Drexel's Marginean and Delaware's Delle Donne Competing for CAA Honors
(Guru's note: An unintentional typo placed in the print version in Monday's roundup listed Marginean's career point total at 3,909 points. She has 3,409 points).
By Mel Greenberg
Suddenly freshman Elena Delle Donne's ongoing exploits at the University of Delaware are putting her into the race against Drexel's Gabriela Marginean for player of the year in the Colonial Athletic Association, even as Delle Donne has monopolized the weekly rookie awards.
Marginean, who won the award a year ago, had a jumpstart with the preseason award and as a member of Drexel's reigning CAA conference champions.,
"Next year when Gabby is gone they'll probably pick us 10th after they picked us first this year," Drexel coach Denise Dillon recently quipped about her conference colleagues. "Next year Delaware will get all the early attention."
James Madison's Dawn Evans had been part of the discussion but the Dukes' recent slide may cost her when voting takes place in a few weeks.
Marginean, with 3,409 career points, is expected to get the seven Thursday night at home against Towson that will make her pass former Penn star Diana Caramanico and become the all-time scorer among players from the city's six Division I schools.
Drexel completed a sweep of Virginia Commonwealth Sunday and is alone in second place. The Dragons will be looking for revenge against the Tigers and tighten their push to secure one of the four byes that carry a day of rest in the CAA tournament.
Meanwhile, Delle Donne keeps drawing attention at Delaware, where she toyed with the record 39 points she shares with former Blue Hens star Lori Howard by getting 35 in the narrow win over Georgia State at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.
She had 33 with 8 minutes left but was held to just a field goal in the final minute by Georgia State, which nearly forced overtime but missed a layup with three seconds remaining.
"When they started pressing us I wasn't getting as many baskets because I trail the offense," Delle Donne said. "I just tried to attack their pressure as much as possible. It was a great effort by all of us."
The next NCAA statistical release on Monday (today) should show Delle Done now slightly ahead in first place Division I scoring with a 25.8 average, passing Oklahoma State's Andrea Riley, who is at 25.6.
The crowd of 3,606 became the second best ever for a women's game at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Delle Donne actually holds the floor record with 50 scored in her sophomore season in high school at Ursuline Academy from nearby Wilmington against rival St. Elizabeth in the state championship title game.
The slump of James Madison now gives the Blue Hens a chance to get a coveted top four spot in the CAA tournament.
Delaware travels to JMU Thursday night in Harrisonburg, Va., the site of next month's CAA tournament.
A win moves the Blue Hens into fourth place.
"No question, they're a threat next month," one CAA coach said recently. "But in fifth or lower, I don't know if they can do it with their youth and fatigue could become a factor."
Delaware has lost all five CAA games by a combined total of nine points all in the final seconds.
On Sunday, things at the finish went good for the Blue Hens for a change.
Incidentally, the halftime entertainment saw the Blue Hens footbasll team join the female dancers in a musical performance.
Coach Tina Martin's comments were appropriate enough for Valentine's Day.
"I coach with tough love," she said. "I love these kids but I am tough and there's a reason. When it comes to crunch time, they have to toughen up. I think we're getting there."
The players wore pink socks as part of Delaware's involvement in the nationwide Pink Zone activities at women's games to support the WBCA/Kay Yow cancer fund.
Martin admitted to having taken some brotherly advice to deal with the narrow losses.
"He's an ahletic director and was a long time men's coach," Martin said. "He told me, `You were picked in the middle of the pack and you're putting a scare into all the top teams. Listen, you have to smile. You have Elena for another three years. You still have Tesia Harris for next year. And you have Lauren Carra and those people for three years.'
"So the future is bright for all of Delaware nation. I just have to take a breather because I am an intense coach."
Postseason Hardware: With Nebraska, the other unbeaten team besides Connecticut, being in third place in the Associated Press poll, Cornhuskers coach Connie Yori could earn national honors if her team prevails in the Big 12 conference.
Meanwhile, the lack of success for Division I rookie coaches has narrowed the field to Teresa Weatherspoon, at her alma mater of Louisiana Tech, and former UConn assistant Jamelle Elliott at Cincinnati, as the top contenders for the Maggie Dixon Award.
Princeton Prominence: The Ivy League continues to be dmoninated by Princeton, off to its best start at 7-0 and a two-game lead. The Tigers, drawing rare votes from the AP media panel for an Ivy team, might be the best since Harvard had future WNBA star Allison Feaster.
Required reading: The Guru had been wanting for months to comment on Dave Salter's book on leadership
based on interviews with women's coaches whose teams have made the Final Four.
Here is the way he associated his recent work with Pink Zone activities.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association has declared February 12-21 Pink Zone Week, and more than 1,100 college and high school girls' basketball teams will wear pink uniforms and raise money for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
So will author Dave Salter, in his own way.
Salter is a self-admitted chauvinist-in-rehabilitation. While he's a work in progress, his wife and three daughters have reprogrammed the way he thinks about his universe.
His latest book, Final Four Leadership (5 Secrets Successful Female Leaders Use and You Should Too) profiles eight elite women's college basketball coaches. The focus is not on basketball, but is on the unique leadership characteristics of each coach, five universal secrets and more than 40 bonus leadership thoughts.
In a unique, and possibly first time ever, move Salter has signed a licensing agreement with the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Yow Fund, which issues grants to researchers specifically searching for cures for women's cancers.
Some story ideas Salter can talk about for those who would like to interview hime
a. What male coach of a women's team would Salter punch in the mouth, and then transfer his daughter to another university?
b. If his basketball-playing daughters were talented enough, which of these women's coaches would he select for his daughters to play for?
c. Could these elite women's coaches be successful coaching men's teams?
d. Are these five secrets applicable to coaches of men's teams?
e. What's the difference between coaching a women's team and a men's team?
To discuss these story ideas and/or why Salter chose this relationship with the Yow Fund, contact Salter directly at (717) 309-2554 or dfsalter@comcast.net. Visit his leadership blog at www.davidfsalter.com.
More to come in the next 24 or sooner.
-- Mel