With all the attention given to the absence of three-time defending national champion Tennessee from this year's Final Four, it's easy to overlook a team that will be in San Jose who may be even better.
Purdue (32-1) rolls into Friday's national semifinal matchup with Louisiana Tech as the nation's No. 1 team. And with good reason: after a one-point loss at Stanford in late November, the Boilermakers ripped through 30 consecutive wins, including an undefeated season in the Big Ten.
Coach Carolyn Peck has made her swan song a pleasant one. Peck, who took the reins of the program when Nell Fortner left to become coach of the U.S. national team, will leave to become coach and general manager of the WNBA's expansion team in Orlando.
How did Peck become a national coach of the year candidate in just her second season? It helps to have one of the country's best backcourts.
"I hate to sound like a recording, but we have two great leaders-Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs," Peck said Tuesday. "If one gets it done on offense, the other one gets it done on defense. This team looks to both of them for guidance and leadership."
White-McCarty has piled up accolades, earning first-team All-America honors for her regular season play and performing well enough in the NCAA tournament to be named the Midwest region's most outstanding player. Together, she and Figgs average over 36 points a game.
If that weren't enough, freshman Katie Douglas scores more than 14 per contest and gives Purdue another perimeter threat. But Peck singles out the play of another freshman, center Camille Cooper, as one of the keys to the Boilermakers' postseason run.
"She has stepped up big time in the NCAA tournament," said Peck after watching Cooper go for a career-high 20 points against Rutgers Monday night. "She came out and she played big."
Purdue could use the balance an improved Cooper can provide to defeat Louisiana Tech (30-2), a hot team in its own right. The Lady Techsters enter their second straight Final Four after dominating the Sun Belt Conference and winning a West region stocked with nine teams ranked in the final polls.
The speed of guards Tamicha Jackson and LaQuan Stallworth scares most teams by keying a high-pressure defense.
"Well, you preach defense," said coach Leon Barmore, who leads the Lady Techsters into the Final Four for the third time this decade. "I tell our kids we win championships with defense."
Forward Amanda Wilson provides a consistent interior presence. The senior forward was named the most outstanding player in the West after back-to-back games with at least 20 points and 10 boards against LSU and UCLA.
And like Purdue, Louisiana Tech has a player who has stepped up her offensive game in the postseason. Forward Monica Maxwell, known previously as a defensive stopper, has turned into an offensive threat at a most opportune time.
"There's no question this team wouldn't be where it is if Monica hadn't turned her season around three weeks ago," Barmore said. "She had not played like this all year. If she did, she'd be one of the top two or three players in America."
The two teams have played once already this season, with Purdue taking a close 71-65 decision at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis in December. The Boilermaker backcourt ruled that meeting-McCarty tossed in a game-high 25 points and Figgs shot 4-of-18 from the floor but 8-for-8 from the foul line to finish with 18.
Barmore was impressed enough to vote for White-McCarty as national player of the year over eventual winner Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee. Of course, the stakes are much higher this time. With the gigantic shadow of the Lady Vols not looming over this year's proceedings, both teams know they have an equally large opportunity to win it all.
"It's wide-open now," Maxwell said. "It's anybody's championship to win."
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