DePaul's Bruno: A quarter-century of excellence
Here's a wild testament to the longevity of Doug Bruno — and the impact he has had on women's college basketball.
As the head coach at DePaul, Bruno's third-seeded Blue Demons (29-6) are the only team in the state of Illinois alive in the NCAA Tournament. DePaul faces second-seeded Duke (31-3) on Sunday (1:30 p.m., ESPN2) in a regional semifinal in Philadelphia.
Bruno coached one of Duke's best players, Jasmine Thomas, when he was the head coach of the under-19 U.S. national team.
Now for the crazy part.
Bruno also coached Duke's head coach, Joanne McCallie.
McCallie, who played at Northwestern in the 1980s, attended some of Bruno's summer basketball camps when she was younger.
Now in his 25th year of coaching the Blue Demons, Bruno has helped players excel every step of the way, from summer camps to national teams and everything in between. This weekend, he'll try to leave his mark in new territory.
With a win over Duke, DePaul would advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. The prize, however, will likely be No. 1 Connecticut, which takes on Georgetown in the other semifinal in Philadelphia.
“He was a good coach, a tough coach and got the most out of everybody who was there (with national team),” Thomas said of Bruno in an interview with the Duke Chronicle. “I just know his girls will be ready.”
The Blue Demons barely survived a scare from Penn State on Monday.
The Lady Lions, playing on their home court, were up by 14 points and in control.
Then all-Big East forward Keisha Hampton got hot at the right time, and she scored 19 of her 26 points in the second half to carry DePaul to a 75-73 victory that was cemented in the final seconds by her 2 free throws.
With the score tied at 73-73 and only seconds remaining, Hampton was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. She made 2 of her 3 attempts.
Her thoughts as she approached the free-throw line?
“I can't let our season end like this; we worked too hard for this,” Hampton said. “I just took my time, shot those free throws and made them.”
Devils to Demons:
There are more interesting connections between Duke and DePaul.
In addition to coaching Duke head coach Joanne McCallie and one of her players, Doug Bruno also coached the father of a Duke player.
Duke freshman Tricia Liston is a native of west suburban River Forest. Her father Brian played for Bruno at Loyola in the early 1980s when Bruno was an associate head coach there for eight seasons under Gene Sullivan.
Like McCallie, Tricia Liston attended Bruno's camps when she was younger, and DePaul was one of her three finalists as college recruit.
Duke assistant coach Samantha Williams also knows DePaul well. She was an assistant coach under Bruno for three seasons and is facing DePaul for the first time since she left in 2007.
Williams helped recruit three of DePaul's top players, Keisha Hampton, China Threatt and Felicia Chester.
An interesting sidenote about Chester: She is engaged to former NU football star Corey Wootton, now a Bears defensive end.
Bucks bust through:
Hats off to Ohio State for breaking through its tradition of March breakdowns.
The Buckeyes have dominated the Big Ten over the last decade but have mustered only a few whimpers in the NCAA Tournament.
Before eliminating Georgia Tech on Monday to reach the Sweet 16, the Buckeyes had advanced out of the second round just twice in their previous 10 NCAA appearances.
And that's despite having favorable seeds and winning six straight Big Ten titles.
Perhaps the sense of urgency Ohio State has been playing with this March has helped.
The Buckeyes proved mortal during Big Ten play this year, finishing tied for third with a 10-6 record. At one point, Ohio State was considered in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament.
But the 24-9 Buckeyes, behind all-American center Jantel Lavender and spunky point guard Samantha Prahalis, have rallied to win their last 10 games and are playing their best basketball now.
Ohio State, seeded fourth in the Dayton regional and the only Big Ten team left in the NCAA Tournament, takes on No. 1 Tennessee at 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPN). The winner will face either Notre Dame or Oklahoma (1 p.m., ESPN) on Monday.
This and that:
Shame on me for not voting the Wisconsin-Green Bay women higher in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
I had the Horizon League heavyweight ranked in the low teens, but the Phoenix showed me by knocking off fourth-seeded Michigan State, the Big Ten champion, in second-round action Tuesday (65-56).
Green Bay is playing in its first-ever Sweet 16. At 34-1, Green Bay joins Connecticut and Tennessee as the only teams to enter the NCAA Tournament with more than 32 wins. The Phoenix takes on No. 1-seeded Baylor (33-2) in Dallas at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2).
DePaul's Keisha Hampton and Sam Quigley have been named two of the 40 finalists for the 2011 State Farm Coaches' All-America team.
Good luck to the Illinois State women, still alive in the WNIT. For the third straight year, the Redbirds have advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals and host Arkansas at 1 p.m. Sunday.
pbabcock@dailyherald.com