Xavier's defense forced 13 turnovers from the fighting Irish compared to just seven from the plucky team from Cincinnati. Senior post Bella Phelps had 25 points and six rebounds against Notre Dame.

 

Trenton, New Jersey

 

Maryland 103, Connecticut 79 - Maryland goes to the Final Four in a shocking blowout of Connecticut. The Huskies turned the ball over 26 times in a game where both teams were having hot shooting games. Senior point guard Sarah Lively had 26 points for Maryland and senior shooting guard Elisabeth Desreaulx added 24 in a game where five Terps scored in double figures.

 

March 31, 2013 -NCAA Regional Finals

 

Spokane, Washington

 

Ohio State 86, Stanford 79 - #1 Ohio State moves to the Final Four after being tied with Stanford 46-46 at halftime. 3-point shooting was the key to the Buckeye victory with Ohio State hitting 12 of 24 from long range. Ohio State had great clutch performances from its bench players such as Alani Levi (10 points in 15 minutes) and Esther Laurence (13 points in 8 minutes).

 

Norfolk, Virginia

 

Oklahoma 74, Duke 65 - The Sooners become the only team from last season to return to the Final Four as they knock off the #2 team in the country, the Duke Blue Devils. Duke couldn't handle Oklahoma's defensive pressure and they simply fell apart, shooting 38.9 percent. It might have been the worst night of senior Addison Dial's career - she scored only four points in 33 minutes of play (2-for-18 shooting.)

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

Caitlyn Williams and Raelynn Reavis are out. That's the nature of the basketball business, I suppose. Given that for both of them it was their first basketball hire at the college level ever, I didn't think they'd be able to shrug it off as "that's just business." Katie Ulmer is living on borrowed time.

 

So why not fire all three? My theory is that there is a "political cost" to firing anyone - generally, firing someone reflects on the hiring person's initial judgment and some people would have taken that as an admission that Hawkins's choices were foolish ones instead of restricting ones. If he had fired everyone, the next (obvious) question to Willie Burbank would have been, "So he got rid of all his assistants - which he hired - but you're keeping him? Why not fire him, too?"

 

Next time: So, who will be the new assistant coaches? The hiring process starts at South Dakota. The players get asked some questions about next year's schedule.

[Remianen]

So why not fire all three? My theory is that there is a "political cost" to firing anyone - generally, firing someone reflects on the hiring person's initial judgment and some people would have taken that as an admission that Hawkins's choices were foolish ones instead of restricting ones. If he had fired everyone, the next (obvious) question to Willie Burbank would have been, "So he got rid of all his assistants - which he hired - but you're keeping him? Why not fire him, too?"

 

Makes sense. But that's not considering the fact that Hawkins was a first time coach so was completely ignorant to what he needed from his assistants. With time and some success, he has a better idea of what he needs to back him up. No shame in saying 'my bad, rookie mistake' and moving on. It's especially no shame when you consider he had never coached (and never coached women) and managed to turn a perennial cellar dwelling team into the team NO ONE in the Summit League wants to play. Well, except maybe IUPUI since it would probably spike their attendance.

 

This time I hope Mark learns what 'sabermetrics' are and how you can get coaches who are deeply into that who will at least be able to evaluate talent beyond, "She's a real nice girl". But I think he should've put Ulmer on notice.

[Petrel]

Remianen: I'm going to try to implement some crude sabermetrics (With what the data from the game gives me) for the upcoming season.

 

April 2013

 

 

College Insider.Com Tournament - April 2, 2013

 

Manhattan 61, Princeton 57. The Ivy League proves to be unable to defend their titles, as the Lady Jaspers win the newest (and least prestigious) post-season tournament. The 29 Princeton team fouls proved to be their undoing.

 

Women's Basketball Invitational - April 3, 2013

 

Florida defeats Penn State (2 games to 0, 61-53, 71-54). Senior PG Ruth Garner scored 27 points for the Gators and ends her college career on her home court as Florida wraps up the series.

 

But all of the real action was taking place at the Final Four, which would be held in New Orleans, Louisiana at the New Orleans Arena.

 

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/59/nosportsareans2.jpg

 

April 6, 2013

 

Oklahoma 90, Ohio State 75 - In the first National Semifinal, the #1 ranked Buckeyes fell to Oklahoma. "We only had one goal this year," Oklahoma coach Kaelynn Gill said before the game. "That goal was to finish what we started last year." The Sooners will do than and return to the NCAA Finals for the second year in a row. Oklahoma managed to not so much shut down the baskets as set fire to them - the Sooners shot 61.7 percent from the court and blocked eight shots (no Buckeyes player was able to earn a block). Junior forward Lorelai Kubiak scored 29 points for Oklahoma in a game the Sooners dominated from start to finish.

 

Xavier 69, Maryland 59 - For the first time since 1998, a non-power conference team makes it to the NCAA Finals with an upset of Maryland. The Musketeers held Maryland to just 30 percent shooting - part of it was the Terps own fault, where they went 8-for-37 from 3-point range. It was a close first half but Xavier led 37-29 at the break where they scored eight of the final nine first half points. Xavier began to pull away in the back half of the game but Maryland closed to 58-53 with 3:48 left. But Maryland would never get any closer.

 

This set up the National Championship game on Monday....

 

2013 NCAA National Championship: Xavier (29-7) vs. Oklahoma (31-6)

 

Oklahoma 83, Xavier 69 - Oklahoma takes home its very first women's basketball championship with an 83-69 victory over Xavier in New Orleans. It was the first win in three attempts at the brass ring (2002, 2012, 2013). Fouls were key to the game with Xavier sending Oklahoma to the foul line 23 times, where they sank 14 out of 25 attempts.

 

The Sooners held the lead throughout the entire game and maintained a double-digit lead all through the second half. Junior forward Lorelai Kubiak picked up 31 points and six rebounds and was named the MVP of the championship game. Two Sooner players - Addison Cone and Avery Wyckoff - had 10 rebounds each.

 

(* * *)

 

I was enjoying the games, but in reality I was spending most of my time going through resumes. I didn't have Katie Ulmer helping me out; I'd try to use my own contacts.

 

Ken Tomlinson? No. "I earned every second of my retirement. I won't even coach grade-schoolers," he said. I asked him to send any leads my way.

 

Powerhouse Pondexter? No. "C'mon, man. You may have given up by I haven't."

 

Angelina Choe or any of my other graduates? No. None of them had ever shown an interest in coaching, and throwing a 22-year old into a meat grinder without an apprenticeship was unthinkable. If I had money for graduate assistants, I could have let them learn the trade from the ground up - unlike me - but I needed people with experience.

 

While I was thinking this out I got an unexpected call. "Mark," the department secretary said, "it's the Summit League head office."

 

"Put it on speaker."

 

"<Hello, Mark! This is Chester Bowen, the SID for the Summit League. Coach, I wanted to tell you that we're announcing tomorrow that Catalina Stewart has been named the Freshman of the Year in the Summit League!>"

 

"Whoa...that's fantastic! She's worked really hard!" I knew she was a good player, but Freshman of the Year? She was our leading scorer, but I always rode her for turning the ball over so much!

 

"<Yes. She's also made the Summit League all-second team. We just wanted to let you know. We've spoken to your SID so that the website can announce it.>"

 

It was great news. It was also a triumph of sorts of Caitlyn Williams, although she'd never get to enjoy it. I resolved to send her an e-mail letting her know about Catalina's triumph.

 

We didn't do too bad this year. We had one player on the second team...but with one good player we finished .500 in the Summit League and made it to the league semifinals. Almost to the league finals. Of course this meant that I wouldn't be winning Coach of the Year - Oakland would take that for the second straight year - but who knows? It looks like the season wasn't a wash after all.

 

(* * *)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012-13 Summit League Player of the Year:

SR C  Chelsea Norris  South Dakota State  8.2 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 1.6 APG 0.6 SPG, 2.7 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR SG Catalina Stewart  South Dakota  11.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Ava Welsh  Oakland  29 - 4 (15 - 1) 

All-league 1st Team:
C  SR Chelsea Norris  South Dakota State  8.2 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.6 SPG, 2.7 BPG
PF SR Cheyanne Hardiman  South Dakota State  17.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.8 BPG
SF JR Jacqueline Grover  Oakland  10.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.6 BPG
SG SR Mckayla Musgrove  Oakland  15.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG SO Saige Christie  North Dakota State  14.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C  SR Isabella Britton  IPFW  9.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG
PF SR Madison Bright  UMKC  8.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SF SO Angelica Brown  Oakland  6.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG FR Catalina Stewart  South Dakota  11.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG SR Haylee Mull  North Dakota State  13.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C  FR Kayla Craft  South Dakota State  4.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PF FR Pearl Siegel  IPFW  5.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SF FR Emily Nguyen  IUPUI  9.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG FR Catalina Stewart  South Dakota  11.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG FR Amya Weiss  Nebraska-Omaha  8.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.0 BPG

 

(* * *)

 

In the meantime, big money was making its move all across the country. The engine was football and colleges and universities would be dragged to other conferences like ducks would be dragged in the wake of a motorboat.

 

The biggest news was that the Big East...was splitting. The conference had led a precarious existence, split between its non-football schools and its football schools. The football schools had the money and drove Big East policy. The old line schools - the ones that had been there since the beginning - felt scorned and felt that the missions of these new public, non-Catholic institutions were at odds with the culture of the Big East. They did not look forward to being members of a potential 19 or 20 team basketball conference.

 

Therefore, they cut the cord. The Big East Network was the prize plum; the football schools would let the basketball schools go - indeed, they'd be eager to see them gone - provided they kept the television network.

 

The seceding basketball schools would call themselves the Sunrise Conference. The football schools would keep the name of the Big East but very little of its tradition.

 

The question: what was to become of Notre Dame? The Fighting Irish didn't see the prospect of joining the likes of South Florida and Memphis in football all that appealing. Besides, they had their own television contract; they were a force in themselves. However, Notre Dame wanted to keep its basketball squads in the public eye to some degree and even though the Georgetowns and Providences shared Notre Dame's educational mission they didn't share its national audience.

 

Sooner or later, either Big East football or (former) Big East basketball would descend into irrelevance. Notre Dame was not looking to having both of its feet on either side of a widening chasm. They would remain in the Sunrise Conference for now.

 

To top it off, the Big East still had a football-basketball split. Boise State, San Diego State and future football member Navy planned on either moving conferences (Boise State to the WAC, San Diego State to the Big West) or staying in the present ones. (Navy in the Patriot League.) After all of the fallout, the fates of the schools of the pre-2013 basketball Big East were as follows.

 

Sunrise: DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova

Big East (basketball): Cincinnati, Central Florida, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, SMU, Syracuse, West Virginia

 

As for Conference USA and the Mountain West, they had merged into a new superconference. The name of this conference? The Big Five. Yes, there were 16 teams in the new conference - definitely not five - but the name referred to the number of time zones (Hawail for football) that the conference spanned. The teams in that conference were:

 

Big Five Basketball: Air Force, Colorado State, East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Nevada, New Mexico, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UNLV, UTEP, Wyoming

 

Missouri had finally rid itself of its big Twelve affiliation and was scheduled to join the SEC, bringing the powerful conference up to 14 teams. The Big Twelve didn't feel too upset, because West Virginia was scheduled to leave the conference at the end of the 2014 season.

 

There were other minor moves planned. Houston Baptist escaped the Great West Conference and ended up in the Southland. The Great West was down to just four basketball-playing schools but was still hacking away at the idea of a basketball conference. The NCAA refused to grant the Great West an automatic berth; it was a blessing for Houston Baptist to get out of there.

 

Longwood finally got its long-awaited invitation to the Big South, which would leave just one true NCAA Independent next year - Cal State Bakersfield, which has been waiting since forever for the Big West to extend it an invitation. Current NCAA rules stated that teams could not be moved up to Division I unless a conference extended an invitation. How long could CSUB stay in Division I without a conference affiliation? (Clearly, they didn't want to be in the Great West.)

 

Finally, a new team showed up in Division I - the Norse of Northern Kentucky, which went from Division II to the Atlantic Sun. My mother called me when she learned about this. "Why don't you leave South Dakota and apply for that job in Northern Kentucky?" This was my mother's way of telling me that I wasn't home enough.

