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By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 10, 2001
Despite lawsuits, legal maneuvers and allegations of racism, Dione Smith always believed she would play for the University of South Florida again.
Nearly one year after Smith was dismissed from the team, she is back with the Bulls.
"To be honest, I really did think I would (play again)," Smith said. "When you put things in the hands of the Lord, you know he'll work it out for you. That's what I did. There were no doubts. I left it in his hands."
Smith, the senior point guard whose complaint of retaliation by Jerry Ann Winters led to the coach's dismissal in December, has been officially reinstated to the team.
Although her federal racial discrimination suit against Winters and the university is pending, Smith is working out and practicing with the team.
She has received a medical redshirt and will play her final season in 2001-02. Smith's return began with a meeting with first-year coach Jose Fernandez.
"I went in and met with him and I let him know the standpoint I was coming from and he let me know where he was coming from," Smith said. "We met eye-to-eye and he told me what he was trying to do with the program and I agreed with him. Then he said I was going to be on the roster and I was going to be a part of the team and I started working out with them."
Smith, who last played April 4 and has had surgery on her foot and shin since then, said getting back on the court has been challenging mentally and physically.
"I guess you could say it has been kind of strange because of the fact I've gone a whole year without playing any kind of competitive ball," Smith said. "Getting back out there, it has been like starting over again."
Smith must avoid contact in practice because of the shin injury. She said she has done everything possible to assimilate and not be a distraction to teammates, several of whom countered her claims of racial discrimination before Winters was fired.
She believes everything will work out next season.
"The whole coaching staff seems like they have a great plan for how they want to run the program," Smith said. "He (Fernandez) is a straightforward guy and he'll be straight with you."
HEALING FANS: The UConn sports information department had to issue a statement reminding fans that NCAA rules don't allow them to offer anything of monetary value to All-American Svetlana Abrosimova, who suffered a foot injury last week.
The athletic department has been inundated with offers of assistance for Abrosimova's parents to travel to Storrs for senior night.
NO DUNKS ALLOWED ... : Tennessee center Michelle Snow is coming to Gainesville at 5 p.m. Sunday. And as two other opponents have discovered this season, when Snow is on the court, the threat of a dunk is present. But Florida players said they won't allow Snow, a Pensacola native, to become a SportsCenter highlight at their expense.
"She won't dunk Sunday. I can promise you that," senior guard Tombi Bell said. "I will go 400 mph. She will not dunk in the O'Dome, we can not allow that." Snow registered the second dunk of her career Jan. 23 against Vanderbilt, making her just the second woman in NCAA history to dunk twice in a season.
"She's not dunking in our gym," forward Naomi Mobley said. "The only one who dunks in the O'Dome other than the men are us."
- Antonya English covers women's college basketball. She can be reached at (813) 226-3389 or by e-mail at english@sptimes.com.
101: Points by Illinois, setting a school record in its 101-71 Big Ten victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
67: Points, the margin of victory in Tennessee's win over Mississippi State on Thursday night.
26: Points Oklahoma scored off 28 Nebraska turnovers in an 84-62 win Wednesday night.
8: wins in a row, the current home streak for Iowa.
6: Ranked opponents Baylor has played in its past eight games.
When Oklahoma's LaNeishea Caufield hit 24 consecutive free throws earlier this season, it was a personal milestone. Now she has bettered it. Caufield hit her 28th straight free throw Wednesday night to break her own school record when the 10th-ranked Sooners beat Nebraska 84-62. She had hit 22 straight entering the game and was a perfect 6-for-6 against the Cornhuskers.
The Big 12 has crossed the halfway mark of its Million Fan March campaign. Through 122 games, the league has had a cumulative attendance of 587,237. With 42 games remaining (at the beginning of the week), teams would have to average around 9,820 per game to reach one million. Last year's NCAA-record attendance was 802,419. Teams would need to average around 5,140 to break that mark. Texas Tech recorded the Big 12's largest crowd of the season with 14,220 fans at the Tech-Texas A&M game on Feb. 3. It was the third-largest crowd in the history of the Big 12 and the fifth largest all-time involving Big 12 teams. Baylor, which is having one of its most successful seasons in history, has surpassed its goal of 29,000 -- generating 34,688 with four home games remaining.
Tulane leading scorer Janell Burse is the only player in the nation to be ranked among the NCAA leaders in four categories. Burse is 36th in scoring (19.0), 15th in rebounding (10.5), sixth in field goal percentage (61.9) and 23rd in blocked shots (1.9).
Georgia seniors Cocoa and Kelly Miller became members of the 2,000-point club during the week. Kelly Miller scored a season-high 31 points against Mississippi on Sunday to become the third player in Georgia history to score 2,000 career points. Her twin sister Cocoa reached that milestone Thursday night in a win over South Carolina. Oddly enough, the two scored more than 2,000 points in the same number of games. Coco missed a game during her freshman season due to the flu and is one game behind Kelly in career games played. Cocoa passed Teresa Edwards (1,989) at the No. 4 spot on the Georgia career scoring list.
Wisconsin coach Jane Albright coached in her 500th game Sunday, but she will have to wait to hit an even bigger milestone. A win Thursday night would have made Albright the Badgers' all-time winningest coach. In Sunday's win, she tied the record for most wins held by Edwina Qualls (131-141 from 1976-86). But the 20th-ranked Badgers were upset by Indiana Thursday night, postponing Albright's move into the top spot. She already owns Wisconsin's winningest Big Ten mark at 65-42, with 46 percent of UW's 140-183 Big Ten wins coming in her seven-year tenure.