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

[Petrel]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Thanks for nothing," I said.

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

"Sure."

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

"Coach, I'm in Vermillion."

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

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

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

"What the hell?"

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

"Hello?"

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

"Speaking."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"...Willie."

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Petrel]

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

[Petrel]

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

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

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

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

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

"You think I could get an AAU coach?"

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

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

"Are these guys any good?"

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

"What are those three things?"

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





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

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

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

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

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

Players may not refuse to redshirt.

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

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

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

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

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

[Petrel]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Petrel]

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

Seniors

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#23 Harley Lewis - SF (5-11) - Laurel, MS
Strengths: Great stamina
Weaknesses: 3-point shooting, inside shooting, ball handling, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

Interests: Twilight, Harry Potter
Major: Art

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

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

Interests: Sports, running
Major: Economics

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: inside shooting, 3-point shooting, ball handling, offensive rebounding, post defense, perimeter defense, shot blocking

Interests: Karaoke, listening to music
Major: Criminal justice
Factoid: Saniyah's grandmother is from India

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: post defense, perimeter defense, steals

Interests: Scale model making
Major: French

Juniors

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

Interests: Reading
Major: Art

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, offensive rebounding (!), perimeter defense, steals, blocks

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Inside shooting, jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rbounding, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

Interests: Antiquing, retro culture
Major: Criminal justice

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rebounding, post defense, blocks

Interests: Cuisine/cooking
Major: Marketing

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, free throw shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

Interests: Dancing
Major: Criminal justice

Sophomores

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

Interests: Violin playing
Major: Social work

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

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

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

Interests: Blogging
Major: Marketing

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

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

Strengths: quickness
Weaknesses: jump shooting, post defense, steals

Interests: Tapophilia (the enjoyment of cemetaries !)
Major: Economics

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: 3-point shooting, passing, offensive rebounding, steals, blocks, stamina

Interests: Photography
Major: Marketing

Freshmen

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#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

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#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

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

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

Interest: Video games
Major: Finance

[Petrel]

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

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

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

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

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

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

So which players went?

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is this okay with you?"

"Yeah," she said, dismally.

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

"So you're okay with this."

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

***

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

"That's right."

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

"Yeah."

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

(* * *)


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

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

Non-Conference Schedule
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

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

[Petrel]

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

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

* From the names on our Coyote Girls Basketball Camp list. You can guess that anyone filling out that questionnaire for more information was probably interested.
* From those who had written the coach's office for more information on the South Dakota Coyotes - we were partially limited in what we could send them, but those players ended up on our starting list.
* From certain for-pay lists of talent - there were quite a few people out there rating players on their own, and they'd share those ratings with colleges - for a price of course. It wasn't a gyp; if those guys weren't any good no one would buy their ratings packages. South Dakota subscribed to more than one.
* From recruiting services who were trying to promote the athletes and their families that had signed up for them - "we'll get your daughter recruited to a good school!"
* From Hoopgurlz.com, Rivals.com - what, you think we don't read that crap?
* From referrals - from alumni, from South Dakota high schools, from others that had an in with the university and wanted us to look at certain girls.

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

* We desperately needed an on-line questionnaire. We didn't have that. We didn't have paper questionnaires either. "You need to do mass mailings," he said. "Okay, maybe the old coaches gave up because the rate of return wasn't good enough. But you got to be persistent! Recruiting is persistence!"
* We had virtually no in-roads with South Dakota high schools. "If you can't recruit in your home state you're nothing."
* Social media. Coach Williams clued me in to that. "You need a Twitter account," she said. "You have to get yourself out there where kids can see you." (I thought I was doing that during the recruiting.)

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

PG: minimum 5-8 height, good A/TO ratio, 12 ppg
SG: minimum 5-10 height, 12 ppg
SF: minimum 5-11 height, 12 ppg
PF: minimum 6-0 height, 12 ppg
C: minimum 6-2 height, 12 ppg, exceptions for players 6-5 and above

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

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

[Petrel]

August 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hey! Mark Hawkins!"

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

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

"Among others," I smiled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You too."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

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


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

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

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

"NO, COACH!"

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

[Petrel]

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September 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Petrel]

October 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What the hell, Coach?"

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

Future Timeline

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

[Petrel]

November 2011

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Valpo High's Stewart Picks South Dakota

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

"Does she have any offers?" I asked.

"No."

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

"How good is her English?" I asked.

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

"South Dakota is cold."

"So is Russia."

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

Flop sweat.

(* * *)

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

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

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

"It ain't that universal."

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

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

"Huh?"

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

"No."

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

(* * *)

Okay, this one took forever. Sorry about that.

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

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

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

What follows is the gameplan screen.

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

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

[Petrel]

Top 25 Preseason - 2011

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

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

November 2011

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

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

"Yeah."

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

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

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

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

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

"Have you ever considered coaching?"

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

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

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4784/penza.jpg
Penza, Russia

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

November 13

Seattle 64, South Dakota 57

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SG Ava Langham (SEA)


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

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

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

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

November 15

Southern Illinois 59, South Dakota 54

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SG Rayne Montoya (SNIL)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

November 19

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

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

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

Murray State 61, South Dakota 49

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: PF Janiyah Brooks (MRYST)


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

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

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

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

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

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

November 22

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

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

South Dakota 59, Wright State 41

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: C Angelina Choe (SD)

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

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

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

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

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

What was my final speech? In its entirely:

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

[Petrel]

November 2011

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

Nathan Padilla is a very unhappy man.

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

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

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

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

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

"To Vandy?" I asked. Reavis nodded.

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

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

"How much did they lose by?"

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

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

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

November 25

Iowa 63, South Dakota 41

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: PF Karly Flowers (IOWA)

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

"How was Thanksgiving dinner?" I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

(* * *)

November 29


Missouri 77, South Dakota 48

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Olivia Hughes (MO)



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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

December 3

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

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

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

Akron 62, South Dakota 35

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: C Chloe Bewley (AKRON)


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

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

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

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

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

December 6

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

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

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


Purdue 69, South Dakota 39

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: PG Rayna Johnson (PRDUE)


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

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

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

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

(* * *)

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Petrel]

December 2011

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

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

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

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

"Is she still interested?"

"She seems to be."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Good," I said.

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

(* * *)


Marquette 68, South Dakota 41

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Chloe Jurado (MRQT)


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


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

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


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

High points:

* We did lead for the first 5:22
* We led as late as 11:33 in the first half, up 13-12 and were tied at 15-15 with 11:08 to go. The team can play ten minutes of good basketball. But a 10-2 run at the end of the first half revealed us for what we were.
* We're actually a better free-throw shooting team than Marquette! Good luck in the Big East Golden Eagles, with UConn and Notre Dame waiting.
* We outrebounded Marquette 36-27.
* Bella Grier had 12 points and shot 6-for-8. Angelina Choe had 10 rebounds.

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How so?" I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

"Didn't you try?" Williams moaned.

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

December 13


Xavier 64, South Dakota 42

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SG Nina Tilton (XAVR)


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"It preps them for Summit League play."

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

(* * *)

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

(* * *)

December 17

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9761/tba2.jpg
Inside Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville TN

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

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

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

* 1500 square feet of space. It was a freaking house.
* Living room area, and customized Lady Vols pool table.
* A trophy case that....well, I can't even come up with words for it. I was afraid the entire thing would sink into the floor as it was full of hardware of all kinds.
* Team meeting room with 60-inch plasma television set.
* Displays honoring great Lady Vols of the past, playing in the WNBA, the Olympics, and elsewhere.
* A set of showers that made you think you had walked into a Greek garden somewhere.

And everywhere - and I mean everywhere - you were reminded that the Lady Vols had been National Champions. A lot. Eight times. All of my players went green-eyed with jealousy, and all of them had been underminded by the tour. Training facilites. Leather couches. Top of the line. This is what I imagined the locker room of the New York Yankees looked like.
Oh, the university had been promising that a locker room upgrade might come sometime in 2015 or so, if they had the grant money. (If I was still coach then - there was a chance that I'd never see this locker room.) The sad thing is that the DakotaDome was probably the best sports facility in South Dakota. We had better facilities than South Dakota State! And yet....we had nothing close to what the Tennessee women's team had. Nothing.

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

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

I spoke to the team before the game.

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)


Tennessee 76, South Dakota 44

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Alisson Standley (TENN)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


South Dakota 61, UMKC 49

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: PF Ashley Brown (SD)

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

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

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

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

Hammer and nails, baby.

(* * *)

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

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

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

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

[Petrel]

2011 Summit League Standings

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


December 24

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

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

Oral Roberts 50, South Dakota 40

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Myra Villasenor (ORLRB)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Are you having dinner somewhere?" I answered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Mom...."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

December 29

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

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

South Dakota 61, IUPUI 53

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

December 31

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

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

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


Western Illinois 47, South Dakota 37

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: PG Eden Bittner (WIL)


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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

December 2011

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

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

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

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


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

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

[Petrel]

2011 Summit League Standings

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


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

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

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

"Who?"

"Zoe McHale."

"Oh?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Can we beat them?"

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

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

"I've tried that."

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

"Like what second thoughts?"

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

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

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

"A couple of weeks."

"Did she say 'yes'?"

"No."

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

(* * *)

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

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

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

(* * *)

January 5

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

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

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

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

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

South Dakota 67, North Dakota State 48

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SG Morgan Tavarez (SD)

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

January 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


South Dakota State 60, South Dakota 34

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

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

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

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

Player of Game: SF Cheyanne Hardiman (SDST)


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

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


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


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

(* * *)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(* * *)

January 12

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

Oakland had some girls who could play ball. Senior SG Hanna Audley led the conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game - I was glad that she'd be going back to Australia next year. Her defense wasn't too shabby either, with 1.4 steals per game. (However, you could defend her too, as she turned the ball over 3.0 times per game.) They had two good shot blockers in PF Amira Carmona and SF Jacqueline Grover. With both players at 6-4, you faced height right away and height was a rarity in the Summit League.

The Golden Grizzlies were #1 in the Summit League in points scored, #2 in total rebounds, assists and steals and #1 in blocked shots. We could also hope for mismatches but Oakland was a team that knew how to win, probably a Top 50 team in the country and my favorite to win the Summit League. Of course, teams are never given ball games - they have to play them.


Oakland 82, South Dakota 42

South Dakota Stats (4-14, 3-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 29 0-5 0-4 1 4 0 3 0
Ashley Brown PF 19 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 2 0
Jessica Bing SF 22 1-4 5-8 0 3 3 4 8
Bella Grier SG 31 3-11 0-0 0 1 1 3 7
Allison Riggle PG 14 2-4 0-2 1 1 0 4 5
Morgan Tavarez SG 21 2-4 2-4 0 7 0 4 6
Anzhelika Bure SG 22 0-3 6-8 0 0 1 2 6
Saniyah Barth PF 11 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 3 0
Ellie Hester PG 16 3-5 2-3 0 2 1 4 8
Harley Lewis SF 5 1-2 0-0 1 3 1 1 2
Analia Williams C 8 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
Jaylynn Adams PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 3, A.Riggle
1, S.Barth 1, E.Hester 2, H.Lewis 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, H.Lewis 1)
3P FGs: 3-11 (J.Bing 1-1, B.Grier 1-5, A.Riggle 1-2,
A.Bure 0-2, E.Hester 0-1)

OaklandStats (11-6, 6-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Isabella Stafford C 13 2-6 0-0 0 2 0 4 4
Selena James PF 27 1-2 3-3 1 8 2 1 5
Jacqueline Grover SF 27 5-11 5-9 6 9 2 1 17
Hannah Audley SG 22 3-7 6-6 1 6 1 4 15
Luciana Overturf PG 27 3-6 3-6 2 7 1 1 11
Grace Dupuis PG 14 1-2 0-0 0 0 2 4 3
Mckayla Musgrove SG 19 5-12 4-6 0 2 1 3 16
Stephanie Tittle SF 15 2-7 4-6 4 5 1 3 8
Ava Dunning PG 5 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0
Nevaeh Chilton PF 12 0-0 1-2 1 3 1 1 1
Olivia Ramos PF 4 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Addison Spinner C 10 0-1 2-4 2 4 1 0 2
Amirah Carmona C 4 0-0 0-0 1 3 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (I.Stafford 1, S.James 2, H.Audley 1,
L.Overturf 2, G.Dupuis 1, M.Musgrove 1, S.Tittle 1,
A.Spinner 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (H.Audley 1, M.Musgrove 1, A.Carmona 1)
Steals: 5 (S.James 1, L.Overturf 2, G.Dupuis 1,
S.Tittle 1)
3P FGs: 10-21 (J.Grover 2-3, H.Audley 3-5, L.Overturf
2-5, G.Dupuis 1-2, M.Musgrove 2-6)

Player of Game: SF Jacqueline Grover (OAK)


If I had any illusions about South Dakota being a spoiler, they were dashed in this game. We shot 31 percent in the game and Oakland made it clear from tipoff that they weren't going to go easy on us. It was a war out there. Oakland played physical, like they were in a boxing match.

The refs had to work for their pay. USD had the whistle blown against it 30 times. Oakland committed 22 fouls themselves. No one fouled out, but the Golden Grizzlies outrebounded us 50 to 24! They led 51-16 at halftime!! They rushed out to a 12-0 lead and the 22-6 lead they held after ten minutes made it cleaer that we'd be playing catch-up all night.

We were 15-for-29 at the free throw line. Oakland was 28-for-44. Talk about a slow game, half of it was spent standing around waiting for someone to shoot free throws. The Oakland fans that showed up should have gotten an award for endurance, but I'm sure they'll take their 6-0 conference record instead.

My mood going into the locker room was foul. This whole Donutgate thing was bothering me and I let it out. "You played Oakland's game today. You had your own game, but you didn't play it. Don't bitch that you haven't played the 2-3 zone; if you didn't play it in high school, something is wrong with you. So don't let yourself off the hook. To figure out who lost this game, just look in the mirror."

"Furthermore," I said, "There are some things I've been hearing about certain players on this team. Things that are taking place off the court, and things that I don't like."

You could have heard a pin drop. "We have less than 48 hours before we take on IPFW. You had better get yourselves together. This game will show what you're made of."

(* * *)

Donutgate bothered me so much that I called my old coach at James Madison, Ken Tomlinson. "Coach, I've got something on my mind, but it has to be in confidence."

"Spit it out," he said. So I told him about Ashley Brown and Anzhelika Bure and the free snacks they were getting.

"Jeez, Louise, when did that bug crawl up your butt and die?"

"What?"

"Mark, let me ask you a question. I'm retired, and it's just you and me. Did you eat at places for free when you played for James Madison."

"Yeah?"

"Mark, everybody does it. And I mean everybody. Football, basketball, wrestling. Probably swimming and ping-pong. ****, when I played college ball there used to be a pizza place that gave me free slices, so you're not talking to an innocent man! I figured my players were going to do it too, so I didn't ask any questions. Hey, even a home-cooked dinner now and then is just fine. A scholarship doesn't cover everything, and sometimes, people want to help out a kid. Innocent stuff. Sometimes, Mark, when you're a coach there's such a thing as the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. What do you think the spirit of the law is?"

I thought about it. "I guess so that there's no French restaurant in Vermillion that's serving them three-star dinners every day."

"Right. If something like that was going on I'd be sprinting to the compliance officer. Or at least, I'd like to think that I would. Someday, I might tell you more horror stories from coaching but you're not ready yet. But life as a coach is a series of moral judgments and sometimes you'll make one that puts you on the wrong side of the line. The question is, how comfortable are you? If it was me, I'd be pretty comfortable if I was in your shoes. How is your compliance officer at South Dakota?"

"I haven't met her. I think she's like the head-ranking senior female admin. Something like that."

"That's probably good. Law degree?"

"I don't know."

"Small department? How many compliance officers are there?"

"Don't know."

"I'll let you know something about NCAA Compliance. They can be your friends or your enemies. Usually the latter. If the compliance officer is an ex-jock or a friend of the athletic department, and if they've got grey hair you can usually expect a forgiving hand. They'll let little things slide. If the compliance offer is some thirty-year old prick with a law degree, expect him to bust your ass every time. And one final thing, Mark...a smart AD can use the compliance officer for his own benefit. They can turn a whole lot of little crap into a "pattern of noncompliance". Think about that when your contract comes up."

Coach Tomlinson took a lot off my mind. I wasn't going to go screaming to compliance over the $50 or so of donuts that Ashley and Anzhelika had scammed over several months. (Anzhelika did grow up in Russia and they're not adverse to taking free stuff that's offered to them, rules or no rules.) However, I promised myself that when we got back to South Dakota we'd review the rules on athletic benefits. Whether they ate for free at certain places or not would lie on their own consciences.

( * * *)

January 14

We stayed on the road for our game against IPFW, or Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons were in fourth place in the Summit League with a 4-2 league record and an 8-8 overall record.

Like any decent team, the Mastodons had a good point guard in senior Amanda Tiller who scored 15.3 ppg for IPFW. Tiller had 4.1 assists per game with just 2.5 turnovers per game.They depended on junior center Isabella Britton in the post, who scored 10.3 ppg and 7.9 rpg. The Mastodons loved to pass the ball (#1 in assists in the Summit League, #2 in points). Even if you could stop Tiller at the point, the Mastodons led the league in fewest turnovers, with only 10.3 turnoers per game. However, they were the worst fouling team with 19.5 points per game.

We needed to play a very physical man on man and hope that the refs blow the whistle on the Mastodons. We wanted to take the win here, because after this game we had six days off and even with the horrible weather, Vermillion was starting to grow on me.

IPFW 72, South Dakota 52

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 2-3 0-1 0 6 1 2 4
Ashley Brown PF 23 3-3 2-4 1 4 0 1 8
Jessica Bing SF 26 1-6 1-2 0 1 0 1 3
Bella Grier SG 29 3-7 1-2 0 0 2 1 7
Allison Riggle PG 29 3-4 0-2 0 0 4 2 7
Morgan Tavarez C 24 3-5 2-3 0 7 0 2 8
Anzhelika Bure SG 19 3-7 3-5 0 3 0 0 10
Saniyah Barth PF 9 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Ellie Hester PG 9 0-1 1-2 0 1 0 0 1
Harley Lewis SF 4 0-0 4-4 0 1 0 0 4
Analia Williams C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 17 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier
1, A.Riggle 4, A.Bure 2, E.Hester 1, H.Lewis 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Grier 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (A.Choe 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, B.Grier 0-2,
A.Riggle 1-2, A.Bure 1-3)

IPFWStats (9-8, 5-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee C 25 2-3 0-0 0 0 3 2 4
Kayleigh Buchanan C 20 3-7 2-3 0 6 1 3 8
Elianna Gonzalez SF 24 8-13 1-1 2 4 1 3 17
Jaidyn Shanks PF 25 2-4 1-1 1 3 0 3 5
Amanda Tiller SG 31 7-10 1-1 2 3 6 1 19
Kai Eady PG 22 2-6 1-2 1 3 2 4 5
Aimee McIntyre SF 20 3-11 2-2 1 5 1 0 8
Azul Shoffner SG 8 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 3 2
Emily Sellars PF 13 2-2 0-0 0 3 0 1 4
Janiah Johnson C 9 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 1 0
Lilly Thompson C 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0

Turnovers: 9 (E.Vallee 2, K.Buchanan 2, J.Shanks 1,
K.Eady 2, A.Shoffner 1, L.Thompson 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (E.Gonzalez 1, A.Tiller 3)
3P FGs: 4-12 (E.Gonzalez 0-1, A.Tiller 4-6, K.Eady 0-3,
A.McIntyre 0-2)

Player of Game: PG Amanda Tiller (IPFW)

Well, what do you do? Three Summit League games in a row lost, each one lost by at least 20 points. Only one player in double figures for USD (Bure) in the game. No players at USD have a season scoring average in double figures - our "leader" scores 7.9 points per game.

We just could not hold on to the ball. We turned the ball over 17 times and just about all of those turnovers led to the Mastodons scoring - we shot 50 percent for the game but only took 36 shots. IPFW took 58 shots, and hit 52 percent from the field. That pretty much did it.

The Mastodons got off to a 9-2 run and I was forced to call my first time out with only 2 1/2 minutes off the game clock. For most of the game !PFW had a double-digit lead. We had no business being here.

It looks like my motivational techniques - what few I have - are falling short. I want to have faith that there's light at the end of this tunnel. But I don't see anything right now.

(* * *)

In the meantime, Oral Roberts went to South Dakota State and lost 54-46, losing 40-24 on the boards to the Jacks. At the end of the year, it will be either Oakland, South Dakota State, or Oral Roberts.


Date Opponent Record RPI Result Score Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/13/11 Seattle 1-15 274 L 64-57 0-1
11/15/11 at Southern Illinois 3-14 272 L 59-54 0-2
11/19/11 at Murray State 10-9 333 L 61-49 0-3
11/22/11 Wright State 6-10 138 W 59-41 1-3
11/25/11 #17 Iowa 16-0 112 L 63-41 1-4
11/29/11 at Missouri 5-10 87 L 77-48 1-5
12/03/11 at Akron 9-6 209 L 62-35 1-6
12/06/11 at #21 Purdue 12-3 50 L 69-39 1-7
12/09/11 Marquette 11-4 111 L 68-41 1-8
12/13/11 at Xavier 11-4 60 L 64-42 1-9
12/17/11 at #7 Tennessee 15-1 3 L 76-44 1-10
12/22/11 UMKC 4-13 313 W 61-49 2-10 (1-0)
12/24/11 Oral Roberts 12-4 149 L 50-40 2-11 (1-1)
12/29/11 at IUPUI 4-13 279 W 61-53 3-11 (2-1)
12/31/11 at Western Illinois 1-16 320 L 47-37 3-12 (2-2)
01/05/12 North Dakota State 7-12 208 W 67-48 4-12 (3-2)
01/07/12 South Dakota State 14-4 171 L 60-34 4-13 (3-3)
01/12/12 at Oakland 12-6 53 L 82-42 4-14 (3-4)
01/14/12 at IPFW 9-8 203 L 72-52 4-15 (3-5)
01/21/12 at Nebraska-Omaha 4-12 207
01/26/12 Western Illinois 1-16 320
01/28/12 IUPUI 4-13 279
02/02/12 at South Dakota State 14-4 171


(* * *)

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3162/sams1cmlcd111.jpg

In world technology, OLED screens began to go into production. OLED stands for "Organic Light Emitting Diodes".

The screens on these televisions are as thin as credit cards. Furthermore, the organic components make the screens less polluting when they are disposed of. The colors on HDTV become much better and when the image is tilted to the side it does not lose its color, its brightness, and most importantly its resolution. Of course, this made a slight problem as the octopus of wires to various peripheral devices could no longer be connected to the screen itself - the screens were too thin for that now.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Wow. It seems to be taking forever to produce these write-ups. But I've managed to move parts of this dynasty to the Grey Dog Software Forum. Right now, this forum is still the sport where an update will be posted first, if anyone's interested.

One problem I've noticed in the last two game sims - I don't coach the teams play-by-play; I let the game engine do that - is that we seem to have switched from a Man Defense to a 2-3 Zone Defense. I have no clue why. In previous games, I've tried to switch it in the Game Plan screen with no luck whatsoever...and now, without asking, it forces the team into a much less effective defense. I'll let this go for two more games and if South Dakota doesn't switch back to the man-to-man I might have to report it as a bug.

Next time: The team gets a week off and the halfway point of the conference regular season is reached. Mark Hawkins gets an interesting letter that might explain a lot. The Yotes are 3-5 in the league, but will they win another league game all year?


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player Pos GP GS Min Pts Orb Reb Ast Stl Blk To Fls +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bella Grier SG 14 12 28.0 7.9 0.9 2.1 0.9 0.2 0.3 1.5 2.4 -11.4
Angelina Choe C 18 16 27.1 4.9 2.4 8.9 0.7 0.2 0.2 1.7 1.9 -9.1
Ashley Brown PF 19 19 26.6 5.8 1.1 4.4 1.2 0.4 0.2 2.1 1.7 -8.7
Jessica Bing SF 12 12 25.6 7.3 1.1 2.6 1.2 0.5 0.2 2.3 2.4 -8.4
Allison Riggle PG 19 15 25.1 5.9 0.7 1.4 2.6 0.3 0.1 2.6 2.5 -10.0
Anzhelika Bure SG 19 3 22.7 6.9 0.5 2.3 0.4 0.5 0.2 2.1 1.9 -6.8
Jaylynn Adams PF 8 7 20.3 2.6 0.4 3.6 1.1 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.4 -3.3
Morgan Tavarez SG 15 0 14.7 4.4 0.4 3.0 0.2 0.0 0.1 1.2 1.6 -7.7
Analia Williams C 18 7 13.4 2.3 0.6 2.2 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.7 1.2 -5.6
Saniyah Barth PF 19 4 12.8 2.4 0.4 2.0 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.6 1.6 -7.0
Ellie Hester SF 19 0 10.9 2.7 0.6 1.9 0.5 0.1 0.0 1.1 1.3 -2.9
Jillian Ho PG 7 0 6.3 0.7 0.4 0.9 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.6 0.4 -2.1
Harley Lewis SF 14 0 5.7 2.1 0.4 1.0 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.8 0.8 0.2

[Petrel]

January 2012

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1549/309472467981f88d574b.jpg

All I can figure out is that God must have had it in for South Dakota. I grew up in the hills of Kentucky, where two inches of snow could make an unpaved road impassable - it wasn't like there was a salt truck that was ever going to come by. And I had thought I had seen some tough winters.

But this! This was like that terrifying year I spent in Russia, despite being relatively warmer. Vermillion ducked a blizzard that hit the western part of South Dakota and closed just about every highway there. In mid-January, the weather stayed in the 20s and actually got up to 30 degrees at one point. But it was a mirage, as the temperature dropped back into the teens again and we were hit by freezing rain the weekend of our trip to Omaha, Nebraska to play the Mavericks, the last of our nine opponents in the Summit League. We'd play everyone one more time until the end of the regular season.

In my e-mail I received an interesting e-mail.

Dear Coach Hawkins,

Thank you for your recent trip to North Vancouver, here in British Columbia. I'd like to apologize again for the brief amount of time that we were able to spend with you. Our daughter, Zoe, truly appreciated your trip. We enjoyed the presentation and hearing your discussion about the opportunities of an education at the University of South Dakota. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Joseph McHale

(* * *)

The e-mail left me dumbfounded. "Well what do you think about that?" I said to Coach Reavis, showing it to her.

"McHale?" she said. "That Canadian kid that gave you so much trouble?"

"Her family, really," I said. "Her father treated me like I tracked mud in the house. It wasn't like I was being clasped to their bosom or anything. He gushed about how great Elon was and that Florida A&M would be a better fit for her."

"Something happened," Coach Reavis said. She used to be a lawyer. "I'll bet that's it. I'll bet that one of those offers dried up and one of those schools dropped her. Now they're scrambling. They figure that USD is better than nothing at all."

I grumbled. "Hmph."

"What's your plan, Mark?"

"We'll keep on pursuing her," I said. "Look, the family might not like me...but I don't have to coach the family. Besides, they're not the only ones who are desperate. I have six scholarships to give out and only one taker so far. If this is a shotgun wedding...well, starting singing, 'Here Comes the Bride!'

(* * *)

In Norman, Oklahoma #6 ranked Baylor took a visit to the #2 ranked Sooners. Baylor had a 42-36 lead at halftime but Oklahoma fought back to take the lead late in the game. Up 64-62 with three minutes to go, Oklahoma scored ten of the final twelve points. Sooner SG Sophia Wakefield shot 9-for-20 and scored 23 points, but scored none of the points for Oklahoma during the final three minutes.

As for #1 Stanford (16-0), they would take on #5 conference rival UCLA (15-0). UCLA would lead most of the game, and Stanford would close to within five points late in the second half, but the Bruins would hold on to win 89-80 under a 20-point, 10 assist performance from Kaylee Caceres. There would undoubtedly be a new #1 team in the nation the next week.


January 21


2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 8 0 1.000 13 6 .684 70 42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 7 1 .875 15 4 .789 148 61
IPFW Mastodons 6 2 .750 10 8 .556 167 25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 6 2 .750 12 5 .706 163 38
South Dakota Coyotes 3 5 .375 4 15 .211 263 0
North Dakota State Bison 3 5 .375 8 12 .400 229 30
IUPUI Jaguars 2 6 .250 4 14 .222 273 4
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 2 6 .250 4 14 .222 230 0
UMKC Kangaroos 2 6 .250 4 14 .222 316 14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 1 7 .125 1 17 .056 337 9


Every feel the back end of a bus sliding down an icy street? Not fun. Not looking forward to that again.

It was a slippery ride from Vermillion, SD to Sioux City, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska entirely by bus. Coach Reavis stated that the Coyotes and the Mavericks were very much alike. They didn't have any really great players - sophomore PG Brianna Padilla had potential but UNO didn't start her - and even our conference records and win-loss totals were very much alike.

Once again, we were coming to play a team with a sizable losing streak - the Mavericks had lost seven straight. Furthermore, this was their fifth game in nine days, and they were just coming home after a four game road trip seeing Fort Wayne (IPFW), Auburn Hills (Oakland), Denton (North Texas) and Martin (Tennessee-Martin). That was a lot of miles to travel and we hoped we could take advantage of any fatigure from the Mavericks.

Our back-up point guard, Jillian Ho, was performing limited workouts after sitting out a month due to a foot fracture. She would be a gametime decision.


South Dakota 55, Nebraska-Omaha 52

South Dakota Stats (5-15, 4-5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 30 1-5 0-0 5 12 2 4 2
Ashley Brown PF 26 4-5 0-0 3 8 0 3 8
Jessica Bing SF 31 2-8 2-2 1 3 1 2 6
Bella Grier SG 32 4-8 5-6 0 3 5 2 13
Allison Riggle PG 18 2-7 1-4 1 1 1 4 5
Morgan Tavarez PF 28 5-9 0-0 2 3 2 0 11
Anzhelika Bure SG 18 2-7 1-2 0 3 0 1 6
Jillian Ho PG 9 1-1 0-0 0 0 2 1 2
Saniyah Barth PF 1 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 2
Ellie Hester SF 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 3 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 1 0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Brown 1, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 2, A.Riggle
1, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, E.Hester 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Brown 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Brown 1, J.Bing 1)
3P FGs: 2-10 (J.Bing 0-2, A.Riggle 0-3, M.Tavarez 1-1,
A.Bure 1-4)

Nebraska-OmahaStats (4-15, 2-7):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chanel Stevens C 32 0-4 2-2 3 6 1 1 2
Kylie Davis PF 29 7-10 2-4 3 9 0 2 16
Janelle Ainsworth SF 28 5-7 1-3 1 2 2 2 11
Dulce Diaz SG 25 1-4 0-0 0 0 0 1 3
A. Sappington PG 32 2-10 3-4 0 0 5 2 8
Brianna Padilla PG 20 2-3 0-0 0 3 0 2 4
C. Mondragon SF 9 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Halle McCully PF 14 1-2 2-2 1 4 2 0 4
Sophia Schaaf SG 6 0-0 2-2 0 1 0 0 2
Eloise Espinosa C 5 1-3 0-0 1 2 0 0 2

Turnovers: 11 (C.Stevens 1, A.Sappington 2, B.Padilla
4, H.McCully 2, E.Espinosa 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (D.Diaz 1)
Steals: 2 (K.Davis 1, D.Diaz 1)
3P FGs: 2-10 (J.Ainsworth 0-1, D.Diaz 1-2, A.Sappington
1-5, C.Mondragon 0-2)

Player of Game: PF Kylie Davis (OMAHA)


This one was a real battle. The Mavericks led 31-29 at halftime, a two point lead that could have been four points had UNO not foolishly fouled Bella Grier on the final inbounds play of the half by South Dakota. Bella made both of those shots.

This was a fight and for most of the second half, neither side was more than a single basket away. We played a man defense, whereas Nebraska-Omaha settled for a series of switching zones. I suspected that they were as confused by their zones as we were.

With less than a minute remaining, the score was 52-52. Nebraska-Omaha had Kylie Davis on the charity stripe for an "and one" but she missed the shot. This gave us the shot and the goal was to put it in Bella Grier's hands on the right baseline. Grier picked up the foul (UNO had 18 personal fouls to our ten) and this sent Bella Grier to the line again with 39 seconds left.

First shot: no good.

Second shot: good. We were now up by one point, 53-52 but we needed a defesive stop. With 28 seconds left, Jessica Bing got the steal from Halle McCully when she drove inside and the Mavericks were forced to commit the quick foul.

Bing hits both. We're up 55-52 with 26 seconds left. We were looking for a drive inside and a foul, but when UNO began moving the ball around, we knew they were looking for the 3-ball. With time expiring on the clock, they put it in the hands of Janelle Ainsworth. But she missed it, and we got the rebound as time expired.

Bella Grier scored 13 points for us, and went 5-for-6 at the line. Angelina Choe had 12 rebounds. Morgan Tavarez chipped in 11 points, and even though Kylie Davis of the Mavericks was named Player of the Game with 16 points, I would take this win and we would definitely celebrate on the drive back.

On the bus, I asked Jillian Ho how she felt. She had played nine minutes, taken a shot, and hit it. Two assists. "I feel great!" she said. Music to my ears.

(* * *)

On Monday, we had a new #1 team in basketball


# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Oklahoma (69) 17-1 1797 2
2. Connecticut (3) 17-1 1731 3
3. Tennessee 17-1 1656 4
4. UCLA 17-0 1584 5
5. North Carolina 17-0 1512 9
6. Iowa 18-0 1399 12
7. Texas A&M 16-2 1358 7
8. Stanford 17-2 1347 1
9. Bowling Green 17-1 1222 10
10. Tulane 18-0 1154 13


Despite beating Stanford, UCLA could get no love but had jumped to #4. There were only three teams in American without a loss - UCLA, North Carolina, and Tulane in Conference USA. North Dakota was still fighting the Big Sky over the use of its Fighting Sioux nickname, and had the only women's basketball team without a single win this year at 0-20.

(* * *)

On January 24th, after several weeks of dismal weather, we finally had our first above-freezing temperature. There had been snow warnings early in the week but the mercury climbed to 37 degrees on January 24! Could we hope for an early thaw?

No. More snow warnings during the week. The thermometer dropped down below freezing the next day, turning whatever snow had melted into more ice. Then we were back in the teens again. The weather was crazy.

But the thermometer wasn't the only thing that was moving. #1 Oklahoma went to Kansas State and got clobbered 63-52. The Wildcats had a hot night and shot 48.1 percent from the field. It looked like Connecticut was going to crawl back into the #1 spot by default.

(* * *)

January 26

With a wind chill factor below zero, at least the Yotes had the advantage of staying at home. Western Illinois was coming to Vermillion this time. The Fighting Leathernecks only had one win in nineteen games this season - a 47-37 win against South Dakota. They had come close to winning games, losing back to back against IUPUI and North Dakota State at home by one point in each of those games (47-46, 62-61). Aside from steals - and turnovers - they were at the bottom or next to the bottom of every category in the Summit League.

This time, I practiced the players a bit harder than usual. Morgan Tavarez and Jillian Ho were coming off injuries and I needed to get them into as good a shape as I was able to. Furthermore, I'm sure the players remembered that humiliating 10-point loss to the Fighting Leathernecks. Our goal was that in the DakotaDome the outcome would be a lot different.


South Dakota 42, Western Illinois 37

Western Illinois Stats (1-19, 1-9)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Haleigh Tessier C 27 3-7 0-2 1 4 0 2 6
Carmen Pittman SF 25 2-6 2-2 0 4 2 0 6
Yareli Morgan SF 17 1-4 1-1 1 4 0 3 3
Eden Bittner SG 31 1-6 0-0 0 2 1 3 2
A. Rutherford PG 26 1-4 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Brynn Tyler PF 18 3-4 0-1 2 5 1 3 6
Isabella Powell PF 15 1-4 1-1 1 4 0 0 3
Chloe Martinez SF 21 3-4 3-4 1 5 0 2 9
Amaya Mackay SG 14 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
Mylee Mead C 5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 6 (C.Pittman 1, E.Bittner 2, A.Rutherford 1,
B.Tyler 1, M.Mead 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Tyler 1)
Steals: 2 (C.Martinez 1, A.Mackay 1)
3P FGs: 0-6 (C.Pittman 0-1, Y.Morgan 0-1, E.Bittner
0-1, A.Rutherford 0-2, B.Tyler 0-1)

South DakotaStats (6-15, 5-5):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 32 3-9 1-2 6 13 3 3 7
Ashley Brown PF 26 1-5 0-0 2 7 0 2 2
Jessica Bing SF 23 3-5 1-3 0 2 1 3 7
Bella Grier SG 32 5-12 0-2 0 4 0 2 11
Allison Riggle PG 29 3-7 0-0 0 0 2 0 6
Morgan Tavarez SF 27 0-1 2-2 0 1 2 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SF 18 2-5 0-0 0 5 0 2 5
Jillian Ho PG 10 0-1 2-3 1 3 0 0 2
Saniyah Barth PF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 5 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 2, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-6 (A.Brown 0-1, B.Grier 1-2, M.Tavarez 0-1,
A.Bure 1-2)

Player of Game: C Angelina Choe (SD)


Well, they say that any win is a good one. We'll take this one, although it came to us disassembled and missing all of the necessary parts.

We were actually behind at half time, 20-15. Rather than curse the team for its deficiencies - and there were a lot of them - I focused on the game plan - turn the game into a defensive struggle and let the Fighting Leathernecks fade in the distance. In the back half of the game we extended a 31-30 lead to a 38-30 advantage with 2:36 left to go. I could tell they were starting to melt down because they committed three consecutive in-bounds with two minutes left on the game clock.

Jillian Ho hit a couple of free throws and we were up 40-33 with 1:58 left. But Brynn Taylor drove to the basket for Western Illinois, got the basket and got the foul. Down 40-35, Taylor aimed at the basket with what Coach Tomlinson would have called a "five iron throw" - the ball bounced off the basket and was designed for one of the Fighting Leathernecks to rebound. It's a hard play to draw up - who deliberately tries to miss free throws? It goes against every player's instinct.

But they did it. They boxed out, got the rebound, and Carmen Pittman got the shot baseline. Western Illinois was within three, 40-37, with 1:03 to go. The goal was for Allison Riggle to get the ball, to let about 30 seconds go off the clock, and then drive to the basket from the strong side. She did it! 42-37, but Western Illinois would get the final shot.

We went into a full court press. I wanted the Fighting Leathernecks to feel our breath, and our team did a great job. With about 20 seconds in, Pittman attempted a 3-pointer that failed, and Brynn Tyler got the rebound, weaved her way out to behind the arc, coughed up another 3-pointer - and that one failed. Jillian Ho got the rebound with 0:04 left on the clock.

They fouled her for the one and one. Ho missed the shot, but even though Western Illinois got the rebound, we were on top of them. They tried a beyond-the-midline shot that didn't count, since time had already expired.

Our center, Angelina Choe had seven points and 13 rebounds for her second Player of the Game award. Bella Grier added 11 points. With a 5-5 record in the Summit League, I figured that our magic number was five. If we could win five games - or if Western Illinois could lose five - we'd finished at least ninth. An eight-place finish would get us to the Summit League tournament.

We'd have no time to celebrate. We'd host IUPUI on Saturday.

January 28

Back against IUPUI, this time at home. This time the roles were reversed. We had beaten IUPUI on the road, 61-53 and this time they'd come to South Dakota and seek revenge. IUPUI was exactly one step above Western Illinois, hanging in at 2-8 in conference standings with eight conference games to go.

There were only eight players in the Summit Conference that averaged double-digits, and Olivia Ortiz was one of them with 11.0 points per game (but 2.8 turnovers per game). PF Rylan Vang averaged 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game.

I didn't really feel that IUPUI were a better team than we were. The Jaguars were the only team in the Summit League that turned the ball over more than we are. (14.7 TO/G vs. 15.4 TO/G.)
But I knew that among the battle of the bottom-feeders, anything could happen.


IUPUI 47, South Dakota 45

IUPUI Stats (5-16, 3-8):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Armani Fontenot PG 28 1-4 4-4 0 2 2 2 6
Lindsay Moss PF 30 1-7 2-2 0 3 1 2 4
Luna Cusick SF 30 2-4 8-9 1 4 1 4 12
Zoe Brown SG 18 0-2 2-2 0 0 0 4 2
Addisyn Nolasco SG 30 4-10 0-0 3 9 1 1 8
Lizeth Bannon C 17 2-4 0-2 1 5 0 1 4
Rylan Vang PG 23 3-6 3-5 0 2 1 0 9
Cheyanne Levan PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
J. Sadowski SG 13 1-5 0-0 1 4 1 1 2
Jaylah Emrich SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Kaliyah McQuiston C 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Fontenot 1, L.Cusick 3, Z.Brown 1,
A.Nolasco 2, R.Vang 1, J.Sadowski 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (L.Bannon 2, R.Vang 4)
Steals: 1 (J.Sadowski 1)
3P FGs: 0-10 (A.Fontenot 0-2, L.Moss 0-2, L.Cusick 0-1,
Z.Brown 0-1, A.Nolasco 0-3, J.Sadowski 0-1)

South DakotaStats (6-16, 5-6):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 29 2-5 0-0 1 7 0 3 4
Ashley Brown PF 14 1-2 2-4 3 6 1 4 4
Jessica Bing SF 21 1-5 0-0 1 1 2 5 2
Bella Grier SG 33 2-7 3-4 1 5 1 2 7
Allison Riggle PG 33 2-4 2-2 0 1 4 2 7
Morgan Tavarez PF 25 4-8 1-2 1 8 1 3 9
Anzhelika Bure SF 20 4-8 0-2 0 3 1 1 8
Jillian Ho PG 12 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2 2
Saniyah Barth PF 8 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Ellie Hester SF 4 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 2

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier
1, A.Riggle 1, M.Tavarez 4, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, E.Hester
1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 1 (A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-5 (A.Riggle 1-3, M.Tavarez 0-1, A.Bure 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Rylan Vang (IUPUI)


And just like that, our two-game winning streak went up in smoke. The final score makes it seem like a lot closer than it was. It was 32-19 in favor of the Jaguars at the half.

Down 13 points, we began to claw our way back. With 11:01 to go we got the lead down to single digits. With 9:40 to go we got it to within a couple of buckets. With 8:33 we were actually within three points. With 2:29 to go, we were within two for the third time in the half.

But we could never get over the wall. A drive by Armani Fontenot put the Jags up 45-41. Bella Grier was sent to the foul line on her next drive to the basket, and she hit both to close us to within 45-43 with 1:39 left. The Jags were all about working the clock down with their next possession, and the team knew that it wasn't to foul. But Jessica Bing gave away a stupid foul with five seconds on the shot clock, and the basket went in. 47-43, in favor of IUPUI.

Luna Cusick missed the free throw, and Morgan Tavarez got the rebound. There was 1:01 on the clock. The play was a quick strike where the person serving as point guard - whoever brought it over the mid-line - would find Bella Grier in the left corner and Grier would knock it down. But Tavarez couldn't find Grier, driving to the top of the key, then to the right side of the court. Grier had to go and find Tavarez, and then, failing to improvise, wished to go back to the left corner. Grier couldn't hit it, and Lizeth Bannon got the rebound.

We fouled Bannon. Bannon missed both of her throws. We had 17 seconds left and the ball in our hands. We were trying to find the right wing but our players were horrible at moving the ball. "Just drive! Drive!" I screamed.

Finally, with four seconds left, IUPUI fouled Allison Riggle. Riggle hit both of her free throws, but IUPUI had the ball, and virtually sprinted to the other end of the court. The shot from the top of the key failed, and we got the ball, but we couldn't even bring the ball across the midline.

Final: IUPUI 47, South Dakota 45

I only had myself to blame for that one. If you lose by twenty points, it's your team's fault. If you lose by two, it's the coach's fault. They beat us despite shooting 33 percent from the floor. They went 0-for-10 from 3-point range and still beat us. Maybe it was their six blocked shots that beat us. I don't know. I'd have to take a disspirited team to Brookings to take on our arch-rivals, South Dakota State, a team which had gone to Oakland and were beaten soundly, 72-59. They'd want to take their frustration out on the Yotes.

(* * *)

#1 Oklahoma - they were still technically #1 despite the loss to Kansas State on Wednesday - went out to College Station to face the #7 Texas A&M team, soon to depart for the Southeastern Conference. They would lose 86-75 against the Aggies, where Texas A&M would outrebound them 35-24 and five Aggies would score in double figures. Wherever Oklahoma ended up on Monday, it wouldn't be at #1.


Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Connecticut (72) 19-1 1800 2
2. Tennessee 19-1 1728 3
3. Texas A&M 18-2 1656 7
4. Stanford 19-2 1584 8
5. UCLA 18-1 1508 4
6. Tulane 20-0 1442 10
7. Oklahoma 17-3 1370 1
8. Bowling Green 19-1 1272 9
9. North Carolina 18-1 1229 5
10. Notre Dame 17-3 1133 12


(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

It's odd now that I've place these posts on the Grey Dog Software Forum, the hit count here has exceeded in a few days what it's taken months to achieve on this board. Even so, I'm fond of this board because of all the helpful replies I get here.

We will definitely have a new "mod pack" as soon as this season is over. A few teams (Texas A&M, Syracuse, Villanova, Belmont, Campbell, Seattle, NC Central) will be moved to different conferences. In addition, I plan on doing something about that thing where a lot of player names begin with the letter "A".

Next time: A new player commitment! Will it be Zoe McHale or someone else? Also: Mark Hawkins tries to get some help in "clustering" majors.

[Petrel]

February 2012

We were still chasing players in the beginning of February. I was used to a world where everyone signed by the first week of November. I had six scholarships to give away from the University of South Dakota, and only one taker - Catalina Stewart. Even though the team was doing better than expected on the court, it wasn't doing as well as expected in recruiting. My terror was that by the end of the final signing period in April I'd have a grand player of one person signed.

I still had my eyes on the elusive Canadian, Zoe McHale. Coach Williams was still trying to guide her through the process, trying to tease her to consider South Dakota the way you'd tease a mouse with a piece of cheese tied to a string.

"How's our reluctant Canadian?" I asked.

"Awful," Caitlyn said. "She's grown cold on me. I thought we were establishing a nice rapport, you know, girl to girl but now she's gone cold on me again. She's been talking about Florida a lot."

"Yeah. Florida as in 'Florida A&M'." Florida A&M was a historic black university. I needed some diversity on my squad but McHale's parents wanted her among other African-Americans. (Or is it African-Canadians?) She was definitely better than what was out there.

But knowing that Florida A&M was sticking with it brought me face to face with temptation. Some young woman on their squad was killed. She had been murdered by what appeared to be her unmarried partner in a domestic dispute. Her female unmarried partner.

As a recruiter, I could have gone with the lesbian issue right away. Later in life, I experienced parents who asked me, point blank, "Are there any lesbians on your team?" (My answer: "If there are, they've never said anything to me about it.") Some coaches - I won't name names, not yet - will go right after recruits and say "you don't want your daughter playing on Team X - that's a lesbian team!" They'll even go after unmarried head coaches. I've never been in a room where a coach directly said to me, "that coach over at Crosstown State is a lesbian," but I'll bet they use it when they talk to families.

Coach Tomlinson, politically incorrect as always, said, "****, I don't know Mark." (I was now "Mark" - Coach Tomlinson was starting to see me as a member of the brotherhood.) "I couldn't use that in my recruiting. Not with fellers. I couldn't say, "there's nothing but a bunch of fags on that team, or 'that coach over there is a fag, you don't want your son playing for him.' But if I had the chance - well - I did some pretty tricky stuff in my day, I'm not pretending to be a saint. I'm not saying I would ever have done it but I know for a fact that there were male coaches, who if they coulda done such a thing - you bet! Some coaches would slit your throat ear to ear for a prime piece of meat and leave you bleeding on the sidewalk."

"So I shouldn't pull that trigger."

"Mark," Tomlinson said, "it ain't God you have to answer to, it's that man in the mirror when you're shaving."

Now I'll be the first to tell you that on a men's team, no one would have stood for another player being gay. (At least, I think we wouldn't have. Things were already changing during my first year as a women's basketball coach.) But I don't know. I've bumped into people that I suspected were gay - and there were some guys in high school that the jocks picked on for being gay, so gay they practically floated - but I got the impression that the gays more or less wanted to be left alone. My father threw the F-A-G word around a lot, but he also said, "Son, never pick on someone who ain't hurting you just for breathing." Gays never did me any harm.

I never out and out asked a player if they were gay. (But later on in life...they would tell me, unasked.) Frankly, I thought it was disgusting. Not players being lesbians - like Coach Tomlinson said, you look into the mirror and you live with whatever it is you do. I thought it was disgusting to peek around in someone's bed, or to make some kind of wild-ass accusation based on something someone couldn't defend himself about. It was just underhanded and devious, shooting down a coach or a team for something that took place in someone's bedroom, probably miles away from a basketball court.

Besides, I suspected that Dr. McHale wouldn't like me bringing up the whole lesbian angle. I believed that if I even mentioned it, I could kiss my chances of getting Zoe McHale goodbye. And then it hit me - for all I knew, Zoe could be gay! I could just imagine that disaster playing out. Of course, her parents could say, "Hallelujah! This nice Mark Hawkins saved my daughter from the lesbians!" and they'd ship her right to USD. But she'd hate every second of the place, and she'd hate me for it.

I was going to see if I could win this one honestly. "Caitlyn, it's time for me to visit Zoe McHale again. Let's see if they don't throw me out after an hour."

"You promised to see Abigail Merkle?"

I had promised to see Abigail "Sure Shot" Merkle, the Arkansas junior college player who hit 91 percent of her free throws. But I was running out of hours in a day. "Okay, after McHale I'll try to squeeze Merkle in. Will we have the cash?"

"That depends, Mark," Caitlyn said, "How soon can you order the tickets?"

"Look for flights to Vancouver first. No!" I suddenly shouted. "No, I'm through with going over there! I want this player! I want McHale! Let's have her here for a weekend visit!"

"Coach," Caitlyn said, "do you even know what you're saying? You'd definitely have to bring her and a parent. You'll have to entertain her. The cost of that alone - that's going to eat up our entire budget for the month!"

She was right. We were as poor as church mice. I resigned myself to going to Canada again. There was only one thing that made me feel better about it - if it cost USD five figures to bring Zoe McHale to campus, it would cost much more for Florida A&M to do it!

But then I thought about it again. Who was left in the till, so to speak? Who was left for us to recruit. It was February. The litter of puppies had been picked over and the only ones left were runts. If there was some hidden gem out there, we were never going to find them.

"Caitlyn, do it. It's time to stop going to Mount McHale and let Mount McHale come to us."

(* * *)

February 2

I hadn't been looking forward to that ride to Brookings for a long time. Brookings, South Dakota was the home of South Dakota State University and SDSU would be giving us a greeting that only a Jackrabbit can give.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img8

If you don't recognize the object hanging from the billboard, it isn't an effigy. It's a dead coyote, South Dakota State's response to the billboards that USD posted all over the states. (At the game, there would be several T-shirts reading "IT COMMITTED SUICIDE". It would be inexplicable to USD visitors, but everyone at SDSU would get the joke.)

The 40 mile an hour winds that were sweeping across South Dakota didn't help. The weatherman-given temperature outside during the game was eight degrees, but with those winds it felt like we were in Antarctica. I swore I could hear the bus freaking sway as we drove from Vermillion to Brookings. It was a good day for going indoors and watching women's basketball, or Scrabble, or paint drying, or anything. But trust me, the fans that showed up wanted to be there and they packed the place.

The season hadn't gone the way SDSU had hoped. Oh, they were 8-3 in the Summit League and had a 16-6 regular-season record. They would probably win 20 games. But they were third place in a league they considered their league, behind Oakland at 11-0 and freaking IPFW at 9-2. They were not getting national attention and were no longer the bracket-busting darlings of the NCAA. However, they could still shoot for state supremacy.

SDSU's post play was still great. PF Cheyanne Hardiman was scoring 15.7 ppg and 6.8 rpg. C Chelsea Norris led the Summit League in rebounding with 10.7 rebounds per game and 2.1 blocks per game. The Jackrabbits led the Summit League in rebounding, and their scoring differential was +9.7 - they were winning games by almost double-digits.

After a 78-68 road loss to IPFW and a 72-59 followup road loss to Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies swept the Jacks in the regular season - the Jacks had lost back to back games for the first time this season. In Brookings, our difficult task would be to continue SDSU's losing streak.


South Dakota State 58, South Dakota 48

South Dakota Stats (6-17, 5-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 31 3-3 0-0 1 9 0 2 6
Ashley Brown PF 26 1-3 4-5 0 3 0 3 6
Jessica Bing SF 29 3-7 2-4 1 2 2 3 9
Bella Grier SG 32 2-9 0-0 0 3 2 2 4
Allison Riggle PG 24 2-5 5-8 0 2 3 4 9
Morgan Tavarez SG 22 1-6 0-0 1 7 1 4 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 14 3-8 1-2 0 1 1 3 7
Jillian Ho PG 10 1-2 0-0 0 0 3 0 2
Saniyah Barth PF 8 1-2 1-2 1 1 0 1 3
Ellie Hester SF 3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 3, A.Riggle
1, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, A.Williams 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 1)
Steals: 4 (A.Riggle 1, A.Bure 3)
3P FGs: 1-6 (J.Bing 1-1, B.Grier 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1,
M.Tavarez 0-1, A.Bure 0-1, J.Ho 0-1)

South Dakota StateStats (17-6, 9-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
M. Donaldson C 24 0-6 0-2 0 1 1 4 0
Chelsea Norris PF 36 1-4 4-6 3 9 2 3 6
Cheyanne Hardiman SF 34 7-9 8-11 1 8 0 2 22
Isabella Goodwin SG 30 0-7 3-4 1 4 3 2 3
Sloane Harris PG 29 4-7 3-6 2 7 1 2 11
Susan Wisdom PG 14 4-6 0-0 0 2 1 5 10
Jaliyah Weatherby SF 9 1-2 0-0 0 3 0 2 2
Emily Bentz PG 15 1-2 2-2 0 1 2 1 4
Charley Davis C 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Annabel Archer C 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (M.Donaldson 1, C.Norris 3, C.Hardiman 2,
I.Goodwin 1, S.Harris 1, S.Wisdom 3, E.Bentz 1,
C.Davis 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (C.Norris 3)
Steals: 3 (M.Donaldson 1, S.Harris 1, J.Weatherby 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (I.Goodwin 0-4, S.Wisdom 2-3, J.Weatherby
0-1, E.Bentz 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Cheyanne Hardiman (SDST)


Well, we went into the meatgrinder and only lost by ten. Our players held up pretty well under the catcalls from the SDSU fans. We led the game by about one or two baskets for the first five minutes and it was close enough for us to sneak back into the lead, 20-18 with just under five minutes left. The Jacks were leading 29-28 with less than four seconds left but reserve PG Emily Benz caught us sleeping as time expired in the first half with another bucket. SDSU led 31-28 at halftime.

The second half could be explained as "too much Cheyanne Hardiman", who would finish with 22 points and eight rebounds. Three of the Jacks would finish in double figures and once again, the Yotes didn't have a player who finished above nine points. (But we had two players with nine points, Jessica Bing and Allison Riggle.)

We had six more games left this year,. No time to rest. All of those games will take place this February, and the Summit League tournament will start on March 4.

There would be no time to mourn. Back to the classrooms for Friday, a quick practice Friday night, and then a six hour bus drive off to Fargo, North Dakota to take on North Dakota State University.

(* * *)

That Friday night, North Dakota State's fellow school - the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, the team with the contentious nickname that was in danger of being thrown out of the Big Sky Conference - won its first game of the year in 21 tries by thumping visiting Eastern Washington by a score of 62-38. That morning, they'd be on a plane to play Montana to see if they could extend their one-game win streak.

(* * *)

February 4

Back against North Dakota State. We beat the Bison 67-48 at home, our best offensive output of the year. Freshman point guard Saige Christie was living up to the potential that Coach Reavis thought she'd live up to, scoring 11.4 points a game. The other half of the offense for the Bison was SF Haylee Mull. After those two players, the offense dropped off sharplye, even though I thought that backup freshman SF Erica Rochelle might live up to something someday. If you stopped Christie and Mull, you could stop North Dakota State. They didn't turn the ball over a lot, but they played an uncontrolled physical game that led to a lot of referee whistles.

We were 6-17 on the season. It had been a long winter, our RPI was #280, and we needed a ray of sunlight.


North Dakota State 66, South Dakota 36

South Dakota Stats (6-18, 5-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 3-7 0-1 5 12 0 3 6
Ashley Brown PF 25 3-5 0-0 2 5 0 3 6
Jessica Bing SF 26 2-6 2-2 1 5 1 2 6
Bella Grier SG 20 0-6 0-0 0 0 2 4 0
Allison Riggle PG 28 1-6 0-2 0 1 3 0 2
Morgan Tavarez SF 27 0-4 1-2 1 2 2 3 1
Anzhelika Bure SG 18 2-8 0-0 0 0 0 1 5
Jillian Ho PG 13 1-5 2-2 1 1 0 1 4
Saniyah Barth PF 8 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 4
Ellie Hester SF 3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 3 1-2 0-0 1 1 0 0 2

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle
1, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 1-5 (B.Grier 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, A.Bure 1-3)

North Dakota StateStats (11-14, 6-7):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Claire Ramirez C 27 6-7 3-4 0 7 0 2 15
Addison Wood PF 29 0-2 4-6 0 3 1 2 4
Haylee Mull SF 30 6-12 2-2 2 9 1 2 15
Mariam Rapp SG 25 2-4 2-2 0 1 0 2 8
Saige Christie PG 30 1-4 2-2 0 1 3 1 5
Myah Wagner SG 18 3-3 2-2 1 4 1 0 8
Abigail Borst SF 15 3-4 0-0 0 2 0 2 6
Anahi Vestal C 15 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 0 2
Erica Rochelle SF 4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 2
Addison Kushner C 3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Mallory Day PF 4 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (C.Ramirez 1, A.Wood 3, M.Rapp 3,
S.Christie 2, A.Vestal 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (C.Ramirez 1, A.Vestal 1)
Steals: 4 (H.Mull 3, M.Rapp 1)
3P FGs: 4-9 (H.Mull 1-2, M.Rapp 2-3, S.Christie 1-2,
A.Borst 0-1, A.Vestal 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Haylee Mull (NDSU)


When two players - Haylee Mull and C Claire Ramirez - outscore your entire starting five, you know it's going to be a long night.

We made the first half interesting - 29-21, despite the fact that the Bison ended the half on a 6-0 run. But it was the 14-0 run that NDSU went on in the second half that absolutely killed us. For six whole minutes, South Dakota simply - forgot to play basketball. What started out being down 31-25 ended being down 45-25. We would only score eight more points in the last ten minutes of the second half.

We couldn't hit anything. We shot 29.4 percent from the field. NDSU shot 57.5 percent for the game. That was it right there.

What burned me was that they weren't playing a particulary physical game, either. They were only whistled for 12 fouls to our 18. They went to the line 20 times, we went to the free throw line nine times and only hit five shots.

Bella Grier and Morgan Tavarez were a combined 0-for-10 shooting. WIth the loss, we fell to 5-8, sixth place in the Summit League with five games left to go. We could finish no better than fifth place.

"Okay," I said in the locker room to our crushed team. "Maybe this was good for us. Maybe it was good that we got taken behind the woodshed. It means that we now realize how accountable we are, because everyone at USD - our friends, our classmates, our family - are going to read about how we got taken apart up here. I just don't want you to dwell on this. Dwelling on this is a luxury we can't afford. Not so close to the end of the season. Our finish in these next five games is going to determine a lot - not just about whether or not we go to the Summit League, but whether our heart is in this or not."

"We have to go home and forget this. It's an order. You don't have an option. You can't take it back. Forget it. If you thought North Dakota State was tough, we have IPFW and Oakland at home next week. Take the positive out of this if there's anything to take, and let's move on."

(* * *)


WBCA Top Ten Poll

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Connecticut (72) 21-1 1800 1
2. Tennessee 21-1 1728 2
3. Texas A&M 20-2 1656 3
4. UCLA 20-1 1584 5
5. Oklahoma 19-3 1481 7
6. Tulane 22-0 1444 6
7. Notre Dame 19-3 1351 10
8. North Carolina 20-1 1340 9
9. Southern California 20-1 1224 11
10. Stanford 20-3 1152 4


The second week of February we got word that Zoe McHale would be coming to USD for an on-campus visit. She'd arrive on Febuary 10th, the day after our match with IPFW. She'd remain for our match against Oakland, and leave on Sunday. Coach Williams would spend the week drilling players on Zoe's hobbies, movies, television shoes, the names of her brothers and favorite foods. We took nothing to chance.

This week would be busy for me in other ways. Not only did we have to prepare against two of the toughest teams in the Summit League - Oakland had secured at least a tie for the regular season championship with a 13-0 league record - but I would be making visits to the deans of the schools at USD for help with a long-range project.

I was very interested in working with the academic departments with regards to class scheduling. Willie Burbank, the AD at USD, suggested that the women's basketball team's majors be clustered - that undecided players should be steered toward the same majors, with the same classes, with required course scheduled early in the AM in order for practice time to be kept free later in the day.

This entailed a visit to the most popular athletic major on campus - recreation. None of the women's players majored in recreation, but it wouldn't help to have allies in case my newer players were interested.

I quickly found out why "recreation" was such a popular program for jocks. The first thing was that it was essentially a three-year program and it had a lot of electives. The electives part made it very easy to choose courses that fit one's schedule. The second thing was that the senior year of recreation was all specializations and minor courses in the fall and an "internship" outside the classroom in the spring was basically consisted of one "course" that lasted 8-12 hours a week. Once you had a degree in recreation, you would then be able to direct activities in your local park or activity center. Whether you could get a job with such a degree was beyond me, but lots of athletes flocked to "recreation" as a major. (There was even a program that let you get your B. S. Recm. in three years as opposed to four. The fourth year of NCAA eligibility for women's basketball could be used being a graduate assistant. It looked promising.)

The problem was that there was no person in charge of the department. It was a division of the education department - I think. Currently, there wasn't anyone in charge of the program, just an assistant professor. The person nominally in charge of the program was the Dean of Education, who was the Dean of a Lot of Other Programs as well.

That three-year recreation program was tempting, but I felt it would be a mistake to pin my plans on an assistant professor. It looked to me like a lot could fall through the cracks of that program. (No wonder jocks liked it so much.) At the very least, there needed to be one person that I could be sure would be there for a long time. Until that day came, my plans would have to be put on hold - but that didn't mean that I wouldn't move on.

(* * *)

On Wednesday, the ESPN2 game would be #1 Connectictut visiting South Bend to take on #7 Notre Dame. Connectitcut had "The Mias" - SG Mia Schaller and SF Mia McKinnon - as well as PG Resse Koseter, each of whom averaged 17.2, 13.6 and 13.2 points per game respectively. Notre Dame's game was run by senior PG Aaliyah Armes, who averaged 8.1 assists per game to 1.9 turnovers per game. But defensively, the Huskies were top with 10.3 steals per game and they led the country with 83.3 points per game. Notre Dame was #7 with 80.2 points per game - everyone was looking forward to the show.

Both point guards blew up in the game. Koester scored 27 points and had nine assists. Aaliyah Armes had 24 points and seven assists. UConn led 41-34 at the break, but with 6:20 left Notre Dame finally tied the game.

With 45 seconds left, Notre Dame had an 80-76 lead and it was time for Connecticut to start foullng. Aaliyah Armes hit two free throws to put the Fighting Irish up 82-76. And then, within the course of eight seconds, PF Mia Gibson of the Irish stole the inbounds pass and went for the breakaway to put the Irish up 84-76, get the crowd roaring and basically seal the game. Notre Dame hit all of their free throws, and beat #1 Connecticut 87-81 for the Huskies second loss of the year.

(* * *)

February 9

It was 4:15 pm on Thursday afternoon. I was at the DakotaDome preparing for the game against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. My private cellphone number for RECRUITS ONLY began to ring.

"Hello, Coach Hawkins speaking."

<"Coach Hawkins?"> The voice sounded black and country. <"It's Abigail Merkle!"> (She pronounced it Ab-HAH-Gail.)

"Hello, Abagail! I hope you're doing well at Arkansas Baptist! Is there anything I can do for you?"

<"Coach...is that offer of a scholarship still up?">

My heart skipped. "Yes, Abagail. Yes it is."

<"Well, I'd like to sign now. I want to play for South Dakota next year.">

Don't talk after the close! "Abagail," I said, "I think you've made the best decision! Let me tell you what you have to do." Very patiently, I spelled out what Abagail would need to do. She'd need to print out a copy of a National Letter of Intent.

Coach Williams told me the story of Abigail Merkle. She was a ward of the state and a multiple foster-child. Her father abandoned her soon after her birth and her mother had a history of substance abuse and Abigail was eventually pulled out of school. She ended up at some coach's house in fourth grade and picked up basketball - but the state of Arkansas wouldn't allow long term foster care due to the involvement of Abigail's mother in on-again, off-again drug abuse. Coaches and other well-wishers wanted to do more for her and tried to keep her involved in basketball but this was very difficult due to her circumstances.

Even so, she hung in there in two high school and finished high school with a 2.96 GPA and a 1050 SAT. She wasn't signed by a Division I school, and one of the few schools she could afford was Arkansas Baptist College, a four-year historic black college. She was majoring in Religion but South Dakota had no religion degree, which was a stickler.

She was an okay jump shooter and ball handler for a 6-0 power forward. But at the free throw line! She hit virtually all of her free throw shots in JUCO, hitting over 95 percent of her free throws made. I had to have "Sure Shot" Merkle, even though there were better players. And now I had her!

<"That sounds good coach!">

"Abagail, you know that when you sign I won't be able to bring you up here to South Dakota. I'm glad your coming, but I wish you could have seen our school."

<"That's all right. I think I would have had a good time anyway.">

"The NLI will have the right number. Make sure you sign it and have your guardian sign it."

<"Coach,"> Abagail said, laughing. <"I'm my own guardian! Just let me know what else you need me to do.">

I didn't know why Abagail wanted USD, but I'd never look a gift horse in the mouth. The fact that Abagail was black was a bonus. If Zoe's family were looking for other black students on the team, Abagail signing put the grand total for 2012-13 at one.

(* * *)

It was 22 degrees outside, but don't let that fool you. This was the "warm spell" after a blizzard that lasted all of Tuesday and Wednesday and put the IPFW game in doubt. No matter. The airports were back open on Thursday and while South Dakota was busy digging itself out of its second major snowstorm of the year - at least the temperatures weren't as bad as the previous one - the IPFW Mastodons somehow made it to our game.

It was amazing, really. We must have some of the worst winter weather in the United States, and yet as far as I know no Summit League game has ever been cancelled.

Mastodon PG Amanda Tiller was still getting the job done for IPFW, scoring 16.6 points per game with 4.2 assists to 2.6 TO per game. USD would have the misfortune of playing the #2 offense of the league vs. IPFW, followed by the #1 offense on Saturday with Oakland. The key to the game would be defense - IPFW turned the ball over only 10.7 times per game and we'd need to tilt those numbers in our favor.

Three of the four coaches were very concerned about this game. But I sensed Coach Williams was a bit distracted. Abagail Merkle had signed with the Coyotes!