 

(* * *)

 

So what was I doing? Preparing for the off-season, reading resumes and trying to learn as much as possible. There was a lot of pressure from the university to hire South Dakotans in two coaching positions. I considered it, but I also resisted it. I wanted the best coaches, regardless of if they were from South Dakota or not.

 

On April 16th, Katie Ulmer came into my office. "So, did you read about what they said about South Dakota at ESPN Rise?" she said.

 

"No."

 

"Well, you better read it, because they say we suck. Look at their "Recruiting Rankings for 2012 and 13"."

 

With Ulmer looking behind my back, I surfed to the site and she directed me to the "Summit League" breakdown.

 

2012-13 Recruiting Rankings

     # Team                  Conference          Best Player  Rtg  5*  4*  3*  2*  1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  162. South Dakota State        Summit        SF Janet West  ***   0   0   1   2   1
  198. UMKC                      Summit     PG Audriana Fore  ***   0   0   1   1   1
  226. North Dakota State        Summit       SG Addison Tam  ***   0   0   1   0   3
  243. Oakland                   Summit    SG Kennedy Markus  ***   0   0   1   2   0
  276. IPFW                      Summit     C  Victoria Brim   **   0   0   0   2   2
  290. Western Illinois          Summit     PF Brianna Bravo   **   0   0   0   1   3
  314. IUPUI                     Summit      C  Jayde Carter    *   0   0   0   0   3
  332. Nebraska-Omaha            Summit        SF Cindy Diaz    *   0   0   0   0   2
  341. South Dakota              Summit  PF Isabella Crumley    *   0   0   0   0   2

 

Under South Dakota the entry read:

 

South Dakota: Maybe the move to Division I was too quick. Team just fired its recruiting coordinator, struggles in-state and out-of-state in recruiting. Only two teams below South Dakota - South Carolina State and Illinois State, neither of which needed to recruit last year!

 

"Nice. Very nice," I said sarcastically. "What does the press know about anything? Except to cause a lot of ****ing trouble."

 

I was right. At 1 pm that day, it turned out I had an appointment scheduled by Willie Burbank, our Athletic Director, the Man With the Bionic Eye. It wasn't me who scheduled that appointment - he did. And he scheduled it after word got back to him.

 

Willie didn't waste any time. "Mark," he said, "one of our boosters brought this ESPN Rise article to our attention. You can't get away from the fact that it makes the university look bad, which is a cardinal sin here in the Athletic Department."

 

"Well, I did what I could do to control the damage," I said. "It could have been that our recruiting goals last year were too lofty. I - !"

 

"- no kidding they were too lofty. You fell flat on your face! You might have set the program back a full year!"

 

"I got rid of Williams."

 

"Good. Good. I know. Because I would have told you to get rid of Williams after this article. In fact, I wouldn't have made it a request, because I would have fired her myself. Mark, let me lay it out for you. I've heard a lot of compliments from boosters. They now actually know what women's basketball is. Oh sure, they were happy when we went to the Division II National Championship Game, but coming to DI, finishing above .500 and beating the Jacks this year gave a lot of hope to those who care that we might be a Division I power someday. But this stuff on ESPN? It could be that 50 people read it, but if one of those fifty is a Yote Booster, then I care. Because now I have to apologize to other people for your program. "Hey, Willie, what's going on over there in the women's basketball program?" is what I'm going to get. It's hard enough finding the money for women's ball anyway."

 

"I'll tell you this Mark," he said. "I don't like it. We pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into this program, all because of Title IX. That money could be better spent elsewhere. These are not the results that I want to see at South Dakota. Do you understand me?"

 

I nodded. "I hear you loud and clear, boss," I said.

 

"Good," Willie said. "Now that we understand each other, I have to keep a promise to you. There's a feller named Lance Wedderburn. Eastern transplant, big in mining. I've talked to him at Yote football games. About a few weeks ago we talked about women's basketball, which let me tell you is something rare in a booster. He wanted to know how the women's team was doing and I was able to tell him some positive things. So I want you to meet him and I want you to advocate for your program."

 

"You mean...beg for money?"

 

Willie frowned. "I wouldn't have used those words. You point out the positives of your program and we hope that the booster will make a contribution to the Athletic Department in the name of Yote women's basketball. What I'd like to see is five figures. So I have a golf game scheduled. Do you play golf?"

 

"Uh...no."

 

"Well...you've got some time to learn. I hope your basketball skills translate to golf," Willie said. "We'll make it a threesome."

 

"I'm surprised," I said. "I thought you had vision problems."

 

"I do," he said. "But I could beat suckers like you blindfolded even before my lens transplant."

 

(* * *)

 

As April came to a close, we held a team meeting to make a decision about...the schedule.

 

Generally, each season, my highlight was to take the team to play against one of the great teams in College Basketball - Notre Dame was going to be my target this year. However, the volleyball coach at South Dakota mentioned how she would try to take the team to some hotspot - New York, or Los Angeles, or a Florida game for a vacation.

 

I told the team that we had two options: each year we could try to schedule an opponent that was near someplace fun that we might like to visit. (I emphasized, however, that we would primarily be there to win basketball games - the sideshows would come later.) Or, we could try to visit places which were near those locations where our players came from - that way, their friends and families from their hometowns would get the chance to see those players in person.

 

The team would e-mail me individually to vote. Almost unanimously, they voted for fun spots to go to. I made a note of it - schedule a New York team next year....

 

Around the World

 

In the United States, the Securing Aircraft From Explosives Responsibly: Advanced Imaging Recognition Act went into effect. It was better known as the SAFER AIR act, after its acronym. This mandated the use of full body scanners in all airports. Passengers could no longer opt out of the scanner by choosing a pat-down - now all airport passengers were required to be scanned. (Of course, if they saw something, they would move to "scan and frisk".) This act was one of the side effects of the Ypsilanti Massacre. I'll leave it to you to try to find some vague connection between a mass poisoning and scanners for airline travel.

 

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/68/1230scannerairportsfull.jpg

Another satisfied customer!

 

There were a lot of complaints, primarily from privacy advocates and from certain Christian and Muslim groups. The invasion of privacy was rather odious, but the counter argument was "okay, then you have the option not to fly at all." Opponents were neither organized nor numerous enough to make it stick an issue; most people just gritted their teeth and dealt with it.

 

As a Division I college team, we didn't have the option not to fly. You'd think at the very least it would have made things faster - but it didn't. TSA just wanded some random bastard every tenth person or so. I thought it made things even slower and more aggravating.

 

(* * *)

 

WRITER'S NOTES

 

I was as surprised by how much our recruiting stunk as you are.

 

Up before the next story: the complete standings of every team in Division I for the 2012-13 season as well as the season stats for the team.

 

Next time: Mark Hawkins tries his golf game, and we get down to the nitty gritty of hiring the new coaches for USD.

[Petrel]

2012-13 America East Conference Standings

TEAM                          CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hartford Hawks                15   1  .938  24   8  .750  102        60
UMBC Retrievers               11   5  .688  18  15  .545  153        29
Boston University Terriers    10   6  .625  17  16  .515  122        45
Vermont Catamounts            10   6  .625  15  16  .484  168        35
Maine Black Bears              8   8  .500  14  19  .424  220         6
Binghamton Bearcats            7   9  .438  13  17  .433  170        24
Stony Brook Seawolves          6  10  .375   8  22  .267  241        14
New Hampshire Wildcats         3  13  .188   5  25  .167  332        10
Albany Great Danes             2  14  .125   5  26  .161  338        17


2012-13 Atlantic 10 Conference Standings

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlotte 49ers                13   1  .929  24   9  .727   30        67
#21 Xavier Musketeers          12   2  .857  29   8  .784    9        81
Dayton Flyers                  10   4  .714  19  13  .594   67        68
St. Bonaventure Bonnies        10   4  .714  23   9  .719   88        60
Temple Owls                    10   4  .714  24  11  .686   17        73
Saint Joseph's Hawks            8   6  .571  18  14  .563  140        52
Richmond Spiders                8   6  .571  17  16  .515  114        65
Duquesne Dukes                  7   7  .500  18  14  .563  150        55
Fordham Rams                    5   9  .357  12  18  .400  182        15
Massachusetts Minutewomen       4  10  .286  10  20  .333  200        25
George Washington Colonials     4  10  .286  13  20  .394  129        41
Saint Louis Billikens           3  11  .214  11  19  .367  247        27
La Salle Explorers              3  11  .214  12  17  .414  232        29
Rhode Island Rams               1  13  .071   6  23  .207  294        20


2012-13 Atlantic Coast Conference Standings

TEAM                             CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2 Duke Blue Devils              13   1  .929  33   3  .917    1        92
#8 Maryland Terrapins            11   3  .786  32   6  .842    7        85
#16 Florida State Seminoles       9   5  .643  23   8  .742   13        83
#25 North Carolina Tar Heels      9   5  .643  24   9  .727   15        83
Miami Hurricanes                  7   7  .500  20  15  .571   47        57
Boston College Eagles             7   7  .500  22  11  .667   22        69
Virginia Tech Hokies              6   8  .429  16  15  .516   90        46
North Carolina State Wolfpack     6   8  .429  24  12  .667   64        63
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets       6   8  .429  20  13  .606   52        75
Virginia Cavaliers                6   8  .429  15  17  .469   46        73
Wake Forest Demon Deacons         4  10  .286  18  14  .563   56        51
Clemson Lady Tigers               0  14  .000   6  24  .200  235        50


2012-13 Atlantic Sun Conference Standings

TEAM                                  CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#22 East Tennessee State Lady Bucs    15   1  .938  31   4  .886   35        57
Florida Gulf Coast Eagles             13   3  .813  21  14  .600  104        18
Mercer Bears                           9   7  .563  16  15  .516  149        15
USC Upstate Spartans                   9   7  .563  12  18  .400  224        14
Jacksonville Dolphins                  7   9  .438  14  17  .452  166        27
Lipscomb Lady Bisons                   5  11  .313  11  19  .367  245        12
Stetson Hatters                        5  11  .313  11  19  .367  276        12
North Florida Ospreys                  5  11  .313   8  22  .267  252        13
Kennesaw State Lady Owls               4  12  .250   8  21  .276  330        16


2012-13 Big 12 Conference Standings

TEAM                            CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 Baylor Lady Bears            14   4  .778  30   6  .833    8        88
#18 Kansas State Wildcats       14   4  .778  24   9  .727   18        73
#11 Oklahoma Sooners            13   5  .722  32   6  .842    2        91
Texas Tech Lady Raiders         10   8  .556  16  16  .500   83        69
Kansas Jayhawks                  9   9  .500  18  14  .563   62        62
Texas Longhorns                  9   9  .500  18  13  .581   49        74
Texas Christian Horned Frogs     8  10  .444  22  15  .595   51        68
Iowa State Cyclones              8  10  .444  20  13  .606   71        75
Missouri Tigers                  3  15  .167  11  20  .355  171        50
Oklahoma State Cowgirls          2  16  .111   5  24  .172  167        69

2012-13 Big East Conference Standings

TEAM                              CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish      15   1  .938  32   4  .889    4        94
#3 Connecticut Huskies            15   1  .938  33   3  .917   10        99
#19 West Virginia Mountaineers    14   2  .875  24   8  .750   24        79
#23 Louisville Cardinals          11   5  .688  25   9  .735   16        77
DePaul Blue Demons                10   6  .625  21  12  .636   45        82
Georgetown Hoyas                   9   7  .563  22  12  .647   38        71
St. John's Red Storm               8   8  .500  25  12  .676   26        74
Marquette Golden Eagles            8   8  .500  21  13  .618  105        68
Rutgers Scarlet Knights            7   9  .438  19  14  .576   54        83
Providence Friars                  7   9  .438  14  17  .452  127        50
Syracuse Orange                    7   9  .438  19  12  .613   36        66
South Florida Bulls                5  11  .313  15  17  .469  103        56
Pittsburgh Panthers                4  12  .250  11  19  .367  147        65
Villanova Wildcats                 4  12  .250  10  21  .323   99        54
Seton Hall Pirates                 2  14  .125   8  22  .267  249        41
Cincinnati Bearcats                2  14  .125   9  21  .300  184        42

