Month in Review – April 2009
Published on May 6, 2009
By Cheryl Coward
Folks continue processing the loss heard around the (women’s basketball) world: Tennessee’s stunning defeat in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the hands of 12th seeded Ball State. Glaring irony: the worst season in Tennessee women’s basketball history is the one in which Summitt reaches 1,000 career wins. But at the end of the season, she reveals a take no prisoners approach for next year:
- Summitt to players on offseason conditioning “…if they’re not in the gym and investing, they chose the wrong program” http://bit.ly/WoI0e
- Video: Pat Summitt puts her players on notice “some of them may not make it”,”this is unacceptable” http://bit.ly/vi6VE (wait for ad to end)
South Florida beats Kansas in WNIT, record attendance of 16,113, the largest home crowd in KU women’s basketball history and largest single-game crowd in Big 12 women’s history: http://cli.gs/6RR69G Diana Taurasi leads Spartak Moscow to EuroLeague title (seattletimes.com) by @jaydaevans: http://bit.ly/f0Oc Oklahoma loses to Louisville and Courtney Paris promises to live up to her word of giving back scholarship:
- “…I was happy to see the Paris sisters lose because I am honestly sick of hearing about this 64K she has to pay back” Former UConn player Maria Conlon
Uconn wins the NCAA championship
- I also proclaim this day “UConn Women’s Basketball Team Day” – Conn. Gov. Jodi Rell: http://bit.ly/NqlNT Wed. Apr. 8
- President Obama Welcomes UConn Women To White House by John Altavilla (courant.com) http://cli.gs/NTvdvq
High School News/College Commits
- Shanel Williams to Miami, Sophomore Alexis Eaton verbally commits to BYU, Kelsy Bone announcement forthcoming
- RT @dawnstaley: Hey Gamecock fans! It’s official! Kelsey Bone is the newest member of the Gamecock family!
- My hometown UF Gators signed Tessah Holt, the ’09 Georgia Class 4A Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year http://bit.ly/EAHX
- Minneapolis South High School basketball star Tayler Hill chooses Ohio State over Minnesota and Texas: http://bit.ly/OmBB
- LSU women’s basketball head coach Van Chancellor signs of junior college point guard Taylor Booze: http://bit.ly/dFRr
- Ariz. St. signs 2 guards: Tenaya Watson (Central Arizona College) & Sabrina McKinney (Arlington, TX) http://bit.ly/19VdnN
- Kentucky women’s hoops sign Jeniece Johnson & Bernisha Pinkett from Woodson H.S. in Wash. D.C. http://bit.ly/lkixM
College Transfers, etc.
- Westhead effect? Post Ellie Manou, Oregon’s third-leading scorer last season, won’t return for her junior year: http://bit.ly/17w8e5
- Sophomore point guard Shanita Arnold to leave University of Arkansas women’s basketball team http://bit.ly/B4fNU
- Another player leaving Maryland: sophomore guard Marah Strickland will transfer: http://bit.ly/z6AsE
- Iowa State freshmen Ashley Arlen and Alexis Yackley decide to transfer (DesMoinesRegister.com) http://bit.ly/WPz5
- Brooklyn Pope’s mom on transfer to Baylor “My daughter is trying to go to the [WNBA] and you can’t go to the league sitting on the bench”
- And the transfers keep coming: Jenny Vining, Rose Hammond to transfer from Oklahoma to seek more playing time http://bit.ly/16HfAa
- Backup center Ayana Dunning to transfer from LSU http://cli.gs/3uDu5M
- Angela Puleo transfers to Vanderbilt from Georgia – Chanel Chisholm & Tia Gibbs leaving Vandy http://cli.gs/HLQm0V
Awards/Honors
- Renee Montgomery wins Lieberman Award
- No surprise here: UConn coach Auriemma wins Naismith award for the 6th time, a record: http://bit.ly/2XY7WU
- Retired AP sports writer Chuck Schoffner honored by women’s basketball group (rivals.com): http://bit.ly/AiBfE
- Cooper-Dyke, Azzi, Gillom, Sonja Hogg, Jill Hutchinson & Ora Washington named to Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: http://bit.ly/3xwC30
- Teresa Edwards , the only five-time Olympic basketball player in U.S. history, nominated for US Olympic Hall of Fame: http://bit.ly/obxik
- Former Buckeye and two-time All-American Tracey (Hall) Yarbrough to be inducted into Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame http://bit.ly/GFjjs
- Nan Sisk, a longtime basketball official, named the 2009 Naismith Women’s College Official of the Year http://bit.ly/S4OXd
The WNBA Draft
- 1. Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry to the Atlanta Dream
- RT @JaydaEvans: Wow. Atlanta goes with McCoughtry. Don’t think that’s wise..
