July 15, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Old Domininion women's basketball head coach Wendy Larry is among 18 head coaches and WBCA administrators taking part in a "mock" selection session at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis this week. The exercise will give participants a taste of the nearly week-long process the Division I Women's Basketball Committee goes through annually.
The session is meant to develop education in the selection, seeding and bracketing of the Division I women's basketball championship with 16 current head basketball coaches taking part. The mock selection committee will have access to all the tools ("nitty-gritty" reports, game results, RPI calculations) and will follow the same principles and procedures the actual committee follows when it assembles the championship bracket.
The NCAA Division I women's basketball staff will conduct the "mock" session, with members of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee on hand to provide assistance.
Both the Division I men's basketball staff and the women's staff began conducting mock selections with national print and electronic media members in 2007 in an attempt to clarify the process that the 10-person men's and women's basketball committees experience each March when the championship brackets are constructed and announced.
This is the first time the mock committee will consist entirely of coaches and Women's Basketball Coaches Association administrators.
Those scheduled to attend the event are:
-Geno Auriemma, Connecticut
-Melanie Balcomb, Vanderbilt
-Joanne Boyle, California
-Doug Bruno, DePaul
-Sherri Coale, Oklahoma
-Brian Giorgis, Marist
-Gail Goestenkors, Texas
-Shann Hart, IUPUI
-Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
-Rick Insell, Middle Tennessee State
-Wendy Larry, Old Dominion
-Felisha Leggett-Jack, Indiana
-Curt Miller, Bowling Green
-Jeff Mittie, TCU
-Jennifer Rizzotti, Hartford
-Audra Smith, Alabama-Birmingham
-WBCA Chief Executive Officer Beth Bass
-WBCA consultant Betty Jaynes