Notre Dame upsets UCONN!! I love the opening line of the AP Story, "Suddenly, Connecticut is no longer so invincible." Upset All of a sudden, ND has downed 2 top 20 teams.


The Big Ten (eleven) continues to show it's balance and strength. Streaking Wisconsin made a statement by beating Illinois last night as the conference teams continue to beat up on each other. Story

Butler uses outside shooting to down IUPUI 63-48. Story

Ball State ran their record to 3-1 in the MAC by defeating Ohio last night. Story

Over Coffee

It occurs to me that the rest of the country must be seeing what we in Indiana have known for a long time. Indiana has no rivals when it comes to Women's College Basketball. All of the Big 3 have winning records. (IU, PU and ND) Ball State is strong in the MAC and Indiana State is improving and currently is .500 in the MVC. That doesn't even include the smaller schools that are having excellent seasons that are not Division I. Indianapolis is once again host of the Big Ten Women's Tournament in March and we are priveleged to enjoy a WNBA franchise with one of the leagues biggest stars in Tamika Catchings. I challenge any other state to surpass that show of support and success. There may be rivals - but better? Ha! No chance.

What an amazing recruiting advantage this should be for the in-state schools to keep Indiana's own high school players in the state. But no! We still lose some of our best athletes to the other schools. Why is that? What is the answer? Winning? Well, what about Purdue? They win! Still, players like Shana Zolman and Shyra Ely opt to play for Pat Summit. Well, who can blame them? Shoot, if I were a youngster and Pat Summit came to my house and offered me a scholarship I'd take it in a heartbeat. So, ok, we'll give anyone going to Tennessee to play for a Hall of Fame coach a pass. But, the fact is, these schools should be expected to keep the other talent in-state. Purdue does a reasonably good job - capturing Katie Geralds was a big step forward. But Indiana University shouldn't be losing recruits to other Big Ten schools from our state. Kathi Bennett must do a better job of attracting local kids in order to take that next step into the upper eschelon of the Big Ten. Losing in-state talent to Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan State is not going to get it done. Fortunately, I see signs of that trend changing. Last season was Bennetts first nationally ranked recruiting class and included 2 Indiana All State caliber players in Carrie Smith and Leah Enterline. Added to those were the Nebraska Miss Basketball, a 6'7" center, and a promising guard from Minnesota. A good step forward. This year, Indiana had only one senior on the team so schollies were limited and they signed an Ohio prep. So, in my opinion, next years recruiting class is critical for Bennett and Indiana. They must show they can attract the top in state athletes and eventually they have to get one of the high school All Americans that Indiana produces when going head to head with Purdue. When that happens, they will begin to crack the Big Ten elite.

Peace!