South Dakota 74, IPFW 71


IPFW Stats (14-10, 9-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee C 27 3-9 2-2 2 5 1 2 10
Kayleigh Buchanan C 27 2-3 6-7 3 7 3 3 10
Aimee McIntyre SF 30 3-5 2-2 0 3 4 3 8
Jaidyn Shanks PF 27 2-5 1-1 1 2 0 2 5
Amanda Tiller SG 34 5-14 0-0 1 5 5 3 13
Kai Eady PG 18 3-11 2-4 0 1 1 4 9
Azul Shoffner SG 14 3-4 2-2 0 1 1 2 8
Elianna Gonzalez SF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Emily Sellars PF 13 3-5 2-2 1 2 0 2 8
Janiah Johnson C 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 2 0

Turnovers: 11 (E.Vallee 1, K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 2,
J.Shanks 1, A.Tiller 4, K.Eady 1, E.Gonzalez 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (E.Vallee 1, K.Buchanan 1)
Steals: 6 (E.Vallee 1, A.McIntyre 2, A.Tiller 2,
A.Shoffner 1)
3P FGs: 6-17 (E.Vallee 2-2, A.Tiller 3-8, K.Eady 1-6,
A.Shoffner 0-1)

South DakotaStats (7-18, 6-8):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 1-6 1-2 3 11 2 3 3
Ashley Brown PF 27 2-2 2-2 2 5 1 2 6
Jessica Bing SF 29 2-5 4-5 5 7 2 0 8
Bella Grier SG 31 9-12 2-4 0 4 1 4 20
Allison Riggle PG 26 3-6 1-1 0 2 3 5 8
Morgan Tavarez C 23 4-11 5-7 1 3 1 3 13
Anzhelika Bure SG 19 3-3 5-8 0 1 1 1 12
Jillian Ho PG 13 2-3 0-0 1 2 1 0 4
Saniyah Barth PF 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Analia Williams C 3 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 3, J.Bing 2, B.Grier
2, M.Tavarez 1, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Brown 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Bing 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 2)
3P FGs: 2-5 (A.Riggle 1-4, A.Bure 1-1)

Player of Game: SG Bella Grier (SD)


At halftime, IPFW led 38-33 and it looked like it was going to be another tough loss, our fourth in a row. Bella Grier had finished the first half with eight points, but I didn't know it was going to be a banner day for Bella. As late as 10:25 left in the second half, IPFW led 55-47.

But with 3:50 left, with the score IPFW 67-63, Azhelika Bure was fouled by IPFW on a foul the the baseline. She hit one of two shots to close to 67-64. We would remain within 3-4 points for a long time but when Amanda Tiller was found with no one on her on the left wing, she hit a 3-pointer that put the Mastodons up 71-65 with 2:57 left.

We came back. Morgan Tavarez was fouled on a shot that she would have missed if they hadn't touched her, and hit both free throws. We kept them from brining it inside in the follow-up possession, and then Anzhelika Bure tried a 3-pointer on a drive to the right. I closed my eyes and was about to swear at Bure but she hit it! We were down by one point, 71-70, with 1:37 left and the Mastodons called a timeout.

"Look for Tiller!" I shouted. "They're going to give it to their go-to player! Bella, don't lose #14. Everyone else, be prepared to switch off because it's coming to #14, you can put money on that!" And I was right! Sure enough, the Mastodons looked for Tiller, who had no clear path from the baseline. She missed, and Bella got the rebound, we moved the ball quickly to Morgan Tavarez on the inside who got the bunny shot and we were ahead, 72-71.

IPFW still had a time out, but they didn't use it. They went for Tiller, and with Bella Grier unable to get to Tiller - IPFW had smartened up - Anzhelika Bure was all over her. And Tiller choked! Five-second violation, 40 seconds left on the clock, and the Yotes had the ball back!

The Mastodons fouled right away. Morgan Tavarez hit both of her free throws, and now we were up 74-71 with 38 seconds left. IPFW called the timeout.

"I'm still looking for Tiller!" I told the team - which was a mistake, because IPFW's coach wasn't going to give the ball to Tiller - they knew that we knew. They were trying to work the ball to Emma Vallee, who would work the ball inside, close it to two, and probably foul us on the next posseession. We were not a great free throw shooting team (even though we had gone 20-for-29 that night, for a 69 percent average) and they hoped to take advantage of that. But with the spotlight on South Dakota, we didn't choke. Vallee couldn't work her way through, and the shot was missed...and eventually ended up in the hand of Bella Grier, who sprinted away from the Mastadon defenders and hurled the ball up into the air as the clock counted down.

Yotes win! Yotes win! Yotes win!

Bella Grier had 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting and was the player of the game. Morgan Tavarez and Anzhelika Bure had 13 and12 points respectively. Our offense deserved a lot of credit - we only had two more turnovers thatn IPFW. Whatever measure you want to use to determine a win, we didn't win by some ref's bad call. It was the first time that USD had beat a winning team this season and even though we knew that Oakland would be no pushover we felt a lot more positive at the prospect of fighting the Summit League's toughest team.

(* * *)

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2879/hotspringssentinelrecor.gif

Another Lady Buffalo will move to the next level with power forward Abigail Merkle signing a letter of intent with the University of South Dakota. The Coyotes play in the Summit League of NCAA's Division I.

Merkle is a sophomore religion major at Arkansas Baptist College who is scoring 11.0 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game. Head Coach Brandee Bright said, "We're very proud of Abagail Merkle here at Arkansas Baptist, for the hard work that she has put in both on the court and in the classroom. Abagail is definitely ready to play at the next level.

(* * *)

On Friday, Zoe McHale would visit the University of South Dakota. Like Catalina Stewart's visit, we were treating this as a state occasion. Coach Williams would pick up Zoe McHale at the airport and bring her to South Dakota. (She'd have to forgive the snowbanks - for a Canadian, this should be like a visit to Regina or Winnipeg.) And the great thing was that neither of her parents would be with her!

In the meantime, it wasn't Zoe's visit that was causing that chaos at South Dakota. With Abagail Merkle's unexpected signing, this forced us to reconsider our recruiting priorities. We now needed two small forwards, a power forward, and a center. Zoe would be our last power forward if we could get her signed. But what this meant is that we'd have to start expanding our recruiting of small forwards and a few of the power forwards we were looking at we would not longer pursue.

Some changes were easy. Hannah Struble and Jordynn Ellsworth - both power forward prospects - would now longer be called. They had failed to show their proper enthusiasm and this left us with a short list of Zoe McHale, Evgeyina Varlemova, and three other girls - Leah Alexander, Chaya Christ, and Charlotte Hedges.

As for the small forward candidates, I didn't know what was left on the tree in late February. It couldn't be any good, whatever was left.

I met Zoe, alone and away from her parents for the first time. We made some small talk and I found her to be almost the same. She was still a young woman of few words, but her words were deliberate and forceful. She thought about things before she said them, and you could tell there was a real take-charge attitude, like a general saving her verbal ammunition. I definitely thought she'd be an asset to the squad in terms of chemistry - I suppose growing up in a houseful of Top Dogs she'dnever get a chance to bark until she parted from their company.

"Zoe, if you can tell me, how's Florida A&M coming along?"

"All I know is that they said that the offer still stands. They say they'll be as patient with me as they can. They keep telling me they really want me."

"Was that offer verbal or written?"

"Written. They want me to play there. The coach told me that anytime I wanted a scholarship to just let them know."

It was confirmed. We have real competition. A signing war. "Have they offered a campus visit?"

Zoe smiled. "I'm not supposed to talk about that," she said. "But I can say that I'd definitely like to see Florida before this is all over."

"Zoe," I said. "Other school might have better resources, or better weather, but I can tell you one thing that they don't have. They don't have the passion that we have at the University of South Dakota. We are each other's best assets here. What make a great academic experience? The teachers and the students surrounding you. What makes a great athletic experience? The team that's surrounding you."

"Yeah, coach," Zoe said, "but can we win games?"

"I know you can win games," I said. "And if you can win games, we can win games. We just beat IPFW last night in a great game that our players will undoubtedly tell you about. And my hope is that you'll see us give Oakland a run for their money on Saturday. We need you there in the stands...and next year, we need you on the court."

(* * *)

McHale got the chance to watch our Friday practice in its entirety. It was a tough balancing act - I was trying to prepare the team against Oakland but at the same time not say something stupid that would kill my chances. I felt that McHale would be a real benefit to this team and we had spent thousands on recruiting her. Ready or not, we would battle Oakland on Saturday.

(* * *)

February 11

Game prep. NCAA recruiting rules forbid recruits from taking part in "game day" simulations. Zoe would only be able to hang around to a point. She wouldn't get a chance to sit on our bench, but we'd give her as close a seat as we were able to.

Oakland was just as tough as they ever were. Senior SG Hannah Audley out of Australia led the team - and the Summit League - with 17.4 points per game, but other starters were pretty good too. (C Jacqueline Glover, 9.2 ppg, SG McKayla Musgrove 8.9 ppg, PG Luciana Overturf, 8.6 ppg.) They had five players at 6-2 or taller - they weren't scorers, but they made beating Oakland very difficult.

In our last match against Oakland, we lost by 40 poitns. All of the above players scored in double figures with Grover scoring 17 points and nine rebounds. Our starting five was held to just 20 points. The led the league in point scored.

"This is going to come down to effort," I told them. "I don't care whether or not you can outscore Oakland. I just want to know if you can outwork them."


Oakland 73, South Dakota 38

Oakland Stats (19-6, 14-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Isabella Stafford C 21 2-3 2-4 0 5 2 4 6
Selena James PF 28 4-7 2-3 6 10 0 0 10
Jacqueline Grover SF 28 3-7 1-3 2 6 2 0 7
Hannah Audley SG 28 5-13 3-7 1 1 1 0 16
Luciana Overturf PG 27 5-8 1-1 2 5 3 2 14
Grace Dupuis PG 13 2-3 0-0 1 2 6 3 4
Mckayla Musgrove SG 14 2-8 2-2 3 4 0 1 7
Stephanie Tittle SF 18 0-5 2-4 3 7 0 1 2
Ava Dunning PG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Nevaeh Chilton PF 11 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
Olivia Ramos C 9 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 4

Turnovers: 7 (S.James 2, H.Audley 1, L.Overturf 2,
G.Dupuis 1, M.Musgrove 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Grover 1)
Steals: 7 (S.James 2, H.Audley 3, G.Dupuis 1, O.Ramos 1)
3P FGs: 8-23 (J.Grover 0-2, H.Audley 3-10, L.Overturf
3-5, M.Musgrove 1-4, S.Tittle 0-1, N.Chilton 1-1)

South DakotaStats (7-19, 6-9):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 23 1-2 0-0 1 8 0 4 2
Ashley Brown PF 22 3-5 0-2 0 2 0 3 6
Jessica Bing SF 17 2-4 0-0 1 3 3 4 4
Bella Grier SG 19 2-7 1-2 0 2 0 4 5
Allison Riggle PG 30 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 1 2
Morgan Tavarez SG 23 2-5 1-3 1 4 0 3 5
Anzhelika Bure SG 23 3-6 0-0 0 1 1 2 6
Jillian Ho PG 16 0-4 1-2 1 2 1 1 1
Saniyah Barth PF 13 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2
Ellie Hester SF 7 1-1 1-1 0 2 0 0 3
Analia Williams C 7 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2

Turnovers: 19 (A.Choe 1, A.Brown 2, J.Bing 1, B.Grier
5, A.Riggle 4, A.Bure 3, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1, A.Williams
1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 0-8 (J.Bing 0-2, B.Grier 0-2, A.Riggle 0-1,
M.Tavarez 0-2, A.Bure 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Luciana Overturf (OAK)


It was too much to hope for. Oakland is too good. They just toyed with us all afternoon. Remember when our starters were held to 20 points in the first game? This time, they were held to 19.

They started with an 8-0 run. Before even 10 minutes were over, they were leading 26-6. They led 45-18 at the half. They rebounded whenever they wanted to and they played zone defenses against us. Boy, those players were fast. They had seven steals and we turned the ball over 19 times.

I should have been screaming at them. But for what reason? Oakland was at a different level. The level that I hoped USD would be at someday.

It was another crushed locker room, this time on our home turf. "I don't know what else I can do," I said. "I have a lot to do with this. We were not prepared. We didn't plan well enough for them. The things that we worked on doing were either the wrong things, or they were inadequate things. Don't sit here and worry about letting us down. We let you down."

"Next week," I said, "we have our last home game of the season. Senior Day against Nebraska-Omaha. We have a week to prepare for it. When we get out of this locker room, let's forget it. I suggest one way of forgetting it is to drop by Allison's dorm room tonight and treat our newest recruit to some South Dakota hospitality. But next week, we want our seniors - #44, #30, #35, and #23 to get all of the attention. Practice next week. Three more Summit League games, people. Three more games."

(* * *)

That same night, Western Illinois visited IUPUI and broke a 47-47 tie with two minutes left for their second season win, 51-48. Any combination of a win by us or a loss by Western Illinois, and we would be guaranteed not to finish last in the Summit League.

We were 6-9. UMKC was 3-11. Any combination of wins by us or losses by UMKC that added up to "two" put us in the post-season tournament, where only eight of the ten Summit League teams would be invited.

(* * *)

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2585/taravanderveer.jpg
Sloane Hunt on the job at Stanford.

That same night, the #4 team in the country - UCLA - went to Palo Alto to visit #10 Stanford. The Cardinal had only lost three games all season. The first was an 89-80 loss to Los Angeles. That shook them up so much that two days later they went on the road and lost back-to-back for the first time in a long time, an inexplicable 66-64 loss to Utah. The third time was against #9 Southern Cal.

UCLA had a 47-45 lead at halftime, but after Stanford coach Sloane Hunt screamed at her charges at the break it was Cardinal all the way. The Cardinal got the lead early in the second half and never relinquished it on the way to a 93-81 win. Four players scored in double figures for Stanford, including Player of the Game center Jada Fawcett (18 points) and PF Lyric Greenberg (17 points, 10 rebounds).

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Wow. That took a while to finish. A lot going on.

I don't know very much about the Recreation Major at South Dakota, so consider anything and everything I write about South Dakota academics a complete work of fiction until proven otherwise.

I'll leave you with the schedule and the season stats for the players.

Next time: Senior day. Mark Hawkins has to scrape the bottom of the recruiting barrel, more on clustering majors and the regular season of the Summit League wraps up.


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

Date Opponent Record RPI Result Score Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/13/11 Seattle 4-21 317 L 64-57 0-1
11/15/11 at Southern Illinois 5-20 268 L 59-54 0-2
11/19/11 at Murray State 14-11 309 L 61-49 0-3
11/22/11 Wright State 9-15 254 W 59-41 1-3
11/25/11 #14 Iowa 20-4 87 L 63-41 1-4
11/29/11 at Missouri 7-16 153 L 77-48 1-5
12/03/11 at Akron 14-9 131 L 62-35 1-6
12/06/11 at #19 Purdue 19-4 21 L 69-39 1-7
12/09/11 Marquette 16-7 100 L 68-41 1-8
12/13/11 at Xavier 18-5 74 L 64-42 1-9
12/17/11 at #2 Tennessee 23-1 2 L 76-44 1-10
12/22/11 UMKC 6-19 325 W 61-49 2-10 (1-0)
12/24/11 Oral Roberts 17-7 126 L 50-40 2-11 (1-1)
12/29/11 at IUPUI 6-19 318 W 61-53 3-11 (2-1)
12/31/11 at Western Illinois 2-22 342 L 47-37 3-12 (2-2)
01/05/12 North Dakota State 12-15 222 W 67-48 4-12 (3-2)
01/07/12 South Dakota State 20-6 119 L 60-34 4-13 (3-3)
01/12/12 at Oakland 19-6 57 L 82-42 4-14 (3-4)
01/14/12 at IPFW 15-10 134 L 72-52 4-15 (3-5)
01/21/12 at Nebraska-Omaha 6-19 277 W 55-52 5-15 (4-5)
01/26/12 Western Illinois 2-22 342 W 42-37 6-15 (5-5)
01/28/12 IUPUI 6-19 318 L 47-45 6-16 (5-6)
02/02/12 at South Dakota State 20-6 119 L 58-48 6-17 (5-7)
02/04/12 at North Dakota State 12-15 222 L 66-36 6-18 (5-8)
02/09/12 IPFW 15-10 134 W 74-71 7-18 (6-8)
02/11/12 Oakland 19-6 57 L 73-38 7-19 (6-9)
02/18/12 Nebraska-Omaha 6-19 277
02/23/12 at UMKC 6-19 325
02/25/12 at Oral Roberts 17-7 126



SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Averages

Player Pos GP GS Min Pts Orb Reb Ast Stl Blk To Fls +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley Brown PF 26 26 25.8 5.7 1.2 4.6 0.9 0.3 0.2 1.8 2.0 -7.6
Angelina Choe C 25 23 27.5 4.8 2.6 9.3 0.8 0.2 0.2 1.6 2.3 -7.5
Allison Riggle PG 26 22 25.5 5.8 0.5 1.4 2.6 0.4 0.1 2.2 2.4 -9.4
Bella Grier SG 21 19 28.1 8.1 0.6 2.4 1.1 0.3 0.2 1.8 2.5 -7.9
Jessica Bing SF 19 19 25.4 6.8 1.2 2.8 1.4 0.4 0.1 2.0 2.5 -7.4
Jaylynn Adams PF 8 7 20.3 2.6 0.4 3.6 1.1 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.4 -3.3
Analia Williams C 23 7 11.3 2.0 0.5 2.0 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.6 1.0 -5.0
Saniyah Barth PF 26 4 11.1 2.2 0.3 1.5 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.6 1.3 -6.3
Anzhelika Bure SG 26 3 21.6 6.9 0.3 2.2 0.5 0.5 0.2 1.8 1.8 -6.4
Morgan Tavarez SG 22 0 18.0 5.0 0.6 3.3 0.5 0.0 0.1 1.2 1.9 -7.5
Ellie Hester SF 24 0 9.5 2.4 0.5 1.7 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.9 1.1 -2.5
Jillian Ho PG 14 0 9.1 1.6 0.5 1.0 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.8 0.6 -3.6
Harley Lewis SF 14 0 5.7 2.1 0.4 1.0 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.8 0.8 0.2

[DavidCorperial]

This is pretty interesting, keep up the good work.

[Petrel]

David: Thanks for the compliment. I'll try to keep it as interesting as I can!

(* * *)


We had a full week of practice ahead of us, but we still had Zoe McHale to worry about. She went off with Bella Grier and Bella's friends on Saturday Night after the game and we all had breakfast together before the final meeting in my office on Sunday.

Coach Tomlinson said, "Recruiting is like preaching - start with your theme. Then repeat your theme. Then conclude by repeating your theme." I said, "Zoe, if you sign with this team, it shall contend. This school is closer to your home than Florida A&M. This school is a good fit for you, you've met the players on the team, you like them and they like you. With Abagail Merkle signing, you won't be the only person of your race on the team. Everything you need to be successful is right here at USD, and it's time to make the leap."

"Coach, thanks," she said. "I had a great time here. But I have a lot to think about right now." I kept pushing - coming close to the hard-sell but not crossing the line - but no dice. Zoe would not decide yet. I wished her the best and told her I hoped to hear from her soon.

(* * *)

The new WBCA Poll came out on Monday.


Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Tennessee (72) 23-1 1800 2
2. Connecticut 22-2 1728 1
3. Texas A&M 22-2 1656 3
4. Notre Dame 21-3 1563 7
5. Oklahoma 21-3 1533 5
6. Southern California 22-1 1440 9
7. Stanford 22-3 1368 10
8. UCLA 21-2 1296 4
9. North Carolina 21-2 1224 8
10. Duke 20-3 1119 11


It looks like UConnn's loss to Notre Dame only dropped them by one spot in the polls, while the Lady Vols rose to #1. The poll consists of traditional women's basketball powers. The only surprise there is USC, with just one loss hanging in at #6. The Trojans (sometimes called the Women of Troy) had beaten #7 Stanford 71-66 earlier that year, they would play #8 UCLA later this month.

(* * *)

With Zoe McHale out the door, I had a full week to look into the clustering issue. What was the second most popular major for jocks besides recreation? Business.

Unlike the Recreation Department, USD's Dean of the Beacon School of Business was not a fill-in. His name was George Bayer, and he was a very busy man. Not only did he take part in seemingly every business association in South Dakota, but he was available for just about any media activity, talking about everything from mundane business activities like price fluctuations to philosophical discussions about the ethics of capitalism. He had also spent years of fundraising for a new building for the School of Business.

On Tuesday, I visited him, passing the rolling stock ticker which was a prominent feature of one of the student lounges. His office was surprisingly rather littered, the mark of a person who didn't like to think except when surrounded by the tools of thinking.

I did the best to explain my goal for visiting without being insulting. I didn't want to leave the impression that I wanted him to turn the School of Business into a cake class department for women's basketball players. What I was looking forward to was some help in scheduling issues that might pop up for women's basketball players choosing a business major.

"Well, we certainly are very popular," Bayer said. "I really don't know why though. I was actually hoping that you could give me insight as to why so many athletes want to be business majors. Mr. Hawkins, I don't want to walk away from this conversation with the impression that you're pressuring your athletes to take business as a major."

"It's not that. I would be happy with my players if they took nuclear engineering as a major. But there are some programs that have lab requirements that eat up a lot of spare time. Generally, these are scheduled at inflexible hours - either take the class at Time X, or lose the opportunity. This wreaks havoc with our ability to schedule practices. There have been times this year when I've only had five players available for a practice due to French Lab or some other thing."

"I understand," Bayer said. "But we suffer from the same constraints. Not enough teachers to teach a course. Sometimes, certain required courses can only be taught at a certain time because there's really one professor that can teach what we want to teach. If we work with your team, Mr. Hawkins, you have to work with us. Maybe we could teach a required course on Tuesday and Thursday as opposed to three or four times a week. We try to make as much of an accomodation with the USD athletic departments as possible."

"Yes," I said. "But can you do anything beyond and above?"

"Well...I'm willing to be a little bit more flexible. One thing I've found is that athletes tend to be competitive and successful, and donate to the university after achieving career success. I can say that I'm very sympathetic, and I'm willing to do what I'm able to do without compromising the integrity of the School of Business."

"I would never ask you to do that," I said. "You can count on that."

He smiled. "Well, when it comes time for the university to pass its budget someday, maybe when you're a national champion women's coach you can put a bug in the word of the president of the university about the business department."

"If we can get there," I laughed, "it will be the first thing I talk to him about!"

"Fair enough!" he said. I gave him some tickets to the game against Nebraska-Omaha - not expecting him to use them. The next season, the business department would offer more flexibility in its required courses, hiring more professors. I never had a problem with the School of Business. Thinking back on it after I left the office, I felt sad. The first thing I did when I got home was call James Madison University and make a donation for $100.

(* * *)

If there's anything that can be treacherous in South Dakota - usually not South Dakotans - it's the weather. Early this week it looked like the sun was finally going to show itself, with temperatures actually in the low 40s on Tuesday. I thought I'd see something I hadn't seen in weeks - ice and snow melting.

But it didn't last. On Wednesday, we heard of a blizzard hitting western South Dakota. And on Thursday, I saw my first whiteout.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/993/whiteoutl.jpg

What is a whiteout? The overcast combined with all the snow that had fallen - and the snow we were getting from the western part of the state - combined to create an optical illusion that made visibility near zero. It was like walking in a fog. I usually walked to campus but for about five minutes I had to kneel down on the sidewalk because I literally could not see five feet in front of me. I thought it was going to last forever. It was a really frightening moment.

And then on Thursday we got freezing rain and snow despite a high temp of 32. Two inches of snow fell in just six hours. The ground was still rock-hard and once again, Vermillion suffered another South Dakota winter.

At least we wouldn't have to play basketball on Thursday - we had a bye that week. Before Thursday's scheduled Summit League games the Summit League looked like this:


2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 14 0 1.000 19 6 .760 57 42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 12 3 .800 20 6 .769 121 61
IPFW Mastodons 10 4 .714 15 10 .600 139 25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 10 4 .714 17 7 .708 119 38
North Dakota State Bison 7 8 .467 12 15 .444 219 30
South Dakota Coyotes 6 9 .400 7 19 .269 266 0
IUPUI Jaguars 4 10 .286 6 19 .240 321 4
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 4 11 .267 6 20 .231 280 0
UMKC Kangaroos 3 11 .214 6 19 .240 325 14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 2 12 .143 2 22 .083 342 9


FEBRUARY 16, 2012 SCHEDULE

Games:

* IUPUI (6-19) at North Dakota State (12-15) : IUPUI still had an outside shot at fifth place in the conference, but needed to run the table. Not going to happen. Four Bison score in double-figures and turn a six point half-time lead into a 25 point blowout. North Dakota State 66, IUPUI 41.
* Western Illinois (2-22) at South Dakota State (20-6) : South Dakota State still had title hopes, whereas Western Illinois was only fighting for pride. I was left in the odd position of rooting for the Jacks, because a win by the Jacks meant that USD could finish no worse and avoid the dreaded cellar. The Fighting Leathernecks make a go of it, but SG Emily Bentz shots 7-for-8 off the bench with 18 points. South Dakota State 69, Western Illinois 39. The South Dakota Coyotes will not finish in last place this year!!
* UMKC (6-19) at IPFW (15-10): IPFW was chasing second place and UMKC was chasing Nebraska-Omaha for that eighth place spot. In the Battle of the Acronyms, IPFW leads 30-27 at halftime. With 30 seconds left the score is tied and UMKC's Jenna De la Rosa misses a pair of free throws. The Mastodons get the ball but miss the three-pointer, and on the follow up possession, Janet Stonge hits the shot. When IPFW tries their next shot, De la Rosa redeems herself by rebounding the missed shot and then gets to go to the line to hit two free throws with eight seconds left. UMKC 63, IPFW 59.
* Oral Roberts (17-7) at Oakland (19-6): Oral Roberts was the last serious candidate to try to throw a wrench into undefeated Oakland - after Oral Roberts the Golden Grizzlies would face UMKC, Western Illinois and IUPUI. This one was tied at halftime 35-35 and I wish I could have been there. ORU had a 68-67 lead with 41 seconds on the clock, and the Golden Grizzlies sent the Golden Eagles to the free throw line. Myra Villasenor of ORU hit both free throws to make it a 70-67 game. But with 13 seconds left, Hanna Audley nails a 3-pointer to tie the game. On the last possession, wtih 0.4 seconds on the clock, Nevaeh MacNeil of ORU hits the buzzer beater to win it for the Golden Eagles! Oral Roberts 72, Oakland 70. A 10-game winning streak by Oakland is snapped and the Grizzlies will not go undefeated in Summit League play!

February 18


2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 14 1 .933 19 7 .731 61 42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 13 3 .813 21 6 .778 133 61
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 11 4 .733 18 7 .720 103 38
IPFW Mastodons 10 5 .667 15 11 .577 162 25
North Dakota State Bison 8 8 .500 13 15 .464 223 30
South Dakota Coyotes 6 9 .400 7 19 .269 271 0
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 4 11 .267 6 20 .231 282 0
IUPUI Jaguars 4 11 .267 6 20 .231 320 4
UMKC Kangaroos 4 11 .267 7 19 .269 316 14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 2 13 .133 2 23 .080 340 9

Today was Senior Day. After today we'd have to leave the comfort of the DakotaDome and the bleachers they roll up to the basketball court constructed in what is essentially the middle of a football field. We'd say goodbye to

* Harley Lewis, SF (#14): The only Mississippian on the squad. The only black player on the team. Unfortunately, she was the final player off the bench. There was no point in giving her a scholarship because she had been a non-scholarship player all four years. Definitely a very smart player - and an art major - but she simply couldn't step up into the role of leader, even from the bench.

* Morgan Tavarez, SG (#44): I never had a problem with Morgan Tavarez. She played 22 games for us this year, averaging about 5.0 ppg, coming off the bench in all of those games. She still had this dream of finding a post somewhere overseason on a European women's basketball team, but honestly I didn't think it was going to happen. She seemed to believe that her minimal accomplishments in Division I women's basketball were somehow major ones.

* Saniyah Barth, PF (#30): Barth started in four games this year (out of 26) but produced virtually nothing offensively. She was a great goal-setter, but couldn't achieve any of them on the basketball court. She's a criminal justice major, so I hope that she can achieve her goals in law enforcement.

* Ellie Hester, SF (#35): Came off the bench in 24 games, averaged 2.4 points per game. Definitely very driven, but I think she's a litte naive in believing that Europe is going to be knocking down her doors to have her come play basketball for them. Her ability to speak French won't get her on a team.

* Ashley Sayer, manager: She gave up her walk-on scholarship for the team. She was our manager all year, and I promised her a senior day and by God, she was going to get one.

Three of the four were South Dakotans. I got the chance to meet Lewis's parents for the first time. They were pleasant enough but we didn't have a lot to talk about, or they didn't want to talk to me.

Our best hope for a celebration of Senior Day was to defeat the visiting Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha. A win against UNO would secure USD going to the postseason. If we won, we'd have seven Summit League wins and the best that UNO could from this point would be six wins. Western Illinois could only get five at best, so we'd finish no worse than eighth...and eighth was good enough.

As for UNO, they were ninth out of ten in rebounds, assists, steals, and turnovers. The only high point for UNO is that they had the fewest fouls per game. None of their players averaged in double digits.

"If we play right," I said, "and if we play smart...we can win this and get that reward we've been wanting all year - the postseason!"



Nebraska-Omaha Stats (6-21, 4-12):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chanel Stevens PF 29 4-6 0-0 6 8 3 1 8
Kylie Davis C 23 6-7 1-2 0 4 0 3 13
Dulce Diaz SF 26 2-7 0-0 2 5 1 1 5
Aaliyah Dube SG 28 1-6 2-2 0 0 2 3 4
A. Sappington PG 29 2-8 0-0 0 0 1 3 6
Brianna Padilla SF 12 0-5 0-0 1 2 1 4 0
Janelle Ainsworth PG 12 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Halle McCully PF 18 2-3 0-1 0 1 0 1 5
Sophia Schaaf SF 11 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 2
Eloise Espinosa C 8 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 1 0
Cecilia Reilly PF 2 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 12 (C.Stevens 2, K.Davis 2, D.Diaz 1,
A.Sappington 4, J.Ainsworth 1, H.McCully 1, E.Espinosa
1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (D.Diaz 2, A.Dube 1, J.Ainsworth 1)
3P FGs: 4-17 (D.Diaz 1-5, A.Dube 0-5, A.Sappington 2-5,
H.McCully 1-1, S.Schaaf 0-1)

South DakotaStats (8-19, 7-9):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 31 3-5 0-0 5 12 3 2 6
Ashley Brown PF 28 4-6 4-8 3 8 1 1 12
Jessica Bing SF 25 3-9 0-2 0 1 1 3 6
Bella Grier SG 32 4-6 5-6 1 3 2 1 13
Allison Riggle PG 32 3-5 2-2 0 0 5 2 8
Morgan Tavarez PF 26 1-2 0-2 0 4 2 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 17 4-6 1-2 1 1 1 1 11
Jillian Ho PG 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Saniyah Barth PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Ellie Hester SF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 2, J.Bing 2, B.Grier 2, A.Riggle
3, M.Tavarez 3)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Choe 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle 1)
3P FGs: 2-7 (A.Brown 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, A.Riggle 0-2,
A.Bure 2-3)

Player of Game: PF Ashley Brown (SD)


We lead 26-11 at one poin the first half and 32-18 at halftime. Three minutes into the half, we led by twenty. It was no contest. We shot 56 percent for the game and had 15 assists. No Maverick scored in double figures, while three players (Ashley Brown, Bella Grier, Anzhelika Bure) had double digits.

Furthermore, for the first time in South Dakota's history in the Summit League, the Yotes would go to the post-season. (We used to be in the Great West Conference, the lowest of the low.)

"That was a great win," I said. "You had your destiny in your hands, and you didn't drop it. We were going to build the foundation of a great program here - and today, we put down the cornerstone. Great work. We still have UMKC and Oral Roberts on the road. We have a shot at 10 wins this year! Let's shake some teams up and I'll see you at practice!"

What I'll really remember is going out for a team dinner with the visiting parents after the game, and as we collectively left the DakotaDome we were stung by a blistering wind. Morgan Tavarez's father turned to her and said, "Now you know why we didn't come up to visit you more."

FEBRUARY 18, 2012 SCHEDULE

Games:

* Western Illinois (2-23) at North Dakota State (13-15): The Fighting Leathernecks try to avoid finishing last and win some games while North Dakota State looks to clinch a .500 conference record. The Bison get their wish with another blowout loss from Western Illinois. North Dakota 69, Western Illinois 41.
* IUPUI (6-20) at South Dakota State (21-6): The Jacks need to run the table to have a shot of winning the regular season championship. The Jacks hold IUPUI to 27.5 percent shooting and lead 45-18 at halftime. South Dakota State 69, IUPUI 35.
* Oral Roberts (18-7) at IPFW (15-11): A win by the Mastodons would tie both Oral Roberts and IPFW for third place in the Summit. IPFW leads 38-34 at haltime, and the Golden Eagles were held to just 16 second half points as every Mastodon starter scored in double figures in a blowout home win. IPFW 72, Oral Roberts 50.
* UMKC (7-19) at Oakland (19-7): Oakland gets at least a slice of the regular season championship with a win; the 'Roos want to avoid any more losses. UMKC is only down by six at halftime, but the Golden Grizzlies shoot 7-for-20 from 3-point range and they are just too strong on the boards for UMKC to challenge. Oakland 71, UMKC 56.

This put South Dakota solidly in sixth place. If North Dakota lost its last two and we won our two we had an outside chance for fifth. This meant that we'd be playing either IPFW or Oral Roberts in the first round of the Summit League tournament. It gave me a lot to think about.

(* * *)

On Saturday, the #1 Lady Volunteers would host their state rivals, the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy shot 57.5 percent from the field and hit 12 3-point shots to run Tennessee out of Boling-Thompson Arena. SG Scarlett Martin went 7-for-13 from 3-point range to score 32 points as the 'Dores beat Tennessee 96-72, a devasating loss for the Lady Vols. So who would be the new #1 team?


WBCA Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Connecticut (72) 24-2 1800 2
2. Texas A&M 24-2 1705 3
3. Tennessee 24-2 1679 1
4. Oklahoma 23-3 1564 5
5. Notre Dame 23-3 1532 4
6. Southern California 24-1 1440 6
7. Stanford 24-3 1368 7
8. UCLA 23-2 1296 8
9. Duke 22-3 1224 10
10. Tulane 25-1 1152 11


(* * *)

Over what spare time we could find we had to deal with our recruiting problems. Abigail Merkle's signing left us looking for small forwards. We were still looking to sign two small forwards, but had only made one scholarship offer - to Adalyn Matz, an Arizona gril who was a decent ball handler and a 38 percent free throw shooter.

We needed to bolster our call list. This left us to add these players to the list:

Lorelei Bergmann, a 6-0 player from Glencoe High School in Oregon, who scored 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds pergame, but shot only 57.8 percent from the line.
Olivia Marriott: 6-1 and a three-star player from Blanche Ely in Florida. 14.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Amelia Callen: 6-0 from College Park High School in California, near Diablo Valley College. 15.0 points per game, 6.4 rebounds.

So how come these players hadn't been signed?

Bergmann had a combined SAT score of 850 out of 1600. Oregon State had been giving her a long hard look but had made no decisions. Her scores put her in the bottom twenty five percent of the student body, maybe lower. She had some Division III offers, though.
Callen had an SAT score of 910. Her highest offers were from California DIIs and DIIIs.
Marriott had both Louisiana State and Iowa State thinking about her, but the 1010 SAT score was scary. The community around Blanche Ely is even scarier, and both schols wondered if Marriott would be a good fit.

The average SAT score at USD was about 970. I could probably get Callen in unless she changed her mind and stayed in California. Bergmann would be a real stretch...and every year, I'd have to worry about whether she'd flunk out. She was a student-athlete, emphasis on the athlete.

As for Marriott, Vermillion, South Dakota would be as different from Pompano Beach, Florida as a lush, green field would be from the moon landing. Blanche Ely served some of the most impoverished students in Broward County. Coming to USD would be a major adjustment.

In the meantime, we could start calling these students. (Coach Williams found Marriott hard to get on the phone.) But we couldn't visit or assess them. No time, no money.

(* * *)

On Wednesday action in the Big Twelve, the #4 Oklahoma Sooners were visited in Norman by the #2 team in the country, Texas A&M. Oklahoma had lost 86-75 in College Station when they were the #1 team in the country and they wanted revenge. Oklahoma was up 71-62 late in the second half but the Aggies went on a 9-2 run to close to 73-70 with 1:03 left. Texas A&M closed the defense on the Sooner and forced a shot clock violation. Texas A&M would have not one, but two chances to hit a 3-pointer...and missed both attempts as Oklahoma beats the Aggies 73-70 to undoubtedly force another shakeup in next week's poll.

(* * *)


2011 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 15 1 .938 20 7 .741 63 42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 14 3 .824 22 6 .786 134 61
IPFW Mastodons 11 5 .688 16 11 .593 149 25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 11 5 .688 18 8 .692 105 38
North Dakota State Bison 9 8 .529 14 15 .483 232 30
South Dakota Coyotes 7 9 .438 8 19 .296 280 0
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 4 12 .250 6 21 .222 296 0
IUPUI Jaguars 4 12 .250 6 21 .222 316 4
UMKC Kangaroos 4 12 .250 7 20 .259 312 14
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 2 14 .125 2 24 .077 341 9


We hit the road to take on the Kangaroos of UMKC in Kansas City, Missouri. By this time, I was glad to be getting out of South Dakota. On Monday we got eight inches of snow with over a foot of snow in Western South Dakota. The interstates were turned into skating rinks. Our parents stayed for a while in Vermillion, except for the parents of Morgan Tavarez who barely beat the blizzard to the airport.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/1059/blizzardnightmaredozens.jpg

At UMKC we had the chance to do something that we hadn't done all year - sweep an opponent for the season. We won that first game - the first game of the Summit League season - 61-49. PG Ava Batchelor was still scoring 8.1 points a game - she played almost 30 minutes a game - to lead the 'Roos, but UMKC had two injured bench players. Even so, Batchelor turned the ball over more than a good point guard should. Senior C Janet Stonge averaged 6.7 points and 6.9 rebounds over 29 starts.

I didn't think the 4-12 record was representative of the Kangaroos; UMKC was tougher than the record. But if they were playing for pride, we were playing for a season sweep, eight conference wins and a shot at fifth place.


UMKC 56, South Dakota 49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 30 5-8 0-0 4 8 1 2 10
Ashley Brown PF 30 3-8 0-0 2 9 1 0 6
Jessica Bing SF 26 0-3 0-0 2 3 2 4 0
Bella Grier SG 35 7-15 1-1 1 4 1 4 15
Allison Riggle PG 32 1-5 2-2 2 2 2 4 4
Morgan Tavarez C 24 2-4 1-2 0 4 1 3 5
Anzhelika Bure SF 11 3-7 0-0 0 1 1 2 6
Jillian Ho PG 8 1-4 1-1 1 1 0 0 3
Saniyah Barth PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Ellie Hester SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Analia Williams C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 2, A.Brown 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier
2, A.Riggle 2, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 2 (B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 0-7 (J.Bing 0-1, B.Grier 0-1, M.Tavarez 0-1,
A.Bure 0-3, J.Ho 0-1)

UMKCStats (8-20, 5-12):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Janet Stonge C 32 2-4 1-2 1 6 0 2 5
Jemma Delarosa PF 32 2-5 0-0 2 9 0 0 4
Madison Reichert SF 26 6-8 3-6 0 5 0 2 17
Charley Hughes SG 29 2-5 2-4 1 2 3 2 6
Ava Batchelor PG 30 3-9 1-2 0 1 0 2 7
Madison Daniels C 12 0-0 2-4 0 0 0 0 2
Madison Bright C 5 1-2 0-0 1 1 0 1 2
Alaina Huskey SF 14 2-3 4-4 1 2 0 0 8
Mia Garnett SG 18 1-4 3-6 0 0 4 1 5
Britney Fields PG 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0

Turnovers: 8 (J.Stonge 2, J.Delarosa 1, C.Hughes 2,
A.Batchelor 1, M.Garnett 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (C.Hughes 1, M.Daniels 1, A.Huskey 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Delarosa 2, M.Reichert 1, C.Hughes 1,
A.Batchelor 1)
3P FGs: 2-9 (M.Reichert 2-4, C.Hughes 0-1, A.Batchelor
0-1, M.Garnett 0-3)

Player of Game: SF Madison Reichert (UMKC)


Whatever we were playing for, it wasn't enough. No sweep.

This was a really tough loss because we played them close for almost a full forty minutes, never more than a couple of baskets behind. With 3:19 left in the game we had it tied 49-49.

And then we lost our minds. We had two players make terrible passes that ended up in the twelveth row somewhere. During this period of horrors, the Kangaroos went up 54-49 we called a timeout with 1:46 left. The plan was to get it to Tavarez but she missed the shot from the left wing. We fouled Madison Reichert - who was killing us all game - but she missed both free throws she took with 57 seconds left.

With 27 seconds left, Bella Grier tried for another three - but UMKC's man to man defense had zeroed in on her and she was being trailed. We couldn't set a screen and Grier drove inside for a shot attempt. No good. UMKC got the ball, we had to foul, and Ava Batchelor hit two free throws to make it a 55-49 game with 14 seconds left.
To add insult to injury, Saniyah Barth got tied up by Madison Daniels for a held ball...and the possession arrow gave the ball back to UMKC with three seconds left.

It was our twentieth loss of the season. I should have said something to calm them down. They were freaking out under pressure and I couldn't bring them back into the game. "This is something that we're all going to have to work on next year," I told our team. (By "all" I meant myself as well.) "We had the chance to sweep the Kangaroos and we just need to learn to finish. We need that killer instinct. Most of the year, we've not been in the position to be able to finish off an opponent. We let them press us, we weren't ready for it, we panicked."

"But look at it this way," I said. "We did a lot of things to be successful. We just didn't get that last step. We have to move to Oral Roberts on Saturday. We're going to need all the pieces to beat ORU, and not just some of them. We might have been able to defeat UMKC if not for a few mistakes, but Oral Roberts will be even tougher."

(* * *)

FEBRUARY 23, 2012 SCHEDULE

Games:

* IPFW (16-11) at IUPUI (6-21). IFPW tried to secure a shot at third place ahead of Oral Roberts, IUPUI was playing for its post-season life. IUPUI tried hard at home, and were down by three with 16 seconds left and had the ball, but Aimee McIntrye's steal puts the game away. IPFW 58, IUPUI 53.
* Oakland (20-7) at Western Illinos (2-24). A victory by Oakland would give the Golden Grizzlies the regular season title outright. Western Illinois fought hard, but the Fighting Leathernecks turned the ball over 22 times and committed 24 team fouls. Oakland 59, Western Illinois 49. Oakland wins the Summit League regular season championship.
* Nebraska-Omaha (6-21) at Oral Roberts (18-8). Nebraska-Omaha's post-season future was uncertain. Oral Roberts shot 8-for-18 from 3-point range to keep it that way and by the last five minutes had a commanding lead. Oral Roberts 62, Nebraska-Omaha 41.

(* * *)

That same night in Top 10 play, #8 UCLA came to visit #6 Southern California. The Trojans were leading the Pac-12 for the first time in forever, but could they hold off a challenge from their traditional rivals?

UCLA had a one-point lead at halftime, 49-48, and in the second half USC collapsed. The Bruns shot 66 percent from the floor and shot 18-for-25 from 3-point range. Oddly enough, that wasn't close to a national record in 3-pointers made. The most 3-pointers made in a game is 21, by New Mexico State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette in 2002. Neither was the 66 percent a record, not compared to the 76 percent that Vanderbilt scored against Alabama in 2007. Even so, it was an amazing game with UCLA beating USC 101-81. USC still held on to the Pac-12 lead, but only by one game.

(* * *)

February 25

Our final regular season game would take us to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play Oral Roberts on Senior Day. Our playoff future was secure while Oral Roberts needed the win to make sure that it didn't slip from third place and to get to that all-important 20-win benchmark. There was the chance that after this game, our first post-season game would be against...Oral Roberts.

We were the dessert for the Golden Eagles Senior Day ceremonies. Three seniors would be honored, and it would be ignored that one of them was on academic suspension. One of those three seniors included SG Myra Villasenor, who was averaging 12.4 points a game to lead the Golden Eagles. PG Julia Sterner could always feed Villasenor the rock, leading the Summit League in assists and scoring 10.5 points a game herself. backup G Lilian Bernier averaged 9.3 points per game.

The other non-suspended senior, PF Taylor Neighbors, averaged 9.1 rebounds per game. C Kendall Valero was a force under the basket, but she had suffered a broken jaw earlier this season in the game where Oral Roberts delivered Oakland their only loss of the season.

Like it or not, where Oral Roberts was now is where I hoped that USD would be in the years to come. Great point guard play, and posts under the basket who could rebound any misses. We would do our best to prepare for this game - with the knowledge that I might be preparing for the next one, too.


Oral Roberts 70, South Dakota 67

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 35 3-9 0-2 5 16 2 3 6
Ashley Brown PF 31 2-2 0-2 2 6 3 2 4
Jessica Bing SF 33 9-13 2-5 2 5 3 3 22
Bella Grier SG 26 5-14 1-1 0 1 1 5 11
Allison Riggle PG 38 2-9 0-0 2 3 4 0 5
Morgan Tavarez C 30 3-7 1-2 2 8 2 1 8
Anzhelika Bure SG 18 3-5 3-4 0 1 0 1 9
Jillian Ho PG 7 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2
Saniyah Barth PF 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Ellie Hester SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 1, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle
2, M.Tavarez 2, A.Bure 4)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, M.Tavarez 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Brown 1, M.Tavarez 1, S.Barth 1)
3P FGs: 4-8 (J.Bing 2-3, A.Riggle 1-4, M.Tavarez 1-1)

Oral RobertsStats (20-8, 13-5):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Taylor Neighbors C 34 3-7 2-4 5 12 2 2 8
Kadence Campuzano PF 31 1-5 0-0 2 6 1 2 2
Myra Villasenor SF 27 5-11 2-2 0 4 0 5 15
Lilian Bernier SG 34 4-13 3-3 0 2 1 2 13
Julia Sterner PG 39 6-17 2-2 1 4 7 2 14
Leslie Cox PG 20 1-2 2-2 2 3 3 3 4
A. Bosworth SG 4 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 5
Zoe Wolford C 17 1-3 0-0 1 2 1 0 2
Nevaeh Macneil PF 15 2-2 0-0 1 4 2 3 4
Addison Catalano SF 4 1-3 0-1 0 1 0 1 3
Harper Denton C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 8 (K.Campuzano 1, M.Villasenor 1, L.Bernier
1, J.Sterner 1, L.Cox 2, A.Bosworth 1, Z.Wolford 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (T.Neighbors 1)
Steals: 4 (M.Villasenor 1, L.Bernier 1, J.Sterner 1,
N.Macneil 1)
3P FGs: 7-15 (M.Villasenor 3-5, L.Bernier 2-6,
J.Sterner 0-2, A.Bosworth 1-1, A.Catalano 1-1)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)


We almost did it. Almost. But "almost" only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. To me, this was more agonizing than a 20-point loss.

We matched them evenly. We played man-to-man, they played man-to-man. We held them to just 40 percent shooting. Our girls outrebounded them, 40 to 37, with Taylor Neighbors getting her rebounds - 12 - but Angelina Choe picked up 16 rebounds for the Yotes.

Jessica Bing had averaged something like seven points a game but she blew up against Oral Roberts, hitting two of three 3-points shots and 9-for-13 overall, scoring 22 points. We led Oral Roberts 30-27 at halftime. For most of the second half, we kept up with Oral Roberts and we were within a point as late as 1:07 left, down 60-59.

With 23 seconds left, the Golden Eagles had missed their shot and we had the ball. Mrya Villasenor fouled Anzhelika Bure for her final foul of the game, scoring 15 points and fouling out. This sent Bure to the line for two free throws.

Missed the first one. Hit the second.. Oral Roberts had the final shot from Julia Sterner, but she missed it. Overtime! 60-60 all.

I felt good about the overtime - Oral Roberts was now missing its leading scorer and one of its lead rebounders. But with 1:07 left I felt we got called with a bull**** foul when Jessica Beng got her hands on a pass to Julia Sterner. It was one of those "glancing contact" things and I thought it was a dumb foul to call during an overtime game. Sterner hit both of her shots, and we were down 68-64 with 1:07 left.

I went to Morgan Tavarez for that shot from 3-point range, because I figured that Oral Roberts would keep their eyes on Bing. We got it to Morgan, but she couldn't hit it and then we were forced to foul. We weren't in the bonus yet, so this gave ORU the 1-and-1. They missed the first one, and we had the rebound with 39 seconds left.

This time we'd go to Bing. Allison Riggle couldn't find Bing, so she went to Bella Grier in the coner and Grier made a fundamental mistake. She got trapped in the corner and she should have dribbled backed out. Instead, she stopped her dribble and ORU trapped her, and then stole the ball with 10 seconds left.

Grier was forced to foul. Now Grier was out of the game and Lilian Bernier was at the line for the one and one.

First shot: good.
Second shot: good. Bernier had a great overtime period, and we were down by six with eight seconds left. Bing hit an emergency 3-pointer with time expiring, but too little too late.

Why did it slip away from us? First, we went 7-for-16 at the line. We only had one player shooting above 70 percent all season - Harley Lewis, a rarely-used bench player who would be graduating. If we had shot 66 percent at the line, we could have sent it into a second overtime. We hit four 3-pointers, but ORU hit seven. Jessica Bing was named Player of the Game, and that didn't happen with losing teams. We just didn't back her up.

Thinking about it, if one of their posts didn't have a broken jaw, it might not have even gone to overtime. I told the team to learn from this game. "No more room for error any more," I said. "We're getting so many things right. Good defense. Good shooting. But our thinking still isn't clear. We have to do the little things right like hitting free thows. The foundation has been put down, but we're not building on it."

We had to go to work. And so did I. I had to get better as a coach. But how?

(* * *)

FEBRUARY 25, 2012 SCHEDULE

Games:

Oakland (21-7) at IUPUI (6-22): IUPUI had the toughest task in securing eighth place - Oakland had already clinched the #1 seed in the Summit League tournament. Oakland led by 20 at halftime and took the rest of the game off. Oakland 57, IUPUI 38.
IPFW (17-11) at Western Illinois (2-25): IPFW was hoping for a third-place finished while the Fighting Leathernecks were hoping to finish Senior Day with a win. Three Mastodons scored in double figures while Western Illinois turned the ball over 19 times. IPFW 62, Western Illinois 49. IPFW clinches third place on a tie-breaker and will play South Dakota in the first round of the Summit League tournament.
North Dakota State (14-15) at South Dakota State (22-6): Could NDSU reach .500 for the season? This one was a real fight, with NDSU leading by five at halftime. It was tied with three minutes left, and NDSU could have had the upset but Mariam Rapp's shot fails to find its target. South Dakota State 53, North Dakota State 52.
Nebraska-Omaha (6-22) at UMKC (8-20). UMKC needed to secure seventh place, UNO made its push for the final Summit League tournament spot. The Kangaroos led 28-17 at halftime and the Mavericks never really challenged. UMKC 52, Nebraska-Omaha 45.

2011 Summit League Final Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 17 1 .944 22 7 .759 78 42
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 15 3 .833 23 6 .793 121 61
IPFW Mastodons 13 5 .722 18 11 .621 159 25
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 13 5 .722 20 8 .714 109 38
North Dakota State Bison 9 9 .500 14 16 .467 215 30
South Dakota Coyotes 7 11 .389 8 21 .276 282 0
UMKC Kangaroos 6 12 .333 9 20 .310 312 14
IUPUI Jaguars 4 14 .222 6 23 .207 306 4
x Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 4 14 .222 6 23 .207 301 0
x Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 2 16 .111 2 26 .071 335 9


(* * *)

February 2012

Queen Elizabeth the Second of Great Britain hit the 60 year mark as queen.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7174/queenelizabeth.jpg

She inherited the throne on 6 February 1952 with the death of her father, King George the Sixth. She still has approximatedly 3 1/2 years to go to catch up to Queen Victoria, who ruled Great Britain for 63 years and 216 days. Nonetheless, Great Britain will officially celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012

(* * *)

WRITER NOTES

Another long set of posts. Long term goals:

* A new mod for women's basketball, adjusting prestiges and conference membership.
* A coaches' file for women's basketball - this is a real iffy one.
* A "wish list" of improvements to FBCB, one of the best games around.

Next time: the Summit League tournament. Will the Yotes get a first round upset against IPFW? Or will they be one-and-done? And more on Hawkins's recruiting struggles.

[Petrel]

February-March 2012


WBCA Top 10 - 27 February 2012

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Connecticut (72) 25-2 1800 1
2. Tennessee 26-2 1728 3
3. Oklahoma 25-3 1656 4
4. Notre Dame 25-3 1584 5
5. Texas A&M 25-3 1512 2
6. Stanford 26-3 1440 7
7. UCLA 25-2 1368 8
8. Southern California 25-2 1296 6
9. Tulane 27-1 1224 10
10. Bowling Green 26-2 1152 11


February turned into March, and we waited for Sunday, March 4th to arrive - the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the Sioux Falls Arena. There were no "rights" to the tournament or rotating locations - whoever paid top dollar got to host it. And the Sioux Falls Arena had been willing to pay the money.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6608/siouxfallsarenaprofile.jpg

The Summit League tournament would be a long day. We'd arrive on Saturday, March 3rd and spend a lot of time waiting. The schedule of games looked like this:

Sunday, March 4

Game One: (1) Oakland vs. (8) IUPUI, 12 noon
Game Two: (4) Oral Roberts vs. (5) North Dakota State, 2:30 pm
Game Three: (2) South Dakota State vs. (7) UMKC, 6:00 pm
Game Four: (3) IPFW vs. (6) South Dakota, 8:30 pm

Monday, March 5

Game Five: Semifinals, 12:00 noon
Game Six: Semifinals, 2:30 pm

Tuesday, March 6

Game Seven: Finals, 3:00 pm

Our season record against The Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons was 1-1. We split the season series, losing 72-52 on the road on January 14th and winning 74-71 at home. But there was a big reason they were 18-11 and we were 8-21.

IPWF: 65.0 ppg vs. opponent 61.5 ppg (+3.5 differential: #3 in offense, #8 in defense)
South Dakota: 48.8 ppg vs. 59.9 ppg (-11.1 differential: #6 in offense, #7 in defense)

The only place where we had an advantage over the Mastodons was in rebounding, and it wasn't by a whole lot. On the other hand, they had advantages pretty much across the board against us.

So how do we stop IPFW? The key would be stopping PG Amanda Tiller, who averaged 16.7 ppg to lead the Summit League - as Amanda went, so went the Mastodons. She was the person that made the engine run, who had 3.8 assists to 2.5 TO per game. The game plan as written on the board:

* STOP #14! "Arms Length!"
* Deny the pass one pass away!
* Outside hand turned inside! (how one denies a pass)
* Ball control (IPWF had the fewest turnovers in the Summit League and we'd have to keep our own turnovers down)

Coach Reavis had watched a lot of game film of Amanda Tiller. We had drawn up a few plays to put pressure on Tiller; hopefully our players could remember them and execute them. "Time is of the essence!"

Until then, we'd wait for our start time. Since Sioux Falls was only an hour away, the students studied (if they could) the first part of the tournament - we didn't even take them out of the hotel until the start of the South Dakota-UMKC game. They watched part of that game briefly, then prepared to go downstairs, get taped up and get dressed, and get ready for our own game.

Across the arena: IPFW. The Mastodon players, playing the waiting game as well. Just like us, but I'm the kind of guy that feels that its more important to me than it is to anyone else. I was tired of waiting. I wanted to get down there and coach this game. And, optimistically, I brought three suits to the tournament.


IPFW 76, South Dakota 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 31 3-4 0-0 8 14 2 3 6
Ashley Brown PF 27 3-9 5-5 3 3 1 1 11
Jessica Bing SF 23 0-6 1-2 5 8 2 1 1
Bella Grier SG 31 5-12 0-0 2 4 1 3 10
Allison Riggle PG 29 3-6 0-0 0 1 2 3 6
Morgan Tavarez SF 26 3-10 3-4 4 8 0 1 9
Anzhelika Bure SG 14 1-9 2-2 1 2 0 0 4
Jillian Ho PG 7 0-1 2-2 1 1 0 1 2
Saniyah Barth PF 6 0-1 1-2 0 1 0 0 1
Ellie Hester SF 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 0
Analia Williams C 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 3, B.Grier 1, A.Riggle
2, A.Bure 3, J.Ho 1, S.Barth 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 3 (A.Riggle 1, A.Bure 2)
3P FGs: 0-6 (J.Bing 0-2, A.Bure 0-3, E.Hester 0-1)

IPFWStats (19-11, 13-5):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Emma Vallee C 26 2-2 0-0 0 2 0 2 5
Kayleigh Buchanan C 23 5-6 1-2 1 4 3 1 12
Aimee McIntyre SF 23 2-5 2-2 0 5 1 2 8
Jaidyn Shanks PF 26 1-5 2-2 0 2 1 2 4
Amanda Tiller SG 34 7-12 2-2 0 1 4 1 21
Kai Eady PG 28 4-8 5-6 3 3 2 0 14
Azul Shoffner SG 21 2-4 1-2 0 3 2 2 6
Elianna Gonzalez SF 5 1-1 2-3 0 1 1 2 4
Emily Sellars PF 8 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Janiah Johnson PF 4 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 2
Lilly Thompson C 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Ally Aviles PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 8 (K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 2, A.Tiller 1,
A.Shoffner 3, E.Gonzalez 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Tiller 1)
Steals: 6 (K.Buchanan 1, A.McIntyre 3, K.Eady 2)
3P FGs: 11-21 (E.Vallee 1-1, K.Buchanan 1-1, A.McIntyre
2-5, A.Tiller 5-8, K.Eady 1-4, A.Shoffner 1-2)

Player of Game: PG Amanda Tiller (IPFW)


Why did we lose? We forgot rule #1. Amanda Tiller averaged 16.7 points per game; she scored 21. She had four assists and only one turnover. As for keeping out turnovers down, we dropped our number to 14, which is about our average - but IPFW dropped their turnovers to eight.

We shot 14-for-17 from the free throw line, one of our best performances ever at the line. But IPFW shot 15-for-19, almost as well.

They hit 11 3-point shots and they just killed us without outside shooting. They led by 12 points at halftime, and we were never in it. In the back half they went on a 14-3 run at one point and with 6:12 to go we were down by twenty points.

Ashley Brown had 11 points and Bella Grier had 10, but that was it. We only shot 30 percent from the game, with Anzhelika Bure going 1-for-9 and Jessica Bing going 0-for-6.

Truth be told, Amanda Tiller was a senior. This was her last Summit League game and she must have decided that she wasn't going to lose in the opening round to upstart South Dakota. She went 5-for-8 from behind the arc, refusing to buy into our game plan; most of the time she shot before we could get a hand on her. The only good thing to take away was that we'd never have to face Amanda Tiller again.

The season was over. Finished. We went 8-22 for the year. The players were strangely subdued, even though there were a few sniffles. Most of the players had come to grips with the loss during the second half, it was no surprise.

I told my players that we'd have a lot to work on in the off-season. I thanked the seniors for the four years they gave to Vermillion. And that was it. Next year had already started.

(* * *)

I'll tell you how the rest of the Summit League tournament went.

Quarterfinals

Oakland 74, IUPUI 44: The Golden Grizzlies led the Jags 36-15 at halftime. This one wasn't really a contest.
South Dakota State 62, UMKC 50: Despite only shooting from free throw range, the Jackrabbits advance to the semifinals. The Kangaroos turning the ball over 22 times didn't help.
North Dakota State 74, Oral Roberts 64: The only upset of the opening round. The Bison stormed out to a 15 point lead at halftim and shot .500 for the game. Four Bison starters scored in double figures. The Golden Eagles could never recover from the first half.

Semifinals

Oakland 74, North Dakota State 62: Oakland once again had a commanding lead in the first half - 45-29 - and the only goal was not to lose it. SG Hannah Audley scored 20 points to lead both teams with SG McKayla Musgrove adding 17 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the floor.
South Dakota State 75, IPFW 63: Despite only 42 percent shooting from the Jacks, South Dakota State advances to another Summit League tournament final. Fouls killed IPFW as the Mastodons sent the Jackrabbits to the free throw line 31 times, committing 24 team fouls.

2012 Summit League Championship Game

South Dakota State 62, Oakland 51: Third time was the charm for the Jacks, which had been swept in the regular season by the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland started with a 6-0 lead, but South Dakota State followed with a 6-0 run and the game was on. Another 11-3 run by the Jackrabbits helped put Oakland behind 33-20 at the end of the first half. Oakland got to within eight points late in the game but could never make it a real contest. Both Cheyanne Hardiman (SDSU) and Hannah Audley (OAK) had 18 points each but the Player of the Game was South Dakota State's senior shooting guard Isabella Goodwin with 14 points and seven rebounds.

(* * *)

On March 6, 2012, I was back home in Vermillion. I didn't even know if I was going to be back in South Dakota next year, which depended on Willie Burbank removing the "interim" title from my position as women's basketball coach. The focus for the rest of the season would be recruiting. We still have four spots to fill and we were only a month away from the end of the NCAA official recruiting period.

That morning in my office at the DakotaDoma, I received a very early phone call. I recognized the caller ID - it was Zoe McHale.

"Hello Zoe!" I said. "How are you?"

"Fine coach," she said. Before I could say anything else, she said, "Coach, I just want to call and tell you that I won't be attending South Dakota. I've accepted the scholarship offer from Florida A&M."

I was crushed. After losing in the first round of the post-season tournament, this was another dose of horrible news. All the money we had spent on trying to bring Zoe McHale to USD - wasted. McHale's turning down USD changed everything. "Zoe," I said, "will you give us another opportunity to make our case?"

"No coach," she said. "I faxed the National Letter of Intent over to Florida A&M this morning."

That was that. The door was officially shut, and by NCAA rules I was forbidden to recruit McHale any more. Oh, there were some coaches who really pushed the envelope, but I knew Zoe McHale and I suspected that when she said things she meant them.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," I said. "You're going to be a success in whatever it is that you do. But before I let you go for the last time, just one question - why Florida A&M? Why not us?"

"I just liked Coach Tomlinson's philosophy," McHale said. Not my Coach Tomlinson, but Coach Addision Tomlinson of Florida A&M. "She really wants to bring fun into her coaching." The implication was that I did not.

We chatted briefly. Once again, I wished her the best of luck. I then walked over to my computer and typed.

To: Caitlyn.Williams@usd.edu, Raelynn.Reavis@usd.edu, Katie.Ulmer@usd.edu
Fm: Mark.Hawkins@usd.edu
Re: Emergency Meeting

We just lost Zoe McHale to Florida A&M. Emergency meeting. TODAY. Clear your schedules.

--Mark

(* * *)

"We're screwed," I said. "We've got four spots to fill and we've got no one to fill them with. If I had gotten McHale, I would have been happy to let the chips fall where they may - Stewart? She's going to be great with the right coaching. Abigail Merkle? She can hit free throws, but how often is she going to get to the line? McHale was better than anyone on our team. Not as good as Stewart, but better than Merkle. And now we've got four slots and only crap to fill it with."

"We're worse off than that," Williams said. "Everyone on our calling list is starting to cool down. They've been jerked around by schools for months now. In November, it was like, 'Great! You're calling!" Now we're in March, and it's like, 'Oh. You again.'"

"Good Lord," Reavis said, "you are offering these kids a free education, you'd expect them to be enthusiastic about it."

"Yeah, well now they're thinking about those DII and DIII offers - or even if they're going to play basketball at all," Williams said.

"Who was that girl that got all those offers?" Ulmer said. "We should get her!

"Emily Simmons out of Texas?" Williams said. "Yeah, she got a ton of interest recently. Even SMU and Mississippi have started sniffing around her door. Looks like they're using her as a safety for that final roster spot."

Ulmer nodded. It seems like she and Williams had been talking about Simmons. "Well, why didn't you tell me about this?" I said.

"They didn't pull the trigger," Williams said, "so it doesn't mean anything."

"All right," I said. "Well, we've got four scholarships to give out. Adalyn Matz and Caroline Herrington have already been offered. We've got, what, nineteen names left? We've got to figure out who to offer to. By the end of the day, we're going to have all of these scholarships offered! We've got one month to make a full court press. That and the first week of April."

Before Williams could answer, I said, "I'm going to make the push. I'll visit the kids myself. If we don't get any signings, it's all going to be my responsibility anyway." I turned to Williams. "They'll be more impressed by me than by you."

I then looked at everyone in the room. "Besides, that 'interim' title hasn't been removed from my name yet. Another year of ****ing 8-22 and all of us are going to be out of a job!"

"Don't get mad, Mark," Reavis said.

"Don't get mad? We were 8-22! If there's anything in the world we should be mad about, it's 8-22! We can only say that it was the kids that failed the program for one season! After this season, if we don't budge that record up or get past the first round of the ****ing tournament, it's going to all be on us!"

(* * *)

At the end of the meeting, we had two more names to add to the list. The first was FF Chaya Christ, out of Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. Williams had been touting her for a long time, and supposedly had a good rapport with her. The other choice was SF Nora Goss out of Nevada, who had been on our call list like forever. I had liked her handles on the game film that I saw. She wasn't the best player out there - not by far - but she was one of the best that we had a chance to get.

It was done. We'd see Christ on the 17th and Goss on the 24th. We ordered airline tickets to New York and Nevada, and I hoped to get a win off the court if I couldn't get one on the court.

(* * *)

We were moving into the tournaments of the power conferences.

The first big upset was on March 8th in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. Louisville took the lead at the last minute to upset the #1 team in America, beating Connecticut 80-79 with SG Ava Paynter scoring 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting for the Cardinals.

There were more upsets to come on the 9th. In the Conference USA Tournament, Tulane - a #8 team with only one loss all season - lost to Houston 52-49 when Emily Rainbolt's 3-pointer to tie the game refused to fall.

In the Pac-12 semifinals, #7 Southern California - the regular season winner and #1 seed in the tourney - lost to Arizona State. Tied at halftime, the Sun Devils closed out the game with a 14-3 run. The other semifinal match had a battle of top ten teams, #4 Stanford vs. #9 UCLA. With four seconds left on the clock and the Cardinal up 92-91, UCLAS's SF Mya Ketcham stole the ball from Stanford, but SG Ayana Alexis could not get the shot off in time for the Bruins before the clock died.

The Big East had its second upset of the tournament on the 9th, with #21 Rutgers beating #5 Notre Dame, 65-57. The Scarlet Knights held Notre Dame to just 15 first half points and the Fighting Irish couldn't fight their way out of it.

There were two more days of tournament games - March 10th and 11th - before the NCAA Selection Show took place on Monday, March 12th. I planned on camping out in with my beer and pretzels.

(* * *)

That Saturday, I got a call at home from Caitlyn Williams. "What's up?"

"Remember Cayla Christ?"

"Uh huh?"

"Go to the Hoopgurlz site and look up her profile."

"Do I have to? Spell it out for me."

"Okay. Basically, Quinnipiac and Holy Cross have made offers. And we've not even made her list of top schools."

"Tell me about Quinnipiac and Holy Cross."

"I know they're both in New England. They're a lot closer to New York than South Dakota will ever be."

"Are they good schools?" I asked.

"Good enough. Their RPIs have been pretty good. Quinnipiac was 18-12 this season. Holy Cross was 14-16 in the Patriot League."

"So you're saying we should pull the scholarship offer on Christ?"

"I already called her. She was really evasive about whether they had offered."

I thought for a few seconds. "Okay. We pull the offer on Christ and choose someone else. I'm not going to call Raelynn and Katie on this one. Come over here and give me your best judgment."

(* * *)

We spent the entire Saturday at the DakotaDome going back over our call list. After about eight hours, we settled on PF Leah Alexander out of Brookhaven, New York. Williams's contacts with Alexander had been good ones. And frankly, she was the best of a bad lot. She only scored 3.9 points per game but averaged 10.1 rebounds per game. (Her 80 percent free throw percentage was a plus.)

