COLLEGE BASKETBALL 1985-86 : Women’s Outlook : Texas-Sized Pressure Awaits No. 1 Team

Linda Sharp, the USC women’s basketball coach, can remember the problems of going into a season ranked No. 1. Well, she can just barely remember. She seems to remember something about phone calls from sportswriters and a lot of speaking engagements.

After the Trojans’ dismal (for them) record last season, Sharp’s phone calls have all come to contain two words: “What happened?” You win the national title two years running and you’re expected to be a miracle worker, even if you haven’t got a prayer. A lot of schools would love a 21-9 record.

Sharp remembers preseason polls and what they do for a program. She also knows what the polls can do to a program. That’s why she sympathizes with Jody Conradt, coach at the University of Texas. The Lady Longhorns are ranked No. 1 among the women.

“It’s hard to live up to what people expect,” Sharp said. “Everybody talks about the No. 1 team in the nation winning the championship. When you finally do it, it’s a relief. It’s a tough position because there’s only one way to go--down.”

In Texas, Conradt doesn’t know if she should throw open her office window and yell, “We’re No. 1!” or barricade herself in the equipment room and await the onslaught of teams looking to knock off the Longhorns.

“It’s like the joke, ‘There’s good news and there’s bad news,’ ” Conradt said. “Obviously, you like the recognition. But it’s always harder to do something that’s expected of you. Here in Austin, we are a very recognizable team. But in Texas, you have to be No. 1 or forget it.”

Texas-sized pressure may be the only weak point for the Lady Longhorns this season. Whether Conradt likes it or not, her team is the clear choice for No. 1 in this, the Year of Parity in women’s basketball. Gone are the days when Old Dominion was Old Dominant or USC was “The Twins and that Miller Kid.” This season look for teams such as Ohio State and Auburn, teams that have been steadily building a solid base, to supplant the established powers.

The University of Georgia, which had been ranked No. 1 the past two years but has lost key players to graduation, will be strong. Other top teams; the Bayou Connection--Louisiana State, Northeast Louisiana, and Louisiana Tech; the Tiny But Terribles--Western Kentucky and Old Dominion, and the Beach Bunch--USC, UCLA, San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach.

Among the players, this is not likely to be a season of big names, but one of many names. The biggest, the brightest, the most-named name is USC’s Cheryl Miller. Little is left for Miller to achieve: three-time All-American, two-time Player of the Year, two national championships, an Olympic gold medal. Last season has left a bad, unfamiliar taste in Miller’s mouth. Never--in a basketball career that includes the driveway of her parents’ home in Riverside to on-court at the Final Four--has Miller lost as much as she did last year. She doesn’t like it and has said she doesn’t want to close out her college career in the same fashion.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, and it’s been a lot of fun with Cheryl here,” Sharp said. “That’s how I feel. She’s so lively and so full of life. She brings so much to us. She has given so much to this program and to this team, and, obviously, to women’s basketball.

“As a coach, I’d like to see the team do really well, especially the seniors. For Cheryl, in her senior year, I’d love to see her have a great year. I think people are going to do their best against us, as always, and against Cheryl.”

Miller, by all accounts has matured. She came in as a talented 6-3 freshman somewhat lacking in self control. While Miller has retained her exciting style, she has wisely toned down her taunting. In the process, Miller has become a more complete player. Last season she led the Trojans in almost every statistical category.

Miller has always been able to be creative on offense--averaging 27 points and 16 rebounds a game--but now she is an exceptional defensive player and shot blocker. With a thinned-out Trojan team, Miller will be called upon to score even more points. Sharp would like to see her score 29-30 points a game.

If Miller wants a stellar senior season, she will have to be the architect of her own fate. And she will have to weave around the players, week after week, who would love nothing more than to yank The Star down from the heavens and back to earth.

There are other stars in the women’s game, just not as bright. Texas has got depth to spare, especially with Annette Smith back. Smith, one of the best centers in the nation, has returned from knee surgery. She spent 17 months rehabilitating the knee.

“She has a long way to go,” Conradt said. “Her timing is off a little bit and she’s not like she was, but she has come a long way. She gives us a lot of things. She’s our leader.”

