A Chip Shot Away
These are teams from the major conferences on the fringe of becoming elite
Oct. 15, 2007
By Jeff Lippman
CSTV.com
 |  |
Jeff Lippman
Jeff is CSTV.com's lead women's basketball writer. |
Think of this as an explanation to any team that feels deserving of a mention in CSTV.com's Great Eight, but more than that, these are the fringe teams, the programs standing at the cliff's edge of success, peering out into the realm of becoming an elite team, feet kicking debris off into the abyss.
Should any of the teams mentioned below make it to the Final Four, or even hoist the national championship trophy, it would certainly be considered an upset, but it is not altogether out of the realm of possibility.
Big Ten - Michigan State,
|
|
 |
By far the weakest of the power conferences, the Big Ten doesn't supply any teams on our Great Eight. And there aren't that many fringe teams, either. The obvious choices based on history would be
But just because those are the obvious choices doesn't make them the correct ones. Purdue was just sentenced to two years probation for major and secondary violations, but that shouldn't really affect the team this season since they are not banned from postseason play. What will affect them is losing their best player, Katie Gearlds, to graduation. In the same mold,
No, the team to beat in the Big Ten, and the only one that can be considered a true fringe team, is
ACC - North Carolina,
Here is where the explanations are necessary. For quite some time last season, the top three teams in the nation all came from the ACC - Maryland, Duke and
This year, though, while
The Blue Devils bring back loads of talent in Abby Waner, Chante Black, Joy Cheek and Wanisha Smith, and will have two top freshmen in Krystal and Jasmine Thomas, who will try to step into the slots left open by Alison Bales and Lindsay Harding. But there are just too many question marks to rank this team as high as the Great Eight.
North Carolina is further away than Duke, in my estimation. The Tar Heels lost Ivory Latta and that's a Latta to lose. The All-Everything point guard spent four years with North Carolina written across her chest and her teammates essentially carried on her back. But now this is Erlana Larkins' team, and without last year's second-leading scorer, Camille Little, UNC could be in for a bit of a rebuilding year. Latta's position, after all, will go to a freshman - albeit a superb one in Italee Lucas.
If there was ever a time for ACC secondary teams to make a run for conference glory, this will be the year. And Georgia Tech and N.C. State are up to the task. The Yellow Jackets have built a team that could surprise many after their big win over Maryland last season, and with one of the top incoming freshmen classes in the nation, the Buzz will not be overlooked and can finish as high as second in conference play. The Wolfpack is a great story, but the team will also have a lot of questions to answer. While their inspired play in last year's ACC Tournament was sensational, one could wonder if they have the guts and determination to do it again. Of course, the faith is always there with a Kay Yow-coached team.
Big East - West Virginia, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame
Although most would agree the two top women's basketball conferences come from the Atlantic and the Southeast, many in Big East territory would beg to differ. And with two Great Eight teams, along with a slew of fringers, they just might have a case.
Yes, Rutgers and UConn are stacked, but make no mistake, Louisville's Angel McCoughtry is one of the five best players in this league. She alone makes the Cardinals an interesting group, but new coach, former Maryland assistant Jeff Walz will have his work cut out for him against the other three fringe Big East clubs.
West Virginia went 21-11 last year and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That is important, as the Mountaineer women return all five starters from that team and also will be loaded with senior leadership with seven players in their final seasons, the largest senior class in their history.
Pitt and Notre Dame are eerily similarly in their makeup, with each garnering one Wade Watch candidate in Pitt's Marcedes Walker and the Irish's Charel Allen. Both have another standout performer at the guard position in Notre Dame's Melissa Lechlitner and the Panthers' Shavonte Zellous. Both teams won a game in last year's NCAA Tournament before bowing out to elite opponents and both will be back and out to prove that the Big East is more than a two-team race.
SEC - Georgia
The mighty SEC scored two Great Eight teams but only has one fringe team to speak of. But Georgia is probably the best team on the fringe and both the Great Eight teams were in the Final Four last year, making the SEC one of the best conferences in the nation.
If Bulldog senior forward Tasha Humphrey played in almost any other conference in America, she would have three conference Player of the Year honors to her name. In the SEC, she has none, and behind greats like Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles, her chances look bleak once again. But that doesn't mean that on any given night this superstar can't lead her team to an upset of LSU or Tennessee. And with spark plug point guard Ashley Houts a year older, Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers will have the pieces to go far in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments come March.
Pac-10 - Arizona State
Trivia question: Which Pac-10 team advanced the furthest in last year's NCAA Tournament? If your answer was the Great Eight's Stanford or Cal, you'd be dead wrong. Arizona State made an Elite Eight run last season before giving way to eventual national runner-up Rutgers.
What the Sun Devils lost - All-Pac-10 performers Emily Westerberg and Aubree Johnson - coupled with the talent Cal and Stanford returns, makes ASU just a fringe team, but don't be fooled. Head coach Charli Turner Thorne's team will have plenty of returning talent in guards Jill Noe, Briann January and Reagan Pariseau. And with 6-foot-3 Tennessee transfer Sybil Dosty finally eligible to play, she could make a big difference inside against the other Pac-10 bigs.
Big 12 - Texas, Texas A&M
Are the Longhorns a fringe team? The answer depends on how much stock you put in Gail Goestenkors' ability to mold talent quickly. More than likely, as Texas lost its leading scorer in Tiffany Jackson, and the only returning double-digit scorer is Erika Arriaran (coming off of a knee injury that ended her 2006-07 season after 15 games), the Longhorns will be two years away from making a real dent in Big 12 competition, but if Goestenkors is the top coach she is billed to be, she could make a big difference immediately.
The fact is the Big 12 is looking like Oklahoma's conference right now, with only one other team looking like a potential barrier against Courtney Paris and company pillaging their way to the outright and tournament titles. And since Texas A&M tied the Sooners record-wise and grabbed the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament last year, why shouldn't they be able to do it again?
The Aggies return 11 players from a team that went 13-3 in Big 12 competition last year and lost just 6.1 points per game from last year's team. With no stand-out star, A&M does it with consistency, and with a senior-heavy lineup led by guards Morenike Atunrase and A'Quonesia Franklin, there is no doubt this will be a team in the rankings all season.
del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Blue Dot
Yahoo!
Google