She seemed to be interested in South Dakota - or at least intrigued. However, she had some good schools on her top schools list - William and Mary, Clemson, UTEP. None of them, however, had offered her a scholarship, as far as we could tell.

Williams called her that afternoon. She put in on speakerphone for me to listen in. Alexander seemed like a nice girl and didn't say anything that would set off alarm bells. It's hard to get an impression on someone from listening in on a conversation, but I heard nothing to make me hesitate.

After the call, I said, "Looks like I won't be going to New York, huh?"

"Mike, do you even know where Brookhaven is? It's on Long Island. We won't even have to change your plane reservations. Instead of thinking black and poor, think white and Catholic."

(* * *)

All that was left was for the major tournaments to play out. This would take place over March 10th and March 11th.

The big game for March 10th was the Big Twelve championship - #3 Texas A&M vs. #6 Oklahoma. It was Texas A&M's final Big Twelve championship, and they weren't going to let anyone get in their way, having no trouble with the Sooners in a 78-57 to claim their last trophy before fleeing to the Southeastern Conference.

(* * *)


Conference Representatives

Conference Team Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
America East Conference Boston University 23-9 (11-5)
Atlantic 10 Conference Xavier 26-6 (12-2)
Atlantic Coast Conference Duke 28-4 (11-3)
Atlantic Sun Conference East Tennessee State 29-3 (20-0)
Big 12 Conference Texas A&M 30-3 (15-3)
Big East Conference Rutgers 27-7 (10-6)
Big Sky Conference Portland State 21-11 (12-4)
Big South Conference Liberty 21-11 (13-3)
Big Ten Conference Ohio State 27-6 (14-2)
Big West Conference UC Santa Barbara 23-10 (13-5)
Colonial Athletic Association VCU 23-9 (12-6)
Conference USA Houston 22-11 (10-6)
Horizon League Butler 23-10 (12-6)
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Fairfield 22-10 (11-7)
Mid-American Conference Bowling Green 31-2 (15-1)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hampton 21-12 (11-5)
Missouri Valley Conference Northern Iowa 26-6 (14-4)
Mountain West Conference Fresno State 28-4 (13-3)
Northeast Conference Sacred Heart 24-8 (13-5)
Ohio Valley Conference Eastern Illinois 19-12 (15-3)
Pacific-12 Conference Stanford 31-3 (15-3)
Patriot League Lehigh 25-8 (12-2)
Southeastern Conference Tennessee 31-2 (15-1)
Southern Conference Chattanooga 25-7 (16-4)
Southland Conference Lamar 25-7 (14-0)
Southwestern Athletic Conference Mississippi Valley State 18-14 (12-6)
Summit League South Dakota State 26-6 (15-3)
Sun Belt Conference Middle Tennessee 26-6 (13-3)
West Coast Conference Gonzaga 27-6 (12-4)
Western Athletic Conference Louisiana Tech 26-4 (13-1)


2012 NCAA Tournament

Fresno Region

1) Stanford (31-3, Pac-12 Champ) vs. 16) Hampton (21-12, MEAC Champ)
8) Boston College (20-10, ACC at-large) vs. 9) St. Mary's (26-5,.WCC at-large)

4) Rutgers (27-7, Big East Champ) vs. 13) Sacred Heart (24-8, Northeast Champ)
5) Baylor (23-9, Big 12 at-large) vs. 12) Michigan State (21-10, Big 10 at-large)

2) Oklahoma (27-5, Big 12 at-large) vs. 15) Portland State (21-11, Big Sky Champ)
7) Gonzaga (27-6, WCC Champ) vs. 10) California (22-9, Pac-12 at-large)

3) North Carolina (25-6. ACC at-large) vs. 14) Butler (23-10, Horizon Champ)
6) San Diego State (28-4, Mountain West at-large) vs. 11) Vanderbilt (22-9, SEC at-large)

Raleigh Region

1) Tennessee (31-2, SEC Champ) vs.16) Eastern Illinois (19-12, OVC Champ)
8) Xavier (26-6, Atlantic 10 Champs) vs. 9) Wisconsin (24-8, Big Ten at-large)

4) Tulane (30-2, CUSA at-large) vs. 13) VCU (23-9, CAA Champs)
5) Georgia Tech (25-7, ACC at-large) vs. 12) Middle Tennessee (26-6, Sun Belt Champs)

2) UCLA (27-4, Pac-12 at-large) vs.15) Liberty (21-11, Big South Champs)
7) Old Dominion (26-6, CAA at-large) vs. 10) Charlotte (23-8, Atlantic 10 at-large)

3) West Virginia (24-7, Big East at-large) vs. 14) Boston University (23-9, America East Champs)
6) Florida State (22-8, ACC at-large) vs. 11) Western Kentucky (27-5, Sun Belt at-large)

Des Moines Region

1) Texas A&M (30-3, Big 12 Champs) vs. 16) Mississippi Valley State (18-14, SWAC Champs)
8) Pepperdine (26-5, WCC at-large) vs. 9) DePaul (22-9, Big East at-large)

4) Bowling Green (31-2, MAC Champs) vs. 13) South Dakota State (26-6, Summit Champs)
5) Iowa (26-5. Big 10 at-large) vs. 12) Lamar (25-7, Southland Champs)

2) Notre Dame (27-5, Big East at-large) vs. 15) Fairfield (22-10, MAAC Champs)
7) Purdue (25-7, Big Ten at-large) vs. 10) Texas Tech (19-11, Big 12 at-large)

3) Southern California (28-3, Pac 12 at-large) vs. 14) Houston (22-11, CUSA Champs)
6) Fresno State (28-4, Mountain West Champs) vs. 11) Northern Iowa (26-6, MVC Champs)

Kingston Region

1) Connecticut (27-3, Big East at-large) vs. 16) UC Santa Barbara (23-10, Big West Champs)
8) Marist (29-4, MAAC at-large) vs. 9) Dayton (23-9, Atlantic 10 at-large)

4) Florida (27-5, SEC at-large) vs. 13) Chattanooga (25-7, Southern Champs)
5) Maryland (25-7, ACC at-large) vs. 12) Louisiana Tech (26-4, WAC Champs)

2) Duke (28-4, ACC Champs) vs. 15) Princeton (20-10, Ivy Champs (*))
7) Richmond (23-7, Atlantic 10 at-large) vs. 10) Arizona State (22-10, Pac 12 at-large)

3) Ohio State (27-6, Big 10 Champs) vs. 14) Lehigh (25-8, Patriot Champs)
6) East Tennessee State (29-3, Atlantic Sun Champs) vs. 11) St. John's (21-10, Big East at large)

(*) - regular season champ

Last teams in

St. John's
Michigan State
Vanderbilt
Western Kentucky

First teams out

Louisville
Syracuse
Kansas State
Green Bay

Conference Representation

ACC (6)
Big East (6)

Big 10 (5)
Pac-12 (5)

Atlantic 10 (4)
Big 12 (4)

SEC (3)
WCC (3)

Colonial (2)
CUSA (2)
MAAC (2)
Mountain West (2)
Sun Belt (2)

America East
Atlantic Sun
Big Sky
Big South
Big West
Horizon
Ivy
MAC
MEAC
MVC
Northeast
OVC
Patriot
Southern
Southland
Summit
SWAC
WAC

Summit League Schools

Oakland, the regular-season winner, was seeded #5 in the WNIT South. They will travel to #4 Texas Christian for their first game on March 15th.
Oral Roberts is seeded #8 in the College Basketball Invitational and will host #9 Texas-Arlington on March 14th.
IPFW is seeded #6 in the CollegeInsider.com tournament and will host #11 Coppin State on March 14th.

March 14 Results

Texas-Arlington 58, Oral Roberts 53: The Golden Eagles turn the ball over 14 timess to just six times for the Mavericks. SF Myra Villasenor is held to just four points for ORU. Texas-Arlington goes 15-for-17 at the free throw line compared to 5-9 for Oral Roberts.
Coppin State 62, IPFW 49: PG Amanda Tiller goes 2-for-10 in her final appearance as a Mastodon. IPFW sends Coppin State to the line 27 times, where the Eagles hit 18 shots.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Looks like there's only one team alive in the Summit League. Hopefully, the detailing of game results doesn't bore too many. Nothing interesting in history, as I don't want to play out the Republican primaries and the Democratic primary is a foregone conclusion. Still, this is an alternate history so 2016 should be interesting.

Next time: Mark Hawkins makes his final (?) two home visits, a Summit League member announces that it's leaving the league and the post-season winds its merry way.

[Petrel]

March 15, 2012
NCAA First Round

1) Stanford 93, 16) Hampton 56 - Stanford can forget 1998 once again with a 52-22 rebounding margin.
2) Oklahoma 78, 15) Portland State 64 - Sooner PG Harper Gray had 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
10) California 72, 7) Gonzaga 37 - Zags held to 15 points in second half for Golden Bear slaughter, PG Kamila Richter scored 31 for Cal.
9) St. Mary's 73, 8) Boston College 65 - For the Gaels, 57 percent shooting was the key.

1) Texas A&M 78, 16) MVSU 55 - Devilettes held to just 19 rebounds by Aggies.
2) Notre Dame 71, 15) Fairfield 50 - Stags were down 44-19 at halftime.
7) Purdue 56, 10) Texas Tech 48 - Red Raiders only got two points from their bench.
9) DePaul 82, 8) Pepperdine 53 - Blue Demon PG Victoria Baker had 32 points.

3) West Virginia 77, 14) Boston U. 46 - Mountaineers win battle of the boards 40-23.
13) VCU 50, 4) Tulane 41 - Cinderella season for Green Wave comes to an end with second straight loss, both teams combined for 47 turnovers.
12) Middle Tennessee 84, 5) Georgia Tech 69 - 12-3 run early in second half by MTSU put end to Yellow Jackets hope of a Sweet Sixteen.
6) Florida State 63, Western Kentucky 55 - Seminoles win despite shooting 12-for-29 from free throw line (41.4 percent)

3) Ohio State 86, 14) Lehigh 62 - Four players score in double-digits for Buckeyes, including 21 points from SG Arya Evans.
4) Florida 54, 13) Chattanooga 46 - Less close than it looks - Gators led by 22 at one point in second half.
5) Maryland 81, 12) Louisiana Tech 57 - Maryland extends lead to 20 early in second half, takes 19 more FGA than Techsters.
6) East Tennessee State 76, 11) St. John's 70 - Red Storm were within five with a minute to go, but Lady Bucs were 6-for-6 at free throw line in final minute.

WNIT

Texas Christian 71, Oakland 66: Two Oakland starters shut out by Horned Frogs in an ugly turnover-filled game. Home field advantage a plus for TCU in final Big East year.

(* * *)

March 16, 2012
NCAA First Round

3) North Carolina 85, 14) Butler 69 - Butler kept it close for 30 minutes but Tar Heels were just too much.
4) Rutgers 54, 13) Sacred Heart 51 - SF Selah Williams makes final 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left, comeback by Pioneers falls short.
5) Baylor 70, 12) Michigan State 58 - Spartans fall to Bears despite 26 points from Michigan Staate SG Lily Logue.
6) San Diego State 77, 11) Vanderbilt 61 - Four Aztecs in double figures, bad year for SEC in general.

14) Houston 53, 3) USC 52 (OT) - The biggest upset of the tournament so far. Two missed shots by Trojans with final possessions send the game into 49-49 overtime, and for the next five minutes both teams scrap. Only one basket is made by both teams in OT period, and PF Luz Gasper of Houston misses two free throws that could have made it a 3-point game - the final possession belongs to USC, but Trojan SF Adyson Gill misses the final 3-point attempt that would have sent the game into double overtime.
4) Bowling Green 72, 13) South Dakota State 46 - The last of the Summit League teams falls in first round of NCAA. Jackrabbits held to 31 percent shooting.
5) Iowa 78, 12) Lamar 53 - Five Hawkeyes in double-figures with a 10 point, 12 rebound game from PF Karly Flowers of Iowa.
11) Northern Iowa 65, 6) Fresno State 56 - Great game from PG Addison Stevens of Panthers - 14 points, eight rebounds.

1) Tennessee 86, 16) Eastern Illinois 53 - Lady Vols 20-for-25 from free throw line.
2) UCLA 75, 15) Liberty 62 - Lday Flames held to just three points in final five minutes.
10) Charlotte 75, 7) Old Dominion 72 - With the game tied 72-72 and 51 seconds on clock, Charlotte SF Sofia Adams misses the basket, but C Sophia Hughes gets the rebound and resets the clock for the 49ers. Backup PG Sara Wieland's 3-pointer from the right corner as time expires goes in for the upset.
9) Wisconsin 89, 8) Xavier 71 - Badgers get 29 points from SG Hailey Eichhorn and an 11-point, 18-rebound game from C Arianna Christensen.

1) Connecticut 52, 16) UCSB 34 - Huskies try 31 3-pointers and only hit seven of them, both teams are a combined 38-124 shooting - 30.6 percent.
2) Duke 105, 15) Princeton 78 - Duke guards Emma Friedrich (23) and Alexis Jone (28) combine for 51 points.
7) Richmond 70, 10) Arizona State 55 - Sun Devils held scoreless in final five minutes.
9) Dayton 68, 8) Marist 64 - Tied 64-64 with one minute left, Marist 3-point attempt fails with nine seconds left and the Red Foxes down by two. They are forced to foul, and the Flyers make both free throws.

March 17

While the Better Half was about to change into the Sweet Sixteen, I was on my way to JFK Airport to take a visit to Brookhaven, New York out on Long Island. The airport was heavy traffic, and when I saw those two fratboys on the plane with the "KISS ME, I'M IRISH" shirts I knew what I had let myself in for.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5927/stpatricksday.jpg

Getting through traffic was going to require the luck of the Irish. There were all kinds of things going on in New York City, including a family called The Alexanders that was waiting for me to show up and have dinner with them.

The Alexanders violated the profile of the typical Brookhaven residents. Three-quarters of Brookhaven was white, but the Alexanders were black. Brookhaven was Catholic, but the Alexanders were Baptist. Leah was the only child of two parent - her father worked for a local university but he had been killed in a car crash when Leah was eight years old. Mrs. Alexander had raised five kids, and Leah was the last one to leave the house.

My reception was surprisingly good. I had a great meal with Leah and her mother. They were both friendy, and both talkative. Unfortunately, this was back in the day when I was a young and stupid coach and was set in my ways of doing things. I probably didn't have to give the video presentation on the University of South Dakota - we were all getting along so well and we wouldn't have missed it - but I felt I had to give it, and so I did, probably killing some of my momentum.

After the video, we jumped into talking again. "I really don't know about South Dakota though," Leah said. "It just seems so far away."

"That's true," I said. "I won't deny it. But the truth is, you're never really more than a phone call away from home. Furthermore, we're a real family at South Dakota." I felt embarrassed having to fall back on vague crap, and frankly, it wasn't true. I had never felt close to the players from the previous administration, with the exception of some rare cases.

"Right, but I have a lot of family right here," Leah said. "I have some offers from Division II schools."

"Okay," I said, "but a Division II school might split your scholarship," I said.

"Adelphi Queens promised me a full ride if I'd come and play for them."

I should have anticipated that.. "Okay. But do they play at the level that we play at in South Dakota? We played Tennessee and Iowa last year. You won't experience that when you're playing in Division II. You'll meet girls from all over the country at USD. The ones here in Long Island are basically New Yorkers. This is a chance for you to expand your horizons."

"Yeah, Coach Hawkins, but I don't know."

"Okay, Leah. What's important to you? What's the big critical factor?"

She didn't say anything. She looked to her Mom, calling for help.

I skipped past Leah. "How do you feel about South Dakota?" I asked Leah's Mom.

"It's just so far away from home." She looked like a woman put on the spot. "I don't know."

On it went. It felt bad. I felt like a god-damned salesman trying to sell something that no one wanted. I spent the rest of the meeting trying to pitch the aspects of the program. I felt like I was repeating myself. They listened politely.

Total time (excluding food): ninety minutes. The flight to New York and back from New York each took longer than the total amount of time I spent in the Alexander household. It felt like I was fighting a losing battle. If I blew my chances at Alexander, then my visit to Nora Goss would become all the more important.

March 17, 2012
NCAA Second Round

Stanford 88, St. Mary's 40: Stanford PF Lyric Greenberg scores 27 points and 13 rebounds, SF Jayma Hans adds 21 for the Cardinal.
Oklahoma 66, California 59: The Sooners 36-21 rebounding edge proves to be the ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.

DePaul 66, Texas A&M 62: The defending National Champions are knocked out in the second round of the tournament! A close game with DePaul leading 35-34 at the break. DePaul's three point shooting - 10 for 23 - gave them what they needed to overcome the Aggies, but what will be remembered is that with the Aggies down 64-62 and with the ball, PF Macie Woolsey was whistled for an illegal screen with six seconds on the clock, giving the ball back to the Blue Demons and securing the game. DePaul PG Victoria Baker scored 19 points, with 15 coming off 3-point shots.
Notre Dame 67, Purdue 59: Purdue held to just 33 percent shooting.

Florida State 78, West Virginia 56: Another upset, as 28 points from Seminole SG Abigail Johnson led the way for FSU.
VCU 61, Middle Tennessee State 57: In the Battle of the Cinderellas, the Rams are 18-for-27 at the free throw line, with MTSU commiting 25 fouls.

Ohio State 88, East Tennessee State 68: Ohio State outscores the Lady Bucs 18-6 in the final five minutes.
Maryland 87, Florida 66: SF Lillie Applewhite scored 26 points and nine rebounds; Florida was never in it. Last surviving SEC team is Tennessee.

March 18, 2012
NCAA Second Round

San Diego State 70, North Carolina 67: Tar Heels led 41-36 at the half, lead 65-64 with 3:04 to go but only score two more points for the rest of the game. (1-for-4 from field.)
Baylor 73, Rutgers 50: Three Bear starters have 10 rebounds each, including C Allyson Pinkham (11 points, 10 rebounds) and SF Fiona Hubbard (14 points, 10 rebounds).

Northern Iowa 53, Houston 47: The other Battle of the Cinderellas goes to the Panthers, who overcome a six point halftime deficit. No Houston player breaks the double-digit barrier.
Bowling Green 80, Iowa 46: Hawkeyes are unable to put it together - Falcons only turn the ball over eight times vs. 19 for Iowa.

Wisconsin 78, Tennessee 71: The #1 team in the country falls to the Badgers! Wisconsin led 49-36 at the half and after a fiery speech from Claire Kelley, the Lady Vols tried to turn it around in the second half. They got close. They were within four with 1:06 left, but they need to hope that Wisconsin missed its free throws. They didn't.
Charlotte 101, UCLA 93: Another big upset of a Top Ten team. Four players combined for over 100 points (Charlotte: Leavitt 27, Adams 25, UCLA: Smith 30, DeCastro 25). UCLA couldn't keep from sending the 49ers to the foul line, where they hit 24 out of 33 attempts.

Connecticut 105, Dayton 83: UConn led 61-49 at the half. Five Huskies scored in double-figures including PG Reese Koester with 27 points and five assists.
Duke 69, Richmond 49: The Blue Devils led by 16 at the half and thoroughly controlled the game. Four Dukies in double figures, including C Addison Dial with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

March 22, 2012
Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-Finals)

Fresno, California

Stanford 71, Baylor 69: The Cardinal came closest to the ax than any time in the tournament. The Baylor Bears led 41-32 at halftime and extended their lead to as much as 14 points in the second half but an 11-2 run by Stanford tied the game up again. With 2:17 to go, the Bears led 69-64, but back to back 3-pointers by Stanford SF Jayma Hans gave the Cardinal the lead again. SG Mattie Moeller drove to the basket on Baylor's final possession, but was called for an offensive charge against Stanford C Jada Fawcell in...what was frankly a baloney call. Bears players, fans and coaches felt the game had been stolen from them, but Stanford advances.

Oklahoma 72, San Diego State 61: Too much Boomer Sooner, with the Sooners leading the Aztecs 43-29 at halftime. Both teams had some great long-range shooting - 10 3-pointers for Oklahoma, eight for SDSU - but Oklahoma was too efficient at moving the ball with 22 team assists. SF Lorelai Kubiac led Oklahoma with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Wisconsin 80, VCU 71: It looked for a while like the Rams would keep on rolling, leading the Badgers 40-35 at halftime. But VCU wanted to live by the 3-pointer, and therefore died by it, going 2-for-24 for the game, which negated their 43-30 rebounding margin. Four minutes into the second half, Wisconsin went on an 18-2 run and turned the game around. The Rams were never back in it. PG Addison Cook led Wisconsin with 27 points and seven assists.

Florida State 78, Charlotte 68: Both teams had to fight hard for this one after a tied first half. Game Two of the Raleigh Regional was once again the story of a team hanging its hopes on long-range shooting and failing - the 49ers went 2-for-19 from 3-point range. An 11-0 run by the Seminoles in the last five minutes sent Florida State to the Elite Eight. SG Abigail Johnson had a huge game for FSU, scoring 33 points on 12-for-19 shooting.

March 23, 2012
Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-Finals)

Des Moines, Iowa

Bowling Green 87, DePaul 59: The Falcons win their 34th games in 36 attempts this year with a decisive win where they shot 55 percent from the floor. The Blue Demons turned the ball over 21 times in the loss. Before the second half was half-over, Bowling Green led by 20 points and were off to the first regional final in their history. Player of the game was SG Karlee Weaver with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Notre Dame 85, Northern Iowa 53: The Fighting Irish shot 63 percent from the floor and held the Panthers to just 18 rebounds. Northern Iowa had a 14 to 22 assist-to-turnover ratio, and Notre Dame got to visit the free throw line 26 times. ND point guard Aaliya Armes had 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Kingston, Rhode Island

Connecticut 93, Maryland 91: The Huskies dodged another bullet on their way to the regional finals in a very close game. The Terrapins had a nine point lead at one time in the second half but you can't keep UConn down for long. The games was tied 86-86 with 1:03 yet when PG Mia Schaller of Connecticut hit a 3-pointer to put UConn up 89-86. SG Ella Godoy followed up with a fastbreak basket to close within one, 89-88, but Maryland would have to hope that Mia Schaller couldn't hit free throws...but she went 4 for 4 in the final moments of the game. Schaller finished with 32 points and four rebounds.

Ohio State 74, Duke 56: How do you win a game where you only shoot 33 percent from the field and your opponent shoots 54 percent? How about taking 38 free throws and hitting 28 of them. The whistle was blowing non-stop, and both teams were sinking 3-pointers like crazy. Duke, however, turned the ball over 21 times and committed 28 fouls. Five Buckeyes scored in double figures with SF Rebecca Pouliot the player of the game with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

(* * *)

The first of the Regional Finals games was likely to be over by the time I finished my visit to Reno, Nevada. I was pulling the slot machine arm for what might be the final time this season, in an attempt to pick up Nora Goss for the Coyotes.

That week, which I was preparing for this visit, there were many big things going on in women's basketball. The first big thing came from the Summit League itself

Oral Roberts announced that it was leaving the Summit League. There was an exit fee of $250K for any team leaving the Summit; Oral Roberts announced that they were leaving and paid the fee. Their landing spot? The Southland Conference, a conference which is for the most part headquartered in Texas with several Texas teams.

So why did ORU go? The Golden Eagles were the school with the smallest enrollment in the Summit League (slightly more than 3000). Located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they had to travel far distances across several states. (They were the Summit League's southernmost state.) The big reason was to save money. Oral Roberts hoped that by being in the Southland Conference that travel costs would go down.

The Summit League had no immediate replacement lined up. (Oral Roberts would not have to wait but would start play in the Southland Conference the following season.) This would drop the Summit League to nine teams, with the top eight teams still going to the postseason. It would lower the number of games we'd have to play in the conference per season (from 18 to 16), giving us two more non-conference games per season.

The second big thing was the hullaballoo around Claire Kelley of Tennessee. The Lady Vols lost in the second round to Wisconsin, and even though the Badgers were still in the tournament, no one expected the #1 team to be knocked out so quickly. Even though #1 teams had had early exits before...well, those teams did not have coaches which had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.

After the loss, the second-guessing began, with the women's college messageboards exploding. The question was whether or not Claire Kelley should retire. Should she retire? Should she be asked to retire? Should she be forced to retire? The plan had been that Kelley would keep coaching in Knoxville until it was clear that she was mentally incapacitated to the point where coaching would not be possible. But the problem with the plan is that this left the program unable to move forward long term. Every year, the program and its head coach would have to re-evaluated. It would make recruits very wary about making a four-year commitment.

And of course, with the loss the claim was that Claire Kelley should not have been coaching. The team's mistakes became Claire Kelley's mistakes. Was she mentally with it? Were any bad decisions made by the Lady Vols due to Kelley not being mentally up to it? Should someone have forced her to step aside? It was clear that with any close loss or unexpected loss, there would always be the argument made that Kelley was not mentally up to coaching and that she should go.

But the biggest thing in women's basketball was a new set of rules which had been passed by the NCAA. The NCAA had signed new "full cost of attendance" rules.

The first year I was coaching women's basketball, a scholarship covered what they called "essentials". It covered tuition, books, and board. Nothing else, just the bare necessities of a college education. For full time student-athletes, this left them at a disadvantage to their non-athlete peers. Basically, they had no discretionary income. If they wanted a pizza, that pizza came out of their own pocket, and a lot of these kids came from impoverished families where Daddy would not be sending an extra $20 a week to pay the telephone bill.

Of course, this system was abused by the more mercenary athletes who simply took money - lots of it - under the table. But the overwhelming majority of athletes, particuarly non-revenue sports like women's basketball, felt the pinch in a big way.

From now on, the NCAA scholarships would be bumped up to a "full cost of attendance" allowance. Student-athletes would be receiving the basic scholarship plus a "full cost of living" bonus that equaled the minimum of either

a) what it took to cover "incidental expenses" - laundry money, travel home, personal expenses, or
b) $3000 extra per year

For the students playing women's basketball, this was manna from God - if they could get it. Each conference would vote on whether or not to supply the full cost of attendance with a scholarship. The SEC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 voted immediately to make the offer of full cost. It was expected that the three other power conferences would fall in line soon.

The major question was who else would fall in line? For some schools living on the knife edge of a budget, this would be very difficult indeed. Every scholarship the school offered would have to be raised to the level above. Since Title IX was a federal law and not an NCAA law, every women's scholarship would have to be boosted. If a school had a football team - FCS or FBS - that was sixty scholarships that had to be bumped.

The conferences that didn't - that couldn't make the bump would face a severe disadvantage. Because all things being equal, if a student has to choose a scholarship that covered essentials or one that covered "full cost" - they would sign with the school covering full cost. If your conference voted aginst paying full cost, then you faced a disadvantage in your recruiting. This disadvantage would be felt almost immediately.

As one coach told me, "I always used to be able to say to a recruit, 'Look, you might like that big fancy school, but in the end, they can't offer you any more in their scholarship than we can give you in ours. Now, they can give more. And what the hell am I supposed to say to that?"

(* * *)

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/687/renonevadarenoarch.jpg

But that Saturday, I was thinking about none of the above. I was thinking about Nora Goss, a very large SF at 6-4 out of Wooster High School. Nora was biracial, her father was black and her mother was white. Her father visited and paid child support but he didn't live with the Gosses. Her mother was sort of the hippy-dippy type from what Coach Williams said, very liberal, socially involved, etc. etc.

Nora was a very plain looking girl, and she was very laid back during my home visit. However, on the court she was a tiger. She was a real gym rat, she loved the game and she was very vocal - her basketball skills might have been lacking and she played ole defense but she ran that high school team like a tyrant. On the court she was opinionated and bossy. I liked the vocals, that showed leadership. I just hoped that the leadership wouldn't go out of control and that she could adjust to a role off the bench if that's where I needed her to play.

The Gosses were wealthy. They lived very well, they were "1 percenters". I'm sure that Mrs. Goss could have paid for Nora's schooling - but why should she? If organized women's basketball was going to give scholarships, why shouldn't her daughter have one?

Talking to the Gosses was very...laid back. I wouldn't say they were quiet or controlled like the McHales, but everything was always spoken very softly. There was no "punch" in anyone's speech. When they made a comment, it was always a polite comment which displayed as much enthusiasm as was needed to be doled out - I couldn't imagine Nora Goss shouting at anybody.

However, the first question out of Nora's mouth was, "what are my chances of playing?"

"Very good," I said.

"Well, does that mean I can start or not?" she asked.

"Everyone plays for every spot," I said. "If you think you can beat a senior out of her starting spot, be my guest. I start players based entirely on merit. If I think I can win with five freshmen, then I'll play five freshmen. Whether you start or not is just as up to you as it is to me."

Goss smiled. A quiet smile, but a very satisfying one. I knew she was imagining taking someone's spot from them.

"Am I going to fit in?" she asked.

"We've got a lot of different kids at the university," I said. "Trust me, it's not all just South Dakotans. You should fit in fine."

The smile went away. Maybe I didn't convince her. "Yeah, but...I'd like to see the university. Before I make up my mind."

"Nora, how many offers do you have?"

"I have two. I have your offer and I have an offer from Colorado Springs."

"That's D-II right? We can't make an offer for a campus visit. It's too late in the year. If some money shows up, I can invite you but you'd be put right on the spot."

Nora was quiet. "Colorado Springs said I had to sign by next week."

"Yeah," I said, "they're deadlining you. They hope to get you signed right away, probably because they have someone else on their list. They're going to move on if you don't sign by the end of the month. But South Dakota is not going to move on. We're staying till the end."

"What if someone else comes along?"

"Right now, you're the person. We want you to sign with us. My job is to leave here with a signed NLI."

But it didn't happen. Colorado Springs was a lot closer to Reno, Nevada that Vermillion. "They might not even offer you a full scholarship at D-II! They might offer you something partial. They're allowed to do that. Come to South Dakota and you will receive a full ride scholarship!"

"Coach," she said. "I am so close to signing. I would sign right now if I could. But I have to talk to Colorado Springs. I have to see what they're going to offer me before I sign. I have to give them an equal shot, because it wouldn't be right otherwise."

"Fair enough," I said. "I want to send you more information about South Dakota. You don't mind if I call?"

"No, I don't mind," she said with a smile. I planned on calling Nora Goss every night if I had to do it.

We talked about the majors at South Dakota and about how well a 6-4 SF with leadership skills would fit in at South Dakota. She asked a lot of good questions, and I took that as a good sign. Total time at the Gosses - 2 hours and 15 minutes. I had no reason not to feel good about that visit. If I could sign Goss, I would feel that the season ended on a high point even if Alexander didn't sign. If I get four girls signed, it will be a freaking miracle, I told myself.

(* * *)

March 24, 2012
Regional Finals

Fresno, California

Oklahoma 92, Stanford 89. Another traditional women's basketball power falls, as the #2 seed in Fresno advances to the Final Four in Denver. Both teams shot over 50 percent in an amazing game, but the Cardinal lost despite outrebounding the Sooners and scoring 17 of 23 shots from the free throw line. Chalk it up to 26 assists from Oklahoma, as the amazing PF Harper Gray make her case for being a #1 WNBA draft pick with 12 points and 11 assists. But the player of the game was SG Sophia Wakefield with 28 points in 27 minutes, shooting 8-for-9 from 3-point range with astonishing marksmanship.

The Cardinal had the lead for most of the second half, but were tied 82-82 with 4:22 remaining. From then on it was a struggle, but the Cardinal led 87-84 with 48 seconds left, but Sophia Wakefield hit a 3-pointer when Harper Gray found her right away. Tied 87-87, and C Jada Fawcett throws the ball away on Stanford's next possession. Stanford fouls PF Breanna Davis on the Sooner possession, and Davis hits both to make it 89-87.

With 17 seconds left, senior SF Jamya Hans draws the foul and hits both shots for the Cardinal to tie it at 89-89. Stanford plays a 3-2 zone and waits for the ball to go to Wakefield, but instead Oklahoma puts the final shot in sophomore SF Lorelai Kubiak's hand as time expires. She hits it, and Oklahoma is in the Final Four!

Raleigh, North Carolina

Florida State 88, Wisconsin 52. One team would go to the Final Four for the first time, but Wisconsin's Cinderella season would come to an end as the #9 seed In Raleigh was crushed by the Seminoles. Florida State led by 11 at halftime and held Wisconsin to 33 percent shooting. A 38-28 advantage in rebounding by Florida State maintained their dominance. Senior SG Abigail Johnson was the player of the game with 25 points and got to cut the nets down in Raleigh!

March 25, 2012
Regional Finals

Des Moines, Iowa

Notre Dame 75, Bowling Green 54. The Mid-American Conference had never sent a team to a regional final in women's basketball before, but that would be the end of the road for the Falcons. The Fighting Irish led by 14 at the half and outrebounded Bowling Green 43-26. Notre Dame led by 20 with five mnutes left and the outcome was never in doubt. Player of the Game was Notre Dame senior PG Aaliyah Armes, with 22 points and 10 assists.

Kingston, Rhode Island

Connecticut 106, Ohio State 103 (OT). This one was a battle to be remembered, but the Huskies came out on top in a game where both teams were prepared to come out galloping, attempting to run their opponents into the dust. The score was Buckeyes 55, Huskies 54 at the half. PF Ashley Wicklund could have tied it with the final short for Connecticut, but the miss from the top of the key sent the game into overtime. Even though the game was close, once Connecticut took the lead in the overtime, they never relinquished it.

(* * *)

March 27, 2012
CollegeInsider.com Championship

Harvard 66, Coppin State 64. The Crimson win their first "national championship" in women's basketball, winning the fourth-tier CollegeInsider.com championship on their home court. Coppin State could have tied it at the last second but PG Miriam Trinh's jumper falls short.

March 30, 2012
Women's Basketball Invitational Championship

St. Bonaventure over Mississippi State (62-71, 60-53, 58-42).

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES: We're getting to the end of Season One. I didn't think I'd even get this far, but the collapse of another messageboard I post on...well, it freed up some time.

I honestly don't know how things are going to play out. I haven't simmed ahead of time - I try not to do that so that the game can still surprise me.

As for the NCAA changes listed above, these have happened/are happening, with one exception. The limit on the full cost of attendance passed by the NCAA this week is $2000, not $3000. I decided to make the change because I needed something that would make this a distinct alternate universe. Right now, March 2012 doesn't look that much different from October 2011.

Next time: How did Mark Hawkins's last two recruiting visits go? How did the Final Four turn out? And what kinds of changes will be taking place in women's basketball for the 2012-13 season? And possibly: a visit with Athletic Director Willie Burbank...and someone unexpected at USD.

[Blackgamer2009]

I just stumbled upon this. This is very interesting to me in particular due to the fact that I'm currently attending the University of South Dakota. I might want to show this off to other people around me because they'll be particularly interested in knowing that someone out there is paying attention to little old Vermillion, South Dakota. You know that I like what you're doing here. Keep up the good work.

[Petrel]

I just stumbled upon this. This is very interesting to me in particular due to the fact that I'm currently attending the University of South Dakota. I might want to show this off to other people around me because they'll be particularly interested in knowing that someone out there is paying attention to little old Vermillion, South Dakota. You know that I like what you're doing here. Keep up the good work.

Thank you. It's a little difficult trying to figure out what the University of South Dakota is like from the comfort of Atlanta, particularly since it's hard to find detailed information about student lifein Vermillion, etc. etc. on the web. (Most of the web stuff about USD is obvious promotional stuff and the university websites.) So in a lot of ways I'm just guessing, so chime out if I'm getting anything egregiously wrong.

There might be a brief delay in the dynasty until I can figure out how to actually move Oral Roberts out of the Summit League without crashing the game. :D

[Petrel]

March 31, 2012

2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four
Denver, Colorado

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9702/4398429.jpg

Oklahoma 60, Florida State 41: The Sooners go to their first NCAA women's championship game since 2002, where they lost to Connecticut. The big question on the media' s mind was "What happened to the Seminoles?" The game was tied at 24-24 at halftime but Florida State would only score 19 points in the second half, with the Sooners starting the second half with a 13-2 run that kept the lead for Oklahoma in double-digits for the rest of the game. Oklahoma had a commanding rebounding advantage in the second half, with PF Breanna Davis finishing with eight points and 15 rebounds.

But more amazing was Oklahoma's 18-5 assist advantage, as the Soooners 2-1-2 zone was impossible to crack by eithe junior PG Vida Marcos (4 points, 1 assist) or backup PG Georgia Householder (5 points, zero assists). When Marcos was forced to shoot - and with the lanes closed the ball was often in her hands - she went 2-11 for the game after averaging double-digit points for the season. Brianna Davis would be named the Player of the Game and Oklahoma PG Harper Gray would finish with 9 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

Notre Dame 85, Connecticut 68: The Fighting Irish return to their second straight National Championshp game, and will once again face a Big Twelve opponent. This was very much like the previous night's game - both teams almost tied (the Irish led by two), and at one point in the second half the Huskies found themselves on the wrong end of 12-2 run and Notre Dame was just too skilled to let Connecticut come back to within single digits.

The Irish had the advantage at the free throw line, going 17-for-22 to the Huskies 7-for-10. In terms of quality it was a much better game than Oklahoma-Florida State, and the media would pick Notre Dame as the favorite over Oklahoma in the title match.

SG Mia Schaller had a great game for Connecticut with 19 points, but four of the Fighting Irish scored in double figures, led by SF Elizabeth Weimer with 26 points and seven rebounds. But the player of the game was Notre Dame PF Mia Gibson who shot 7-for-10 with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

(* * *)

The next Monday, April 2nd, I got some good news and some (possibly) bad news. The good news was that Caroline Herrington, the junior college player out of Virginia, had accepted a scholarship from South Dakota. That filled three of my six roster spots. The recruit list looked like this:

SG Catalina Stewart, 6-0, Valparaiso, Indiana (Valparaiso HS)
PF Abagail Merkle, 6-0, Hot Springs, Arkansas (Arkansas Baptist College)
C Caroline Herrington, 6-5, Winchester, Virginia (Southside Community College)

Regarding Herrington, I would call Coach Tomlinson and tell him that Herrington came through. A friend of his had asked Coach Tomlinson, who asked me to look at Herrington, and even though Herrington was more of a Stacey King than she was a Charles Barkley she had enough going for her to stay out of the discard pile. If we could keep her away from the training table, we might make something out of her.

"Good," Tomlinson said. "I'm glad to be able to do a positive for someone, but you're really going to have to work with Herrington. Good work ethic on the court but a bad one off it. How's the recruiting game treating you?"

"I'm still trying to pull the trigger on a few girls. I've got three spots to fill."

"Three spots? Holy crap, Mark!" Coach Ken didn't say "crap". "Who is doing your recruiting for you?"

"Caitlyn Williams?" I posed.

"You need to fire her. I would have fired anyone who let me down like that."

"I don't think it's her fault."

"My assistant coaches would have signed cats off the street before they left a scholarship offer hanging in April."

"Well, I threw a month's worth of money at a recruit and it didn't fall through." I was still thinking about Zoe McHale.

"Even so, Mark. Even so."

We didn't talk for too long after that. I suspected tha Coach Ken wanted to say something to me but he wouldn't say it. It made for a really awkward conversation. One of these days I was going to force it out of the old bastard. I wondered if I needed to make a trip to Virginia to corner the lion in his lair.

Of course, there had to be some bad news on April 2. Coach Williams stated that neither Leah Alexander nor Nora Ross had budged on their positions. Alexander was still in that "almost there" mode. Part of the problem I suspected was that a lot of schools were talking to Alexander: William & Mary was still hanging in there, but Alexander worried if she could academically cut it there. Clemson and UTEP had dropped out, but were replaced by Central Connecticut State, George Washington, and Holy Cross - all good schools.

But none of them had pulled the trigger. We had the only offer out there. It looked like Alexander was going to wait until the very very end to make her final decision - and if any of the above schools made a scholly offer we'd probably be left in the dust.

As for Nora Goss, we had made the only offer. But she was still thinking about Colorado Springs. It said a lot about our program at USD when a Division II school could compete with us.

Then there was Adalyn Matz, our 38 percent 3-point shooter. The only contact we had had with her was by telephone. There was no time.

But then we got some good news from Williams. "Coach, I've been looking at our recruiting budget. I've talked with the athletic department, and according to their numbers, we should be alloted a full month's worth of budget for each "partial month" that falls into the sport calendar. This means that we've been alloted for April!"

"How much?" I asked.

"The full amount!" Williams said with a smile. "We can do visits of just about any kind!"

Part of me was a bit angry. I thought we were done for the year financially - how could Williams not know about the extra money? If we had known that, we could have planned better and not run around like mad chickens at the end of the year. However...we still had a shot at things! We might still get Alexander and Goss and Matz! South Dakota was still alive!

"Emergency meeting. My office," I said.

"What about the Finals?" Williams said.

"Okay. Emergency meeting, my apartment," I said.

"No. My apartment," Williams said. "Yours is a train wreck."

(* * *)

"Here's the deal," I said that night. "We have a certain amount of money to spend on three people. Matz, Goss, and Alexander. I've already seen Goss and Alexander. What about Matz?"

"She had 13 points a game. Very interested," Coach Reavis said. "I think she's just waiting for someone to show her interest back. If no other school other than D-II is biting, you could seal the deal on Matz."

"Then I'm going to go for a visit to Matz before the end of the week. (The end of the 2012-13 signing period was the end of the week.) This leaves Alexander and Goss. Who gets the offer to come to campus if we can only bring one person?"

"Those schools like Alexander," Coach Ulmer said. "Now she likes you, but you don't know who she's been visiting or who is going to make a visit this coming week. I say where there's smoke, there's fire. Alexander's got fire. Get Alexander."

"Yeah, but Goss doesn't have any offers," Williams said. "Less competition, get the big win."

"Right," Ulmer said. "A big win that ain't worth having. Why would those other schools be interested if Alexander wasn't any good?"

I pounded the table slightly in frustration. "Katie, you convinced me. It's Alexander who get the home visit offer. We swung and missed on McHale, let's not go 0-for-2. If i have to pull Riggle or Grier out of class for an entire day, I'll do it." Allison Riggle and Bella Grier were my freshmen, and they'd be the first choice to host an on-campus visit. Anzhelika Bure was the other freshman, but as a Russian with okay English skills at best I couldn't trust her to make a sale.

"That leaves Goss," Reavis said.

"Caitlyn," I told Coach Williams. "That leaves you to go visit Nora Goss and do everything that you can to swing her and her mother into seeing South Dakota as a landing spot. We've done all that we possibly can. Alexander gets the visit to USD, and we press Matz and Goss in person. In five days, the recruiting deadline hits. See if we can get Alexander here from April 4th through 6th. Caitlyn, make the calls to both Matz and Goss. We both leave tomorrow."

"It's do or die time. And I know you've all played basketball, so you all know what that means. Now let's watch the game.

(* * *)

April 2
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game
Denver, Colorado

Oklahoma Sooners (#6, 32-5) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (#7, 32-5)

Notre Dame 81, Oklahoma 59: Notre Dame wins its first women's basketball championship in ten years with an 81-59 victory over Oklahoma in Denver, Colorado. The Fighting Irish had a 41-29 lead at halftime and the closest the Sooners could get in the second half was niine points. By the last five minutes they were already celebrating in South Bend. A 16-4 run by the Irish over the final four minutes of the first half would be enough to keep Oklahoma behind the eight-ball for the rest of the game.

The Sooners turned the ball over 21 times in the game. Heralded Oklahoma point guard and potential #1 WNBA draft pick Harper Gray was held to just two points in 34 minutes (although she did have 7 rebounds and 6 assists.) The player of the game was Notre Dame junior SF Elizabeth Weimer, with 26 points on 10-for-21 shooting, with six rebounds (four offensive boards) and four steals. Notre Dame senior PG Aaliyah Armes scored 14 points and eight assists in her final game for the Irish.


2011-12 OVERALL AWARDS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:

SR PG Kiersten Bunce Kansas State 15.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 8.1 APG 2.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Sophia Wakefield Oklahoma 16.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.5 APG 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Abigail Coles Tulane 30 - 3 (15 - 1)

All-league 1st Team:
C SR Andrea Yale South Florida 14.8 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.7 BPG
PF SR Alexis Loyd Tulane 16.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 2.5 BPG
SF SR Jamya Hans Stanford 16.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG
SG SR Emma Friedrich Duke 16.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.9 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PG SR Kiersten Bunce Kansas State 15.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 8.1 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Chloe Jones Brigham Young 13.8 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 2.1 BPG
PF SR Lyric Greenberg Stanford 18.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.7 BPG
SF SR Elsie Decastro UCLA 18.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG
SG SR Mia Schaller Connecticut 17.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.4 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Aaliyah Armes Notre Dame 12.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 8.1 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.4 BPG

All-league 3rd Team:
C SR Lilly Trueblood Dayton 14.2 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.3 BPG
PF SR Ella Gordon Lipscomb 15.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.8 SPG, 3.5 BPG
SF SR Harper Gray Oklahoma 10.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG JR Kylie Collings Texas A&M 18.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PG SR Victoria Gallo Middle Tennessee 15.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C FR Alexis Hoffman Syracuse 7.3 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.8 BPG
PF FR Anika Green Maryland 6.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.3 BPG
SF FR Alexus Bolick Old Dominion 10.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.6 BPG
SG FR Irene Mann Delaware 17.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Sophia Wakefield Oklahoma 16.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG



2011-23 SUMMIT LEAGUE AWARDS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:

SR PG Amanda Tiller IPFW 16.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.8 APG 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Saige Christie North Dakota State 11.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.3 APG 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Ava Welsh Oakland 24 - 9 (17 - 1)

All-league 1st Team:
C SR Taylor Neighbors Oral Roberts 5.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG
PF JR Chelsea Norris South Dakota State 7.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.8 BPG
SF JR Cheyanne Hardiman South Dakota State 15.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG
SG SR Hannah Audley Oakland 16.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Amanda Tiller IPFW 16.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Isabella Stafford Oakland 5.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PF JR Kendall Valerio Oral Roberts 6.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SF SR Myra Villasenor Oral Roberts 12.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.0 BPG
SG JR Aimee McIntyre IPFW 9.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG JR Haylee Mull North Dakota State 11.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C FR Addison Spinner Oakland 2.0 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PF FR Lindsay Moss IUPUI 4.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SF FR Yareli Morgan Western Illinois 4.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.0 BPG
SG FR Emma Vallee IPFW 6.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Saige Christie North Dakota State 11.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG


(* * *)

Three Summit League teams walked away empty-handed during the post-season awards. Those teams were UMKC, Nebraska-Omaha....and South Dakota.

It wasn't like I had a whole lot of time to mourn our poor showing in the post-season awards. I was on my way to Show Low, Arizona (population 12,000), getting on the earliest possible flight from Sioux City, traveling to Phoenix with one stopover, and then driving two hours or so to get to Show Low. The name of the city has something to do with a card game, with one street called "Deuce of Clubs Street".

Adalyn Matz was very much like a lot of women's basketball players, coming out of a single parent house. This was a little bit different. You tend to think "black player raised by mother" and not "white player raised by father", which is what Adalyn Matz was. Matz had a 12 year old sister and an 11 year old sister. Even though Show Low was fifty percent Mormon, the Matz's were Southern Baptists. Her father work as a manager at some apartment complex; money was hard to come by and the Matzes were squeezed into an apartment probably too small for them.

Adalyn was the caretaker of the house, squeezing in household duties - cleaning, cooking, and babysitting - with basketball practice. The other two sisters worked as well. Both of the younger girls played basketball. "It gets everyone out of the house," was Mr. Matz's explanation. "I like to have the girls running around. I think it keeps them out of trouble, too. I want them in with the right crowd. This ain't a great area around here, despite what people will tell you."

Even though Adalyn was the family cook, she would not be cooking for me. The Matzes took me out to a chain restaurant to eat. It was a little difficult to talk there, and I'll tell you one thing - recruiting visits that take place at chain restaurants suck. It's hard to hear yourself talk over all of the noise, and you're constantly distracted when out in public.

Furthermore, Adalyn seemed to have a case of the giggles. Her sisters giggled. They would say something stupid, and then they'd start giggling and then Adalyn would start giggling. Her father seemed to ignore it - it looked like Daddy depended on basketball coaches to apply the discipline. There was something about Adalyn that seemed very childlike and a little bit out of control. I knew she'd definitely have to learn to take things more seriously if she ever got out of Show Low; that giggling would turn off everyone but the horniest of horndogs.

I was relieved when we got back to the apartment, because the two younger kids were a bit embarrassing, always cracking jokes about something. (They would whisper to each other almost constantly, even during the video presentation.) I would just have to put up with the two of them, Mr. Matz didn't send them away.

"Adalyn, this is a chance for you to sign with a Division I program at South Dakota," I said. "We have three commits in a huge recruiting class and we want you to be number four. You won't have to worry about seniors elbowing you out of a chance to play."

It was the first time I got a chance to hear Adalyn instead of her father. "Well, I really don't know Coach Hawkins," she said. "I mean, Terry and Laurie, I have to take care of them and who is going to do that with me in South Dakota? I have three offers in New Mexico. Division II, and they all want me. And if something happens, I can get back home."

"Did they offer you a full scholarship, or a partial?" I said.

"Oh they said they'd pay my way," Adalyn said.

"Yes, but Division II schools have the right to offer a partial scholarship instead of a full one. Do you know which type they're offering?" Adalyn's only answer was a stupid look on my face.

"I'd like to see Addie's school paid for," Mr. Matz said. "Her grades are very good...but not in the classroom."

"I saw Adalyn's SAT scores, there will be no problem with her getting in at South Dakota. So tell me, Adalyn...do you want to be a Coyote?"

Instead of it being a question that packed emotional punch, it just sent Terry and Laurie Matz to giggling again and making jokes. (Laurie was slightly growling, and this made Terry giggle even harder. I wanted to slap that kid so badly, but I tried to be patient.)

Stayed there for two and a half hours. It was a horrible slog of an interview and could have taken half as long if it weren't for those two little brats. I would miss my plane coming back and would not get back until the following day. My body felt like it had run a marathon, but at least I wouldn't have any more home visits...not for a few more months, anyway.

(* * *)

That Wednesday, I had a meeting scheduled with Willie Burbank, the Athletic Director - I had to have it rescheduled due to my late-arriving flight. I felt pretty beat up from my last recruiting visit and I let him know that I had just got off a flight from Arizona.

He told me to have a seat...and then shut the door. "Well, Mark," he said. "It wasn't the kind of season I was hoping for. I think that pre-season schedule hurt you very badly. You finished 7-11 in the conference, and the athletic boosters were very happy with that - we were worried about a last place finish."

"I wanted us to play the toughest teams we could," I said. "If we don't win the conference, it doesn't matter anyway."

"Even so," he said. "Ten wins would have looked a lot better than eight. If you had scheduled just a couple of gimmies, you might have hit double digits. Tennessee? Really, we had no chance to win that game and we had no right to be there."

"Tennessee paid us a lot of money to come to that game," I said. "And our players needed to see what an elite program looked like."

"We are an elite program," Burbank said.

"Division II doesn't count," I said.

"If we didn't have success at Division II, Mark, we wouldn't be a D-I school now, and you wouldn't be sitting in that chair right now," he said. "Yes, I know you went to James Madison, but the whole world isn't D-I. Or do you want to put down our FCS football program, too?"

I let it go. "Anyway, as for D-I, they're going to let Claire Kelley go."

"What?" Claire Kelley at Tennessee was the most successful women's coach ever.

"You didn't see that coming, Mark? I have a friend who is a big booster at UT. First big game Kelley loses, they're going to nibble her to death with that disease she's got. Dementia, what a shame. I don't know what Claire Kelley will do without being a head coach. That's a shame. I feel sorry for who replaces her in Knoxville, they won't let that coach have a moment's peace either. If she doesn't win eight national championships, they're going to say about her replacement, 'well, she's no Claire Kelley'. Mark my words, we've seen the high water mark of the Tennessee women's program. So you can tell your grandkids that you played against Claire Kelley's Lady Vols in the final year that she was a coach."

"But anyway," Willie Burbank said. "Tell me about the new class."

I pumped up Stewart, Merkle and Herrington. Stewart was easy. "She's the jewel of this year's class. Underlooked, undervalued, and just needs the right coaching. That Valparaiso didn't get her is beyond me."

"Two JUCO players in this new class?"

"South Dakota State has the state tapped out in recruiting. I have to get players where I can."

"You have...four seniors? And three signees? Were you out looking for number four in Arizona?"

Willie Burbank couldn't count, or he didn't care to. "Yeah."

"You're a little behind, aren't you?"

"It's a tough year. The previous coach didn't leave me with much to work with."

"Hmph," Burbank said. He didn't agree, obviously. "Maybe you should look for more players in South Dakota, and fewer in Russia. Anyway, we've been keeping an eye on your program, Mark. We didn't want the Coyotes to finish last in the Summit League. You didn't finish last, so...we're happy. It's all we could have asked for."

"Therefore," he finished, "effective immediately, we shall remove the 'interim' tag from your title as head coach. I'm also offering you a contract for two years. Will you take it?"

Take it? If someone had asked me a year earlier...I wouldn't have known. Back then, I still had dreams of playing ball - shattered dreams, but I still saw myself as a pro ball player, or a semi-pro player, or an assistant coach on the men's squad. But the previous year...well, I think it ate my identity. For about 16 hours a day, I had been living, eating, drinking and sleeping women's basketball. I thought of myself as a head women's basketball coach, that was my new identity. To think of leaving it for something else seemed stupid.

"Sure," I said.

"You might want to read the contract first," Burbank said. "Not much of a raise."

Where was I going to go, anyway? "It will probably be all right," I said. "I'll have my lawyer look at it." (The only lawyer I knew was Coach Reavis, so I needed a lawyer that I didn't have to share salary information with.)

"In a few weeks, we'll talk with the trustees again. Thanks for helping us out at the University." I guess that was the most thanks I was going to get - it wasn't like Burbank would be adopting me into his family any time soon.

(* * *)

That same evening, Leah Alexander arrived on campus. She would stay for two days. I knew that no other university could be offering her an on-campus visit, which was a good sign. Bella Grier would be assigned to follow her around - Grier had been Catalina Stewart's escort, whereas Allison Riggle had been Zoe McHale's escort. Grier bitched about it, but I was going to go with my strengths.

Next year, we'd be bringing parents onto the campus. The new NCAA rules allowed us to pay for two parents to attend a campus visit. But this time it would be Leah Alexander all by herself.

She got the campus tour and the personalized attention of all three coaches - namely, because the team was in the middle of classes for most of the day. There were some advantages in that I knew the students couldn't take her on a wild party on Thursday night with classes the next day. Furthermore, Alexander could see what life was like at USD at a time when the temperature wasn't -15. (Even though it was still pretty cold, we were starting to thaw out. It was early April.)

Even so, Alexander had a lot of good things to say in our final meeting at my office before we took her back to the airport. "I feel very comfortable here," she said.

"Good," I said. "Then you can sign on the dotted line."

"Coach," she said. "I have to wait this out. South Dakota is a great place with a great campus. The team's great too. But if Central Connecticut State or Holy Cross make an offer - I have to balance that out. I can visit home a lot closer in New England."

"You've got a large family that can take care of your Mom," I said. "Holy Cross is a Catholic institution. You're not Catholic. And George Washington is coming very late into the game. We've followed you for a long time."

"Coach, when I get home," she said. "I'll call all of the coaches and I'll give you an answer as soon as I can."

That didn't help much. 11:59 PM on Saturday was the signing deadline. The money was gone. "Leah, we really want you here. But I'm not going to twist your arm. But I am going to say that we really want you at South Dakota."

It was about all we could do. Except for making sure that the phone was as close by as possible, and that it remained charged. The coaching staff would be camped out in our offices on Saturday - planning the following season....

(* * *)

At 7 am that morning I was shaving to get ready for the final signing day when my cell phone went off. "Hello?"

"<Coach Hawkins? This is Leah Alexander.>"

My heart skipped a beat. Before I could greet her, she said, "<Coach, I want to play at South Dakota next year.>"

It took all I could do not to shout out or pump my fist. "Leah, that's great news! Welcome to the South Dakota family!"

"<Coach, what do I need to do to get ready?">

"Leah," I said, "the first thing you need to do is to fax that National Letter of Intent. You make sure your mom signs it, and that all the blanks are filled out. And I want to emphasize this - don't stop faxing it until you get a receipt!"

(* * *)

I had made it to the DakotaDome by 8 am that morning, to share the good news with the the coaching staff that Leah Alexander had signed the National Letter of Intent. As I came into my office, my assistant coaches wanted to celebrate with me, showing me Alexander's faxed NLI when I entered the room.

At 8:15 am I received a call at my desk from Nora Goss. It brought our party to a halt. Goss would not be coming to South Dakota, preferring instead to attend a Division III school in California, Whittier College. I had never really spoken to her that much, she was Caitlyn Williams's project. Williams had made a last-minute visit to the Gosses in Nevada and now she had struck out.

We had four scholarships to give away, and at this point, we were pressing the phones. While we were trying to make some contacts on the phone, calls came into our office from players we had been talking to for over a year that were making their minds up on that final day. They were our safeties in case we couldn't land Alexander or Goss or Matz.

No. No. No. No. It was like a stock broker getting news off a stock ticker during the days before the Stock Market crashed. Everything going down. We could still call Adalyn Matz but I didn't want us to look any more desperate than we were.

At 9:38 am I received a call on my cell phone. It was Adalyn Matz. This was going to be big.

"Hello, Adalyn!" I said. "What's the big news today?"

"Coach," she said, "I'm coming to South Dakota!"

BOOOOOOOM!! I had stuck in there with her bratty sisters and it had paid off! Matz was now a Coyote! "This is great, Adalyn! Welcome to the family! You're going to love it here at USD!"

"Well, this is a pretty big jump for me, Coach! I have to leave everything behind."

"Adalyn, you know that we're going to do everything that we can to make you a success at South Dakota." Given her drive, I suspected that she'd be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting herself. We now had five signees. In my best dreams, I thought I would get four scholarships but both of my home visits paid off! Maybe I was doing something right!

"Guys," I told the coaches. "Let's get our #6 commit today before we get out of here!"

But it wasn't that easy. We went through the list of everyone we had ever contacted. It didn't take long. By a quarter after 10, we had learned that all of our prospects had committed to other schools. As we went through the list, we crossed names off the whiteboard and at 10:17 am every single name in our War Room either was crossed through or had a star next to it. Beyond this point, we'd just be picking scouting reports at random and cold calling.

I didn't see any point in that. "Okay. We did what we could. We had to replace 40 percent of the team. We managed to sign five players. I don't know much about this game, but I think that's pretty good. We had a real shot at six with Zoe McHale. I think that this season is now officially over. On Monday, we're going to erase this damn board and throw up twenty new names. Those names are our candidates for the Class of 2017. Start thinking about them...now. See you on Monday."

(* * *)

2011 Recruiting Rankings

# Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
217. Oakland Summit SG Kayla Toy *** 0 0 1 1 1
247. IPFW Summit SG Mya Sevier ** 0 0 0 2 1
252. South Dakota Summit SG Catalina Stewart ** 0 0 0 1 4
254. Nebraska-Omaha Summit PF Khloe Hopkins ** 0 0 0 1 2
269. IUPUI Summit SF Emily Nguyen ** 0 0 0 2 0
272. North Dakota State Summit PF Isabella Warman ** 0 0 0 1 2
311. Western Illinois Summit PF Claire Griffin ** 0 0 0 1 1
312. UMKC Summit PF Ryann Hunt * 0 0 0 0 3
316. South Dakota State Summit SG Lizbeth Ovalle ** 0 0 0 1 0


(* * *)

Recruiting season didn't begin until May, which gave the coaching staff a chance to relax. But there wouldn't be much relaxing. In the middle of the week, the "head count" Division I sports coaches at the University of South Dakota were invited to a special coaches-only meeting by Athletic Director Willie Burbank. The meeting was a semi-emergency meeting, held only four hours or so after he announced it.

So what is a "head count" sport? For men, it was football and basketball. For women, it was basketball, tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. Since there wasn't a women's gym team at USD, that left five coaches in total. Each of these sports could only offer full athletic scholarships. The rest could offer partial scholarships. For example, a baseball scholarship could be split among three players - 50 percent to one player and 25 percent to the other two. Such splitting was not premitted in a "head count" sport, for those sports one head = one scholarship.

I didn't feel like I was the odd man out. There were a handful of coaches that had been at USD for just five years or less. The men's basketball coach, Gerald Acevedo, was coming off a six-win season, not able to do much with Dennis Bohler's recruits. There was more than one fresh-looking face in the room. The coach emeritus of the group was Nathaniel McCaskill, who had been the men's football coach for nine years at Vermillion.

Burbank came into the room with two other people. One was Cody Johnson, the senior associate AD and head of external relations for the athletic department. (I had never met him.) The other was Chelsey May, the senior female representative of South Dakota Athletics and the school's NCAA Compliance Officer.

"I'd like to thank all of you for coming here on such short notice," Burbank said. "I've just come from a long day of conversations with the president of the university, John Hutchinson. Over the past week, I've spoken with the Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors and the Howling Pack board. These conversations were held to prepare us for a meeting of the Summit League. As you know, the NCAA recently passed legislation allowing conferences to determine whether or not they wished to pay the full cost of attendance for academic scholarships in Division I sports. Conferences would be allowed to play scholarship players the minimum of the full cost of attendance or $3000."

"The guidelines state that the stipend should be applied universally to all sports within a school's primary conference. By "primary conference" they mean the conference in which the majority of the school's sports compete. For the Coyotes, this is the Summit League."

"After a thorough review," Burbank said. "Given the present state of both the South Dakota economy and the national economy and after consultation with the governor and prominent USD supporters - the University of South Dakota felt that a "yes" vote on this resolution was not feasible for the university and its mission. A majority of Summit League teams agreed, and therefore the Summit League shall not offer a full cost of attendance scholarship. Instead, we shall offer the basic scholarship options that we have traditionally offered, a necessity-based scholarship in the majority of our sports. It is our hope that you coaches can keep us competitive in the Summit League."

There was silence. McCaskill simply asked, "Was this an unanimous vote?"

"It was not," Burbank said. "But there were only two schools that voted against the resolution - Oakland and North Dakota State. They might want to pay the full cost of attendance, but they're bound by the decision of the conference. Unless -- "

" -- unless they leave the conference," Johnson said. "There will be a lot of fallout from this decision. Hopefully, either Oakland or NDSU will stay with the Summit League. If both leave, we'd lose our automatic NCAA qualifier in basketball, and that would be a disaster."

McCaskill said, quietly, "What does this mean for football?"

"The Missouri Valley Football Conference will probably vote no, too," Burbank said. "The MVFC is hurting for money is what I've heard," Burbank said. "So that makes competition just a bit tougher and - !"

"Listen, Willie," McCaskill said, "this last season we had a Top 25, nationally ranked squad in the FCS. The football team drives the money for this university. We struggled to pull the Yotes out of Division II into Division I. And now you're telling me we're going to go backwards?"

"South Dakota State will be bound by the same restrictions as - !"

" - I don't give a shit what the Jacks do or don't do! This is a major reneging on the commitment of this university! You're taking this football team and turning it into a second rate team! How the hell am I supposed to compete for recruits if anyone can just swoop into this state and say, here you go, there's an extra $3000 for you, go buy yourself an X-Box?' Why the hell would the Summit League do this to us?"

"It isn't the League that did this to you," Burbank said. "This was a decision based on economic necessity. Do you know how much extra cash we'd have to scrounge up to compete with the Pioneer Leagues of the world?"

"We're building a new basketball arena," Acevedo said. "But it's not going to matter if we can't put anything in it. You can spend money for a 6,000 seat arena but it won't matter if the Yotes are just one step above Division II!"

"People, I'm going to show you where the fish pees," Burbank said. "The President of the University is not going to allocate more money. The building fund is already committed, and we're not going to have a half-completed basketball arena. The Boosters at Howling Pack have already maxed out. They're looking for the money, and they can't find it. Times are tough in this state. We could unilaterally raise student fees, but that might end up driving down admission and the President doesn't want future USD students going to South Dakota State. We could put it to a vote, but who knows what the students might decide? It would just be a contentious public nightmare. You saw what happened in North Dakota over that Fighting Sioux nickname? Every asshole in South Dakota would be putting his two cents in in a matter that does not involve him!"

"You want to blame me, Nate?" Burbank said. "Fine. Blame me. I'll fall on the sword, but I've been busting my ass trying to find cash that doesn't exist. I suggest that you go out there and whore for the boosters!"

"That's supposed to be the job of the AD!" McCaskill said, hotly.

"It's a lot more complicated that that. There are Title IX issues that have to be dealt with, too."

"Oh no you don't!" It was the voice of Keith Lee, the tennis coach. "No shunting this problem over on Title IX. If you don't like it, coach, go to the public and tell them why the male players are getting extra cash and the female players aren't."

"Because football is a revenue sport." McCaskill said.

I don't know what the hell got into me, but I opened my mouth. "Not enough revenue, it seems."

I found myself with an angry Coyotes football coach glaring at me. "Kid, you'd better pray football remains popular at this school. Your job depends on it."

But now Lee and Pullham - the other women's coach - were emboldened. "So how much of our programs are founded by student fees?" Lee asked. "And how many students at USD are women? I'm sure they'd have something to say about how student fees are allocated if they - !"

"Enough!" Burbank said, eager to stop this conversation before it reached a topic he didn't want to discuss. "McCaskill, shut the hell up! Title IX is federal law! Not state law! Not something that the Summit League pulled out of its ass! Federal law! It applies at Division I, Division II and - !"

" - and whatever-the-hell division we end up in!" McCaskill said. "This is a joke. This is the worst decision that we've made since we moved up. I've invested almost a decade in shaping this program, and now I don't know what to think. What am I going to tell my players when their high school teammates get recruited by other schools. 'Hey, guess what, Bobby? I'm getting $1200 more than you are. I guess you made a mistake in picking USD.' Because I'll tell you, Willie, they're going to ask and they're going to transfer."

"There is no money!" Burbank said.

McCaskill stood up and very quietly walked out the door. Burbank ignored him.

"This is reality, people," Burbank said to no one in particular. "Maybe someday. Maybe someday the Summit League will change its mind. Maybe someday we'll find the cash and move on to a different conference. But people, you have got to stick with the university. The future of Coyote sports depends on all of you!"

Lee whispered to me. "Burbank doesn't want to tell the truth."

"What's he lying about?"

"The university had Division I dreams," he said, "and then the price tag went up."

(* * *)

Lee and Pullham invited me to Mexico Viejo, a nice Tex-Mex restaurant down on Cherry Street. It was odd. We had never spoken to each other except in passing.

"God, what a nasty shot," Lee said. "At old McCaskill. Most people consider him a god, you know. He might kill people for saying less than that. He let you live, so you're lucky."

"Yeah, but isn't football a revenue sport?"

"He should create some revenues, then," Pullman said. Drew Pullman was the volleyball coach. "All that revenue that football supposedly generates for the school? It goes right back into football. Look at the salaries of McCaskill's assistant coaches. More that any of us get combined, except for Jerry Acevedo. I'm as big a Yote football fan as any, but it's a big money suck when you see it close up."

"It's harder on us, though," Lee said. "More pressure on us to win. The winning is supposed to make up for the limited resources. You're lucky. There are a lot of girls in this state that like basketball, but how many quality tennis players are there? This isn't exactly a tennis playing state."

"You think he'll stick around?" I asked.

Lee and Pullham looked at each other. "Man, I don't know," Pullham said. "I'm sure there are a lot of schools that would like a winning football coach. Schools that pay that $3000 stipend. He might not stick around yet. The U is between a rock and a hard place. I expect fees to go up sometime in the future."

