Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Big 12 has all 4 regions covered

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2001

The Big 12 has been clamoring for attention ever since it was formed in 1996. Now the league has its best chance to get noticed -- and to put a team in the Final Four for the first time.

Four Big 12 teams remain in the NCAA Tournament, one in each region. No other league, not even the mighty Southeastern Conference (Tennessee and Vanderbilt), has more than two in today's region semifinals.

Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Iowa State advanced as No. 2 seeds, OU in the West, Tech in the Mideast and Iowa State in the Midwest. Nothing surprising there.

But few expected Missouri to be the fourth. The 10th-seeded Tigers are in the East semifinals after upsetting second-seeded Georgia, one of the SEC's heavyweights.

"I've told people in the last couple of weeks, I think we knew it was a really tough conference when we were playing in February," Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. "We played about six ranked teams in a row in our conference. We knew we were in for a battle every night.

"You've heard Big 12 coaches say throughout the NCAA Tournament that our conference really got you ready to play, and we have a lot of pride in that."

Duke and North Carolina State are still alive for the ACC. The Big East has Connecticut and Notre Dame, both No. 1 seeds.

SISTER ACT: Gioconda Mendiola points to her puffy, bloodied lower lip. Her sister did it. Giuliana Mendiola points to the half-inch cut on her left arm. Her sister did it.

If nothing else, the freshman sisters lead Washington in bruises. They are almost always the first to hit the floor for a loose ball, and have become known as two of the toughest players for the Huskies, who face Oklahoma tonight.

"Giuliana has bruises all over the place all the time," senior Megan Franza said. "And Gio gives everybody bruises."

Giuliana has started 28 games and is averaging 11 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals. The 5-foot-11 guard was selected to the Pac-10 all-freshman team and earned honorable mention all-conference honors. Gioconda, a 5-9 guard, is averaging 1.7 points in eight minutes. She has played in 23 games.

GO LOW: Top-seeded Notre Dame and No. 5 Utah had barely arrived at practice when the coaches disagreed on how many points might be scored.

Tonight matches two of the best defensive teams. Utah led the nation in scoring defense, allowing 49.7 points per game, and Notre Dame was fourth. Notre Dame and Utah tied at No. 1 in opponent's field-goal percentage, both at 33.6.

"I think it's going to be, unfortunately, a defensive game," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "I would prefer it would be an offensive game, but I don't think I'm going to get my wish."

But Utah coach Elaine Elliott thinks the teams have too much balance to play a one-dimensional game.

"This game isn't going to be in the 50s," she said. "This is the best team we've faced all year, and we're going to have to score. It's not a game we can win with our defense."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright