Women teams target No. 8 Louisiana Tech
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. All you need to know about Tulsa is that Route 66 runs right through it. The city, like the road, provides a unique peek at a diverse country.
All you need to know about this week's Williams Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is that eighth-ranked Louisiana Tech is in it. The only sure way out of Tulsa and into the NCAA Tournament is past the Lady Techsters.
In its inaugural WAC season, Tech has dominated in ways only University of Hawai'i volleyball fans can fully comprehend. The Rainbow Wahine ended last season with a 58-match WAC volleyball winning streak. In six WAC seasons, they have six regular-season titles and the last four WAC championships. They have not lost to a current WAC member in a decade. They have been in every national tournament but one and have four of UH's five national championships.
The Techsters' basketball conference history is comparable, but for one brief moment two weeks ago.
They were 135-9, with nine consecutive regular-season titles, in the Sun Belt Conference. They decimated WAC opponents the first two months, winning by an average of 30 points and surging toward their 10th straight title and the No. 1 seed here.
Tech has been to 13 final fours and won three national titles. Last year, coach Leon Barmore, whose number is retired with Karl Malone's in Tech men's basketball lore, became the first Division I coach to win 30 games in six consecutive seasons.
To make seven, the Techsters will have to find their way to another final four, in part because they were shocked into submission at Rice Feb. 21. The Owls' 57-56 upset ended Louisiana Tech's conference cruise at 77 games third-best in NCAA history.
It also lifted its aura of invincibility.
"It brings us back to life," says Tulsa coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, whose team led Tech by six in the second half two days after Rice rocked the WAC's world. "It changed what our kids perceived as beatable or at that level. It was unattainable, unreachable until that point. It changed the way everybody in our conference and the conference they came from looked at them.
"I think it brought Louisiana Tech into a light that kids are accustomed to preparing for."
If that's true, some other team might have a shot at securing the WAC's automatic bid in Saturday afternoon's championship at Reynolds Center. But the Lady Techsters are still seeded No. 1 and everyone else will have a tough time getting to them, let alone by them.
The Rainbow Wahine (21-6) are seeded third and open today (8 a.m. HST) against sixth-seeded Nevada (9-18). The Wolf Pack has been so erratic even its coach admits she's not sure which team will show up the one that beat Rice or the one that lost to Fresno State.
Hawai'i swept Nevada, winning by 20 in Reno and eight at home just 10 days ago. Its post players have stifled Kate Smith, the Pack's all-conference center. That is key again today, along with attitude.
"It's hard to beat a team three times in a row. It would have been harder to lose three straight," UH coach Vince Goo said. "In the postseason, you try to put yourself in their place. What would you do?"
In Hawai'i's case, the answer is clearly anything it has to in order to enhance its postseason possibilities. Hawai'i has come into all six WAC Tournaments on the NCAA bubble and come out only once with an NCAA bid (1998). Three victories here would assure it. Two would leave them precariously on the bubble. Anything less would probably mean a third consecutive WNIT. The Rainbow Wahine advanced to the final four a year ago, but a three-peat would be bittersweet.
The Rainbow Wahine view Rice's upset of LaTech with envy. They wish it belonged to them and it makes them ache more when they relive the one-point loss to the Owls four days before the WAC's most memorable 2002 moment.
"I kept thinking if we had beat Rice both times, the way we should have, then it might have been us in that position," said senior Karena Greeny, who followed Tech as a child. "It was good and bad. We lost to both teams, but we know we can beat Rice so that makes us feel like we could beat Louisiana Tech."
The Techsters' WAC impact has been felt by every player and official. Clearly, they brought a new level of prestige to the WAC. Whether that translates into NCAA affection won't be known until this weekend.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said he hopes Tech's clout will convince the NCAA committee to look more seriously at WAC contenders when it extends at-large invitations Sunday. The coaches worry that won't happen, even with Hawai'i and Rice among the Top 50 in every public power ranking.
Yes, there is only one sure way out of Tulsa and into the NCAA Tournament. And it has nothing to do with getting your kicks on Route 66.
OVER AND BACK: All Rainbow Wahine games will be broadcast live on 1420 AM. Should Hawai'i win today, KFVE will televise Friday's semifinal game at 8 a.m. Fox Sports Net will televise Saturday's championship game. ... Karena Greeny missed practice and shot free throws wearing thongs Monday because of an infected toe. She put a shoe on for the first time in two days yesterday and practiced. She expects to be ready today. ... April Atuaia will not play this week, UH coach Vince Goo said. Atuaia tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Jan. 26, played a few minutes on the last trip, then pulled a hamstring in practice. She will have knee surgery when the season ends. ... Former San Diego State coach Beth Burns was fired by Ohio State Monday. Burns led the Buckeyes to the WNIT title last season. She was 82-65 in five years at OSU. ... Hawai'i's 2002-2003 schedule includes top-ranked Connecticut, fourth-ranked Oklahoma and No. 18 North Carolina.