"Can we recruit?" I asked, and that led into a long discussion about the difficulties of recruiting where we all shared woes. We all spoke to each other of how we scouted and recruited athletes.

"So which recruiting software do you use?" Pullman asked. "FieldRush? TeamBuilder? What's working for you?"

"I have no clue," I said. They both looked at me oddly.

"Uh," Pullman asked. "You do use recruiting software?"

"I have a recruiting coach. Caitlyn Williams. She uses it, I suppose."

"But how do you know what to focus on during your calls?"

"Caitlyn and I will talk about it, or she'll send me a written note."

"Riiight," Lee said. "And what are you going to do when your recruiting coach walks out the door?"

"And takes her notes with her?" Pullman said. "Then you're screwed. Didn't you say that you had recruited five out of six prospects?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, if I were you," Pullman said. "I'd get some decent software. Software that both of you share. You sound like you're stuck in 1954."

"And I would also fire your recruiting coach," Lee said. "You have to have some benchmarks for success. You're the head coach here."

"When did this become 'gang up on Mark Hawkins'?" I said.

"How many years were you an assistant?" Lee asked.

"None. I came into this job right off a court in Turkey."

"Well, I would talk to some other basketball coach. Maybe Jerry Acevedo. Recruiting has more to do with your success than anything else in this game."

"I know that, but Xs and Os matter."

"Anyone can do Xs and Os," Pullman said. "There's a movie I need you to see that will tell you everything about being a head coach. It worked for me in a big way."

"What is it?" I asked. "Hoosiers? Or A League of Their Own?"

"Have you ever heard of Glengarry Glen Ross?" he asked me.

(* * *)

During the 2012-13 season, several changes would take place in women's basketball:

Belmont left the Atlantic Sun Conference and joined the Ohio Valley Conference. Both leagues had voted against the stipend, so this changed little for Belmont. Campbell would also leave the Atlantic Sun Conference to join the Big South. Campbell wanted to improve its football profile, and the Big South had voted for the stipend, so once again little changed.

Texas Christian abandoned its single year in the Big East for the Big Twelve. They would be replacing Texas A&M, who would be joining the Southeastern Conference. These shifts had been in the news for a long time and were well-expected. Missouri had already made its peace with the Big Twelve and would play one final year of Big Twelve basketball in 2012-13 before joining the Southeastern Conference.

Oral Roberts left the Summit League for the Southland Conference. Travel issues were the major concern.

Texas Arlington left the Southland Conference for the WAC - basically, UTA was being replaced by Oral Roberts. Oddly enough, Texas Arlington had committed to the move before the issue of the stipend. The WAC was in favor of the stipend, and now some fans of Texas Arlington wondered if the school would survive the move to FBS football.

Seattle was finally accepted into the WAC, leaving its status as an Independent. They joined the WAC as a non-football playing member.

Two other teams left their statuses as Independents. North Carolina Central and Savannah State joined the MEAC conference, a conference of historically black colleges and universities. Savannah State had been put on hold by the MEAC for years until they could get their financial house in order, and just when the MEAC seemed to be satisfied the news that they'd have to pay out $3000 full cost of attendance stipends to their football players was not pleasing. North Carolina Central's finances were in better order and they felt they'd have no problems keeping up with the rest of the MEAC.

(* * *)

Over the course of April 2012, the final conferences came to a vote on the whole NCAA full cost of attendance issue. Several conferences had already made up their minds - the power conferences had no trouble in adopting the new rules.

The conferences which decided not to offer full cost of attendance were:

Atlantic Sun
Big Sky
Horizon
Ivy
MAAC
Ohio Valley
Southland
Summit
SWAC

The Ivy League was a special case. They had the money but refused to offer it, sticking to their ideas of pure amateur sport.

Other conferences struggled with the vote. The power conference schools were generally wealthy schools, easily finding a few extra million to give to their athletes. However, some conferences had a great division between their haves and their have-nots. Schools in one camp would find themselves dragged into the other camp by the conference majority, and it usually wasn't a place they wanted to be. It would be a while - years in some cases - before schools finally came to grips with the realities they were facing and abandoned their conferences, or downgraded their football programs . There was the threat that some schools might leave Division I all together.

Some schools, like the Missouri Valley Conference, found themselves betwen big rocks and very hard places. The MVC was affiliated - somewhat - with the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The MVC voted yes to the stipend, but the MVFC schools voted no. So if you were a football playing school in both the MVC and MVFC you had a case of football players not being offered the stipend but everyone else getting it. Teams with their feet in two difference conferences - and their fans - found the new guidelines confusing at best and infuriating at worst.

The MAAC had been split down the middle. They would hold off on the stipend for the 2012-13 season, but the matter would come up for a vote again in 2013.

In the meantime, the Big Sky, Horizon and MAAC women's basketball all took hits. They would find it much harder to recruit, having been effectively reduced from mid-majors to low-majors. (The Summit would take a hit, but not as hard as those three conferences.) The new stipend rules planned to make life very interesting for several schools - if they managed to survive the experience, that is.

(* * *)

At the end of April, the announcement was made that Tennessee head coach Claire Kelly was retiring at the end of a 38-year career that saw her win eight national championships.

The University came to believe that the program was in jeopardy. The team had been to 13 title games since 1984. Kelley's Lady Vols keep the university in the news. But Kelley's dementia diagnosis was threatening to overshadow the entire program. The Vols were rumored to have lost three recruits to better schools, recruits who felt that they couldn't be sure that Kelley would be with them all four years.

No one knew the truth about what had happened. Kelley in later years would call the experience "humiliating" when she was asked to retire by the women's athletic director at Tennessee (who would go on to call it "my most terrifying moment.")

Initially Kelley refused. The news leaked out somehow to reporters, and Kelley held a press conference saying "I am not retiring and I have no intention of retiring. That's not how I do my job."

An arrangement was offered to keep Kelley in the Tennessee program as an "emeritus coach" if she left now. Kelley rejected the offer. Finally, Tennessee told Kelley that they would simply wait until the end of the 2012-13 season, and then buy out the remaining contract year of the 2013-14 season.

"That was when I knew," Kelley said, "that I didn't have a job. They were going to get me to go no matter what."

A class act all the way, Kelley did a 180 degree turn. At the end of the month, she confirmed what everyone suspected. She was leaving the game. For all the talk about how supportive her fans and well-wishers would be when she announced her diagnosis, they turned on her the moment the Lady Vols lost a big game.

"You might think I'm most proud of the eight national championshps we won at the University of Tennessee," she said. "But you'd be wrong. I'm more proud of my players for what they've achieved away from basketball, rather than for what they've achieved on the court."

Kelley was one of the all time greats. She would be missed, and Nathan Padilla at Connecticut would become the undisputed king of women's basketball...for now, anyway. The next thing to be determined would be Kelley's successor at Tennessee.

(* * *)

April 2012

During this month, the Combined Forces Command between the United States and South Korea was dissolved.

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This command supported the multinational security force in South Korea. The dissolution of the command meant that operations of the North Korea/South Korea demilitarized zone would be turned over to the South Koreans.

Joint command between the United States and South Korea was also dissolved. From now on, the South Korean military forces would operate independently from American forces on the Korean peninusla. The South Korean Army consisted of about 650,000 troops with about 30,000 American troops stationed there.

The plan was not for the Americans to be leaving any time soon. However, this was at a time when relations between North Korea and South Korea were not good. Technically, the two states were still at war with each other. North Korea still insisted on large-scale military exercises and missile testing near the South Korean border. Tensions were still very high between the two countries after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel by the North Koreans almost a year earlier.

The hopes were that there would be no return to the war between 1950 and 1953 which cost 140,000 South Korean soldiers and untold North Koreans their lives. (As well as the lives of 36,000 American soldiers.) South Korea saw it as an important step forward in taking responsibility for their own fate. The North Koreans called it "the first step of ending imperialist rule over South Korea and the first step in reclaiming sovereignty of a United Korea".

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Well, that took a little while. Figuring out how things were going to end up with these new NCAA rules is what took the most part. A lot of time - too much time, perhaps - was determining on figuring out how conferences would vote.

I had to do two things I didn't want to do:

a) look up the endowments at a lot of universities, and
b) figure out the conferences of college football - I don't want this to be an exercise in figuring out college football to figure out college basketball.

I used a randomized standard of my own to determine how an individual team would vote. Without reproducing the specific rule, the rule was "the greater the endowment of the school, the more likely the school would be to vote for the full cost of attendance/$3000 stipend."

So what changes will be made in the 2012-13 season?

a) All of the conference changes listed above will go into effect.
b) The current academic probation setting moves up from 90 percent to 100 percent, which is the original game universe setting. The NCAA recently bumped the RPI rating and this change mirrors that effect. Each year, I'll randomly determine if female athletes have fully adjusted to the new standards.
c) Every conference which was determined to have voted against the stipend will be artificially lowered to a Prestige Rating equal to one (1) until either
c1) The schools change their minds and vote the stipend in, or
c2) The conference breaks up.

Oh yeah. And the Claire Kelley problem. The game won't let me artificially retire her, so I've wiped out her record and replaced her with her successor - who shall be replaced, and so on. We need a way to artificially retire coaches.

[Petrel]

May 2012

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Have you ever watched Glengarry Glen Ross? If you do, it will teach you a lot about coaching even though it has nothing to do with coaching or any sport.

It was a hard movie to watch. It was about desperation. The plot is that there are these guys who sell real estate parcels of land out of some dingy little office, and they ain't doing too good. Then they get the call to Jesus by the big salesman Blake who was sent in from the front office to "motivate" them:

"You see this watch? That watch costs more than your car. I made 970,000 dollars last year, how much you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? **** you, go home and play with your kids. ... If you don't like it, leave."

The "motivation" is that there will be a sales contest. First place is a new car. Second place is steak knives. Third place and lower is that you're fired. The salesmen live on leads, which are cards containing the names and phone numbers of people who have pensions or some money and who might be interested. The really good leads are the Glengarry/Glen Ross leads - but these guys won't get them. Because of their failures at sales, they'll have to make due with the crappy leads, trying to sell land to people either too timid or too poor to buy it.

Live on the edge. Succeed or you're fired. First place is a car (NCAA tournament), second place is steak knives (WNIT), third place is you're fired. That lesson was hard to miss. But the bigger lesson - one I missed the first time - was that these guys will pretty much do anything to make a sale, puff up clients, lie, cheat, and backstab each other.

Great movie, one I rewatch at least once every year just to remember the business I'm in. Women's coaches aren't the con-artists of Glengarry Glen Ross, but I've seen some pretty shady stuff, it is cuthroat, and your survival is on the line with every decision you make. If one recruit turns out to be the equilvant of the Nyborgs in the movie, you might be turning in your resignation one or two years down the line.

You don't think about sales when you're coaching. But in a lot of ways, that's what it is.

(* * *)

We received word from Willie Burbank that the University of South Dakota had found a little bit of extra money for women's basketball. They bumped up our small budget by 4.2 percent. One might say, "That 4.2 percent isn't a lot of money?"

Maybe not. But it might provide the squad with the cash to make one more evaluation. It might be the difference between an assistant coach visit and a head coach visit. Any extra amount of money could make the difference between getting a recruit and not getting one - and I knew that as soon as players found out about that extra $3000 bump that the big-money conferences could offer them (but we couldn't) that we'd need every bit of cash that we could get.

I thanked Willie Burbank when he called me up. "Oh by the way," he said, "tell me how you think we'll do next year. Give me your worst case scenario and your best case."

"Worst case? Worst case is that we don't progress. We finish just like we did last year, or worse. Best case? We finish with a .500 record for the year and maybe win a game in the Summit League tournament."

"All right," he said. "The boosters want to see us finish at .500 in the conference."

I thought about it. We finished at 7-11 the year before in the Summit League - two games out of .500. That would be equivalent to a 6-10 record this season. 6-10 vs. 8-8 - just two games."

"Mark," he said, "if you can get us a .500 record or better that might convince one of the Howling Pack to open up his wallet. It would be much appreciated."

"I'll see what I can do. I don't see my girls until July That's the earliest the NCAA will let us get them in. I still have walk-on tryouts in August for that missing scholarship. I'm trying to work on some professors with regard to scheduling, but everyone's preparing to go off campus after final exams. Summer's not a good time to talk."

Burbank patiently waited. "But..?"

"But we'll see how it plays out. I'm optimistic that we can win .500." I didn't bother to tell him that I was optimistic last season - when we started the year 1-10.

(* * *)

Final exams were over. That first Saturday of May, four senior women's basketball players at the University of South Dakota graduated. Harley Lewis, Morgan Tavarez, Saniyah Barth, Ellie Hester and Ashley Sayer were all gone. I was there during commencement at the DakotaDome. It was fitting that they got to graduate in the place where they had spent so many of their hours at USD.

I knew that Tavarez and Hester had dreams of playing beyond college, maybe in Europe. I didn't see it happening. They weren't good enough. I knew that Lewis, Barth and Sayer were moving on into the real world. God bless 'em. I think of people like me who have been lucky enough to turn a game a career; they have the much tougher jobs that we do.

An interesting sidebar was that I was able to meet Katy Jones, the former women's coach at the University of South Dakota, the woman whose job I took. She had recruited each of these young women, and had spent three years with those young women, and she had come back to USD to see them graduate. She had moved down to Division II, but she had not forgotten them.

(By the way - she was very polite. We had a very pleasant chat. She had mentally moved on and had no animosity to me. I didn't mention Emily Roque, and it never came up.)

(* * *)

There is a period in women's basketball when students from other colleges let it be known that they are unhappy at their present institutions and intend to transfer. With rare cases excluded, the bulk of those students declaring were two-points-a-game benchwarmers.

I made a half-hearted attempt at trying to get some of these young women interested in South Dakota - but for the most part they had no interest, and the kinds of players who made inquiries were the kind of players I didn't want. Either they got in trouble at their home schools that I didn't want to bring to USD, or they had a great overestimation of their talents. As I just wrote, most of these players weren't any better than the players I already had. I was just glad that my own players weren't walking out the door.

(* * *)

Meanwhile, at the University of Tennessee, the question remained as to who would be Claire Kelley's successor.

There were very many qualified names. Julia Rankin was considered the front runner, a former player under Kelley who now coached at LSU. Another promising candidate was former player Jolie Voight who was coaching at North Carolina State. Someone even suggested Ken Kelley, Claire Kelley's son who was on the men's basketball team at the University of Tennessee.

My understanding was that Rankin and Voight were interested, but each had recently stepped into their own head coaching positions. The administration at UT didn't want to deal with extricating these coaches from their positions there and instead made a very interesting choice for the new Tennessee Lady Vols head coach.

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Ember McGann was the 59-year old head coach at Mississippi State. She had been a graduate assistant under Claire Kelley back in 1975, so there was a connection to the UT program. She had gone to school in Tennessee (Chattanooga) and coached there for 11 years. After that, she coached at Kentucky and had coached the Lady Bulldogs since 1995.

There were many advantages in hiring McGann. She had had proven success at three different Dvision I schools, including one in Tennessee. She was known as the kind of person who could do a lot with little resources. There would also not be a need to pay her a Claire Kelley-level salary.

But the best reason for hiring her was that...she was old, relatively speaking. Tennessee admins figured that McGann would retire in four or five years, and by that time they'd have their choice between Rankin and Voight, whichever of the two was the most successful. At the time, I suspected that this wouldn't work out. There is only one Claire Kelley, and coaches like that prove to be impossible to replace.

(* * *)

Other moves in women's basketball were very interesting:

Richard Brake retired after several years in women's basketball at DePaul Unversity.

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He had been a coach at DePaul for 26 years. He had been a head of several USA national teams, a head of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and had even coached in the old Women's Pro Basketball League for two seasons. Brake was just one of those people whose corpse you figured you'd have to haul off the court, but he retired from the women's game.

His replacement was Janiya Snyder, the last person to get a win against Claire Kelley on the basketball court, knocking the Lady Vols out of the 2012 tournament.

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Snyder knocked off the Lady Vols in her first year at Wisconsin - and then jumped ship, Lane Kiffin-style! Unlike Kiffin, it wasn't like Snyder had some sort of previous DePaul connection. She was from Decatur, Georgia.

The reason she gave Wisconsin? "Personal reasons." Reasons which were never disclosed until years later, when she stated that her zeal to be a great head coach made her first year so stressful at Wisconsin that she had been seriously thinking of resigning. (Wisconsin had surprised many and gone to the Elite Eight.)

DePaul gave her a chance to start all over again and to forget the self-imposed stress of Wisconsin. However, Snyder's refusal to give reasons about her departure left women's basketball fans gossiping for years. There were all sorts of rumors about scandals of one sort or another at Wisconsin, or that she didn't get along with Big Ten culture, or other reasons. I don't think much of messageboards and fans.

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People saw Francesca Emerson's "retirement" at Kansas as something long in the making. She had been a successful coach at Virginia Tech, but her Jayhawks teams just couldn't cut it in Kansas. An 8-22 season in 2011-12 sealed her fate. She would be replaced by William Boyd out of Bowling Green, which ended 2012 ranked #10 in the country and which had come off an Elite Eight appearance.

Boyd was one of those coaches you knew was going to go somewhere big. At the press conference announcing his hire, he stated, "I want Kansas to be the American capital of basketball."

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A move no one expected was the retirement of Ella Kessler at Penn State. She resigned her position to become an administrator at the NCAA head office. After a 12-18 season in 2008, Kessler decided to put the law degree she earned at Notre Dame to work. She'll be replaced by Robert Calton, who took the Richmond Spiders to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2012.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/422/ncwaperretta01200.jpg

But the most significant of these coaching changes was the retirement of Timothy Palmisano at Villanova. He had been coach at Villanova for 24 years, but he had never been one of those coaches you felt was a great coach despite an impressive record of over 500 wins. Despite that, he had a grand total of one showing in the Elite Eight almost ten years earlier.

After a 13-17 season, Villanova took a close look at their women's basketball program. In earlier decades, ADs seemed happy if a program would not embarrass the university. It kept the Title IX crowd from complaining, and if you had even modest success a coach could parlay that into a salary for life. (Because no one was paying attention to women's basketball anyway.) But as the cost of being competitive in the Big East increased, and as virtually no women's basketball program turned a profit, the administrators of Villanova came to a conclusion similar to the same conclusion being reached across the country - "If we are forced to spend money for Title IX compliance, the coaches of women's programs are going to be held to a higher standard. 'Good enough for a women's team' isn't good enough anymore. Win, or get out."

Palmisano was eased out. He was replaced with Derek Cartright at my alma mater James Madison, a coach who proved he could win. I sent in my resume to the AD at JMU - but an 8-22 record failed to impress anyone.

(* * *)

The stipend began to make itself felt right in our own conference. The Sun Belt was paying. The Summit was not. And therefore, the coach of hated South Dakota State jumped ship. James Fillmore left a program that he had turned into a success in Brookings and went to Western Kentucky University. This was a real shocker, because Summit League fans felt that either Fillmore would stay with the Jacks until he resigned, or that he'd move up to a power conference.

But Western Kentucky? Really? WKU is an okay women's school - they were the Sun Belt Tournament champs and went to the NCAA tourney - but it wasn't like he was coaching at Kansas. Why leave SDSU for somewhere that's not so prominent. The rumor was that he wanted to go somewhere where his hands wouldn't be tied in recruiting.

He was replaced by Elizabeth Engstrom out of Portland State - the only openly gay coach in Division I women's basketball. I was shocked when I heard about it. South Dakota wasn't exactly welcoming to gays. Gay marriage was illegal in South Dakota and we were one of only four states in America that didn't have any openly gay government officials.

Oh, there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth from South Dakota conservatives, who are substantial and vociferous. However, they were basically preaching to the converted. No one's opinion was budged one inch by the arrival of a lesbian coach. Brookings was pretty much indifferent to the arrival of Engstrom. Sports talk radio tried to find the balance between having an opinion - one way or the other - that they could broadcast at 120 decibels but remain firmly indifferent to the sport in every other way.

I'll remember what one South Dakotan said in the newspaper. "I don't know what to think about this lesbian coach, but a lot of people on both sides sure like to get up on TV and tell everyone else what to think about it."

Another South Dakota said, "I'm just glad it got us on TV. We should hire more gay coaches if it gets the state this much attention. You'd think Jesus had come back the way people go on about it."

Of course, I was one of the first people the South Dakota media tried to call. I told them that all request for interviews had to go through the office of the athletic director.

Willie Burbank chuckled. "Mark, we've got the state's recruiting locked up now! Engstrom will be out at SDSU in two years. Donations will dry up. We'll take the lead in women's basketball! What parent is going to want to send her kid to SDSU?"

My response. "She took a nothing program at Portland State and turned it into a Big Sky powerhouse. Don't think it's going to be a walk in the park, Willie. You can say whatever you want about the Jacks, but the people that run SDSU ain't morons. Being a gay might make it easier to fire her when the time comes around, and she might draw more light that a women's coach would - but if she keeps taking the Jacks to the NCAA, then Brookings isn't going to care. My old coach said me, "Mark, winning heals all wounds. And championships are the ultimate rebuttal."

(* * *)

James Fillmore wasn't the only coach seeking warmer waters elsewhere. IPFW's coach moved on from being the winningest coach at IPFW to head the athletic department of the Chicago university he graduated from. He was replaced by an assistant coach from DePaul.

Only one year had passed. And now I was #7 in the conference in coach seniority. I wasn't even 30, but I was no longer the new guy in the Summit League.

(* * *)

May 2012

There was a lot going on around me in the world. The first thing, near the beginning of the month, was that the Shard of Glass London Bridge Tower opened in London, England.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3969/46londonbridgetowerpic1.jpg

Yes, it doesn't look like much to American eyes. But this thing was 1,017 feet tall. It wasn't just the tallest building in the UK, it was the tallest buiding in Europena Union. The thing was supposedly reinforced just in case, you know, someone decided to drive a plane into it. Or something.

The French were already proposing a taller building. Russia's Mercury City Tower, topping out at 1,056 feet (roof) and 1,247 feet (spire) was already taller than the Shard. But the Shard's sleek design would soon become identified with London the way the London Eye is. People wondered if the major cities of Europe would be dotted with skycrapers the way Manhattan is.

Also that month, the Nauka Module docked with the International Space Station.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9659/issspacestation493x369.jpg

The Nauka module is a multipurpose laboratory module, and when it was sent up it contained three Russian astronauts. Even though the International Space Station was technically "complete" with the addition of its robot arm earlier. However, the addition of both Nauka and the the Universal Docking Module (scheduled later by the Russians) might not have marked the completion of the ISS, but the addition of the Universal Docking Module had been proposed as the heart of the future replacement for the ISS - this lead many to conclude that the addition of Nauka finally completed the "old" space station.

But there was a bigger change coming our way. It hadn't hit the University of South Dakota...not yet, anyway.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2845/win8logo.jpg

On May 26, 2012, Windows 8 was revealed to the world.

Windows 8 was a big step up in desktop PCs. All of the touch-and-move stuff you associated with your Android or iPhone? That had been built into the desktop screen, which was touch sensitive, so in a lot of ways it was like a giant iPad. This wasn't much of a selling point, though, as people didn't realy like moving things across the screen by having to reach over.

But even though that widget was a failure (and don't get me started about the screen keyboard), Windows 8 was a quantum step more reliable than its predecessors. The Windows Defender was a sort of built-in anti-virus architecture and the Blue Screen of Death was becoming a thing of the past. It wasn't perfect, but an entire subclass of hackers and script kiddies were permanently out of work, their old dependable tools unable to crack Windows 8. All of those sticky-fingered porn surfers were able to visit websites without infecting their computer with Russian-God-knows-what.

It was a great "cross platform" computer - whatever that means. (The joke was that the "eight" in Windows 8 was really "two Apples".) It booted up faster. But the really interesting app was the facial recognition feature.

The desktop version and hardware could notice through motion sensing whenever a person (or cat, in some funny instances) whenever a person was in a room and leave the sleep stage to start booting up. When you sat in front of the PC, two embedded cameras would scan the face of the user and match it up to the Windows 8 internal memory, and automatically log you in and bring up your gadgets or widgets or whatever. The idea was that people were tired of having to memorize a thousand passwords. "Your face is your password" was the slogan, although we weren't up to retinal scans just yet.

Of course, it didn't work perfectly. There were attempts to hack it through photographic trickery, but the multiple cameras built into the desktop unit make success at tricking the facial recognition rare enough for people to be confident in security. Facial recognition software had had a long history of failure at airports and public places, but the success of the Windows 8 facial recognition made people think..."hey...maybe facial recognition is the wave of the future".

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Okay, yak yak, blah blah. A lot of stuff that went on in May 2012 is just fleshing out the fictional universe. There's not a lot of basketball going on here, except to indicate that yes, the 2011-12 season is definitely over. The seniors are gone now and it is a different world, although one still recognizable.

There really is a gay Division I women's basketball coach at Portland State. The game universe sent her to South Dakota State as soon as their coach fled. I don't know how the students at archrival USD are going to react when she shows up for that rivalry game.

We're one month away from the start of the recruiting period.

Next time: Making the 2012-13 schedule, and the players show up on campus for summer workouts.

[Petrel]

June 2012

Over the preceding year, we had been putting together a schedule for the 2012-13 season. This was done primarily from phone calls and messageboards. Most of this had been done in the Jones administration - but less so than previously. Last year didn't leave South Dakota much wiggle room, I had more room than before but remained constrained.

Even so, it looks like Jones's coaching staff and my staff had the same ideas - to coach weak teams up front and face progressively stronger competition as we approached the Summit League season. Willie Burbank had his doubts about this approach because it guaranteed that we'd be clobbered - we finished 1-11 last year in non-conference play. I liked it because it prepared us for the grueling aspects of Summit League play better than anything else I could think of.

The two games that dropped off the Summit League's schedule - those two against Oral Roberts, which had moved to the Southland Conference - gave me a little bit of extra flexibility. I had two targets that I thought might fit the bill - one on the road and one at home.

The road game would be against Nathan Padilla and the Connecticut Huskies. We would travel all the way to Storrs, Connecticut and face one of the greatest legends of women's basketball on his own home court. I didn't think much of our chances - I was no fool. But I felt that the trip we made last year to Tennessee helped, because it put a very hard to reach goal in front of our players - "we want the program at South Dakota to be just as good as the Lady Vols program". Going to Storrs would show us what a real women's basketball program was like.

The home game - that was a little difficult. We had a nice big gap of time after the finals of Fall Semester and I invited Boston College to come to Vermillion. The Eagles had finished 20-11 the previous year and had made it to the first round of the NCAA tournament. They had finished 11-3 in the ACC My hope was that we could somehow swing them to come to South Dakota.

No go. Definitely not in December. We kept negotiating with Boston College but at the same time we figured we'd try closer to home with a team that wouldn't be afraid of snowfall - the Cowgirls of Wyoming. Wyoming had finished the previous season 21-10 and 12-4 in the Mountain West but lost in the first round of the WNIT. But the Cowgirls gave us the snub. The impression we got was that a crappy team like South Dakota shouldn't invite a good team like Wyoming to the frozen wasteland of Vermillion.

After about three weeks of this, Sam Houston State chimed in, offering a home-and-home. The Bearkats were uncomfortably like us - 11-19 overall but 7-7 in conference play. By this time, I was sick of the bickering. Could they offer us a home-and-home where we played at our house first.

Yes, they replied, but it would have to be in January. I was so tired, I said, "Screw it, take up Sam Houston State on its offer." Granted, this game would fall in the middle of the Summit League season...I was just hoping that it wouldn't be on the same week as Oakland or SDSU or IPWF.

So now, presenting the non-conference schedule for the University of South Dakota for the 2012-13 season:


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

Date Opponent Record RPI Result Score Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/17/12 Eastern Kentucky 0-0 320
11/24/12 at Campbell 0-0 304
11/27/12 Murray State 0-0 295
11/29/12 at Utah State 0-0 238
12/01/12 Montana State 0-0 210
12/06/12 at Hampton 0-0 119
12/08/12 at Washington 0-0 90
12/13/12 at Brigham Young 0-0 111
12/20/12 at #10 UCLA 0-0 12
12/22/12 at #20 Maryland 0-0 11
12/27/12 at #5 Duke 0-0 4
12/29/12 at #4 Connecticut 0-0 6
01/16/13 Sam Houston State 0-0 330


Six of these teams had gone to the post-season the year before. Brigham Young got a WNIT invite as a representative of the West Coast Conference. Hampton had won the MEAC tourney and made it to the first round of the NCAAs. UCLA, Maryland, Duke and Connecticut had gone to the NCAA tournament with UConn making it all the way to the Final Four. Our strength of schedule would be great, if nothing else.

(* * *)

At the beginning of the month, the new freshmen would arrive on campus for the first time. Beacom Hall was offering a set of summer courses which gave us the excuse to bring everyone in. (In earlier years at USD, this wasn't the case.) We weren't allowed to scrimmage them in games but we could bring everyone in for a summer workout. We would get a good, close look at our new freshmen for the very first time.

Caroline Herrington: The first to arrive on campus, a transfer from Southside Community College in Virginia. A 6-5 center and now the tallest player on the team. I took one look at Herrington and said, "what have I got myself into?" because she looked like she had gained ten pounds in the off-season. Keeping her away from the training table was going to be the tough part of the summer, and Katie Ulmer and Raelynn Reavis would have to work her very hard. Her poor conditioning had kept her out of Division I for two years, and our job would be to pull a player out of all that fat.

It wasn't like she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. Over the summer, I would catch snippets of conversations between her and other players. (On the bus rides, I'd catch more of it.) She was a self-appointed nutritional expert, and seemed to know what she was talking about. She could tell you how many carbs and fat grams were in a donut - she loved to preach to people about anything - but she couldn't stop from eating those donuts. She was an intelligent girl with no talent for self-discipline.

Abagail Merkle: Merkle was my other JUCO transfer, this time out of Arkansas Baptist. A 6-0 junior power forward, I could tell that she had some natural talent and real basketball skills - the ones gained from hard work. On the other hand, I don't think she had ever had any consistent coaching, and Arkansas Baptist was quite happy to just give the ball to Merkle and let her plow over the kinds of players who could only dream of playing Division I.

I watched her shoot free throws. Very consistent. She hit 23 free throws in a row and I was just amazed, her technique was perfect. She'd be a good player, but I doubted that she'd be a real leader because she was so freaking naive. For being in about 5,000 foster homes growing up Merkle was the opposite of a person wearing a tough emotional armor. Merkle was the target of all kinds of practical jokes because she had apparently experienced none of them. It wasn't mean-spirited, because everyone loved Abagail, even me. But she was living on some other planet, emotionally, somewhere out in happy-land.

Catalina Stewart: The first person I ever signed, a 6-0 shooting guard. That quiet persona I had experienced during recruiting her? She stayed quiet, and it was hard to get a peep out of her. "C'mon, Catalina, say something!" I'd be screaming and I'd get nothing out of her. Someone called her "Fluttershy" after some cartoon horse and it stuck. From then on out, it was Fluttershy.

I could tell that it would be hard for Catalina to make friends on this team. I felt that she was already starting to regress a little, and I needed to bring her out of her shell very cautiously or I'd lose her for good. I needed to assign her a friend of some kind. I asked Jillian Ho, and the first words out of her mouth were "She's too quiet!" Catalina would be another project.

Incidentally, I asked Catalina one day how I was able to sign her. Her parents pushed her into it. I asked why, and she said, "Well...you were so polite!"

Adalyn Matz: Matz was finally away from her family in Show Low. I didn't know if we had any comedians on the team, but if we did I knew they'd have a receptive audience. Everytime you heard Matz she was laughing at something anyone said and she had the personality of a goofy 13-year old girl, sometimes to my annoyance. Many is the time I'd have Adalyn running laps because she snickered whenever I blew my top at the players.

Matz would prove useful as a social organizer even if I doubted her usefulness as a 5-11 small forward. She was the one who always wanted to organize Halloween Parties or Movie Nights or whatever. I had to enact my very first "no texting" ban during practices because of her, because she was always messaging or calling or e-mailing someone.

Leah Alexander: I'll remember Leah Alexander's first practice like it was yesterday. She had a little bit of cachet coming from New York, even if it was Long Island and not New York City - the way she talked, it might has well have been the Bronx or Queens and in her fashion and speech she came off as the tough city girl. I thought I had found my leader right away. Leah was a 6-2 power forward, and I thought, "she's going to blow away the competition."

That was until the whistle blew. We had some box-out drills. This was a three player box out drill where a player had to defend the shot against one player and then switch to the box-out role on the rebound. It could get really nasty when players fought for the ball. You could tell who was physical and who wasn't.

And Leah was definitely soft. She'd flinch from contact after a couple of good, hard bumps. Caroline Herrington bounced her out of the lane wtih a few well placed hip checks and she was never the same after that.

It was going to be a lonnnnnng summer.

(* * *)

With the team together for the very first time in the beginning of June - with the seniors telling the freshmen and transfers phony horror stories and everyone trying to figure everyone else out, we finally addressed the team.

"Before we put you to work," I said, "you should probably want to know what you're going to be working on. The first thing that we're going to work on is defense. Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships. We play the simplest defense in basketball, the man-to-man. If you can't play man-to-man you have no business being in Division I basketball."

"The second thing I need to teach you is how to talk to each other. Last year, this squad was too ****ing quiet. If you can't talk, there is no way that you're going to be able to beat the screen. You have to call screens! We will not give up a single easy basket this year! Nothing will get you on my bad side faster than that - and you don't want to be on my bad side. If you don't have a hand up on a shot, you'll be running suicides. That's our team motto. Last year it was "NEVER AFRAID", and this year it's "NOTHING EASY".

"The third thing I need from you this year is something that only you can give. If you're not a family - it won't work. If you want to be mad at each other at what someone said or hold a grudge, you can go outside and do that. But not in here. Not during practice, not in the locker room, not on the road, and sure as hell not on the court. When the uniform goes on, the drama goes off."

"And now," I smiled, "it's time to teach you about The Crucible. We don't play pushovers at South Dakota. If you were looking to fatten up playing a bunch of chickens, think again."

I had Coach Ulmer pass out the schedule so everyone could look at it. "We have a seven game road trip in December. This is going to test just how mentally tough you are. And you can look at some of the names on that road trip. UCLA. Maryland. Duke. Connecticut. You think you're ready to play against the toughest teams in women's basketball without falling apart? You'll see things happen on a basketball court that you only saw watching the NBA."

Some of the upperclass veterans started chuckling. I jumped right on that. "Before you freshmen and transfers get intimidated, just remember that the people behind you laughing are full of shit - we were 1-11 last year non-conference." That shut them up. Then I grinned, "But they made up for it in the Summit League, sorta. They can tell you everything about league play. 7-11 is good, but we want to be better. Right, ladies?"

They nodded and answered. "Last year, we started on the foundation. This year, we start building the walls. There's no more off-season. We start individual workouts right now!" I blew my whistle. "Burn up the court!! Let's see how much endurance you've got...!"

(* * *)

Seniors

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

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Inside shooting, jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rbounding, post defense, perimeter defense, steals, blocks

Interests: Antiquing, retro culture
Major: Criminal justice

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

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, 3-point shooting, offensive rebounding, post defense, blocks

Interests: Cuisine/cooking
Major: Marketing

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

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

Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Jump shooting, free throw shooting, 3-point shooting, passing, post defense, perimeter defense, steals

Interests: Dancing
Major: Criminal justice

Juniors

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

Sophomores

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

Freshmen

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: Undeclared

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: Undeclared

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

(* * *)

Over the summer, the University of North Dakota was forced to come to a decision regarding their mascot that had embroiled the university in turmoil for almost a decade.

For the longest time, the nickname of UND sports teams was the Fighting Sioux. In 2005, the NCAA placed the University of North Dakota on a list of teams with Native American nicknames that were perceived as objectionable. However, teams could get off the list by either:

a) changing their nickname, or
b) getting permission from a specifically-named tribal group to maintain the nickname. (This is why the Florida State Seminoles could keep their nickname.)

The NCAA determined that UND would have to get permission from each of the two major Sioux tribal groups in North Dakota. The Spirit Lake Sioux agreed to let UND use the nickname. The Standing Rock's tribal council refused.

To add to the acrimony:

a) a major donor plastered Fighting Sioux imagery all over the hockey arena he helped build for the school - you couldn't walk three feet without bumping into a Fighting Sioux logo. This was done to attempt to force the school to retain the logo by making it difficult to remove.
b) the North Dakota legislature, dominated by Republicans, decided to get involved in protecting the Fighting Sioux logo against "PC thuggery".

The NCAA had weapons of its own. They stated that as long as the Fighting Sioux retained their nickname, no NCAA championship events could be held at North Dakota - and the university had a top flight arena and a Final Four-contending hockey team that was the pride of the school. Furthermore, other schools began declining to schedule North Dakota, not wanting to offend their own student bodies or piss off the NCAA. (Rumor had it that the highly ranked Iowa women's basketball team cancelled a visit to UND for that very reason.)

Watching this with greater and greater unease was the Big Sky Conference, the newest home of North Dakota athletics. They wanted no part of this controversy, and it became very clear that the Big Sky was willing to use its clout. North Dakota was finally given a ultimatum - lose the nickname, or go back to being an independent.

North Dakota, finding damage to its sports programs inevitable, conceded. They scrubbed as much of the old logo from its arena as it could and the state legislature agreed to give up the fight.

This left the student body to determine a new nickname, and the university made it known to the students that it would be the administration that had final approval - a write-in campaign for the Fighting Sioux would be a futile and useless gesture. Therefore, the students and North Dakota hockey supporters found a way to tweak their university and the NCAA:

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6200/ndsuhaki.gif

The new name became the North Dakota Suhaki. (Pronounced "Sioux Hockey".) And yes, Virginia, the suhaki are real animals. The best name is the Saiga antelope, which is also known as the suhak in Polish. And the plural of suhak is suhaki.

It solved the problem. It was a winter animal of Central Asia, proving a connection to the cold of North Dakota and the sport of hockey. It made for a cool-looking mascot. And it got as close to the line of tweaking those who hated the name of "Fighting Sioux".

All sides could live with the compromise. There were a few bitter Fighting Sioux holdouts, but after a few years, the logo of the Suhaki stood for North Dakota sports excellence - and moved a lot of sportswear merchandise.

June 2012

Two developments marked the middle of 2012.

The first was that Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee was finally celebrated. She crossed her 60th year of rule of the Commonwealth in February of 2012, but the official celebrations started in June. It started with the Queen attending the Epson Derby.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3717/epsomderbycsdavbuoi6xl.jpg

For the rest of the week the Jubilee was celebrated with 1,000 boats from around the world making their way down the Thames, led by the Royal Barge. Thousands of beacons were lit up around the world, stabbing at the night sky in the Commonwealth countries. The whole thing was topped off by a massive concert at Buckingham Palace.

It was called the "Party of the Century", even though there were some criticisms that the event was "not British enough".

But while the Brits were celebrating the Queen, Americans were looking forward to something...from Japan.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/710/supermariobroswiiuoxcgn.jpg

The Nintendo Wii U was finally released to the public. Among the features it had was a handheld controller where one could either transmit the game to the television set or to the controller...which had a screen of its own. The new controller was motion sensitive and cold work in concert with the televised image, showing a view from two different perspectives.

The general consenus from hardcore gamers was that it didn't bring all that much to the Wii. "It's just a Wii with a larger controller," gamers complained. But the Wii U really wasn't built for hardcore gamers. Nintendo knew that hardcore gamers were only a segment of the potential market; the non-gamers were a legitimate market that Nintendo wished to corner. It was designed to be cheap compared to the upgrades scheduled by its competitors, XBox and Playstation.

All I knew is that people were arguing about this a lot. I was too busy to play computer games. I had a team to run.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

And June is out of the way. Up next will be July, where we actually start recruiting for the 2012-13 season. I thought I'd have a lot of comments to make here, but I guess not, or maybe I just forgot them.

[sportsfanmas]

good stuff petrel. I send you a private message about a project I have going on, seeing if you're interested. I like the womens dynasty, good work.

[Petrel]

July 2011

Just before the beginning of July, the four coaches of the women's program at the University of South Dakota - me (head coach Mark Hawkins), recruiting coordinator Caitlyn Williams, assistant head coach Katie Ulmer and scouting coach Raelynn Reavis were watching film of Sofia Owens, a soon-to-be senior out of Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Indiana.

At 6-10, she was head and shoulders above the rest of the players on the court, quite literally. The gave her some amazing statistics, like a 60.8 percent shooting percentage. "Look at her back up to the basket like Shaq," Williams said. "There's no one that can stop her."

"Not the fastest player I've seen out there," Reavis said. "But better than anything that we've got."

"Watch this," I said, "here it comes."

Bloomington managed to get the ball on a breakaway to Owens, who trotted down court and tried a dunk. It was sort of an anemic-looking dunk - not the kind that would win her the NBA Slam Dunk Challenge - but it definitely counted as a dunk.

"Height-assisted," Ulmer scoffed. "If she wasn't 6-10 that wouldn't have been no dunk."

"There are a lot of NBA losers at 6-10 who can dunk," Reavis said, "but no one's ever heard of them. A 6-10 women's player who can dunk? There should be a lot of interest."

"That's just it," I said. "The big schools are shying off - even though Louisville is interested, the other schools are local. Indiana. Indiana State. Butler. IUPUI. I think that South Dakota has as much right to call itself a local school as all of the others.."

"So you're going after Owens?" Williams said.

We were sitting in what I called the "War Room", a room that had nothing but whiteboards in it and four chairs, and a room to which only Williams and I (and the facilities physical plant) had the key. On one of the whiteboards was a list of names I had added.

"Guys," I said. "We're in an interesting situation here. Last year, we were scrambling to fill six open slots on this team. This year, we only have two open slots, and they're at the same position - power forward. But our recruiting budget is the same as in the previous year. This gives us a lot of freedom, something we didn't have last year."

"There are two philosophies in recruiting," I said. "At least, two philosophies for a school like South Dakota. The first is to swing for the fences and try to get the best we can - !"

" - like Zoe McHale," Williams said.

"Don't even remind me of Zoe McHale. She's dead to me. We spent a month's worth of money chasing after her." I laughed. "We won't even mention Zoe McHale's name again. (McHale had gone to Florida A&M.) The other philosophy is to think small and try to get what you can get. We were okay on that last season. We got some players who can contribute, but I don't think they're going to be even second-team Summit League."

"Two philosophies," I said, "and two positions to fill. So we're going to split our thinking. For the first position, we're going to try to go all-out and snag a 3-star player or better. We are going to walk up to the plate and swing for the home run. We are going to camp in this girl's yard and we are not going to let the big dogs scare us out of it."

"For the second position," I continued, "we'll play it much safer. We'll try to get the kind of player that South Dakota traditionally gets. Last year, waiting until April to sign the last of our players was nerve-racking, and we didn't succeed."

"So Sofia Owens is our 3-star we want to get?" Williams asked.

"You got it," I said. "That's our target. At ESPN Rise (which had replaced Hoopgurlz) the only schools that have mentioned any kind of interest in her are the ones I mentioned - a bunch of Indiana schools, basically. If you're a 6-10 young woman who averages 20.5 ppg and 9.7 rpg, you're going to get attention. But I want her to know that there's a whole world outside of Indiana."

"Wouldn't she be an automatic 'get' for Indiana?" Coach Reavis asked.

"Who knows?" I said. "Maybe she doesn't want to go to Indiana! Those are the schools that are interested in her...we don't know if she's interested back. Maybe she doesn't like her fellow Hoosiers. Oh, and by the way? We're offering her a scholarship right away, sight-unseen. We need to get our feet in the door, particularly without that $3000 stipend other conferences can offer."

"Now before we all start thinking about recruiting, we're going to do things a little differently this year. I spent some time this morning talking to Coach Acevedo and Willie Burbank and what we're going to do is to license the King Kong Recruiting System for the women's team at USD. They just call it 'Kong'. What it is? It's a computerized database where we are going to store all of our recruiting information."

"No more Excel spreadsheets," I said. "No more handwritten notes. No more paper phone logs. If it is done - then it's going to be done on Kong. We're going fully computerized this year. Everything we write down is going to be available to the entire coaching staff."

"What the hell?" Coach Williams said. "Mark, you should have told me! All of my stuff is hand written!"

"Maybe I should have told you first," I said. "But everyone on this staff has something to do with recruiting. I'm hoping sometime in the future to be able to get a graduate assistant, and they're going to have to make phone calls and keep phone logs. It makes no sense to have a hundred pieces of paper scattered all over the place. We need it all at one point."

Caitlyn looked mad, madder than I think I had ever seen her. "What are we going to do on the road? We'll just have to print that stuff out."

"Willie Burbank is purchasing iPads for the entire coaching staff. Kong can be accessed from an iPad, laptop, phone, whatever. We don't need to be here to use it."

"Right, but I'd still have to type everything I've got! That's hours of work!"

"Nothing changes there. We only type stuff in going forward."

"I'm not a great typist! And I don't want to have to learn some new computer system."

"Caitlyn?" I asked. "Are you just going to drag your feet on this? This is done. We're doing it."

Caitlyn Wiliams didn't take her eyes off me for five seconds. She just picked up her recruiting folder and stormed out of the room.

Raelynn and Katie were shocked. I don't think either had seen Caitlyn Williams so much as say an unkind word or do anything that would indicate any kind of displeasure at anyone. They looked at each other, and then at me.

"Well," I said. "I hope I'll still have at least two coaches by the time today is over."

(* * *)

Caitlyn came back later that day. I barely got a sentence out of her for two weeks, until she returned to normal. "I was about to turn in my resignation that day," she said. "I felt like I was ambushed." Caitlyn, however, overcame her computer phobia and was forced to follow Kong's organizational scheme. I think it made things better, although there was some time delay sometimes between Williams making a call and writing it up and we were forced to endure Coach Williams's misspellings. Williams's laxity with phone logs made me worry that someday we'd run afoul of NCAA compliance.

(* * *)

As it turned out, putting together the list of three-star players was a lot harder than putting together the list of players we thought we could automatically "get". One problem was free-throw shooting. Finding a 70 percent free throw shooter at the post position was turning out to be impossible; I was going to have to learn to be happy with 60+ percent.

There were some really tall women out there as recruits, a change from previous years. You'd be lucky in the old days to find a women's player at 6-8 or taller; there were quite literally a handful of those players. But this year there were literally hundreds of players - it was an explosion in height that left experts flabbergasted!

Part of it was due to the fact that the state of medical technology made it possible for tall women to live normal lives. By "tall women" I don't mean 5-10, I mean heights above 6-5. Good medical care had allowed these women to remain healthy and avoid the serious medical complications that came from increased height.

The second reason is that with the increase of resources devoted to women's college basketball, tall women were no longer overlooked (so to speak) by college coaches. Coaches were becoming less and less likely to take "no" for an answer and there was a need for tall women.

The third reason was that this increase in resources made it more likely that a tall woman would consider athletics as a career. In basketball, they had a natural advantage and unlike in previous decades, there was the opportunity to make money in either the WNBA or in Euroball.

Of the twelve women we planned to evaluate in the month of July, every single one of them was 6-5 or above. This year, I'd rely more strongly on the assessments from the scouting services we had purchased until I could see these women up close and personal.

One of them intrigued me, the 6-9 Robert Holloway out of Rosepine High School. Her given name was "Roberta" but she decided that she was going to be "Robert" and that was that. She looked like a Robert Holloway, bearing the tattoos and attitude to go with the 14.3 ppg and 10.2 rebounds per game that made her All-State in Louisiana.

This brings me to an interesting side bar: tattoos. In men's college basketball, they're ubiquitous - you'd have to look long and hard in some schools to find a male athlete that didn't wear tats, sometimes a whole sleeve full. In women's basketball, tattoos weren't so easy to find.

Part of it might have been gender-related - maybe women didn't like/need tattoos as much as men did. On the other hand, a lot of schools - Nathan Padilla up at Connecticut, for example - stayed away from recruiting girls with "body art". (Then again, he had his pick of recruits, so he could afford to be fussy.) Other schools made it a rule that tattoos couldn't be seen in public - they had to be covered with a bandage, or a stocking, or something.

I never got into tattoos and I was one of the few pro (or semi-pro) players that didn't have a single tat. My teammates teased me for it - Powerhouse Pondexter gave me a particularly hard time - but my attitude was, "I don't want to wear the same shirt for the rest of my life." There's a reason they put erasers on pencils, you know.

Even so, Robert Holloway was a piece of work. They were going to have to have her wear a burka if they wanted to cover up her body art. What did I think? I thought that I had no time to be the body art police. As far as I knew, the Athletic Department had no policy. Could tattoos be a red flag? Sure, if they came with a "**** you" attitude. I didn't need that kind of attitude on the court; let someone else deal with the primadonnas. But if it was just about artistic expression, then as long as they gave 110 percent on the court and could be coached...I really didn't care.

(* * *)

That July we received some shocking news out of Oklahoma State. Joseph Hysell, a man who had been a coach at Oklahoma State for seven year, died in a plane crash on the way to a recruiting trip to an AAU game in Arkansas.

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His recruiting coordinator was killed as well as the pilot of the aircraft - an 83-year old Oklahoma state senator - and the pilot's wife. Hysell had signed a contract extension through June 2017.

This was the second time in just over a decade that Oklahoma State suffered a tragedy with its basketball program. In January 2001, there was a crash that killed ten people affiliated with the Oklahoma State men's team.

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The men's basketball memorial statue at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

After that crash, it was required that all planes used by any team undergo a safety check before take off but recruiting trips were exempt from those rules.

The news shocked a lot of people in women's basketball. Because women's basketball has a smaller profile than men's basketball, there is more of a feeling of being in a family in this sport, and losing Hysell was like losing a family member. I can't imagine how his family and his players must feel. I never had a chance to play against him, but in some strange way, I feel the loss.

(* * *)

July 2012

On July 27, the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games were held in London, England.

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The London Olympic Aquatic Center.

With the world's economy more or less in the toilet, the London Olympic Games were a target for both protestors and anti-protestors. Some Londoners didn't want the Olympics at all. Other forces, like Occupy London/Occupy UK wanted to bring attention to the problems of economic injustice.

Meanwhile, the anti-protestors were doing everything they could to keep whom they considered belligerents "out of sight, out of mind", attempting to cordon off as much of the games from the protestors as they could while at the same time keeping them open to the public and the media. The British media didn't help, trying to hype up the threats of terrorist attack either from black-masked anarchist protestors or turbaned terrorist suicide bombers, whichever would sell more papers on any given day. (The numbers hyped up for the suicide bombers were as high as 200 from the Daily Mail.)

Suffice it to say the level of security was a bit ludicrous. On the other hand, the world got to see the new construction projects which were timed for the Olympics to come to fruition.

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Crossrail, a major rail network under London, was finally completed, linking Heathrow Airport by rail with most of London for the very first time.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

When modifying my women's basketball universe, I created a new heights.ini file to reflect female height vs. male height. When I create my version 2 of the women's basketball mod pack - and it is coming - I'll be adjusting the heights downward. Until then, we'll just go with the flow when it comes to all of these 6-6+ women's basketball players.

The King Kong Recruiting System is fictional. I promise.

Regarding Robert Holloway - that's the name the names file generated and I'm sticking to it!

I attempted to address Kurt Budke's death in-game in the most tasteful way I could think of.

[Petrel]

August 2012

It was August, and i was glad to get back home. Most of July had been spent on the road evaluating players, but the AAU calendar seemed to come to a halt in August. Most AAU programs were trying to figure out which players they were going to move to their Elite Teams. All of the various AAU championshps had been determined. All of the exposure camps for the senior classes has taken place.

August was supposed to be the time when kids were talking to coaches. With the new NCAA recruiting rules going into effect in 2013, this would change. There had been a problem with the girls basketball calendar. The way things had gone - in 2012 for example - was like this.

July: AAU Ball and Exposure Camps
August: AAU Ball over, Exposure Camps over - players field calls and coaches take home visits
September: School starts, players take campus visits
October: campus visits continue
November: earliest to sign National Letter of Intent

The problem was that most power schools didn't want to wait until November to sign their five-star players. They wanted them signed now, as in "yesterday". Frankly, they wanted their players wrapped up by August at the latest. The campus visit was to be a formality and the players were getting pressured in a lot of ways.

For example, a player could only take five official visits, but she could take as many "unofficial visits" as she wanted to. An unofficial visit is like an official visit - except that the player/player's family is paying for it. In the men's game, you could drive a truck through the abuses of unofficial visits. The NCAA could audit a school's finances, but how were they going to audit a family's? Money somehow "found" its way to a player and a player's entire family would travel from Florida to California on first-class air mysteriously, despite not having enough cash to buy a pot to piss in.

This hadn't started happening in the women's game - not yet, anyway. But there was more pressure on players who lived close to a university to make unofficial visits.

The second problem was "deadlining". I know Nathan Padilla at Connecticut and Sloane Hunt over at Stanford were using it. Basically, you told the recruit, "We think there are five point guards who can play at Connecticut. You're one of them. But we're going to sign the first one that commits!" Suddenly in July, you had to make a decision on a school in days instead of months, lest someone jump ahead of you in line. (Did South Dakota deadline? Ha! We didn't have the status to deadline in 2012-13!)

But things were changing. Since June 15th, we had the right to text message kids as early as sophomores and to make unlimited use of social media. We could make unlimited calls now as well. This was an attempt to wrestle with the factors mentioned above. If the big powers were going to try to secure their top recruits months in advance, other universities needed the advantage of that months in advance head start.

We weren't at the point where we could start chasing sophomores. Not yet. We still needed the approval of getting a graduate assistant who could take some of the recruiting load off of our backs - to do the scut work for us. I suspected at some point we'd be recruiting from the embryo.

(* * *)

By August, I knew a lot about Sofia Owens, our blue-chip power forward that was one of our major targets. She could shoot - you have to shoot to score 20.5 points per game. I thought she was deserving of her high status.

Other parts of her game bothered me. She was generally the go-to person at her high school in Indiana and was the kind of person who was smart enough to avoid the obvious sideline traps and double-teams. But when she had to pass out of a double-team, she had a lot of trouble finding the open man - those balls went right into the third row. Furthermore, for a power forward she had an awful sense of timing when it came to defending - she was not very quick and didn't have the kind of shot-blocking skills I'd like to see in a post.

Even so, there were a lot of advantages. Owens was smart and with a 1200 PSAT I'd never have to worry about her on a weekend - she'd be in front of a book somewhere. Williams liked talking to her and the coaches loved to chat about how an Owens would transform our post game.

Then, on August 7th, we got word that Middle Tennessee State had made a written offer. It was about the worst news we could. She had five dream schools listed at ESPN Rise, and of the five MTSU was the dreamiest in terms of status. Middle Tennessee State walked right into the casino, and threw a big stack of hundreds right on the roulette wheel. We now had a top rank competitor.

The coaches held an emergency meeting right afterwards. "Well," I said, "the plan of us getting a big blue chipper hit a fire hydrant."

"I think we primed Owens," Williams moaned. "Once we sent her that written offer of a scholly, MTSU said, "oh, crap, we'd better answer that right away". It didn't scare them away at all."

"At least we know where we stand," Katie Ulmer said. "Sort of. We didn't even get a mention on ESPN Rise."

"If we can get Owens it's a huge win for our team," I said.

Raelynn Reavis spoke up. "Mark, if it looks bad for Owens I want to suggest that girl out of Texas, Kendall Henning. Her ball handling's a little weak."

" - can't play no defense," Ulmer said.

"Maybe, but she blocks about two to three shots a game. She's 6-7. She sends those shots to Jupiter."

"And when she doesn't block them, they go right in the basket," Williams said. "Besides, Mark, you want to sign another JUCO? We're going to get a reputation as a school that can't recruit."

"There are worse fates in the world," I said. "You have a lot of reason to think that JUCO players can handle the academics. They've got reason to work hard."

"And they shorten your recruiting cycle," Williams said. "You really want a replay of last year?"

(The short answer was "no".) "I want to point out Breanna Vanscoy," Reavis said.

I knew Breanna Vanscoy was coming. Vanscoy was a 6-7 All-State power forward out of North Ridgeville High School. I had seen her and I had requested game footage - after about two weeks, her high school finally deigned to send me some. By this time, the other coaches had seen what I was looking at.

"Vanscoy is going to be a lot better than Owens," Williams said. "She could start for us right now, and she's got offers from Cleveland State and Duquesne. If you want to compete with a school that's out of your league, I'd rather take my chances with Cleveland State and Duquesne than with Middle Tennessee State."

"Yeah," I said, "but the whole point of this was to put part of our eggs in one basket. We can't get scared now. Furthermore, all we know is that Cleveland State and Duquesne are interested now. We don't know about next week. We don't know if, say, Cincinnati and Ohio State will be interested the week after that. Would I love Vanscoy? Hell yeah. Am I going after Vanscoy if Owens stiff-arms us? Definitely. Caitlyn, is Owens giving us the cold shoulder yet?"

"No," Williams said. "I don't have any sign that she's not keeping her options open. I know that we're not one of her favorite schools, but she's said nothing about us having no chance."

"Then we stick with Owens. It's too soon in the game to panic. I'll be visiting this month and I'll see for myself. Now...I want to talk about Aaliyah Gray."

We had split our recruiting focus into two categories of players: "achievable dream players" (Owens) and "low hanging fruit". Gray was of the low hanging fruit variety. She had high interest in South Dakota, she had returned our questionnaires from a year earlier. "Caitlyn, how is Gray?"

"She's got offers from Brigham Young...and Denver. I just heard about the Denver offer. I expect Colorado and Northern Colorado will jump into the mix."

This was worse news than Owens and Middle Tennessee. We had seen her play and liked what we saw. But others had seen her play. I could afford to swing and miss on Owens, but not on Gray. "Back off from Gray," I said. "We'll have to find someone else interested in South Dakota."

"We're not having much luck," Caitlyn said.

I stared at her. "Look harder," I said.

(* * *)

We continued to evaluate players - if we didn't have the AAU to look at, we could always request film (which had to be paid for). We finished our list of local players - no one really far away - that we thought might show an interest in South Dakota.

In the meantime, we had Sofia Owens to worry about. For the first time in my brief career, we would tag-team Sofia Owens - both Caitlyn Williams and myself would be coming to her home in Bloomington, Indiana.

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Clearly, the Owenses were a very well off family, the kind of family that could just pay for a top-flight education at any American university - probably even Harvard or Yale if it came down to it. Mr. Owens was the head of a bank loan division of some kind and Mrs. Owens was some sort of management expert and executive.

We suspected strongly that they were both graduates of Indiana. What gave it away? Basically, the fact that the living room was sort of an open study area for Mr. Owens (his desk was there) and there was an IU banner, an IU wastepaper basket, and photographs of Bob Knight and other great personages and moments of Indiana University sports. As for the family, there were one older son who was a IU grad who tried to walk on at Indiana, as well as a younger son who had just turned 13.

"Now, of course, Coach Hawkins we'd love it if Sofia got an offer from Indiana," Mr. Owens said, "but we're going to leave this up to Sofia. We know that South Dakota is in the Summer League and that one of the teams of the League is in Indianapolis, which would give us a chance to see Sophia at least once a year."

Mr. Owens got a plus in my book for knowing IUPUI was in our league, but he got a minus because he called it the "Summer League" eighty percent of the time. The good thing about Mr. and Mrs. Owens is that even though they were watching, they weren't directing. "This is going to be Sofia's choice," Mrs. Owens said.

As for Sofia herself, she was quiet, the smart kind of quiet. She had the security of having an offer from MTSU on the table and she knew that she was in the driver's seat. "Has Indiana made an offer to you?" was my first question.

"I've talked with Indiana," she said, "but they don't really seem to be serious. I keep asking about if they want to make a scholarship offer and they keep telling me that 'it's too early in the process'. I want to go to a school that really wants me."

"Sofia, there should be no question about that," I said. I mentioned that this was the first time I had made a trip with an assistant coach. "During this presentation, I want to underline one point - that South Dakota cares about your future and we want to put you into a position where you can have immediate success as a Coyote."

"I have some very important questions," she said. "What are your admission requirements for an athlete?"

"I'm always glad to get such great questions, particularly when I can answer them," I said, and everyone laughed. (Thank God.) "You need one of three things. You need a SAT verbal/math of 990 or above. You need a GPA of 2.6 on a 4.0 scale over all your courses, not just your core. You need to graduate in the top 50 percent of your class. There are specific high school coursework requirements, but I've seen your transcripts and you'll have no trouble getting into South Dakota. You could enter with any one of the "three prongs"."

"I want to major in computer science," she said. "Is this major going to interfere with my schedule?"

Oh, brother. I knew that it would. It looked like she was serious about that computer science major. "Right now, we have athletes with multiple majors. We work around the schedules of our various players. Sometimes, that leaves us short in practices - someone will have a lab that we can't work around. Myself - I'd like to have a practice that had everyone in it. But academics comes first at USD."

(Translation: if Sonia applied to USD, I'd deal with her computer science major dreams. I'd stomach her not being available at certain practices.)

She nodded. She asked what people were majoring in (Caitlyn saved my bacon on that one; she knew everyone's major.) We talked about our full-time academic adviser. "We had an academic success rate of 93 percent when I came on as head coach. This is exactly where I want this program to be. The federal rate for a Division II school - which is what we used to be - is only 50 percent. All across the board, in any sport, we match favorably against any power conference or mid-major you can think of."

All of her questions were about academics. I got the impression that Sonia suspected that USD was sub-par academically. Without a word, we both managed to restructure our presentation with a focus on academic life at USD.

We spent 2 1/2 hours with the Owenses. They were pleasant people. Sofia had one last question for us. "Oh, Coach...do you waive the application fee for athletes?"

I held my tongue. The application fee at USD was $20. The Owenses could find $20 in the loose change of their couch. "Well...you'd have to let us know. You'd submit a request for a fee waiver and you'd either send the Athletics Department a duplicate copy or cc e-mail so that they know about it. We'd make a call to the Office of Admissions and they'd waive the fee."

As we walked out the door of the Owenses mansion, I turned to Caitlyn and whispered, "Do you believe that?"

"Yeah, no kidding," she said. "Wanting to save $20. Coach, what do you think?"

"She asks all the right questions, but she's got a lot of leverage. She can go anywhere she wants to go. I can't believe she was nickel and diming us on a admissions fee. Given what I saw in the house, if you hear that Indiana is going to make an offer, we're going to have to withdraw. We cannot beat the Hoosiers, no way no how."

(* * *)

August 2012

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games closed in London, England.

The United States walked away with the most gold medals with 90 medals in total. But the Chinese were right behind us, taking 88 total medals (even though America won the most gold medals). It was a switch from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where China won the most gold and America won the most medals.

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The mascot, however, was not a success.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the Republican Party held its Nominating Convention in Tampa, Florida. There was very little drama with the nomination a foregone conclusion. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, became the first Mormon ever to be nominated for president by a major political party.

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Romney's closest competitor was former Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich, the candidate about whom the "Not Romney" forces had coalesced. Gingrich had strong showings in the South, picking up several states on Super Tuesday - but Romney knew that the game wasn't about winning primaries, it was about winning delegates. (Which was Obama's strategy four years earlier.)

The Not Romney forces could never unite, each committed to their pet candidate and each eschewing any kind of compromise. Gingrich tried to broker a deal - he even reached out to Sarah Palin's fans and worked very hard to put Palin in some sort of role on Romney's ticket, making it a public issue and hammering Romney on the podium for it. (The goal? To force Romney to publicly reject Palin and therefore bring all of Palin's supporters into the Gingrich camp.)

Romney's camp deferred. They knew that Gingrich would be his own worst enemy. When a physician murdered one of his patients in one of those convoluted cases that had the talking heads of Court TV fuming, Newt chimed in by making a similarly convoluted argument that Obamacare had emboldened the physician to conclude that "human life was just a number on a balance sheet". His comments about Obama needing to be "slapped down to earth" got blogs buzzing but only helped Romney and Obama in the end.

Even so, Gingrich went down fighting. He did not concede, he merely "ended the pre-convention phase of his campaign". Attempts to get first himself, then Palin on the vice-presidential ticket ended in failure. (Gingrich had little love for Palin, it was all about power and positioning.)

"How can a supposed intellectual," Romney asked in what for him was a hard-hitting attack, "open his mouth without thinking again and again and again?"

The only suspense left was who would be named a candidate for Vice-President. Romney's camp confounded conventional wisdom by picking Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, a Hispanic-American.

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Sandoval had been squarely in the Rick Perry camp. (The GOP thought Rick Perry would be the key to securing Hispanic votes that Obama had taken from them; Romney's camp simply cut out the middleman.) Stephen Colbert called Romney and Sandoval "The Toothpaste Twins"; the name stuck.

Despite the circus behind him, it looked like Romney had done will for himself. At the end of the convention, he had a four percent lead over Obama.

(* * *)

In August of 2012, a major breakthrough had come through for the treatment of baldness. Allergan, the company that brought America Botox had worked out their hurdles in testing their eyelash-lengthening medication (Latisse) as a cure for baldness.

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A satisfied customer?

The new drug - which was being called Fronoxidil or Frotop, depending on the market, in order not to dilute the Latisse brandname - was not only effective in growing hair on parts of the scalp where it was missing, but was "much more effective than Rogaine", as the commercials would say. The goal was to get bald men known for being reallly bald - Dick Vitale, Marv Alpert, William Shatner - to use the product.

Shatner put them over the top. The notoriously vain actor agreed to use the stuff. He showed up on the commercial with [i]real hair[i] - granted, it looked like he had a burr haircut but no one could deny that it was real hair, and that there would be more of it soon. There was a rush of prescriptions for "medical necessity" of one sort or another.

Dick Vitale joked about all of the money he had passed up. "Do I regret not being in the commercials? My dome is like money in the bank! This head is so pretty! Why cover it up? No way, ba-BEE!!"

With the arrival of Frotop, male baldness became a thing of the past. (Save for those contrarians who made the deliberate choice to be bald - they would be seen as sort of cool in the decades to come.) Those women suffering from alopecia or males suffering from teenage onset of severe male pattern baldness had hope at last. And Allergan made a mint.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Back on the wagon again, obviously. We're still three game months from some actual, you know, basketball. I hope you can wait through these little tales until then.

[Petrel]

September 2012

September 2012 is very weird to write about. I have this feeling that I have to be very careful with what I say, that my words will end up in some history book and used as some statement of absolute fact of what happened on the 18th. But I'll try to explain as best I can.

In the early part of September, the South Dakota women's basketball team had two goals - to prepare the Coyotes for their next season in the Summit League and to recruit two players that could contribute in the 2013-14 season. We were keeping our eyes on Sofia Owens, continuing to call and cajole her towards signing with South Dakota. AT the same time, the Fall Semester had started at USD and our players now had to deal with the added challenge of classes. We had two JUCO transfers and it would be interesting to see how they handled the academics.

After looking for signs and portents of Owens's interest (or lack of it) towards South Dakota, I got a call from Raelynn Reavis on September 1st.

"Mark, they've updated Sofia Owen's page on ESPN Rise! Take a look at it!"

Sofia had updated her Top School list. It was now shrunk down to three schools.

Top Schools: Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, South Dakota.

WHOA! We were now a "Top School"! But that meant nothing. We learned something from reading her Rise profile that we had not read before, namely that Western Kentucky had made a written offer.

"...new coach James Fillmore of the Lady Toppers thinks that Owens will be a 'real go-getter' and is looking forward to taking the Toppers back to the NCAA Tourney after Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt...."

James Fillmore. The former coach of South Dakota State. I still couldn't get away from the damned Jackrabbits, even when Fillmore jumped ship.

"Raelynn, the iron is hot. Let's bring Sofia on campus so she can see what South Dakota basketball is all about! Let's seal the deal this month" I texted Caitlyn Williams that she should bring Sofia and her parents to Vermillion.

Caitlyn called me back. "I thought your plan was to go back to Bloomington."