Smith is one player capable of leading the talented, but impetuous Longhorns. “I’ll tell you about Annette Smith,” said Georgia Coach Andy Landers. “She is a great, great player. But Annette Smith could go on a picnic, take three of their starters with her, and Texas would still be the No. 1 team in the nation. They have that much depth.”

Landers has another of the top players, Olympian Teresa Edwards. Edwards is a smooth guard who averaged 15 points a game last season, but her main job was to throw the ball to one of the Lady Bulldogs’ high-scoring forwards. This season Landers wants her to shoot more and thinks she can. “Edwards hasn’t gotten the respect she deserves,” Landers said. “Teresa Edwards is cast from the same roll of cloth as Cheryl Miller. She took the summer off and she’s refreshed. She’s more assertive and more powerful than ever before. She takes control of what everybody is doing on the floor.”

Georgia is also the home to basketball’s enforcer--Katrina McClain a 6-foot 2-inch, 181-pounds center. Katrina is being called, how’d you guess, The Tree.

Over in Louisiana, only 30 miles separates Northeast Louisiana and Louisiana Tech. In the basketball-crazed South, they may find it necessary to erect a wall to keep the fans off each other. In Ruston, the Lady Techsters are unnerved by the loss of four of last season’s starters, but buoyed by the addition of 6-foot freshman Nora Lewis. Lewis was the top prep player in the nation last year, but Coach Leon Barmore says he’ll break her in slowly. “She is an exceptionally good freshman, but she’s not coming to Louisiana Tech and lead us to the promised land. She’s not going to have that kind of pressure. We won’t start her in our first game.”

In Monroe, the Lady Indians return the entire starting lineup from a team that went 30-2 last season and made it to the Final Four. Center Lisa Ingram is a no-nonsense player who knows Coach Linda Harper’s system and can run it. The Lady Indians have a crowd-pleaser in Eun Jung Lee--a flashy point guard from Seoul, South Korea.

In the Southland, USC has Rhonda Windham at point guard and 6-4 center Cherie Nelson. All-American Cindy Brown returns for Long Beach, as does whiz-kid guard Faye Paige. UCLA lost Annette Keur at center (she returned to the Netherlands because of family problems) but returns shooting guard Ann Dean and Shari Biggs at forward.

USC WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES

1984-85 TEAM RECORDS, STATISTICS

OVERALL CONFERENCE Team W L Pct. PF PA FG%O FG%D FT% REBF REBA W L Pct. Fin.+ USC 21 9 .700 69.8 61.7 .438 .412 .438 41.1 39.9 10 4 .714 2nd + WCAA Note: Statistics are for all games.

ROSTER RETURNEES

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL PPG RPG FG% FT%

11 Kalen Wright G 5-8 So. 4.4 2.0 .380 .250 20 Wendy Brown G 5-11 So. 1.2 0.2 .333 .600 21 Rhonda Windham G 5-5 Jr. 6.9 3.2 .412 .615 22 Melissa Ward G/F 5-8 Sr. 0.5 1.0 .318 .000 23 Holly Ford F 6-0 So. 10.4 5.1 .476 .676 24 Paula Pyers G 5-6 So. 4.6 1.4 .417 .929 25 JaMaiia Bond C 6-5 Sr. 1.7 1.7 .538 .333 30 Liz Hirn F 5-11 So. 0.0 0.3 .000 .000 31 Cheryl Miller F/C 6-3 Sr. 27.4 14.4 .516 .683

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School)

11 Fresno (San Joaquin Memorial) 20 Atherton (Woodside) 21 Bronx, N.Y. (John F. Kennedy) 22 Chicago (Whitney Young) 23 Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara) 24 Tucson, Ariz. (Santa Rita) 25 Chicago (Whitney Young) 30 San Gabriel (San Gabriel) 31 Riverside (Riverside Poly)

NEWCOMERS, REDSHIRTS

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL HOMETOWN (Previous School)

Cherie Nelson C 6-3 Fr. Altadena (Marshall Fundamental) Karon Howell G 5-9 Fr. Portland, Ore. (St. Mary’s Academy)

COACH: Linda Sharp

SCHEDULE

All times PST. Starting times subject to change.