WNBA Player Movement/Trades/Waives/Retirement
- Washington Mystics cut three: forward Krystal Vaughn, forward-center Andrea Gardner and guard Laurie Koehn
- This one slipped under the radar: Murriel Page waived by the Los Angeles Sparks yesterday: http://bit.ly/A5lb
- Chamique Holdsclaw comes out of retirement, signs with the Atlanta Dream
- The Indiana Fever waived Allison Feaster
- The Connecticut Sun signed Illinois State senior Kristi Cirone to a training camp contract. Profile of Cirone: http://bit.ly/GRUpi
- RT @ConnecticutSun Tamika Raymond will be taking ’09 off due to coaching duties. We’ll miss u around here Tamika! http://tinyurl.com/dm4a57
- RT @minnesotalynx: The Lynx waive guard Navonda Moore
- RT @seattlestorm: Kristen O’Neill won’t attend training camp after suffering knee injury playing overseas http://tinyurl.com/c4×95l
- Chicago Sky signs Chen Nan, a 6’5†center & 2009 Women’s Chinese Basketball Association MVP, through 2010 http://cli.gs/4EJSM8
- The Atlanta Dream waived Ashley Shields (in ‘07 she was the 1st draftee from a junior college) http://cli.gs/zd1n9V
- RT @SASilverStars: Stars Re-Sign Edwige Lawson-Wade
- Phoenix Mercury sign Washington Mystics guard Laurie Koehn to a training camp contract http://cli.gs/dzt3Gu
Coaching Moves/News USC women’s basketball coach Mark Trakh quits (Rivals.com) http://bit.ly/auiM & rumors start that Michael Cooper would leave the Los Angeles Sparks after the upcoming season for USC but Cooper is tight-lipped and USC is weird
Long Beach hires USC assistant Jody Wynn as women’s basketball coach | Los Angeles Times http://bit.ly/m6LNd Jim Bolla gets the boot then in a bizarre twist, sues, a true wtf? moment
- Hawaii women’s coach Bolla ousted over allegations of kicking a player (Rivals.com) http://bit.ly/fvyGW
- Former University of Hawaii women’s basketball coach Jim Bolla files suit, claims wrongful termination http://bit.ly/4D6Zfq
Peeps in Oregon agog over Paul Westheads coaching deal, “What’s green and bends like Gumby?” Oregon Coach Paul Westhead’s deal (The Register-Guard) http://bit.ly/14F6ST#basketball #women Kellie Harper emergers as a frontrunner to North Carolina State head coaching job and the Kay Yow faithful get pissed that former asst. coach Stephane Glance gets passed over for consideration
- No promotion for NC State interim head coach Stephanie Glance. Kellie (Jolly) Harper leading candidate for head coach? http://bit.ly/sd9U
- Kay Yow’s brother speaks out on NC State’s decision to not promote Glance (WRAL) http://bit.ly/bCCNh
- Opinion: NC State owes Stephanie Glance a lot, but the head coach job shouldn’t automatically be a part of that debt http://bit.ly/1bKDsU
- WCU coach Kellie Harper a candidate to replace Yow at NC State (Asheville Citizen-Times) http://bit.ly/38crGf
- NCSU trustees meet on Thursday, Kellie Harper expected to be approved as new head coach http://bit.ly/GDSx8
- After 15 seasons, Glance ‘saddened’ to be left out at N.C. State (Burlington Times) http://bit.ly/8oxMR
Geno Auriemma to coach US women’s basketball team through the 2012 Olympics http://bit.ly/RYig, http://bit.ly/SIlRr
Other coaching news
- Keila Whittington and Kai Felton Added to Oregon women’s hoops coaching staff (GoDucks.com) http://bit.ly/ezabQ
- Auburn’s Nell Fortner gets contract extension (minimum $570,000 annually), had successful 30-4 season http://bit.ly/Neg3M
- J.R. Payne leaves Santa Clara to take head coaching job at Southern Utah, press conference noon PT: http://bit.ly/39VyM
- Former Vanderbilt hoopster Nettie Respondek rejoins Fordham women’s basketball coaching staff http://bit.ly/KkBXI
- Big East coach news: J. Kelley Hall fired as Univ. of Cincinnati women’s basketball coach http://bit.ly/iufag
- Mike McLaughlin hired to coach Penn women http://bit.ly/IBBKI follows Patrick Knapp who didn’t get contract renewed http://bit.ly/25Za3F
- Missy Tiber named head women’s basketball coach at Southern Illinois, replaces Dana Eikenberg who resigned on April 2 http://bit.ly/Bj5iq
- ASU’s Charli Turner Thorne To Head USA Basketball’s 2009 Women’s World University Games Team http://cli.gs/TgDtH3
Lauren Jackson keeps the entire women’s basketball community on the edge of their seats just waiting for a word, a clue, anything!
- @JaydaEvans on LJ Decision ‘09 “a virtual green room bursting with anticipation between Seattle and Phoenix-Jackson’s final pick-listâ€
- LJ Watch Begins (wnba.com) http://cli.gs/X680Ld yet something else that reminds me of this commercial: http://bit.ly/2AvkQp
It’s the economy stupid
- Economies of scale: Division I reacts to troubled times:As priorities change,divide between haves & have-nots could widen http://bit.ly/RBNF
- Bad economy is a factor for fans at women’s Final Four (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): http://bit.ly/SWSWF
- RT @SLAMonline The Hall of Fame, Too, is Facing Money Issues: http://snipurl.com/fhs5n
- Univ. of New Mexico athletic dept. plans 10 percent budget cut on each of its teams http://bit.ly/cwZw9
- Whew! Oregon State women’s basketball spared in athletic budget cuts, school in midst of building new bball arena http://bit.ly/jTOpL
- WNBA 2009: Ominous Signs? by Bob Corwin (scout.com) http://bit.ly/2OVUk
Controversy from nothing,
Geno Auriemma comes out of left field with some comments about race and sets the media/blogosphere to chirping during the NCAA tourney
- Where Are All Of The Hard-Working Black Players? | Bleacher Report http://bit.ly/kT0Ln (deeper analysis of Geno’s comments on race)
Twitterplosion
Transitions
R.I.P. Lovedy Brydon – a passionate Los Angeles Sparks fan http://bit.ly/154CEa
A special tribute to Lovedy is being planned for the opening game of the LA Sparks at the Staples Center on June 6,
2009, and a Celebration of Life is being planned for August. Check http://www.whchc.org for details
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This dear lady was also a regular fixture courtside at UCLA WBB games. May God rest her soul. We at Pauley will miss her presence greatly.