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Notice: We have a chance
By Aaron Sharockman, Special to CNNSI.com It may be the Big East's biggest story, but the news of Notre Dame's stunning upset of Connecticut Monday has filtered through the minds of coaches all across the country, with the Big Ten signal callers being no different. Surprisingly, none of the coaches feels sorry for Geno Auriemma and his team of superstars. In fact, there won't even be any courtesy calls to Storrs, Conn. to console with the coach who returned the best line-up in the country after a national title last season -- can you believe it? Well, I know you can. "I was one of those people who thought UConn was just too good," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "I didn't think they'd lose to be honest. But now, hey, we have a chance." With the Martin Luther King holiday, most teams didn't practice, affording the opportunity to watch the clash between the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation. Seeing UConn lose helps make women's basketball exciting for the fans again, Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said. The Fighting Illini were pummeled by the Huskies earlier in the season. "It brings the idea, that, well maybe this is anybody's game," Grentz said. "And in a situation like that, the game is a lot more exciting for the players, but especially the fans." And anytime fans can see good women's college basketball helps the game as a whole, Michigan State associate head coach Katie Abrahamson said. As she watched Muffet McGraw and Notre Dame end UConn's laundry list of streaks, she couldn't help but think of the big picture of women's basketball. "Anytime you have a women's game on ESPN or ESPN2, it's great for the game," Abrahamson said. "As a former player, I was glued to the game start-to-finish. The girls were at home and I know a lot of them were watching. "Thank goodness for Notre Dame." Ohio State struggling to fill the benchA season that once started off so promising for coach Beth Burns has turned into a horrible nightmare.After a 10-0 non-conference start, Burns' team has been decimated by injuries to the point where her roster now boasts two volleyball players and a soccer goalie. "I didn't even know all the names of my players last week," Burns said. If LaToya Turner's season-ending injury wasn't enough last week, the Buckeyes lost two more players with injuries. The team was so crippled it only dressed six players in its loss to Illinois last week. With the three sport-crossovers, the Buckeyes will likely dress 10 for the rest of the season, but are still basically a six-person team. OSU's 10th player is a 5-6 point guard wearing a cast on her right hand, nothing more than an extra body if even more should go wrong for the Buckeyes. Burns has been able to keep relatively up beat during the entire ordeal. "We must be tough to prepare for," said Burns, laughing. "We were a running, pressing team for 10 games, now we're not. Kids are playing 40 minutes a game and now we can't practice. "I'm learning every day." Luke back at the point for PSUIn a move coach Rene Portland called fair, sophomore Ashley Luke won her starting job back Sunday in PSU's 89-68 win over Indiana. Luke had lost the position to sophomore Katrena Carr after the Lady Lion's had lost two straight to Duke and Texas Tech early in the season.Sunday's decision was based on the two losses Penn State had suffered to Illinois and Michigan. "I can't stand to lose once, so imagine when I lose twice," Portland said. "They say I drink Hatorade, not Gatorade. No, we switched after the Duke and Texas Tech losses, so it was out of fairness that we switch again here. "It wasn't that Ashley played extremely well against Michigan or Illinois, rather just fair since we did the same thing earlier." Portland was pleased with Luke's 10 points and five assists in 27 minutes of action. Luke was happy to be back in the line-up. "I think the first time around I wasn't fired up to be in there and it showed some times," Luke said. "Now I know that I have to be at my best whenever I'm on the court to keep the job." Aaron Sharockman is a reporter for the Indiana Daily Student, the student newspaper serving Indiana University.
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