Date Opponent Nov. 22 BYU Nov. 26 Pepperdine Nov. 29-30 At Maryland Tournament Dec. 5 Indiana Dec. 7 At Cal Poly Pomona Dec. 10 At Texas Dec. 13 Tennessee Dec. 21 Oregon State Dec. 27-28 USC Tournament Jan. 3 Old Dominion Jan. 6 At Louisiana Tech Jan. 8 At Ohio State Jan. 14 At CS Fullerton Jan. 16 *Arizona Jan. 25 *At Stanford Jan. 26 *At California Jan. 28 At CS Long Beach Feb. 1 *UCLA Feb. 4 At San Diego St. Feb. 8 CS Fullerton Feb. 14 *At Arizona St. Feb. 15 *Arizona Feb. 20 *Stanford Feb. 22 CS Long Beach Feb. 28 At Alaska Tournament Mar. 1-2 At Alaska Tournament Mar. 6 *At UCLA

* Pac West game

** home game

1984-85 RESULTS

RECORD: 21-9

Result Record USC 76, Oregon 68 1-0 USC 77, Iowa 57 2-0 USC 77, Texas El Paso 53 3-0 **USC 69, Pepperdine 59 4-0 **USC 66, New Orleans 65 5-0 **USC 74, Cal Poly Pomona 45 6-0 **USC 78, Utah 62 7-0 **USC 66, California 52 8-0 **USC 73, Texas 71 9-0 USC 69, Notre Dame 53 10-0 Georgia 77, USC 56 10-1 Tennessee 71, USC 60 10-2 Old Dominion 52, USC 42 10-3 USC 78, CS Fullerton 61 11-3 **Louisiana Tech 83, USC 79 11-4 **San Diego St. 61, USC 59 11-5 **USC 68, Arizona St. 57 12-5 **USC 68, Arizona 40 13-5 UCLA 77, USC 73 13-6 **USC 54, CS Fullerton 51 14-6 **USC 70, CS Long Beach 65 15-6 USC 80, Stanford 68 16-6 USC 90, San Diego St. 77 17-6 USC 70, Arizona 62 18-6 USC 76, Arizona St. 57 19-6 CS Long Beach 64, USC 61 19-7 **UCLA 57, USC 56 19-8 **USC 77, Stanford 60 20-8 **USC 74, Idaho 51 21-8 CS Long Beach 75, USC 72 21-9

UCLA WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES

1984-85 TEAM RECORDS, STATISTICS

OVERALL CONFERENCE Team W L Pct. PF PA FG%O FG%D FT% REBF REBA W L Pct. Fin.+ USC 20 10 .667 72.6 66.4 .452 .446 .607 44.6 37.6 10 4 .714 2nd

+ WCAA

Note: Statistics are for all games.

ROSTER

RETURNEES

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL PP RPG FG% FT%

11 Herma Van deLagemaat F 6-3 Jr. 2.3 4.6 .457 .542 13 Shari Biggs F 6-1 Jr. 8.1 5.2 .433 .818 14 Erin Simms G 5-6 So. 1.7 0.5 .272 .800 20 Jaime Brown G 5-8 So. 6.8 1.8 .433 .742 21 Susan Mead C 6-5 So. 2.2 3.5 .377 .308 22 Teiko Nishi G 5-8 So. 1.1 0.7 .450 .539 43 Anne Dean G/F 5-10 Sr. 14.3 3.5 .495 .919 44 Dora Dome F 5-10 So. 7.1 3.4 .366 .673 53 Tia Francis F 6-2 Jr. 1.8 1.5 .353 .444

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School)

11 Utrac, Holland 13 Woodland Hills (Richland, Wa) 14 Oakland (Skyline) 20 Carson City, Nev. (Carson City) 21 Meadow Vista, Calif. (Colfax) 22 Torrance (North Torrance) 43 Santa Ana (Foothill) 44 Los Angeles (Fairfax) 53 San Diego (Mira Mesa)

NEWCOMERS, REDSHIRTS

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL Alma Batchie F 6-1 So. Dana Childs F 6-3 Fr. 42 Althea Ford F 6-0 Fr. Teik Francis C 6-5 Jr. Tessa Franken G 5-8 Fr. Kristi Moore G 5-6 Jr. Lynn Richardson G 5-9 Fr.

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School) Berkeley (Berkeley) Covina (Western Christian) 42 New York (August Martin) San Diego (Mira Mesa, U. San Diego) Dusseldorf, West Germany Glen Ellyn, Ill. (Glenbard West) Culver City (Culver City)

COACH: Billie Moore

SCHEDULE

All times PST. Starting times subject to change.

Date Opponent Time

Nov. 22-2 At Washington Tournament Nov. 29-3 At Oregon St. Tournament Dec. 4 Texas Tech 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 At UC Santa Barbara 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15 Tennessee 2:00 p.m. Dec. 19 At Northwestern 5:30 p.m. Dec. 21 At Notre Dame 5:30 p.m. Dec. 28 Illinois 7:30 p.m. Dec. 30 North Carolina 5:15 p.m. Jan. 2 At New Orleans 4:30 p.m. Jan. 4 At Louisiana Tech 4:30 p.m. Jan 10-11 UCLA Tournament TBA Jan. 17 *Arizona St. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 *Arizona 7:30 p.m Date Opponent Time Jan. 24 *At Stanford 5:45 p.m. Jan. 28 San Diego St. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 *At USC 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 CS Long Beach 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13 *At Arizona 4:00 p.m. Feb. 15 *At Arizona St. 4:00 p.m. Feb. 19 Brigham Young 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 *Stanford 7:30 p.m. Mar. 1 At CS Fullerton 7:30 p.m. Mar. 6 *USC 7:30 p.m.

* Pac West

1984-85 RESULTS

RECORD: 20-10

Result Record **UCLA 74, Pepperdine 49 1-0 **UCLA 70, Hawaii 48 2-0 Vanderbilt 66, UCLA 62 2-1 UCLA 74, North Carolina St. 68 3-1 **New Orleans 75, UCLA 73 (OT) 3-2 **UCLA 81, San Francisco 58 4-2 **UCLA 94, UC Santa Barbara 31 5-2 **UCLA 96, Northwestern 74 6-2 UCLA 77, Colorado 70 7-2 **UCLA 78, Notre Dame 51 8-2 Old Dominion 74, UCLA 58 8-3 Tennessee 72, UCLA 57 8-4 **UCLA 76, Oklahoma St. 57 9-4 **CS Fullerton 65, UCLA 55 9-5 San Diego St. 77, UCLA 68 9-6 CS Long Beach 118, UCLA 65 9-7 UCLA 97, Arizona St. 61 10-7 UCLA 82, Arizona 68 11-7 **Louisiana Tech 76, UCLA 50 11-8 **UCLA 72, Stanford 58 12-8 **UCLA 77, USC 73 13-8 **CS Long Beach 96, UCLA 70 13-9 UCLA 78, CS Fullerton 69 14-9 **UCLA 79, Arizona 48 15-9 **UCLA 77, Arizona St. 70 16-9 **UCLA 86, San Diego St. 64 17-9 UCLA 75, Stanford 61 18-9 UCLA 57, USC 56 19-9 UCLA 78, Washington 62 20-9 **Georgia 78, UCLA 42 20-10

** home game

CS LONG BEACH WOMEN FACTS & FIGURES

1984-85 TEAM RECORDS, STATISTICS

OVERALL CONFERENCE Team W L Pct. PF PA FG%O FG%D FT% REBF REBA W L Pct. Fin.+ USC 28 3 .903 87.9 66.5 .517 .392 .666 46.2 39.3 13 1 .626 1st

+ WCAA

Note: Statistics are for all games.

