Women’s basketball: Power index plays role in process

Gonzaga has forced area basketball fans to become RPI savvy in the last decade.

With the men dominating the West Coast Conference, the power ratings became an important barometer in case the Bulldogs stumbled in the WCC tournament.

Then the women proved the RPI is just a piece of the NCAA tournament puzzle when they destroyed the WCC in 2004-05 only to have an injury cost them the WCC tournament title. Despite a 28-4 record and an RPI ranking of 48, they were left out of the NCAA tournament because of their strength of schedule.

Combine that factor with coaches always talking about how tough their conference is, an NCAA women’s regional here in March, and it is a good time to look at the power index as it relates to women’s basketball in the area.

Checking the RPI from the 1999-00 season covers the tenure of the four area coaches – Washington State’s June Daugherty (first year), Gonzaga’s Kelly Graves (2000-01), Eastern Washington’s Wendy Schuller (2001-02) and Idaho’s Mike Divilbiss (2001-02).

Washington State: Yes, the Pac-10 is the toughest conference around here, but the truth is it’s not that tough when compared to equal powers. There are six BCS or power conferences and the Pac-10 is generally sixth. Only once (2005-06) has the conference been higher, and that was fifth, and three times it’s been lower, including ninth in 2001-02.

Stanford has consistently been a national power, but the Cardinal have not been to the Final Four since 1998 and won the last of their two titles in 1992. In the last eight years, the Pac-10 has had 31 NCAA berths, 10 fewer than any other power conference and barely ahead of Conference USA.

The building project that Daugherty faces is monumental. The Cougars are almost always last in the Pac-10, with an RPI range from 159 at the end of the 2001 season, to 279 last year – which is where they were entering this week.

Gonzaga: The WCC is usually the best of the local midmajors. The high-water mark was seventh in 2001-02, when the Bulldogs were struggling, ranked 231. The low was two seasons ago at 24th, but the WCC was 12th last year and is 10th this season out of 33 conferences.

The WCC has earned two NCAA berths three times in the last eight seasons, but the last time that happened was in 2002. GU, ranked 52 at the moment, was best in the WCC in 2007 (46) and 2005 (48). In 2000, before Graves took over, the Bulldogs were 216. They went 272 and 231 in his first two years, but have been inside 150 (there are 339 schools) every year but one since.

Eastern Washington: The Big Sky has ranged from 18 to 29 and is generally around 20. The conference leader, almost always Montana, has been in the top 100. Only once in history has the Big Sky had more than one team in the tournament.

The Eagles have been hard-pressed to get higher than 200 and are often closer to 300. EWU is 319 this year and was 287 last year. The best was 182 in 2003-04, but in the eight years they have never been higher than fourth best in the conference.

Idaho: There are two conferences to examine, the Western Athletic and Big West. The WAC is generally better, though it is 23 this season. It was 17 and 15 in Idaho’s first two years as a member.

The Big West ranged from 15, back when Santa Barbara was a super power at No. 8 in 1999-00, but had three straight 28s.

Idaho’s last two years in the BWC were the Vandals’ high-water marks, ranking 111 and 99, second behind UCSB. The WAC has been hard on the Vandals, 334 today, 309 and 332 the previous two seasons.

Local watch

San Francisco ran its winning streak to five with Tuesday’s win over Eastern Washington. Heidi Heintz (Central Valley) scored 17 against Cal Poly in USF’s fourth consecutive win. … Freshman Jenna Galloway (Ferris) is out of action at Northern Arizona for at least a few weeks with a stress fracture in her foot. … Angie Bjorklund (University) of Tennessee became only the second player to win consecutive SEC Freshman of the Week honors. … Junior Emily Kuipers (U-Hi) is redshirting this season at D-II Regis College (Denver) because of a preseason knee injury. … Alysha Green (Mead) is redshirting at Carroll College. … Freshmen Dara Zack (U-Hi) and Roni Jo Mielke (Sprague-Harrington) are playing key roles for D-II St. Martin’s, 4-1 going into a game at Pacific Lutheran on Tuesday.

Tip-ins

Gonzaga (6-4) is home today against Purdue (3-5), which has faded after an early-season ranking inside the Top 25. The game time has been switched to 5 p.m. to accommodate television (KAYU). The Bulldogs are at Montana State (5-4) Friday. … WSU (3-7) hits conference play first, finishing up non-conference play Friday at Long Beach State (1-8). The first weekend is daunting, at No. 5 Stanford and No. 12 California, Dec. 28 and 30, respectively. … Eastern (3-8) is at Pacific on Friday. … Idaho (1-10) is off until playing at Pacific on Dec. 30.

EWU freshman Kyla Evans is first in the BSC and seventh nationally, averaging 3.1 3-pointers a game. … Sophomore Tara Holgate, who played her first year at EWU, is averaging 6.4 points and 4.9 rebounds off the bench for Western Washington, where junior Sarah Schramm, who played her freshman year at GU, is starting and averaging more than seven points. The injury-decimated Vikings are 3-6 after Tuesday’s win in the Great Western Shootout in Las Vegas. … After redshirting, junior guard Dominique Harris, who played two years at Gonzaga, is starting and averaging 9.9 points for 3-6 Nevada-Las Vegas. … Phynique Allen has to sit out a year at Cal State Bakersfield after transferring from EWU.