"We are. We're going to blow another month's worth of budget. It's worth it. A school like USD doesn't get the attention of a player like Sofia Owens. Zoe McHale wasn't worth the money, but Sofia Owens is."

(* * *)


Also at the beginning of the month we received the Summit League schedule for the coming year:


SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES Schedule

Date Opponent Record RPI Result Score Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/17/12 Eastern Kentucky 0-0 320
11/24/12 at Campbell 0-0 304
11/27/12 Murray State 0-0 295
11/29/12 at Utah State 0-0 238
12/01/12 Montana State 0-0 210
12/06/12 at Hampton 0-0 119
12/08/12 at Washington 0-0 90
12/13/12 at Brigham Young 0-0 111
12/20/12 at UCLA 0-0 12
12/22/12 at Maryland 0-0 11
12/27/12 at Duke 0-0 4
12/29/12 at Connecticut 0-0 6
01/03/13 UMKC 0-0 309
01/05/13 at Western Illinois 0-0 339
01/10/13 North Dakota State 0-0 194
01/12/13 at IUPUI 0-0 307
01/16/13 Sam Houston State 0-0 330
01/19/13 South Dakota State 0-0 103
01/22/13 at Oakland 0-0 81
01/26/13 IPFW 0-0 164
01/29/13 at Nebraska-Omaha 0-0 305
02/02/13 at UMKC 0-0 309
02/05/13 Western Illinois 0-0 339
02/09/13 at North Dakota State 0-0 194
02/14/13 IUPUI 0-0 307
02/21/13 at South Dakota State 0-0 103
02/23/13 Oakland 0-0 81
02/28/13 at IPFW 0-0 164
03/02/13 Nebraska-Omaha 0-0 305


Looking at the schedule, it looked like my decision to a home-and-away with Sam Houston State had come back to bite me in the behind. Three days after that game, we'd play our archrival South Dakota State at the DakotaDome. How much rest we'd get it that January was beyond me.

We were all over the place in our conference schedule. No long home stands and no long away stretches in conference. I didn't know if that was a plus or a minus.

As far I could tell, there were four also-ran teams in the Summit League - Western Illinois, UMKC, IUPUI, and Nebraska-Omaha. If we were fortunate - very fortunate - we could sweep all of those teams and finish with an 8-8 record in the Summit League. (Thank you, Oral Roberts, for leaving the league.) Last year we were 5-3 against those four teams, including an embarrassing loss to Western Illinois that I won't soon forget. If we were better, we'd finish maybe 6-2.

We might get lucky and pick off a win from either IPFW, North Dakota State, Oakland, or South Dakota State. (A win against the Jacks would be worth a lot to the backers of Yote sports.) Right now, however, Willie Burbank's goal of us finishing at 8-8 in the conference seemed about as likely as jumping to the moon.

(* * *)

Of course, there was still the rest of our list to worry about. We had to worry about evaluating the players that we didn't get evaluated, but were just about to sum up our evaluations. We had tons of film and not much time to look at it.

One part of recruiting you have to worry about is when players seem to lose interest. On Kong (our computerized recruiting system) there's a check list that has be filled out on every recruiting call. One of the check-marks is "recruit interest level." A small checklist appears on the screen during the call, with what it calls "Pluses" and "Minuses".

MINUSES

() Recruit does not communicate high school successes.
() Recruit does not take initiative on call backs. (Before unlimited contact period.)
() Recruit seems actively resistant to talk on phone. (Versus shyness.)
() Recruit declines to talk on phone (non-emergency).
() Recruit fails to retain information from previous calls.

These minuses are red flags for diminished interest, and we charted them with numerical precision. Each recruit had a little numerical ranking that indicated their overall interest. Remember the two lists of recruits we have? The superrecruits and the "good enoughs?" We had a couple of the superrecruits hit some red flags, but that's to be expected. With all the effort put into recruiting Sofia Owens, that left less effort for our Top Ten. We would just have to make the calls and deal with their disinterest.

I suspected Cherish Rampage and Nadia Mansfield really didn't want us to call but had not shut the door on us. There's a saying that "you'll never be as loved as much as when you're recruited". Some players have no intention of signing with you, they just want their ego stroked. That was fine. At least I had them on the phone. When they say "stop calling me" is when I worry.

As for our other list, we had a lot of people that had made us their favorite school after we started calling them - but we were their only favorite. The only person we dropped off that list was Elizabeth Russell, who got a written offer from Wichita State. We were going after "low hanging fruit" and if Russell wasn't an easy get I wasn't interested. She wasn't so great a player that I'd spend the kind of resources on her that I'd spend on Owens. Enjoy Wichita State.

(* * *)

On September 11th - a Tuesday - we headed back to Bloomington, Indiana for another go-round with Sofia Owens and her family of Indiana Hoosier roosters. By "we" I meant Caitlyn Williams and myself, for another tag team recruiting trip.

The conversation turned to politics. The previous Thursday, Barack Obama had been renominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party. He had run without any serious primary challenge, but archrivals were the least of his problems. The economy was in the toilet when he was elected, and after four years it was...still pretty much in the toilet. All of his stimuli had come to naught, with unemployment still threatening to go into double digits and no real movement in any economic sector.

Osama Bin Laden had been captured/killed under his watch, but America had moved on. The Iraq war technically ended at the end of 2011 but it didn't provide the decisive outcome that most had hoped for. Most of Obama's first term had yielded very little.

Caitlyn was of mixed feelings. Being black, she had a lot of sympathy and admiration for Obama, but she was also culturally conservative. "I'm not too enthusiastic about either side," she said.

I tried to blot out politics completely. Hard to do in South Dakota, a mostly red state where you couldn't drive five feet without being hit by a Romney/Sandoval sticker. The Republicans had their own troubles to deal with - much was made of the fact that the Republicans had a ticket with no Protestants on it. (Romney = Mormon, Sandoval = Catholic.) Furthermore, Sandoval had had a previous record of being pro-choice. He did the appropriate about face once he got the Vice-Presidential nominations, but that wasn't enough for the right wing of his party. My hope was that it was all be over soon.

(* * *)

On September 11th, we saw the Owenses for the second time. We didn't request them to make dinner for us - so they didn't - instead we went out to dinner. Mr. Owens must have been brilliant at managing cash, because he didn't ask to pick up the check as much as once. (We split the bill.) He still kept calling the Summit League the "Summer League" - I couldn't tell if his ignorance was deliberate or accidental.

"Sofia, what happened to Indiana and IUPUI?" I asked.

"They stopped calling me," she said. "They said that they were going to move on."

Yup. Even the best players had to deal with that. "You were polite about that, I hope."

"Yep. Except maybe for Indiana."

"No, Sofia," Mr. Owens said. "It was me that wasn't polite about that. I might still ask her to come on as a walk-on."

I hoped to God that he wasn't serious.

Sofia was still interested in computer science and asked a lot of questions about South Dakota's program. I was a bit shaky on that program, but Caitlyn described it in such glowing terms that I thought maybe I should have been a computer science major at James Madison. I could be going places with a South Dakota degree!

"Sofia, you know that more than anything we want you to come to South Dakota and put your name on the first page of a program that is going to rise to national prominence. We plan on building new facilities in a few years to showcase our program, but you're going to be a greater showcase. At Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky you'd be fighting for playing time, but at USD you can make an impact right away."

"Right coach," she said, "but I had coaches from Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky here last week." (This was the first we heard of it.) "So it's a bit stressful."

"Well, don't stop having fun."

"No I'm not."

"They usually call every day." I made a note to do the same.

"I'll definitely tell you that it will be stressful," I said. "But clearly MTSU and Western Kentucky see that you're a valuable player - else they wouldn't be calling. So the question is, "at what school will I have the best chance to succeed?" And in this case, it's South Dakota. Ashley Brown will graduate at the end of the year, and that just leaves Merkle and Alexander ahead of you. You'd be the tallest player on this team and you'd bring real excitement to Vermillion."

Our total visit was two hours long. However, we did get Sofia Owens to agree to a visit to South Dakota. (I was glad that the visit wouldn't take place in bitter winter.) It would come at the end of the month.

"What do you think?" I asked Caitlyn after we left the restaurant.

"She's got a lot of her mind," Caitlyn said.

"I think she really wants to be wined and dined. She ordered the surf and turf. Most expensive thing on the menu. Talk about a lack of shyness - order the big stuff, Dad will pay. Something tells me that we're going to have to do a lot of hand-holding to get Owens on this team."

(* * *)

Everyone knows where they were on September 18, 2012. I was on campus dealing with Bella Grier, my sophomore shooting guard. It got back to me that Grier had lost one of her textbooks for the Fall Semester a few days after she purchased it - it might have been stolen, we'll never know.

This caused a sort of mini-crisis, because even though Grier's scholarship pays for books, it doesn't pay for replacements. After dressing down Grier for her carelessness, I told her that "either we'd be able to help you or we wouldn't." I'd either find a solution for this conundrum or she'd just have to pay for a $200 textbook out of her own pocket.

So I'm calling the bookstore and I can't get anyone to answer the phone. Finally, I get someone and they tell me that it's a little crazy right now due to what everyone's hearing over the radio. "Supposedly, there's a bunch of people that just died in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Everything has gone crazy over there, they say that a whole bunch of people are dead."

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9945/073010ajcgasmainleak01t.jpg
Children are evacuated from an elementary school.

I go to the lounge, and there are already maybe a dozen people from the athletic department looking on in horror. Activity at the DakotaDome came to a halt. KELO - and every other major network - was now in full-time around-the-clock reporting mode. Most of the feeds were coming from Detroit television.

Calls were being reported about people dying at fast food restaurants - they were just falling over dead. People were dropping dead in the streets, in houses, in office buildings, on their lawns. In grade schools. Anyone who wasn't dying was starting to get sick and a mass panic was starting to break out, which the network coverage only amplified.

More news came out. The police, the National Guard, and then the Army were cordoning off the city.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9043/img1267busevacachadas.jpg
The elderly are evacuated from Ypsilanti.

That the mayor of Ypsilanti was dead and that Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was calling for a state of emergency. That phone lines to and from Ypsilanti were jammed. That Eastern Michigan University had been closed by the state government.

I got a call from Willie Burbank. "If you have any practices today, cancel them. This isn't the time and the place for that." By now, the photographs of the dead were being shown on the internet and television. The University of South Dakota was going to have a candlelight vigil that night.

(* * *)

Obama was in Hollywood at a private fund-raiser when he was first informed. Therefore, he was spared the "My Pet Goat" moment that dogged George W. Bush throughout his term as there were no cameras at the fund-raiser. Joe Biden was giving a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina when he was cued by his aides to cut it short - by that time he was almost finished speaking. He simply skipped to the final paragraph, thanked the audience (who were unaware of what was going on) and disappeared.

Romney was in Miami for a speech that he'd never give. Sandoval was at a Sante Fe, New Mexico hospital to give his stump speech on Obamacare, he got to the hospital, told the staff that he'd not be giving a speech, and turned right around.

By evening, the word was coming out from Ypsilanti of "terrorist attack" and "poisoning". Obama gave his address to the nation that night at 8 pm EST.

"My fellow Americans. It is my sad duty to inform you that a terrorist attack on Ypsilanti, Michigan has caused a major loss of life. The United States Army and the Center for Disease Control have established a perimeter around the city. All of those that we believed have survived the attack are being evacuated from the city.

"I am asking the people of America to remain calm. The goal of the United States is that terrorism shall not gain any foothold on the way of life that we value so highly. The governments of Michigan, the United States government, the Department of Homeland Security and our national intelligences services are doing all that they can to prevent any further attacks and to help those who have been affected.

....

"...we will not succumb to a mentality that sacrifices our open values and liberties to our opponents. Our vision exceeds that of our short-sighted opponents from around the world. We will prevail. The keys to the gates of America will not be handed to those whose vision is that of misery and death. Not by me, not by my successor, and not by any American president."

(* * *)

We learned more in the days that followed. It had been an attack on Ypsilanti's water supply. Basically, Ypsilanti's water had been poisoned by a neurotoxin. This caused a huge run on bottled water across the country; you couldn't get the stuff anywhere. People began to stockpile it in the panic that ensued.

Normally, such an attack on a water supply was considered both implausible and unrealistic by experts. But, well, those theories failed the acid test.

The presidential campaigns grounded to a halt. There was talk of postponing the presidential elections. The White House decided not to do it - "we don't let terrorists interfere with elections". (The State of Georgia threatened to use the laws under its state constitution to postpone its Election Day; public opinion soon made that a non-starter.)

The election's focus on the economy and Obamacare was immediately derailed in favor of that of national security - economic issues were almost forgotten at the end of the 2012 campaign.

There were a few assaults on Muslim-Americans in a state - Michigan - with a highest Muslim percentage of population. Most of these attackers were just as unhinged as any al-Qaeda terrorist could be, they not only couldn't make a distinction between an Arab Muslim and an Indian Muslim - or Indian Hindu, or Sikh for that matter - but generally didn't care.

What was most terrifying of all was the fact that whoever had done this was not known. There had been no manifesto, and the Department of Homeland Security had no answers. In the meantime, support for President Obama was beginning to rise, he had closed the gap with Romney at the end of the month and his favorable rating was moving up. The country was "rallying around the flag" and America looked a lot like it did after 9/11 - a lot of American flags, everywhere.

(* * *)

By the time we got to the end of September and Sofia Owens's visit, the backdrop for the most part was doom and gloom. The country was in a depressed mood if one could imagine such a thing. We were still being bombarded by images of the dead in the streets on television and Ypsilanti was still closed down. (This tangentially affected women's basketball, as there was talk of Eastern Michigan closing its season. One life had been lost on the team - that of Ella Gillette, a senior walk-on who barely got to play for the Eagles.

I needed to put Owens with someone, and I decided to go with Catalina Stewart, who would be her host. There was a risk that Owens might overwhelm Stewart but it was a risk I decided to take. With the Ypsilante Memorial events constantly in the background, we decided that the best defense against terror was a good offense - we were going to have fun and we were going to enjoy ourselves.

Owens's campus visit got high marks from everyone - Stewart liked her, and the rest of the team liked her. "It looks like the conclusion is obvious," I said. "You know that everyone here likes you and wants you to be a part of this team. You can definitely play. So when are you going to sign your letter of intent?"

"I'd love to play here," she said. "But my Mom has a lot of reservations. She really wants me in Indiana."

"Right, but you said that there isn't any interest from Indiana."

"I know, Coach Hawkins," Owens said. "But she's hoping that someone from Indiana will call. I really want to play ball for South Dakota, but I can't sign that letter of intent."

So that was it. Owens's mother had been very quiet and supportive. This is the first time that I had heard that there was any kind of conflict about where Sofia Owens played. But the game wasn't over yet. I could still keep visiting the Owens household and attempt to win her mother over. Most people would think that I would be angry about what Owens told me. On the contrary - I now knew where to focus the recruiting.

(* * *)

At the end of the month, on a short wave radio station which served as an impromptu radio network for those who were active believers in that twig on the branch of Protestant Christianity that could loosely be referred to as "Dominion theology" - the believe that American society should be reconstructed on Old Testament Law and that a Christian theocracy should actively take power - a telephone caller contacted the short-wave broadcasters and told them that God had poured out his "Third Bowl Judgment" on America.

Normally, this information wouldn't have been interesting to anyone but the few hundred listeners and followers of this brand of hard-core triumphalists and the FBI men assigned to keep tabs on them. The caller did not give him name. However, this 10 minute rant would turn out to be the key to determining what happened in Ypsilanti....

(* * *)

In other overshadowed news around the world, the London Array wind farm went online.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4195/londonarray129886b.jpg

It was the largest offshore wind farm in the world, consisting of 341 turbines. When the London Array was hooked up, the electricity generated by wind could power a quarter of all of the homes in London and 750,000 homes overall.

Clearly, the British had decided to get into wind power in a big way. The Brits saw it as a win-win proposition all the way around. Wind energy decreased any dependence on foreign energy. Carbon emissions were greatly reduced, and the development of this technology cleared the way for what the UK hoped would be expertise in "green jobs" and for a boost in the UK's employment rate both at home and overseas.

WRITER'S NOTES

First, if there's a sense that this is turning more into political fiction than basketball story, my deepest apologies. The issue is that I want to flesh out this future universe as much as I possibly can. That means reporting on political and social events. The universe should be calming down in a little while, waiting it out. For those political partisans out there, hopefully by 2016 the universe will be so different followers of whatever political party won't feel like they're getting picked on.

For those lovers of basketball, it should be two more game months before South Dakota's season opens. And then basketball - naturally - will take the forefront.

[Petrel]

October 2012

There was a lot going on in October 2012, both inside and outside of the program.

One issue - the final roster spot on the women's basketball team. Technically, we had one non-scholarship spot open and I intended to fill it. When the semester started, I had a student from the Athletic Department put up fliers so that new students could try out for the South Dakota Coyotes women's team.

I only had seven takers. I wondered if USD students were even aware of the program. That Saturday, I worked all seven girls, and in about a hour and a half I sent five of them home. That left two that we would work with on Sunday. We'd be giving them both strength and fitness workouts and we'd pick the best candidate.

Our walk-on candidate was a 6-0 freshman, "swift forward" Maliah Lewellen out of Ferndale, California. She had played a bench role on her local team at Ferndale High School. She was actually a decent post-defender and she was quick. I asked her why she didn't try for a scholarship or D-II role somewhere. "I thought basketball wasn't that fun and I figured I'd just play pickup from now on," Maliah said, "but this summer I thought I had made a mistake."

I told her that there would be no off-the-books agreement where she might get a scholarship if she lasted a year. "You might not get any assistance all four years," I said. "And I can cut you at any time."

"I don't need the scholarship," she said. "I can pay my way." (We would call such players "preferred walk-ons" but she certainly wouldn't have been recruited.)

"Then Number 53 is open, so take that one."

http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/6858/2012Maliahlewellen.jpg

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

Strengths: none
Weaknesses: inside shooting, free throw shooting, defensive rebounding, blocking

Interests: Swimming, snorkeling
Major: Undeclared

(* * *)

We continued to talk to Sofia Owens day by day. We planned yet another visit to Bloomington, Indiana, hoping that no other team would add itself to Sofia's list. And finally, that first week, Sofia told us some great news.

Western Kentucky had pulled out of the chase! The message from Western Kentucky was that they were moving forward, being so close to the November signing deadline. This left only Middle Tennessee State - and us - on Sofia Owens's ESPN Rise page as one of her "top schools".

I suspect that other top prospects were starting to take notice of our pursuit of Sofia Owens. Generally, only the most blue-chip of blue-chippers e-mailed each other or called each other on the phone - they shared information about where they were going and tried to convince each other to come to one school or another (although women's basketball hadn't yet seen anything like LeBron and the Miami Heat - there had never been a situation where all of the uppermost recruits committed to the same school). Owens was a three-stars-out-of-five player. This stuff didn't happen at her level.

But even so, the water level was rising and lifting the South Dakota boat. Cherish Rampage and Nadia Mansfield - two elite level players that had grown cold on us - were now suddenly listing South Dakota among their favorite schools despite the fact that a) we hadn't offered a scholarship and b) other much bigger schools had made either verbal or written offers. Of our "Dream Ten", the number of players listing South Dakota as a favorite school blew up from one player - Owens - to six players, including Breanna Vanscoy, a player I felt was even better than Owens.

We were still committed to Owens. We planned another home visit on Thursday, October 18th. It would be another tag team effort of both myself and Caitlyn Williams. Our dream - our pipe dream - was to get her committed before the beginning of the early signing period.

The problem was with our group of ten "Easy Gets". Our easy gets were on the verge of being gotten. Five different players - including Elizabeth Russell (Wichita State), Breanna Sadler (North Dakota State), Alyssa Shaw (Colorado) - all had scholarship offers from higher level schools.

So what did we do? Did we scramble to offer that last scholarship? I didn't want to be distracted from the propect of getting Owens. And besides, these were supposed to be easy gets. All of these students had South Dakota on their list of favorites (although in the majority of cases we were both the only favorite and the only Division I school listed).

We adjusted the Easy Gets list. Those players getting good offers were dropped from the list. We would have to start again. I decided I wouldn't be offering the second scholarship of my two scholarships until after the first week of November. The girls above fell off the list, and it was time to start looking at the next batch.

(* * *)

On October 12th, Midnight Madness was taking place all across America - inexplicably enough, it wasn't taking place at South Dakota. To me, this was rather inexplicable. It's not as if Vermillion offered a wealth of activities outside campus? Why not hold a Midnight Madness here? The Yankton Press and Dakotan was all for it!

"We need to save money," Willie Burbank told both me and Gerald Acevedo, the men's basketball coach. "Having a special function for the DakotaDome would cost a lot of money." My bet was that if South Dakota football held a Midnight Madness he'd fall all over himself. But there was some truth to it - basketball didn't have the campus pull to make a Midnight Madness event worth all that much.

Therefore, our first practice was held at the earliest the NCAA allowed - which was not midnight, but at 5:30 pm. (Most schools waited until midnight if they had Midnight Madness.)

I decided that I was going to focus on a few basic plays in order for us to get things right. "You weren't able to play the offenses I taught you last year, anyway - so we're going back to basics!" That means that most of the emphasis in the month before our first game was going to be on fundamentals - dribbling, passing, boxing out, and of course - man to man defense.

I changed a few things. I made the game much more structured. There would be three or four basic plays and we would use those plays exclusively. I didn't feel we had much shot creation, and therefore every shot would have to be created out of a set - no improvising. We would, however, shoot the 3-pointer just a little bit more.

Last year, we tried doubling up on offensive players, but our defense has so many holes in it in that I couldn't afford that anymore. From now on, the defense was going to be man-to-man, not two-man-to-man. Except when the enemy got caught in corners or on the sidelines, no one was going to help the defender out.

Abigail Merkle and Catalina Stewart were picking up on things pretty quickly, and they would be the go-to players in tough situations.

You never know whether or not this will work until you try it. But with the Yotes only winning eight games last year, I was willing to try anything.

(* * *)

In the meantime, life moved on. At the beginning of the month, residents were allowed to return to Ypsilanti, Michigan to bury their dead and begin the process of mourning after the most deadly terrorist attack in American history.

Eastern Michigan University would be closed for the Fall Semester. But the women's team would still play. Michigan had agreed to serve as home team during the early part of the year until Spring Semester started. With two players poisoned to death in the attack, it would be a very sad year for the Eastern Michigan program.

Even so, the attack would continue to claim lives in the coming years. There were thousands of people whose health was permanently damaged; it would be hard to count those hidden deaths. Residents were warned not to let standing water accumulate and to run their faucets for several days before using city water - but there was the chance that standing water in some hose or pipe would be ready to strike. A handful of people weren't careful enough, and paid the price for it.

At the FBI in Washington, DC, a name was deciphered from the phone call made to that wackjob Dominionist radio station. In the background, while the speaker was ranting, someone said, "Has Elijah heard from anybody yet?" It was very weak and required a lot of audio magic to clarify - and even then, there was a problem.

Dominionists tended to speak in an apocalyptic code. The "Third Bowl Judgment" referred to a passage in Revelation 16:4....

And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments[./b]

This "third bowl judgment" was known to Dominionist speakers and needed no translation. Maybe Elijah was also some sort of code. Assuming that it wasn't code - that "Elijah" represented a living person.

That October 17, the mystery speaker spoke again, calling the same small radio station.

[b]HOST: So what are you saying about punishment, caller?
CALLER: If God could turn water into wine, he could turn blood into wine or wine into blood. You see, the meaning doesn't have to be literal, for it indicates the outpouring of God's wrath. This is what it means about water becoming blood -
HOST: I don't think so. The Bible means what it means.
CALLER: Well, what do you think happened in Michigan? That was God's wrath with America turning its back on God and the other judgments are coming soon. God doesn't need actual blood for a third bowl judgment, poison will do. And I'm proud to say that I was the instrument of God's hand.
HOST: So...you're saying that you poisoned the people in Michigan?
CALLER: God's wrath is always just.

The host thanked the caller quickly and hung up. That same host, a man named Allen White, would go to trial one year later in a long trial - did he know enough about what was going on to be charged with not coming forward with what he might have suspected?

(* * *)

Of course, we were all unaware of that. We left Katie Ulmer and Raelynn Reavis to keep the team on track while we made yet another visit to Sofia Owens

By now, I thought I knew enough about Sofia Owens to sign her name to a piece of paper. The purpose of this visit would be to show her how she was going to fit into the game system. We put together a set of film from both her high school games and games played by the Coyotes the previous year to show how her role in high school would differ from her role at USD and what we would expect this year.

"Sofia, I think you're a perfect fit. We're keeping this system with a few basic sets, and I know that you're smart enough to jump right in. This offense isn't going to be much different from the one you're playing now; in fact it might be simpler."

The speech wasn't so much for me as it was for Mrs. Owens, who I perceived as being the major obstacle with Sofia coming to South Dakota. I told Caitlyn that there would be no letting down our hair. "As far as I'm concerned, we're dressing like this is a business meeting."

Finally, Mrs. Owens spoke. "How much class do you see Sofia missing? The trips in the Summit League have to be very long."

"Mrs. Owens," I said. "We play our league games on Thursday and Saturday. We can't play back to back on the weekend. But we do our best to schedule on the weekends to minimize missed class time. There's a proposal in the Summit League to go to Friday/Sunday which would minimize lost class time even further. In the meantime, the Summit League monitors missed class time very carefully. Our APR - our academic progress rate - and our GSR - our graduation success rate - exceeds the average for athletes in all sports across NCAA Division I."

"Anyway," I said, "I'm hoping that Sofia can make a decision soon."

Sofia and Mrs. Owens exchanged a split-second glance. "I think I'm going to let Sofia make that decision when she's ready for it."

Our visit took two hours - it was our longest visit yet to the Owens's. "Note what Mrs. Owens said," Caitlyn said.

"What? Did I miss something?"

"She said she was going to let Sofia make the decision. When she's ready for it."

"You're saying that mama is still going to decide?"

"Mama," Caitlyn said, "is going to have a big hand in that."

"Do you think we made a dent?"

"I don't know," Caitlyn said. "Mama is playing her cards very close to her chest."

(* * *)

While we waited for word from Sofia Owens at the end of October, we continued to practice and life went on around us.

By now, the United States election was going into the homestretch, and the issue - the only issue really - was terrorism. Romney - running hard to the center - was at war with his own party regarding what should be done about Obama's sudden surge in the polls.

It turns out that after a terrorist attack, people tend to rally around the flag. Obama was now ahead by six points in the polls and picking up speed. The hard right wanted to lay the responsibility for the attack on Obama, calling Ypsilanti a "massive national security failure". This line of attack was proving to be very hard to sell because people were generally resistant to hearing it. People were resistant to the line of thinking 11 years earlier that 9/11 was George W. Bush napping on the job; people were similarly disposed to be hostile to any attempt to dump 9/18 into Barack Obama's lap.

(What about the hard left? They were generally being ignored by the media with the Ypsilanti attack crowding their economic concerns right off the map. Coverage of the Occupy Movement fell to rock bottom and the Occupiers were thinking of increasing their list of demands from zero to one - that of "acknowledgment".)

Meanwhile, the national security apparatus dragged its wish list into Congress again. There were many items on the wish list - loosely called "Patriot Act II" - which called for (among other things) the creation of DNA bases of suspected terrorists, an expansion of the federal death penalty and the denial of bail for terrorism related crimes. The most chilling was the prohibition of disclosure of the names of any alleged terrorist being investigated by the federal government.

By now, the public was willing to have Congress do something - anything really - and they would even stomach Patriot II. But - and this was the inexplicable part - Congress refused to act.

Congress - and the Republicans - were caught between a rock and a hard place. The entire four years of the Obama Administration had been dedicated to the Republican strategy that Obama was a poor leader, and the Republican goal was always to deny him any kind of legislative triumph. (The left's name for this was "obstructionism".) Republican congressional leaders felt that the key to beating Obama in November would be to make it impossible for Obama to compromise with their party and to see that Patriot Act II failed.

Romney thought this was a bad plan. Romney's camp wanted Patriot Act II out of the way as fast as possible - "give him what he wants and let's return to the campaign." Romney had campaigned hard on the economy and Obamacare and did not want to return to foreign policy. (It was still believed that al-Qaeda or Iran or the Boogeyman of the Month was behind the Ypsilanti poisoning.) The Republican candidate believed that the more Obama talked about the "Patriot Act II" legislation (the legislation was never given that name), the more it played to Obama's strengths. (Romney had debated Obama three times in October, with Obama winning the first two and Romney winning the third - undercutting his own argument with his party by attacking the president's actions regarding Ypsilanti.)

The problem for Romney was that he didn't have many friends in the Republican party - he had always been their second choice, in by default because the party couldn't coalesce about an anti-Romney. Support had only been skin deep, and the shallowness of Romney's support was starting to show. The core had its own ideas, and they were not necessarily Romney's.

On October 29th, the Republicans caved and passed Patriot Act II - by voice vote, and then cleared the legislative table until the election. Romney would return head-on to hitting Obama about the economy. But would it work?

(* * *)

At the end of the year, South Dakota played its first basketball game of the season.

This requires some explanation. The NCAA allows every basketball team two exhibition games. A team gets to choose whether or not these games are "open exhibitions" or "closed exhibitions".

An open exhibition is just that - open to the public. However, the NCAA states that these games can only be against Division II teams or lower. Last year, Willie Burbank didn't want to have an open exhibition and I didn't want one, either. Oh, there are lots of schools we could play - Black Hills State, South Dakota Mines - but I don't think those schools do much to prepare you for Division I play.

The other game is the closed exhibition. It's a game against an actual Division I squad. I'd rather see where we are against that level of competition. Unfortunately, Willie Burbank would only let us play one closed exhibition game, on the road "where they can pay for it". This left us with just one closed-doors game, this time against the North Dakota Suhaki of the Big Sky Conference:


South Dakota 54, North Dakota 52

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 18 2-3 1-2 1 6 0 5 5
Bella Grier PF 34 4-6 0-1 1 5 1 3 9
Catalina Stewart SF 27 4-7 3-4 1 3 1 4 11
C. Harrington SG 28 3-7 3-7 2 7 2 0 10
Abagail Merkle PG 29 4-11 0-0 0 1 3 0 8
Allison Riggle PG 18 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 2 3
Maliah Lewellen C 18 2-3 0-0 1 3 2 1 4
Jessica Bing SF 7 0-0 2-4 0 0 1 1 2
Ashley Brown C 15 0-2 1-2 2 3 2 1 1
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1

Turnovers: 16 (A.Choe 1, B.Grier 1, C.Stewart 6,
C.Harrington 1, A.Merkle 3, A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 3)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Grier 1)
Steals: 4 (A.Choe 2, C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (B.Grier 1-1, C.Stewart 0-1, C.Harrington
1-2, A.Merkle 0-1, A.Riggle 1-2, M.Lewellen 0-1)

North DakotaStats :
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Lillian Neary C 29 2-2 2-2 0 6 0 2 6
Haley Muniz PF 27 2-5 0-2 2 9 3 3 4
Emilie Gonzalez SF 23 8-11 0-0 1 5 1 5 16
Cassandra Bremer SG 26 2-5 0-0 1 3 1 3 5
Ava Elizondo PG 27 1-6 0-0 0 0 2 1 3
Addison Ruffner PG 18 1-7 0-1 0 0 1 2 3
Jaycee Wren SG 10 1-2 0-0 1 1 0 0 2
Avery Fraley C 10 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Arely Hoskins PF 11 1-1 2-4 0 0 0 1 4
Camilla Fernando SF 10 3-4 1-1 2 2 0 1 7
Cali Hovis PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Kayla Larson PG 6 0-1 2-2 0 0 2 0 2

Turnovers: 14 (L.Neary 2, E.Gonzalez 4, C.Bremer 1,
A.Elizondo 2, A.Ruffner 1, J.Wren 1, C.Fernando 2,
C.Hovis 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 6 (E.Gonzalez 1, A.Ruffner 1, J.Wren 2,
C.Fernando 1, K.Larson 1)
3P FGs: 3-16 (H.Muniz 0-1, E.Gonzalez 0-1, C.Bremer
1-4, A.Elizondo 1-6, A.Ruffner 1-4)

Player of Game: C Caroline Harrington (SD)


For a team that barely won any games at all last year, North Dakota put up a fight. We were down 29-24 at halftime and it was gut-check time. We had three starters that had never started before, inlcuding Catalina Stewart at small forward. Talk about shaking off the rust.

The Suhaki switched off between a man defense and a 2-3 zone - we stuck with the man all the way through. In the second half, North Dakota led 31-24 at one time but we refused to let them widen it out and clawed our way back into contention.

Then we took the lead, and then we lost it, and then it went back and forth. It was 50-50 with 59 seconds left. We ran down the clock all the way to the bottom with Jessica Bing making the shot just before time expired but getting fouled by Emilie Gonzalez of the Suhaki, who fouled out. Bing went to the free throw line, hit the first, missed the second....

...but Maliah Lewellen, the walk-on, tips in the missed free throw! North Dakota didn't even see it coming! It's good! We're up 53-50! The Suhaki would try for a 3-pointer but they'd miss it, and we'd get the rebound. They'd be forced to foul and Caroline Herrington would hit one of two with eight seconds left to keep it out of reach. They couldn't get off another attempt from three and had to settle for two - but it was all over.

Catalina Stewart had 11 points - but she had four fouls and six turnovers. We gotta work on that. I was glad that we won. The problem was that last year, North Dakota finished the season at 4-25. If we can only beat a team that bad by two points, what does it say about us?

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Here is the Game Plan screen for the Coyotes:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/8428/201213gameplan.jpg

Here is the Depth Chart screen for the Coyotes:

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8428/201213gameplan.jpg

Using these screens is a bit of a struggle - so many options. In almost every case, I went with the game recommendation. In the game above, I had the "Motion" option set on 10 - my understanding is that setting it to zero is the go-head for anyone to shoot if they have an opening, and 10 means "only shoot from sets".

I reset the recommended defense from 2-3 to man-to-man. I recommended the offense go through Merkle and Stewart; the computer added Harrington.

There's one aspect I might change and that's focus. The computer wants the focus outside. I had it set to "balanced"; I might reset it to balanced.

With regard to the exhibition game above - these are indeed the present NCAA rules for exhibition games. Since this game doesn't have any D-II teams enabled; I decided to have one lone closed exhibition game, with injuries turned off.

[Falcon21]

Read this whole thing through, really a great story with really excellent writing.

Setting it in the women's game makes it interesting because I don't really know much about that world so reading about it makes it different from the standard build up a horrible school story.

Keep up the good work, and I have this bookmarked for future reading!

[Petrel]

Read this whole thing through, really a great story with really excellent writing.

Setting it in the women's game makes it interesting because I don't really know much about that world so reading about it makes it different from the standard build up a horrible school story.

Keep up the good work, and I have this bookmarked for future reading!

Thanks! Right now, I'm dealing with a hard drive crash that unfortunately struck the hard drive where my FBCB stuff rested. There is still hope for rescue - a Universal Drive Adapter should arrive soon in the mail and I'm hoping I can rescue this game.

I'll keep you posted. Once again, thanks for the comment!

[Petrel]

A quick reply: I am now able to recover the hard drive data and am asking for technical assistance on the board. I hope to have this dynasty up and running soon.

[masterofnone]

This is a very interesting read. Looking forward to see it continue, and for you to get on into the 2012-13 season. :)

[Petrel]

Masterofnone, thanks for reading! The reinstall worked and I hope to be writing soon.

[Petrel]

November 2012

The 2012 election finally ended. I didn't miss the damned commercials, not one bit.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7931/2012presidentialelectio.jpg

It looked like America was going to give Barack Obama one more round, as the Obama/Biden ticket beat Romney/Sandoval by a factor of 49.2 percent to 48.2 percent. The Electoral College win was a bit more decisive, 286 electoral votes to 252, with Obama winning Colorado and winning Virginia for a second time. It seemed like the Democrats were gaining a foothold in the Old Dominion. The Republicans hoped they could take Michigan by riding a wave of "it happened on Obama's watch" and Romney's in-state connections (his father was governor of Michigan) but it was not to be.

Romney was simply never able to regain the podium after Ypsilanti. He had been running on the economy the entire time. Perhaps that was what stopped him. The Republican believed that the election would be a referendum on the economy; when it became about something else - when it played to their traditional strength - they were bizarrely unprepared. Obama jumped into the gap, proving he could run on security just as well as the economy.

The Republicans would have to deal with Obama until 2016. They still held the House, and as expected, they took control of the Senate. This guaranteed four years of gridlock, and depending on your party it was something to be cherished or despised.

(* * *)


When signing day happened, we lost a lot of the players on our elite list.

Cherish Rampage decided she couldn't wait any longer. She signed with the Michigan Wolverines. Robert Holloway stayed close to home and signed with Stephen F. Austin in Texas. Two other players fell off the list, to Valparaiso and Marquette, respectively.

But we didn't do too bad, otherwise. We still have five players on the elite list, including Sophia Owens. We didn't lose a single player on our non-elite list, and we had some prospects that I'd be forced to take a strong look at.

One was Sarah Alex, one of the monster players that women's basketball was starting to produce. She was 6-7 and scored 14.5 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game. The problem was that she was a turnover machine, coughing up the ball 3.2 times per game. She had no handles, and I mean, none, handing the ball like a man (or woman) carrying a cinder block across a court. She had no tactile sense for the game, but perhaps - maybe - could improve, but I doubted it.

Another was Isabella Crumley. Crumley was another Amazon at 6-7. 13.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg. Couldn't hit a jump shot to save her life, all of her shots were bunnies where she used her size and length to shoot point-blank. A good free throw shooter (71.8 percent) and she lived in Michigan, which given our attempt to establish a nationwide profile was practically next door.

The third was Ashlyn Dickson. Dickson was 6-9 (I never thought I'd see the day where height was that common in women's basketball players). She scored 16.7 points per game and showed flashed of real talent. The problem was that there were over 300 Division I schools, and most coaches could see that talent, too. Memphis was interested in Dickson, and Dickson was from Mississippi - Memphis was right off the Mississippi boarder. With Ole Miss showing no interest in their homegrown prospect (she attended Oxford High School), Dickson might be tempted to stay as close to in-state as she could get.

I convened our coaching college once again. We were about two weeks away from our opening game at the time.

My three assistants were split equally: Caitlyn Williams said that we should get the best player that we could get - and that was Dickson. "If we could move her just a little bit," Williams said, "we have a shot at getting her."

Raelynn Reavis wanted Sarah Alex. "She's got so much potential."

As for Katie Ulmer, she wanted Crumley. "I see Crumley as an easy pick. She's right next door. If her parents want to see her play, they can go to Oakland. We play them twice a year."

I thought Williams was deluded, thinking far too much of her persuasive abilities. Reavis was just projecting onto a blank slate. Ulmer was going for convenience.

"Who wants it the most?" I asked.

Everyone looked at Caitlyn. "That's hard to say."

"What does Kong say?" I asked, referring to our computerized recruiting system. During calls, there was a series of check marks that you were supposed to fill out during a call, with positive vs. negative hints and responses.

"You can't really go by Kong," Caitlyn said. She had never warmed up to the computer.

I grabbed a laptop and pulled up our recruiting list. Crumley was the only one of the three who ranked "Very High" in interest. She knew the most about South Dakota, she hadn't been jerking us around on our calls, she had no negatives for the school, she knew the majors. Kong took all of these subjective factors and assigned each one of them a mathematical value.

"I think it's time to strike," I said. It's Crumley. Isabelle Crumley is going to be a power forward for us. Sofia Owens and Isabella Crumley are our targets. I'm going to be the next person to call Crumley and I'm going to extend an offer. When's the next best time we can see Crumley?"

"Well...that's this weekend," Caitlyn said. "But that's the weekend before our opener."

"Better then than never. Gonna be busy during the year. You and me, Caitlyn. We're heading to...where is she from?"

"Detroit."

Whoa. "Detroit it is. And set up another meeting with Sofia Owens. Damn, we have done everything but sit in her lap and feed her grapes. Middle Tennessee is still in there. We gotta get Middle Tennessee's fangs out of our player. If she isn't signed by the end of the month I don't know what I'm going to do."

(* * *)

It wasn't like Crawley lived out on 8 Mile. She lived in southwest Detroit, in an area that was pretty diverse for Detroit - black, Hispanic and white. They called the area "Mexicantown" and it was one of the few areas of Detroit that seemed to be getting better.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9903/6432599363d4d7455c8ao.jpg

Crawley was black. She was presently the only child in the family. Her father was a lawyer, but he must not have been a very good one. Her mother worked in some kind of computer support role for a paint company. She had a younger brother who died at the age of five; his picture was displayed prominently in almost every room. It must have felt like living in a funeral home.

It was one of those horrible visits, but not for the reason you think. The Crawleys, apparently, just weren't talkers. Everything the father said had this slow, measured cadence that made you feel like each word he said cost money; I later learned that he did not practice before a judge. (Thank God.) Mrs. Crawley said virtually nothing.

As for Isabella Crawley, she had that deer in headlights look - as if one wrong word out of her mouth meant that me and Caitlyn were going to sprint right out the door and take her scholarship with her. "Trust me, Isabella," I said. "We want to sign you. We want to offer you a scholarship for four years at South Dakota."

She looked at her dad. "This is something...we need to think about...it's a legal document...binding...."

Technically, it wasn't. A NLI was a binding agreement between schools, not between players. Having the Letter of Intent signed bound every school that used NLIs to stop recruiting someone else's players. It could be broken by either side, but it was bad form to do so. The problem was, I didn't want to explain that to him and give the Crawleys the impression that if they signed an NLI they could just walk out of it.

Other than that, the questions went like this.

"So, Isabella, have you decided on a major?" ("Uhh...no. I mean...I know I want to go to school somewhere good....")

"What are you looking for in a school?" ("Well...it would have to be a good school.")

"Are you involved in any clubs at school?" ("Uhh...I play basketball.")

On it went, like a root canal that went on for two hours. Caitlyn and I were the ones to finally get up and go. We still wanted Isabella - at least, we thought we did - but I didn't know how we were going to deal with that 6-7 inarticulate lump when - or if - we got her to South Dakota. If she played as well as she held a conversation she wouldn't make it on an NAIA squad.

We got out the door and walked to the car. I waited until we were in, the doors were locked, and we were on our way rolling.

"What the hell was that?" I said.

"Man, I...." Caitlyn sighed. "I swear to God she was a lot different on the phone."

"Yeah, she seemed very happy when I offered her a scholarship. That was just weird."

"I told you," Caitlyn said, "you can't trust a computer."

(* * *)

As for our recruiting list, we got lucky. Somehow, Denver and BYU had fallen through. I didn't know what had happened but those names had fallen off her list and at ESPN Rise Gray's status was listed as "unsigned". We followed up with the Grays and they were very glad to hear from us. Aaliyah Gray had been rescue from the dust heap.

We begin to look at players overseas. We'd have to spend a lot of money on film and contact scouts. There was a French player named Juliette Delrue who scored 20.3 points per game and hadn't turned pro yet. She had filled out a questionnaire from USD, but that was from a year earlier. We didn't know if she had the same interest but it looked like she'd be willing to take our calls. All sorts of big name schools - Duke, among them - were trying to convince her to come to the United States but none of them had made an offer.

(* * *)

We were heading into the final week of preparation before our opening game at home against Eastern Kentucky. Near the end of the year, I gave a little talk about our goals for the upcoming season.

"Let's not think about our record last year," I said, "because we are a great basketball team. We proved it in conference play. You can look at an 8-22 season, but we were 7-11 in conference. We surprised a lot of people. And you're willing to put in the work - you've shown it all year. No one believes it is. But it doesn't matter what anyone else believes. The only thing that matters is what we believe. Connecticut puts the same shorts on that we do. UCLA likes the same kinds of boys that you do.

"we will go out on the court with the attitude of a winner. We will lay it on the line for every loose ball. Whatever's on the scoreboard, that's what it is. If we're down by 40 points, we are going to play South Dakota basketball in the 2012-13 season. We are ready. We have the attitude. We move the ball. Every shot is the right shot to take!"

"Any attitude?" I asked.

"All attitude!" they said.

"We ready?" I asked.

"One hundred percent ready!" they shouted.

"What's that I hear?"

"I hear barking!"

"Who's barking?"

"Yotes barking!"

"Who gonna bite?"

"Yotes bite!"

"What's it sound like?"

And the seniors led the BARK-BARK-BARK-BARK-BARK!!

"On three...one two three...."

"SOUTH DAKOTA!"

(* * *)

While we were getting psyched up for the 2012-13 season, the world moved on.

On November 13, 2012 the FBI stormed into the house of Mark Richard Capel, a member of the Ypsilanti, Michigan police force. They didn't exactly give him time to answer the door before they smashed through his door, taking him before he had time to get to his gun. The Federal Government had been keeping their eye on Capel, and he had made a phone call to a Canadian phone number on a cell phone that he thought was secure. Rather than wait for him to show up to work or to attempt to cross the Canadian-US border they decided to grab him. Capel was living in Romulus, Michigan at the time.

Capel was considered the outer link in a net of right wing Christian militias. A separate investigation brought Capel's name up in a database, and an investigation led to the connection between a splinter group of the Michigan Militia that he was believed to belong to and a Dominionist cult named the Bosom of Abraham which had as its leader Dr. Edward Thomas Haight. Haight's Ph. D. was in chemistry and his college minor was biology. After Haight found Jesus, he began to become more and more deeply involved in Dominion theology and changed his name to Elijah Abraham, devoting hours and hours of study into the Book of Revelations and becoming more and more reclusive. He resigned his position as a chemical researcher and he and his group of ten followers began to devote themselves full-time to the upcoming apocalypse.

Abraham concocted a witch's brew of theology, believing that there would be certain "catalysts" to events foretold in Revelations 16. He believed that the first bowl judgment - that of the painful sores that would appear on the skins of those rebelling against God - came true in the form of AIDS in the 1970s-90s. The next bowl judgments would be those of the "rivers of blood" and "seas of blood".

When Mitt Romney nominated Brian Sandoval, this was Abraham's sign that the United States had turned its back on God by nominating "A Muslim, a Mormon and two Catholics" as Abraham said during a short-wave radio show. (Obama was not Muslim, but Abraham had clearly made up his mind otherwise.) Therefore, the United States was deserving of the bowl judgments and God's wrath. Abraham would be instrument of that wrath.

And Elijah Abraham could bring them about! He had the knowledge in chemistry, and the samples from his chemical research. (The general theory would be that it would be impossible to poison a water purification system; Abraham's studies took him to the opposite conclusion but his theory had not been tested large scale.) All he needed was a target.

Since he traveled with his Bosom of Abraham cult through Minnesota-Wisconsin-Michigan, he planned on poisoning the Notre Dame/Michigan football game shortly after he learned of Sandoval's nomination. Romney's father had been governor of Michigan, Sandoval was Catholic - it worked perfectly! But the geniuses of the Bosom of Abraham misread the Michigan football schedule, proving they were no Wolverine fans - Abraham thought it was a Michigan home game but Notre Dame was playing in Indiana and not Michigan! Even so, plans were made for a poisoning of Ann Arbor, but paranoia on the part of Abraham brought him to Ypsilanti and Capel's help provided the rest.

For years, there would be debate as to how exactly Capel gave up this information. (Capel claimed he was waterboarded.) In any case, Capel's militia training failed to protect him against whatever form of advanced interrogation was used. (Theory two was that he sang like a bird, but told the "they tortured me" story to try to make himself a better martyr for the Dominionists.) Whatever they did, the rush into Capel's home indicated that someone wasn't kidding.

The US Government released Elijah Abraham's name and face the same day as a suspect in the Ypsilanti bombing. Federal officials knew that when they began collapsing the Dominionist network, it was likely that he and his followers would take flight. Enhanced security was brought to the US-Canadian border. News and social media exploded in wild speculation. Elijah Abraham had become the most famous name since Osama bin Laden - his name and photograph were on television 24-7 - but the attention he brought to his cause was not the kind that anyone would want.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

The long off-season is over! After months of waiting and one internet hard drive crash, we are now at the very doorstep of the 2012-13 season. As someone in Major League might put it, "Actual women's basketball is actually being played!"

I'll close with two screen captures. The first is the gameplan screen for 2012-13. Our offense goes through our two best recruits, Catalina Stewart
and Abigail Merkle.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/8428/201213gameplan.jpg

The other screen capture is the training screen. I tried to leave this one alone. I accepted the recommendations (I think), pulling points out of stamina for the most part. (Good players won't mind the loss, and hopefully I have the talent to leave bad players on the bench where they won't need it.) Those points went either into inside shooting (posts), jump shooting (guards) or ball handling (point guards).

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/1637/201213training.jpg

Next time: The start of the 2012-13 season! At last!

[masterofnone]

I am so ready for some basketball. That said, I really enjoy the characterizations you give the different players, be they nervous (Crumley), reserved (Harrington), naive (Merkle), crazy (Matz), etc.

Also, based on the electoral map you show, flipping Michigan wouldn't have been sufficient for a Republican victory - they still lose 270-268 in that case.)

[Petrel]

November 2012


WBCA Top 25

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (71) 0-0 1799
2. Notre Dame 0-0 1726
3. Ohio State (1) 0-0 1622
4. Oklahoma 0-0 1582
5. Connecticut 0-0 1501
6. Stanford 0-0 1385
7. Tennessee 0-0 1357
8. Duke 0-0 1265
9. Texas A&M 0-0 1207
10. Maryland 0-0 1072


I suppose that Ohio State must have voted for itself. Baylor was the #1 team coming into 2012-13, with senior shooting guard Mattie Moeller scoring 12.8 ppg last year, going 90-227 from the 3-point line. Baylor and Texas A&M had a little spat in the off-season with the Aggies departing for the SEC, but both teams will meet this year on November 30th.

The upsets started early. I don't think you could have called East Tennessee State's 70-62 defeat of Connecticut in the Preseason WNIT much of an upset - the Lady Bucs were undefeated in the Atlantic Sun the previous season and finished 30-4 for the yeaer, losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. But given the wailing and gnashing of teeth out of Storrs, you'd have thought the world had ended. To be beaten by an Atlantic Sun team?

#4 Oklahoma - National Finalists the year before - would lose to #18 Louisville 92-78 at the Dead River Classic in Maine. It looked like there would be a lot of movement in the polls.

(* * *)

Eastern Kentucky (0-0) at South Dakota (0-0)

At long last basketball. If there was something we didn't cover in preparing for the 2012-13 season, it was too damn late now.

On paper, it was a matchup of two miserable teams. Last year, EKU was probably a Bottom 25 team if there was such a thing. They finished 7-22 overall and 5-13 in the OVC. When I grew up, Eastern Kentucky was the closest NCAA Division I team next to us...and was frequently ignored in favor of the Wildcats of Kentucky.

But I had a great fondness for Richmond. For one thing, they were in a "wet" county where they sold alcohol. (Kentucky still had the wet-dry county system in the late 20th century.) My teammates and I would drive long miles to Richmond, to hang out with the sorority girls at EKU and have a few beers.

In a lot of ways, they were like us. There were some diamonds there. Eden Luther was a point guard who was All-Academic in the OVC and had flashes of greatness. SF Chloe Duncan and freshman PG Nataile Randel had promise. I really did not want to lose our first game of the year to the Lady Colonels - this was a game that by all rights, we should win.


South Dakota 63, Eastern Kentucky 38

Eastern Kentucky (0-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Eden Luther C 24 2-3 1-1 0 1 0 4 5
Leilah Shin PF 29 4-8 2-4 0 3 1 2 10
Christine Goode SF 30 1-10 2-2 2 3 1 2 4
Chloe Duncan SG 29 2-5 0-0 2 8 1 2 5
Natalie Randel PG 24 3-10 1-1 0 1 0 3 7
Angela Enciso PG 24 0-9 3-4 1 1 3 3 3
Chloe Torres PF 19 0-0 0-0 1 2 1 1 0
Ana Abernethy C 9 2-2 0-0 1 1 0 1 4
Ella Morrow SG 6 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 0
Charlotte Eaves C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Audriana Suttles SF 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0

Turnovers: 13 (E.Luther 2, L.Shin 1, C.Goode 1,
C.Duncan 2, N.Randel 4, C.Torres 1, E.Morrow 1,
A.Suttles 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (L.Shin 2, A.Abernethy 1, A.Suttles 1)
Steals: 1 (C.Duncan 1)
3P FGs: 1-13 (C.Goode 0-6, C.Duncan 1-2, N.Randel 0-3,
A.Enciso 0-2)

South Dakota (1-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 0-3 2-2 5 9 1 2 2
C. Harrington PF 23 2-4 3-4 3 6 0 2 8
Jessica Bing SF 20 2-6 2-2 1 2 1 4 6
Catalina Stewart SG 30 5-14 2-2 0 8 5 1 14
Abagail Merkle PG 23 3-3 2-2 1 5 0 1 8
Allison Riggle PG 10 2-3 0-0 0 2 1 1 4
Maliah Lewellen PF 19 0-3 2-2 1 1 0 1 2
Bella Grier SF 16 1-3 3-7 0 2 2 2 5
Ashley Brown C 15 2-4 0-0 0 2 0 0 4
Anzhelika Bure SG 6 3-3 0-0 1 2 0 0 6
Jillian Ho PG 11 1-1 2-2 0 2 1 2 4
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 2,
C.Stewart 2, A.Merkle 3, A.Riggle 2, M.Lewellen 1,
J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 1, M.Lewellen
1)
Steals: 7 (C.Stewart 4, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1,
A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 3-10 (C.Harrington 1-1, C.Stewart 2-6,
M.Lewellen 0-2, A.Brown 0-1)


It looks like that training in the man-to-man defense has paid off. We killed the Lady Colonels, holding them to just 29.2 percent shooting. The Lady Colonels led 5-2 early on, but we took a 15-2 run after that and so much for the visitors. We led 32-16 at halftime and Eastern Kentucky was never in the game. We killed them on the boards, too, with a 41-22 rebounding edge. Lots of players got playing time.

Catalina Stewart looked good. She led the team in minutes, had 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals. She also had five assists to just two turnovers. Stewart, for her shyness, must have been eager to get out there and she really stuck it to Eastern Kentucky.

There was some bad luck, however. Allison Riggle got hurt. Riggle was our starting point guard for last year. She had complained about foot problems before the game and we made sure she was taped up well because she was just as eager to get out there as anyone. I told her that she'd come off the bench.

So who do you put at PG? Last year's backup Jillian Ho? Who did I feel comfortable with?

Would you believe Abigail Merkle? Two years in JUCO made me feel confident that she was a disciplined player that could run our (admittedly, very simple) offense. In an unfamiliar role - I would slide the 6-0 Merkle in between the one and the four which caused EKU no end of confusion - she had eight points and five rebounds, shooting 3-for-3.

The bad news was that Riggle went out. Late in the second half, she drove to the basket from the key and just collapsed, clutching that bandaged left foot. X-rays revealed a fracture. She was blaming herself all the way to the training room - she later told us that she had hurt her foot in practice the day before but kept her pain to herself.

That meant that Riggle would be out for an entire month. This led me to think, "Can Abigail Merkle really play point guard?" I was left to deal with a big hole in my roster. While thinking about that, I'd have to squeeze in another visit to Bloomington to court Sofia Owens yet a third time.

(* * *)

This visit had to be squeezed in just before Thanksgiving. There was a full week between the Eastern Kentucky game and the following game (away, against Campbell). However, after the Eastern Kentucky game Caitlyn Williams and I were looking for the first plane to Indiana.

There was nothing left to tell Owens. This visit was a babysitting visit, what I called an "ear****" visit where we would once again whisper sweet nothings into Sofia Owens's ear and try to sway her into wearing a South Dakota uniform. This was our third visit and I was starting to get tired of the courtship.

I knew who held the gate here. The mother. We watched film of our win this year over Eastern Kentucky and I pointed out where Sofia could help us in the post. "Harrington, Merkle - they're upperclassmen. I won't have them for much longer, and someone has to step into their shoes." While I narrated, I kept half an eye open watching any sign of movement from Mrs. Owens. Caitlyn and I suspected that Mrs. Owens was the reason Sofia hadn't signed already.

"So when are you going to sign a National Letter of Intent?" I asked. "You can't keep us waiting all year."

"I just haven't made my mind up, Coach Hawkins," Sofia said.

"Okay. Then do you mind if we play a little game?"

"Sure." I had Sofia's attention, and her mother perked up.

"You've probably heard a lot of crap - or thought some bad things - about South Dakota. I want you to pretend that you're some coach or person badmouthing USD. Just for fun, take some stabs at us. I just want to hear what, you know other people are saying."

Sofia's mother definitely perked up. Before Mrs. Owens could say anything, Sofia jumped in. "They say you're losers. That you don't win ball games."

Caitlyn smiled. "Losers? Last year we finished 7-11 in the Summit League with a bunch of nobodies and with Coach Hawkins's first year as a head coach. We played one of the toughest schedules available, including Tennessee at Tennessee, and we didn't stink there. We didn't win, but we didn't stink. You put Middle Tennessee against the teams we faced, and I'll bet they might have lost a few of those wins."

"Well," Mrs. Owens said, almost as if forced to.

"The state is full of religious nuts."

"I guess that's why South Dakota State hired the only lesbian head coach in Division I." (Hey, it wasn't negative recruiting. Rather, it pointed out that South Dakota was actually in the 21st century.)

"You'll be snowed in and you'll be bored all the time and you can't go anywhere."

"Funny, we manage to hold classes somehow. South Dakota students seem to know how to have fun. Winter snow skiing in the Black Hills."

Mrs. Owens couldn't contain herself. "Didn't your basketball stadium's dome collapse due to snowfall thirty years ago? Twice."

Mrs. Owens was referring to two collapses of the DakotaDome, in 1979 and 1982. After those collapses, the fiberglass dome was replaced with steel. I had to laugh. "Mrs. Owens," I said, "you can't blame me for that. I wasn't even born then!"

(* * *)

As we left Owens's house, Caitlyn said, "Well, she knows that we know. And now everyone knows the score."

"Maybe next time she'll say something and not leave her daughter as her mouthpiece."

"She might have a whole new list of complaints next time."

"Fine. Bring them on," I said. "You know, I'm getting really tired of coming out here. The Owenses really need to crap or get off the pot. But I know they can't be happy with MTSU, because if Middle Tennessee were all that, they would have already signed. I can tell that Sofia wants to play for us and her mother doesn't want it."

"That negativity might not have helped," Caitlyn said.

"Sitting on it won't help," I said. "Everyone knows the score now. Sign, already, dammit. I've got work to do."

(* * *)

The team go to enjoy Thanksgiving together. It appeared that nine players would remain on campus for Thanksgiving and the rest - the native South Dakotans - split up across the state. It seemed that everyone on the team was getting along well, although most of the out-of-state players were my players, players that I had recruited.

The only plaer that didn't seem to get along with people was Maliah Lewellen, my walk on. She seemed to rub people the wrong way. She asserted a status that she didn't really have. I treated Lewellen like any other player but the problem was that Lewellen didn't treat all the other players alike. There was a sort of an "I'm better than you" attitude about her, and the playing time I gave her merely reinforced that.

The theme with Lewellen was the same one every time: "I'm persecuted/everyone else is picking on me." Just before Thanksgiving, Lewellen told me in my office a tale of woe about how the other players were shutting her out.

"They don't show me any consideration! They make me wait in the shower!" Most of Lewellen's tales - when deciphered - led a listener to conclude that the slight she received was the result of a slight she gave. No wonder they were shutting her out; she was driving them crazy.

Odds were that unless Lewellen could turn things around - or unless we had a fantastic year - Lewellen would probably lose her walk-on status at the end of the season.

(* * *)

South Dakota (1-0) at Campbell (0-1)

On November 24, we made a flight to North Carolina to play the Lady Camels of Campbell. Campbell was a horrible team the previous season - a 6-23 team the previous year in the Atlantic Sun conference. This was their first year in the Big South after almost two decades away from the conference.

But Campbell was slightly better than Eastern Kentucky - and we were on their home turf for their home opener and without Alison Riggle. The next quiz had become that much tougher.


Campbell 83, South Dakota 76 (OT)

South Dakota (1-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 32 1-5 3-5 4 14 4 2 5
C. Harrington PF 26 4-5 1-1 2 9 3 3 9
Jessica Bing SF 33 7-13 4-5 4 7 5 1 18
Catalina Stewart SG 37 3-13 2-2 2 4 2 3 9
Abagail Merkle PG 29 10-17 0-0 0 3 5 1 20
Maliah Lewellen PF 23 1-3 0-0 1 2 0 3 2
Bella Grier PF 17 3-4 0-0 0 1 0 1 6
Ashley Brown PF 8 0-1 3-4 0 1 0 0 3
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2
Jillian Ho PG 16 0-3 2-2 0 2 0 2 2
Adalyn Matz SF 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 2,
C.Stewart 2, B.Grier 2, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (A.Choe 2, A.Merkle 1, J.Ho 1)
Steals: 1 (A.Merkle 1)
3P FGs: 1-10 (C.Harrington 0-1, C.Stewart 1-5, A.Merkle
0-2, M.Lewellen 0-1, J.Ho 0-1)

Campbell (1-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Olivia Robbins C 33 6-8 0-2 2 9 2 3 14
Dylan Leonard PF 33 2-3 2-4 1 4 3 2 6
Emily Doody SF 39 9-19 0-0 1 2 1 2 23
Victoria Motta SG 36 5-15 2-3 0 8 4 2 13
Nevaeh Browne PG 36 5-13 2-2 1 1 3 3 14
Paisley Blank SG 15 1-1 0-0 0 1 3 0 2
Lara Clarke PG 9 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 2 2
Charlee Eccles C 14 2-4 1-1 2 4 0 0 5
Lizeth Amaya PF 10 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 2 2
Alexis Chalfant SF 1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2

Turnovers: 7 (O.Robbins 1, D.Leonard 1, E.Doody 1,
V.Motta 1, N.Browne 1, L.Amaya 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (C.Eccles 2)
Steals: 2 (E.Doody 1, V.Motta 1)
3P FGs: 10-26 (O.Robbins 2-2, E.Doody 5-10, V.Motta
1-7, N.Browne 2-6, L.Clarke 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Emily Doody (CPBL)


When you're half a continent away from home playing on someone else's home turf, it's going to be hard to win games. Particularly when you go to overtime. However, this was a game we should have one.

We had a 41-33 lead at halftime and I was very excited about Abigail Merkle's point guard contributions. She was on fire out there on the court, and brought big size (in the women's game) to the point guard position. But the Lady Camels came back in the second, closed to within a couple of baskets with about 10 minutes left, and we couldn't push them back.

They decided to shoot from long range, and they should shoot, going 10-for-26 from 3-point range. SF Emily Doody - the player of the game - hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 to go in the second to put Campbell up 63-62. From then on, it was life and death. With four seconds left, we led 66-65 and had the ball. The Lady Camels sent us to the foul line, where Ashley Brown sank two. 68-65, four seconds left, and time to play defense.

They put it in Emily Doody's hand for the tie. We put Caroline Harrington on Doody - my mistake - because I didn't want to put freshman Catalina Stewart on Doody. Doody drove right down the court, shook Harrington, found her spot on the wing and nailed the 3-pointer at the buzzer. Tie game, 68-68.

We were down 79-76 in overtime with 2:43 left...and then, we lost our composure. We committed five fouls in the overtime period, one stupid foul right after the other. (I'm not counting the fouls we had to commit to get the ball. The team simply crumbled under the pressure, killed by their own mistakes. We were 0-for-2 in the shots we took; the trips to the line that Campbell took were enough to seal it.

Was I happy that we were competitive? Hell no. You only get thirty or so chances to win a basketball game during a season. We let that one blow by us. We'd have two games the following week, and we had just increased the curve for difficulty. The thought of a 1-13 non-conference season danced before me.

November 27, 2012

Murray State (0-4) at South Dakota (1-1)

We had a grand total of three days to mourn our loss. Next up - the visiting Racers of Murray State.

It was true that Murray State had lost all of its first four games after finishing 15-15 the year before. But I wasn't going to be fooled by Murray State's record. They had a decent freshman shooting guard named Abigail Brown, the counterpart to our Catalina Stewart. Furthermore, those losses weren't by much. Two were on a neutral court, and one was away. The home loss against Memphis was a one-point loss, 59-58. Their point differential was only -8 points over four games. That meant that this was a team that was ready to knock someone off, a someone which could be us.

Abigail Merkle and Catalina Stewart had average 14.0 and 11.5 points per game. "Don't let the Racers spoil what we've got going on," I said. "Execute the plan, shoot at the right time. Keep doing what you're doing, and you can win this one." But it would be better if both Merkle and Stewart had good games.


Murray State 65, South Dakota 59

Murray State (1-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Madison Wickham C 27 3-4 2-2 0 5 0 1 8
Addison Olsen PF 28 2-4 2-2 0 5 0 3 6
Angela Bookout SF 27 6-15 4-5 5 6 1 1 17
Abigail Brown SG 32 0-4 0-0 0 2 3 3 0
Emelia Winters PG 27 3-10 1-2 1 4 1 3 8
Charlie Mancini PG 25 4-5 3-4 0 1 6 3 12
Lillian Lebel PG 5 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3
Molly Moore PF 14 2-4 5-6 3 7 1 3 9
Elizabeth Byrd SF 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Giada Henry C 11 1-3 0-1 1 3 1 1 2

Turnovers: 9 (M.Wickham 1, A.Bookout 3, A.Brown 1,
E.Winters 1, C.Mancini 1, G.Henry 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Bookout 2)
Steals: 4 (M.Wickham 1, E.Winters 1, M.Moore 1, E.Byrd
1)
3P FGs: 4-15 (A.Bookout 1-6, A.Brown 0-2, E.Winters
1-4, C.Mancini 1-2, L.Lebel 1-1)

South Dakota (1-2)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 27 4-6 4-7 8 15 2 2 12
C. Harrington PF 26 1-8 0-0 2 6 2 2 3
Jessica Bing SF 28 3-9 0-0 1 2 1 3 8
Catalina Stewart SG 31 6-9 1-2 1 6 3 2 16
Abagail Merkle PG 26 4-9 2-3 0 5 1 0 10
Maliah Lewellen C 18 0-4 2-2 0 2 1 4 2
Bella Grier PF 12 0-3 3-4 2 2 1 1 3
Ashley Brown PF 10 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 6 0-1 2-2 0 0 1 1 2
Jillian Ho PG 14 0-3 1-2 2 2 0 1 1
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 2, C.Stewart 5, A.Merkle 2,
M.Lewellen 3, B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, A.Merkle 1)
Steals: 2 (A.Merkle 1, A.Brown 1)
3P FGs: 6-11 (C.Harrington 1-1, J.Bing 2-3, C.Stewart
3-5, A.Merkle 0-1, B.Grier 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Charlie Mancini (MRYST)


This game left me very depressed about the state of our teams. Not merely because we were 1-2 and that had my bubble punctured in thinking that we were going to be substantially better, but for other reasons.

We had a lot of problems. The Racers threw a lot of looks at us - 2-3, 2-1-2 and 3-2 all night. Rarely did they play us straight up, only when absolutely necessary. This really confused our team, which really hadn't seen a defensively complex team. Given that the team has so many inadequacies, it's hard to prepare them for it. You need a practice team to play those kind of defenses and we have no practice squad other than ourselves. So we struggled in shooting.

We outrebounded them. We held Abigail Brown scoreless. Angelina Choe had 15 rebounds. But it was in turnovers where we lost. Stewart scored 16 points and six rebounds but she turned the ball over five times. Our lack of depth showed, with four players (Lewellen, Grier, Bure, Ho) combining for 0-for-11.

The closeness of these two losses really disturbed me. When you get beat by 20, it's your team's fault. When you get beat by six or less, it's your fault. Sometimes you could feel their anguish in losing coming white hot off the floor. Sometimes, you could see them listless sitting on the bench like a man waiting for his execution. There was some kind of disconnect and I couldn't tell what it was.

