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Marilyn McManus

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The second-seeded, eighth-ranked Auburn Tigers will take on the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights on Monday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Rutgers is led by near-legendary head coach Vivian Stringer, with 37 years of coaching experience. Stringer is the first college basketball coach to take 3 different teams (Cheyney University, 1982; University of Iowa, 1993; Rutgers, 2000 and 2007) to the Final Four. Stringer has worked with USA Basketball in various capacities since 1980, has compiled a lifetime 804-267 (.751) record, has led her teams to 20 NCAA tournament appearance, has had 29 20-win seasons, is second among active coaches for the most Division I victories, has a list of honors and accolades more than a page long–yet she has only had one team play in a national championship game.

(Something to remember when handing out "guaranteed" wins for a national championship, Courtney Paris. It’s just not that easy!)

The program Stringer has built at Rutgers is impressive: 284-132 (.683) in 13 seasons. The 2009 edition is comprised of only 2 seniors, along with 4 juniors, 1 sophomore and 4 freshmen. Stringer’s teams are known more for their defensive play than their scoring prowess. This year’s team averages 62.7 points per game, while holding the opposition to only 54.8 points per game. Not too bad. They are not terribly consistent; they have a low score for the season of 45 points and a high of 86. It should be noted that the Scarlet Knights scored less than 60 points in all of their losses, except one: in their conference tournament, they managed 82 points against Louisville, but allowed 87 in the loss.

Junior guard Epiphanny Prince leads the team in scoring with a 19.4 points per game average. She also leads the team in assists (83) and steals (84) and is second in rebounding with 5 per game. Senior center Kia Vaughn leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 per game and blocked shots with 60 for the season, while also scoring 9.8 points per contest. Junior guard Brittany Ray scores 9.9 points per game and is second in steals with 48.

Sophomore guard Khadijah Rushdan is the best long range shooter, with a .383 average from 3-point land, but has attempted only 47 3s this season. All of the guards will put up the 3, but Prince (135 attempts) and Ray (119 attempts) lead the way.

Rutgers is 20-12 this season, with only one apparent "quality" win to their credit, a 78-68 victory at Notre Dame on 1/27/09. They beat 3 other teams that found their way into the tournament (Georgia, Villanova and Temple) and lost to 8 other tournament teams (twice each to UConn and Louisville.) Georgia was a bubble team, at best, and something of a controversial choice for inclusion in the tournament field. As much as I respect Andy Landers and his body of work, I’d have to agree that it was a stretch to put them into this field, when other teams with solid winning records were left out. (Check the resumes of ) Personally, I’d also put Villanova and Temple in the same category as Georgia, despite the collective wisdom of the Selection Committee–you know where I’m going with this, right?–which also makes me question the selection of the Scarlet Knights, all things considered. Then again, nobody asked me and the Scarlet Knights ARE in the field of 64 and Vivian Stringer will pull out all stops to keep them there. In the first round, the Scarlet Knights managed to outlast a very tough #10 seed in Virginia Commonwealth University by a score of 57-51 and earned the right to play the #2 seed Auburn Tigers in the second round. Stringer has a bit of an advantage in that, despite being a 7 seed, she gets to play this second-round game on her home floor.

Auburn (29-3, 12-2 SEC) spent the season climbing in the rankings and amassing wins. Apparently, losing to Vanderbilt is a major problem, as the Tigers were in the Top Five in the nation before the SEC tournament and close to a lock for a #1 seed in the tournament. The loss to the ‘Dores inexplicably dropped them to #8 and a #2 seeding in a most unfavorably structured bracket. The SEC is widely considered to be in something of a decline (this has been true for a few years) as a major women’s basketball conference. I don’t agree and I’ve tried to figure out why, when the fact is that an SEC team has won the last 2 national championships and had another SEC team in 5 consecutive Final Fours... I guess that has something to do with Auburn dropping so far after a single loss to a ranked team. But I digress.

Auburn is also led by an accomplished coach, Nell Fortner, who has one of the most diverse coaching resumes around. Fortner is a 1982 graduate of Texas, in her fifth season as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. Prior to coming to Auburn, Fortner served as an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin and La Tech and with USA Basketball. After a year as the head coach of Purdue, she took on a 3-year assignment as the USA Women’s head coach and compiled a 101-14 record, along with a 1998 World Champion Gold Medal and 2000 Olympic Games Gold Medal. She spent the next 3 years as a WNBA head coach, with the Indiana Fever, while also working as an ESPN Studio Analyst from 2001-2005. In 2004, she took on the top job at Auburn and has a 71-53 record for her first 4 years.

Auburn’s fortunes are largely dependent on the play of SEC Player of the Year DeWanna Bonner. The senior forward is not the only weapon the Tigers have, but she is the undisputed leader of the team and needs to turn in a P-O-Y-worthy performance to keep her team on the winning track and advancing in the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn is led by SEC Player of the Year DeWanna Bonner. Bonner led the SEC in scoring, this season, with a 20.9 points per game average. She also leads her team in rebounding at 8.6 per game and in field goal percentage at .482. Despite her height (6-4) Bonner has been known to step outside for a 3-point goal (she had 185 attempts in her first 3 seasons) and occasionally runs the point. However, Auburn needs her inside skills: shot-blocking, rebounding and drawing fouls to capitalize on her 84% free throw shooting. While Bonner dominates the stat sheet, she is not without a supporting cast. Sophomore guard Allie Smalley leads the league in 3-point shooting percentage, senior guard Whitney Boddie leads the league in assists (nearly 3 per game more than her closest competition) and four of the starting five average scores in the double figures. Seniors Trevesha Jackson and Sherell Hobbs also play a major role and junior center Keke Carrier provides some relief minutes at the post. But Bonner is the key. When she is on–and active–she is extremely difficult to match up with and spends a lot of her time at the free throw line, where she is an extremely efficient shooter, hitting 84% of her attempts.

The Tigers and the Scarlet Knights will clash on Monday, March 23 in Piscataway, NJ. Please check TV listings for the exact time.