Women's Basketball Picked 11th in C-USA Preseason Poll
October 22, 2003 | Women's Basketball
CHICAGO, Ill. - In just its third season in Conference USA, the East Carolina University women's basketball program seems to be gaining some respect in the league as they were chosen to finish 11th in the C-USA Preseason Coaches Poll released today by the league office. The Pirates are looking to improve on a 4-10 conference mark from a year ago, which also saw them double their total wins from the previous season to finish with an overall 12-16 record. This season the Pirates are returning eight players and have four newcomers to the team.
TCU, which captured the 2003 Conference USA Tournament title, has been chosen by the 14 C-USA head coaches to win the 2003-04 regular season title. Houston's Chandi Jones, who led the nation in scoring (27.5 ppg) last season, has been selected by the coaches as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year.
TCU returns four starters from last year's NCAA squad, including all-preseason pick Sandora Irvin, who led the team in points (12.0 pg) and rebounds (9.7 pg). Irvin earned the 2003 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year award, after leading the league and ranking second in the nation with an average of 3.9 blocks per game. The Horned Frogs are coming off their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. TCU is the only C-USA school to advance to the NCAA second round three years in a row.
Jones became the first Conference USA player to finish first among the national scoring leaders, while earning her second consecutive All-America accolade last year. She also won the conference scoring title for the second year in a row (27.5 ppg) and currently ranks fifth on the league's all-time scoring list with 1,957 points. She only needs 43 more points to move into the top three of the nation's fastest to reach the 2,000-point plateau.
Cincinnati's Valerie King returns for her senior campaign and claims her third preseason all-conference honor. Last season, she ranked second in the league in free throw percentage (.873) and sixth in scoring (16.4 ppg). King will be looking to become the sixth player in C-USA history and first for the Bearcats to earn first-team all-league honors for three consecutive years. Her teammate, Debbie Merrill, earned her first preseason all-league accolade. The 6-0 junior, an honorable mention All-American in 2003, ranked second in the league with 18.0 points per game, while helping the Bearcats to their second consecutive NCAA appearance.
DePaul's Jenni Dant rounds out the preseason team after leading the Blue Demons in points (14.4 pg), steals (60) and free throws (143) last season. One of three starters returning, the 5-10 junior reached double-figures 25 times last season, while helping DePaul to its best mark (22-10) since the 1989-90 campaign and its first NCAA appearance since 1997.
For just the second time in league history, five Conference USA women's basketball teams received invitations to the NCAA Tournament (Charlotte, Cincinnati, DePaul, TCU and Tulane). It marked the first time since the 1996-97 season that the league produced five NCAA teams in the same year and the five bids gave the league an eight-year total of 30 NCAA teams.
2003-2004 PRESEASON POLL 1. TCU 2. DePaul 3. Cincinnati 4. Charlotte 5. Houston 6. Tulane 7. Louisville 8. Marquette 9. Memphis 10. Saint Louis 11. East Carolina 12. Southern Miss 13. UAB 14. USF
2003-2004 PRESEASON AWARDS (as selected by the league's head coaches) Preseason All-Conference Team **CHANDI JONES - Houston Sr., G/F, Bay City, Texas/Bay City JENNI DANT - DePaul Jr., G, Lincolnshire, Ill./Stevenson SANDORA IRVIN - TCU Jr., F, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Ft. Lauderdale VALERIE KING - Cincinnati Sr., G, Washington Court House, Ohio/Wash. DEBBIE MERRILL - Cincinnati Jr., C, Cumberland City, Tenn./Montgomery Central ** - Preseason Player of the Year
