WOMEN’S BASKETBALL / EARL GUSTKEY : It’s a One-Man Poll, and It Takes a Lot of Work

When the Monday morning sun rises and illuminates the cold streets of Philadelphia, Mel Greenberg--who has spent all of Sunday night and Monday’s pre-dawn hours on another women’s basketball poll--calls it a day.

Greenberg, 45, a 23-year newsman at the Philadelphia Inquirer, compiles the weekly women’s college basketball poll for the Associated Press.

Mel Greenberg is the AP women’s basketball poll.

He’s the sport’s guru, its overseer. Need to know something about women’s basketball? Greenberg is your guy.

When a West Coast reporter left a message on his answering machine Saturday, Greenberg returned the call at 3:30 a.m. EST Sunday--from the office. He was still at the Inquirer sports department, preparing the poll that appears in Tuesday newspapers across the United States.

“What a week, what a bunch of crazy stuff goin’ on!” he said.

Georgia had upset No. 1-ranked Tennessee on Saturday.

“I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing the coaches will vote Vanderbilt No. 1 now,” he said Sunday. Vanderbilt was No. 1 when the poll was released on Monday.

Saturday and Sunday, Greenberg prepares an audiotape highlighting weekend results of all the teams ranked in the previous week’s poll. The 74 coaches on his polling board call in, listen to the tape, then call back with their top 25 votes.

“I have a crew of people who come in with me on Sunday at 8 p.m.,” Greenberg said. “First thing we do is send out for pizzas. Then we go to work.”

Greenberg compiles the poll, writes a companion story and files it to AP, usually about 5 a.m. Monday.

Greenberg was the student manager of the Temple men’s team that won the National Invitation Tournament in 1969. He hasn’t had a thing to do with men’s basketball since.

“I went to work for the Inquirer the following year (and) got the women’s basketball beat,” he said.

“I’ve outlived two sports editors, and I still have women’s basketball. For the Inquirer, I basically cover the five Philly schools--Villanova, Temple, St. Joseph’s, La Salle and Penn--plus Penn State and Rutgers.

Greenberg was asked to pick a winner in the women’s NCAA tournament.

“Even though Tennessee lost to Georgia, I find it tough to pick against them,” he said. “They’ve been so good and so consistent all year. And they beat Stanford twice.

“(Vanderbilt) is a very good finesse team, a good shooting team, but they’re not very physical. Tennessee has a bunch of bulldozers out there.

“Iowa and Ohio State are very good. They could go a long way with good seeds. Western Kentucky was the surprise hot team in the playoffs last year. This year I think it could be Louisiana Tech.

“A lot of coaches in the West tell me USC could do very well. Nicky McCrimmon (USC’s point guard) has helped them a lot. But I still think (Molly) Goodenbour at Stanford is the best point guard in the country.”

One of the first players Greenberg covered in Philadelphia was Marianne Stanley of Immaculata. Stanley is USC’s coach.

“Marianne was right off the playgrounds,” Greenberg said. “Seemed like she spent most of the time on the floor, diving for loose balls. She was extremely aggressive, creating havoc most of the time. A kamikaze kind of player.”

Nevada Las Vegas and Hawaii are the two ranked teams in the Big West Conference tournament, which begins Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Long Beach Arena.

UNLV, No. 21 in the poll, is led by 5-foot-11 forward Teresa Jackson, the conference scoring leader.

The Rebels, who had an 18-game winning streak this season, have lost three of their last five. They were beaten Sunday night in Honolulu by Hawaii, 82-69. The Rainbows, ranked 19th, won the conference title with a 17-1 mark.

No. 1-seeded Hawaii, ranked 20th last week, meets Nevada at 1 p.m. Wednesday. In a 3 p.m. game, UNLV plays Cal State Fullerton.

At 7 p.m., Cal State Long Beach faces UC Santa Barbara, and at 9 p.m., it’s Pacific vs. New Mexico State.