ROSTER

RETURNEES

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL PPG RPG FG% FT% 10 Faye Paige G 5-9 135 Sr. 15.2 3.2 .449 .720 11 Scheron Douglas G/F 5-11 150 Jr. 3.3 2.4 .440 .750 30 Carol Brandt F 6-2 155 Jr. 6.2 4.1 .509 .652 31 Missy Rand G/F 5-11 150 Sr. 6.7 1.8 .478 .738 33 Margaret Mohr G 5-8 135 Jr. 3.9 1.8 .458 .667 40 Shaun. McMichl G 5-8 138 So. 3.3 0.8 .364 .625 53 Cindy Brown F/C 6-2 160 Jr. 20.0 10.0 .589 .681

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School) 10 Long Beach (L.B. Poly) 11 San Francisco (S. Fran.) 30 Cerritos (Cerritos) 31 Santee (Santee) 33 Thousand Oaks (La Reina) 40 Long Beach (Jordan) 53 Portland, Ore. (Grant)

NEWCOMERS, REDSHIRTS

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL 24 Vicki Austin G 5-7 140 Fr. 12 Shamell Coleman G/F 5-11 160 Fr. 42 Cheryl Dowell F/C 6-1 178 Fr. 23 Kim Rice F/C 6-2 155 Fr. 14 Bettina Turner F 6-0 150 Fr.

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School) 24 East Moline, Ill. (United Township) 12 Los Angeles (Fairfax) 42 Evansville, Ind. (Bosse) 23 Grass Valley, Calif. (Nevada Union) 14 Colbert, Okla. (Colbert)

COACH: Joan Bonvicini

SCHEDULE

All times PST. Starting times subject to change.

Date Opponent Time Nov. 25 At Arizona St. 4 p.m. Nov. 30 Nevada Reno 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 Long Beach Tournament 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 Long Beach Tournament 6-8 p.m. Dec. 11 *CS Fullerton 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 Oregon State 7:30 p.m. Dec. 31 Georgia 3:00 p.m. Jan. 5 Old Dominion 5 p.m. Jan. 10 At Louisiana Tech 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12 At Houston Noon Jan. 15 *Nevada Las Vegas 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 UCLA 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23 *UC Irvine 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 *At CS Fullerton 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 USC 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 *At Hawaii 10:30 p.m. Feb. 2 *At Hawaii 9 p.m. Feb. 7 At UCLA 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 *At San Diego St. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13 *Pacific 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 *At Nevada Las Vegas 5:30 p.m. Feb. 18 *San Diego St. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 *At UC Santa Barbara 8 p.m. Feb. 22 At USC 4:30 p.m. Feb. 24 *At Pacific 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 *At UC Irvine 7:30 p.m. Mar. 2 *UC Santa Barbara 3 p.m. Mar. 6-8 PCAA Tournament TBA

* PCAA game

1984-85 RESULTS

RECORD: 28-3

Result Record CS Long Beach 87, UC Irvine 60 1-0 CS Long Beach 91, Cheyney St. 42 2-0 CS Long Beach 70, Detroit 67 3-0 **CS Long Beach 112, Wyoming 37 4-0 **CS Long Beach 75, Washington 66 5-0 **CS Long Beach 92, Pepperdine 66 6-0 **CS Long Beach 93, Northwestern 54 7-0 **CS Long Beach 99, San Jose St. 76 8-0 Old Dominion 84, CS Long Beach 71 8-1 CS Long Beach 80, Rutgers 66 9-1 CS Long Beach 92, Fairfield 57 10-1 CS Long Beach 105, San Diego St. 78 11-1 **CS Long Beach 118, UCLA 65 12-1 CS Long Beach 86, Arizona 67 13-1 CS Long Beach 95, Arizona St. 78 14-1 **CS Long Beach 81, Louisiana Tech 76 15-1 **CS Long Beach 98, Stanford 56 16-1 **CS Long Beach 92, San Diego St. 65 17-1 CS Long Beach 66, CS Fullerton 62 18-1 CS Long Beach 96, UCLA 70 19-1 USC 70, CS Long Beach 65 19-2 **CS Long Beach 88, Arizona St. 76 20-2 **CS Long Beach 85, Arizona 55 21-2 **CS Long Beach 95, No. Arizona 61 22-2 CS Long Beach 79, Stanford 61 23-2 CS Long Beach 85, California 64 24-2 **CS Long Beach 64, USC 61 25-2 **CS Long Beach 96, CS Fullerton 69 26-2 NCAA TOURNAMENT **CS Long Beach 112, BYU 85 27-2 CS Long Beach 75, USC 72 28-2 Georgia 97, CS Long Beach 82 28-3

** home game