Dishin & Swishin 10/24/13 Podcast: Cheryl Reeve puts a wrap on the WNBA season & Anucha Browne kicks off college basketball coverage

By David Siegel

Lindsay Whalen and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. Photo: Mark W. Sutton, all rights reserved.

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I have always been a fan of the Byrds’ classic song Turn! Turn! Turn! which features the lyrics “to every thing there is a season.” No truer words can be said of the month of October in women’s basketball circles, and this week’s Dishin & Swishin podcast addresses just that.

The WNBA season has come to an end, and who could be a better guest to tie the bow on this package than the coach of the league champion Minnesota Lynx, Cheryl Reeve. Reeve did a masterful job from beginning to end this year, assembling a talented group of players that not only could perform, but also respected and enjoyed playing the way Reeve wanted the team to play. The results were amazing, including four All-Stars, the best record in the regular season, two legitimate Most Valuable Player candidates, a dominating playoff performance, topped by a sweep of the Atlanta Dream to win the title.

Reeve kicks off our podcast this week, discussing both the present and the future for her team, including the growth of Maya Moore as a player and Janel McCarville’s importance all year plus her thoughts on the already spinning coaching carousel in the WNBA (the last two coaches the Lynx defeated are no longer employed by those teams).

After Reeve, we turn the page and begin Dishin & Swishin’s college basketball coverage.

Anucha Browne: Photo by Marcia Stubbeman, NCAA.

Anucha Browne, for those unaware, became the NCAA’s Vice President of Women’s Basketball Championships in August 2012. What that means, is that Browne, a former Big Ten Player of the Year from Northwestern, oversees and is responsible for the NCAA championships, serves as the liaison between the NCAA and the WBCA and all the NCAA committees, including the site-selection for the championships.

During the podcast, Browne delves into Val Ackerman’s white paper and its aftermath, including the summit that was held last month to discuss implementing changes. Browne discusses which rule changes she feels will have the most impact, also the decision to allow home court advantage in this year’s regionals, conference movements, and the role of the NCAA in developing players and colleges in the high school system and AAU levels.

This past week there were more committee meetings held, and Browne shared some of the new changes the committee agreed upon including:

• Changing to a Friday-Sunday format as soon as 2015 (if location schedules permit) for all rounds of the NCAA tournament.
• The top sixteen teams will now host the first two rounds of the tournament.
• Accompanying that, the regionals will be held at neutral sites.
• For 2016 in Indianapolis, the Division I, II and III championships will all be held at one location

According to the NCAA:

The move to games on Friday-Sunday for the Women’s Final Four is intended to be more fan friendly because the championship will conclude on a weekend, committee members said. In surveys that committee members reviewed, fans noted that the Sunday-Tuesday playing dates required taking three days away from work.

Also, what will replace “Three to See” as a marketing campaign for this upcoming season? That is something that you “Need to Know” and will find out about in the podcast!

Enjoy!

Tags: Anucha Browne, Cheryl Reeve, Janel McCarville, Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson, Seimone Augustus