2012-13 Big Sky Conference Standings

TEAM                            CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Montana Lady Griz               15   1  .938  24  10  .706  125        51
Portland State Vikings          14   2  .875  27  10  .730   74        46
Montana State Bobcats           12   4  .750  17  15  .531  165        37
Idaho State Bengals              9   7  .563  15  16  .484  273        37
Sacramento State Hornets         8   8  .500  11  19  .367  311        12
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks     8   8  .500  12  18  .400  195        17
Southern Utah Thunderbirds       7   9  .438   9  20  .310  269        11
Eastern Washington Eagles        6  10  .375   8  21  .276  331        15
North Dakota Suhaki              5  11  .313   9  20  .310  296         6
Weber State Wildcats             3  13  .188   5  24  .172  341        11
Northern Colorado Bears          1  15  .063   5  24  .172  336        23

2012-13 Big South Conference Standings

TEAM                              CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberty Lady Flames               18   0  1.000  26   9  .743   72        60
Radford Highlanders               10   8   .556  13  18  .419  230        25
Winthrop Lady Eagles              10   8   .556  12  18  .400  321        17
Gardner Webb Runnin' Bulldogs     10   8   .556  14  17  .452  201        38
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers      9   9   .500  15  18  .455  291        22
High Point Panthers                9   9   .500  13  17  .433  238        28
Charleston Southern Buccaneers     7  11   .389  10  20  .333  319        19
UNC Asheville Bulldogs             7  11   .389   7  23  .233  324        13
Campbell Lady Camels               6  12   .333  10  19  .345  272        12
Presbyterian Blue Hose             4  14   .222   6  23  .207  299         4

2012-13 Big Ten Conference Standings

TEAM                        CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Ohio State Buckeyes      15   1  .938  35   4  .897    3        87
#12 Iowa Hawkeyes           12   4  .750  28   7  .800    6        74
Michigan State Spartans     12   4  .750  23  10  .697   19        79
Purdue Boilermakers         10   6  .625  25   8  .758   53        75
Nebraska Huskers             9   7  .563  22  12  .647   59        71
Penn State Lady Lions        8   8  .500  19  16  .543   85        59
Indiana Hoosiers             6  10  .375  15  16  .484   91        54
Michigan Wolverines          6  10  .375  16  16  .500   75        58
Illinois Illini              6  10  .375  13  18  .419  107        56
Northwestern Wildcats        5  11  .313  15  15  .500  132        43
Minnesota Golden Gophers     5  11  .313  17  15  .531  135        58
Wisconsin Badgers            2  14  .125   7  23  .233  207        71

2012-13 Big West Conference Standings

TEAM                             CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UC Riverside Highlanders         16   2  .889  25   8  .758   76        46
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos         15   3  .833  24   8  .750   80        48
UC Davis Aggies                  14   4  .778  19  12  .613  101        42
UC Irvine Anteaters              10   8  .556  12  18  .400  169        13
Cal Poly Mustangs                 9   9  .500  18  16  .529  123        34
Pacific Tigers                    8  10  .444  14  17  .452  197        12
Cal State Northridge Matadors     6  12  .333  10  20  .333  254         7
Cal State Fullerton Titans        6  12  .333  10  20  .333  248        19
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine             6  12  .333   8  22  .267  290        18
Long Beach State 49ers            0  18  .000   1  28  .034  335        11

2012-13 Colonial Athletic Association Standings

TEAM                          CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VCU Rams                      16   2  .889  25  10  .714   20        66
James Madison Dukes           14   4  .778  23  10  .697   25        72
Delaware Blue Hens            14   4  .778  25   9  .735   37        54
UNC Wilmington Seahawks       12   6  .667  26   8  .765   87        46
Old Dominion Lady Monarchs    11   7  .611  22  12  .647  106        69
Drexel Dragons                10   8  .556  15  15  .500  177        54
Towson Tigers                  8  10  .444  12  19  .387  163        41
William & Mary Tribe           6  12  .333  12  18  .400  234        28
Northeastern Huskies           6  12  .333  13  18  .419  242        31
Hofstra Pride                  6  12  .333  10  20  .333  162        40
Georgia State Panthers         4  14  .222  13  18  .419  256        31
George Mason Patriots          1  17  .056   3  27  .100  275        21

2012-13 Conference USA Standings

TEAM                                CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
East Carolina Pirates               12   4  .750  21  13  .618   60        53
Tulane Green Wave                   10   6  .625  17  14  .548  141        62
Houston Cougars                     10   6  .625  17  13  .567  146        62
UTEP Miners                         10   6  .625  22   9  .710   95        49
Southern Methodist Mustangs          9   7  .563  18  15  .545  161        49
Rice Owls                            9   7  .563  21  13  .618   94        39
Central Florida Knights              9   7  .563  18  14  .563  126        46
Southern Mississippi Lady Eagles     7   9  .438  13  19  .406  206        31
Memphis Tigers                       6  10  .375  13  17  .433  178        37
UAB Blazers                          6  10  .375  11  19  .367  198        38
Tulsa Golden Hurricane               6  10  .375  13  17  .433  193        27
Marshall Thundering Herd             2  14  .125   8  22  .267  328        34

2012-13 Great West Conference Standings

TEAM                         CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas-Pan American Broncs     6   2  .750  18  12  .600  179         8
Houston Baptist Huskies       6   2  .750  12  17  .414  279         6
NJIT Highlanders              5   3  .625  15  14  .517  175         8
Chicago State Cougars         3   5  .375   8  21  .276  322        18
Utah Valley Wolverines        0   8  .000   6  23  .207  318         2

2012-13 Horizon League Standings

TEAM                         CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Green Bay Phoenix            17   1  .944  23   8  .742   73        71
Cleveland State Vikings      12   6  .667  16  15  .516  144        44
Butler Bulldogs              11   7  .611  22  12  .647  118        52
Milwaukee Panthers            9   9  .500  15  17  .469  263        31
Loyola-IL Ramblers            9   9  .500  11  19  .367  236        18
Illinois-Chicago Flames       9   9  .500  13  17  .433  237        32
Youngstown State Penguins     7  11  .389  11  19  .367  239         9
Wright State Raiders          6  12  .333  12  18  .400  271        31
Valparaiso Crusaders          5  13  .278  11  21  .344  278        25
Detroit Titans                5  13  .278   9  22  .290  283        28

2012-13 Independent Standings

TEAM                                 CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners     0   0  .000  12  17  .414  218        19
Longwood Lancers                      0   0  .000   6  23  .207  312        10

2012-13 Ivy League Standings

TEAM                    CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harvard Crimson         14   0  1.000  27   4  .871  108        42
Princeton Tigers        11   3   .786  21  13  .618  139        51
Columbia Lions           7   7   .500   9  20  .310  288        17
Dartmouth Big Green      6   8   .429  11  18  .379  227        21
Yale Bulldogs            5   9   .357  11  18  .379  301        17
Pennsylvania Quakers     5   9   .357   6  23  .207  270         9
Brown Bears              4  10   .286  10  19  .345  308         6
Cornell Big Red          4  10   .286   7  22  .241  337         9

2012-13 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Standings

TEAM                          CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marist Red Foxes              17   1  .944  27   6  .818   27        72
Fairfield Stags               14   4  .778  22  13  .629   79        40
Rider Broncs                  11   7  .611  16  15  .516  130        10
Manhattan Lady Jaspers        11   7  .611  24  11  .686  128        30
Siena Saints                   8  10  .444  17  14  .548  208        27
Canisius Golden Griffins       7  11  .389  14  17  .452  250        27
Iona Gaels                     7  11  .389  10  21  .323  293        32
St. Peter's Peahens            5  13  .278  12  19  .387  292        18
Loyola-Maryland Greyhounds     5  13  .278   8  22  .267  287        31
Niagara Purple Eagles          5  13  .278   6  24  .200  260        10

2012-13 Mid-American Conference Standings

EAST                          CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 Bowling Green Falcons      16   0  1.000  32   3  .914   21        76
Akron Zips                    12   4   .750  20  11  .645   97        60
Kent State Golden Flashes      9   7   .563  21  12  .636   92        47
Ohio Bobcats                   8   8   .500  13  18  .419  160        33
Buffalo Bulls                  4  12   .250   8  22  .267  300        24
Miami-Ohio RedHawks            3  13   .188   7  23  .233  210        37

WEST                          CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toledo Rockets                13   3   .813  24   9  .727   43        57
Eastern Michigan Eagles       11   5   .688  21  12  .636  120        52
Central Michigan Chippewas     9   7   .563  18  14  .563  157        37
Ball State Cardinals           5  11   .313  14  16  .467  266        41
Northern Illinois Huskies      4  12   .250  10  21  .323  219        35
Western Michigan Broncos       2  14   .125   9  21  .300  281        23


2012-13 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Standings

TEAM                                  CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hampton Pirates                       16   0  1.000  28   6  .824   40        45
North Carolina A&T Aggies             14   2   .875  24   9  .727   65        43
Morgan State Lady Bears               10   6   .625  21  12  .636  226        22
Florida A&M Lady Rattlers              8   8   .500  11  21  .344  268        18
Norfolk State Spartans                 8   8   .500  12  18  .400  222         2
Savannah State Lady Tigers             8   8   .500   9  22  .290  304         9
Coppin State Eagles                    8   8   .500  16  15  .516  199        26
Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats          7   9   .438  10  20  .333  325         5
South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs     7   9   .438   9  22  .290  307         8
Howard Lady Bison                      6  10   .375  10  20  .333  305        16
Maryland-East Shore Lady Hawks         6  10   .375   8  22  .267  340        18
North Carolina Central Lady Eagles     4  12   .250   7  24  .226  334         3
Delaware State Lady Hornets            2  14   .125   6  24  .200  343        11

2012-13 Missouri Valley Conference Standings

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#15 Illinois State Redbirds    15   3  .833  28   5  .848   41        68
Missouri State Lady Bears      14   4  .778  24  10  .706   58        51
Northern Iowa Panthers         12   6  .667  19  13  .594  109        59
Creighton Bluejays             11   7  .611  16  13  .552  112        59
Drake Bulldogs                 11   7  .611  17  15  .531  131        47
Indiana State Sycamores        10   8  .556  19  13  .594  134        49
Wichita State Shockers          6  12  .333   9  22  .290  255        34
Bradley Braves                  6  12  .333  12  19  .387  215        41
Evansville Purple Aces          3  15  .167   6  24  .200  317        28
Southern Illinois Salukis       2  16  .111   5  25  .167  316        15

2012-13 Mountain West Conference Standings

TEAM                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Mexico Lobos          15   1  .938  27   8  .771   33        54
San Diego State Aztecs    14   2  .875  26   7  .788   86        63
Fresno State Bulldogs     10   6  .625  27   8  .771   69        67
Wyoming Cowgirls          10   6  .625  22  11  .667   70        60
Nevada Wolf Pack           8   8  .500  16  15  .516  183        47
Boise State Broncos        5  11  .313  11  19  .367  231        35
Air Force Falcons          4  12  .250   7  23  .233  280        13
Colorado State Rams        3  13  .188  10  21  .323  228        30
UNLV Lady Rebels           3  13  .188   9  22  .290  327        31

2012-13 Northeast Conference Standings

TEAM                                     CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Morris Colonials                  16   2  .889  22  11  .667   96        46
Sacred Heart Pioneers                    12   6  .667  21  13  .618  133        49
Monmouth Hawks                           12   6  .667  22  10  .688  138        39
St. Francis-PA Red Flash                 11   7  .611  22  12  .647  124        30
Quinnipiac Bobcats                       11   7  .611  18  14  .563  203        32
Central Connecticut State Blue Devils     9   9  .500  13  17  .433  188        24
Wagner Seahawks                           8  10  .444  15  15  .500  192         9
Long Island Blackbirds                    7  11  .389  15  18  .455  202        35
Fairleigh Dickinson Knights               6  12  .333   9  20  .310  251        19
St. Francis-NY Terriers                   6  12  .333   8  21  .276  277         9
Bryant Bulldogs                           5  13  .278   9  20  .310  257         6
Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers             5  13  .278   8  21  .276  323        15

2012-13 Ohio Valley Conference Standings

TEAM                                 CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morehead State Eagles                14   4  .778  19  12  .613  113        31
SIU Edwardsville Cougars             12   6  .667  15  16  .484  190         4
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks    12   6  .667  14  16  .467  196        13
Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks            11   7  .611  15  18  .455  159        13
Murray State Racers                  10   8  .556  16  15  .516  221        21
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles          8  10  .444  13  19  .406  223        18
Jacksonville State Gamecocks          8  10  .444  11  19  .367  244         6
Austin Peay Lady Govs                 8  10  .444  14  16  .467  211        24
Belmont Bruins                        8  10  .444  12  17  .414  214        27
Eastern Kentucky Lady Colonels        6  12  .333   8  21  .276  303         5
Tennessee State Lady Tigers           6  12  .333   9  19  .321  262        12
Eastern Illinois Panthers             5  13  .278  12  17  .414  264        40

2012-13 Pacific-12 Conference Standings

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#6 Stanford Cardinal           17   1  .944  33   4  .892    5        94
#13 UCLA Bruins                14   4  .778  28   7  .800   12        77
#20 California Golden Bears    13   5  .722  27   7  .794   34        71
Southern California Trojans    13   5  .722  24   9  .727   29        72
Arizona State Sun Devils       13   5  .722  20  12  .625   32        73
Colorado Buffaloes             11   7  .611  22  10  .688   82        51
Oregon Ducks                    7  11  .389  14  16  .467  115        49
Utah Utes                       6  12  .333  13  17  .433  121        61
Washington Huskies              5  13  .278  15  16  .484  110        45
Arizona Wildcats                4  14  .222  13  18  .419  152        51
Washington State Cougars        3  15  .167  10  21  .323  137        33
Oregon State Beavers            2  16  .111  11  19  .367  156        37

2012-13 Patriot League Standings

TEAM                     CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colgate Raiders          11   3  .786  21  11  .656  155         7
Lehigh Mountain Hawks    11   3  .786  26   9  .743   63        53
American Eagles           9   5  .643  17  14  .548  189        45
Navy Midshipmen           8   6  .571  20  14  .588  191        26
Holy Cross Crusaders      6   8  .429  13  17  .433  213        24
Lafayette Leopards        4  10  .286   9  21  .300  315        17
Army Black Knights        4  10  .286   7  23  .233  298        20
Bucknell Bison            3  11  .214   4  26  .133  342        18

2012-13 Southeastern Conference Standings

TEAM                               CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#10 Kentucky Wildcats              15   1  .938  29   5  .853   11        74
#7 Tennessee Lady Vols             14   2  .875  27   6  .818   14        94
#24 Texas A&M Aggies               13   3  .813  22  10  .688   28        90
Vanderbilt Commodores              10   6  .625  20  12  .625   89        80
Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs     9   7  .563  20  12  .625   48        59
Georgia Lady Bulldogs               9   7  .563  24  10  .706   39        71
Louisiana State Lady Tigers         8   8  .500  21  13  .618   23        74
Mississippi Rebels                  8   8  .500  19  12  .613   42        56
South Carolina Gamecocks            5  11  .313  13  18  .419  100        56
Alabama Crimson Tide                4  12  .250  12  18  .400  136        43
Arkansas Razorbacks                 4  12  .250   9  21  .300  151        57
Florida Gators                      3  13  .188  23  16  .590   50        70
Auburn Tigers                       2  14  .125  15  16  .484  119        70

2012-13 Southern Conference Standings

TEAM                              CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samford Bulldogs                  15   5  .750  25  10  .714   61        53
Chattanooga Lady Mocs             15   5  .750  22  11  .667   93        57
Elon Phoenix                      12   8  .600  18  15  .545   98        22
Appalachian State Mountaineers    11   9  .550  18  14  .563  185        38
UNC Greensboro Spartans           11   9  .550  18  15  .545  148        28
Davidson Wildcats                 11   9  .550  16  16  .500  154        36
College of Charleston Cougars     10  10  .500  13  17  .433  158        35
Western Carolina Catamounts        8  12  .400  10  20  .333  265        31
Furman Paladins                    6  14  .300  11  20  .355  306        18
Georgia Southern Lady Eagles       6  14  .300  12  18  .400  176        33
Wofford Terriers                   5  15  .250   8  22  .267  302        10


2012-13 Southland Conference Standings

TEAM                                 CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lamar Lady Cardinals                 14   0  1.000  30   3  .909   55        47
Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions    11   3   .786  17  13  .567  240        10
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles            8   6   .571  13  19  .406  313        39
Central Arkansas Sugar Bears          7   7   .500  13  17  .433  204        10
Northwestern State Lady Demons        6   8   .429  12  19  .387  261        18
Nicholls State Colonels               6   8   .429  10  20  .333  295         7
Sam Houston State Bearkats            5   9   .357   8  23  .258  329        13
Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks           5   9   .357   7  23  .233  320        18
McNeese State Cowgirls                4  10   .286   9  20  .310  314        11
Texas A&M-CC Islanders                4  10   .286   8  21  .276  289        11

2012-13 Southwestern Athletic Conference Standings

TEAM                                   CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lady Lions         12   6  .667  19  14  .576  164         6
Texas Southern Lady Tigers             11   7  .611  16  15  .516  187         6
Jackson State Lady Tigers              10   8  .556  15  15  .500  217         5
Grambling State Lady Tigers             9   9  .500  13  18  .419  216        11
Alabama A&M Lady Bulldogs               9   9  .500  11  19  .367  310        12
Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers          9   9  .500  15  17  .469  209        33
Alabama State Lady Hornets              8  10  .444  12  18  .400  225         6
Alcorn State Lady Braves                8  10  .444  10  20  .333  267         6
Mississippi Valley State Devilettes     8  10  .444  13  16  .448  282        17
Southern Jaguars                        6  12  .333  11  18  .379  309        24

2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM                                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies                  15   1  .938  29   4  .879   66        44
South Dakota State Jackrabbits            13   3  .813  22  11  .667  117        60
UMKC Kangaroos                            11   5  .688  16  14  .533  174        16
North Dakota State Bison                   9   7  .563  13  17  .433  194        31
South Dakota Coyotes                       9   7  .563  13  18  .419  143         6
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks                   5  11  .313  11  20  .355  286         5
IPFW Mastodons                             5  11  .313  12  18  .400  246        28
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks     3  13  .188   5  25  .167  333        10
IUPUI Jaguars                              2  14  .125   4  25  .138  284         7

2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Standings

TEAM                                CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#14 Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans    15   1  .938  30   3  .909   44        62
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders       12   4  .750  23   9  .719   78        75
Western Kentucky Lady Toppers       12   4  .750  21  12  .636   84        57
South Alabama Lady Jags             12   4  .750  21  12  .636  116        38
Arkansas State Red Wolves            9   7  .563  16  15  .516  172        38
Florida International Panthers       8   8  .500  16  15  .516  173        33
UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns           7   9  .438  11  19  .367  253        10
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks            5  11  .313  12  19  .387  205        29
Troy Trojans                         4  12  .250  11  19  .367  243        18
Florida Atlantic Owls                2  14  .125   6  25  .194  285        19
North Texas Mean Green               2  14  .125   5  25  .167  326        18

2012-13 West Coast Conference Standings

TEAM                      CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#17 Gonzaga Bulldogs      13   3  .813  27   5  .844   31        75
Saint Mary's Gaels        12   4  .750  22  10  .688   68        53
Pepperdine Waves          11   5  .688  24  11  .686   57        55
Brigham Young Cougars     11   5  .688  24  11  .686   77        61
Loyola Marymount Lions     7   9  .438  20  13  .606  111        38
San Francisco Dons         5  11  .313   9  22  .290  212        12
Santa Clara Broncos        5  11  .313   7  23  .233  258        22
San Diego Toreros          5  11  .313  15  15  .500  145        37
Portland Pilots            3  13  .188  13  16  .448  180        36

2012-13 Western Athletic Conference Standings

TEAM                             CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters    12   2  .857  24   9  .727   81        60
Texas-Arlington Mavericks         9   5  .643  19  13  .594  142        32
New Mexico State Aggies           9   5  .643  14  16  .467  229        30
Denver Pioneers                   8   6  .571  16  15  .516  181        41
Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners     7   7  .500  16  15  .516  233        39
Seattle Redhawks                  5   9  .357   7  23  .233  339         1
Utah State Aggies                 5   9  .357  14  18  .438  274        29
San Jose State Spartans           5   9  .357   9  21  .300  297         7
Texas State Bobcats               5   9  .357  10  19  .345  259        13
Idaho Vandals                     5   9  .357  10  19  .345  186        27

[Petrel]

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player                 Pos  GP  GS   Min   Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catalina Stewart        SG  31  31  30.6  11.0  0.9  4.1  2.0  0.6  0.2  3.0  2.1  -1.1
Jessica Bing            SF  31  31  28.5   8.6  1.4  3.3  1.9  0.4  0.1  2.2  2.3  -3.3
Angelina Choe            C  31  31  27.5   5.2  3.1  9.5  1.4  0.1  0.4  1.8  2.1  -3.9
Abagail Merkle          PG  31  31  26.2   9.2  1.3  4.1  1.9  0.5  0.4  1.1  1.6  -2.2
Caroline Harrington     PF  31  31  25.1   8.2  1.4  5.3  1.0  0.3  0.2  1.4  2.4  -3.3
Allison Riggle          PG  24   0  20.5   5.7  0.5  1.7  2.2  0.3  0.1  1.4  1.7  -2.7
Maliah Lewellen         PF  31   0  18.4   3.5  0.8  2.3  0.6  0.5  0.2  1.0  1.9  -2.6
Bella Grier             PF  31   0  13.9   3.7  0.5  2.0  0.6  0.5  0.1  0.8  1.3  -1.5
Jillian Ho              PG  12   0  11.2   2.6  0.6  1.3  0.3  0.2  0.1  0.9  1.1  -3.2
Ashley Brown             C  31   0   8.8   1.6  0.5  1.9  0.3  0.1  0.0  0.5  1.0  -1.5
Anzhelika Bure          SG  29   0   3.9   1.2  0.1  0.5  0.2  0.1  0.0  0.3  0.3  -0.6
Adalyn Matz             SF  18   0   1.9   0.8  0.2  0.5  0.1  0.1  0.0  0.1  0.1   0.3
Leah Alexander          PF  13   0   1.4   0.0  0.1  0.3  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.1   0.4
Analia Williams          C   2   0   1.0   0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  -0.5
Jaylynn Adams           PF   0   0   0.0   0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0   0.0

[Petrel]

<p><strong>May 2013</strong></p><p> </p><p>

That April - and May - I spent a lot of time trying to inteview staff members to replace Caitlyn Williams and Raelynn Reavis. More on that disaster later. But first I'll write about an interesting golf outing that took place one summer in May.</p><p> </p><p>

I'm not much of a golfer. I golfed in one of those jock classes at James Madison - where you're a ballplayer and you take sports for college credit. I put down my clubs after I got a C in golf and never thought about it since then. But over the course of a few weekends I took a crash course in golf. I'd throw the clubs in the back seat of my car, drive to the Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion and would golf with any member of the Athletic Department that would have mercy on me.</p><p> </p><p>

The only other person who would be in our golf threesome was Lance Wedderburn. Wedderburn was born in Indiana and his money came from energy and mining. Wedderburn was a big up-and-coming member of the Howling Pack, the USD Boosters Organization. The big news at USD was the naming of a new football coach, Phillip Balling. Balling was a former assistant coach at Mississippi, and the boosters seemed generally happy that the Coyotes could stay competitive.</p><p> </p><p>

"That was a nice get," Wedderburn said as we approached the ninth hole. I was way behind but Willie Burbank and Lance Wedderburn didn't seem to care.</p><p> </p><p>

"You know, Balling is a big golf fellow. Played in college. He could teach Mark a thing or two."</p><p> </p><p>

"Well, you know what they say," Wedderburn said. "In a foursome you want someone who shoots in the 70s, one who shoots in the 80s, one who shoots in the 90s and one who shoots himself. Looks like we found out who is holding the gun."</p><p> </p><p>

"Very funny," I said. "I don't think I'm doing too bad for a month of practice."</p><p> </p><p>

"Well, you're not shanking them into the parking lot," Burbank said. "I played better when I was half-blind."</p><p> </p><p>

"Goddamn it, Willie, why does the State Board of Regents hate me so? It's like a mafia."</p><p> </p><p>

The State Board of Regents ran the state's educational system - all of the colleges at least. "You have to be a native," Willie said. "Everyone who has money is a native. If you were a Ph. D. in education you could be from anywhere but if you want really influence you need to be in-state."</p><p> </p><p>

