LITTLE ROCK — Joe Foley was watching quietly, almost reflectively as his UALR Trojans had a bittersweet moment as they advanced to the women’s championship of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs.
It was sad to see New Orleans go out. UNO is leaving the conference because of financial constraints, but thanks in large part to Foley, the Lady Privateers went out with their heads up.
It was sweet to get to the make-it-take-it game that has the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Foley, who has turned people into fans of women’s basketball across Arkansas, is a teacher of the game.
His motion offense is run almost to perfection and ifthe defense isn’t just as good, then players find themselves sitting with the head coach who led the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns to two national championships.
Before Foley had coached a game in the Sun Belt, he was the subject of some gossip while attending the preseason basketball meetings in New Orleans.
“He’ll f ind out what Division I basketball is about,” one coach said. A few months later, her team lost to UALR,giving Foley his first Sun Belt victory.
Foley, a master of the game, rarely shows emotion on the bench, but he is always thinking and planning his next move.
What he didn’t do to New Orleans was try to run the score up. With 10 minutes to go he was subbing often and generously.
Once this year he called the dogs off an opponent and when the opponent immediately started pressing, he did what any coach would do, he put his starters back in.
Lesson learned. The next time Foley pulled his starters the opposing coach didn’t press. Foley was glad to run out the clock.
UALR beat UNO 73-43 Monday, but Foley could have named the score. To Foley, basketball is a game that teaches life lessons and while Middle Tennessee showed little concern in eliminating North Texas 106-66 on Sunday, that’s not Foley’s style.
He teaches his players to respect the game, each other and opponents.
Now, though, with one game left he sits in a strange but coveted place.
The UALR women will advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time with a victory over Middle Tennessee.
They probably must win despite the fact only nine schools in all of Division I women’s play have a better overall record than UALR, and two of those are Connecticut and Tennessee,the foundations of women’s basketball.
Another of those is Nebraska, which is undefeated and one of five teams that has defeated UALR. Another loss was Oklahoma State, a team that is almost assured a spot in the NCAA Tournament as it is tied with Baylor in the Big 12 for sixth place.
Small schools, the Cinderellas who drive the interest and TV ratings during the first weekend of the men’s tournament, are too often an afterthought in the women’s tournament, but today there are two teams playing for one spot and both belong in the NCAA Tournament.
Middle Tennessee (24-5) lost the regular-season championship to UALR and today two rivals will go at itwith enthusiasm and energy.
Both have headliners: Middle Tennessee with Alysha Clark and UALR with Chastity Reed, but both have solid teams that play hard and deserve to be on the NCAA Selection Committee’s list.
Is it really in the best interest of women’s basketball to take eight teams from one league and only one from a conference that has slowly and surely improved itself to the point where it is more than a one-team, one-invite league?
No.
The best thing, the right thing, is for the winner of today’s game to be a No. 6 seed and the runner-up a No. 11.
They’ve earned that by their play on the hardwood.
Sports, Pages 15 on 03/09/2010