We were 1-3. Was it me? Was I a shitty coach? Had I been focused too hard on recruiting? Were my coaches inadequate? Where was the problem?

I said very little after the loss, which must have thrown the team in a panic. When your coach has nothing to say, that's serious business. I went right back into my office and dived into game film, not going to bed until 3:30 am that morning.

November 29, 2012

South Dakota (1-2) at Utah State (1-1)

Looking at the film more closely, I felt we had a chance against Utah State. Last year, they were a 15-16 team - nothing special and their roster was definitely nothing special. Aside from a pair of players - junior PG Aileen Saville and freshman PF Sylvia Snelling - they were a random collection of second-rank players from Utah high school teams; the players that played in Utah because there was no demand for them to play anywhere else.

I made the decision to "bring it down" a little bit and stick to the plan, to focus on the teachable moments. I needed to get my team's attention back. Catalina Stewart was a hard worker, but she had a tendency to give the ball up too easily. Utah State should bring the problems on offense that Murray State did - the Aggies played a strict man-to-man defense, the kind of defense our players should know inside and out.

Loooking at our film, I really missed sophomore PG Alison Riggle. She was apparently the best recruit in the last year of the previous coaching staff which never got to see her play. I was glad that Riggle was hanging in there with us; we wanted her back.


South Dakota 66, Utah State 47

South Dakota (2-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 29 5-6 1-3 4 10 2 1 11
C. Harrington PF 25 3-4 0-0 1 3 1 2 7
Jessica Bing SF 33 8-13 2-3 3 5 2 3 18
Catalina Stewart SG 34 4-9 2-2 2 7 2 2 12
Abagail Merkle PG 27 3-10 1-2 0 2 1 1 7
Maliah Lewellen C 17 0-0 3-4 1 3 2 2 3
Bella Grier PF 11 0-2 2-4 0 4 1 2 2
Ashley Brown C 5 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 4 0-2 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Jillian Ho PG 13 3-4 0-0 0 1 0 2 6
Adalyn Matz SF 3 0-1 0-0 1 2 0 0 0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Choe 3, J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 3, B.Grier
2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 3 (C.Stewart 1, J.Ho 2)
3P FGs: 3-10 (C.Harrington 1-1, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart
2-5, A.Bure 0-2, A.Matz 0-1)

Utah State (1-2)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Bella Hudnall C 31 4-5 0-1 3 6 1 0 8
Josie Sansone PF 26 1-4 5-6 0 4 2 3 7
Athena Unruh SF 29 2-14 1-1 2 2 0 4 5
Kai Svoboda SG 31 3-6 1-2 0 5 3 3 8
Aileen Saville PG 33 4-7 2-3 1 1 4 3 13
Beatrice Simpson SF 18 2-3 0-1 0 3 0 0 4
Tori Halvorson C 11 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 4 0
Mia Hunt C 6 0-3 0-0 1 2 1 0 0
Paige Quattlebaum PF 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Araceli Huff PG 11 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 1 2
Brinley McCalla SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (B.Hudnall 3, A.Unruh 1, K.Svoboda 1,
A.Saville 3, B.Simpson 1, A.Huff 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (J.Sansone 1, A.Saville 1)
Steals: 4 (B.Hudnall 1, A.Saville 2, B.Simpson 1)
3P FGs: 4-20 (J.Sansone 0-3, A.Unruh 0-8, K.Svoboda
1-3, A.Saville 3-6)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)


That was what we needed and we needed it in a big way. The key to the game was an early 13-2 run by the Yotes. "You've seen this before! You see it every day in practice! So treat it like practice!" And with that, they began to beat up on the Aggies the way they've beat up on each other in practice.

Catalina Stewart still had three turnovers. I'm suspecting there's an over/under on turnovers. I just haven't figured out that magic number of turnovers we need to keep Stewart under to have a chance at winning.

We shot the lights out on the for a .510 shooting percentage. They had no 3-point threat with which to counter, and we beat them in the turnover part of the game. (By one turnovers.) Junior SF Jessica Bing came through for us with 18 points.

We were now 2-2. We had won more non-conference games (2) than we had one last year (1). Montana State might also be a win coming up. Lauren Word, our AID, came up to me and said "Congratulations, Coach!"

"Thanks!" I said, thinking about the game.

"That was your 10th lifetime win at USD!" she said.

"Oh." I didn't think it was that significant. "And how many have I lost here?"

"Twenty-four," she said.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Other than the fact that it took me two seasons to win my 10th game, no notes. No world news. No pictures either. But the season is definitely underway.

[masterofnone]

And we're underway.

Two things jump out at me here: first of all, for not being so highly regarded, Choe has 48 boards in the first 4 games (and double-doubles in the last 2).

Second of all, if you don't beat Montana State, win #3 might be a loooong time in coming...

Good job, I really like this. :)

[Petrel]

December 2012

After our visit to Sofia Owens, we still hadn't heard much. We continued to get the same assurances that we were in the mix. One of the most difficult parts of being a coach may be the "hurry up and wait" part. You can plan and plan and plan but never really know how things play out until you get there.

While we were all-in on Owens, our name fell off the list of Breanna Vanscoy's favorites at ESPN Rise. Eastern Michigan, Dayton and St. Bonaventure had all made offers. Duke and Pittsburgh were sniffing around. It looked like the window of opportunity had closed on Vanscoy. Our hope was that it would open on Owens.

December 1, 2012 - Montana State (0-3) at South Dakota (2-2)

When you learn that the prediction in the Montana newspapers - I have to do a bit of internet research - is that the Bobcats have a "50-50" chance of winning this game despite going 0-3, it had to give me pause. Either we were awful or underestimated. But I remember what happened the last time a team with no wins came to the DakotaDome.

Interesting fact: their previous game was against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW), one of our Summit League opponents. They lost 68-50 to the Mastodons and had a 68-65 home loss to St. Peters.

Once again, they looked a lot like us. They were 13-20 last year. They definitely had height - but averaged 20 fouls a game over those three losses. It could come down to which team is a better free throw shooting team. Catalina Stewart was hitting 87 percent of her shots at the line, they had PF April Howard who had hit 75 percent.


Montana State 74, South Dakota 40

Montana State (1-3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Mia West C 26 3-3 3-4 4 16 4 3 9
Claire Butler PF 24 2-5 1-2 1 3 0 1 6
April Howard SF 28 6-12 2-4 2 5 1 3 14
Joyce Lawlor SG 28 7-10 1-3 0 3 0 2 20
Ava Salazar PG 26 1-5 2-2 1 3 3 2 4
Mylee Cooney PG 22 1-6 4-4 0 4 2 2 6
Sienna Ludwig SG 17 2-4 2-3 0 0 2 3 7
Amaya Mebane SF 10 2-2 2-2 1 3 1 2 6
Kallie Barbieri C 9 0-0 0-0 0 2 1 0 0
Makayla Wheaton PF 7 0-0 0-0 1 2 1 1 0
Evelyn Applegate SF 2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2

Turnovers: 7 (M.West 2, C.Butler 1, J.Lawlor 1,
A.Salazar 2, M.Cooney 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Howard 1, A.Salazar 1)
Steals: 3 (M.Cooney 3)
3P FGs: 7-16 (C.Butler 1-2, A.Howard 0-1, J.Lawlor 5-7,
A.Salazar 0-2, M.Cooney 0-1, S.Ludwig 1-3)

South Dakota (2-3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 20 1-6 0-0 2 4 0 4 2
C. Harrington PF 22 2-6 3-6 4 7 1 2 8
Jessica Bing SF 27 2-9 2-2 1 4 2 1 6
Catalina Stewart SG 28 2-7 4-4 0 2 3 1 9
Abagail Merkle PG 22 1-6 2-2 1 4 1 2 4
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 2-7 1-1 1 2 0 3 5
Bella Grier PF 16 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 3 3
Ashley Brown C 16 0-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 7 0-1 1-2 0 0 1 2 1
Jillian Ho PG 18 0-0 2-2 0 1 0 2 2
Adalyn Matz SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Leah Alexander PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 2, C.Stewart 1,
A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1, B.Grier 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 3)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Lewellen 1)
Steals: 3 (C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 1)
3P FGs: 3-9 (C.Harrington 1-2, C.Stewart 1-3, A.Merkle
0-1, M.Lewellen 0-2, B.Grier 1-1)

Player of Game: SG Joyce Lawlor (MT ST)


That game was a nightmare. There is no better way to put it. I did not expect a 34-point loss on home. Early in the game, the Bobcats went on a 13-2 run. They never looked back. They were up by over 20 at halftime. We fell further behind in the second half. What happened?

They played a freaking 3-2 zone! Three on the perimeter! And they outrebounded us 41-26! Son of a bitch!

I was absolutely furious after the game. I was madder than a firecracker. "How dare you? How dare you let two teams come into the DakotaDome with a combined record of 0-7 and just own you? You just GAVE UP out there! You didn't show and passion! You didn't play Yote basketball! You let everyone down, you let your families down, you let your friends down and you let every unfortunate spectator out there down who paid good money to see his or her alma mater lose by 34 points!"

"This isn't some sort of ice cream social! This is basketball, and I didn't grant you scholarships because you were a polite bunch of girls? 41-26 in rebounding? Four rebounds, Angelina? You let #20 (C Mia West) just dominate you! Sixteen ****ing rebounds!"

"They committed 19 fouls! But we couldn't finish because we committed 23!"

To add insult to injury, with 1:30 or so left - garbage time - Montana State put in a junior named Evelyn Appelgate. Applegate drove through the key and slammed an elbow right into Adalyn Matz, who hit the ground with a bloodied (and broken) nose.

So then I decided to let the referees have it. I'm surprised I didn't get a technical. They probably thought there'd be no point to throw a T at someone who was down by 35 points with 90 seconds to go.

We're going to work on our shooting. (Coach Ulmer talked me out of making them run laps out the DakotaDome.) That was our last home game for a month. We're going to run The Gauntlet now - seven straight away games against Hampton, Washington, BYU, UCLA, Maryland, Duke and Connecticut. We are looking at 2-10 going into conference play; winning any of those games will be a miracle.

(* * *)

During this disaster, we had to work out recruiting issues. The plan was to give Owens yet another visit on December 9th and to visit Isabella "Z" Crumley on December 23. The moment the Washington game was over my plan was to fly from Washington to Indiana with Caitlyn Williams to visit Owens and her family yet again.

At about 9 am, my cell phone rang. It was Sofia Owens. This could either be good news or bad news, I told myself. It was rare that Owens had initiated a call.

"Hello, Sofia," I said. "What's up?"

There was a bit of silence before she spoke up. "Coach Hawkins," she said, "I've decided to sign with Middle Tennessee."

I felt like I had been punched in the throat. "Have you signed anything?" I asked.

"We just faxed the letter of intent to Middle Tennessee this morning."

That was it. We were now technically bound to no longer recruit Owens. Middle Tennesseee had her, and South Dakota didn't. "Sofia, I've only got one question for you. Was this your decision?"

The silence told me everything I needed to know. "Sofia, I wish you the best of luck at Middle Tennessee. You would have made a great addition to South Dakota. I just have one thing to tell you. You have to do things for yourself, and not for other people. You can't be miserable for four years just because someone thousands of miles away might be unhappy. If they're unhappy with a decision this fundamental, imagine how unhappy they're going to be with any other decision that's important to you."

There was just silence at the other end of the phone. "Are you there, Sofia?"

"Uh huh."

"It took a lot of guts to call. I'll give you that. Best of luck to you. Goodbye." And then I hung up with more composure than I thought I'd have.

(* * *)

We had to go back to the drawing board that morning. "I don't understand it at all," Caitlyn Williams said. She looked dazed. Raelynn Reavis looked depressed, and Katie Ulmer looked sympathetic.

There wasn't much we could do about things. Our list of "gold standard" players had shrunked considerably - players that good were going to be snapped up. Jordan Wheelock was off to Texas Arlington. Nadia Mansfield? East Tennessee State? Audrey Fraga? Off to nearby San Diego State.

Breanna Vanscoy - who had more of an upside than any other player we had recruited - already had Eastern Michigan, Dayton and St. Bonaventure waiting with offers. The foreign players were indifferent to South Dakota - it didn't strike a Frenchwoman or Spaniard as a place in the USA they'd want to visit, much less play for. (Their loss - I was starting to warm up to my frozen little home.)

Expanding this list one "blue-chippers" forced me to significantly degrade my definition of "blue chip".Taylor Armstrong wasn't a blue-chipper, but she was All-State in Utah and only had interest from Utah State. Molly Scott scored 20.8 points of game but the only team knocking on the door was Boston University.

In the end, we settled on Aaliyah Gray. Why? She was from Colorado, so it wasn't inconceivable that she might want to attend USD. The schools that had made offers - Colorado State, Montana - were ones we were more likely to complete with than Middle Tennessee State, a high-ranking mid-major. Furthermore, she had the best rating from Kong, our recruiting software, which put her as being moderately interested.

"We'll spend three months on Gray," I told everyone, "before we throw in the towel. Caitlyn, set up a home visit."

"And after that?" she said. "Just in case it doesn't work out with Gray?"

"After that, we take whom we can get. If it's March and we don't have her sign, I'd say that train has rolled by."

(* * *)

As I was walking through campus, thinking about the gauntlet of away games we were preparing to run I came across a man carrying a sign.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5222/endoftheworld007300x180.jpg

December 2012 was a month for gloom and doom preachers. The Ypsilanti Massacre hadn't helped anything. America was still morning the deaths of over 3,000 people. There were remembrance signs everywhere. The part of the country that didn't vote for Obama - South Dakota was a red state - weren't in a happy mood. The economy was going nowhere. Elijah Abraham was still at large, and every water purification plant in the United States was being monitored by National Guardsmen.

And to top it all off, were were suffering from what I called "Mayan hysteria". Supposedly, the Mayan calendar foretold predicted doomsday on December 21, 2012. (That was our day off between UCLA and Maryland, so they might be right.) There was something to do with some calendar the Mayans had and the "Long Count". You couldn't watch The History Channel without seeing some documentary about the Mayans. Spike was running 2012 on a virtually endless loop. Christians were encouraging us to Get Right With Jesus. (Hey, as long as there's going to be doom-mongering....)

The overwhelming majority of people saw either humor or lunacy in the entire thing. Even so, it cast one more dark cloud over the end of the year. Most people would be relieved to see 2012 out the door.

(* * *)

December 6, 2012 - South Dakota (2-3) at Hampton (4-1)

For those who haven't heard of Hampton, it's in the MEAC Conference which is a conference of HBCUs - Historic Black Colleges and Universities. These kinds of school traditionally aren't that great but for low-level conferences Hampton was pretty good. They had won the previous years MEAC Tournament and finished with a loss in Round One of the NCAA tournament, closing with a 21-13 record. (Florida A&M - the team of Zoe McHale - was 0-4 and I was glad of it.)

Hampton had so much more potential among their players that it wasn't funny. Senior sG Cecilia Dowdell was the one to worry about, averaging 25.0 ppg among the four games the Pirates had played this year. She also averaged 6.8 rebounds per game, a double-threat. Their only loss of the year was a 62-47 loss to #16 Oklahoma, last year's national semifinalists on the road.

Adalyn Matz of the broken nose was day to day. Whether she'd play would be a game time decision.


Hampton 79, South Dakota 78

South Dakota (2-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 30 4-7 2-3 1 14 3 2 10
C. Harrington PF 24 3-5 3-4 0 4 2 2 12
Jessica Bing SF 26 6-9 0-0 0 2 3 3 12
Catalina Stewart SG 33 5-10 1-3 0 1 2 1 13
Abagail Merkle PG 26 3-5 7-9 0 1 4 3 14
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 2-4 0-0 1 1 1 3 6
Bella Grier SF 11 1-2 1-2 0 2 0 0 3
Ashley Brown C 10 0-1 2-2 2 3 0 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
Jillian Ho PG 14 3-5 0-0 0 1 0 0 6
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 3,
C.Stewart 3, A.Merkle 2, A.Brown 2, A.Bure 1, J.Ho 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Merkle 1, A.Bure 1)
Steals: 1 (B.Grier 1)
3P FGs: 8-14 (C.Harrington 3-4, C.Stewart 2-5, A.Merkle
1-2, M.Lewellen 2-3)

Hampton (5-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Alyssa Phillips C 21 2-2 0-2 2 4 1 3 4
Kayla Rosenberg PF 31 6-8 2-4 2 8 2 3 14
Reina Bingaman SF 33 5-14 3-4 0 4 4 0 13
Cecelia Dowdell SG 11 5-10 1-2 3 3 2 4 13
Laura Ervin PG 32 3-8 3-4 1 2 10 4 10
Lillian Persinger PG 22 4-9 0-0 0 1 6 3 10
Hadley Nord SG 17 3-5 2-2 0 2 0 4 8
Madison Reiser C 14 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 2
Kenzie Bivins SF 5 1-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 2
Alexandra Just PF 6 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Tatum Bartlett C 8 0-1 3-4 1 3 0 0 3

Turnovers: 9 (K.Rosenberg 2, R.Bingaman 2, C.Dowdell 1,
L.Ervin 1, L.Persinger 1, M.Reiser 1, A.Just 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 7 (R.Bingaman 2, C.Dowdell 1, L.Ervin 3,
M.Reiser 1)
3P FGs: 5-15 (R.Bingaman 0-1, C.Dowdell 2-5, L.Ervin
1-4, L.Persinger 2-3, H.Nord 0-2)

Player of Game: PG Laura Ervin (HAMPT)


So close. So freaking close. A win would have meant so much to this program but it wasn't going to happen. If this game had been played in Vermillion, we would have had the win.

Hampton decided to fool around with us a little bit. They knew we'd go after Cecelia Dowdell, so their goal was to move the ball around. But it looked like the Yotes were a bit embarrassed after that horrible showing against Montana State, and wanted to prove that they could play some ball. That first half of the game was about as tough as you could imagine and they hung in there against a tougher squad. We actually lead by three points late in the first half and took a 37-35 lead into halftime.

I told them, "Do exactly what you were doing in the first half, because they seem to have a lot of trouble with it." Our players could tell when Hampton was sagging on the man-to-man and Caroline Harrington and Catalina Stewart lit the Pirates up. We went on a 8-0 run early in the second and led 52-41, forcing Hampton to call a time out. (I don't think I saw Hampton's coach so animated. I think I heard the word "embarrassment.")

They fought back. We kept them at arms length for most of the game. Lilian Persinger hit a 3-pointer with 4:39 left to put the Pirates up by one for the first time in the half, 68-67. From then on, it was a battle of wills. We led 76-72 with two minutes left but we couldn't hold it.

With forty-seven seconds left Dowdell shoots a 3-pointer from the right wing to put Hampton up 77-76. It's our turn. We were looking for Abigail Merkle on the inside but they had her covered, and the Pirates virtually dared Bella Grier to shoot it. She found her way inside along the left baseline and banked it in to give the Yotes a 78-77 lead with 15 seconds left.

I figured that they'd try to give it to Dowdell to take the last shot. Sure enough, they find Dowdell who takes the shot from 3-point range - and misses it. If we rebound, we win.

No dice. Madison Reiser gets the rebound, kicks it out to Dowdell almost in the same spot, she steps a few feet in and with time expiring - she buries it. 79-78 on a last second shot and Hampton snatches victory from the jaws of defeat.

Hampton goes wild. We're crushed. For lack of a rebound, we lose the game. My only explanation is that the Women's Basketball Goddesses hate South Dakota.

"You had so much heart out there," I told my players. "There's going to be a day when we get those rebounds. But that day's not today. You won their respect out there. Next time, we'll earn more than just respect."

Senior Angelina Choe had another monster game. A double-double. How were we going to replace her when she graduated this year?

It was a brave face. I was devastated. This hurt as bad as the Murray State loss. But I had no time to cry; I had to get on a plane to the west coast to take on the University of Washington.

(* * *)

That night, I talked to my old coach, Ken Tomlinson. I told him about the loss.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Didn't watch it on TV though, it wasn't on, but I keep up with box scores. You're my only player that ever went into chick basketball, so you're everything I know about the subject."

"I can't help but feeling that I let those players down. For the first time I feel like I'm in over my head."

"Well, think about it, Mark," he said. "You have no experience as an assistant coach. You lucked into the job. It's not like coaching men players. This is the first time you've had to motivate other people, which is a lot different from motivating yourself. They say good players make bad coaches and vice versa, because a good coach knows that it's hard to movitate people."

"Yeah. I just feel like I should be doing more."

"What about your assistants? Are they on your side?"

"Yeah, but I don't think that Reavis or Ulmer do much more than run practices when I'm away. Their teaching skills are pretty spotty. Williams doesn't contribute anything outside of recruiting, and she's not been much help there this year."

"Yeah," Ken said. "You know, you're going to have to fire someone, soon."

"Some other coach at USD told me that."

"Well, I'm telling it to you. You can't do all of this by yourself. Remember that joke about the coach who gets a basketball job and the old coach leaves three sealed envelopes in the desk drawer. "When you get into trouble," he says, "open those envelopes and you'll be all right."

"New coach has a bad first year. He opens envelope #1. "Blame the previous coach." So he does."

"Next year stinks. He opens envelope #2. "Shake up your staff." So he fires his assistants.

"Next year, he doesn't win a single game. He opens envelope #3. It says - !"

And we both said in unison. "Prepare three envelopes."

"I think you're getting to envelope #2. Do you want to coach, Mark?"

"I do."

"Well, you can't help those kids if you're not there. You need to figure out what you're doing to do. If there's dead weight, I'd get rid of it."

(* * *)


December 8, 2012 - South Dakota (2-4) at Washington (2-1)

This was the less dangerous Huskies team we'd be playing this year. They had a 2-1 record but their wins were against Bethune-Cookman and Cal State Northridge, the latter which hasn't won a game all season. They lost by two to Portland State just three nights ago so we were both coming off close losses. Senior SG Marilyn Hampton led the way with 15.7 ppg and junior PF Reagan March added 8 ppg and 7 rpg.

Even so, we hoped that we could beat them on the boards, where they were weak. But I had no illusions this deep into the schedule. A win against a power conference team would be a win that we could take into the conference schedule - even into next year. But those wins were hard to get. Why do you think they're called power conferences?

Adalyn Matz was now fully recovered, wearing a mask. However, she had only played 10 minutes this season. I'd be surprised if she were the key to victory.

Last year the Huskies finished 15-16, but 5-13 in the Pac-Twelve. They failed to make the postseason and were hoing for big things this year.


Washington 65, South Dakota 42

South Dakota (2-5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 2-5 2-3 2 7 1 2 6
C. Harrington PF 25 3-5 2-3 2 5 0 2 10
Jessica Bing SF 31 2-6 5-6 0 1 2 2 9
Catalina Stewart SG 29 1-6 0-0 0 4 0 1 2
Abagail Merkle PG 26 3-7 2-2 4 6 2 2 8
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 0-2 0-0 0 2 0 0 0
Bella Grier SF 14 0-3 2-2 0 0 1 2 2
Ashley Brown PF 11 1-1 0-0 0 3 0 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0
Jillian Ho PG 14 1-5 0-0 1 1 0 1 3
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 18 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 4,
C.Stewart 4, A.Merkle 2, B.Grier 2, A.Brown 1, A.Bure
1, J.Ho 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Harrington 1)
Steals: 3 (C.Stewart 1, B.Grier 2)
3P FGs: 3-11 (C.Harrington 2-3, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart
0-4, B.Grier 0-1, J.Ho 1-2)

Washington (3-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Reagan March C 17 1-2 0-0 2 4 0 3 2
Melody Comstock PF 29 3-11 4-6 5 8 1 3 10
Lillian Lopez SF 27 9-17 0-0 3 5 2 0 18
Adelaide Clark SG 24 4-7 4-4 0 2 2 4 16
Marilyn Hampton PG 27 2-5 4-4 1 3 2 1 8
Isabella Bulter C 27 2-4 2-2 2 4 3 2 6
Adelyn Boger SG 24 2-5 0-0 0 5 3 0 4
Hannah Janes SF 13 0-3 0-0 2 3 1 1 0
Addison Rutland PF 6 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Isabela Plott PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Lillian Luu SF 3 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Emely Giegerich C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0

Turnovers: 8 (L.Lopez 1, A.Clark 1, M.Hampton 1,
I.Bulter 2, A.Boger 2, H.Janes 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 9 (L.Lopez 2, A.Clark 1, M.Hampton 1, A.Boger
4, H.Janes 1)
3P FGs: 4-12 (A.Clark 4-6, M.Hampton 0-1, I.Bulter 0-1,
A.Boger 0-2, H.Janes 0-2)

Player of Game: SF Lillian Lopez (WASH)


That went about as well as you can expect it to go. At this point, I'm not foolish enough to expect wins.

We actually managed to hang in there the first half. After Washington took a 13-3 lead we had to call a time out and get the team on same page, tying the game 18-18 with 4:18 in the first. They answered their own timeout with an 8-0 run and led 30-24 at the break.

I would have liked to know what their coach told them at halftime, because they answered with a 16-4 run. They held us to 32.5 percent shooting during the game, and we turned the ball over 18 times to their eight. It's going to be very hard winning under those circumstances.

Catalina Stewart had her worst game of the season. Two points, 1-for-6 shooting and four turnovers. Angelina Choe has considerably cooled down. I don't know how this team will be when Allison Riggle returns; frankly, I'm looking for someone to step up.

(* * *)

The team returned back to South Dakota to finish up any administrative work. The Fall Semester was over; I didn't hear a hint of any trouble. I wanted us to be focused and prepare for the game on Thursday in Utah against Brigham Young.

While practicing - and I swear, sometimes it's so loud you're almost in your own universe; I love the sound of a practice - I heard clapping and applause from outside the closed metal doors. It was some kind of raucous celebration.

I called a halt to practice and walked outside the doors waiting to give someone a piece of my mind. Maybe tell some cheerleaders to save it for game day.

Instead, there were a bunch of security personnel and stadium workers applauding. "They got the son of a bitch!" one shouted, and the ecstasy could only mean thing.

"They got him!" another one cried. "They got Elijah Abraham!"

Holy crap! "Is he - ?"

"They got him alive. He was hiding with his relatives up in Ohio. Man, they are going to fry his sorry ass!"

I walked back into practice. "TWo hour break!" I said. "They've captured Elijah Abraham!"

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8402/ohioswat.jpg

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9682/ohioswat2.jpg

On an overcast day, armed men surround the house of Abraham's first cousin in Grove City, Ohio. The operation took less than five minutes.

Oddly enough, it was another investigation that brought Grove City police to the presence of Abraham. The police department was investigating a series of home invasions. They also had been told by the FBI that Abraham's first cousin lived in Grove City, and the home invasions took place near the area. A woman had told a police officer that a "homeless man" was living in the home of Ella Bonelli, the first cousin previously named. Bonelli was a gardener that lived alone and Abraham had been helping her with some of her gardening, having grown a beard as a disguise.

It took about nine days for everyone to make the connection, an unconscionable amount of time. Abraham, however, didn't seem to be going anywhere. They got their warrant, cordoned the area, and burst in and took out Abraham who was unarmed.

The span of time from the Ypsilanti mass murder to Abraham's capture? 82 days. More people were killed in the hate crimes that occurred after Ypsilanti (one) than in the takeout of Abraham's network (zero). Every single one of Abraham's cult was captured alive.

It dominated the news, and for once, people were glad to be glued to their TV sets. It happened early in the morning at 9:13 am CST, and scientists reported a massive worldwide spike in internet use and in news network ratings.

President Obama gave a brief speech.

"This morning, December 9th, 2012, it became clear to the police department of Grove City Ohio that the leader of the Bosom of Abraham - Elijah Abraham - had taken up residence in a local home. State and federal officials were quickly mobilized as soon as credible information was received. Police surrounded the home and captured Abraham without incident. He was arrested by FBI officers at the scene and is currently in federal custody.

The capture of Abraham is a victory for the people of Ypsilanti and a victory for the Department of Homeland Security. Let any enemy of the United States - either foreign or domestic - be warned that justice shall be served."

It was barely two paragraphs. There would be detractors, of course. That the nine days before someone suspected Abraham was in Grove City and the time he was arrested was a sign of the incompetence of the federal government's investigation. That Obama should have said more. That he shouldn't have claimed victory on behalf of Ypsilanti. ("What, does he have a Michigan birth certificate?")

But the detractors had little ammo. Both Osama bin Laden and Elijah Abraham had been captured on Obama's watch, the two terrorists that had cost Americans the most lives. Obama's popularity rating spiked.

One question someone might have is that - given Abraham's ultra right-wing Christian worldview - if Americans had changed their perspectives on Christianity. Even though nonbelievers sited Abraham's dream of a Bible-ruled United States as a sign that organized religion supported such unstable personalities, most Americans were willing to write off Abraham as a fluke. There were some people who gave up attending church, but many of those were one step out the door anyway. Both sides threw statistics at each other pre-and-post Ypsilanti, nothing had changed.

But things had changed in Ypsilanti. Memorials still dotted every sign, every post. A fast-paced city like New York could mourn its losses quickly after 9-11, but Abraham's act would cast a grim pall over Ypsilanti for decades to come.

December 13, 2012 - South Dakota (2-5) at Brigham Young (5-4)

Last Year, the Cougars were tough. THey finished 24-9 overall and 11-5 in the West Coast Conference, good enough for a WNIT appearance where they lost in the first round. But this year, their 5-4 record didn't look too impressive. Two of their wins were against Northwestern State and Army, which had started the season a combined 0-13. Of their four losses, three were against teams that had a .500 or better record.

Part of Brigham Young's problem was that they had no height. They only had three players 6-2 and above, and those players didn't really contribute. They only averaged 1.1 block per game. And they fouled a lot, an average of 21.1 fouls a game.

They definitely had a couple of scorers in junior SG Alaysia Seaver (19.6 ppg) and freshan Jenny Plumber (16.9 ppg) but after that scoring dropped off quickly - those two players were almost half of the Cougars scoring offense. If Seavor or Plummer had a bad game - or better yet, if we could make them have a bad game - we might have a chance.


Brigham Young 77, South Dakota 59

South Dakota (2-6)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 27 2-5 2-4 6 11 2 2 6
C. Harrington PF 26 1-3 2-2 0 8 0 2 4
Jessica Bing SF 29 1-4 1-2 1 2 4 1 3
Catalina Stewart SG 26 4-11 1-2 1 2 0 3 12
Abagail Merkle PG 26 5-13 3-3 0 1 2 3 13
Maliah Lewellen PF 16 1-2 2-2 0 0 0 1 4
Bella Grier PF 14 4-6 4-6 0 2 0 2 13
Ashley Brown C 12 0-3 0-0 1 6 1 1 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 8 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 3
Jillian Ho PG 14 0-4 1-2 2 3 1 3 1
Adalyn Matz SF 2 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 2, J.Bing 2, C.Stewart 3,
A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1, A.Brown 1, J.Ho 2, A.Matz 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 1)
Steals: 3 (J.Bing 1, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1)
3P FGs: 5-12 (C.Stewart 3-7, B.Grier 1-1, A.Brown 0-1,
A.Bure 1-1, J.Ho 0-1, A.Matz 0-1)

Brigham Young (6-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kassandra Woods C 26 1-2 1-2 1 4 3 2 3
Finley Williams PF 27 4-6 8-8 2 9 2 2 19
Jenny Plummer SF 25 6-8 0-0 0 1 3 3 13
Alaysia Seaver SG 32 4-23 2-3 2 8 4 0 13
Abigail Moreland PG 28 3-8 0-0 0 3 4 3 9
Helen Bruno PG 15 3-4 0-2 1 2 0 2 8
Destiny Holcombe SF 19 1-1 2-2 1 4 0 3 4
Emely Delaney SG 6 1-1 2-2 2 3 0 0 4
Nancy Kurtz PF 11 1-1 0-1 1 4 1 3 2
Ella Benoit C 8 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 2 0
Caitlyn Sikes SF 3 1-2 0-0 0 0 1 0 2

Turnovers: 11 (K.Woods 3, F.Williams 2, A.Seaver 3,
H.Bruno 2, N.Kurtz 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (D.Holcombe 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Plummer 1, A.Moreland 1, H.Bruno 1,
C.Sikes 1)
3P FGs: 12-28 (F.Williams 3-5, J.Plummer 1-2, A.Seaver
3-10, A.Moreland 3-8, H.Bruno 2-3)

Player of Game: PF Finley Williams (BYU)


I don't think anything killed us more than our inability to deal with BYU's man to man. Without the height, they had to make up for it somewhere and it was in defense. We hung in there for most of the first half but after leading 37-31 they finished the first half with a 12-3 flourish and we were never back in it. They led 49-34 at halftime and had a double-digit lead for the rest of the way.

We were just outshot (44.6 percent to 35.2 percent). Angelina Choe was back in the saddle with 11 rebounds. Stewart, Merkle and Grier all scored in double digits and Stewart was 3-for-7 from 3-point range. (But Merkle only had one rebound.)

However, we were able to hold back Seaver. She only scored 13 points on 4-for-23 shooting. She took over forty percent of their shots.

The team would get a week off before their next game against UCLA. Four games at the end of December, and three of those against nationally ranked teams. Our team might not play well, but the point of this is not to win - it's to get better and to not give up during adversity. Of course, if we managed to beat UCLA, Duke, Maryland or Connecticut....

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTE

Ugh. What a tough run of games. The Montana State and Hampton games were particularly tough for different reasons.

Time to hold our noses and finish the run. Four more games in December, and then conference play begins.

[Remianen]

First, let me say that I've enjoyed reading this diary from beginning to end. Very entertaining.

Secondly, fire EVERYONE. Tomlinson's right. Look at how much Claire leaned on her assistants. Notice how many successful head coaches got their start on HER bench? She was like the cradle of championship pedigree.

Thirdly, an old coach of mine (who loved him some Vince Lombardi) used to tell us, "moral victories are a loser's consolation". I think you should find out which girls truly have fire in their bellies and let those girls play. In fact, that should be your #1 recruiting criteria. You can't teach passion, you can't teach fire, and you sure as hell can't teach heart. In your position, you've got no shot at the blue chip recruits who put up quintuple doubles night after night. But you can get the decent to good players who refuse to lose.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that Zoe McHale is going to burn out and fade away.

[Petrel]

First, let me say that I've enjoyed reading this diary from beginning to end. Very entertaining.

Secondly, fire EVERYONE. Tomlinson's right. Look at how much Claire leaned on her assistants. Notice how many successful head coaches got their start on HER bench? She was like the cradle of championship pedigree.

Yeah. Undoubtedly someone's going to get fired. If I don't get Gray then Caitlyn Williams might go. If I don't get Crumley then she's history. Ulmer and Reavis might go with her too, but the question the AD will ask is "why did you fire every single one of your assistants?" I don't know if that's every happened in the men's game.


Thirdly, an old coach of mine (who loved him some Vince Lombardi) used to tell us, "moral victories are a loser's consolation". I think you should find out which girls truly have fire in their bellies and let those girls play. In fact, that should be your #1 recruiting criteria. You can't teach passion, you can't teach fire, and you sure as hell can't teach heart. In your position, you've got no shot at the blue chip recruits who put up quintuple doubles night after night. But you can get the decent to good players who refuse to lose.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that Zoe McHale is going to burn out and fade away.

Florida A&M - McHale's team - is 0-9 for the season. One of only three NCAA Division I schools without a win. Makes me glad. :D

It might have been that the blue-chip list was doomed to failure. I will have to figure out how to evaluate players for hustle - highly evaluated players that might not have great high school status but a ton of potential.

[Petrel]

December 2012

On Sunday the 16th, Caitlyn Williams and I went back to see Isabella Crumley. We had two lists of players - blue chip players and role players - in mind at the beginning of the season. Crumley was the role player we settled on. She had been offered a scholarship by USD and the only team listed on her ESPN Rise profile was South Dakota, so she clearly was interested. Furthermore, it looked like we had not "primed the pump" for some other team - unless Crumley was not telling us something.

The last time we visited her in Southwest Detroit, it was a very awkward situation. Her parents were bumps on logs. The formerly talkative Crumley - at least she was according to Williams - had suddenly clammed up and was as nervous as a frog on a burning log.

So this time, we decided to make things a bit more casual. I spent $20 of my own money (an NCAA violation by the way) and I ordered pizza for the family. The parents were nervous at first, but after some pizza they finally seemed to loosen up. Mr. Crumley talked about moving out of Southwest Detroit. "There's not a lot wrong with Detroit that can't be fixed, if someone would just give a damn. But the city's just got too bad." He wasn't making much money as a lawyer, either. "I wanted to stay local, but after Isabella goes to college, we might move. Though it would be hard to leave Stewart behind."

Stewart was Isabella's younger brother who died at the age of five. (You couldn't escape his picture from anywhere in the house, and I mean that almost literally. Even in the bathroom he was looking at you.) He died of meningitis from some ailment. "He just got sick one day," Mrs. Crumley said. "Then he started crying because of a headache, and then he kept throwing up. We took him to the emergency room...but he didn't make it. I don't like to talk about it."

"Isabella was real close to Stewart," Mr. Crumley said. "I think that she feels the same way we do," he said. "You know, not wanting to leave home."

I noticed it with Isabella. A faint hint of a nod. Wow, how do you talk someone out of that? I wasn't any kind of psychologist; I couldn't imagine that Isabella would still need a counselor. The boy had been dead for almost five years now.

"When I go out of the court," she said, "I kiss my hand and that's five fingers on the hand for Stewart, who died when he was five. Then I wave at Stewart because he's in Heaven, looking down on me. So I have to go all out because I don't want him thinking that I'm slacking off."

"So that's why you wear #5?" I asked, remembering her number vaguely from some film.

"Yeah. And I notice that you don't have no #5 on the Coyotes." She pronounced it KI-yotes.

There would hopefully be time for pronunciation lessons later. "Trust me - we'll save it for you. If you come. Are you still interested in coming on campus at the end of the month?"

"Yeah!" she said.

"Good," I smiled. "See you on the 30th. Dress warm."

(* * *)

The visit was only an hour and thirty minutes. But I felt the ice had been broken.

"Hey, Mark," Caitlyn said.

"Yeah?"

"You know that pizza was an NCAA violation."

"Okay," I said. "Are you going to report me to Compliance?"

"No."

"Good. I'll buy you something to eat at the airport, then."

(* * *)


December 20, 2012 - South Dakota (2-6) at #22 UCLA (6-1)

It had been about a zillion years since I had been to the Pauley Pavilion, the famous arena where John Wooden's UCLA Bruins had won so many championships. When I was a junior I had played (once) on the court and now I'd be returning to it as a coach.

If you look up at the ceiling, you'll see 11 championship banners. Ten are for men's basketball and one is for women's basketball (UCLA's AIAW win back in 1978, four years before the NCAA began offering a championship for women.) There are other banners for volleyball and gymnastics, but the rule is that only national championship banners can hang here.

This is the part of The Gauntlet where you learn how much difference of talent there is between the UCLAs of the world and the South Dakotas. The Bruins had two first-round WNBA Draft picks on their team. Junior SG Addison Brooks is averaging 27 points a game - that's not a typo, she's leading the NCAA in scoring this season. Add her 6.4 rebounds per game and she's a multiple threat. She's hitting about 89 percent of her free throws too, so you can't hack her in an attempt to slow her down.

Defensively, she's rock solid. She averages 2.3 steals per game, good for 7th nationwide. Sophomore center Brinley Shackleford has 8.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg and at 6-8 she has 2.6 blocks per game, good for 8th in the country.

UCLA's 79.3 ppg is good for 10th nationally, their 17.3 assists per game are good for 17th, they are 6th in steals with 8.7 team steals per game. The Yotes are 163rd in points per game, 101st in assists per game, and 324th in steals per game. I'm wondering if we can bring 30 players onto the court, just for backup.

Allison Riggle - she of the broken foot - is day to day. The swelling has gone down and she states that she's not feeling any pain. Whether she plays or not will be a game day decision.


UCLA 71, South Dakota 47

South Dakota (2-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 27 4-7 0-1 3 11 2 1 8
C. Harrington PF 25 3-5 1-4 1 8 1 2 7
Jessica Bing SF 26 2-10 6-6 1 2 1 3 10
Catalina Stewart SG 28 1-4 0-0 1 3 0 1 2
Abagail Merkle PG 24 3-4 0-0 1 4 0 0 6
Allison Riggle PG 20 2-4 1-2 0 1 1 2 5
Maliah Lewellen PF 17 1-3 0-0 0 1 0 2 3
Bella Grier SF 15 0-1 0-1 0 2 0 2 0
Ashley Brown C 11 1-1 0-0 1 3 1 1 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 4 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 2
Adalyn Matz SF 2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 2
Leah Alexander PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 22 (A.Choe 5, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 6,
C.Stewart 3, A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 2,
B.Grier 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 2, M.Lewellen 2)
Steals: 2 (M.Lewellen 1, A.Matz 1)
3P FGs: 1-6 (C.Harrington 0-1, C.Stewart 0-1, A.Riggle
0-2, M.Lewellen 1-2)

#16 UCLA (7-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
B. Shackelford C 31 5-11 2-6 1 6 1 3 12
Ximena Pardo PF 33 5-6 3-6 4 7 2 2 15
Mya Ketcham SF 30 4-10 3-4 1 3 2 3 14
Addison Brooks SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Kaylee Caceres SG 28 1-11 2-2 1 2 2 4 4
Gracie Wiley PG 31 6-14 1-1 3 6 3 5 16
Ava Meyer SG 19 3-9 0-0 1 5 1 0 7
Ayana Alexis SG 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Amelia Pipes PG 7 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 0 1
Jordan Turner C 12 1-2 0-0 3 3 0 0 2
Ava Lower PF 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Hailey Wexler PF 1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 5 (K.Caceres 1, A.Meyer 1, A.Alexis 1,
A.Pipes 1, J.Turner 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (B.Shackelford 4, X.Pardo 1)
Steals: 7 (X.Pardo 3, M.Ketcham 1, K.Caceres 1, A.Meyer
1, J.Turner 1)
3P FGs: 9-32 (X.Pardo 2-3, M.Ketcham 3-7, K.Caceres
0-7, G.Wiley 3-9, A.Meyer 1-6)

Player of Game: C Ximena Pardo (UCLA)


You might think that we did pretty well against the Bruins, all things considered. Nine seconds after the opening tip when PF Ximena Pardo raced down to the top of the key and opened the game up with a 3-pointer and I thought "okay, this is going to be a slaughter."

But a couple of minutes into the game, Addison Brooks complained of wrist pain. Figuring they wouldn't need her, they sat her down for the rest of the game and that gave us a chance. The Bruins started out 7-0, but we hung in there and with four minutes left in the first we were only down 23-21. But UCLA called a time out and finished the half 9-0 to lead 32-21 at the break.

Seven seconds into the second half they got a steal. We managed to stay around 10-12 points away for the first part of the second half but too much talent made the difference and they upped their lead throughout the game. Part of the problem was that we turned the ball over 22 times! Jessica Bing had six turnovers and Angelina Choe had five! Bing had more turnovers (6) than the entire UCLA team did (5)!

UCLA hit 9-3 pointers, and we were just 1-for-6 behind the arc. Angelina Choe had eight points and 11 rebounds for us - she is a fighter.

Allison Riggle came back for us! I put her in after about 10 minutes and she played for about 20. She had five points and one assist. She complained of a sore foot after the game, but she didn't claim to have any pain. So Allison is going to be day-to-day for us.

(* * *)

On December 21, 2012, we were all on a plan from Los Angeles to Washington for the South Dakota/Maryland game. The Terrapins hadn't played in 10 days; we'd be playing with very little rest.

Today was also supposed to be the end date of the Long Count on the Mayan Calendar. Lots of things had been promised for December 21, 2012. There was all kinds of weird crap about "magnetic reversals".

Normally, flying to games is no fun. This isn't men's basketball. You fly coach. You reserve a lot of seats. Seniors get the seats in front near the bulkhead because they have more leg room. Everyone is staring at your team - not in the least because all of them are wearing USD warmups.

However, it was a different flight. There was a lot of scare mongering from nuts about how you'd better not be near a plane during this Milky Way Galactic Shift or whatever. We joked about how we'd be in no danger because aliens would come. Or we'd be Raptured, or something.

We made it to the ground utterly without incident. December 21, 2012 came and went just like any other news day. All of those hoping fervently for (or against) a Mayan Apocalypse were sorely disappointed. There was no grand outpouring of universal consciousness either, just the shops at the Reagan Airport. The Doomsayers adjusted their Death Clocks, and life went on.

(* * *)


December 22, 2012 - South Dakota (2-7) at #2 Maryland (10-0)

The #2 ranked Terrapins were the highest ranked team that South Dakota had ever faced. They had won their games by an average of 23.8 points per game this year. Some said it was the best Maryland team since the 2006 National Championship team.

One of the keys to that team was a girl called Anika Green (uh-NEE-ka), a 6-6 sophomore power forward who was having a better year than last year despite playing fewer minutes. She was hitting 63 percent of her shots - virtually all from point-blank range - but her strength was on the boards. She was #14 in the country in rebounding with 9.9 rebounds per game. Green would probably be a first round Top Five WNBA Draft pick in 2015.

Three players on the Terps averaged in the double digits, led by senior shooting guard Elisabeth Desreaulx, a Quebecer transplanted to Alberta. The French Connection averaged 14.1 points a game and wasn't even good enough to start the previous year. Our goal would be stopping these two highly-touted players, or at least to slow them down. But aside from their 18.2 personal fouls a game, this appeared to be a team with few weaknesses.


Maryland 82, South Dakota 68

South Dakota (2-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 2-5 0-0 1 6 0 3 4
C. Harrington PF 18 1-6 0-0 1 2 0 2 3
Jessica Bing SF 27 4-4 0-0 1 1 4 2 8
Catalina Stewart SG 29 6-13 0-0 2 3 5 3 16
Abagail Merkle PG 24 6-8 0-0 0 5 5 1 12
Allison Riggle PG 19 4-8 0-0 0 1 3 0 9
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 0 3
Bella Grier PF 16 3-3 0-0 1 1 1 1 6
Ashley Brown C 10 1-2 0-0 1 2 1 0 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 8 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Adalyn Matz SF 4 2-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 5

Turnovers: 15 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 4,
C.Stewart 3, A.Riggle 2, M.Lewellen 1, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Merkle 1)
Steals: 4 (C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 2, B.Grier 1)
3P FGs: 8-19 (C.Harrington 1-2, C.Stewart 4-7, A.Merkle
0-1, A.Riggle 1-4, M.Lewellen 1-1, A.Bure 0-3, A.Matz
1-1)

#2 Maryland (11-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Anika Green C 31 4-5 1-2 3 3 1 0 9
Laylah Barns PF 24 5-5 2-4 2 5 1 1 12
Ella Godoy SF 22 5-9 0-0 0 2 1 4 12
É. Desreaulx PG 30 5-13 0-0 3 5 3 3 15
Sarah Lively PG 12 1-1 2-2 0 1 1 4 4
B. Carpenter SF 25 4-10 1-4 1 4 3 0 12
Aubrie Woodard SG 17 1-4 0-0 1 4 5 0 2
Paulina Ives PF 15 1-1 0-0 2 4 2 0 2
Evelyn Zhang SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Mollie Shields PG 12 2-4 0-0 0 2 3 0 6
Mollie Phan C 10 4-4 0-0 1 1 0 0 8
Chiara Kautzmann PF 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 14 (E.Godoy 1, É.Desreaulx 5, S.Lively 1,
B.Carpenter 3, A.Woodard 1, P.Ives 1, E.Zhang 1,
M.Shields 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Green 2)
Steals: 8 (A.Green 1, E.Godoy 1, É.Desreaulx 1,
B.Carpenter 3, M.Phan 1, C.Kautzmann 1)
3P FGs: 12-31 (E.Godoy 2-4, É.Desreaulx 5-13,
B.Carpenter 3-7, A.Woodard 0-3, M.Shields 2-3,
C.Kautzmann 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Laylah Barns (MD)


This was a really great game for us. It looks like my players are finally starting to get used to each other. Allison Riggle came in and gave us good minutes despite her injury. Man, there were times out there when you wouldn't think this team had lost six straight games. They looked like Yotes out there for the first time this season.

Both teams were bold. We shot 53.6 percent. Maryland was bolder. They shot 56.1 percent.

We hit eight 3-pointers. (Catalina Stewart went 4-for-7). The Terps hit 12 out of 21 shots. They just had a hell of a lot and showed us what hard work was all about.

We were never ahead, though. We were down 40-29 at the half. They have monsters that can play a smothering man-to-man. But they only led by 20 points one time, late in the fourth quarter, and only for about a minute.

The referees let us play. There were only 12 free throws take in that game - all by Maryland. The Terps went 6-for-12 and we went...0-for-0. We might have gotten within less than 10 points if we could have gone to the damned line. But for the most part, the officiating was good.

If we can keep playing like that, we might indeed meet Willie Burbank's benchmark. An 8-8 Summit League season is exactly what we need.

(* * *)

It was the Christmas season. We had just come out of a major cold snap that dumped six inches of snow in western South Dakota. But the eastern part of the state had been relatively untouched, save for the arctic winds that blew from west to east and turned the given temperature (4 degrees) into a lie whenever one of those -20 below knives would cut into you whenever you weren't looking.

While the west of the state was having it rough - twelve people were found trapped in a bus, a story which made the news all across the state - the temperature in Eastern South Dakota was climbing. By Christmas it was at 32 and by the day after Christmas we had hit 40 degrees.

"This is short sleeve weather!" Willie Burbank - a man who had experienced many a South Dakota winter - had told me.

The players on the team who lived in South Dakota went back to visit their families - whenever the roads were cleared enough to do so. As for the non-native South Dakotans, we went to visit the Sioux Falls YMCA on Christmas Day with members of the South Dakota men's team in an effort to provide a good Christmas to members of the South Dakota community that might have a hard time making ends meet. Gerald Acevedo, the coach of the men's team, was having the same kind of luck I was.

"How's it going?" I said.

"Lousy, Mark. You can't recruit to South Dakota worth shit." He was talking about himself. "Every time a snowflake falls and hits the Weather Channel, one of my recruits commits to Florida. Say, did you hear the news about Nathaniel McCaskill?"

"What news?"

"He's gone. He took a job up somewhere in Texas."

"So that was it. He had brought the Yotes football team into the FCS Top 25 for a second year in the row. But with other FCS schools able to offer championships - and the Yotes unable to - it made it very hard for him to recruit."

"Damn."

"The NCAA is thinking of revoking that rule about scholarships. It's got a lot of the ADs in a stink."

I didn't see it happening. The NCAA had already affirmed the idea in a meeting, but in order to placate the naysayers, proposals for admininstering these changes had gone to a "student-athlete well-being working group," a boondoggle if there ever was one.

But clearly, the new rules were affecting how some schools were recruiting. I had to wonder how much of a scholarship MTSU was able to offer Sofia Owens. Hell, she might be spending that extra money right now.

(* * *)

During that same weekend, Caitlyn Williams headed out to see Aaliyah Gray. Gray was the student from Wray High School out in Colorado who was still on our "blue chipper" list. She was on one of the Colorado All-State teams and a must-get. However, we didn't have the kind of money where both of us could go and recruit her, so Cailtyn went. I had spent enough time away from the team as it was.

Of course, we interrogated her when she got back. On a scale of 1 to 10, Williams rated her visit a "3". "Aaliyah's family doesn't seem to know much about South Dakota, and they're a little hesitant about her being that far from home." Aaliyah Gray didn't seem to know that much about USD but Williams described Gray as "interested, or at least pleasant."

I consider 3 a "foot in the door". We hadn't been thrown out the door, or told to go away. The Grays, however, thought highly enough of us to have USD come in and show them what we had to offer. The next step in recruiting, of course, would be a personal visit. But I was already behind.

December 27, 2012 - South Dakota (2-8) at #3 Duke (11-0)

You can't say that USD is scared of anyone. We're taking on two Top Five teams back to back. Of the five top teams in women's basketball right now according to the WCBA Poll, three are in the ACC: #2 Florida State, #3 Duke and #4 Maryland who fell two spots despite beating us. There are only seven undefeated teams in women's basketball, which would have been unthinkable five years ago.

Duke is #13 in the country in scoring with 77.6 ppg. Their margin of victory is +24.3 points, which is #7 in the country. They were very strong on the boards, averaging 27.0 defensive rpg to lead the nation. If you missed your shot, they made you pay for it. They lead the country in blocked shots per game, with 7.4 blocks and were 6th in the country with steals with 9.4 per game.

But they played smart, too. Their 14.4 personal fouls per game were third lowest in the country. They had a great point guard in Brooklyn Hamilton, who averaged 4.2 assists to 2.5 turnovers per game. Aside from Brooklyn Hamilton and senior center Kali Campbell, it wasn't like they had one marquee player leading the squad. It was a team effort. They were the defending ACC Champs both in the regular season and in the tournament, and this team was a great testament as to why. Add to that that we'd be playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium and raise the level of difficulty.


Duke 83, South Dakota 54

South Dakota (2-9)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 24 1-3 0-0 0 4 0 3 2
C. Harrington PF 20 2-4 2-2 0 1 0 2 6
Jessica Bing SF 26 1-7 0-0 0 1 3 1 3
Catalina Stewart SG 25 8-11 1-1 0 3 2 4 17
Abagail Merkle PG 19 3-7 0-0 0 3 1 2 6
Allison Riggle PG 27 5-10 2-4 2 2 8 1 12
Maliah Lewellen C 17 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 4 0
Bella Grier PF 15 1-3 0-0 1 3 1 2 2
Ashley Brown PF 14 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 7 2-4 0-0 0 1 1 0 6
Adalyn Matz SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 18 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 4,
C.Stewart 3, A.Merkle 3, A.Riggle 2, B.Grier 1, A.Bure
2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 1 (A.Merkle 1)
3P FGs: 3-11 (C.Harrington 0-1, J.Bing 1-1, C.Stewart
0-1, A.Riggle 0-4, B.Grier 0-1, A.Bure 2-3)

#3 Duke (12-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kali Campbell C 29 9-15 4-12 3 10 2 1 22
Addison Dial PF 27 3-4 2-4 1 4 4 2 8
Alyssa Moore SF 28 2-4 0-0 1 3 0 3 5
Emely Oakley SG 27 2-9 0-0 2 4 4 2 4
Brooklyn Hamilton PG 29 5-7 0-0 1 3 6 1 12
Aracely Leger SG 23 8-9 4-4 1 7 7 1 24
Sophia Haines SG 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0
Mercedes Bullard SF 5 1-2 2-2 1 1 0 0 5
Ava Patterson C 11 0-1 0-0 0 2 1 4 0
Isabella Towne PF 9 1-1 0-2 1 1 0 1 2
Olivia Vance PF 2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Sophia Eatmon C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 14 (K.Campbell 1, A.Moore 2, E.Oakley 4,
B.Hamilton 1, A.Leger 3, S.Haines 1, A.Patterson 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (K.Campbell 2, A.Moore 1)
Steals: 7 (K.Campbell 1, A.Moore 1, E.Oakley 1,
B.Hamilton 2, A.Leger 2)
3P FGs: 8-15 (A.Moore 1-1, E.Oakley 0-4, B.Hamilton
2-3, A.Leger 4-5, M.Bullard 1-2)

Player of Game: PG Aracely Leger (DUKE)



That game looks a lot closer than it really was. They had us whipped from the opening tipoff. After eight minutes, they led 21-4 and never looked back. They led 53-30 at halftime and basically coasted through the second half.

Part of the problem was that we just couldn't defend a team full of blue-chip quickness. They made 59.6 percent of their field goal attempts. They waxed us on the board 35-21. They had 26 assists to our 17. We only had one steal compared to seven. I believe they beat us in every single element of the box score. We didn't belong on the court with them. (But someday, that will change.)

Any positives? Catalina Stewart shone with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Allison Riggle - now fully off the disabled list - had 12 points and eight assists for the Coyotes. But Jessica Bing went 1-for-7 with eight turnovers.

We had one game the following day - going up to Connecticut and Nathan Padilla, the King Coach of women's college basketball. Storrs was the home of champions. Last year, we went to Tennessee and this year, it would be UConn's turn.

(* * *)

December 29, 2012 - South Dakota (2-9) at Connecticut (6-1)

Of course, UConn wouldn't be coming to us. We'd have to go to the Gampel Pavilion to play them, hope of many championship teams for both men's and women's basketball.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3106/gampelpavillion.jpg

Now, if you know anything about Nathan Padilla and Connecticut women's basketball, you might ask, "what are they ranked?" But the odd thing was that Connecticut wasn't nationally ranked at all! At least, not in the WBCA Poll!

The WBCA Poll - which was now the major poll you wanted to be ranked in since it had wait in the NCAA Tournament Selection process - didn't even have the Huskies in its Top 25!! (The AP and UPI polls did, however.) Defending champion Notre Dame was ranked #13. Louisville was ranked #19 and Syracuse had a #25 ranking. But there was no love for Connecticut.

"I never paid a lot of attention about being #1 when we were #1. We've been at a certain level for so long that we take polls for exactly what they're worth."

Even so, the Huskies hasn't filled themselves with glory in the non-conference part of their schedule. Padilla had avoided the big-name teams he was used to playing every year like Stanford or Baylor - did he know something we didn't? people asked themselves - and instead put his money in the Preseason WNIT Where UConn was ranked #1. They thumped Tennessee State 81-48 and found themselves facing East Tennessee State - where they lost, 70-62.

The loss kept them out of high-marquee games like Bowling Green, or UCLA, or Ohio State. The Preseason WNIT Was single-elimination with no consolation games. The other teams on UConn's schedule were powerhouses like...Penn, St. Francis-NY and Binghampton. The East Tennessee State game was the only game UConn lost...but it was the only team UConn had played that had a record above .500. The WBCA poll recognized Connecticut's cupcake schedule for what it was and refused to play along.

The Hartford Courant wrote, "Nathan Padilla was never afraid to play the toughest teams in women's basketball - but in 2012-13 he seems happy with the Browns and the NJITs of the world. What's going on at Connecticut?" But Padilla remained closed-lipped.

There wasn't going to be much hospitality at Storrs. There would be no tour of the locker room like the one Claire Kelley gave us. Even though South Dakota wasn't the caliber of team Connecticut traditionally played, that didn't mean that the Huskies weren't out to win.

Connecticut was still #14 in the country in points per game (77.2) and they were second in victory margin (+27.4). They led the country in offensive rebounds per game (16.7) and were third overall in Total Rebounds (41.7). Their 9.4 steals per game also led the country, and the Huskies turned the ball over fewer times than any team in the country (8.4 TO/game).

This would be senior PF Abigail Ruano's last year. She led the Huskies with 15.4 ppg. Junior PF Ashley Wicklund averaged a double-double per game so far this season (10.4 ppg/11.0 rpg), and she was fifth in the country in rebounding. But last year's second-team SG Mia Schaller had taken her 17.6 ppg with her to the WNBA and the San Antonio Silver Stars.


Connecticut 83, South Dakota 49

South Dakota (2-10)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 24 0-3 0-0 0 8 2 1 0
C. Harrington PF 18 3-6 1-2 0 4 0 3 8
Jessica Bing SF 24 2-5 1-2 1 1 1 3 5
Catalina Stewart SG 28 3-4 1-2 0 1 2 2 7
Abagail Merkle PG 23 1-3 2-2 0 4 1 1 4
Allison Riggle PG 27 2-5 6-6 0 4 4 1 11
Maliah Lewellen PF 19 3-5 0-1 0 2 0 3 7
Bella Grier PF 15 3-5 1-2 0 0 0 1 7
Ashley Brown C 11 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 2 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 7 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Adalyn Matz SF 3 0-3 0-1 1 1 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 21 (A.Choe 3, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 2,
C.Stewart 5, A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 4, M.Lewellen 2,
B.Grier 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 1)
Steals: 0
3P FGs: 3-11 (C.Harrington 1-1, C.Stewart 0-1, A.Riggle
1-3, M.Lewellen 1-3, B.Grier 0-1, A.Bure 0-1, A.Matz
0-1)

Connecticut (7-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Nora Yuan C 24 0-3 2-4 2 7 2 0 2
Ashley Wicklund PF 17 3-5 2-4 2 3 3 4 8
Abigail Ruano SF 22 6-9 3-5 5 9 1 3 17
Samantha Beattie SG 27 2-7 3-3 3 6 1 2 7
Jayla Rodrigue PG 25 5-13 0-0 0 1 3 1 12
Azul Floyd SF 21 3-6 0-0 2 4 1 3 7
Kinsley Futrell PG 18 8-14 1-1 1 3 2 2 24
Aliana Brown SG 11 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 3
Janelle Greenway SF 2 0-3 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Amiah Murray PF 20 1-3 0-0 0 4 0 2 2
Sasha Williams PF 10 0-0 1-2 0 2 0 1 1
America Cofer PF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 6 (N.Yuan 1, A.Ruano 1, S.Beattie 1, A.Floyd
1, A.Murray 1, S.Williams 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 11 (N.Yuan 3, S.Beattie 1, J.Rodrigue 5,
A.Murray 1, S.Williams 1)
3P FGs: 13-31 (N.Yuan 0-2, A.Ruano 2-2, S.Beattie 0-4,
J.Rodrigue 2-3, A.Floyd 1-2, K.Futrell 7-13, A.Brown
1-2, J.Greenway 0-2, A.Murray 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Kinsley Futrell (UCONN)


Our 34 point loss to UConn matched our worst performance of the year against Montana State. Can you believe that we actually led Connecticut with 7:12 left in the first, 22-18? Unfortunately, we were leading because we could pick holes in their 2-1-2 zone defense and when the Huskies flipped over to a simple man-to-man, Connecticut began to move forward. That put them in the driver's seat and ones they started breathing down our necks they found the answer to just about everything we could do.

The first half score wsa 46-34. Not bad. But the second half was 37-15. They hit 13 3-pointers in the game, outrebounded us 41-29. But the big key of the game was turnovers. When you're -15 in turnover differential you're going to have a very hard time winning. We only got off 40 shots for the entire game, namely because we didn't have the ball. And we couldn't force a turnover against a team like Connecticut.

After the game, I emphasized that we had to be much more aggressive on man-to-man. That we had to be more comfortable in shooting out of a set when faster teams took us on. #42 (Kinsey Furtrell) just lit us up out there. She sank seven 3-pointers against us and could kill even the tiniest swing in momentum. The back up point guard, Jayla Rodrigue, had five steals.

The only consolation I had was that we played them hard for 13 minutes, and then they figured us out. We're about 25 percent of a team like UConn.

But The Gauntlet was done for 2012-13. The new players had hung in there, and at times were even surprising. Aside from a game against Sam Houston State in January, the non-conference part of the season was over. From here on out, it would be a march to the Summit League championship.

(* * *)

In 2013, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association came out on December 31, 2012 - the same as it does every Monday.


# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (72) 13-0 1800 1
2. Duke 12-0 1727 3
3. Maryland 13-0 1657 4
4. Florida State 11-0 1584 2
5. Purdue 12-0 1512 7
6. Iowa 11-1 1428 6
7. California 12-0 1355 5
8. Ohio State 11-1 1316 8
9. Notre Dame 10-1 1229 13
10. Stanford 9-1 1152 10


(Connecticut's win against USD did not propel them forward.)

But a brand new poll - the "Mid-Major Poll" - was released for the very first time. It sort of threw a bone to the teams that did not come from "Automatic Qualifier Conferences" in BCS-speak.


# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Illinois State (72) 11-1 1800 NR
2. UNC Wilmington 11-0 1725 NR
3. Fresno State 12-1 1659 NR
4. Bowling Green 10-1 1576 NR
5. East Tennessee State 13-2 1520 NR
6. Arkansas-Little Rock 10-1 1440 NR
7. Gonzaga 11-1 1368 NR
8. UTEP 9-1 1296 NR
9. Temple 8-3 1224 NR
10. Harvard 10-1 1150 NR


We weren't in either poll. Oakland was #14 in the mid-majors poll. Western Illinois picked up a handful of votes, but surprisingly South Dakota State was overlooked.

At this point, we were busy with other things. Isabella Crumley was now on-campus and would be there between December 30th and January 1st. (We'd hold a New Year's Eve party at the DakotaDome - this was one of the problems of being a single man who lived in an apartment, namely, there was no place to hold fetes.) Granted, the campus would be pretty empty by this point due to Winter Break, but the players were definitely there and we were treating her like our honored guest.


The weather on the 29th was a bit nasty, with another one of those snowless, arctic-level wind chills. But by Crumley's visit, the weather was temperate for South Dakota - hovering around the 30-32 degree mark. There would be no danger of Isabella being snowed in and being tempted to forego Vermillion.

I asked Choe what she thought of Crumley. "She's tall, and she can block shots. But coach, I don't think she's really that good. I think she's going to ride the bench if she signs." Choe, as a senior, had the least to lose with being honest.

The goal was to bring Crumley out of her shell. Who do you room her with? Catalina Stewart or Adalyn Matz, both of whom are white and might make her feel out of place in a predominantly white state? Leah Alexander, the gregarious New Yorker who is riding the bench? Abagail Merkle, our religious JUCO? There was no perfect fit.

We went with Stewart. Stewart had a problem with shyness coming to USD but was now starting to mesh with her teammates. Furthermore, Stewart was the leading scorer and she probably had the rosiest outlook on South Dakota. I asked her how the visit was going.

"I don't know. She doesn't seem that happy. I think she thought there were going to be more guys here."

"Well, God, Catalina, what did she expect coming here during Winter Break? She was the one who agreed to show up. These teams ain't co-ed you know."

At the New Year's Even party, I watched who she talked to. She spent most of her time hanging around Catalina, who looked like she had an anchor around her neck. As we celebrated the countdown to 2013, I wondered if I had made a big mistake and I wondered what surprises conference play would bring.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Yes, The Gauntlet is over. I'm having second thoughts about setting up another Gauntlet for a third straight year (if I make it to my third season with USD), but it does provide a brand new perspective on what's going on with the really good teams. It also helps me judge where I am among the top 343 teams or so. (My RPI is currently at 153.)

Up next: Summit League play finally begins, with UMKC, Western Illinois, North Dakota State and IUPUI on tap. And of course, more recruiting follies.

[Petrel]

January 2013

At the beginning of the year, Isabella Crumley finally headed back to Detroit. This wasn't the first time we had gotten nowhere with a recruit and it wouldn't be the last. Crumley could not seem to untie her apron strings; we didn't know if it was Mommy or Daddy that was holding them. I resolved that I would be making my final visit to the Crumleys; Caitlyn could hand all matters regarding recruiting her from this point on. I just didn't know where I was going to go from here.

However, regarding Aaliyah Gray, we got good news - Gray was going to visit the campus! We decided January 19th would be the perfect date for that - it was the day of the South Dakota/South Dakota State matchup. It was a great day to pick because it drew our biggest crowd of the year. Unfortunately, Gray couldn't make it work so we had to settle for January 26th, the game against IPFW.

Maybe this would all be over by the end of January, but I doubted it.

January 3, 2013 - UMKC (5-6) at South Dakota (2-10)

You might look at those five wins and think, "Wow, the Kangaroos have turned it around." Not so fast - Missouri-Kansas City's wins were against Drake (5-7), Tennessee-Martin (1-10), Illinois-Chicago (4-7), Oral Roberts (3-10 and having a down year in the Southland) and Southeast Missouri State (2-9).

Over our games - and our more difficult schedule - we hada a +1.6 edge in rebounding but were -0.8 in turnovers. Furthermore, the Roos had the best shooting percentage of any team in the Summit League this year - 45.8 percent. If you didn't contest their baskets they could walk all over you.