"How long does that take?"</p><p> </p><p>

"That depends, Lance. You probably need a degree from South Dakota or those other fellers in Brookings. I don't know if we can make that happen."</p><p> </p><p>

"I guess I have to make it rain, huh?" Wedderburn said, teeing off.</p><p> </p><p>

Willie touched his eye. That was a signal. </p><p> </p><p>

"If you need to make it rain," I said, "you could make it rain over at women's basketball."</p><p> </p><p>

"Well, that depends. Are they going to give me a lap dance?" Lance and Willie laughed, I tried not to.</p><p> </p><p>

"I mean that if you want to spend cash in a place it had real impact, that's where I'd put it. We're turning things around. We had a winning season in-conference and we were a triple-overtime game away from going to the conference finals."</p><p> </p><p>

"They beat South Dakota State!" Willie said. "First time in ten years. It was amazing. We've had to eat their crap in women's ball for a decade. They were the ones always on TV, and we expect to see Mark Hawkins and the Yotes on TV instead."</p><p> </p><p>

"I don't know," Wedderburn said. "No one watches women's basketball. I don't see the payoff."</p><p> </p><p>

"Lance," Willie said, "everyone lines up to give the football program the money. And we appreciate that. But there are a lot of people waving money around and that attention gets split. In women's basketball, the field is right open. You know we've been raising money for a new arena for years. If Mark can keep up his end of the bargain...three to five years we'll have a showcase sport. I consider the Yotes the third best women's team in the league. Give us that time and we'll be number one."</p><p> </p><p>

That was the first time I heard Willie's assessment, and I didn't think it was completely honest. Willie touched his eye again.</p><p> </p><p>

"There's not a lot that we're asking for," I said. "A bump to hire better staff. Some entertainment for the ladies. Newer uniforms, maybe. A sense that they're appreciated for all the hard work they do."</p><p> </p><p>

"I remember that," Lance said. "I always told my bosses, 'You want to show me that you appreciate me? <em>Pay me more</em>! Hmph. You really think we could be Connecticut or Notre Dame or Tennessee?"</p><p> </p><p>

I was surprised that he could name those teams as being top women's teams. Willie said that Wedderburn paid <em>some</em> attention. "Well...I'm sure you know that will and good intentions only go so far."</p><p> </p><p>

"Eh, I'll see what I can do."</p><p> </p><p>

Willie slapped his thigh twice. That was a signal. <em>Cut it off. Don't talk past the sale</em>. Our wiley old Athletic Director knew when to ask a booster for a contribution and when to lay off and it was time to lay off.</p><p> </p><p>

"Th - !" Willie made a strained noise. All I wanted to do was say "Thanks" but Willie almost flipped.</p><p> </p><p>

"Huh?" Lance asked.</p><p> </p><p>

"Nothing." We all got back in the cart.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

The other big news happened in mid-May. We were still in the middle of interviewing people for our two coaching vacancies - as I said, more on that later. But we generally kept college radio or CNN or Fox News on in the background and as I was looking at a recruiting package that the Athletic Department planned on sending to prospective recruits, I heard the following....</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>...once again, news coming in that the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced that it has possesses nuclear weapons. They have given no details at to how powerful the weapon is but they indicate that they are in possession of more than one weapon and they have the ability to deliver these weapons at long ranges.... </strong></p><p> </p><p>

Later that day, the Iranians confirmed that Iran was in possession of a nuclear missile arsenal "strictly for purposes of defense." The Iranians basically stated that as long as they could be guaranteed freedom from an attack that they would make a commitment never to use nuclear weapons on a first strike. In exchange for this promise, the Iranians said, the threats of economic isolation being applied by Europe and the United States should be lifted.</p><p> </p><p>

The Republicans in Congress screamed 'blackmail' and began calling the Iran nuclear test "the worst intelligence failure in American history." Everyone wondered how the Israelis could not have known, particularly with its hawkish leadership that had been threatening a first strike against Iranian facilities. "We are considering what we shall do," the prime minister of Israel said. "This is a pregnant pause. The Iranians should not have crossed this line and they may learn their lesson very soon."</p><p> </p><p>

President Obama took to the air that night announcing:</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>...we wish to state that the United States is willing to come to the defense of Iran's neighbors, if asked. Any use of nuclear weapons against a Middle Eastern state by Iran shall provoke the strongest of American counter-responses. We reserve the right to retaliate diplomatically and economically against this unprovoked escalation of tension. The American response will be well-considered, and a </strong><strong><em>response in kind</em></strong><strong> is an option like any other option.</strong></p><p> </p><p>

The next day, the United States held an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council demanding that a condemnation of the Iranians be passed by the Security Council and the General Assembly, and that a demand that the borders of Iran be made open to inspection by UN Security Countil scientists. But Russia and China rejected the call. Their relations with Iran were better than the relations Iran had with the United States or Israel. There would be no UN Security Council action other than talk. </p><p> </p><p>

There was all sorts of talk about Israel joining NATO (a no-go according to the Turks) or of a Russian-American joint security alliance for the Middle East (a no-go for the Americans, which didn't want to see Russia extending its reach). </p><p> </p><p>

Multiple actors began to push in multiple ways throughout the month of may:</p><p> </p><p>

* The various republics of the European Union withdrew their diplomats from Iran.</p><p> </p><p>

* Russia prepared to move forward with an assurance to the Central Asian Republics - the republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union - that it was willing to offer a nuclear umbrella. Putin was presenting himself as the leader who could handle the crisis that Obama (theoretically) could not.</p><p> </p><p>

* China was working with Iran behind the scenes, attempting to convince the Iranians that sanctions or some sort were inevitable - if Iran was willing to work constructively with China, China would see what it could do to lessen the sanctions.</p><p> </p><p>

* The biggest shock was from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis had reluctantly accepted - or believed, anyway - that the Israelis had a nuclear arsenal. But the Iranians having one was completely unacceptable. The Iranians and the Saudis might have been Islamic, but that would be saying that because the Spain of Philip and the England of Elizabeth were both Christian, there would be no Spanish Armada. Saudi Arabia and Iran were from different sects of Islam that hated each other, and the Persians were not Arabs. </p><p> </p><p>

The Saudi Ambassadors met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and told her that "the time for walking the tightrope is over". The Arabians had tried to find a place for the West on one side of the rope and its own security on the other, and now needed to come down on one side or the other. The King contacted both President Obama and the President of Pakistan by telephone. One of those two states would have to come down - <em>publicly</em> - in such a way that the Saudis would feel safe from a nuclear attack or crossfire. And the Saudis didn't rule out seeking weapons of their own....</p><p> </p><p>

The oddest matter of all was that the Iranians had not <em>detonated</em> a nuclear weapon. They stated that their computer modeling of the hypothetical yield - "in the megatons range" - was satisfactory and that there was no need to test. </p><p> </p><p>

"How do you know that the Iranians really have a nuclear weapon?" cried the hawks.</p><p> </p><p>

"How do you know that they <em>don't</em>?" answered the doves.</p><p> </p><p>

The White House toiled through May dealing with the problem of a Iran with nuclear missiles - if they had nuclear missiles. The Iranians preferred the ambiguity, which irritated the West which wanted matters cut and dried. ("Do you have nukes? Answer yes or no." "Maybe. If you try something, you'll find out.") The Israelis were still threatening an attack of some type. The world now seemed much, <em>much</em> less safer. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

In the meantime, South Dakota still had coaches to hire, and I was in despair.</p><p> </p><p>

Despite the improvements over the last two years, South Dakota was about as appealing to the establishment as it had been previously. The coaches that were were looking for jobs all came off the discard pile. Some had worked at three schools in two years. We had the high school coaches, we had the D-II and D-III coaches, we had the nuts. We had applicants who had no experience and we had applicants who had too much experience of the wrong kind.</p><p> </p><p>

We must have interviewed about eight people for the recruiting job before we just about gave up in disgust. Our applicants had experience with recruiting, but no success with it. </p><p> </p><p>

The scouting position was similarly difficult to fill. Most of them were the kind of people who were more the coach's drinking buddies than people who could improve the team. I made the decision to fill the scouting position first and hold out for someone who would recruit.</p><p> </p><p>

<span>http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/6268/coachcarters.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p>

Chloe Carter was someone looking for a path into women's basketball. She had played basketball for Memphis years earlier and then ended up in Canada. What I liked about her is that she had not only watched a lot of basketball, but that she still had her scouting reports from all of the games she had watched, and I like what I had read. She was very well organized.</p><p> </p><p>

Furthermore, she really knew how to break down film. She had seen a lot of film and seemed to have a really good knowledge base - for example, she could break down how a post liked to defend the basket, where she kept her feet and whether or not she turned her body to the offensive player. She was very humble about her lack of experience - maybe it's a Canadian thing - but she was very pleasant. I think all she really needed was a little bit of direction - but we would see.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>Around the World</strong></p><p> </p><p>

The first direct rail line was opened between London, England and Frankfurt, Germany.</p><p> </p><p>

<span>http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6870/t1largicetraingi.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p>

Before the rail link was opened, one generally had to take the Chunnel between London, England to Brussels, Belgium and then switch trains. With the new changes and high speed trains from Germany, the line was extended to both Amsterdam in the Netherlands and to Germany. One could take a train from London and be in Frankfurt in <em>five hours</em> by the Eurostar train. It was a real alternative to either flying or to taking the ferry from England to the European coast.</p><p> </p><p>

<span>http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6666/aav040630002.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p>

Massvlakte Two was also completed in Rotterdam. It was a land reclamation project in the Netherlands that had the goal of claiming 2000 hectares of land behind a four kilometer dyke. The expanded container loading capacity provided by Massvlakte Two had the prospect of greatly expanding the local economy.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>WRITER'S NOTES</strong></p><p> </p><p>

A very busy time away from keyboard, but I'm hopefully back into the swing of things. Not much to report about in the off-season. The recruiting season goes into full swing in June.</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="text-decoration:underline;">Next time</span>: Mark Hawkins signs the final member of his coaching staff.</p>

[bumstead]

<p>Glad to see this back. I have really enjoyed following it!</p><p> </p><p>

Bum</p>

[Remianen]

<p>Great hire (on paper). That's what you need in a scout. Intel, and lots of it. You can't out recruit the Tennessees and UConns and Baylors (*choke*) and such, especially not with your nickel and dime conference. So you need someone who can find those under the radar types of players.</p><p> </p><p>

Now I'm wondering how the recruiter will turn out.</p>

[Ragin Cajun]

Just started reading this. I was laughing out loud during the first post. Fired before I was hired? LOL. Funny thing, I've actually had that happen to me once. Not a fun experience. I'll play some catchup reading. Good luck with the gig.

[HansLanda11]

Yeah, chalk me up as a big fan of this as well. It's hilarious at some points and reads like a screenplay. Love it.

[Theheel83]

Count me in too. I am planning to start writing a dynasty as I will be looking to fill my time in the evenings and weekends for the next 3 months as I will be away from home. I have enjoyed this series. Good luck hiring those assistants.

[scooterbracy]

So...several years ago, I was looking around for a good baseball sim and I somehow stumble upon Even the Braves...now I look around for a basketball sim and what do I find...another amazing Petrel dynasty...what are the odds?

 

Anyway, amazing job, again! My apologies if this is someone else with the same user name on a completely different forum that puts out amazing dynasties, but I just can't believe that's the case.

[Mr JL]

WRITER'S NOTES

 

A very busy time away from keyboard, but I'm hopefully back into the swing of things. Not much to report about in the off-season. The recruiting season goes into full swing in June.

 

Next time: Mark Hawkins signs the final member of his coaching staff.

 

Hope you get a chance to pick this up again. It's been enjoyable.

[HansLanda11]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Mr JL" data-cite="Mr JL" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="32372" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hope you get a chance to pick this up again. It's been enjoyable.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'll second that.</p>

[Petrel]

June 2013

 

It was schedule time once again. Over the course of the year, we had been putting together a list of teams that we wanted to play. You might ask, "seeing as how the elite teams kicked your asses, why on earth would you want to play them again?"

 

The answer is that it's not as if we make the schedule in three days. On the contrary, a schedule is made over a long period of negotiation. The previous year we only managed to win one two of our non-conference games last year - wins against Eastern Kentucky and at Utah State. (That was better than the lone victory in the first year I was coach.)

 

OUr big problem was beating anyone with a winning record. We only beat one team with a winning record in 2012-13 but the win was over our archrival South Dakota State. We also got our first Summit League playoff win and we took conference champ Oakland to triple overtime. We hoped for better things for the 2013-14 season.

 

I did do something interesting this year. Just before the end of the classes last year, I spoke to the entire time.

 

"This year," I said, "I'm going to ask for your input in making the schedule. There are two ways that we can go. We can make sure that each of you gets a game near your hometown, if it's at all possible. Or, we can take one special trip a year and visit, say, New York or Florida or California."

 

The team thought about it. Since many players were from South Dakota, visiting their hometown didn't mean much. They chose the option for the "special trip" which won overwhelmingly.

 

Therefore, we scheduled a game against St. Francis (NY), a weak sauce team from the Northeast Conference. The reason for scheduling SFU was that the team was located in Brooklyn Heights, and we would have spend a Thanksgiving vacation together in New York City. A lot of the team had never been to NYC; it would be a big trip for them.

 

We also had the second of our home-and-away series against Sam Houston State. I never liked home-and-away series but I needed to fill the schedule a year ago and I had to agree to it. Traveling to Texas in the middle of the Summit League season would be a distraction on many levels.

 

This year, we tried to stay close to home. St. Francis and Sam Houston were really our biggest trips. We'd have to spend virtually the entire month of December on the road, but the other Big Ten schools were paying us a lot of money to come visit and the program needed the cash. The big trip would concluded with a visit to the 2011 National Champions, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

 

My goal had been to give the team some time off during Christmas. However, we had a hole in our schedule and Minnesota wanted to schedule a game after Christmas. I asked the team if they wanted to go - the yesses outweighed the noes, but I heard that there was some ill feeling afterwards. In future years, I would warn my teams never to expect to be home either on Thanksgiving or on Christmas - they were Division I college ballplayers, and sacrifices had to be made.

 

 

2013-14 SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 Record  RPI  Result  Score  Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/16/13    North Dakota                0-0   77                       
 11/23/13    at St. Francis-NY           0-0  239                       
 11/26/13    Detroit                     0-0  151                       
 11/30/13    Milwaukee                   0-0  155                       
 12/03/13    Eastern Illinois            0-0  243                       
 12/10/13    at Missouri                 0-0   51                       
 12/14/13    at Wyoming                  0-0  229                       
 12/17/13    at #15 Illinois State       0-0  214                       
 12/21/13    at Purdue                   0-0  103                       
 12/26/13    at Minnesota                0-0   98                       
 12/28/13    at Michigan State           0-0   97                       
 12/31/13    at #4 Notre Dame            0-0   63                       

 01/30/14    at Sam Houston State        0-0  301        

 

(* * *)

 

It was time for the two new freshmen to arrive on campus. We still didn't have a recruiting coach.

 

Isabella Crumley was finally on campus. I could tell during the introduction to the summer training sessions that the other players were going to be very slow to warm up to her - they didn't want her here but I overruled them. (I'm starting to think that was a mistake.)

 

She had her jersey #5 reserved for her, in honor of her little brother who died. But coming to South Dakota got her out of her house - that was a good thing, the place was practically a shrine to that dead kid and it had to have a negative influence on her. On the other hand, Isabella hooked up immediately with Anzhelika Bure, our "Kissin' Russian". I suspected that with those two around, no fraternity mixer on campus was safe. Both of them were on the prowl for guys.

 

Sarah Alex was always interesting. She was a hard worker, but one place she'd never be a superstar was in the classroom. I didn't know if she had no talent for it, or just didn't care. Which is an odd thing to be scared of, because she was one of these absolutely fearless players who would take on a 6-6 girl in the post and wasn't terrified of taking an elbow to the coconut.

 

She was very neat - physically neat, not a hair out of place - and very humble. You would try to praise her and her next comment would be a denial of some sort. She was very much like Catalina Stewart, but Fluttershy - our name for Stewart - was very quiet. Alex was humble - but she wasn't quiet. There's a difference.

 

(* * *)

 

Seniors

 

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

 

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/66/2012carolineharrington.jpg

 

#33 Caroline Harrington - C (6-5) - Winchester, VA

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Perimeter defense, steals, stamina

 

Interest: College football

Major: Communication

 

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9581/2012abigailmerkle.jpg

 

#20 Abigail Merkle - PF (6-0) - Hot Springs, AR

 

Strengths: Free thrrow shooting

Weaknesses: Post defense, preimeter defense, stamina

 

Interest: Rap music

Major: English

 

Juniors

 

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

 

Sophomores

 

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/7699/2012catalinastewart.jpg

 

#35 Catalina Stewart - SG (6-0) - Valparaiso. IN

 

Strengths: Vertical leap

Weaknesses: Offensive rebounding

 

Interests: Basketball

Major: Finance

 

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/586/2012adalynmatz.jpg

 

#21 Adalyn Matz - SF (5-11) - Show Low, AZ

 

Strengths: None.

Weaknesses: Inside shooting, passing, offensive rebounding, pass defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks, stamina

 

Interests: Texting, internet

Major: English

 

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3447/2011leahalexander.jpg

 

#52 - Leah Alexander PF (6-2) - Mastic Beach, NY

 

Strengths: None.

Weaknesses: Inside shooting, ball handling, passing, steals, blocks

 

Interests: Pool playing

Major: Business/human resources

 

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6858/2012mariahlewellen.jpg

 

#53 Maliah Lewellen - SF (6-0) - Ferndale, CA

 

Strengths: none

Weaknesses: inside shooting, free throw shooting, defensive rebounding, blocking

 

Interests: Swimming, snorkeling

Major: Management

 

Freshmen

 

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6004/2013sarahalex.jpg

 

#11 - Sarah Alex PF (6-7) - Lubbock, TX

 

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Handling, passing, dribbling, post defence, perimeter defense, stamina

 

Interests: Movies, anime

Major: Undeclared

 

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8196/2013isabellacrumley.jpg

 

#5 - Isabella Crumley PF (6-7) - Detroit, MI

 

Strengths: None

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

 

Interests: Computer games, cartoons

Major: Art

 

(* * *)

We were still stuck with trying to find a recruiter before the recruiting season started in earnest. I was unhappy with the resumes we were getting.

 

It was then that I heard a story about the movie Enter The Dragon, which was a movie biography of Bruce Lee. There was discussion that some prominent martial artist should be allowed to play Bruce Lee, and then someone involved with the movie - I don't know if it was the producer, director, whatever - said this.

 

"It's going to be easier to cast an actor and turn him into a martial artist than it's ever going to be casting a martial artist and turning him into an actor."

 

I then had the idea - "instead of trying to find someone involved in basketball who would recruit, why not find someone who can recruit who is involved in basketball?" Go outside of the Xs and Os of basketball, find someone who knows how to recruit people and have that person apply those skills to basketball. No more situations of a coach doing double-duty as an assistant and as a recruiter, and not being good at either one.

 

We put up ads on message boards, Craigslist, LinkedIn - basically asking for those who worked in positions of recruiting personnel who might have an interest in applying those skills to basketball players. Psychologists. Headhunters. Salesmen. People who had persuasive skills and who might be able to use those players to sweet talk a bunch of players to come to the University of South Dakota. It was a high risk strategy - but really, what did we have to lose?

 

We didn't put the school's name on these ads. We corresponded with them. The applicants were naturally curious. "We are a Division I women's basketball school," was all I said. "We are looking to apply your skills to player acquisition, and we need someone who can adapt to the high-pressure, high-stakes world of college sports. High hours of work, lots of travel, not much pay."

 

Once we whittled this down to a few people, we dropped the bomb. South Dakota isn't where most people want to relocate. We found five really good applicants.

 

I never expected a military veteran to answer the call to duty. Her name was Abagail Augustine, formerly Staff Sergeant Augustine.

 

She got right to business: "You have to show these girls a side of basketball that they have not seen. The academics, the cameraderie, the fellowship, the state of South Dakota, you have got to highlight that and you've got to be proud of that."

 

"Why did you leave the Army?" I asked.

 

"The Army and I had a difference of opinion regarding the sexual harassment of its female recruiting staff. The Army won that battle. I loved being in the Army and aside from that particular area of dispute, I had nothing against the army and would gladly join up again."

 

"Did they throw you out?"

 

She smiled. "No, they just showed me the door. Honorable discharge, thank you, don't come back."

 

"What is your recruiting philosophy?"

 

"I am a salesman. I SELL South Dakota women's basketball. I sell the opportunity of playing at the highest level of women's basketball in the United States. I sell the benefits of travel and study. In the meantime, I back that up with consistent communication. I sell them our goals and I make sure that they are willing to get it line with our goals."

 

"And if they don't?" I asked.

 

"Then how can you recruit them? You have to get with the program. We're not meeting a quota; we want the best of the best."

 

I definitely liked Augustine's straight-ahead go-getter style. Of course, whether she stayed or not depended on how well she could adapt to basketball recruiting. I'd try to teach her what little I knew.

 

The problem was that she was also being offered a job at UnitedHealth in their human relations department. I knew that if I could offer her at least $50,000 I'd have a chance at keeping her. I asked Willie Burbank what I should do, since that was about $10,000 more than the department cared to pay.

 

"Go talk to Wedderburn," he said.

 

So now I was in the position of asking a booster - directly - for money. I called Wedderburn at his home, out of nowhere, and I told him the story of Abigail Augustine and how great she was and how the Athletic Department needed donations and....

 

"...yeah, yeah, yeah," was his abrupt reply. "Listen, I'm busy now. I'll get back to you, all right."

 

The conversation was clearly over. He sounded put out about me calling him, about as put out as I felt about having to call him.

 

But one week later, we ended up with a donation of $10,000 to the USD Athletic Department. Augustine was still in discussions with UnitedHealth, and she ended up telling them that she would be joining the University of South Dakota recruiting staff.

 

(* * *)

 

Around the World

 

14 nanometer computer chips go into mass production.

 

These are chips manufactured following the 14 nanometer node.The 4 gigaherz barrier in CPU was now passed.

 

It had been claimed that the 16 nm barrier could not have been broken due to quantum tunneling. (A carbon atom is 34 nanometers wide). Intel had broken the barrier, and companies like IBM would soon be reaping the benefits.

 

The question was could manufacturers break through the 14 nm wall? The danger was that single, out-of-place atoms could ruin an entire chip and with the sheer magnitude of miniturization being approached, that likelihood increased. There was still much to do in the way of hardware design.

 

(* * *)

 

{B}WRITER'S NOTES[/b]

 

Wow. I actually finished another installment. Who knows if we'll get another one? But I finally have a coaching staff.

 

Next up: The recruiting trail in full effect, and Mark Hawkins falls in love with a player...or rather, the video.

[Remianen]

That was a good hire. Hopefully, you two can grow together as the program gets more and more successful. You can be like Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron.

[Petrel]

July 2013

 

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9018/coachaugustine.jpg

 

Coach Abigail Augustine.

 

We began our recruiting in earnest. It was AAU season, and all over the United States young women were playing basketball on traveling teams and in tournaments. This was really the best time to assess players, given that you could see all sorts of matchups against players in similar brackets.

 

Once again, we were starting with a list of about 2000 people and whittling that list down to the ones that we'd be going after. Our list came from recruiting services, from alumni, from contacts in the game, from various players filling out questionnaires. It was up to us in the War Room to figure out which players to pursue and which ones to cut loose.

 

We needed to fill five slots, so it would be busy. We needed two point guards, a power forward, a starting forward and a center. I expected that, like in previous years, I'd probably be busy all the way into March 2014 trying to find players. What I wanted to avoid was the debacle of my first recruiting year, where I spent up until April trying to beg players to come and play for South Dakota.

 

Our original goal was to recruit someone big from South Dakota. "If you can't recruit in your home state, can you recruit at all?" But this year, the pickings were slim. We only had four players in all of South Dakota who could play at the Division I level.

 

Alexis Shoulders: A very small 5-11 small forward who was a 5-star blue chipper. She had names like Connecticut on her favorites ist.

 

Ava Sanson: A 4-star center. She had the height but didn't score enough to suit me.

