Kay Yow is still very much a presence in the North Carolina State women's basketball program.
Her name is on the athletic department's Wall of Fame, and on the basketball court at Reynolds Coliseum. Her photo still hangs in the women's basketball locker room.
"She was North Carolina State basketball, and you don't and you can't wipe that away with a new staff," said new N.C. State head coach Kellie Jolly Harper.
For most of this decade, the Pac-10 was UCLA and the rest. The Bruins have been the Pac-10's representation in the Final Four three of the four times the league has placed a team on the final weekend since 2000, failing to claim the championship each time, but pulling themselves ahead of the West Coast pack as the elite program.
That all changed last season, when Washington won the Pac-10 regular season and head coach Lorenzo Romar was named conference coach of the year. Now, his team returns as a favorite to win in the conference, and Romar knows it.
"Our team this year has the benefit of having some players that were on our team last year that won a Pac-10 Championship and that certainly helps us," Romar said. "I think we have the fastest team since 2005 when we had Nate Robinson," Romar said.
Part of the beauty of college basketball is that it isn't like college football. The top teams don't have to be afraid of playing a tough opponent; worried that risking a single loss would derail a season's worth of effort.
Instead, the best teams in college basketball want to cut their teeth on one another, learn from their shortcomings, shore up before spring, or build a resume for the NCAA committee by collecting wins against stiff competition.
The following is a list of the top five schedules in women's college basketball this season. These teams are going to do it the hard way. And you gotta admire that.
Joanne Boyle came to Cal four years ago as the head coach, inheriting a team built on freshmen talent.
And here she is again, in a gym full of young, inexperienced players, not entirely sure what she has or how they will perform when games begin in two weeks.
"It's going to be an interesting season," Boyle said. "I think we're going to be good. I'm just not sure when."
Boyle has taken the Bears from a struggling program to one that has cemented itself among the national elite -- a regular member of the rankings, an NCAA participant, a player in the Pac-10.
Having lost eight of 10 games to Gonzaga between 1997 and 2006, the Washington Huskies felt they needed a break because "the schedule began to get away from us." Apparently, that was code for "tired of being beaten by an in-state team from a non-power conference."
Well, after a few years of finding themselves, Washington would like to renew the series with Gonzaga. Just as long as the games are played for Washington's benefit.
Rather than play a home-and-home type of series with Gonzaga as had been done (and how Gonzaga plays it with Washington State, Wake Forest, Illinois, and Michigan State), Washington wants a three game series to be played at Key Arena in Seattle as a neutral site contest. Apparently playing a scant five miles from Washington's campus still constitutes a "neutral" site to Washington's athletic department as long as the ticket sales are split 50-50.
Paul Westhead spent 18 years coaching college basketball, making stops at La Salle, Loyola Marymount and George Mason. But for the first time in his long basketball life, he said he feels like he's coaching in a true college town.
Westhead is embracing life in Eugene, Oregon, the single-mindedness of its residents when it comes to green and yellow, football Saturdays at Autzen Stadium, and the fact that he's got a ready-made base of rabid fans just waiting for him to turn the Oregon women's basketball program into a winner again.
"I'm doing morning coffee talks with fans, radio shows, they are itching," Westhead said. "This is a whole new world for me. Especially with football. In all of my jobs, I've never been in a program with a football program. It really changes the feeling around campus. Everybody in this town is all about the U of O."
In recent weeks, Tara VanDerveer's go-to line about Jayne Appel and JJ Hones has been: "If we had a game today, they'd be playing." But instead, Stanford had its first official practice of the season on Friday night at Maples Pavilion and Appel and Hones ... well, they were playing. Appel, the senior All-American and national player of the year candidate, and Hones, a key factor in the Cardinal's Final Four run in 2008, are both coming off knee injuries.
Michael Cooper was introducing his new staff at USC on Tuesday, the coaches who have been holding down the fort for the past five months as he finished out his term as the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. Except that he forgot one of their names. Oops.
That's what happens when you are the new guy. Who, in this awkward moment, just happens to be the head guy.
Cooper was hired by USC on May 1 to take over a women's basketball program that has shown promise, the ability to recruit top players, but not results. The Women of Troy are far from their salad days in the mid-1980's when they won NCAA titles with players like Lisa Leslie and Cynthia Cooper.
Former USC Coach Tim Floyd will not do interviews with the national media or the Los Angeles press, but he likes to talk to his hometown paper in Mississippi quite a bit. It was the Clarion-Ledger that broke the news of his resignation before USC even knew.
Lorenzo Romar is downplaying the talent and potential of his Washington Huskies basketball team. Yes, they lost all-time leading rebounder Jon Brockman along with productive guard Justin Dentmon, but the Huskies are deep and have three able incoming freshman that make Washington a Top 25 team this year.
The Huskies have the type of depth that can compete with the perennial power programs. What's more, Washington is three deep at nearly every position, and that type of competition sparks potential transfers. But the Huskies lost only one player, little-used center Joe Wolfinger, in the offseason. So this loaded roster -- featuring Pac-10 freshman of the year Isaiah Thomas and vastly improved swingman Quincy Pondexter -- is ready.
Kay Yow is still very much a presence in the North Carolina State women's basketball program.
For most of this decade, the Pac-10 was UCLA and the rest. The Bruins have been the Pac-10's representation in the Final Four three of the four times the league has placed a team on the final weekend since 2000, failing to claim the championship each time, but pulling themselves ahead of the West Coast pack as the elite program.
Joanne Boyle came to Cal four years ago as the head coach, inheriting a team built on freshmen talent.
Having lost eight of 10 games to Gonzaga between 1997 and 2006, the Washington Huskies felt they needed a break because "the schedule began to get away from us." Apparently, that was code for "tired of being beaten by an in-state team from a non-power conference."
Paul Westhead spent 18 years coaching college basketball, making stops at La Salle, Loyola Marymount and George Mason. But for the first time in his long basketball life, he said he feels like he's coaching in a true college town.
In recent weeks, Tara VanDerveer's go-to line about Jayne Appel and JJ Hones has been: "If we had a game today, they'd be playing." But instead, Stanford had its first official practice of the season on Friday night at Maples Pavilion and Appel and Hones ... well, they were playing. Appel, the senior All-American and national player of the year candidate, and Hones, a key factor in the Cardinal's Final Four run in 2008, are both coming off knee injuries.
Michael Cooper was introducing his new staff at USC on Tuesday, the coaches who have been holding down the fort for the past five months as he finished out his term as the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. Except that he forgot one of their names. Oops.
Former USC Coach Tim Floyd will not do interviews with the national media or the Los Angeles press, but he likes to talk to his hometown paper in Mississippi quite a bit. It was the Clarion-Ledger that broke the news of his resignation before USC even knew.
Lorenzo Romar is downplaying the talent and potential of his Washington Huskies basketball team. Yes, they lost all-time leading rebounder Jon Brockman along with productive guard Justin Dentmon, but the Huskies are deep and have three able incoming freshman that make Washington a Top 25 team this year.
