Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Monday, March 10, 2008

Last year's Cinderella-- and this year's unlikely celebrity-- will dance again: Marist, as expected, took the MAAC tournament with a convincing win over Iona.

Will the Red Foxes go deep in the tournament now that opponents know that they're a threat, that they put multiple point guards on the floor at once, that using a press on them is a major mistake?

This year's out-of-nowhere ranked team may not get to dance with the stars after all: UTEP, who had not lost for three months, last night fell in C-USA finals to SMU.

Talk about a game of runs: this one included 17-0 and 18-0 spurts (not for the same team). Two UTEP starters (Hughes and Krezel) fouled out.

Are UTEP-- source of some local buzz-- headed to the NCAAs anyway? It's all but certain: Palm has their current RPI (including the loss to SMU) at 20, though Sagarin (not an RPI calculator) rates them only 44th best in the land. UTEP's best nonconference win is likely New Mexico (the two losses are to Big XII teams): more impressive is their reg-season within C-USA, with two OT wins and no losses at all.