 

Madison Moore: A 2-star 5-10 small forward. She scored 15.8 points per game and had filled out a questionnaire and sent it in. The only school interested in her was North Dakota state.

 

Logan Griffen: A one-star 5-10 small forward. Scored 10.8 points per game, but not valued very high from recruiting services.

 

It was likely that Shoulders and Sanson would go on to power conferences. That left Moore and Griffen, and I had mixed feelings about the both of them.

 

"We have to go after someone who is good," I said. "We can afford to go after superstar players - they would have the advantage of playing at home and it would prove to other programs that we intend to recruit in our own home state."

 

"No Moore or Griffen, huh?" Coach Carter asked.

 

"Not yet," I said. "It's going to be down between Shoulders and Sanson. I need players who can perform, so it looks like it's going to be the runt, Shoulders."

 

"Is she even interested?" Coach Augustine asked.

 

"I guess I have to find that out," I said. "I'll make the first call. Abigail, follow up if this turns out to be a disaster."

 

(* * *)

 

Alexis Shoulders went to Todd County High School in the town of Mission in south central South Dakota. It was located entirely within the boundaries of the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It was Sioux territory, and it was the fifth poorest county in the United States.

 

Shoulders was white. I'm sure it would interesting learning about life in Todd County but I wondered if I'd ever get a chance to hear that story.

 

So I gave Alexis Shoulders a call. "I have to be honest with you," she said. "I'm just flat-out not interested at playing at South Dakota."

 

"Do you mind saying why not?" I asked.

 

"I just want to play at a bigger school." By 'bigger' she meant Connecticut or Tennessee.

 

"Look, I appreciate the interest," she said. "But I don't want to waste your time. You're just not a fit for me."

 

"You don't mind me calling you, though?" I said.

 

"I don't see what the point in it," she said.

 

"But you will actually take my calls?"

 

"You're not even in my top five. Or top ten. Or top twenty."

 

Burn. "Will you give me a chance to move up?"

 

Silence. "Do you mind if I talk to your coaches?"

 

Silence. Then finally. "Sure. You can talk to them."

 

It looked like I would be making a trip to Todd County, sooner or later.

 

(* * *)

 

In the meantime, we begin to center on recruiting for the Midwest. The Midwest included the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

 

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6940/recruitingmapcolor.jpg

 

The East is in pink, the Southeast blue, the Midwest gold and the West in green.

 

We found a few good players from Michigan. I wouldn't mind going into Michigan and picking up a few acquisition away from Summit League powerhouse Oakland. The three Michiganites we found were:

 

Janiah Parker: Scored 18.5 ppg for Wyoming Park High School. Great free throw shooter (81 percent) and great 3-point shooter (44.2 percent).

 

Donna Cordoba: Not highly regarded, but scored 13.2 ppg for Fowler High with a 4.89 A/TO ratio.

 

Sadie Fessler: A power forward who almost picked up a double double (9.0 ppg/11.8 rpg) per game for Grass Lake High School.

 

But the player that I fell in love with was out of Illinois, from Granite City High School. She was a 5-6 point guard named Khloe Haney.

 

What about Khloe? She scored 21.9 ppg in high school, with 7.3 rebounds per game and 7.6 assists per game to just 1.4 turnovers. She shot 52.9 percent from the field and she hit 32.7 percent of her shots. She hit 77.3 percent of her free throws.

 

"My God!" I told Katie Ulmer. "Those numbers are like, what, out of science fiction!"

 

"You'd think that every Big Ten school in the country would be after her," she answered.

 

"Khloe? I like her already!" said Coach (Chloe) Carter. She opened her laptop and pushed a few buttons. "I'm looking at ESPN Rise and all I can find is that Missouri State went visiting."

 

"F*** Missouri State!" I said. "Let me see some video!"

 

I didn't get much video to look at. Just eight minutes worth. But during those eight minutes, she looked really good. It was a big school, over 1,000 enrollment. I had to know more, but I was falling in love with Khloe Haney in an entirely non-sexual way.

 

"Get me a plane ticket!" I said. "I'm going to go and see this girl myself!" She was going to the Adidas Midwest Tournament in Chicago which finished up the last week of July. I wouldn't have cared if it was a Nike tournament; I'd fight my way to the coach if I had to.

 

(* * *)

 

The week before the end of July, I took a drive to Todd County to catch up with Alexis Shoulders.

 

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4095/26769256915b5aa2a0ce.jpg

 

It looks like someone's been taking a few shots with a rifle. Probably trying to hit the "O".

 

I have to admit that I hadn't been to visit Todd County, or a lot of Western South Dakota for that matter. I expected to see a lot of grinding poverty. I saw hints of grinding poverty - some shanty-looking houses along the side of the road. But what I mostly saw was a lot of nothing.

 

I had daily reminders about how underpopulated South Dakota really is. Vermillion only has about 10,000 people and it's the 10th largest city in the state. The town of Mission only had about 1100 people in it and it wasn't much more than a wide spot in the road.

 

Todd County High School was a nice, modern looking building. My job was to come and visit her coach, Corey Dockery, and see if I could get some film.

 

He was definitely surprised to see me. "I think you're only the second coach who has come out here," Dockery said. Dockery taught ninth grade math and I caught him during his study hall hour.

 

"Who was the other guy?"

 

"Nathan Padilla." Oh that guy, the head coach of Connecticut.

 

So I asked the coach the basic questions. I asked him did he think that Shoulders could play Division I ball. That was a yes, he thought that Shoulders could play at the elite level.

 

Did she get along with her coaches and teachers? She had her bad moments and might be a little below average at that, but nothing outside of the boundaries. "She's a big moody." She had never been in any kind of trouble.

 

I talked to him about the University of South Dakota program. You never know who has the ear of the player - sometimes it's the mother, sometimes it's the father, and sometimes it's the coach. Unforunately, Dockery only had a limited about of time before he went to his next class.

 

"Do you have film?" I asked.

 

"Oh, you mean DVDs," he said. "Yes, of course, I've got every game of the last six years on DVD."

 

"Do you mind if I make some copies?"

 

"Help yourself. If you can come out here, I can certainly let you make copies."

 

And with that, I was directed to Dockery's office in the gymnasium. Armed with only a laptop, I copied as much as possible and left at nightfall.

 

(* * *)

 

So while Abigail Augustine handled Texas and Missouri and Chloe Carter visited Minnesota and Illinois, I was off to Chicago where I got to see Khloe Haney in a couple of games.

 

And what I saw astonished me - but not in a good way. She had two assists in two games. She was ice cold from the floor. She turned the ball over five times, including a pass that went up into the 10th row and took out a little old lady.

 

Slow getting back on defense. No control of the tempo, unable to read the team. She just looked horrible.

 

I didn't know what to think. Haney had good games in the Adidas Tournament, but this was certainly not her finest hour in a pressure situation. I felt I had wasted my time, and I wasn't alone. I spoke to a coach from Ohio University and asked what he thought about Khloe Haney.

 

"I saw the same stats that you did. But I think that in pressure games, she loses heart," the woman said.

 

The final verdict on Khloe Haney was not out yet.

 

(* * *)

 

As for Alexis Shoulders, I had seen enough film to make some quick judgments.

 

There were times when I saw Shoulders dogging it. On one game where she was getting schooled by a 6-3 girl, I saw her flat out give up. I wonder if Nathan Padilla saw that film. I wondered if she really had the burning desire to win that I expected a five-star elite player to have.

 

I had told Abigail Augustine to go ahead and offer Shoulders a scholarship one week earlier. Now, I was not so sure. It's tough enough to go after someone that all the big schools are going after; but it would be even tougher to find out after I sealed the deal that she didn't measure up.

 

August was not going to be an easy month.

 

(* * *)

 

Writer's Notes

 

Wow. Things going faster that I thought.

 

So why did Shoulders and Haney get slammed? They both turn up as red-red players when the game moved up to August 2013. I'm assuming that South Dakota assistants aren't the best assessors of talent, seeing that these players have no upside.

 

Shoulders is a five-star player, but Haney is a two-star. I'm more willing to take a chance on Haney with her amazing high school stats than I am with Shoulders.

[Blackgamer2009]

Hey, sorry about not following this as much as I would have liked. I'm sure you don't mind and it looks like you've done a good job so far.

 

I think you might be delighted in seeing this type of update for our school:

 

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20120808/NEWS/308080041/Argus-Leader-exclusive-Sanford-gifts-USD-20-million-over-20-years?odyssey=nav|head

 

Feast your eyes upon it. We in Vermillion are excited about it.

[Petrel]

Blackgamer2009, that is great news for USD! That arena looks awesome.

 

(I just hope that Mark Hawkins gets to be there when they open that new arena!)

[Petrel]

<p><strong>August 2013</strong></p><p> </p><p>

It was August. Our players were busy doing their unsupervised, voluntary summer workouts and we were just as busy. What I love about basketball is that basketball doesn't sleep. It's played indoors, so it is always being played somewhere. When your head hits that pillow, somewhere on this planet a basketball is hitting the floor.</p><p> </p><p>

We were still getting used to the new NCAA recruiting rules. We had the power to make unlimited use of social media since June 15th, and that meant texting - we could text to any recruit's phone that allowed us to (but there was no guarantee that we'd get any answer back). We had been hitting Facebook, but all of the visiting of the internet sites was starting to take its toll. We had heard that the bigger programs - the Connecticuts, the Tennessees, the Notre Dames - were planning on assigning their graduate assistants the tast of social media recruiting/monitoring. (We did not have any graduate assistants, so we had to do all of this ourselves.</p><p> </p><p>

The AAU season was basically over. August was the time when recruits fielded phone calls and when most coaches at the big programs make their home visits. My plan was to make a visit to the Adidas Midwest tournament in July to catch up with Khloe Haney at the end of the month, and I did. </p><p> </p><p>

It goes to show you that what you see sometimes doesn't match what it reported to you - her team didn't even make it out of the quarterfinals. She had two pretty bad games, 12 points and 9 points, far off from her 21.9 ppg high school average. She could run an offense and she could hit free throws, but her handles weren't nearly as good as I was led to believe from her HS statistics.</p><p> </p><p>

She could move, though. She was a straight up-baller, who ran straight up like a freight train, she didn't lean in when she drove but curved her shoulders like she was going to hit you with her boobs. It was very weird to watch, but she could keep control of the ball despite her ramrod-straight stature. </p><p> </p><p>

In the end, I didn't know what to think. Missouri State was there, and they were watching Haney too. But they hadn't pulled the trigger on an offer yet, so I wouldn't either.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

I was still thinking over the Alexis Shoulders situation. (Me and Nathan Padilla at Connecticut, I suppose.) I kept going back and forth about it. We already had the scholarship offer out there...and despite her tendency to lay off in games everyone around the world of women's basketball praised her potential. And she was from South Dakota, and if I got her she would be the first Ms. Basketball from South Dakota that USD had signed. But Shoulders had an offer from Nebraska, and if my offer didn't move Shoulders, I figured that nothing would.</p><p> </p><p>

So I decided against my better judgment to hang in there. I decided to pull the trigger on some more scholarship offers - get them out there even if a scholarship offer sparked a feeding frenzy among other coaches. I needed point guards and Chloe Crowther out of Indiana and Arianna Capers out of Ohio would get the offers. I'd see what happened. If either one of those turned me down, Khloe would be next in line. Conventional wisdom said that Crowther and Capers were better, and I was feeling a little bit gun shy.</p><p> </p><p>

Another offer went out to Addilyn Mueller out of Missouri. Arkansas-Little Rock had already offered Mueller, I wanted to see if I could sway her to come to USD. I sent Abigail Augustine out to Missouri to see if she could be sweet talked and after that Augustine would be on a flight to Ohio after that to talk to Capers. We would see if Augustine was Supergirl, or if she was just Supergirl's secret identity, whatever that was.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

In the meantime, I took visits to the various high schools in South Dakota. Generally, I would e-mail or call a coach and ask them to chat (or if it came to it, invite them to dinner). If South Dakota was going to be competitive in-state, the various schools needed to know my name.</p><p> </p><p>

South Dakota girls basketball has three levels - AA, A, and B. AA are schools with an enrollment of at least 450 students - that is how small the state is. It's a little more than an hour from Vermillion to Sioux Falls, which has four AA schools.</p><p> </p><p>

