Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews St. Francis cheerleader Lizzy Frank

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Jon Teitel

Last Tuesday St. Francis beat CCSU 46-43 in the NEC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Red Flash had losing seasons each of the past 4 years but won each of their final 6 games to claim the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid since 1991. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with St. Francis cheerleader Lizzy Frank about the historic win earlier this week and making the NCAA tourney.

You are from Altoona, PA: what was it like to be a high school cheerleader during COVID? It took a toll on my senior year, and my team was not allowed to cheer at a lot of our games. It was not fun, but I made sure to cheer at every opportunity I could.

What made you choose St. Francis? I waited a long time to apply to any schools. St. Francis is a good school and is close to home, so after I got accepted I decided to go there.

You are pursuing a degree in marketing with a concentration on digital media: how did you choose those subjects? I was originally a psychology major but quickly decided that marketing would be the best way for me to connect with the fashion industry.

You are a senior: do you have a post-graduation plan yet? I wish I did! I have been working at an internship all year and have not looked anywhere else. My dream job would be to go to a big city and become a marketing executive at a high-end fashion brand.

How did you 1st get into cheering, and what is the best part? I 1st started cheering for my school’s flag football team during elementary school, and I was 1 of those kids whose parents always put me in Penn State/Steeler uniforms. The best part is just cheering for the team on game day.

Your team was 10-17 in mid-February: what was the mood like inside DeGol Arena last month, and how has it changed since then? St. Francis does a great job of keeping the energy positive: our band acts as another student section and has a great vibe. It is a very big deal to see how far the team has come, but we have not lost any speed in terms of our encouragement/support.

Last Tuesday in the NEC tourney title game your team had a 3-PT win at CCSU: what was the reaction like after the final buzzer went off, and how excited is everyone on campus this week? We all hugged each other and started jumping up and down. The band was going crazy, and it was fun to see the team cut down the nets. It was cool to see everyone on campus come together considering we are such a small school.

How does your school decide who gets to go to the NCAA tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? We are only allowed to have 12 people combined between cheer/dance. I am a senior and a captain, so I will be going with our 2 other captains. Attendance at games and passion for the team are also important. I am a little nervous for us to receive all this national attention, but we are a good team so we deserve it.

Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for next week? We will just go out and do what we have been doing all year…but we will be much more excited for it.

Any predictions for next week? I am kind of a bad cheerleader so I only keep up with our team, but I have a strong hope/desire for us to win…and I think that we will do it!

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Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews UNCG SR PG Jayde Gamble

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Jon Teitel

Last Sunday UNCG beat Chattanooga 64-57 in OT in the SoCon women’s tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Spartans have won 14 games in a row as they claimed the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid since 1998. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with UNCG SR PG Jayde Gamble about being a great defender and making the NCAA tourney.

You began your college career at UNCW: why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose UNCG? I had 2 different coaching changes during my 2 years at UNCW, and UNCG has 1 of the best speech pathology programs in the state.

You play for Coach Trina Patterson: what makes her such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from her so far? She is a players’ coach and gives us what we need at that moment. She taught me to embrace the present and never get too high/too low.

Last year you were also named 1st-Team All-Conference and conference All-Tournament Team: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? It was a blessing, especially after coming here from a new conference and having to prove what I could do.

In the 2024 WNIT you scored 8 PTS in a 5-PT loss to North Carolina A&T: what did you learn from that loss that you think will help you this time around in the postseason? When you get into March everyone knows what you like to do. This year I am more than just a scorer so I can focus on trying to impact the game in different ways.

You are leading the team in PPG/APG: how do you balance your scoring with your passing? The opposing defense kind of makes it easy for me. I do not force shots up and just play within the flow of the game.

You faced several power-conference teams in non-conference play (North Carolina/Georgia/Wake Forest): which of them impressed you the most? I think the Tar Heels are always a good matchup because they have a lot of athletic players who can run the floor. The SEC is very big, so it was also fun to face Georgia.

You finished top-3 in the conference in SPG during each of the past 2 years: what is the key to being a great defender? Just being in the right place at the right time. I am lucky to have a teammate behind me in Khalis Cain who is a shot-blocker. It also can fuel our offensive energy to get steals.

Last Sunday in the SoCon tourney title game you scored 12 PTS in a 7-PT OT win over Chattanooga to clinch the title: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? I was blessed to be in that moment. I did not win a lot of games at UNCW, and the chance to play a Chattanooga team who beat us in the conference tourney last year was nice. It has brought a lot of attention to our school, and we have received a lot of appreciation from our alumni and the people who work here because this has not been done in a long time.

You enter the NCAA tourney on a 14-game winning streak: has it reached a point where you expect to win every time that you step onto the court? 1 thing that I have been taught is to play hard, so even if we are in a hole early, we will not give up because we thrive in those moments. We are in great physical condition and are mentally tough, which allows us to compete with anyone.

What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I have never been in this position, so I do not know what we deserve. I have heard that we will get a 15/16 seed, but I am just grateful for this moment.

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Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews UNCG women’s coach Trina Patterson

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Jon Teitel

Last Sunday UNCG beat Chattanooga 64-57 in OT in the SoCon women’s tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Spartans have won 14 games in a row as they claimed the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid since 1998. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with UNCG women’s coach Trina Patterson about being a builder and making the NCAA tourney.

As a basketball player at Virginia you led the team in rebounding as a junior and were team captain as a senior: what is the key to being a great rebounder, and what is the key to being a great leader? Rebounding is about heart/desire: you can have all the technique you want in terms of your hands/positioning…but it is about going after it. If you have a tough team, then they will be good at rebounding. I played vs. guys when I was growing up, so I had to be tough enough to get on the court. I was the oldest child/oldest grandchild, which forced me to lead, and I was captain of my high school team in Newport News, VA. My mother was a teacher, so I had to do things the right way. I studied the traits of good leaders: I am going to be Trina, but my husband is a retired Marine, and I learned from him as well. So many people are poured into me.

Your coach was Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan: what made her such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from her? She recruited me and taught me how to work hard because she saw those leadership qualities in me. We had some incredibly difficult things to do, and she focused on working hard/playing defense. My position coach for 2 years was a guy you might have heard of named…Geno Auriemma!

You won 26 games in 1987 and made it to the Sweet 16: what was it like to face Tennessee coach Pat Summit in postseason play? I later coached against Pat as an assistant. We did not have a chance that day on the road at Tennessee: their fans were intimidating, their defense pressured us a lot, and she was a phenomenal coach.

In 2014 you made the Final 4 as an assistant to Tara VanDerveer at Stanford before losing to eventual champion UConn: what was it like to face that undefeated Huskies team featuring Breanna Stewart/Geno? Working with Tara every day helped me a lot. I got that job due to my involvement in USA Basketball: I spent 1-on-1 time with her every year on the Selection Committee. It was an honor to work for her, but I moved back to Virginia after 2 years because my father’s health was declining. I worked with a pair of future #1 draft picks in Chiney/Nneka Ogwumike and I appreciated all those moments. I was like a sponge and just tried to help Tara win a title, and I try to teach our assistants now the same thing.

Your UNCG team had back-to-back seasons of single-digit wins in 2021/2022: at the time did you think that a 25-win season would be possible? Winning a championship was always in my mind. Situations ebb and flow: the year after COVID was hard for everyone. We won 23 games the year before that but then took a dip. I knew that I would be able to build this program.

You have been named conference COY in the CAA/America East/SoCon: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I am a builder! All the jobs I got were not great jobs. William & Mary had never had a winning season…but we won 20 games in year #3. Albany had quickly transitioned from D-3 to D-2 to D-1…and we went .500 in year #3. When I took this job they had not had a winning season in 5 years…and we built it. Some of us might be lucky enough to get handed a great established program, but most of us have to build it while making changes.

Your team’s 51.8 PPG allowed is #3 in the nation: what is the secret to playing great defense? Spartan basketball is like John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success”, and defense is the foundation. We can travel with it and our players understand how important it is. We have an elite person in Khalis Cain, who protects the rim as our “street sweeper”, and we do not waste time on things that are unimportant: we only do drills that are key to the game. It goes back to Debbie: if you cannot play defense then you will not win a championship.

Last Sunday in the SoCon women’s tourney title game your team had a 7-PT OT win over Chattanooga to clinch the title: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It means everything. I am thankful to God for the opportunity to do what I love doing. I enjoy coaching young women and helping them become champions both on/off the court. To finally reach my goal from year #1 was surreal: tears were flying, and I could not believe it happened. When I got back to campus I slept for 2 days because I was so tired, but I have pressed the reset button and now I am back. Every 1 of our players/coaches/administrators helped us get this result.

Your fellow Cavalier alum Dawn Staley has won 2 of the past 3 NCAA women’s titles as coach at South Carolina: how proud are you of all her success, and do you think that she can make it 3 of the past 4? I do. My best friend in college was Dawn Bryant, who is from Philly, and she knew Dawn Staley. Debbie told us that Staley was good, which I did not want to hear at the time, but when she showed up she was lights-out. I have the utmost respect for her: she built Temple, then built South Carolina, and has done so much for our sport. We are in a great space for women’s basketball: it is a great place to be.

You enter the NCAA tourney on a 14-game winning streak: what kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? What we deserve will be based on our body of work. We lost to UTSA and really played well against Georgia/Wake Forest. We competed against UNC, but did not get the win. I think we would have gotten a 13/14 seed if we had beaten 1 of those Power 4 teams, but we might get a 15 seed due to a bid thief if we are ranked higher than them in the NET.

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The Hoops HD Selection Committee – Thursday, March 13th

Posted on March 13, 2025 by John Stalica

Tonight was our initial night of the Hoops HD Selection Committee meetings. After the meeting began, our first order of business was to name the 2025 Centenary and Stallings Award winners. The Citadel won their first Centenary Award and Miami won their first Stallings Award, meaning that both teams will be on the Selection Board for the entirety of the proceedings.

After that, a motion was made to take off all but one of the Under The Radar regular season champions that automatically appeared on the Under Consideration board – only Liberty survived the initial purge. When that was done, we began debating on which teams would be added to the at-large field.

In the first round of voting, each of the Committee members nominated 8 teams for consideration – the top 8 vote-getters were Mississippi St, UConn, Creighton, Illinois, Marquette, Kansas, Memphis, and Mizzou. We then ranked the teams 1 through 8 – the top four vote-getters that were added to the at-large board were Missouri, Illinois, and Memphis. There was a tie between Kansas and Marquette for the fourth spot; Kansas was added and Marquette became a carryover team along with Mississippi State, Creighton and UConn.

The next round of voting meant that we again nominated 8 teams individually. This time, the top 4 vote-getters for nomination were New Mexico, Baylor, West Virginia and Georgia. (There was actually a 5-way tie for 2nd place; Arkansas and Vandy missed the cut in this tiebreaker vote). The next group of eight teams was again ranked 1 through 8 and the next four at-large teams added were Marquette, Mississippi State, UConn and Creighton. The next four carryovers were Baylor, West Virginia, Georgia and New Mexico.

For the last round of voting, the top 4 vote-getters for nomination were Utah State, Indiana, Arkansas and Vanderbilt. After ranking the teams 1 through 8, the next four at-large teams added were New Mexico, Baylor, Georgia and Utah State. The three carryover teams for the next round of voting were Arkansas, Indiana and Vanderbilt; West Virginia moved back to Under Consideration since they could not carry over a second time.

Our work was done for the night – here is the updated board:

In the Under Consideration column, the teams highlighted in yellow have all been eliminated from their conference tournaments and cannot add anything further to their profiles. Also note that there are currently two contingency spots for the Big 12 and Big 10; there will be no bid thieves out of those conferences. The Big East could open up as well if UConn beats Villanova (which was in progress at the time this was posted).

Tomorrow, our main goal will be to begin seeding the top 8 lines of the NCAA Tournament field; we may also fill in any remaining at-large bids that open up tomorrow as well.

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All-Access at the A-10 Tournament in DC: 2nd round Thursday

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Jon Teitel

Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The A-10 Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from DC with a recap of the 2nd round quadruple-header on Thursday.

GAME #1: ST. BONAVENTURE-DUQUESNE
I had to work, but the Bonnies won 64-59.

GAME #2: ST. LOUIS-DAVIDSON
I had to work, but the Billikens won 83-75.

GAME #3 GW-FORDHAM
I arrived midway through the 2nd half and was VERY glad that I could walk to the arena from my apartment:

GW F Darren Buchanan Jr. had a nice game with 14 PTS off the bench…but had to hop on the stationary bike to stay loose:

JUST to set the record straight, we all love Joey Brackets…but he ranks 118th in the Bracket Matrix over the past 5 years and your truly ranks 7th:

The Revs took a 68-55 lead with under 9 minutes left (their largest of the game), but Fordham came all the way back to take a 74-72 lead with just over 2 minutes to play thanks to 35 PTS/7-9 3PM from Jackie Johnson III:

However, GW G Trey Autry hit some huge threes of his own down the stretch to tie his career high with 23 PTS (and set a career high with 7-13 3PM) as his team hung on for dear life and eked out an 88-81 victory:

In the postgame press conference I tried to ask Autry to explain why he only made 3-13 3PM during his 2 games vs. GMU this year. Without waiting for me to finish my question he piped up, “The rims were messed up!”, but then admitted that the Patriots are a good defensive team:

GAME #4: La Salle-St. Joe’s
I FINALLY was able to use my food voucher to grab a late dinner at 1 of the concession stands on the concourse level: the chicken tenders/fries were okay…but the sriracha honey hot sauce was just the kick I needed to make it through the final game of the night! Between the Hoyas and the Wizards, there has not been a lot to celebrate at Capital 1 Arena in 2025, but thanks to the Alex Ovechkin’s chase toward Wayne Gretzky’s carer goals record I got to see this dynamic display from the Caps:

In the past the A-10 has given out gifts to the media such as flash drives/pint glasses, and this week we get mobile phone chargers:

I usually do not get emotional at college basketball games, but this 1 has the potential to be a farewell that I will not soon forget. The Penn coach for my 1st-ever game as a college freshman was Fran Dunphy…and more than 3 decades later (God I am old!) I am attending what could be his last-ever game as a college coach:

In contrast to Dunphy’s impending retirement, the Hawk will never die:

The Explorers hung around for the 1st 20 minutes but St. Joe’s SO G Xzayvier Brown was Xcellent with 15 PTS/3-4 3PM and helped his team head to the locker room with a 36-27 lead:

I missed most of the 2nd half while preparing for some interviews tomorrow. The Explorer mascot tried to match the Hawk’s intensity during the 2nd half, and a late 17-1 run which included a 4-PT play made it VERY interesting:

However, St. Joe’s just had too much size and used a 46-35 REB advantage to clinch a 75-70 win as the 2 coaches came together for a heartfelt handshake:

In the postgame press conference I wondered if St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange (who had a 1st round bye yesterday) believed more in rest or rust. He answered that while he appreciated my alliteration, he has never been in Dayton’s double-bye position. At this time of year everyone is playing their best ball and is familiar with every other team in their conference. While his own team is in rhythm, he is sure that Dayton (his Friday night opponent) feels good that they are rested:

Coach Dunphy walked up to the podium for the final press conference of his lengthy career, but rather than have me try/fail to summarize it, I will just post a link to the whole thing so that you can hear the entirety of his answers. It begins around the 16:45 mark, and my question for 1 of my all-time favorite coaches begins around the 34:05 mark: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWHq55auK5A

That is a wrap for today, check back tomorrow for the quarterfinal quadruple-header as the top seeds finally take the court in an attempt to take home this terrific trophy:

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The Hoops HD Selection Committee – The Big Board

Posted on March 13, 2025 by John Stalica

As of noon today, the Hoops HD Selection Committee is set to begin meetings later tonight now that each member of the Committee has submitted two lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list was the First Ballot that was a list of up to 24 teams (this is fewer than the 36 that we’ve typically done in past years) that each Committee member felt should be in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens the rest of the weekend. Teams that made it in on the First Ballot were on all but 3 ballots since we have a panel of more than 10 people.

The second group of teams that were emailed to Chad was the Under Consideration list – teams that received at least 3 votes were added to the Under Consideration portion of the Board. (Regular season champions from all conferences were automatically added to the Under Consideration list as well.) This is what we came up with:

Tonight, our first task will be to nominate our Centenary and Stallings Award winners; the Centenary Award is given to the worst team in Division 1 throughout the season and will remain Under Consideration for the bulk of the proceedings. The Stallings Award is given to the worst power conference team and will also remain Under Consideration.

Second, we expect a roll call to scrub off the 15 conference champions that do not have a realistic path to at-large consideration (i.e. teams from Akron to Yale that are on the Under Consideration board). Once that is done, our main task will be to begin adding up to 12 teams to the At-Large board. For this process, each member of the Selection Committee will send a list of 8 teams to Chad for the first round of voting; the top 8 teams will be then ranked 1 through 8 and the top 4 teams will be added to the At-Large board. We will repeat this process a second time; this time the top 4 teams will join the 4 carryover teams for the second and third rounds of voting. This will put us at 36 at-large teams at the end of the night.

Also note that teams highlighted in yellow on the Under Consideration Board have completed their regular seasons and cannot add any more wins to their current tournament resumes. There are also up to seven spots highlighted in orange on the At-Large board; these are contigency teams that get added as teams can also move from the At-Large board to the Automatic Bids board as teams win their respective conference tournaments.

We will post an update at approximately midnight as the Day 1 proceeds are complete.

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