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[ Wednesday, March 1, 1995 ]
NCAA deep fries Boilermakers
Women's basketball team disciplined for violations
By BRAD YOUNG
Collegian Sports Writer
Purdue found out last week that a Big Mac and fries can be damaging to more than just the waistline.
The Boilermakers were slapped with NCAA sanctions for rule violations that included buying fast food meals for two prospective recruits.
Other infractions involved allowing a recruit to use a cellular phone to call her home, providing a recruit with a 120-mile ride to her home and picking up current Purdue players -- and high school athletes already committed to play for the Boilermakers -- at the airport.
This all adds up to some not-so special sauce for the Boilers. As a result of the infringements, Head Coach Lin Dunn and Assistant Coach MaChelle Joseph are restricted from recruiting until May 15. Purdue is only allowed to accept official campus visits from 10 high school players rather than the usual 12.
The university must also submit a plan to monitor the women's basketball program.
The last time Hinkle Field House saw this much excitement was when Hickory High's Jimmy Chitwood hit a jumper from the top of the key to stun South Bend Central in the 1952 Indiana State Championship Game.
Hinkle was the setting for that fictional finish to the 1986 drama Hoosiers. And this weekend, the Indianapolis structure will be dressed up again, but not for movie cameras. Starting at 2 p.m. Friday when Minnesota takes on Iowa, the field house will host the first Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament since 1982.
The Hawkeye-Golden Gopher matchup is the best of three first-round games to be played Friday. The other two contests pit No. 7 seed Ohio State against No. 10 Illinois and No. 6 Michigan State against No. 11 Michigan.
Iowa Coach C. Vivian Stringer understands her Hawkeyes (10-16, 6-10 Big Ten) need to take the tourney title to garner a 10th straight NCAA tournament appearance.
"We're probably most fortunate that the tournament is here, because we don't have a snowball's chance in a fire of getting to the NCAA tournament," Stringer said. "We are extremely fortunate to have this opportunity."
If No. 9 Iowa gets past No. 8 Minnesota (12-14, 7-9), it will have the not-so-fortunate opportunity of facing top-seeded Penn State in the quarterfinals.
The conference co-champions for the second straight season, the Lady Lions (22-4, 13-3) have the easiest road to the tourney finals, which will be played next Monday. To get there, they will have to beat the winner of the Iowa-Minnesota game. If they do that, they will take on either No. 5 Indiana or No. 4 Northwestern. The combined record of those four teams is just 54-51.
But the Lady Lions are mistaken if they think the tourney title will be hand-delivered.
"I think everyone has a chance to win the tournament," Dunn said. "I think that's the whole point of it. I think there's many teams (that could win it)."
Dunn's squad has as good a shot as any team, but it will have to beat at least three tough teams to earn that shot, starting with dangerous Ohio State (14-12, 7-9) in the second round.
"We're looking at this as a new season, new life," Ohio State Coach Nancy Darsch said.
If the Boilers can squelch that new life, upstart Wisconsin (19-7, 11-5) will most likely be waiting in the semifinals.
The No. 3 Badgers, along with Penn State and Purdue, have already secured at least an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. That might make those three teams vulnerable prey for the highly-motivated, lower-seeded teams that need to win the tourney to get an NCAA tournament berth. Expect one of these teams to rise to the title.
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Created: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 6:14:48 PM -4