March 22, 2002
2002 Lady Monarch Tournament CentralBy CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
One team is coached by a former NBA player who had Larry Bird as ateammate.
Another is led by a frail-looking point guard whose idea of a big timeaftera game is going out for ice cream.
The third is a melting pot, with players from Mozambique, Mali, Sweden andFrance.
The NCAA women's basketball tournament still might be Connecticut's tolose,but upstarts Brigham Young, Drake and Old Dominion have hung around longenough to spice things up for the regional semifinals on Saturday.
"No way in my dreams had I thought we'd get to the Sweet 16 this year,"saidBYU coach Jeff Judkins, whose 11th-seeded team plays second-seededTennesseein the Midwest Regional at Ames, Iowa.
"The one thing I told my team is that when opportunity comes, when the dooris being knocked on, you need to take advantage of it," Judkins said."We'vedone a good job at that."
Drake and Old Dominion both advanced as No. 7 seeds. Drake, in the round of16 for the first time since 1982, plays third-seeded South Carolina in theEast Regional at Raleigh, N.C. Old Dominion, which has its usual strongcontingent of international players, meets third-seeded Kansas State in theMideast Regional at Milwaukee.
Connecticut, the No. 1 seed in the Mideast, plays fourth-seeded Penn Statein the other game at Milwaukee.
The Huskies (35-0) started the tournament as the overwhelming favorites forthe title and have done nothing to tarnish that status. They've won bymargins of 49 and 38 points and have continued to feed the debate overwhether this is the best women's team ever.
"We're just interested in playing games and winning games," UConn coachGenoAuriemma insisted. "Let other people decide who fits in where and whostacksup against who."
At Raleigh, top-seeded Duke plays fourth-seeded Texas in the other game.Thesecond game in the East has top-seeded Vanderbilt against fourth-seededNorth Carolina.
The West Regional at Boise, Idaho, is a mini-Big 12 tournament. Conferencechampion Oklahoma, the No. 1 seed, plays league rival Texas Tech, seededfourth. Third-seeded Colorado of the Big 12 takes on second-seeded Stanfordin the other game.
BYU is just the third No. 11 seed to make it this far. The Cougars havedoneit under a first-year coach who played and coached at archrival Utah - he'sstill reviled in some quarters for jumping to BYU - and was the guy theBoston Celtics drafted after taking Bird.
The Cougars, 0-4 in the NCAA tournament before this year, already have wontwo games in Ames, beating sixth-seeded Florida and third-seeded IowaState.Now his team faces what Judkins considers the ultimate test: six-timenational champion Tennessee.
"There's no question that when you think women's basketball, you'rethinkingof Tennessee," Judkins said. "They have the experience in these situations.That's a big edge for them.
"But we're the underdog and sometimes when you're the underdog you don'texpect to win anything and you come out and play a lot more relaxed. Ithinkthat will happen with our team."
Drake made the regional semifinals by upsetting second-seeded Baylor behindcenter Carla Bennett and clutch shooting by point guard Stephanie Schmitz,askinny senior who's fond of Maggiemoo's ice cream.
"We're the underdogs, I suppose, but I think we kind of turned some headsthis past weekend," Schmitz said. "People realize we're not just going toroll over and let teams come in and push us around. We're going to competefor the full game."
Old Dominion is in the regional semifinals for the 11th time, thoughgettingthere as a No. 7 seed isn't the norm for the Lady Monarchs, who won thenational championship in 1985 and were second in 1997.
They felt they should have been seeded higher, so they're not surprised tostill be playing.
"I saw us hosting two games and getting to the Sweet 16," coach Wendy Larrysaid. "I don't care how you get there, that's what I saw. I never didn'tbelieve that this was a top 16 team."
After routing St. Francis, Pa., and Iowa, Connecticut turns its attentiontoPenn State's Kelly Mazzante, the nation's leading scorer with a 25.2average.
"She reminds me a little bit of Jackie Stiles," said Auriemma, who said hehad no special defense planned for Mazzante.
"We're going to play the way we've played all year," he said. "We've playedagainst some pretty good players. I think we're a pretty good defensiveteam."
Penn State's problem is that Connecticut is a good offensive team, too. Anyof the Huskies' five starters is capable of a big game and point guard SueBird knows how to get the ball to the hot hand.
"I wish it was the Super Bowl. Then I would have two weeks to get ready,"Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "This one week is going to be realtough."