* <strong>O'Gorman Catholic:</strong> they have around 750 students. The Knights are part of the Sioux Falls Catholic Schools system. However, girls basketball has only won one state championship.</p><p> </p><p>

* <strong>Roosevelt HS</strong>: Roosevelt is a public school with about 2,000 students. They send a lot of their players to various college programs, usually DII and DIII.</p><p> </p><p>

* <strong>Lincoln HS</strong>: They are pretty much known for their marching bands skills more than they are for sports glory. The Lincoln Patriot Marching Band visits major parades like the Macy's Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade. Like Roosevelt, it is also a large school with about 2,000 students.</p><p> </p><p>

* <strong>Washington HS</strong>: The Warriors have about 1600 students. They are primarily known for football, with 38 state high school football championships.</p><p> </p><p>

Both Roosevelt and Washington had booster clubs, and I managed to finagle an invite to speak in front of the Roosevelt Booster Club. Of course, something would have to awry. I was invited to speak at a <em>banquet</em>...but the problem was that when they brought me up to the podium, people had not stopped eating yet!</p><p> </p><p>

So as I spoke, you could hear the slurping of food, the clanking of silverware, and I wondered if they were listening. I had some good lines that I borrowed from other coaches.</p><p> </p><p>

"If you think it's tough keeping <em>one</em> woman happy, try fifteen." That one always gets a laugh. What speech did I give? About the importance of Title IX (#1) and about South Dakota and basketball (#2). It was really a mix of #1 and #2 - I'm starting to memorize speeches now, I think I can give those two speeches in my sleep.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>August 2013</strong></p><p> </p><p>

Falcon Heavy is launched. </p><p> </p><p>

<span>http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9527/falconheavyoverviewspac.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p>

The Falcon Heavy rocket was a multi-stage rocket designed to lift payloads into orbit. It lifted off from Cape Canaveral, and tested successfully. The rocket could lift payloads at a cost of $500/pound. It is designed to launch satellites that weigh more than 117,000 pounds, so it's not like things are going up cheap.</p><p> </p><p>

SpaceX, a private company, developed the rocket. Falcon Heavy would be a major step forward in lowering the price of space flight as well as increasing reliability, although not as much as its boosters claimed it would. It had twice the capacity of the Space Shuttle, and the orbital launch vehicle was reusable.</p><p> </p><p>

(* * *)</p><p> </p><p>

<strong>Writer's notes</strong></p><p> </p><p>

Wow. That was a long time between updates. Hopefully, we'll get to September in less than a month.</p>

[Theheel]

Glad to see you back coach

[Petrel]

Theheel: Glad to be back!

September 2013

 

We were two months away from our first game. The league had now released its full conference schedule and we knew exactly who we would play and when we would play them.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

 Date        Opponent                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 11/16/13    North Dakota                                    
 11/23/13    at St. Francis-NY                              
 11/26/13    Detroit                                        
 11/30/13    Milwaukee                                   
 12/03/13    Eastern Illinois                                
 12/10/13    at Missouri                                   
 12/14/13    at Wyoming                                    
 12/17/13    at #15 Illinois State                        
 12/21/13    at Purdue                                  
 12/26/13    at Minnesota                                    
 12/28/13    at Michigan State                           
 12/31/13    at #4 Notre Dame                              
 01/02/14    at IUPUI                                   
 01/04/14    Nebraska-Omaha                               
 01/07/14    Western Illinois                             
 01/11/14    at UMKC                                      
 01/16/14    at North Dakota State                  
 01/18/14    South Dakota State                      
 01/23/14    IPFW                                          
 01/25/14    at Oakland                                 
 01/30/14    at Sam Houston State                       
 02/01/14    IUPUI                                    
 02/04/14    at Nebraska-Omaha                  
 02/08/14    at Western Illinois                            
 02/11/14    UMKC                                          
 02/15/14    North Dakota State                            
 02/20/14    at South Dakota State                         
 02/22/14    at IPFW                                    
 02/27/14    Oakland                    

 

The really tough part of the schedule would be from the 26th of December to the 4th of January. We finished up an eight-game road trip with games at Minnesota, Michigan State, and powerful Notre Dame. Then we jumped right into conference play against IUPUI and came back at home vs. Nebraska Omaha.

 

That was five games in ten days. Our crucible. I figured that if we could survive that, we could survive anything. The only good thing about it was that classes wouldn't be a distraction. And speaking of classes, school started in September....

 

(* * *)

 

In the meantime, we had to look at our Top 20 board in the war room. One thing I was surprised about is how many players had put us on their profiles as a potential school on ESPN Rise. Out of 20 players, 11 had us on ther favorites list. Many players on our Kong recruiting software hit the benchmarks for an implied increase in interest in what we had to offer. I credit Coach Augustine for that.

 

Out of five scholarships to offer, we had four offered:

 

SF: Alexis Shoulders. Even though I was not impressed by what I saw from Shoulders, she was from South Dakota - probably the best player from South Dakota that could potentially play at a DI school. I wanted to win this battle because I wanted to walk away with the highest ranked player in South Dakota, the state's official Miss Basketball title holder. USD, not South Dakota State and certainly not Connecticut.

 

Augustine had thawed out Shoulders from a "hell no!" stance to a "maybe" stance. I thought that was excellent. However, Nebraska and Kansas State had put offers on the table. They would be tough to beat, my hope was that distance could do the trick.

 

PG: Chloe Crowther and Arianna Capers. They were the best point guards we had recruited. We were now fighting Indiana State for Crowther, and that would be a big problem since Crowther was from Indiana. With Capers, we had the same problem - Cincinnati and Butler wanted her to play for them, and even though we had offered Capers a scholarship she was barely returning our calls and the numbers from Kong looked dismal.

 

C: Addilyn Muller. Arkansas-Little Rock had offered her a scholarship, despite her Shaq-like free throw percentage of 49.2 percent. But she had real potential.

 

The real problem was in the power forward position. I told Augustine that I didn't think that any of the players we targeted could really help the team. Like it or not, we would have to look for new players and redouble our efforts.

 

(* * *)

 

In the meantime, I had two recruiting visits scheduled. I would try to solve the problem of Arianna Capers with a one-on-one visit.

 

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4425/coleraintest.jpg

 

I knew Cincinnati, Ohio fairly well. I didn't know Colerain Township, which was where the Capers lived. The father of the Capers household was an undertaker, and the mother worked for the United States Marshals Service. The joke was that the family would always have a good supply of business. Arianna was their only child.

 

I commented to the father when we had a private moment that Arianna had never seemed to show much interest in being recruited. "I'm not sending anyone away," he replied. "This is an adventure, and Arianna needs not to be so picky and choosy about schools."

 

My very first comments to Arianna laid it out on the line. "Arianna, I'm very glad that you spoke to Coach Augustine and told her that you wouldn't mind me visiting. I know that you have an offer from Cincinnati. I also know that Butler has offered you a scholarship. Now, let me advocate our case."

 

I told her that the University of South Dakota was located in Vermillion, a smaller city than either Cincinnati or Indianapolis. Cincinnati can boast the Big East," I said (or rather, could boast what was left of it after the Catholic schools joined the Sunrise.) "Butler can boast small class sizes and an NCAA pedigree. Why I am playing up these schools over my own? Very simple. One, I want you to know that we are interested and if those two schools fall through, I want to get my toe in the water. Two, I'm very proud of what we've accomplished as a program in just two years."

 

"We do have a student body of around 10,000. But we are a college town. We are away from it all. There's a small downtown. Drive a few miles out of town and you can hit prairie pretty fast. However...if a small school is out of the question, just let me know and we can stop here with no hard feelings."

 

I boxed her in. If she could go to Butler, there was no reason for her not to go to USD - Butler was actually a smaller school than South Dakota. I told her that we had a great student life, and that kids came out to support the sports programs. (Well, maybe not so much women's basketball but why say that?)

 

Even though I only talked for an hour and a half, she did listen with some interest and had real serious questions - she wasn't just marking time listening to some coach speak; she really wanted more information about USD. On the other hand, she gave me no serious sign that anything moved her.

 

Our recruiting software, Kong, is very good about asking questions after a recruiting pitch:

 

* did you position? (i. e. what benefit do you bring)

* did you differentiate? (i. e. why are we unique and different)

* is the conversation open (i. e. does the recruit share information you didn't know before)

* did you ask for a further meeting/contact -> if still positive, did you try to get a commitment?

 

Unfortunately, we failed on metric #3. When the target asks you questions but doesn't volunteer much, this is called "just being polite". Arianna was being polite. And that was the problem.

 

She was open to further contact. But her basic veneer of politeness (enforced by Mom and Dad?) and the short amount of time we had together - just an hour and 15 minutes - did not leave me with positive feelings.

 

(* * *)

 

My next trip was to Mission, South Dakota to talk to Miss Basketball of 2013, Alexis Shoulders.

 

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3936/missiontest.jpg

 

Shoulders's father worked as a provider of computer services for government employees at the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Mission was a really small town - maybe about 1,000 people - best known for being the place where Bob Barker grew up.

 

The Shoulders family lived in an apartment in the middle of town. It was very run down and dodgy looking, but generally there aren't a lot of people looking to build town houses in the middle of the Rez.

 

"Hello!" Alexis's father said. "You're only the second person who doesn't live in Mission who has come out here - you and Nathan Padilla!"

 

"He's not hiding in the living room, is he?" I asked, laughing.

 

Like Arianna, Alexis was also an only child, so it was a very quiet conversation. "I'm glad you're warming up a little bit to playing for South Dakota," I said.

 

"Well, Coach, I have to give you credit for coming out here," she said. "And it might be a little bit cool to be closer to home. My Mom and Dad might get a chance to see me play."

 

"Amen," her mother said.

 

"Listen," I told Alexis. "My job is to get the best players for the Coyotes. I don't really care where they live. In-state, out-of-state. You know I've done a lot of out-of-state recruiting, and I know that you would be a great addition to the Coyote family. And it's a family, and I want to attract the best South Dakota players to join that family."

 

"Thanks."

 

"But I have seen your play. You're a little slow getting back on defense, and that forces the other players to have to cover for you. The game is a lot faster on the college level. Also - I've seen you make some odd passes."

 

"Coach says to get my teammates involved."

 

"True. And I'm not going to gainsay your coach," I said. "But there is something my coach told me when I was a point guard at James Madison. He said, "You only pass the ball if your teammate can do something better with the ball than you can." Don't feel forced to make things happen. Let them happen."

 

I broke her game down a little bit, based on what I'd seen on the DVD. She seemed impressed. Our meeting was almost two hours, but she made it clear - "I still have a big decision to make," she said. I felt good about the conversation either way; I knew that Alexis would be successful at any level. The only bad part of it was driving back home on the deserted South Dakota highways in the middle of the night.

 

(* * *)

 

Around the world

 

In September 2013, 3-d plasma TV finally dropped to a price where customers began to seriously consider purchasing it.

 

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8677/58962728.jpg

 

Not only could purchasers view 3-d movies at home inexpensively, but the technology was starting to be incorporated into a wide range of consumer products - Blu-Ray, DVR recording, personal computers, and gaming consoles.

 

There were two kinds of 3d that depended on some sort of glasses. Active 3-d had glasses with electronic shutters and passive 3-d used polarized lenses. Major American broadcast networks announced plans for 3d broadcast channels in the coming year and technology was being developed to allow 3d broadcast without the glasses - a truly immersive experience.

 

(* * *)

 

Writer's notes

 

At this point, I'm just surprised that I can get any update done. Two more months or so to actual play!

[prw18]

Shoulders's father worked as a provider of computer services for government employees at the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Mission was a really small town - maybe about 1,000 people - best known for being the place where Bob Barker grew up.

 

 

It's little things like this that make you the best dynasty writer I've ever seen.

 

As always, good read.

[Blackgamer2009]

Great to see you've started this again. I enjoy that you used my old high school (Roosevelt) as a major part of the story. Not that it matters or anything, but do like bragging that within one decade and a half, we managed to win multiple state titles and won over 100 games in a row. Essentially, we're the best girl's basketball program in state history.

 

However, I think Washington's taken over the title at this point, and will continue to be a strong team for years to come, although Roosevelt is definitely still up there as a state powerhouse. I've enjoyed your work, by the way. It continues to impress me and I hope you keep it all up. It's still surprising to see someone writing a dynasty about a school that I actually attend, especially since it's little old USD.