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Around women's college basketball

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 13, 2001

ATLANTA -- Conspiracy theorists have a dream bracket in the East Region, and not just because it's considered the toughest part of the draw.

For the third time in the past four seasons, Georgia and Connecticut are in the same region. It's the second time in the past three they've been put together as top seeds.

"That's not accidental," said Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, whose team is the No. 3 seed in the East.

Although the Huskies and Bulldogs have never met in NCAA play, the fact that they and Louisiana Tech are coached by men is raising eyebrows again. In 1999, UConn, Georgia, Iowa State and Clemson, all with male coaches, were the top four seeds in the Mideast. Before his team advanced out of that bracket and into the Final Four, Georgia coach Andy Landers observed that it's "a coincidence that keeps on happening."

On Monday, he was trying to play the diplomat. "You notice it, certainly. The top three seeds have male coaches."

Of the 19 male-coached teams receiving NCAA bids, eight are lumped in the East. Committee members and female coaches have snorted at the possibility of the men getting cheated. But the other two teams coached by males that are among the top 16 seeds are pitted in the same region. Iowa State is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, with Vanderbilt seeded third.

In the Final Four, the Midwest winner will play the survivor of the East.

"I don't know if it's a trend or if it's a conscious thing," Vandy coach Jim Foster said. "It just seems to happen. I see it in the East."

UCONN ATOP POLL: Connecticut has come full circle in the Associated Press poll.

The Huskies started the season at No. 1, dropped out of the lead after a mid-season loss to Notre Dame, then made it back to the top in the final poll.

"They've got to make somebody number one, so they made us," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.

Connecticut regained the No. 1 spot after beating last week's leader, Notre Dame, in the championship game of the Big East tournament. The Huskies received 32 of 40 first-place votes from the national media panel and had 990 points.

This is the fourth time in the past seven seasons Connecticut had led the final poll. The Huskies also finished at No. 1 in 1995, 1997 and last season. The only time they did not win the national championship as the No. 1 team was 1997, when Tennessee beat them in a regional final.

Notre Dame slipped to second, with five first-place votes and 951 points. Tennessee remained third with three first-place votes and 934 points.

All three are seeded No. 1 in their regions in the NCAA Tournament, UConn in the East, Notre Dame in the Midwest and Tennessee in the Mideast.

Fifth-ranked Duke is the top seed in the West. Georgia, fourth in the poll, is seeded second in the East.

ARIZONA ST.: The school received its first berth in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a decade Sunday. That same day, coach Charli Turner Thorne was in the hospital, giving birth to her second son. Not that the weekend needed more milestones, but Saturday the Sun Devils gained a share of their first Pac-10 title on Thorne's 35th birthday. Thorne, in her first season at the school, coached the team throughout her pregnancy. She intends to coach Friday when the Sun Devils face LSU in the first round of the Midweat Region in West Lafayette, Ind.

NEW MEXICO ST.: John Sutherland resigned as coach, He went 45-88 in five seasons with the Aggies, 10-18 this season. "I've done all I can at this time and it's now time for new energy and enthusiasm," he said. The team's most successful season under Sutherland was in 1996, when it finished 11-16 and tied for second in the Big West.

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