Results So Far Show That Parity’s Closer to Reality

Minnesota Coach Pam Borton had a tough time believing it. In fact, she needed to see the result staring her in the face.

“I think it sunk in when I opened the morning paper and saw that we really did beat Stanford,” she said.

“But this is what we’re striving for.”

The sixth-seeded Golden Gophers had beaten third-seeded Stanford on the Cardinal’s home court, adding to the unprecedented number of underdogs advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.

Minnesota is among the seven teams seeded five or lower still playing.

“The game has really grown,” Borton said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of teams that have the ability to get to the Final Four.”

High schools are turning out more talent to build solid programs, Borton said.

“Coaches are doing a better job of recruiting,” she said.

“You still have your elite kids going to the same schools, but the key is to surround your top recruit with other good role players.”

The 68-56 upset over Stanford in the West Regional landed the Golden Gophers in the round of 16 for the first time, creating a buzz in Minneapolis.

“I had 130 e-mails and 40 phone calls,” Borton said. “People are just so excited that we’ve taken the program to another level.”

Other underdogs advancing to regional semifinals: No. 6-seeded Colorado in the Mideast, No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 New Mexico in the Midwest. No. 5 Louisiana Tech advanced in the West. No. 5 Boston College and No. 11 Notre Dame are still playing in the East.

The Fighting Irish, two years removed from their only national championship, knocked off third-seeded Kansas State on the Wildcats’ home court in one of several predetermined sites used in the women’s tournament for the first time.

The Big East has four teams remaining in the tournament, the most of any conference.

That’s one more than the perennially powerful Southeastern Conference and possibly another measure of overall progress.

“Our league has obviously gotten better and better every year,” Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said.

“I attribute that a lot to Connecticut.”

He said Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma has helped set the standard with three national titles, forcing others to catch up.

But Tranghese isn’t quite ready to proclaim a level playing field.

“I don’t know if there’s more parity,” he said.

“I think that still remains to be seen.”

Tranghese is a strong critic of the predetermined sites, which had lower-seeded teams playing host in the first two rounds.

The home-court advantage paid off for Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico and Louisiana Tech, who all won at home, beating higher-seeded teams.

“I just don’t think its fair,” he said. “This tournament has enormous potential to get better, but it’s got to stay away from gimmicks.”

There were no surprises among the top-seeded teams as Connecticut, Tennessee, Duke and Louisiana State all advanced.

Villanova Coach Harry Perretta, whose team is seeded second in the Mideast, said if those four are taken out of the mix, the field is more even. Perretta’s Wildcats upset Connecticut two weeks ago, ending the Huskies’ 70-game win streak.

“I think parity’s coming into the game,” Perretta said. “It’s still not quite there. There’s better players and you can spread that talent throughout the country a little better.”

But the Huskies had all they could handle Tuesday night at home against Texas Christian, a big, fast team playing with nothing to lose.

The defending national champions needed a career-high 35 points from Diana Taurasi to win, 81-66.

“This parity stuff sometimes in women’s basketball sometimes gets beat up a little bit,” Auriemma said. “That’s a really good team playing on our home court.”

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Wyoming Coach Cindy Fisher, who just completed her fifth and most successful season, has been awarded a contract extension through 2007-08, university Athletic Director Lee Moon announced.

“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to remain at Wyoming,” Fisher said. “I feel our program is moving in the right direction, and with the student-athletes we have recruited for next year we are going to continue moving in that direction.

Moon said Fisher’s compensation package would remain the same for the first year of the extension due to Wyoming’s “no-raise” policy for the next fiscal year. The base package of $113,000 will be adjusted the following year.

The Cowgirls finished the 2002-03 season with an 18-12 record, advancing to the second round of the Women’s NIT.

They were 7-7 in the Mountain West Conference, sixth place, but only two games out of second.

Fisher’s overall record at Wyoming is 59-81.

“The growth and development of our women’s basketball program has been steady,” Moon said, “and we have been pleased with that development.

“From her team’s outstanding academic performance to its play on the floor, Cindy has placed the program on solid footing.”

Before coming to Wyoming, Fisher, a Cheyenne native, was an assistant coach at Old Dominion for three seasons.

Fisher said her coaching staff would remain intact.

This last season was the Cowgirls’ best since 1996-97.

A first-round victory over Montana in the WNIT was the team’s first in postseason play.

Senior Carrie Bacon was named to the Verizon Academic All-District VII first team. She was a two-time Academic All-Conference and Scholar-Athlete honoree as well as a second-team All-Mountain West selection.