Time to Separate Contenders, Pretenders

And down the stretch they come ...

The regular season of women’s college basketball is wrapping up. In two more weeks conference tournament championships will dominate the landscape to serve as the prelude to the NCAA championship.

The NCAA tournament has 64 available slots. Thirty-four berths are automatic; the other 30 teams are selected by a committee.

The Southeastern, Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 conferences will gobble up multiple selections. Some conferences will get one slot, meaning other teams will be overlooked.

And those teams that are the sole representative of their conference will be pitted against teams they will have little or no chance of beating. Unlike the men, there is not enough parity in women’s basketball to foster the number of upsets that tear apart office pools.

Here is one view on handicapping the tournament field:

* Shoo-ins: Connecticut, Duke, Tennessee, Louisiana State, Kansas State, Stanford, North Carolina, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech, Purdue, Texas, Mississippi State, Penn State, Arkansas, Minnesota, South Carolina, Georgia, Vanderbilt, UC Santa Barbara, Wisconsin Green Bay, Villanova, Boston College, Oklahoma, Ohio State.

These are the teams that, with a couple of exceptions, either began the season in the top 25 or have spent much of the season ranked. They figured to finish first in their conference and win their conference tournaments, or place high. They should all expect an invitation to the NCAA tournament, barring a spectacular collapse in the final weeks.

* Looking good for now: Alabama State, Arizona, Auburn, Austin Peay, Ball State, Boston College, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Colorado, Delaware, De Paul, Florida State, George Washington, Hampton, Harvard, Indiana State, Kent State, Liberty, Maine, Manhattan, Michigan State, Montana State, Pepperdine, Rutgers, St. Francis (Pa.), St. Joseph’s, Tennessee Chattanooga, Texas San Antonio, Utah, Virginia Tech, Western Illinois, Washington, Western Kentucky.

Some of these teams have been ranked this season. Most of them are either leading their conferences or trail the leader by two games or fewer and have the talent to win their conference tournament. Most have also defeated a ranked team or have a strong RPI rating.

* Looking for a way in: Arizona State, Baylor, Brigham Young, Creighton, Eastern Kentucky, Elon, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia Tech, Holy Cross, Illinois, Lehigh, Long Beach State, Louisville, Montana, North Carolina Wilmington, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Quinnipiac, Santa Clara, Siena, Toledo, Troy State, Tulane, Tulsa, UC Irvine, UCLA, USC, Weber State, Xavier.

These are flawed teams that need to win their conference tournament or at least make a run to make a case.

It will help if they have NCAA tournament experience, as does Old Dominion, BYU and Notre Dame. Or if they played an excruciating nonconference schedule, as USC has, and are playing their best now.

Most teams, however, will have to depend on the kindness of the selection committee unless they can secure their conference’s automatic bid.

*

Last week Tennessee State Athletic Director Teresa Phillips became the first woman to coach a Division I men’s basketball team, when she was on the bench for her school’s game against Austin Peay.

But even with the barrier broken -- Phillips stepped in only after interim Coach Hosea Lewis was suspended after a brawl between Tennessee State and Eastern Kentucky -- other women’s coaches aren’t polishing their resumes in anticipation of other opportunities.

“I think there will be a time and a place it can happen again,” Washington Coach June Daugherty said.

“But right now it will take a while for another woman to have a chance to coach men in Division I basketball.

“It’s not the coaching aspect, but recruiting. There are a lot of people who can coach men’s and women’s basketball. But because of the mind-set out there right now, because of the way things are, it would be difficult for women to recruit men.”