Junior PG Ava Batchelor had boosted her ppg average to 11.2 and now had a positive A/TO ratio - that's what a year of development will do to you. She had hit 35 of 38 free throws this year. Sophomore SF Abigail Kennedy had only started eight games the previous year, but had started every UMKC game this year, averaging 10.3 ppg and 4.5 rpg.

It looked like we could take on UMKC. But conference play was always a very different beast. I was just glad we were finally back to playing in the DakotaDome.


UMKC 77, South Dakota 54

UMKC (6-6, 1-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Madison Bright C 26 4-9 1-2 0 7 1 2 9
Sophie Gerl PF 29 4-4 3-3 1 4 0 1 11
Abigail Kennedy SF 27 8-10 0-0 0 5 5 4 17
Charley Hughes SG 32 2-4 1-2 0 3 3 0 5
Ava Batchelor PG 36 7-12 5-6 1 5 6 2 20
Madison Daniels C 19 2-3 0-0 1 3 2 1 4
Mia Garnett SF 16 3-5 1-2 0 1 1 2 9
Madison Reichert SF 9 0-1 0-1 0 0 2 4 0
Rosemary Reynolds SG 3 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Ryann Hunt PG 4 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (M.Bright 2, A.Kennedy 2, C.Hughes 1,
A.Batchelor 1, M.Daniels 1, M.Garnett 1, M.Reichert 2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (A.Kennedy 2, C.Hughes 1, M.Daniels 1)
3P FGs: 4-7 (A.Kennedy 1-3, A.Batchelor 1-2, M.Garnett
2-2)

South Dakota (2-11, 0-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 29 3-8 1-1 3 5 2 2 7
C. Harrington PF 29 1-7 2-3 3 6 0 2 4
Jessica Bing SF 33 6-9 3-5 1 4 2 1 15
Catalina Stewart SG 14 2-3 1-2 0 1 2 4 6
Abagail Merkle SG 29 5-15 0-0 2 6 5 1 11
Allison Riggle PG 27 2-5 1-2 1 2 4 2 5
Maliah Lewellen C 18 1-4 2-2 0 1 1 2 4
Bella Grier PF 10 0-1 2-2 0 1 0 1 2
Ashley Brown C 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 2 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 4 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

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

Player of Game: PG Ava Batchelor (UMKC)


Most of my comments in the locker room after this game were unprintable - what you would see would be one gigantic block of black text.

Catalina Stewart: Four personal fouls. Looked clueless.
Abigail Merkle: 5-for-15 shooting. She was just chucking it up there.
Caroline Harrington: 1-for-7.
Bella Grier: Plays 10 minutes, takes one shot.
Team defense: NONEXISTENT. The Roos shot 63.3 percent from the field.

After the game I warned everyone - "DO NOT SHOWER". I did something that Claire Kelley once did. When the spectators cleared, I brought every single player back on to the court in their dirty uniforms.

"Now," I said, "you're going to play the second half that you didn't play tonight." And I counted every single damned possession. We stayed there for [i]three hours. Disgusted, I sent them home in their uniforms. They would be responsible for washing their own unis. "I'm not going to waste the staff's time! They're hired to wash the uniforms of athletes!"

After that, I went right back to the apartment and I must have drank a half-case of beer until I passed out.

It's just so damned depressing. When you're a player, you can blame your losses on your teammates. When you're a coach, the buck stops with you. I was 10-33 as a coach, I was having no success with recruiting, and I was feeling completely lost. No help from my coaches. (I swore that someone would be losing their job before I knocked myself out.) The AD didn't really care what happened to us. I knew that I had to talk to Coach Tomlinson or I'd go crazy before the season was over.

January 5, 2013 - South Dakota (2-11, 0-1) at Western Illinois (2-11, 0-0)

After that disastrous January 3rd, I took the position that UMKC was behind us. It was not to be mentioned.

We were now on the road. The team seemed slightly upbeat because they were escaping a winter storm warning, with a cold front having settled over South Dakota and with the temperatures in the low 20s. Otherwise, the squad was listless in practice. Were they already starting to give up? They looked sort of punch-drunk. It could have been fatigue from the previous night. I tried to be patient with them.

Western Illinois was at the bottom of the Summit League in wins, just like we were. It was their fourth home game and the Fighting Leathernecks were 0-3 at Waste Management Court. (That was the actual name of the court.)

It had been a disastrous season for the Fighting Leathernecks just like ours. Their only wins were their season opener against Mount St. Mary's, and a win against 1-11 Tennessee-Martin (by one point). The previous year Western Illinois had only won three games.

They had two hurt players, with a pair of starters going out. But no player averaged more than 7.8 points per game and the team only scored 46.4 points on the average (they gave up 63.7 points per game.) Among Summit League teams they had the worst rebounding margin at -7.5 per game. They shot 39 percent as a team.

If we didn't beat this team - then...what?


South Dakota 54, Western Illinois 40

South Dakota (3-12, 1-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 1-4 0-0 5 13 2 3 2
C. Harrington PF 28 3-7 3-3 4 6 2 2 9
Jessica Bing SF 30 3-6 2-2 1 2 1 2 8
Catalina Stewart SG 30 5-8 2-2 0 2 0 1 14
Abagail Merkle PG 28 4-8 5-6 1 3 3 0 13
Allison Riggle PG 16 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 0
Maliah Lewellen C 18 1-2 0-0 1 1 0 1 2
Bella Grier SF 12 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 3 2
Ashley Brown PF 5 1-2 0-0 0 2 0 0 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 5 1-4 0-0 0 1 0 0 2

Turnovers: 8 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 1,
C.Stewart 2, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Stewart 1)
Steals: 4 (C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1,
B.Grier 1)
3P FGs: 2-7 (C.Harrington 0-1, C.Stewart 2-3, A.Riggle
0-1, A.Bure 0-2)

Western Illinois (2-12, 0-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brynn Tyler C 28 2-4 2-2 3 4 0 2 6
Yareli Morgan PF 28 1-5 6-6 5 7 1 0 9
Carmen Pittman SF 24 2-4 0-0 0 0 2 3 4
Eden Bittner SG 24 1-3 0-0 1 1 3 3 3
Brianna Joyner PG 30 4-8 3-3 0 4 1 0 12
A. Rutherford SG 16 2-5 0-0 1 2 0 0 4
Ali Elliott SF 13 1-4 0-0 0 1 0 4 2
Chloe Martinez PF 17 0-5 0-2 1 3 0 0 0
Mylee Mead C 9 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Amaya Mackay PG 6 0-4 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Leah Lafrance PF 5 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0

Turnovers: 9 (C.Pittman 1, E.Bittner 2, B.Joyner 2,
A.Rutherford 1, A.Elliott 3)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 1 (B.Joyner 1)
3P FGs: 3-8 (Y.Morgan 1-2, E.Bittner 1-2, B.Joyner 1-2,
C.Martinez 0-1, A.Mackay 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Abagail Merkle (SD)


FINALLY. A 9-game losing streak comes to an end. It's against what might be the worst team in the Summit League this year, but we'll take it.

It was a tough first half. We couldn't get more that a couple of baskets ahead of them but we finally got a 10-0 run that helped us get a 37-26 halftime lead. We didn't shoot well - 44.4 percent - but they shot 30.2 percent for the entire game. They corrected their defensive mistakes in the second half - and we regressed. But that double-digit lead held and the Fighting Leathernecks could not erase it.

Our bench only contributed eight of those 54 total points. Angelina Choe got us 13 rebounds, Stewart and Merkle scored in double-digits, and we looked decent out there in stretches.

But I'm still not satisfied. How far are we going to be if the only teams we can beat are the Western Illinoises of the world? An eighth-place finish out of nine teams is not where I want to end this season. I kept my thoughts to myself as we drove back to South Dakota. Once again, the western part of the state got hit but in the east, no snow.

(* * *)

I called Coach Tomlinson and poured out my dissatisfaction. I asked him if he wouldn't mind un-retiring in order to become an assistant coach at South Dakota.

"Oh God no, Mark. I got out at that racket. Besides, coach women? I don't think I could do it."

"If you don't think you can do it, then help me keep from shooting someone."

"All right, I'll give you some advice then," he said. "I hate to give advice, but I will. The first thing is you need to review your coaching philosophy. Have you got it written down?"

"No."

"Then write it down. And I'm going to ask you to do two things that might seem the opposite of each other. All right?"

"Fine. What are they?"

"The first one is don't lower your expectations. Don't lower your standards. Find some standards, and stick to them. If you whip their asses after losses like you just told me, you better be prepared to whip their asses after every single home game that they lose. Even if you don't think you're reaching them, you need to be consistent."

"What's the other one?"

"Don't lose your control. For God sakes, Mark, keep it in check. When you played at James Madison, you always had a very hard time with that. You need to set the example and stay positive. If their coach is flying off the handle in practice, your players will start to fly off the handle in games. You have to have controlled discipline."

"You yelled at us all the time!"

"Yes, and when I lost my temper I regretted it and walked away. I'm worried that you're starting to resent these players for their losses. I would tape myself - videotape - during a practice so I could watch my own behavior. Nothing destructive should come out of your mouth. If you condemn, condemn the behavior and not the person."

"Sounds like John Wooden."

"Well, how many championships did Wooden win? You'll teach those players a lot more if you can keep your cool than if you start ranting like a wild man every time you face difficulty. Do you curse?"

"Sometimes."

"Stop it. Yeah, I say shit but like I said - I regret it when I do. But you have to buid a team. A coach can't build a team. Only a team can build a team. Think of yourself not as a director, but as a team builder. That would be a good start."

(* * *)

On wednesday, January 9th we had the first matchup between two top 10 teams all season. The #1 ranked Baylor Lady Bears (15-0) took on the #9 Oklahoma Sooners in a Big Twelve matchup. Oklahoma's only loss was to Louisville in the very first game of the season, so one of these teams was going to have their winning streak broken.

Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a game. The Lady Bears led 46-32 at the half and the Sooners never challenged them. Junior SF Addison Olivier scored 28 points and senior SG Mattie Moeller added 20 for Baylor on the way to a 77-53 victory where not a single Sooner scored in double-digits. Baylor forced 23 turnovers from their helpless opponents and they were looking like they might go undefeated.

(* * *)

Meanwhile, I was trying to hold it together and trying to keep things calm. Every now and then, we would tape a practice so it wasn't too hard to get someone to tape the thing without suspicious. So I got a chance to watch myself coach.

There were times when I embarrassed myself watching the DVD. I could be unclear, or profane, or miss an opportunity to make a teaching point. And I still hadn't come up with a clear coaching philosophy.

In the meantime, the there was still basketball.

January 10, 2013 - North Dakota State (4-10, 1-1) at South Dakota (3-11, 1-1)

Winner goes to the front part of the Summit League bus; loser goes to the back.

The Bisons of NDSU were driven by two high-scoring players. PG Saige Christie scored 15.1 ppg, second in the conference, and senior SF Haylee Mull wasn't far behind with 12.7 points per game. They were also a tough team in the post, with senior C Claire Ramirez scoring 8.1 rpg. (The team was second in the conference in offensive rebounding.)

Did they have weaknesses? They weren't much of a passing team; they couldn't be with two players making up the bulk of their offense (after Haylee Mull, the next best scorer was senior backup PF Anahi Vestal with 6.3 ppg). Their best win of the year was against 8-6 North Carolina A&T, everyone else they had beaten could be decently be put in the category of "negligible". (Unfortunately, we were still in that category.) The team was just 1-5 on the road.

The goal - focus on Christie and Mull. "This is not a passing team," I said. "But we are, so let's use that to our advantage."


South Dakota 68, North Dakota State 48

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Claire Ramirez C 30 1-5 0-0 1 6 1 4 2
Addison Wood PF 25 2-3 3-4 1 3 0 3 7
Haylee Mull SF 14 2-5 0-0 0 1 0 4 5
Mariam Rapp SG 30 3-6 3-4 1 3 3 1 9
Saige Christie PG 34 2-9 0-0 2 5 2 3 5
Anahi Vestal PG 23 2-7 1-2 1 2 2 1 6
Erica Rochelle SF 15 3-6 0-0 0 0 1 3 6
Abigail Borst SG 9 2-5 0-0 2 2 0 2 5
Addison Kushner PF 11 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 3 2
Addison Taylor SF 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Jocelyn Finlay C 4 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 0 0
Isabella Warman PF 2 0-0 1-2 1 1 0 0 1

Turnovers: 13 (C.Ramirez 1, A.Wood 1, H.Mull 1, M.Rapp
1, S.Christie 3, A.Vestal 1, E.Rochelle 3, A.Borst 1,
A.Kushner 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 2 (A.Wood 1, H.Mull 1)
3P FGs: 4-13 (C.Ramirez 0-1, H.Mull 1-2, M.Rapp 0-2,
S.Christie 1-4, A.Vestal 1-2, E.Rochelle 0-1, A.Borst
1-1)

South DakotaStats (4-11, 2-1):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 2-4 3-6 2 6 2 0 7
C. Harrington PF 28 1-3 2-2 0 7 3 2 5
Jessica Bing SF 27 6-8 6-9 1 3 2 4 18
Catalina Stewart SG 33 4-7 1-3 0 3 1 3 10
Abagail Merkle PG 28 5-11 2-2 2 6 1 2 12
Allison Riggle PG 16 2-7 2-2 0 0 3 2 7
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 1-1 0-0 0 2 1 1 2
Bella Grier SF 12 0-1 1-3 0 2 1 0 1
Ashley Brown C 6 2-2 2-2 2 3 0 0 6
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0

Turnovers: 9 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 3,
C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Harrington 1)
Steals: 3 (C.Harrington 1, M.Lewellen 2)
3P FGs: 3-8 (C.Harrington 1-1, C.Stewart 1-3, A.Riggle
1-4)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)


That was one of the best games I've seen all year. We now have a winning streak - two consecutive wins!

We led by eight points at halftime, but the Bison came back and tried to close the gap, moving to within a couple of baskets. Up 54-43 with 6:45 to go, we went on a 10-1 run near the end of the game to seal the deal. Players took their shots at the right time, and NDSU kept sending us to the line. Neither Christie nor Mull could get off the blocks and NDSU resorted to hacking our players, committing 24 personal foulds during their game. They sent us to the line 29 times and we hit 19 of them.

Their 2-3 zone? Not a problem, we shot 52.3 percent. In every aspect of the game we were a better team.

"What was the difference between that game and the one against UMKC?" I told the players after the game. "You didn't think you could win that first game. I could tell. But you knew that you could win this one. We are now off to the start we want to have. There's nothing I can say after that but: keep it going!"

(* * *)

While we were busy getting a home win against North Dakota State that same night there was another Top 10 women's hoops matchup. #3 Florida State at 12-0 faced a visiting #6 Ohio State team that had only one loss. A pair of free throws by senior SG Vida Marcos with 1:25 left brought the Seminoles to with three, but Ohio State senior PG Aubrey Brooks found junior SF Alani Levi for the bucket for the Buckeyes to go up by five, 67-62 with 52 seconds left. Then Brooks managed to get a piece of the ball that Florida State senior PG Georgia Householder was bringing across the midline - Householder was able to prevent the steal, but it turned into a jump ball situation and the arrow gave the Buckeyes the ball back. That was the critical play of the game on the way to a 71-62 Ohio State win.

The Buckeyes win drops the number of undefeated teams in women's basketball to five: #1 Baylor, #2 Maryland, #10 Purdue, #12 California and #14 UNC Wilmington.

(* * *)

The weather was definitely getting colder. There was a twenty-point drop over a couple of days and the temperature fell to six degrees Fahrenheit on January 12th. But no snow.

Oh it was definitely cold everywhere else. Below -30 in some parts of North Dakota. -12 below in Minneapolis. -5 in Kansas City and in Denver. We had been lucky this winter, but I wondered how long that luck would last.


January 12, 2013 - South Dakota (4-11, 2-1) at IUPUI (2-12, 0-3)

Off to play the Jags in Indianapolis. Definitely an overcast day driving into Indianapolis on Saturday; I was glad I was going to be inside.

It was a tough year for the Jaguars. They managed to get a 73-53 upset win in Milwaukee but they usually lost by 27.4 points per game. (#8 Notre Dame delivered them a 96-36 whipping in The Jungle.) They were at the bottom of the league in points, almost at the bottom in rebounds and ranked last or next to last in almost every category.

Sophomore SF Luna Cusic scored 6.3 points per game but had 3.2 turnovers per game and was a defensive liability. Their best player was a freshman shooting guard named Emily Nguyen who scored 9.8 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

The hard part would be to keep our team from overlooking IUPUI. They had overlooked Western Illinois and paid the price for it. I emphasized that we'd be playing in a gym that only seated 1,200 - "the fans will be on top of you" - and that no team likes to lose at home. ("We certainly don't.") "We're going to play South Dakota ball today. I expect the best effort from everyone here. We are building the house and we're building it in Indianapolis!"


South Dakota 54, IUPUI 49

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 1-6 0-2 3 11 1 3 2
C. Harrington PF 22 5-6 2-2 2 6 0 3 13
Jessica Bing SF 30 1-7 2-6 2 3 2 3 4
Catalina Stewart SG 32 3-8 4-4 2 4 3 0 10
Abagail Merkle PG 27 0-3 4-4 0 2 1 3 4
Allison Riggle PG 20 1-6 6-6 2 3 1 3 9
Maliah Lewellen PF 15 3-6 1-2 3 3 1 1 7
Bella Grier SF 14 1-3 0-0 0 2 0 1 2
Ashley Brown C 10 1-2 1-1 1 7 1 0 3
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 2, J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 5,
A.Riggle 2, M.Lewellen 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (B.Grier 1)
Steals: 3 (J.Bing 1, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 1)
3P FGs: 2-6 (C.Harrington 1-1, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart
0-1, A.Riggle 1-1, M.Lewellen 0-1, B.Grier 0-1)

IUPUIStats (2-13, 0-4):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Zoe Brown PF 14 1-2 1-2 0 0 1 5 3
Olivia Ortiz C 27 1-3 1-2 0 3 0 5 3
Luna Cusick SF 24 1-5 1-2 0 1 1 5 4
Emily Nguyen SG 34 3-11 0-0 1 4 0 2 7
Addisyn Nolasco PG 31 4-8 5-5 0 3 1 3 16
Armani Fontenot SF 22 4-7 2-2 1 3 0 0 11
Lucy Göttler PF 21 0-0 2-2 0 4 0 2 2
Kloe Lucas C 10 0-0 0-0 1 1 1 0 0
Cheyanne Levan PF 7 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Lindsay Moss PG 8 1-5 1-1 0 2 1 0 3
J. Sadowski SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Kaliyah McQuiston C 1 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (Z.Brown 2, O.Ortiz 2, L.Cusick 2,
E.Nguyen 1, A.Nolasco 2, L.Göttler 1, K.Lucas 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 2 (E.Nguyen 1, A.Nolasco 1)
3P FGs: 6-15 (L.Cusick 1-3, E.Nguyen 1-4, A.Nolasco
3-5, A.Fontenot 1-1, L.Moss 0-2)

Player of Game: PF Caroline Harrington (SD)


What we built in Indianapolis might not have been up to code, but I'll take it.

The first half, we were horrible. Words can't describe it. They marched out to an 8-0 lead and I had to call a time out after Luna Cusick buried a three. "Arms length, people! You have to stay next to them, you can't just stand and wave your arms!"

We couldn't hit a damned thing. With 8:11 in the first the Jags were up 16-5. Merkle gave a glance at the scoreboard before heading into the huddle, and I told Abagail Merkle, "Don't look at the scoreboard, the scoreboard can't make you run laps but I can!" Angelina Choe gave up a stupid foul at the buzzer and the Jags added a free throw to make it 22-13 at the half.

I managed to keep my temper. "These are Jaguars. They're chokers. Make them choke. Keep the pressure on them and don't let it up."

After a brief 24-13 lead to start the second half, we started believing and climbing back. Down 27-21, we went on an 8-2 run with Maliah Lewellen - of all people! - trying to get the team fired up.

Cusick had been hurting us in the first, but with about 12:38 in the second half Cusick melted down after she got called for her third foul. She stomped her feet - literally jumped in the air and stomped them - and implied that the female referee engaged in multiple acts of incest. As her teammates pulled her away, she got charged with a flagrant technical foul and was out of the game.

I used that as a teachable moment. "Keep the pressure on! They're starting to beat themselves."

It was neck and neck for a little while and we kept the man defense going strong. By 6:04 remaining, we led 37-32. The question was whether or not we could keep it up. We led 46-39 with 2:52 left. But a basket by Lindsay Moss plus a foul by Abigail Merkle gave Moss an extra free throw to close to 48-44 with 1:40 left.

"You did it for 38 minutes," I told them. "We need two more."

But on the inbound by USD, Jessica Bing was fouled and she went for two free throws. The first one - a MISS. Okay.

The second one - a MISS! It would be IUPUI's ball but - no! Bing got her own rebound and she fought her way across the lane and bunnied it in! That was the hustle award for the night.

It was 54-49 USD with 43 seconds left, and the Jags decided to Bing back to the line. But this time, she missed BOTH free throws and I said a dirty word very loudly. 32 seconds left.

Crunch time. We chased Armani Fontenot all across the court. We didn't give her an open look. They had no timeouts to give and they were forced to eat the clock. In desperation before time expired, they chucked a 3-pointer that had no chance and we got the rebound and our third Summit League win.

Caroline Harrington had 13 points, Catalina Stewart had 10. Angelina Choe was strong in the post as always with 11 rebounds. (We outrebounded the Jags 41-23.)

"Let's not rest on our laurels," I told them. "Next week we have Sam Houston State. And on Saturday, we are going to give the Jackrabbits a taste of some rabbit stew!"



WBCA Top Ten

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (72) 17-0 1800 1
2. Maryland 15-0 1728 2
3. Ohio State 14-1 1656 6
4. Florida State 13-1 1584 3
5. Duke 14-1 1511 4
6. Stanford 13-1 1441 7
7. Notre Dame 12-1 1368 8
8. Illinois State 15-1 1296 11
9. Purdue 14-0 1222 10
10. UNC Wilmington 15-0 1128 14


By this time, the only four undefeated teams were the ones listed here. Illinois State and UNC Wilmington were interesting to see in the Top 10. And Connecticut finally made its way into the WBCA Top 25, the biggest jump from an unranked team to #15 with a 12-1 record. You could never count Nathan Padilla out.

[code]

On January 15, after months of cold (but relatively dry) weather, the snow finally hit Vermillion. With the western part of the state getting hit again, Vermillion got - two inches. In Vermillion, we don't even call two inches "snow".

(* * *)

January 2013

The first products to use memristor technology become available. They work on the principle of variable resistance. Yeah, you don't know what that means, and neither do I. Basically, this technology makes things very power efficient, on the order of two levels of magnitude. If your cellphone ran out of power in 6 hours it would run out of power in a day if it used memristors. By the end of the year you'd have cellphones that didn't require a repowering every night and laptops you could take on a few days worth of vacation without the power running out.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/1074/electronicaldesign.jpg
The memristor looks like this. Or maybe not. Who can tell?

Supposedly, memristors were going to change how machine memory worked. But the biggest thing to happen was the end of the "boot up" sequence of computers. With memristors, you could turn on a new PC and Windows 8 would boot up almost instantaneously, flipping through its sequence of screens in a few seconds. If you turn on a blender, you don't have to wait 30 seconds before it wakes up. Computers were starting to remain "awake" now, going from a cold state to ready-to-type in just a few seconds.

It was at this time that people were starting to talk about "exascale computing". No, I don't know what that is either; don't ask me to tell you.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Trust me, I'm very happy that we've won three straight games in the Summit League. For a while there, I Was getting very unhappy. But there's a saying in college basketball that winning covers all faults. "Fire someone? Why? We just won three straight games!"

I'm sort of flip-flopping now about the firing. Maybe the end of January, I'll think differently.

Next time: We finish January as more games come up: Sam Houston State. Tough games against Oakland, IPFW and Nebraska-Omaha. But the big game is against South Dakota's rival school, South Dakota State. We meet Aaliyah Gray for the first time, and Isabella Crumley might be forced to make a tough decision.

[Petrel]

January 2013

As we prepared for a game against visiting Sam Houston State - a warm-up before our game against the Jackrabbits - the big news was an impending snowstorm that was supposedly going to wreak havoc on the entire state and not just the western part of South Dakota. There had been some false alarms this year, but the two inches of snow on the ground was a promise of more to come.

Our current schedule for this week was a tight one - play vs. Sam Houston State tonight, then South Dakota State in three days, and then Caitlyn Williams and I would fly to Colorado to convince Aaliyah Gray to put on a South Dakota uniform. I struggled to keep calm during all of this and not take things out on my players.

Meanwhile, it was starting to look like this outside:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4377/2173259291e966eb8896.jpg


January 16, 2013 - Sam Houston State (2-12) at South Dakota (5-11)

How did we get a non-conference game right in the middle of January? It was an accident of scheduling. I had been trying to find great teams to play but no one wanted to come to South Dakota. With very little time to get a set schedule, Sam Houston State offered us a home-and-away, with the Bearkats coming to Vermillion first and with South Dakota scheduled to travel to Huntsville, Texas in 2014.

The Bearkats hadn't impressed anyone yet this year. THey had six point wins against Rice and New Mexico state but had suffered a 10-game losing streak this season and had lost to future Southland Conference team Houston Baptist 52-38 just three days earlier. They were the lowest-scoring team in the Southland conference and had a total point differential of -14.5 per game. Last in steals, last in blocks, last in turnovers.

They did have a freshma to worry about, SF Gracelynn Nissen. Nissen led the team with 12.3 points per game. She didn't tend to pass the ball much because there was no one reliable on the Bearkats other than herself to shoot it. Sam Houston State had turned the ball over 17 times in their loss to Houston Baptist, and we wanted to help them along.

The crowds looked thin for this one. The governor of South Dakota was warning people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. But this is the Summit League, and we don't stop games for anything. Sam Houston State made it to the DakotaDome through heavy snow.

Katie Ulmer took me aside before the game. "You'd better not curse," she said, "because the DakotaDome is so empty they'll hear it in the back row." Only the absolute diehards of women's basketball (like the Donut Lady) showed up for this one.

I focused strictly on Sam Houston State. "It's going to sound empty when you go out there. But you've done things right in practice all week. So go and do those things right again, and let's get out of here."


South Dakota 50, Sam Houston State 45

Sam Houston State (2-13)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Madison Vail C 17 0-4 2-2 2 5 0 4 2
Alexis Pedigo PF 21 2-5 0-0 0 0 1 4 4
Gracelynn Nissen SF 33 5-11 1-2 0 5 1 2 11
Addison Berryhill SG 25 2-3 1-2 0 5 1 5 6
Olivia Ramsdell PG 35 3-9 0-0 0 3 0 2 7
Arabella Irick SG 16 0-3 1-2 0 1 0 2 1
Nadia Neilson C 26 3-4 0-0 0 4 1 2 6
Esme McCombs SF 18 3-3 2-2 3 4 1 2 8
J. Lorfeuve PF 3 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Olivia Sublett SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Emily Salisbury C 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (M.Vail 2, A.Pedigo 1, G.Nissen 2,
A.Berryhill 2, O.Ramsdell 2, N.Neilson 2, E.McCombs 1,
O.Sublett 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Vail 1)
Steals: 4 (A.Pedigo 2, A.Irick 1, E.McCombs 1)
3P FGs: 2-12 (M.Vail 0-2, A.Pedigo 0-1, G.Nissen 0-1,
A.Berryhill 1-2, O.Ramsdell 1-4, A.Irick 0-2)

South Dakota (6-11)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 30 2-2 1-2 4 10 0 3 5
C. Harrington PF 28 3-10 3-4 4 9 0 1 9
Jessica Bing SF 26 5-9 4-5 2 2 1 3 14
Catalina Stewart SG 32 3-8 4-6 2 6 1 3 10
Abagail Merkle PG 28 2-12 0-0 3 5 2 3 4
Allison Riggle PG 16 0-3 1-2 0 2 0 0 1
Maliah Lewellen C 19 3-5 0-1 3 5 0 2 6
Bella Grier SF 11 0-3 0-0 1 2 0 1 0
Ashley Brown PF 7 0-1 0-0 1 3 0 0 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 14 (A.Choe 1, J.Bing 2, C.Stewart 7,
M.Lewellen 3, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, C.Stewart 1)
Steals: 6 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 1, A.Merkle
1, M.Lewellen 1)
3P FGs: 0-11 (C.Harrington 0-4, C.Stewart 0-3, A.Riggle
0-2, M.Lewellen 0-1, A.Matz 0-1)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)


It wasn't a pretty win, but I'd take what I could get. I almost let the ugliness of the win overshadow the fact that it was a win.

The first half was low scoring, and the Bearkats led for most of it. With about four minutes left in the first, we caught up with them and we took a 20-20 tie into halftime off of two Caroline Harrington free throws. Sam Houston State played a 2-3 zone throughout the game and it was a defense we had done very well against.

As the second half ground ahead, Sam Houston State led 38-34 with 10 minutes to go. But an 8-0 run shifted the balance and we were back in the lead again. With 2:31 left in the game, Addison Berryhill hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 45-45. Abigail Merkle took the next shot - but it was miss from the left corner and with 2:12 to go the Bearkats had the ball back.

But Caroline Herrington stole an errant pass from Madison Vail and we had the ball back again. Sam Houston State sent Catalina Stewart to the line where she hit both of them to give us a 47-45 lead. Then Catalina got the rebound when the Bearkats missed the ball, and Maliah Lewellen found Stewart right at the free throw line where Stewart delivered a set jumper with 38 seconds left to give us a 49-45 lead.

Lewellen chest-bumped Stewart. "WAY TO GO, CATALINA! GO GET IT!" Our California drama queen was a real red ass on the court. Stewart needed the ego bump, she had turned the ball over seven times tonight.

With possibly the last possession for the Bearkats, we knew they were going to get it to Berryhill; our job was to stop them. And for once, a ref did the right them! Gracelynn Nissen had been planted in the paint all night and with 0:19 left the ref called Nissen for 3 seconds in the key!

The coach of the Bearkats, Brenda Kinder, wasn't happy. "You'll call that? You won't let them play?"

"Don't listen to her, Dena," I said, knowing Dena Davis as a Summit League ref. "They've been standing in the paint all night!"

Dena Davis wasn't going to back down. We had the ball back, all they could do was foul us, and we hit 1 of 2 to make it 50-45. We chased them across the court, and they tried a 3-pointer, but it was too late. South Dakota had its fourth straight win. We only shot 33 percent and we went 0-for-11 from 3-point land, but the team seemed a lot more focused. I was trying to be a good guy, maybe it was working.

Lauren Word told me after the game that this was the longest win streak in my career - four games long. So far this season we were 6-11. But the next three games - against South Dakota State, Oakland, and IPFW - would play a big role in determining how life in the Summit League would be for us this year.

(* * *)

And meanwhile, the snow kept falling. It almost look like two inches of snow fell during the game. We scrambled to find a place on campus that could put up the Bearkats for the night, as the Sioux City Airport closed. The players courageously trod their way across campus and rather than taking my long walk home, I decided to crash on a couch in the men's basketball player's lounge and think about our recent run of success. Could we win 10 games this season?

(* * *)

As it turned out, we would get 17 inches of snow over the next two days! That was two feet of snow, with just enough freezing rain to make it interesting.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/7043/snowplow.jpg
How I got back home. The helpful snowplow.

Usually, the University of South Dakota doesn't close down school for even a blizzard, but this record-setting snowfall made even the university take notice. Students at USD got two days off, expected to be back to class on Friday.

I had a helpful snowplow (property of USD) get me home but others in South Dakota weren't so lucky. Roads were closed across the state including Interstate I-90. Four more people died in South Dakota due to weather-related causes (one man was killed when a snowplow backed into him) and a state of emergency was declared as roads were closed across the state.

I worried a little bit. We still had to get out and visit Aaliyah Gray; the airport had to be cleared up for us to do that. South Dakota State was coming to Vermillion on Saturday, would they make it? (I didn't see why not, no Summit League game had ever been canceled).

In the meantime, we practiced as much as we could. While the players weren't in school, we made sure they hit the books nonetheless, considering this valuable time to get as far ahead on assignments as possible.

The coaches weren't busy, either. Isabella Crumley still hadn't made a decision, increasing my annoyance with her. Other names on our list of blue chippers disappeared. Kendall Henning to SMU. Juliette Delrue of Fance to James Madison, my alma mater. Bella Manning in Missouri to Drake. Cecilia Dominguez to George Mason. We filled those blank spots with other names, including a pair of overlooked players by the names of Isabella Hyder and Alyssa Bunker, both from the state of Georgia.

But of course, life would keep throwing us curveballs. The athletic director, Willie Burbank, called me into his office. "Mark," he said, "I just want to give you a heads-up on the fact that we might have to deal with protests during the South Dakota State game."

The coach of South Dakota State - Elizabeth Engstrom - was the only out homosexual women's basketball coach in NCAA Division I women's basketball. She had come to Brookings from Portland State after James Fillmore flew the coop to Western Kentucky. I'd venture to guess that 98 percent of South Dakotans couldn't have told you who Elizabeth Engstrom was.

"I got this letter from the South Dakota League of Decency. Have you ever heard of them?"

"No."

"Me neither. Apparently, they've warned us that they're coming to hold a protest after the game."

"If they were protesting Elizabeth Engstrom, how come the state hasn't heard of them?" I asked.

"I suspect it's because they wanted to wait until a game came along that everyone would see. It's one of the two biggest women's basketball games in the state." (The other one was the game that took place in Brookings at SDSU's home court.)

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"If someone gets on the court, or if game play is stopped or suspended or whatever, you might need to take the microphone and restore order. Make sure our players are protected. We're making damned sure SDSU's players are protected. And with our kids on campus stir-crazy due to the snow, who knows how they might act out during gametime? We already keep a close eye on T-shirts and posters. The last thing the university needs is some spectator making this gay thing an issue! We don't need the university picketed by the ACLU! God, I really wish that those idiots at State had hired someone else!"

"We are keeping this under wraps," Burbank said. "Last thing I need is a bunch of lesbos from out-of-state holding a kiss-in rally or some such thing."

I nodded. Restore order. Got it. I'd let Williams, Reavis and Ulmer know and we'd get our kids and SDSU's players off the court if it came to that. The Summit League would probably end up replaying the game if things got too hot. It seemed that neither KELO nor KSFY had anything to say about this "protest", but I was told - no interviews on the topic without prior athletic department approval.

(* * *)

January 19, 2013 - South Dakota State (10-7, 4-1) at South Dakota (6-11, 3-1)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9045/logosv.jpg

The last time we had beaten South Dakota State? An 87-83 win from 2003 when both schools were in Division II. But both schools have been playing each other for over 100 years. For the most part, it's been a good natured rivalry. Naturally, the women's game isn't 100 years old but South Dakota and South Dakota State have been "bitter" rivals since the beginning.

However, the rivalry stopped for a while in 2004 when the Jackrabbits moved up to Division I. The Coyotes remained in Division II, making it to the championship game in 2008. But South Dakota State became one of the big Cinderella stories, the kind of contender that was dangerous to play. South Dakota found themselves in the shadow of their rival and quickly planned a move to Division I which rekindled the rivalry.

We knew this would be a tough game from the start. In the Summit League the Jackrabbits were second in points scored, second in rebounding, first in assists, firsts in blocked shots and first in (fewest) personal fouls. In every major category they were ahead of us.

Furthermore, they were a much deeper team than we were. They still have SF Cheyanne Hardiman, who scored 15.9 ppg the previous year and whose 16.2 ppg was leading the Summit League. Sophomore PG Susan Wisdom added 11.8 ppg and had 3.5 assists per game. Senior PF Chelsea Norris was a monster in the post, averaging 8.4 ppg and 12.2 rebounds per game to lead the Summit League in rebound and in blocked shots with 2.3 per game.

This was a very important game to us so we brought in a guest speaker - Angela Spokes, who worked as an administrator at USD and who was a sophomore on the 2003 team that got that last win against the Jacks. I was hoping that she'd make some sort of Vince Lombardi-esque Call to Arms, but I was mistaken. She talked about the goofy and annoying things her coaches did, relaxing the team more than focusing them.

"Our coach used to say, 'steak and potatoes'!"

"Building the foundation!" someone chuckled from the back of the room. (I didn't catch her.)

"Steak and potatoes! And that our practices were eating our vegetables! And I'll always remember what he said after that game. He said, "Doesn't dessert taste really great? Those kind of wins? That's dessert. And I know that you all want some dessert tonight."

With the team appropriately warmed up - I suppose - I thanked Angela and reviewed what we needed to do. "They play the same kind of defense we do," I said to the team before the game, "and they will try to run on you if they think they can. The goal is to play the same kind of defense that won us four games. And our posts have to step up. Caroline, Angelina, I need great games from you today."

"I keep talking about that house from last year. Last year, we laid the foundation." (Laughter.) "This year, hammer and nails. But we need to see some supporting beams and if we can beat the Jacks, that is going to be a very big thing for this program. I've demanded toughness all year, and this is no different from what we faced in December. If you can find your inner Tough Guy, we can win this game."


South Dakota 77, South Dakota State 54

South Dakota State (10-8, 4-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kayla Craft C 26 2-7 0-0 3 5 0 3 4
Chelsea Norris PF 35 2-6 1-2 2 11 1 3 5
Cheyanne Hardiman SF 36 8-19 7-9 2 7 2 2 23
Emily Bentz SG 30 1-5 3-5 0 2 0 3 5
Susan Wisdom PG 32 3-11 4-4 1 1 4 2 12
M. Donaldson PF 16 1-6 1-2 0 1 0 2 3
Lizbeth Ovalle C 13 0-1 2-2 1 2 1 0 2
Casey Smith PG 4 0-1 0-0 0 1 2 0 0
Jaliyah Weatherby SF 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Charley Davis SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Annabel Archer C 2 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Chelsea Whiteley SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 9 (C.Hardiman 2, E.Bentz 2, S.Wisdom 4,
C.Smith 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (C.Norris 2, C.Hardiman 1, E.Bentz 1)
Steals: 6 (C.Hardiman 2, E.Bentz 2, S.Wisdom 2)
3P FGs: 2-13 (E.Bentz 0-2, S.Wisdom 2-6, M.Donaldson
0-3, C.Smith 0-1, A.Archer 0-1)

South Dakota State (7-11, 4-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 1-4 1-6 2 9 1 1 3
C. Harrington PF 23 5-12 0-0 2 9 1 3 13
Jessica Bing SF 29 5-11 5-5 1 3 3 2 16
Catalina Stewart SG 33 5-7 0-0 1 8 3 4 11
Abagail Merkle PG 26 4-6 0-0 0 3 3 2 8
Allison Riggle PG 16 2-4 3-4 0 0 2 3 8
Maliah Lewellen C 17 1-3 0-0 1 4 3 2 3
Bella Grier PF 15 4-5 0-1 1 5 1 2 8
Ashley Brown PF 9 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Adalyn Matz SF 2 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 5

Turnovers: 12 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 2,
C.Stewart 4, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 3)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Choe 2, C.Stewart 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Bing 1, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 2, A.Bure 1)
3P FGs: 8-16 (C.Harrington 3-6, J.Bing 1-3, C.Stewart
1-3, A.Riggle 1-2, M.Lewellen 1-1, A.Matz 1-1)

Player of Game: SF Jessica Bing (SD)


What surprised me was that we hit four of our first five shots and led 9-2 two minutes into the game, forcing the Jacks to burn up a timeout right away. We had a nice crowd - at least as big as last year's - as the students on campus were dying for something to do after all that snow. The crowd jumped on them - but if there were any gay slurs shouted, you'd never hear them in a women's basketball crowd.

We were just taking it to SDSU. Before ten minutes were over we were up in double-digits, 16-6. They couldn't hit squat. But we were playing at a gear I don't think I've seen in two years.

The play I'll remember is when Catalina Stewart was bringing the ball up the court and just as she brought it over the midline, Susan Wisdom steals the ball leaving only Angelina Choe to defend against the combination of Riggle and Kayla Craft. Classic two-on-one breakaway right?

No. Wisdom comes to make the layup while Riggle is distracted, but she doesn't see Stewart sprinting behind her. As Wisdom is a split second away from the release, Stewart leaps up and blocks the ball from beind. A Jacks fan shouted "over the back" but there was no physical contact and Choe gets the rebound! For Stewart to cover that distance, that was a real hustle play!

We led 35-27 at halftime. "You're in the zone," I said, "and I don't know how you're doing it, but live in the moment! IF you're in the zone then just get comfortable there!"

They must have agreed with that bit of gibberish because with 9:22 left we were up 59-39. I knew that a great team like South Dakota State could erase a 20-point deficit so I didn't know what was going to happen but the bench players were holding hands and leaping out of their seats any time we made an impressive basket.

When Abagail Merkle scored on a breakaway to put us up 68-49 with just under four minutes left, I knew we had this one in the bag. The Jacks had that dead look in their eyes, that kind of look when you're just kicking yourself and you just want it to be over.

The pep band began to play "Kill the Wabbit" as the crowd began to chant:

C! O! Y! O! T! E! S!
C-O-Y-O-T-E-S!
GooooOOOOO YOTES!

When the buzzer sounded, the DakotaDome rang out, "The final score, South Dakota 77 ... !" and the crowd roared and drowned out the rest of the score. I thought that the crowd might rush the court but that usually doesn't happen in the women's game. After ten years, we had finally brought the mighty Jackrabbits down to earth.

As we left the court, the first person there to meet me was Willie Burbank. "That's a great win, Mark! That's going to look good at the end of 2015!" My two-year contract was up in 2015. He shook my hand like I was a multi-millionaire donor.

A reporter for the Volante asked me the key to the victory. "Defense, and a whole lot of 'I want it'. They played selfless today. Real Coyote basketball." When you shoot 54 percent and the other side shoots 29 percent, it's hard not to win. We outrebounded them, we hit 8 for 16 from 3-point range and we just hurt them all over the court.

we had won five straight games now. We were 4-1 in the conference and 7-11 for the season. We got 19 poitns from our bench and the Jacks only got five points. Hardiman got her points but we pretty much stopped everyone else.

"This was your dessert!" I told the team after the game. "Go home. Don't come back for practice tomorrow! Get a high-calorie dessert! I want you to call home, celebrate, and I don't want to see you back here until Monday! We'd have one day of practice before Oakland...and I didn't want the team to come down, not the way they were playing."

(* * *)

So what happened to the big protest? To the South Dakota League of Decency? They never showed up. All that expectation for nothing. Willie Burbank suggested that either it was a) a guy on the internet, or more likely, b) the weather storm that paralyzed South Dakota also paralyzed the League of Decency.

I mean, really? You're going to let 17 inches of snow stop you from doing the right thing? Or so you say?

(* * *)

In the meantime, Caitlyn Williams and I were immediately heading to Sioux City after the game. We intended to be in Colorado on Sunday the 20th, back home that next afternoon, and then off to Rochester, Michigan to play the 16-2 Oakland Golden Grizzlies.

Gray lived out in the middle of Wray, Colorado, the home of Wray High School.

Wray was small. Real small. There were only about 2000-3000 people or so that lived in Wray, and the citizens there were overwhelmingly white. There were a handful of black people in Wray, and Gray was among that handful.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5127/vfiles12067.jpg

Getting to Wray? Not easy. A flight from Sioux Falls to Denver. Then a two-plus hour drive from Denver to Wray.

Her father was an ATV salesman, and apparently a very good one. "I make a pretty decent living. I can't complain." The house was definitely nice. Gray seemed like a nice young woman and clearly, the family was putting its best foot forward.

We ate at their house. Dinner chat was good. We then watched the DVD that we usually bring extolling the virtues of South Dakota. But afterwards, we were in for some roughness.

"I want to get something out the way first," Mr. Gray said. "I had Aaliyah accept an invite because I wanted to hear you out. The school seems like a decent college. But if it were up to me, I would not have my daughter going to South Dakota."

"Okay," I asked. "What specifically is a concern?"

"Well first, the fact that you don't win games. My daughter is the best player on her squad. She was an all-state senior in the state of Colorado. I know Aaliyah and she's very competitive and right now, South Dakota? I've never heard of South Dakota. Oh, I know South Dakota exists. It is a state. But I've followed women's ball for years. South Dakota State? Yeah, I've heard of it. South Dakota? Uh-uh. Not on the map."

"I've only been there for two years," I said. "And we just knocked off our major rival in our first win against the Jackrabbits in 10 years. I don't plan on stopping there."

"Even so, you have no footprint. The second is Montana has made us an offer. And once again, if it were up to me, I'd like her to take it. The second is that Arizona has been calling. This house looks like a nice house, but appearances can decieve. I'm in mortgage up to my eyeballs and money in the sales game comes and goes. Arizona - if they make an offer - can pay $3000 a year for living expenses. And I know that that won't happen at South Dakota."

"But Arizona hasn't made an offer?" I said.

"They've called, and that's all."

I turned to Aaliyah. "Aaliyah, do you really want to go to Arizona?"

"I don't really know," she said. She gave a little head shake.

"So clearly, Arizona is not your dream school," I said. "Besides, there's a saying in business. Getting awards is great, but if you want to show me how much you appreciate me as an employee, then pay me more. Likewise in basketball? If you want to show someone you appreciate them, you offer a scholarship. Yes, we don't have $3000 to give our players for cost of living. That might change in the future. Have we won a lot of games yet? No. But the program was pretty down when I got there."

"As for a footprint," I continued, "someone has to start walking before you can see footprints. Aaliyah was receptive and I walked here. Maybe we don't have the things that other schools offer. But our players like playing for us. You really have to see the campus to appreciate it."

"Right, but when are you going to make an offer to do that?" Mr. Gray asked skeptically.

"How soon does Aaliyah want to come?" I countered.

"How about next week?" I said. (We had a game against IPFW.)

Mr. Gray looked amazed. "Really?"

"Yeah. Campus visit."

"Not an "unofficial" campus visit?"

"No. I can have Aaliyah on campus next week."

"Hmm. NCAA rules say that two parents can come."

Those were the new rules agreed to in 2012. I really didn't want Aaliyah's parents there, but I didn't see that we had any choice. "Yep. That's absolutely true."

(* * *)

We walked out of the house into the cold Colorado air. "Well, what do you think?" Caitlyn asked.

"At least, this will be different from the Sofia Owens situation," I said. "At least, we'll have all of Aaliyah's nay-sayers together. I like Mr. Gray. I'd rather be stabbed in the front than stabbed in the back any day."


(* * *)



WBCA Top 10, 21 January 2013

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (72) 19-0 1800 1
2. Ohio State 16-1 1728 3
3. Stanford 15-1 1656 6
4. Notre Dame 14-1 1584 7
5. Florida State 14-1 1512 4
6. Duke 14-1 1431 5
7. Purdue 16-0 1377 9
8. Maryland 15-1 1296 2
9. Connecticut 14-1 1207 15
10. UNC Wilmington 17-0 1150 10


The only undefeated teams in the women's game are in the Top 10. Connecticut finally breaks the Top 10, jumping six spots.

January 22, 2013 - South Dakota (7-11, 4-1) at Oakland (16-2, 5-0)

While Eastern South Dakota was under another snow watch, we were in Michigan to play against the Golden Grizzlies who were leading the Summit League. The winner of this game would be the leaders of the league.

But the Grizzlies had won 15 of their last 16 games. The year before, they won the league championship but lost in the Summit League tournament to South Dakota State. They had no intention of letting that happened again and from the game tape I'd see they were gunning for...well, bear. The closest any team had gotten to them was UMKC which was the only Summit League team to lose by single digits, 63-55. They beat South Dakota State by 17 points in Rochester.

They led the league in points, rebounds and steals. They only turned the ball over 11.7 times per game. They only had one weakness - they gave up 19.0 personal fouls per game, good for 7th in a 9-team conference.

Senior SG McKayla Musgrove was scoring 15.4 ppg - second in the conference - with just 26.8 ppg. She was 45-105 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc and could bring down the thunder like Thor if she got hot. Junior C Jacqueline Grover scored 10.2 ppg and 9.2 rpg, averaging almost a double-double.

In our brief time to practice, we worked on fundamentals. "Oakland will switch zones, depending on where you're scoring from. They can swing from a 2-3 to a 3-2 on the drop of a dime. So we have to be able to adjust. Everyone has to have a good game. No exceptions. But not just have a good game, but to adjust offensively on the fly."

So we practiced how certain sets would change if the Golden Grizzlies showed us a different zone. The problem is that we didn't have the kind of players that could duplicate what the Golden Grizzlies could do, even in a practice situation. I got out there and played a few minutes against my own team - and my foot was aching after 10 minutes. I would do my best to keep the team focused and keep them positive.


Oakland 63, South Dakota 42

South Dakota (7-12, 4-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 2-6 4-6 2 4 1 1 8
C. Harrington PF 24 2-4 0-0 1 2 2 1 5
Jessica Bing SF 28 2-7 0-0 1 5 2 2 4
Catalina Stewart SG 30 1-4 3-6 1 7 2 2 6
Abagail Merkle PG 24 4-10 0-0 3 8 2 3 8
Allison Riggle PG 20 1-5 0-0 1 1 1 2 2
Maliah Lewellen SG 19 2-2 0-3 0 2 0 4 5
Bella Grier PF 16 2-5 0-0 0 1 0 3 4
Ashley Brown C 8 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 16 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 5,
C.Stewart 2, M.Lewellen 2, B.Grier 1, A.Brown 1,
A.Bure 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 2, M.Lewellen 1)
3P FGs: 3-11 (C.Harrington 1-2, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart
1-3, A.Merkle 0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, M.Lewellen 1-1,
B.Grier 0-1, A.Bure 0-1)

Oakland (17-2, 6-0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Julia Mellon C 17 3-5 1-3 1 2 1 4 7
Selena James PF 30 0-0 4-4 1 9 1 2 4
Jacqueline Grover SF 30 3-11 0-0 1 2 0 2 7
Mckayla Musgrove SG 30 4-10 2-2 0 4 4 3 13
Luciana Overturf PG 27 2-6 3-4 0 3 3 2 8
Grace Dupuis PG 16 1-4 0-0 1 3 0 1 3
Angelica Brown SF 20 4-7 0-0 2 5 1 2 10
Stephanie Tittle PF 13 2-5 2-2 5 7 1 0 6
Nevaeh Chilton SG 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Amirah Carmona C 6 1-1 2-3 0 0 0 0 4
Amelia Kimmel C 2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 0 1
Addison Spinner SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0

Turnovers: 11 (J.Mellon 1, J.Grover 3, M.Musgrove 2,
L.Overturf 3, A.Brown 1, A.Spinner 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (S.James 1, J.Grover 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Grover 1, M.Musgrove 1, L.Overturf 1,
A.Brown 1, A.Spinner 1)
3P FGs: 8-24 (J.Mellon 0-1, J.Grover 1-4, M.Musgrove
3-7, L.Overturf 1-4, G.Dupuis 1-3, A.Brown 2-4,
N.Chilton 0-1)

Player of Game: SG Mckayla Musgrove (OAK)


We actually led by nine points in the first half at one point, 21-12. We were still high from our win against South Dakota State and felt that we could beat good teams. But then they went on a 17-2 run just like they were waking up from a bad dream. By halftime, we were down 29-24.

"Down five points against Oakland? On Oakland's home court? We can steal this one!" The goal was to keep them believing that they could kill the Golden Grizzlies.

Oakland took a 10-point lead early in the second but we battled to within three, 40-37 with 10:20 remaining. Then BOOM! another 15-1 run where they just took us apart. They led 55-40 with 4:27 left and it was just too late for another run in a very streaky game. We would only score four more points during the rest of the game.

Musgrave went 3-for-7 from 3-point range. We were absolutely horrible at the free throw line, 7-for-15. It was just that they could make the shots when it counted and get the momentum exactly when they needed to.

We had five days rest. Aaliyah Gray and her parents would come to visit us when we took on IPFW on Saturday. There was a lot of preparation that needed to take place, and not just on the court. Our 5-game win streak was over; it was time to move on.

(* * *)

On Tuesday, January 23rd undefeated Baylor came to Kansas and lost 75-68. Kansas was only up by four with 2:05 left but they managed to hang on in crunch time and deliver the knockout. I suspect that someone else will be number one next week. Maybe Ohio State? I suspect that #3 Stanford will vault to the #1 spot.

That same night, Towson came to #10 UNC Wilmington and beat them 56-53. A 3-pointer by Elise Cortez might have saved the Seahawks bacon and kept them undefeated but her miss - and the Towson rebound - gave the 7-10 Tigers a stunning upset. #7 Purdue - who beat visiting Michigan 91-83 - is the last undefeated team in women's basketball.

(* * *)

That weekend on Friday the 25th, the Gray family - Mr. and Mrs. Gray and their daughter Aaliyah - flew from Colorado to South Dakota for a 48-hour official visit. (I wondered how many parents were flying in with their kids under the new NCAA rules; it had to be a budget buster for some programs.) The roads were (reasonably) clear and a light snow had fallen the previous day to cover up the dirty snow from earlier in the week.

I met the Grays in my office for the first part of the visit. Before parents were allowed to visit with their siblings, the reason for starting the meeting in my office was to sort of intimidate the player. The Grays, however, were beyond intimidation so the meeting was more or less a review of what they'd experience with us. They'd tour the campus, speak with an academic advisor. Aaliyah would see a practice, the team would eat dinner together that night, and Gray would room with Catalina Stewart over the next couple of nights. (Undoubtedly, the team would take her to a party.)

There would be an "unofficial" pick-up game with our players on Saturday morning. The family would see the South Dakota-IPFW game on Saturday, another night for Aaliyah with the team, a breakfast with the team on Sunday and then departure.

One good thing - the Grays stated that they would not be eating with us beyond the first day. "We want Aaliyah to have a chance to see what the team is like without her feeling that we're breathing on her." I was glad. In the future, I'd have visits where the parents shadowed the kid virtually the entire trip.

(* * *)

January 26, 2013 - IPFW (8-11, 2-5) at South Dakota (7-12, 4-2)

It's definitely hard to prepare for a game when you have critical parents watching a practice. I don't know how much they could have learned - neither the parents or the recruit can step onto the boundary lines of the court. I managed to get through the session without swearing; I was getting better at that.

There was a three-way tie for second in the Summit League between UKMC, South Dakota and North Dakota State, all at 4-2. North Dakota State and UMKC would play each other so even if we won we'd still be tied. And I definitely wanted to be tied for second.

I felt that the Mastodons were a better team defensively than we were, but they paid for it by drawing over 20 fouls a game. They played a man defense so it would be a hands-on game. I'm sure they remembered losing to us last year; it was the only game we won last year against a team with a winning record.

Sophomore SG Emma Vallee led the team with 10.4 ppg but only shot 38.2 percent - she had to chuck a lot of shots up there to get those 10.4 points. We felt that if we could put the clamps on her early she'd start to take worse shots as the game progressed. Senior C Isabella Britton scored 8.3 ppg and 6.1 rpg. SG Aimee McIntyre's 1.6 steals per game led the Summit League.

We needed a win for three reasons - to wash out the taste of the Oakland loss, to keep hanging on to second place in the League...and to impress the Grays.


South Dakota 69, IPFW 61 (OT)

IPFW (8-12, 2-6)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jaidyn Shanks C 36 1-6 1-2 0 3 2 2 3
Janiah Johnson PF 34 4-6 1-1 1 1 1 4 9
Aimee McIntyre SF 34 4-11 2-3 1 7 0 5 10
Isabella Britton SG 34 5-10 0-0 2 8 4 4 10
Emma Vallee PG 37 2-18 0-0 1 4 3 1 6
Kai Eady C 19 2-5 1-2 0 3 0 3 5
Gabriella Cardona SF 20 2-6 0-0 2 4 2 1 4
Pearl Siegel SG 11 4-4 0-0 0 0 0 1 10
Azul Shoffner PG 13 0-4 2-3 1 1 1 1 2
Emily Sellars PF 10 1-1 0-0 0 5 2 0 2
Lilly Thompson C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (J.Shanks 2, J.Johnson 1, A.McIntyre 2,
I.Britton 2, E.Vallee 1, K.Eady 1, G.Cardona 1,
P.Siegel 2, E.Sellars 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (J.Johnson 1, E.Vallee 1, K.Eady 1)
Steals: 3 (A.McIntyre 1, E.Vallee 1, E.Sellars 1)
3P FGs: 4-16 (E.Vallee 2-11, G.Cardona 0-1, P.Siegel
2-2, A.Shoffner 0-2)

South Dakota (8-12, 5-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 35 4-8 2-8 3 17 2 4 10
C. Harrington PF 33 2-5 2-2 1 11 2 2 6
Jessica Bing SF 38 1-12 2-4 2 8 2 1 4
Catalina Stewart SG 39 5-6 0-0 1 6 2 0 14
Abagail Merkle PG 33 4-10 2-2 3 4 0 1 10
Allison Riggle PG 22 0-4 3-5 0 3 3 0 3
Maliah Lewellen PF 23 4-6 0-0 0 2 1 0 8
Bella Grier SF 14 3-5 3-4 2 2 1 1 9
Ashley Brown C 11 1-1 3-3 1 1 1 1 5
Anzhelika Bure SG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Analia Williams C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 20 (A.Choe 4, C.Harrington 5, J.Bing 2,
C.Stewart 4, A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 1, B.Grier 2,
A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 4 (C.Harrington 1, A.Merkle 1, M.Lewellen 2)
3P FGs: 4-13 (C.Harrington 0-1, J.Bing 0-3, C.Stewart
4-5, A.Riggle 0-2, M.Lewellen 0-1, L.Alexander 0-1)

Player of Game: SG Catalina Stewart (SD)


If you want to impress a visitor, that's how you do it. A come from behind win. The Mastodons took a 7-0 lead from the opening tip-off and within 90 seconds I had to burn a timeout. Then IPFW went on an 11-2 run that put them up 22-16 with 4:00 left in the first. I had to tell everyone, "When another team goes on a run, you either slow it down or speed it up. The more they have to adjust to what you do, the more likely you are to break a run. Timing is everything. Offense is timing and defense is destroying your opponent's timing."

We managed to close to 22-19 but IPFW got hot near the end of the half and the score was 28-21 at halftime. I continued to impress on the team that we needed to control the pace. Furthermore, we seemed to be winning the battle of the boards; extra effort there might pay off.

We came out in the second with a 6-0 run to close to 28-27. The Mastodons could not get to anywhere past a couple of baskets ahead of us.

Ashley Brown hit a couple of free throws with 7:11 left to give us our first lead, 41-40, after a long dry spell from both teams. But with 4:37 remaining it was tied at 44-44. It stayed close and with 20 seconds left we led 48-44.

But with Aimee McIntrye trying a 3-pointer, Bella Grier made a dumb foul, so McIntyre went to the line for three. She hit two of them to close the score to 48-46 with 17 seconds left. Jessica Bing ended up with the ball and the Mastodons fouled her.

If she had hit both of those shots, we'd have had a clear win but she missed the second one. We were up 49-46 with 15 seconds left and Emma Vallee shot from the top of the key - nothing but net.

49-49. Overtime.

What was my message to my disheartened team. "We've got these guys right where we want them! Time to watch them melt!"

And I was right. We went on an 11-2 run and IPFW fell apart. I saw someone holding up a sign in the crowd:

I
Paid
For
What???

I chuckled. This time, no comeback and the Mastodons were dead. We outrebounded them 54-36, but I was prouder of the 10 team fouls. Catalina Stewart ran right into the stands after the game to say hello to Aaliyah Gray to give her the game ball, a nice gesture.

The stat I was proudest of? The 10 personal fouls over 45 minutes of play. IPFW only got 11 visits to the charity stripe; we got 28. "You played composed today. If you keep playing like this - we can reach any of our goals."

Catalina Stewart shot 5-for-6 to be named player of the game, but I thought it should have been Angelina Choe with 10 points and 17 rebounds. Her counterpart in the post, Jaidyn Shanks, was held to just 3 rebounds and 1-for-6 shooting.

(* * *)

Baylor got beaten by another Kansas team as they went to Kansas State and got thumped 86-76. Ohio State and Stanford were both winners.

UNC Wilmington went to VCU and got whalloped 75-44. The Seahawks would definitely take a tumble on Monday.

(* * *)


WBCA Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (64) 19-2 1792 1 Big 12 Conference
2. Ohio State 18-1 1715 2 Big Ten Conference
3. Stanford (5) 17-1 1637 3 Pacific-12 Conference
4. Notre Dame (1) 16-1 1586 4 Big East Conference
5. Duke (2) 16-1 1501 6 Atlantic Coast Conference
6. Purdue 18-0 1441 7 Big Ten Conference
7. Connecticut 16-1 1366 9 Big East Conference
8. Florida State 15-2 1266 5 Atlantic Coast Conference
9. Maryland 16-2 1153 8 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Southern California 16-2 1111 14 Pacific-12 Conference


Baylor still #1? No one saw that coming. However, Baylor is no longer a unanimous number one. Connecticut climbs to seven in its march to women's basketball domination. Undefeated Purdue is at number six without a single first place vote. If the polls extended beyond #25 it would put Oakland at #26.

(* * *)

There was one person, however, that was destroying my attempt to remain calm and controlled in all things, and that was Isabella Crumley. I asked Caitlyn Williams the next day, "Has Isabella made up her mind one way or another?"

"No, Mark."

"Has she even hinted that she's going to make her mind up one way or another?"

"No."

I sighed. "All right. Given the fact that the players aren't that enthusiastic about her - we're going to deadline her."

Deadlining a player was exactly what it meant. You simply tell the player, "if you don't sign with us by X, we can no longer recruit you."

"Well, what am I supposed to tell her?"

"Exactly the way we feel. We don't believe that she's going to sign with us. Therefore, it's up to prove that she will sign with us. And if she doesn't sign with us by February 3rd, we're moving on. If she signs before February 3rd, we give her a scholarship; else we move on."

Caitlyn was silent. "Well, then who are we going to recruit?"

I looked her right in the eye. "That's for you to figure out." It was time for some more hands-on management.

(* * *)

January 29, 2013 - South Dakota (8-12, 5-2) at Nebraska-Omaha (8-11, 3-4)


2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 7 0 1.000 18 2 .900 45 44
South Dakota Coyotes 5 2 .714 8 12 .400 117 6
North Dakota State Bison 5 2 .714 9 11 .450 169 31
UMKC Kangaroos 4 3 .571 9 11 .450 177 16
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 4 3 .571 10 9 .526 161 60
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 3 4 .429 8 11 .421 204 5
IPFW Mastodons 2 6 .250 8 12 .400 250 28
IUPUI Jaguars 1 6 .143 3 16 .158 164 7
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 1 6 .143 3 17 .150 330 10


With the cold weather in South Dakota - it had remained in the teens and twenties all week, surprisingly mild - it was good to head to Nebraska and (marginally) less arctic weather. Our game with UNO would end the first cycle of games in the Summit League and a 6-2 finish in the first eight league games would be a mark of pride.

The Mavericks only scored 49.0 points per game but had won their last three games - granted those games were against IUPUI, IPFW and Western Illinois but we knew they'd come into this game confident. (They had even beaten 5-13 Arkansas!) However, their margin of victory was only -7.5 points, not far behind our margin of -5.8 points. We were pretty much ahead of them in most metrics but not enough to satisfy me.

They had a couple of good players. Even though they had no player breaking double digits in scoring, senior C Kylie Davis averaged 6.4 ppg and 6.7 rpg. Freshman point guard Amya Weiss was making a name for herself with 8.8 points per game, but her A/TO ratio of 0.59 wasn't impressive. She could however down the three, going 16-for-45 (35.6 percent) from behind the line.

They liked to switch between the 2-3 and 3-2 zones. We spent practices talking about how the Mavericks switched out of the zone and formed the trap, and which players would slide to the free throw line. "If you can anticipate them, you can beat them." The only question was whether or not they would switch things up. Even so, this was much more an Xs-and-Os practice - I need to know the team's ability to retain new information, particularly when it might mean the difference between winning and losing.


South Dakota 46, Nebraska-Omaha 40

South Dakota (9-12, 6-2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 30 0-3 1-2 4 14 1 1 1
C. Harrington PF 28 3-6 5-7 2 6 1 2 11
Jessica Bing SF 12 3-3 0-2 0 1 0 4 6
Catalina Stewart SF 33 1-10 2-2 2 2 1 2 4
Abagail Merkle PG 27 4-11 0-0 3 4 2 1 8
Allison Riggle PG 24 2-6 0-1 2 3 1 1 4
Maliah Lewellen PF 20 2-6 0-1 3 3 1 2 4
Bella Grier PF 15 1-3 2-5 2 5 1 0 4
Ashley Brown C 7 1-1 0-0 2 4 0 2 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 1-4 0-1 1 1 0 0 2
Jillian Ho PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 2, C.Stewart 2,
A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 2, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 8 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 1, A.Merkle
2, B.Grier 1, A.Bure 2)
3P FGs: 0-15 (C.Harrington 0-2, C.Stewart 0-4, A.Merkle
0-1, A.Riggle 0-4, M.Lewellen 0-1, B.Grier 0-1, A.Bure
0-2)

Nebraska-Omaha (8-12, 3-5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kylie Davis C 23 5-8 3-3 2 7 1 5 13
Chanel Stevens PF 29 2-4 0-2 2 5 1 5 4
Dulce Diaz SF 26 2-8 0-2 0 9 2 2 6
Janelle Ainsworth SG 34 2-8 2-3 1 1 2 2 6
Amya Weiss PG 33 2-4 2-2 0 2 0 4 7
Brianna Padilla SF 20 1-3 0-0 1 4 0 2 2
Halle McCully C 20 1-4 0-0 1 1 1 1 2
Sophia Schaaf SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Cecilia Reilly C 10 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Khloe Hopkins PF 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 18 (K.Davis 3, C.Stevens 3, D.Diaz 3,
J.Ainsworth 3, A.Weiss 2, B.Padilla 2, C.Reilly 2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 1 (J.Ainsworth 1)
3P FGs: 3-15 (D.Diaz 2-4, J.Ainsworth 0-4, A.Weiss 1-3,
B.Padilla 0-2, H.McCully 0-1, K.Hopkins 0-1)

Player of Game: PF Caroline Harrington (SD)


(* * *)

What can you say? They adapted and they came back from behind. The team is showing that it can work its way through adversity. We were down 22-9 with 3:45 left - and then suddenly, the team figured it out. We went on an 11-2 run and almost tied it at halftime, down 22-20.

Jessica Bing almost got herself thrown out of the game arguing a call. She got a technical in the first half, and UNO got four free throws in a row. They went 0-for-4 at the line. (They'd finish the night 7-for-12.) As for our run, we basically earned those 11 free throws on foul shots.

As you can guess, it was a sloppy game. They shot 35.7 percent and we shot 34.0 percent. But we crushed them on the boards, 43-29 for the game.

It was a tough second half. We only led by a couple of baskets for most of the game with our biggest lead 45-33 with 3:16 left. At no time did I feel that we were really in contro1 even with a 12-point lead. The Mavericks closed to 45-40 on a 3-pointer by Dulce Diaz with 1:27 left and we were back in a game again.

I called a time out telling the team that if they shot, they'd shoot from outside. But we had shot less than 50 percent from the free throw line so UNO's strategy was to send us to the free throw line and hope we choked. We only hit one of our following free throws but they couldn't get another basket.

Game over. "This win happened for a reason," I told them. "Things happen for reasons. This 6-2 record in the Summit League isn't an accident. You did that. You worked your asses off to achieve it. Great job. Now UMKC is going to come to Vermillion in February - and it's time to take care of some unfinished business."

