Big Ten Buzz

March 8, 2000 The coaching situation in the Big 10 has become quite interesting in the past few weeks. First Karen Langeland who was always better at being a classy person than a coach resigned. Then Iowa forced Angie Lee's resignation. Finally, make that FINALLY, Indiana had enough of Jim Izard's mediocrity and fired him. How those three vacancies are filled will have huge implications for the entire conference. Iowa and Indiana have talented players scheduled to return and could challenge for the upper division in the next few years. The cupboard at Michigan State is close to empty, but Michigan provides an excellent recruiting base. The league has experienced almost a total turnover in coaches in the past six years. Only Rene Portland has coached at school for longer than six season.

Questions have been raised about the commitment to women's basketball at all three schools with vacancies. If they are not willing to spend the money to hire top flight replacements, they will ensure that they will be battling Minnesota for conference leftovers for years to come.

Jan 23, 2000 Something smells in Buckeyeland. Coach Beth Burns continued her housecleaning when she threw senior Michaela Moua off the team in the middle of the season. Moua had never been disciplined publicly before. Burns only made vague statements about the actions being in the best interests of the program. She compared her actions to a manager. There was no concept that she is supposed to be an educator. AD Andy Geiger stepped in "suggested" that Moua be reinstated. Moua, who acted with much more class than Burns in the episode, was reinstated minus her captaincy and her starting job. Burns has a reputation as a control freak with an ego as big as all outdoors. Nothing here will do anything to dispel that image.

The rankings do not reflect just the talent signed. They also reflect who well a team met its needs.

1. Purdue Need: Post players and guard depth Got: 6 perimeter players. The Boilers will be bringing in exceptional talent. It will be interesting to see how Kristy Curry hands out minutes.

2. Penn State Need: Players. Got: Players Rene Portland needed bodies and she signed five players that look to be typical Penn State players--good but not great. The type of players that will let her continue to remain an elite Big 10 team.

3. Illinois Need: Point guard and depth. Got: One of the best points in the country and a couple of solid swing players. Good class.

4. Michigan Need: Post players and guard depth. Got: Unspectacular post player and two solid guards.

6. Wisconsin Need: Athletic post player and point guard. Got: Athletic post player.

7. Iowa Need: Post players Got: two power forwards, one solid the other questionable

8. Minnesota Need: Everything Got: 2 solid players and 2 question marks. These are the type of players who need coaching to develop and, unfortunately for them, Mad Dog is still the coach.

9. Indiana Need: defense Got: 2 solid point guards and a question mark of a swing player. Not enough.

10. Northwestern Need: replacement for Divjak and Schock. Got: a questionable post player. Not a good start for Olkowski.

11. Michigan State Need: replacements for Reese and Rasmussen, perimeter players. Got: a post player who flew under the radar of all the rating services. Unless Karen pulls off a miracle in the spring, it's going to take her a long time to recover from this.

Indiana. Izard's recruiting class was ranked sixth by the Women's Basketball Journal, mainly because of the presence of the #2 juco player, Jelena Lazic. Lazic is not on the Indiana team. There's no explanation I can find but Izard is still jabbering about his sixth ranked recruiting class.

Rachael Honegger only played nine minutes for the Hoosiers in their first game. I don't know why, but my observation has been that childcare goes a long way in determining the success of a new mother. The players I've seen who are caring for their baby just don't have the time to put in on basketball.

It was great to see former Badger Robin Threatt playing for the Reebok all-stars. At her best, Robin was one of the most special players I've ever seen.

Iowa. Angie's recruits this year are ranked 140 and 454 by the All Star Girls Report. Looking at Amber O'Brien's line against Vicki Bullett, it's clear that Angie can coach her kids. She gets the most out of them. She just can't get the top ones. If she ever does land a blue chipper or two, Iowa will jump back to the upper division real quick.

A few years ago, Milwaukee Washington won three consecutive state championships in Wisconsin and were the best high school girls program the state had seen. Most of the players who played D1 ball, with the exception of Dee Dee Pate, had problems either with behavior or grades. Jerica Watson was suspended for the Hawks opening game. I hope she's not going the way of some of her former teammates.

Michigan. Stacey Thomas says she's going to be more aggressive with her shot this year. She had 32 in the Wolves first game. If she adds offense to her defensive game, she could be POY candidate.

Raina Goodlow was helped off the court after injuring her knee. The initial diagnosis was a sprained knee. That can mean either a sprained knee or an acl tear. She's the Wolves' best post player and her loss would really hurt. There should be some news this week.

Minnesota. They shot 36% and were outrebounded by 12 in their first exhibition game. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Penn State. Even more than usual, the success of this team will be determined by Rene Portland. She has such a small roster that she'll have to be constantly juggling. I still think they'll win the league.

Purdue. Speaking of things not changing. The Boilers won their first exhibition game by 22. Komara, Douglas and Duhart played 37, 38 and 40 minutes. I do not understand that.

Wisconsin. Most of the pre-season attention has rightly centered around Nina Smith and LaTonya Sims. Those two are doing just fine, but Jessie Stomski is the Badgers best player right now.

Candas Smith is doing better than expected at point guard. I won't be surprised to see her take Dee Dee Pate's starting job sometime this year.