Sports For The Girls: March Madness, Pat Summit, C. Vivian Stringer and more...

It's March, baby, and you know what that means-only a couple more weeks of winter and/or antidepressants, depending on how well 2009 has been treating you. It also means the March Madness of women's college basketball is gearing up. Get that geeky guy in cubicle three to print out the 64 team bracket, and let the games begin.

The Final Four will have their showdown in Detroit this year (beautiful in Spring, I'm sure) and one team will emerge as the big winner. Pull out that hard-earned money for the office betting-pool, because I'm here to help you make some ill-informed decisions about how to loose your lunch money and possibly your lunch watching women's college hoops.

Let's recap shall we? The Final Four last year was held in Tampa Bay (beautiful all year round, I'm sure) and left Connecticut and LSU as semifinalists. It also left the Tennessee Lady Vols with a win and an incredible 8^th NCAA title in a match against Stanford.

So your first thought is this year will be a repeat of last year, and you'll be wrong.

Here's why...

For everyone that's been sleeping with the groundhog that saw his shadow, Pat Summit, the famed Tennessee coach, is working with a freshman team. Candice Parker (the last two years' MOP) was one of the incredible players she lost. Tennessee is ranked, but way down at number 18. The scary part is you should never count them out. Summit just went over 1,000 wins in her career and she shows no signs of letting up.

As if to prove the point, last year she wrestled a raccoon after a dinner of salmon to save her dog "Sally". She underwent shoulder surgery for her trouble...but ladies...you should see the raccoon.

Another coach that loves to win is C. Vivian Stringer of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. You might remember her taking the high road when that dried up prune of a man, Imus, made the "nappy ho" comments about her team. With one more win she will join a club of only three (including Pat Summit and Jody Conradt) as a women's basketball coach with 800 wins.

I recently caught a Villanova/Rutgers game and Stringer was great to watch-a ball of fire and energy, stalking the sidelines, calling plays to her girls and yelling at the refs. It was a good game, even if they didn't sell booze in the auditorium, and the baton twirlers had to do not one, but two routines without music. Ah...the trappings of college life.

OK, let's get back to the bracket and betting. If it's ranking you want, then you should look at the only undefeated team, the UConn. Huskies. With a record of 27-0 they seem very pissed off about only making it to the semifinals last year. They're followed in the AP top five by Oklahoma, Stanford, California, and Maryland. But you can't always look at just ranking. It's why we know how to pronounce colleges called Gonzaga and Xavier in basketball.

Well what the hell do we do? We want to bet money with coworkers, and rub it in their faces if we win!

I hear you, and trust me I want to rub my coworkers face in something, but they truth is that it's statistically more probable for me to win a date with Angelina Jolie than for anyone to pick all those wins correctly. But hey...it's a lot more fun if you've got a couple of bucks or lunch in the balance.

My advice? Keep the AP top 10 in your bracket.and watch these players, because no matter which team wins through the playoffs you'll see this group going on to great heights in the professionals:

1. Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, Center. Probably the leader in the MOP race. Just broke Big 12 scoring record and all time rebounds record.
2. Maya Moore, UConn, Forward. ESPN tagged her in the preseason for POY, and she's just a sophomore-'nuff said.
3. Kristi Toliver, Maryland, Guard. One of the best three point shooters in the country and undisputed leader of the team.
4. Chante Black, Center, Duke. One of the only players to put up double digits every game.
5. Sha Brooks, Florida, Guard. 16 points per game and rebounds galore. You'll definitely see this senior playing for the WNBA next year.

That's a great group for gold stars on the fridge, but you know I always like hearing about the ones that fall through the cracks...the bad seeds, so to speak.

I leave you with Louisiana Tech guard freshman, Kiara Young. She's been suspended indefinitely for shoplifting. The team was in Hawaii and I guess saw something she had to have...for free. The good news is for her is that they beat Hawaii, but one can only hope that jail cells in Maui have an oceanfront view.

I warned you that you wouldn't get any real advice. See you next time on the couch.