(* * *)

On the 30th, Penn State came to undefeated #6 Purdue and beat them 65-57 in Big Ten action. PF Marie Pollet elevated the Lady Lions single-handedly to the victory. There are now no more undefeated teams in women's basketball.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES


2012 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 7 0 1.000 18 2 .900 50 44
South Dakota Coyotes 6 2 .750 9 12 .429 108 6
North Dakota State Bison 5 2 .714 9 11 .450 169 31
UMKC Kangaroos 4 3 .571 9 11 .450 181 16
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 4 3 .571 10 9 .526 158 60
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 3 5 .375 8 12 .400 230 5
IPFW Mastodons 2 6 .250 8 12 .400 250 28
IUPUI Jaguars 1 6 .143 3 16 .158 167 7
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 1 6 .143 3 17 .150 328 10


Second place in the Summit League, believe it or don't! I'm just as surprised as you are. I hoped we'd finish at 8-8 so I could keep my job maybe another two-three years but I didn't think it would happen so fast.

Up next: What decision will Isabella Crawley make? South Dakota takes on UMKC, Western Illinois, North Dakota State and IUPUI as the Yotes go deeper into the schedule.

[masterofnone]

"But I've followed women's ball for years. South Dakota State? Yeah, I've heard of it. South Dakota? Uh-uh. Not on the map." - Mr. Gray
"Okay, Mr. Has Followed Women's Ball For Years, look at the conference standings. See where we are? See where they are? So apparently you don't follow it very closely."

Seriously though, another good read and you get your team playing some good ball right now. I mean, RPI of 108, weren't you up at like 282 last year? Also, with 9 wins, that's already more than you had all of last season. Keep up the good work, and good luck on the road to the conference championship! (Although Oakland looks like they'll be mighty tough to beat this year. At 18-2, they oughta be near the Top 25?)

[Petrel]

masterofnone: Oakland is definitely highly-ranked. They're in the mid-major Top 10 and have been hanging around the bottom list of teams which are just below #25, the ones that get a handful of votes every week in the national polls.


February 2013

With the deadline for Isabella Crumley to decide on South Dakota approaching, Caityln Williams would be taking the day off on the 1st to shore up the forces. She was taking a visit to Madison Bozeman out of Darlington High School in Wisconsin. I didn't think much of Bozeman's 12.3 ppg/10.3 rpg against weak competition, but she could play average defense - which was better than a lot of our recruits. If Crumley said no to us, we'd be left to scramble.

In the meantime, we prepared for the upcoming match against UMKC. That day, February 2nd - I received a call on my cell phone and the number identified itself as belonging to Isabella Crumley. I had given her a deadline to either sign with South Dakota by Sunday, February 3rd or we were going to move forward with recruiting someone else.

"Coach," Isabella Crumley said, "I've decided to accept your offer of a scholarship."

Normally, I would have said, "Congratulations!" or "We're looking forward to having you!" But instead, all I could do was blurt out "It's about time!"

"Sorry!" Isabella said.

"But I am glad that you've made up your mind. Are you ready to fax your National Letter of Intent today?"

"Yes, Coach."

"Good. I'm heading right to my office and we're going to keep in touch with you. Now what was that number you wanted? Number five?"

"Yes, coach, if that's okay."

"It's more than okay. Welcome to the South Dakota Coyotes. I'll tell your team and I look forward to seeing you on campus this fall."

After months and months, we finally had someone signed! But that still left one power forward spot left to recruit. If I had to wait until April to get our next signing, there would be hell to pay. Aaliyah Gray was still a no-decision. Was it time to deadline her, too?

(* * *)

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/7060/freeph.jpg

Chadsey's Crumley Signs to South Dakota

Isabella Crumley, a 6-7y post out of Chadsey High School, has signed a binding letter of intent with the University of South Dakota according to Coyote's coach Mark Hawkins. Crumley scored 13.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg for Chadsey in her final year with the Explorers.

Hawkins said "The signing of Isabella Crumley makes this a great recruiting year for us. She definitely fills a need for our team and can be a prolific inside scorer." Crumley was the top scorer for Chadsey over her final two seasons.

(* * *)

February 2, 2013 - South Dakota State (9-12, 6-2) at UMKC (10-11, 5-3)

We were hoping to revenge a 77-54 loss at home earlier in the year to the Kangaroos. It had been our worst Summit League game this year, even worse than the lost at Oakland.

Under Summit League play, PG Ava Batchelor was continuing to progress. In that nightmare game, she had 20 points, six assists and just one turnover against us. Three players from the Kangaroos scored in double-digits against us. I also figured we'd have to look out for senior SG Charley Hughes. She only scored 7.2 ppg but being a senior, she'd have a lot of drive to lead the team to a sweep of the Yotes. Our job was to keep that from happening.

The first thing I talked to the team about was the fact that Crumley had signed with us. They didn't seem too enthusiastic, but I thanked them for their help and for making her feel at home and helping the program.

I returned to the topic at hand. "We're on the road, and they've already beaten us. They will try to put us on the ropes right away. We're going to frustrate them." I told the team to make incidental contact as much as possible. "Bump 'em under the post." We worked on mirroring one of our sets just to force them to make a lot of petty adjustments. I wanted this rematch to be a mental game.

"You need to come into this game with an attitude that you've already won it. You have to execute under the basket. You have to put bodies on #33 (Batchelor). You make #33 adjust to our man, and if she gets hot, don't panic. Because I've seen you do great stuff. Keep doing great stuff, and let UMKC know that they didn't catch us on our best night in January, but they just got us on our best night when it counted."


UMKC 61, South Dakota 53

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 2-4 3-5 3 8 1 4 7
C. Harrington PF 25 2-6 1-3 1 2 1 3 6
Jessica Bing SF 33 4-12 0-2 3 7 4 2 8
Catalina Stewart SG 33 8-15 0-0 1 4 0 2 18
Abagail Merkle PG 28 2-3 0-0 1 10 2 3 4
Allison Riggle PG 19 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 2
Maliah Lewellen C 13 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 4
Bella Grier PF 11 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 0
Ashley Brown C 7 2-2 0-0 1 2 1 1 4
Anzhelika Bure SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 17 (A.Choe 2, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 3,
C.Stewart 6, A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 1, B.Grier 2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 5 (C.Stewart 2, A.Merkle 1, B.Grier 1, A.Brown
1)
3P FGs: 3-15 (A.Choe 0-1, C.Harrington 1-4, J.Bing 0-2,
C.Stewart 2-6, A.Riggle 0-1, B.Grier 0-1)

UMKCStats (11-11, 6-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Madison Bright C 28 6-11 3-4 3 5 2 1 15
Sophie Gerl PF 28 0-4 3-6 3 5 0 2 3
Abigail Kennedy SF 28 3-6 0-2 2 6 4 2 7
Charley Hughes PG 32 4-8 0-0 2 5 3 2 8
Ava Batchelor PG 19 1-3 2-2 0 1 3 4 4
Madison Daniels C 14 0-2 1-5 0 3 1 2 1
Mia Garnett PF 12 1-3 0-0 0 1 0 1 2
Madison Reichert SF 10 1-1 4-4 0 1 0 0 6
Rosemary Reynolds SG 26 5-10 4-5 0 3 2 2 15
Ryann Hunt PG 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 7 (M.Bright 1, A.Kennedy 2, C.Hughes 2,
A.Batchelor 1, M.Reichert 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 8 (M.Bright 1, S.Gerl 2, A.Kennedy 1, C.Hughes
1, R.Reynolds 2, R.Hunt 1)
3P FGs: 2-13 (S.Gerl 0-1, A.Kennedy 1-3, C.Hughes 0-4,
A.Batchelor 0-1, M.Daniels 0-2, R.Reynolds 1-2)

Player of Game: SG Rosemary Reynolds (UMKC)


Well, the good news is we stopped Batchelor. We held her to four points. The bad news is that we didn't stop anyone else. At least after the Kangaroos took an 8-0 lead we didn't melt down. We led 28-27 late in the first with one minute left and were only down by one at halftime, 29-28.

But UMKC really wanted this game and they played a great ball control offense. They only turned the ball over 7 times throught the game and turned the tables on us, trying to force us out of our rhythm. With 2:37 left, the score was tied at 51-51.

But we just couldn't hit anything after that. And Batchelor stepped up. They changed it up. We thought she'd shoot the ball, but in those last minutes, she did all the little things. A quick no look pass. A crucial rebound. Two free throws. She made up for those four points we held her to, and she managed to beat us anyway.

My hope was that come what may, we would not face UMKC in the post-season. At this moment in time, they were smarter than we were...and we only had till March 10th to smarten up.

(* * *)

Of course, there was other basketball going on. In a highly-anticipated match, #6 Purdue traveled to #2 Ohio State for a battle of Big Ten supremacy. Both teams had just one loss over the season. up by three at halftime, the Buckeyes made the second half all theirs as they rolled toward a 69-48 victory and held the Boilermakers to 28.8 percent shooting. Senior PG Aubrey Brooks led Ohio State with 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior SG Kira Griffin added another 16 points for Ohio State with the Buckeyes moving to first place in the Big Ten.

(* * *)

Sunday decided to bring a cold wave. Even though the thermometer only read 18 degrees, we were granted six more inches of snow. But if you thought South Dakota was having it bad, New York state was getting it worse. It was the second straight day of below-zero weather in Manhattan and the upper part of the state was buried. The governor called a state of emergency and the Hudson River was in danger of freezing over.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7743/frozenniagra.jpg
Niagara getting some of the worst of it.

We managed to fight our way back to classes on Monday, forced to lay over in Sioux Falls overnight due to the bad weather. Western Illinois was schedule to play on the 5th and I was wondering if they were going to make it.

(* * *)

WBCA Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Baylor (67) 20-2 1795 1 Big 12 Conference
2. Ohio State (1) 20-1 1724 2 Big Ten Conference
3. Notre Dame (1) 18-1 1637 4 Big East Conference
4. Duke (2) 18-1 1543 5 Atlantic Coast Conference
5. Stanford (1) 18-2 1514 3 Pacific-12 Conference
6. Connecticut 18-1 1427 7 Big East Conference
7. Maryland 18-2 1292 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
8. Florida State 16-3 1223 8 Atlantic Coast Conference
9. Oklahoma 16-4 1211 22 Big 12 Conference
10. UCLA 17-3 1119 19 Pacific-12 Conference

Connecticut sneaking up to #6. Look at the jump the Sooners took! They've beaten their last three Big 12 opponents by 20-point margins. Looking forward to that Baylor-Oklahoma match on February 9th.

(* * *)

February 5, 2013 - Western Illinois (3-18, 1-7) at South Dakota (9-13, 6-3)

We hoped that we could sweep the hapless Fighting Leathernecks at the DakotaDome. A win would put us into double-digits in wins for the year and do wonders for us psychologically.

Right now, the best player on the Leathernecks was freshman PG Brianna Joyner, who was averaging 9.2 ppg (but turning the ball over 2.9 times for every 1.1 assists). Joyner was fourth in the league in TOs - but Catalina Stewart was #1. Junior SG Angelique Rutherford averaged almost a steal a game and chipped in with 8.3 points per game, and Western Illinois would undoubtedly assign Rutherford to guard Stewart when possible.

Aside from those occasional moments when their defense kicked in, they weren't that good. They lost games by an average of 16.9 ppg and were outrebounded by a 10-rebound margin each game. Two of their only three wins came by six points or less.

I knew what they'd be working on - shooting (they only shot 30 percent in the last game against us) and on getting their bench players involved (only six bench points in a 54-40 loss).

So we did something a little different - we focused on anything we could pick up from their bench, wishing to keep Western Illnois flat and force them into deep minutes with their starters. We felt we had the stamina to beat Western Illinois, particularly at home - but Western Illinois was fighting to keep its head above water. A loss would mean they could finish no better than .500 in the conference. I wanted to scream at my players when they did dumb crap, but I was holding fast to what Coach Tomlinson told me - "keep your cool".


South Dakota 58, Western Illinois 48

Western Illinois (3-19, 1-8)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Haleigh Tessier C 26 0-4 0-2 0 0 0 4 0
Yareli Morgan PF 22 2-4 0-0 1 5 0 3 4
Carmen Pittman SF 23 3-7 1-2 0 4 0 2 8
A. Rutherford SG 26 2-7 0-0 4 8 0 1 4
Brianna Joyner PG 32 1-9 5-6 1 2 2 2 7
Eden Bittner SG 25 3-7 1-1 1 2 0 1 7
Ali Elliott SF 16 1-2 4-4 2 6 0 2 7
Brynn Tyler C 16 0-1 6-8 0 2 0 2 6
Chloe Martinez PF 8 0-0 2-2 1 2 0 0 2
Mylee Mead C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Amaya Mackay PG 5 0-1 3-4 0 0 0 1 3

Turnovers: 16 (H.Tessier 1, Y.Morgan 5, C.Pittman 1,
A.Rutherford 4, B.Joyner 1, E.Bittner 1, A.Elliott 2,
B.Tyler 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (Y.Morgan 1, A.Rutherford 1, E.Bittner 1,
A.Mackay 1)
3P FGs: 2-12 (Y.Morgan 0-1, C.Pittman 1-3, A.Rutherford
0-3, B.Joyner 0-3, E.Bittner 0-1, A.Elliott 1-1)

South Dakota (10-13, 7-3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 4-7 0-1 5 11 2 2 8
C. Harrington PF 19 2-7 0-0 1 3 0 5 4
Jessica Bing SF 29 2-6 0-0 5 6 0 2 4
Catalina Stewart SG 32 1-6 1-4 2 5 2 2 3
Abagail Merkle PG 27 6-12 6-7 1 3 3 2 18
Allison Riggle PG 22 3-8 1-2 0 2 1 3 7
Maliah Lewellen PF 20 3-5 0-2 1 4 0 2 6
Bella Grier PF 15 1-3 1-2 1 4 1 0 3
Ashley Brown PF 6 1-2 1-1 1 2 0 3 3
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (C.Harrington 3, J.Bing 2, C.Stewart 3,
A.Riggle 2, B.Grier 2, A.Bure 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (A.Choe 1, C.Stewart 1, A.Riggle 1)
Steals: 6 (C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 1,
M.Lewellen 1, B.Grier 2)
3P FGs: 0-7 (A.Choe 0-1, J.Bing 0-1, C.Stewart 0-2,
A.Merkle 0-2, A.Riggle 0-1)

Player of Game: PG Abagail Merkle (SD)


The bad news is that we went off-script. The Western Illinois bench scored more points (25) than the starters (23)! The good news is that we won anyway because the Fighting Leathernecks stunk up the joint, shooting 28.6 percent from the floor.

It's amazing. We're actually good enough now that we can win bad games even when we don't play well. (Either that or Western Illinois is, well, horrible. I expect the latter theory is true.)

Catalina Stewart went 1-for-6, with only 3 points and 3 turnovers. This is what you get when a freshman is a big part of your offense. It's a good thing that Abagail Merkle stepped in from the point guard role and scored 18 points. Angelina Choe added 11 rebounds to our total, grabbing one out of every four Yote boards.

So how did I treat this? I told them the truth. I was happy about the win but disappointed about their performance. It was like the post-game loss speech, but instead of getting angry just getting - calm about allowing a team like Western Illinois to score 48.

"Even so," I said. "We now have 10 wins on the season. We're back in second place. We just need one more conference win and not only will we finish .500 but we'll be going to the post-season. There's a lot more to do, but I'm starting to believe that you guys can carry the hammer."

(* * *)

With Isabella Crumley under wraps, we were still waiting on Aaliyah Gray to send us a Valentine for February. She was still talking to us and Gray told me that she'd be making her decision soon. "I sure hope so," I said. "We'd love to have you here." (And, to be truthful, I was this close to deadlining her.)

We struggled with a cold snap where it got down into the single digits in Vermillion. This gave the coaches a lot of chances for gab. We decided that we'd better start spreading our chips around the recruiting table and hedge our bet. It was decided that Caitlyn Williams would be flying/driving to the small town of Goreville, Illinois to talk to the parents of Aubrey Lewis out of Goreville High School. Liberty and Southern Illinois had been talking to Lewis and I wanted to make sure she didn't forget us.

In the meantime, we'd be traveling north to the big city of Fargo, North Dakota to take on North Dakota State

(* * *)

February 9, 2013 - South Dakota (10-13, 7-3) at North Dakota State (10-13, 6-4)


2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 10 0 1.000 21 2 .913 67 44
South Dakota Coyotes 7 3 .700 10 13 .435 130 6
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 7 3 .700 13 9 .591 138 60
North Dakota State Bison 6 4 .600 10 13 .435 164 31
UMKC Kangaroos 6 4 .600 11 12 .478 159 16
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 3 6 .333 8 14 .364 247 5
IPFW Mastodons 3 7 .300 10 13 .435 239 28
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 1 8 .111 3 19 .136 329 10
IUPUI Jaguars 1 9 .100 3 19 .136 223 7


A tale of two teams. Both with the same record, both jockeying for position in the league. As you can see, the #2 through #5 teams are all separated by one game.

We delivered them a decisive 68-48 loss at the DakotaDome a month ago and I knew they'd want to return the favor. Sophomore PG Saige Christie and senior SF Haylee Mull were still the one-two punch of the bison, with 14.5 ppg and 13.2 ppg respectively. Senior C Claire Ramirez was still a force on the boards as always with 8.2 rpg. (PF Addison Wood had a stress fracture and probably wouldn't be seen again until the tournament.) We moved the ball better but also turned it over more; they were the better defensive team.

We needed to stop Mull and Christie as well as we did in the previous matchup. Our focus was on when to abandon the man-to-man and recognize the need to double team; we'd try to keep Mull and Christie as the focus of those double-teams. The other goal was to help Catalina Stewart along and work with her on her passing game; I worked with her both on shooting and passing as well as trying to help Abigail Merkle work with her point guard role. "I need great games out of both of you; this part of the year is when it's the toughest."

"Everyone's tired right now," I said. "I'm still recruiting. We've still got over a month of basketball. North Dakota State is tired. So this is the barrier, and the goal to a Summit League championship is just busting through that barrier, just ignoring fatigue.

We would try something different. We called it "ice towels" after something I heard a high school boy's team in South Dakota do. They weren't used much in basketball, but they were supposed to help fight fatigue. So our goal was to have one of our managers there ahead of the team to get ice.

All the ice she could possibly get her hands on.


North Dakota State 60, South Dakota 47

South Dakota (10-14, 7-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 29 2-6 0-1 2 10 0 0 4
C. Harrington PF 23 1-6 5-6 0 1 1 5 8
Jessica Bing SF 29 5-13 3-5 4 6 0 2 13
Catalina Stewart SG 33 4-10 0-0 1 6 3 3 9
Abagail Merkle PG 28 1-7 2-2 3 5 0 0 4
Allison Riggle PG 15 0-1 2-3 1 2 2 2 2
Maliah Lewellen PF 19 1-2 1-2 0 3 3 0 3
Bella Grier PF 14 1-2 2-2 0 2 1 1 4
Ashley Brown C 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 4 0-3 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 2, J.Bing 1,
C.Stewart 5, A.Merkle 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Merkle 1)
Steals: 1 (C.Stewart 1)
3P FGs: 2-15 (A.Choe 0-1, C.Harrington 1-4, J.Bing 0-1,
C.Stewart 1-5, A.Merkle 0-3, A.Bure 0-1)

North Dakota State (11-13, 7-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Claire Ramirez C 27 3-8 0-0 4 10 1 2 6
Anahi Vestal PF 28 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0
Haylee Mull SF 32 3-11 5-6 2 10 2 2 14
Mariam Rapp SG 27 6-7 0-2 0 3 2 3 14
Saige Christie PG 35 5-14 0-0 0 4 4 1 12
Erica Rochelle SF 19 1-2 4-4 1 4 0 4 7
Abigail Borst SG 13 1-5 0-0 1 3 0 2 2
Addison Kushner SF 9 0-2 2-2 0 1 0 2 2
Kadence Lao PF 4 1-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 3
Addison Taylor SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Jocelyn Finlay C 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0

Turnovers: 7 (H.Mull 1, M.Rapp 2, S.Christie 1,
E.Rochelle 1, A.Borst 1, K.Lao 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (M.Rapp 3, S.Christie 1)
3P FGs: 9-22 (C.Ramirez 0-1, H.Mull 3-7, M.Rapp 2-3,
S.Christie 2-5, E.Rochelle 1-1, A.Borst 0-4, K.Lao 1-1)

Player of Game: SG Mariam Rapp (NDSU)



I was now worried that we were in a slump. We were 3-3 in our last six games and playing .500 ball. Either that, or we had fallen back to our natural level and the six straight wins we had early this year were just a fluke. I didn't know what to do.

They never gave up the lead and just kept building it. They were up by double-digits before the first half was over and led 34-13 at one point in the first half. Even though they shot only 38 percent, our 30 percent shooting was disastrous - they had us locked up from the word "go". They even outrebounded us, 38-36.

They stopped us all. Jessica Bing had 13 points and 6 rebounds and Angelina Choe had 4 points and 10 rebounds, but Catalina Stewart had 9 points, 6 rebounds (and 5 turnovers) and Abagail Merkle was 1-for-7 shooting. They killed us from the perimeter, hitting 9 out of 22 3-point attempts.

You can imagine how fun that halftime was, with me trying not to blow a cork with sheer rage. I robotically tried to emphasize that we were still the kind of team that could beat NDSU despite being down by 14, but it didn't seem to take. I had no faith in the team in the second because they didn't look like they had faith in themselves.

Maybe it was the ice towels. Maybe that freaked them out. Although I would hear word that they certainly felt less fatigued, they definitely didn't play like it. I needed to talk to Ken Tomlinson again.

(* * *)

Bad day for Top Ten teams. #10 UCLA lost at home to their hated arch-rivals, #12 USC by a score of 82-75. #3 Notre Dame was upset at home as Marquette rolled in and beat the defending National Champions 66-60 for Notre Dame's second-only loss of the year.

But the big matchup was #9 Oklahoma going to play #1 Baylor. They had beaten Oklahoma 77-53 on the road, and it was time for the Sooners to return the favor with a 79-53 whipping in Waco. The 11-4 lead by the Lady Bears didn't hold up as the Sooners led 36-27 at halftime. Baylor was never really in it the second half. Two Oklahoma players broke the 20-point barriers, junior SF Lorelai Kubiak with 23 points and sophomore PG Sophia Wakefield with 22. The Lady Bears were out-rebounded 45 to 30 and three players finished with 10 rebounds, including Kubiak.

The Lady Bears are 2-3 in their last five games. There's no way they should hold on to the #1 ranking next week...am I right?

(* * *)


WBCA Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ohio State (62) 22-1 1790 2 Big Ten Conference
2. Baylor (1) 21-3 1709 1 Big 12 Conference
3. Duke (2) 20-1 1605 4 Atlantic Coast Conference
4. Stanford (3) 20-2 1575 5 Pacific-12 Conference
5. Notre Dame 19-2 1497 3 Big East Conference
6. Connecticut (4) 20-1 1475 6 Big East Conference
7. Maryland 20-2 1318 7 Atlantic Coast Conference
8. Oklahoma 18-4 1296 9 Big 12 Conference
9. Florida State 18-3 1272 8 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Arkansas-Little Rock 22-1 1028 13 Sun Belt Conference



Yep, I'm right.

(* * *)

The next big game of Top Ten teams was that Wednesday, with #7 Maryland traveling to #9 Florida State in an ACC battle. It was a fantastic game, with Maryland trying to hold off the Seminoles all the way throughout. Florida State led 61-60 briefly with 2:25 to go but the Terrapins held in there. Florida State tried to get a 3-pointer to break Maryland's momentum but it wouldn't fall, and Florida State was already over the foul mark putting Maryland in the bonus. With eight seconds left and Maryland up 68-65 and with the ball, freshman PF Sophia Langan stole the ball but was forced to make a long three - and she hadn't attempted one all year. The shot was nowhere near the basket and Maryland walked away with the win.

(* * *)

We were heading into a game with IUPUI on Valentine's Day. Most likely, we'd win the game; the Jaguars were 3-20 overall and just 1-10 in the conference. But I was still a simmering pot. We had heard nothing but platitudes from Aaliyah Gray about how great South Dakota was. The team looked like it was sinking down into the middle, and I thought my laid-back attitude - an attitude that came about as easiy to me as wearing a yoke - was part of it.

So I called Ken Tomlinson, my old college coach. He said that he had been following the Yotes - "not on TV, of course" - and that he had been paying close attention. "Taking my advice, Mark?"

"Yeah, and it doesn't go down soft. I've held off on screaming at anyone or strangling anyone and the team seemed to take to it really well. But now, they just seem punchy. I'm wondering if they're in a slump." I explained my concerns to him and the things that I've seen.

"Well, Mark, I used to have an old coach who gave me some good advice. Never jump to conclusions. You don't fix a car's engine by saying, "I guess this is wrong" and grabbing a hammer and banging around randomly. This can still be a problem you as a coach have a chance of fixing hands-on."

"How so?"

"You have to check out the fundamentals and see if your team is doing the things you ask it to. Then, worry about the things that you can't see."

"I think our limited number of sets is starting to hurt us. North Dakota State saw all the same crap we beat them with last time and they feasted on us."

"Don't worry about that. Yes, maybe your offense is just too simple for smart teams, but if your team can't execute that offense properly it's not going to matter anyway. You fix your offense and you fix your defense if they need fixing. Watch everything. Make sure that they're executing plays the way you want to see them, not in some sort of half-assed way that's close enough for government work. A good team can exploit an opponent that executes poorly, where help-side defense is slow or when a shooter is out of position. That's Basketball 102, taking advantage of those minor flaws. Fix your flaws."

"What if there are no flaws? Or none that I can see? Should I start demanding more?"

"Maybe. Maybe. But if the team is really doing what you want it to and still can't win, you have to see what's going on behind the scenes. There's a difference between being a competent team and being a brilliant team. Something is holding your team back - your job is to make sure that that something is not you. You haven't given them a tongue lashing, have you?"

"Nope."

"Good. Keep your mouth shut and your nose clean, keep teaching, listen to people who know what to do - like me - and you'll be a great coach."

(* * *)

February 14, 2013 - IUPUI (3-20, 1-10) at South Dakota (10-14, 7-4)

A win gets us at .500 for the season in conference play. Willie Burbank had asked me at the beginning of the year to get the Yotes to that level; we might be there after tonight.

The Jags have certainly struggled. The only in-conference team they've beaten is 4-20 Western Illinois. Their best player is a freshman shooting guard, Emily Nguyen who averaged 9.2 ppg and 5.0 prg. Everyone else is hopeless. (Sophomore SF Luna Cusick averages 3.3 TO/game and is a hopeless rebounder.) IUPUI is at the bottom of the league of virtually every major category.

For most of this week, I didn't talk. I watched. I took notes. I looked at old film and tried to find any flaws in our basic execution, any hitches. I needed to know if the team listened, if it could execute on demand, how well they adjusted to new demands. This game would be as good as any to find that out.


South Dakota 68, IUPUI 36

IUPUI (3-21, 1-11)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brooke Garza C 19 1-2 2-4 1 3 1 3 4
Olivia Ortiz PF 25 4-12 1-1 3 6 0 0 9
Luna Cusick SF 31 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 4
Emily Nguyen SG 29 2-10 0-0 4 7 1 4 4
Addisyn Nolasco PG 19 2-9 1-1 1 1 0 4 5
Armani Fontenot PG 25 3-7 0-0 1 2 0 1 6
Zoe Brown PF 18 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Lucy Göttler PF 14 0-1 1-2 0 3 0 1 1
Kloe Lucas C 9 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Cheyanne Levan PF 7 0-2 0-0 1 3 0 2 0
Lindsay Moss PG 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
J. Sadowski SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 11 (L.Cusick 3, E.Nguyen 2, A.Fontenot 1,
Z.Brown 2, L.Göttler 1, K.Lucas 2)
Blocked Shots: 2 (E.Nguyen 1, A.Fontenot 1)
Steals: 4 (L.Cusick 1, E.Nguyen 2, L.Göttler 1)
3P FGs: 1-11 (L.Cusick 0-1, E.Nguyen 0-4, A.Nolasco
0-3, A.Fontenot 0-2, L.Moss 1-1)


South Dakota (11-14, 8-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 26 3-4 0-3 4 11 2 1 6
C. Harrington PF 26 7-11 4-4 0 2 0 2 21
Jessica Bing SF 28 3-7 0-0 4 9 2 1 7
Catalina Stewart SG 27 6-11 1-1 0 4 1 2 16
Abagail Merkle PG 24 2-5 0-0 1 5 4 0 4
Allison Riggle PG 20 2-4 1-2 1 1 5 0 6
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 2-6 0-1 3 5 0 4 4
Bella Grier SF 14 0-3 0-0 1 2 2 1 0
Ashley Brown C 8 0-1 0-0 1 3 1 2 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 6 1-2 1-2 0 0 0 0 4
Adalyn Matz SF 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 1,
A.Merkle 2, A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 2, A.Brown 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Lewellen 1)
Steals: 5 (J.Bing 1, C.Stewart 1, M.Lewellen 3)
3P FGs: 9-19 (C.Harrington 3-4, J.Bing 1-2, C.Stewart
3-5, A.Riggle 1-2, M.Lewellen 0-2, B.Grier 0-2, A.Bure
1-2)

Player of Game: PF Caroline Harrington (SD)


Well, clearly, there isn't much of a problem with the team on the court. Whatever's going on - if anything - must be mental.

There wasn't much to talk about in this game. We led by 20 at halftime, 37-17. We held the Jaguars to 28.8 percent shooting and 1-for-11 3-point shooting. (We hit 9 out of 19 of our attempts.) We had 17 assists, and IUPUI only had three.

Carolina Harrington had 21 points. Catalina Stewart had 16. (And only one turnover!) Angelina Choe had 6 points and 11 rebounds.

Saturday is a bye day. Our next game will be at South Dakota State, and we have Oakland coming up right after that. I'll be happy with 10-6 on the season; I'll start saving my real worries for tournament time.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

At least recruiting is half-over. But will we get Aaliyah Gray or be left scrambling? In the second half of February (we'll post up to March 2nd) the season concludes with games against arch-rival South Dakota State (A), Oakland (H), IPFW (A) and Nebraska-Omaha (H).

[Petrel]

February 2013

We had Saturday the 16th off, but all other eight teams in the Summit League played, including a rematch between Oakland and South Dakota State. This time, the Jacks were triumphant, winning 66-58 on their own court. Oakland's undefeated streak in the Summit League had been broken - and we'd have to go to South Dakota State just five days later to try to do what the Golden Grizzlies could not.

(* * *)


WBCA Top 10

# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ohio State (52) 23-2 1775 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Stanford (8) 22-2 1672 4 Pacific-12 Conference
3. Connecticut (8) 22-1 1642 6 Big East Conference
4. Notre Dame (1) 21-2 1591 5 Big East Conference
5. Baylor 22-4 1491 2 Big 12 Conference
6. Duke (3) 21-2 1451 3 Atlantic Coast Conference
7. Maryland 22-2 1360 7 Atlantic Coast Conference
8. Oklahoma 20-4 1347 8 Big 12 Conference
9. Florida State 19-4 1178 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Tennessee 20-4 1133 12 Southeastern Conference


Things return to normal with Connecticut leaping to #3 and Tennessee returning to the Top 10. The Huskies and #13 Arkansas-Little Rock are the only teams in the country with only one loss this year.

(* * *)

The following Monday, the 18th, Vermillion was hit with rainstorms. For the third day over the last four, the temperature was in the mid-30th. The rain was starting to wash away all of the dirty snow.

Caitlyn Williams came into my office with a troubled look on her face. "Mark, I've got some very bad news."

"Huh?"

"I just read on ESPN Rise that Aaliyah Gray has committed to the University of Montana."

"What? Didn't she call?"

"No call. I confirmed it on Montana's website. She's signed the NLI. She's not coming here."

I couldn't believe that she didn't call us. But it wasn't out of the ordinary. Some recruits signed with schools and left their other suitors to be notified by their parents, or a coach, or an e-mail message, or by a message left with a secretary. And some, like Aaliyah Gray, didn't bother calling at all.

"Did you try to call her?"

"I did. No answer. But then...I guess we're on her caller ID."

(* * *)

Aaliyah Gray's unannounced signing with Montana left us scrambling. We basically had six weeks to fill a roster spot.

"I don't intend to spend this April the way I spent last April. That's bullshit. Remember Leah Alexander and Adalyn Matz from last year? They've spent the season warming the bench and applauding, and that's no coincidence. When April comes around...you're begging. If I have to beg again...." I left the threat unspoken.

Everyone had all kinds of ideas, but no one could agree on the next person to recruit. "I want a name and I want a name by the end of the day," I told the other coaches. "I have work to do. I'm not going to hold anyone's hand on this!" I said and left the room.

One hour later, I made a call to Caitlyn's cell phone. "Do you have a name?"

"Yeah," she said. "Sarah Alex. Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas. 6-7, 14.5 ppg and 7.9 rpg. Decent free throw shooter, average defender. The only other schools chasing her are Division II."

"No one from the Southland?"

"No one. Not much word on ESPN Rise about her."

"Okay," I said. "Call her, see if she's interested in coming to South Dakota."

(* * *)

Caitlyn Williams called. "We really had to talk Alex's family into it. They seemed to be very busy this week."

"Great," I said. "They do know we're offering a scholarship? Right?"

"Well, this is Sarah's senior year and she's still playing. Father is a long-distance truck driver, mother is a community college teacher. Both have commitments that are hard to break. But we finally settled on a day."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Holy Hell, Caitlyn!"

"You wanna wait till March, Mark? Tomorrow or nothing."

"Jesus. Fine. Tomorrow. But they better kiss my ass when I get there." I was getting tired of entitled kids real fast.

(* * *)

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/9189/vfiles17098.jpg

The next day was like a lot of other days during recruiting season. Eaten alive with travel. Get on a plane in Sioux Falls, then a transfer in St. Louis to Lubbock, Texas. Rent a car and head to the Alex's.

Alex was the daughter of a white father and a Hispanic mother - 90 percent of Lubbock could call themselves either white or Hispanic. It was a big city which was the home of Texas Tech and it was blistering cold when we got there. I knew that if Sarah Alex came to USD she couldn't complain about the weather in South Dakota.

It was an easy visit - not the easiest in the world but I wish they were all that easy. Sarah seemed like a nice, hard-working girl. She had an older sister that had already graduated college. Her parents were apologetic ("I drove like a damned fool to get here when I found out!" her father gushed) and we had a pleasant meal together.

Alex was being recruited by Division II schools - but none had bit. "Sarah, how come no one's offered you a scholarship yet?"

"Coach says he thinks I turn the ball over too much," Sarah said. It was definitely a weakness, she averaged three turnovers a game.

"I though we were supposed to let the coach do that," Sarah's mother said in accented English.

"Well," Caitlyn said. "No. A lot of high school coaches are very busy, particularly during basketball season. Sometimes, they don't promote players and only a few coaches find out about them."

"Frankly, your GPA scared us a bit," I said to Sarah.

Sarah's father grumbled, "I told you should hit the books. Nothing but Cs."

"How are you doing this semester?" I asked.

"I'm...uh...pretty weak on history," Sarah said. "But I took my SATs. I got a 1020. Is that good enough to get into South Dakota?"

"Yes. So you want to sign?" I said.

"I want to see the campus first," Sarah said. Her parents nodded.

Whew. We can arrange that."

"Now hold on," her father said. "We'd want to come with her."

"It has to be soon," I said to her parents. "I'm not going to deadline your daughter. Right now, I'll say that she's #1 on my list. But if she can't make a decision soon, I am going to have to move on to the next person on my list. We're deep in the season and we want to recruit players eager to play with us."

"How much time can you give us?" Sarah's mother asked.

Caitlyn and I looked at each other. "Not much," I said. It was time for them to make the next move.

(* * *)

The next day, I was informed that Sarah Alex's parents would be coming up to Vermillion from February 22nd-24th - during our game against Oakland. It looks like they were interested. "My mom and dad were nervous wrecks," Sarah told me over the phone. "But they managed to take care of everything. We want to come up and see South Dakota."

(* * *)


February 21, 2013 - South Dakota (11-14, 8-4) at South Dakota State (16-9, 10-3)


2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 11 1 .917 22 3 .880 57 44
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 10 3 .769 16 9 .640 131 60
UMKC Kangaroos 9 4 .692 14 12 .538 157 16
South Dakota Coyotes 8 4 .667 11 14 .440 145 6
North Dakota State Bison 8 5 .615 12 14 .462 163 31
IPFW Mastodons 4 9 .308 11 15 .423 268 28
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 3 9 .250 8 17 .320 265 5
IUPUI Jaguars 2 11 .154 4 22 .154 262 7
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 2 11 .154 4 22 .154 335 10


As you can see, South Dakota was making its late-season push, and our hope was to travel upstate to Brookings and derail the train. If we managed to sweep the Jacks, it would drop them to 10 losses on the year (for the first time in I-don't-know-when) and it would be the first time we've swept SDSU since - well, forever.

We knew that their two seniors would want to go out with a bang. PF Cheyanne Hardiman scored 16.3 ppg and 6.5 rpg this year to lead the Summit League in scoring, and C Chelsea Norris would average 8.2 ppg and 12.2 rpg to lead the league in rebounding. (As well as lead the league in blocks with 2.6 per game.) But even with Hardiman and Norris one step out the door we'd have to worry about sophomore PG Susan Wisdom, who scored 11.4 ppg and 3.3 assists per game for South Dakota State.

As usual, SDSU led us in every statistical category. In one of our bright areas - only 16.7 PF/game, second in the Summit League - guess who was number one? Right, the hated Jacks with 15.7 ppg.

"I want you to remember that last game - we blew them right out of the DakotaDome. Big bad South Dakota State got thumped by 23 points. We are their second worst loss of the year. We beat them more than Oakland beat them. The point of this is that this is not a team of Wonder Womans. They are just as human as you are."

"Remember?" I asked, "when they got behind fast at home and they never caught up? If you can do the same thing, they just might fold again. But I really need all my reserves to step up tonight. Adalyn, you had five points in that game. Bella, you were 4-for-5. When everyone contributes, we win games."

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. We can't finish any lower than fifth in the league. A 10-6 finish will guarantee us a weak first round opponent in the Summit League tournament. So we need two wins in our next four games, and this is one of the best places to get one."

"This is the greatest rivalry in the state. In January, you wrote an amazing chapter in that book. To our seniors, you might not have this opportunity again. Let's go out there, let's play for each other. If we give everything we've got, we're the better team. The Jacks don't have a chance. Because you'll remember these games for a long time. You showed you were worthy to be in the Summit League this year, now go out there and prove it to Brookings, South Dakota."


South Dakota State 73, South Dakota 52

South Dakota (11-15, 8-5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 25 1-7 0-0 7 9 1 3 2
C. Harrington PF 25 2-10 2-2 1 3 0 2 7
Jessica Bing SF 30 3-5 0-0 0 0 3 2 6
Catalina Stewart SG 27 3-13 0-0 1 2 1 1 8
Abagail Merkle PG 25 2-8 4-4 1 2 1 1 8
Allison Riggle PG 23 4-6 1-1 1 2 3 3 9
Maliah Lewellen PF 17 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 5
Bella Grier SF 15 2-3 1-2 0 3 1 0 5
Ashley Brown C 8 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Jillian Ho PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Adalyn Matz SF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Leah Alexander PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 7 (A.Choe 1, C.Stewart 1, A.Merkle 1,
A.Riggle 2, B.Grier 1, A.Brown 1)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 4 (J.Bing 1, A.Riggle 2, B.Grier 1)
3P FGs: 4-15 (C.Harrington 1-3, C.Stewart 2-6, A.Merkle
0-2, A.Riggle 0-1, M.Lewellen 1-1, A.Brown 0-1, A.Bure
0-1)

South Dakota (17-9, 11-3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kayla Craft C 28 2-5 0-0 1 6 0 1 4
Chelsea Norris PF 34 3-5 2-2 4 14 2 1 8
Cheyanne Hardiman SF 33 11-17 3-8 6 8 2 0 25
Susan Wisdom SG 27 6-9 2-4 2 3 6 2 15
M. Donaldson PG 25 2-6 0-0 0 2 2 3 4
Casey Smith PG 21 2-3 2-2 0 2 2 1 6
Jaliyah Weatherby SF 11 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 1 2
Charley Davis SF 6 2-2 1-2 0 3 1 1 5
Annabel Archer C 8 1-1 2-2 0 0 1 0 4
Chelsea Whiteley SG 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Natálie Jezek PF 3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Emmalyn Rogers PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 10 (K.Craft 1, C.Hardiman 2, S.Wisdom 2,
C.Smith 1, J.Weatherby 1, C.Davis 1, C.Whiteley 1,
N.Jezek 1)
Blocked Shots: 8 (C.Norris 7, C.Hardiman 1)
Steals: 2 (C.Hardiman 1, M.Donaldson 1)
3P FGs: 1-4 (S.Wisdom 1-2, M.Donaldson 0-2)

Player of Game: PF Cheyanne Hardiman (SDST)


It was not to be. Everything we did right in the first game, we didn't do in the second - and everything the Jacks did wrong in the first, they got right in the second.


The thing is we let their top guns have big games in front of a raucous home crowd, at our expense. Cheyanne Hardiman dropped 25 points on us to the delight of the Jackrabbit crowd. Chelsea Norris almost had a double-double with eight points and 14 rebounds.

The lead by SDSU was initially small, but they began to build it up - they had a 20-6 run over the final eight minutes of the first half. and we had to fight from a 39-28 halftime deficit. The team looked both flat and frustrated. "You know what you need to do!" I shouted. "You take it to #22 (Hardiman)! If you've got to switch, then you switch! Goddammit, if you can't create on the floor, how are you going to win games in the postseason?"

But they were up by seventeen, 49-32 with 15 minutes left. I called a time out but it was hard to keep them focused, they couldn't block out the crowd noise. SDSU took another 14-4 run after the timeout and we were just choking on the Jacks' dust after that.


Norris had seven blocked shots. She was a monster in the post. We only shot 35.1 percent to 58.8 percent from SDSU. That wwas it. Game over.

After the game, I told the team that they couldn't let a crowd intimidate them. I told them that they were forbidden to listen to iPods or headphones on the bus ride back. "I swear, I'll throw it right out the bus window. Don't expect me to have any sympathy for you in losing this game."

South Dakota State would have to swoon for us to have a shot at second place in the Summit. And our next opponent was going to be Oakland, and we were hosting Sarah Alex and her parents. There was just not enough time in the day to do any soul searching.

February 23, 2013 - Oakland (23-3, 12-1) at South Dakota (8-5, 11-15)

The weather had been very warm - warm for South Dakota anyways. For the second straight day, the weather had hit 40 degrees and for most of the week the weather had been above the freezing point. The big piles of dirty snow were starting to noticeably shrink.

I was glad because this was the week that Sarah Alex and her parents had agreed to take a visit. "All of the schools that I've been talking to are local," Sarah said, referring to DII and DIII schools in Texas. "I think this is one of the biggest trips I've ever taken."

"Well, once you get a taste of South Dakota," I said, "it might be hard getting you back to Texas."

I got the impression that the family was very impressed with USD. Everything about their campus tour and their dinner went well. Sarah Alex seemed to get along with the team, and in the brief pick-up game that morning - the team had to play Oakland that same night - their assessment was that Sarah Alex could definitely play ball with them and get along with the team. (Although I wondered how much of that was Sarah Alex's personality.)

Unfortunately, the Alexes couldn't be a part of team preparation. They could have no more access than any visitor. They could watch us practice but they couldn't take part in one.

The Oakland practice would focus on fundamentals, because Oakland was one of the better teams in the country. "Remember what happened in our last game?" I said. "When they would go on a 15 point run and we'd get impatient? But we played them well in the first half of that game and we need to play them well for an entire game if we're going to have a chance to beat them."

With Sarah Alex and her family around, I knew they were distracted. Oakland hadn't stopped being the dominating team it always was. Senior SG McKayla Musgrove and junior SF Jacqueline Grover were still the offensive machines they always were, averaging 15.3 and 10.4 ppg, respectively. Junior PF Selena Game was averaging 6.2 rpg. After years of investment, Oakland had a class of upperclassmen that they could count on to bring home the money every night on the court. You saw it in the game film; this was a team that felt very comfortable with each other on the court. We still weren't at that stage yet.


Oakland 68, South Dakota 55

Oakland (24-3, 13-1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Julia Mellon C 27 1-1 2-2 4 4 0 3 4
Selena James PF 21 0-6 0-0 2 3 0 4 0
Jacqueline Grover SF 32 6-15 4-4 2 11 2 2 18
Mckayla Musgrove SG 26 5-12 0-0 4 7 4 4 14
Luciana Overturf PG 30 4-6 3-6 1 1 2 3 13
Grace Dupuis PG 14 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 5
Angelica Brown SF 19 1-5 0-0 1 1 1 2 2
Stephanie Tittle PF 12 0-2 0-0 1 5 1 0 0
Nevaeh Chilton SG 6 2-3 0-0 0 1 2 2 5
Amirah Carmona C 10 3-4 1-2 1 4 0 1 7
Amelia Kimmel PF 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0

Turnovers: 15 (J.Mellon 1, J.Grover 3, M.Musgrove 6,
G.Dupuis 2, N.Chilton 1, A.Carmona 1, A.Kimmel 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (J.Grover 1, N.Chilton 1, A.Carmona 2)
Steals: 7 (J.Grover 5, M.Musgrove 1, L.Overturf 1)
3P FGs: 10-25 (S.James 0-3, J.Grover 2-4, M.Musgrove
4-8, L.Overturf 2-4, G.Dupuis 1-1, A.Brown 0-3,
N.Chilton 1-2)

South Dakota (11-16, 8-6)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 28 1-1 2-2 1 4 1 1 4
C. Harrington PF 26 2-5 5-6 1 4 2 2 9
Jessica Bing SF 30 2-5 1-2 1 4 1 2 5
Catalina Stewart SG 32 7-13 3-4 0 4 3 1 18
Abagail Merkle PG 16 3-5 2-3 0 2 0 4 8
Allison Riggle PG 7 0-1 0-0 1 1 1 4 0
Maliah Lewellen PF 18 0-1 2-4 1 3 1 2 2
Bella Grier PF 13 0-1 2-4 0 2 1 1 2
Ashley Brown C 8 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Jillian Ho PG 16 2-8 1-2 1 1 2 0 5
Adalyn Matz SF 1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2

Turnovers: 15 (J.Bing 3, C.Stewart 5, A.Merkle 2,
A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 2, B.Grier 1, A.Bure 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Harrington 1)
Steals: 5 (C.Stewart 2, A.Riggle 1, B.Grier 2)
3P FGs: 1-5 (C.Harrington 0-1, C.Stewart 1-2, A.Merkle
0-1, J.Ho 0-1)

Player of Game: C Jacqueline Grover (OAK)


The good news is that we played that game about as well as it can be played. The bad news is that we lost anyway.

It was a very slow first half. We were up 6-4 and then Oakland ran on us - a 12-0 run that put them up 16-6 with about seven minutes left in the first. From then on, we were just trying to hang. We managed to close within 5, 26-21 with 2:41 left in the first but the Golden Grizzlies took an eight-point lead into halftime, 34-26. They managed to extend the lead a little at the start of the second to go into double-digits and we more or less played them even.

We played them well defensively - they were held to just 42.9 percent shooting to our 42.1 percent. But we lost the rebounding battle 38-25 - they owned the boards. However, they committed 24 team fouls which sent us to the line 27 times, where we converted 18 of those attempts into points.

With the loss, we were 8-6 and solidly in fifth place. North Dakota State and UMKC were one game ahead of us, tied for third. We would need some help to be where we wanted to be in the post-season.

(* * *)

Summit League Games

Oakland 68, South Dakota 55: Oakland gets their 13th win in 14th conference games, despite a solid effort from the Yotes. The win guarantees the Golden Grizzlies at least a tie for first in conference.
Nebraska-Omaha 57, IPFW 54 (2 OT): At home the Mavericks get a double-overtime win on a last second drive to the basket by sophomore SF Dulce Diaz.
North Dakota State 56, Western Illinois 48: Bison sophomore PG and North Dakota native Saighe Christie leads all scorers with 20 points. The Fighting Leathernecks only shot 31 percent.
South Dakota State 66, UMKC 49: The Jacks win their eighth straight in the Summit League on UMKC's home court. Three players scored in double figures for SDSU, including senior SF Cheyanne Hardiman with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Senior PF Chelsea Norris had 15 points and 15 rebounds in the win.

(* * *)


Top 25

# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ohio State (51) 25-2 1774 1 Big Ten Conference
2. Stanford (8) 24-2 1652 2 Pacific-12 Conference
3. Baylor (1) 24-4 1638 5 Big 12 Conference
4. Notre Dame (1) 23-2 1589 4 Big East Conference
5. Connecticut (8) 24-1 1549 3 Big East Conference
6. Duke (3) 23-2 1446 6 Atlantic Coast Conference
7. Maryland 24-2 1386 7 Atlantic Coast Conference
8. Oklahoma 21-4 1305 8 Big 12 Conference
9. Florida State 21-4 1230 9 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Kentucky 22-3 1129 11 Southeastern Conference


Some shuffling around in the top 10, but no real changes. Kentucky moves to the Top 10 on the strength of a win over previous #10 Tennessee.

(* * *)

The final moments with Sarah Alex and her family went well. I thought she was an amazing, level-headed young lady who would be a real benefit to the team. I said, "Sarah, we definitely want you to be a part of the Coyote family."

The family sounded very happy. "We can let you know in a few days," Mr. Alex said.

"How few is a few days?" I asked.

"You will know something by the beginning of March," they said. We knew that the Division II and Division III schools in Texas had talked a good game with regard to Alex, but they had not come across. Undoubtedly, the Alexes would communicate to those schools the strength of our offer - and those schools would respond or fall out of the running. But even so, we were very, very confident.

(* * *)


Summit League Games

Oakland 71, IUPUI 37 On the road, Oakland clinches the Summit League regular season championship in convincing fashion. IUPUI fall to last place in the Summit League and is in danger of missing the post-season as only the top eight teams in the conference play in the post-season. (The win also secures a second-place finish for South Dakota State).
Western Illinois 48, Nebraska-Omaha 45: Chanel Steven's last-second 3-pointer misses as Western Illinois keeps its post-season hopes alive with a home win. Sophomore C Haleigh Tessier scored 13 points for the Fighting Leathernecks in the win.

(* * *)


February 28, 2013 - South Dakota (11-16, 8-6) at IPFW (11-17, 4-11)


2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 14 1 .933 25 3 .893 67 44
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 12 3 .800 18 9 .667 129 60
North Dakota State Bison 9 5 .643 13 14 .481 176 31
UMKC Kangaroos 9 5 .643 14 13 .519 165 16
South Dakota Coyotes 8 6 .571 11 16 .407 136 6
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 5 10 .333 10 18 .357 293 5
IPFW Mastodons 4 11 .267 11 17 .393 253 28
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 3 12 .200 5 23 .179 336 10
IUPUI Jaguars 2 13 .133 4 24 .143 266 7


This is the time of season where you don't want to be doing math. There's a three-way logjam between 3rd place and 5th place that will be broken in these last two games. UMKC and North Dakota State play each other today. If UMKC wins, they can't finish any worse than 10-6 and third place is going to be out of reach. We're hoping that North Dakota State wins that game - we've beat the Bison once and there's a hope we can win the tiebreaker. (UMKC has swept us for the season).

Of course, the dream of finishing third depends on us sweeping our two remaining opponents and hoping on prayer for the rest. We travel to Indianapolis to take on the IPFW Mastodons - due to there being nine teams in the Summit, today will be their Senior Day, the final game of the regular season. So the Mastodons will go out on the court with a little bit of extra oomph.

The Mastodons are losers of five of their last six. Their best player is not a senior but sophomore PG Emma Vallee, who improved from 6.1 ppg last year to 10.8 this year. Vallee has a lot of upside and will be a threat until she graduates but I suspect that IPFW won't be able to take advantage of her upside.

One senior that we'll be glad to see go is SG Isabella Britton, who is their primary post player with 9.2 ppg and 6.4 rpg. Another is defensive specialist SF Aimee McIntyre, who leads the Summit League with 1.5 steals per game. (Good thing she has 2.6 TO/game.)

My stress to the team is that IPFW is a pretty good team that shouldn't be overlooked. The only place where we're substantially ahead of them is in personal fouls - IPFW commits about four extra fouls per game compared to us. "They're tough, but they get wild out there and I suspect tonight they'll be tougher and wilder than ever given it's their senior day. The goal is to play our game and not their game."

"Remember we had to come from behind to win that game?" I said. "And it went into overtime? And how did we win that game last time? We were composed. Play hard. Play smart. And win this goddamned game."


IPFW 61, South Dakota 47

South Dakota (11-17, 8-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 21 1-3 2-4 3 6 2 4 4
C. Harrington PF 27 2-5 0-0 1 6 1 3 4
Jessica Bing SF 23 2-6 1-2 1 2 1 3 5
Catalina Stewart SG 33 4-9 4-5 1 3 3 0 13
Abagail Merkle SG 28 4-13 0-0 3 5 2 2 8
Allison Riggle PG 28 3-5 0-0 0 1 0 0 7
Maliah Lewellen C 19 0-2 0-0 1 4 0 2 0
Bella Grier PF 15 2-3 2-3 0 1 1 1 6
Ashley Brown C 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Anzhelika Bure SG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 3, C.Harrington 1, J.Bing 3,
C.Stewart 3, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 1, M.Lewellen 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Choe 1)
Steals: 4 (A.Choe 1, C.Stewart 1, A.Brown 2)
3P FGs: 2-8 (C.Harrington 0-1, J.Bing 0-2, C.Stewart
1-1, A.Merkle 0-2, A.Riggle 1-2)

IPFW (12-17, 5-11)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jaidyn Shanks C 30 2-3 6-6 1 5 2 2 10
Janiah Johnson PF 27 3-9 4-5 2 4 0 0 10
Aimee McIntyre SF 25 3-7 1-2 0 1 1 4 7
Isabella Britton SG 27 6-10 2-2 4 10 0 2 14
Emma Vallee PG 27 2-8 0-0 2 5 2 2 5
Kai Eady C 18 0-1 0-0 0 2 1 2 0
Gabriella Cardona SF 22 4-5 2-3 0 1 1 2 11
Pearl Siegel SG 13 2-4 0-0 1 4 2 1 4
Emily Sellars PF 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0
Avery Delvalle SF 4 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0 0

Turnovers: 8 (J.Shanks 3, J.Johnson 2, K.Eady 1,
P.Siegel 1, E.Sellars 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (P.Siegel 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Johnson 1, I.Britton 2, P.Siegel 1)
3P FGs: 2-13 (J.Johnson 0-2, A.McIntyre 0-1, E.Vallee
1-6, K.Eady 0-1, G.Cardona 1-1, P.Siegel 0-2)

Player of Game: SG Isabella Britton (IPFW)


To say that I was...well, enraged...is an understatement. We let four Mastodon players score in double digits. We played closely in the first half but they just handed us our hats in the second half and said, "So long, South Dakota." (We only scored 18 second half points.)

We were beaten in just about every aspect of the game. Shooting. Free throws. Rebounding. Turnovers (they only turned the ball over eight times). We were now the losers of three straight games and it looks like we were in a downward spiral.

I snapped at Raelynn Reavis when I sat down Angelina Choe (she had six rebounds). "She doesn't need sympathy, she needs some god-damned DRIVE!" Catalina stepped up with 13 points but had three turnovers. "Keep your eye on the ball for Christ's sake, Catalina!" Mailah Lewellen, our spark plug, had four boards but what we needed were some points.

"We let this game get away from us, and it was because you didn't put out the effort. You let your start in conference play go to your head, and you paid for it! Now you've wasted your opportunity! Now we're going to have to fight our way through the rest of the season, because make no mistake, we're fighing for survival now because of choices that you made."

"I've sense in the latter part of this season that there's something going on with this team that I don't know about. But I'm going to find out what it is. I'm going to get to the bottom of it. All we can do now is forget this. It's over. We lost, there's nothing we can do about it until we get back to the DakotaDome."

"And by the way - when you come to practice tomorrow, you're not wearing your assigned practice wear. You can wear whatever the hell it is you wear during pickup games, because I don't want to see what I saw today in practice. Whatever I saw sure as hell doesn't deserve to wear the name "SOUTH DAKOTA"!"

(* * *)

Summit League Games

IPWF 61, South Dakota 47. Ugh. Next game.
UMKC 74, North Dakota State 68. The win gives UMKC the best shot at third place in the conference. Our play for the rest of the year.

a) Beat Nebraska-Omaha on Senior Day
b) Hope that North Dakota State loses to South Dakota State in the final game of the year, and
c) Pray.

(* * *)

The calendar flipped over to March. The team didn't look much better in practice than they looked the previous day on the court. I thought about giving Ken Tomlinson another call.

As I left the court and walked back to my office, I was met by the secretary of the Athletic Department. "Hey, Mark, I just got a call from Sarah Alex and it is good news!"

I smiled. "Is it the best news?"

"You should probably check your cell phone. You were in practice so she couldn't reach anyone. Let's just say that we got a very nice present through our fax machine - !"

I walked into my office and grabbed my cell phone. Sure enough, Sarah Alex had called.

"Hello, Coach Hawkins! Sorry I couldn't reach you! We really liked South Dakota and I definitely want to play for you guys! So I went ahead and I faxed my letter of intent if that's all right! Anyway, just give me a call back if you need to talk to me. I hope you guys beat the University of Nebraska at Omaha tomorrow! Bye!"

For once, I had a phone call that I was happy to make. I welcomed Sarah Alex to the team and I told her we looked forward to seeing her as much as she looked forward to seeing us.

It was as if a massive burden was lifted off my shoulders. Unlike last year, I could now direct my focus entirely towards the team. No more trying to beat the recruiting deadline in April. Caitlyn Williams might have saved her job with that "pulling a rabbit out of hat" trick when Aaliyah Gray turned us down. (Emphasis on might have saved her job.)

(* * *)

March 2, 2013 - Nebraska-Omaha (10-18, 5-10) at South Dakota (11-17, 8-7)

2012-13 Summit League Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 14 1 .933 25 3 .893 67 44
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 12 3 .800 18 9 .667 126 60
UMKC Kangaroos 10 5 .667 15 13 .536 155 16
North Dakota State Bison 9 6 .600 13 15 .464 181 31
South Dakota Coyotes 8 7 .533 11 17 .393 151 6
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 5 10 .333 10 18 .357 294 5
IPFW Mastodons 5 11 .313 12 17 .414 251 28
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 3 12 .200 5 23 .179 336 10
IUPUI Jaguars 2 13 .133 4 24 .143 268 7



SENIOR DAY. The final regular season game of the year. I was hoping that we could win more than 11 or 12 games this year, but it is an improvement. And we have the opportunity to improve even more if we can win a Summit League playoff game.

This year, we say goodbye to three players from the South Dakota family.

#0 - Jaylynn Adams

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8199/2011jaylynnadams.jpg

Adams did not play a single game this year. She wasn't good enough. When a walk-on gets more time than you get on the court, that should be a sign. I joked to my staff - but never to her - that she couldn't hit a basket with a compass and a map. ("She wears that "zero" for a reason!") No mechanics, and no "power" for what one would call a power forward. I resolved never to let a South Dakota player wear #0 again.

Her parents were very polite, but very quiet. I think Adams really suffered riding the bench after playing in eight games last year. (She scored 2.6 ppg in 20.3 minutes per game.) The fact that she was a native South Dakotan really rankled the fans at West Central High School, the school where she played. I suspect that Adams would just be glad to be going.

#12 - Ashley Brown

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6964/2011ashleybrown.jpg

Ashley was another player who suffered from the changeover in coaching. She started every game last year but didn't start a game this year. I had better players. She hit 12 of 13 free throws this year, her biggest contribution after going 12 for 61.

Ashley looked pretty miserable in that her college career wasn't what it could have been. Her parents, on the other hand, were quite gracious. "Thank you for keeping Ashley on the team," they told me. Apparently, they had a more realistic assessment of Brown's skills.

#3 - Angelina Choe

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1207/2011angelinachoe.jpg

Angelina was one of the few bright spots that we didn't recruit. She started all but two games during the time I was here and she averaged 9.5 rpg in those two seasons. She was a two-time Player of the Game over those two years and I wondered what we were going to do without her rebounding next year. To find the next Angelina Choe - or better yet, an Angelina Choe that could shoot - would be the goal of the summer of 2013.

(* * *)

Of course, the Mavericks had some seniors that wanted to go out with a bang. One was senior C Kylie Davis who averaged 6.2 ppg and 6.9 rpg. But freshman PG Amya Weiss was going to be the point guard of the future. She had 9.0 points per game and 1.3 assists per game. Hopefully, UNO would not give her the ball much and put it in the hands of their seniors instead.

They were a team that still had some teeth in them, but they were seventh in the league in rebounding.

"This has been a great run, guys," I told the seniors. "To all the underclassmen - if you can work as hard as these guys, then you will accomplish a lot at South Dakota. We still have goals to meet and games to win, but you get great relationships for life at this level of college basketball. You're great and you have a great tradition behind you. This school is the best school in the state, and probably the best school in the world."

"Go out there and do things right. Let this game be a testament to our seniors and let it be the introduction to the post-season that they deserve. Let's carry them to the post-season in a way that they deserve."


South Dakota 47, Nebraska-Omaha 43

Nebraska-Omaha (10-19, 5-11)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kylie Davis C 26 1-3 2-2 2 4 0 4 4
Chanel Stevens PF 30 3-6 0-0 3 7 2 3 6
Dulce Diaz SF 23 1-9 2-2 0 2 1 2 5
Aaliyah Dube SG 19 1-7 0-3 2 2 1 5 2
Amya Weiss PG 29 3-5 0-0 4 6 1 4 8
Brianna Padilla PG 28 1-5 0-0 0 1 0 1 2
Janelle Ainsworth SG 10 1-5 2-2 1 2 0 0 4
Halle McCully C 18 0-0 2-2 3 4 2 2 2
Sophia Schaaf SF 10 3-4 0-0 1 2 1 0 8
Cecilia Reilly C 5 1-2 0-1 1 1 0 0 2
Khloe Hopkins PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0

Turnovers: 15 (C.Stevens 6, D.Diaz 1, A.Dube 2,
B.Padilla 1, J.Ainsworth 1, H.McCully 2, S.Schaaf 2)
Blocked Shots: 0
Steals: 0
3P FGs: 5-19 (D.Diaz 1-6, A.Dube 0-4, A.Weiss 2-3,
B.Padilla 0-1, J.Ainsworth 0-3, S.Schaaf 2-2)


Nebraska-Omaha (12-17, 9-7)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Angelina Choe C 22 0-1 0-0 5 11 0 4 0
C. Harrington PF 28 3-8 4-5 2 5 1 3 10
Jessica Bing SF 31 0-3 1-2 0 2 1 1 1
Catalina Stewart SG 31 5-10 2-4 1 5 1 2 12
Abagail Merkle PG 29 3-6 4-4 3 4 0 1 10
Allison Riggle PG 21 1-5 2-5 0 0 1 0 4
Maliah Lewellen C 18 0-2 1-2 0 0 1 0 1
Bella Grier PF 12 2-2 2-2 1 2 0 1 7
Ashley Brown C 6 1-1 0-0 1 1 0 1 2
Anzhelika Bure SG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

Turnovers: 13 (A.Choe 1, C.Harrington 4, J.Bing 1,
C.Stewart 2, A.Merkle 1, A.Riggle 2, M.Lewellen 1,
B.Grier 1)
Blocked Shots: 2 (A.Choe 1, B.Grier 1)
Steals: 3 (C.Harrington 1, B.Grier 2)
3P FGs: 1-12 (C.Harrington 0-3, C.Stewart 0-5, A.Merkle
0-1, A.Riggle 0-1, M.Lewellen 0-1, B.Grier 1-1)

Player of Game: PF Bella Grier (SD)


Nebraska-Omaha didn't want to go down without a fight, but we had more fight.

Defensively - we were everything we needed to be. But we didn't shoot well. We shot only 39.5 percent (luckily, the Mavs only shot 32.6 percent). We were outrebounded 31-30. We were only 1-for-12 from 3-point range.

It wasn't going to be their night though. On a night that was to honor the seniors, three players scored in double figures - Abagail Merkle (10), Catalina Stewart (12) and Caroline Herrington (10). The offense was going to go through them and they did not spread the ball around. As these were all my recruits, I began to get a sense of exactly what was going on behind the scenes that I didn't see.

Even so, Angelina Choe picked up 11 rebounds, her typical game and one appropriate for her on Senior Night. But after leading 29-21 after one half, the Mavericks got within 4-to-6 points and stayed there. Halle McCully made a pair of free throws with 1:31 left to close Nebraska-Omaha with two, 45-43.

Then, Caroline Herrington got called for an illegal screen. I swore as Aaliyah Dube took a shot at the 1-and-1. But she missed the first shot and Choe got the rebound.

I looked at a sign a fan was holding:

UNIVERSITY OF
NO
OPORTUNITY

The opportunity UNO was looking for was to get the ball back. Down by two points, they committed four consecutive fouls in an attempt to bring us to the free throw line. With nine seconds left, Abagail Merkle had the game in her hands - and she sank both free throw attemps. A 3-point shot from the left wing by the Mavs fell short, and Choe's final regular-season rebound of her college career ended the game with a Yotes win.

It was over. we were 9 and 7 on the year, most likely to face North Dakota State in the first round of the Summit League tournament That game would take place over a week from now, and we'd have ample time for preparation.

(* * *)

Summit League Games

South Dakota 47, Nebraska-Omaha 43. Go Yotes!
South Dakota State 63, North Dakota State 62. With 12 seconds left, a 3-pointer by senior Jaliyah Weatherby gives the Jacks the come-from-behind win and sends them to the Summit League tournament on a high note.
Oakland 76, Western Illinois 56. Oakland costs to a home win in its final regular season game. They'll take on Western Illinois in the first round of the Summit League tournament in a rematch.
UMKC 57, IUPUI 49. The Jags actually led 21-20 in the first half but couldn't pull it off despite shooting 54.3 percent. Senior C Madison Bright scored 19 points to lead the Roos to third place in the Summit League. IUPUI finishes last in the conference and will not make the post-season.


2012-13 Summit League : Final Standings

TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 15 1 .938 26 3 .897 76 44
South Dakota State Jackrabbits 13 3 .813 19 9 .679 120 60
UMKC Kangaroos 11 5 .688 16 13 .552 162 16
North Dakota State Bison 9 7 .563 13 16 .448 176 31
South Dakota Coyotes 9 7 .563 12 17 .414 152 6
Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 5 11 .313 10 19 .345 295 5
IPFW Mastodons 5 11 .313 12 17 .414 245 28
Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks 3 13 .188 5 24 .172 333 10
IUPUI Jaguars 2 14 .125 4 25 .138 266 7


(* * *)

Few people seem to care about women's basketball, and in that world few women's basketball fans seem to care about the Summit League. The big game for women's BB fans tonight was the visit of #4 Notre Dame, the defending National Champion, to #5 Connecticut - which had won a few championships of its own.

Connecticut only had one loss on the year - but the Fighting Irish delivered the second one on the way to a 79-71 victory. Four players on the Notre Dame squad were in double figures with senior SF Elizabeth Weimer leading the way with 18 points and five rebounds. Notre Dame looked like it might secure its shot at a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, barring a disaster in the Big East tournament.

(* * *)

Around the world

In late February, the Gaia Mission was launched.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7563/gaiacam013h.jpg

GAIA was launched by the European Union as a device to measure starts - their brightness and positions. Mankind has been getting better and better at detecting the presence of planets around stars and this effort will expand that - it is estimated that up to 30,000 new planets might be detected. The mission will complete our map of the universe in astounding ways.

(* * *)

WRITER'S NOTES

Done with the regular season. The final standings indicate exactly the order of teams. The top eight Summit League teams go to the post-season, so South Dakota will take on North Dakota State in the opening round of the tournament.

[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.

Ma