Powerhouse LaTech appears
to be vulnerable

Everybody smiled and nodded their heads. But they were thinking, "Yeah, right."

The scene has repeated itself several times in recent years, whenever Kurt Budke moaned about how vulnerable his Louisiana Tech women's basketball team was heading into a Western Athletic Conference season or tournament.

2005 All-WAC Teams & Award Winners Player of the Year: Tasha Crain, Louisiana Tech Newcomer of the Year: Janielle Dodds, SMU Coach of the Year: Cristy McKinney, Rice All-Conference First Team: Lamisha Augustine, San Jose State, F, 6-1, Sr.; Tasha Crain, Louisiana Tech, G, 5-7, Jr.; Janielle Dodds, SMU, P, 6-3, Fr.; Amy Parrish, Fresno State, F, 6-0, Jr.; Jillian Robbins, Tulsa, F, 6-1, So. Second Team: Lakiste Barkus, Louisiana Tech, G, 5-6, Sr.; Amber Jackson, San Jose State, F, 6-2, Fr.; Lauren Neaves, Rice, F, 6-2, So.; Amy Sanders, Hawaii, G/F, 5-9, Jr.; Michelle Woods, Rice, F, 6-2, Sr. All-Freshman Team: Janielle Dodds, SMU, P, 6-3; Tasha Harris, Boise State, G, 5-7; Amber Jackson, San Jose State, F, 6-2; Meghan McGuire, Nevada, F, 6-1; Shalana Taylor, UTEP, G, 5-6. All-Defensive Team: Lakiste Barkus, Louisiana Tech, G, 5-6, Sr.; Tasha Crain, Louisiana Tech, G, 5-7, Jr.; Krystal Frazier, Rice, G, 5-10, So.; Lauren Neaves, Rice, F, 6-2, So.; Jillian Robbins, Tulsa, F, 6-1, So.

Now, though, on the eve of this year's WAC Tournament in Reno, Nev., it's true. The Bulldogs are no longer bulletproof. They're still the top seed and tied for regular-season league champion, but that "4" in LaTech's WAC loss column is eye-opening.

Boise State, Hawaii, and -- last Thursday and Saturday -- Rice and Tulsa all proved Louisiana Tech, 23-time NCAA Tournament participant and three-time national champion, can be beaten. The 800-pound gorilla has gone on the Atkins Diet, and it changes the entire complexion of the tournament.

"We go into every game thinking we can lose," Budke said. "This is one of the most balanced conferences in the nation and doesn't get the respect it deserves. We are vulnerable, no question about that. We've been behind many games, halftime and later. We're proud of what we have done, especially without Erica (star guard Taylor) most of the year. But don't take anything away from the conference. It deserves two or three teams in the NCAA Tournament."

The winner this week gets an automatic berth. If Rice, with 21 victories, doesn't win the championship game, it will likely get in. Then it's dicey for Tulsa, Fresno State and SMU, all with 19 wins apiece going in to Thursday's quarterfinals. But even for the Golden Hurricane, with their recent win over LaTech, the women's NIT is a more likely proposition without the automatic bid.

"Having teams that could possibly get an at-large (NCAA Tournament) bid, that's an exciting thing," Tulsa coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. "But the majority of the teams need an automatic bid."

Several coaches said anyone can win in Reno.

"It really does something for your team when you come into the conference tournament having beaten the best team," said Jen Warden, coach of No. 9-seed Boise State, which knocked off LaTech 62-59 on Jan. 27, in Boise. "You can say, 'Believe, believe,' but in the back of your mind there are some ghosts. Now there's never a game (the Broncos) don't believe they can win, honestly. The tournament's wide open. It gives us a real optimistic, anything-can-happen attitude."

Like Boise State, Hawaii must endure the play-in round tomorrow (vs. Nevada, 12:30 p.m. Hawaii time), while the top six seeded teams get byes into Thursday's quarterfinal. That and the probable loss of star forward Jade Abele to a knee injury likely precludes UH from winning the tournament. But coach Jim Bolla isn't giving up.

"It's all history now, everybody's 0-0," Bolla said. "Here we go. (LaTech's) got four losses this year, it's kind of wide open, whoever's playing well coming in has a good shot. Fresno's got two wins coming in, Tulsa two wins. Rice, there's a possibility. Record-wise they're the same with Tech.

"Everybody's in the same boat right now."

This is the final WAC tournament for four schools -- Tulsa, UTEP, Rice and SMU -- who are casting off to Conference USA next season.

1. Louisiana Tech (18-8, 14-4 WAC)
Coach: Kurt Budke
WAC tournament titles: 3 (2002, 2003, 2004)
Leading scorer/rebounder: G Tasha Crain (18.2) / F Tamika Kursh (7.4)
Outlook: G Erica Taylor recently returned to the team after having a baby, and could be a big factor this week. She averaged 23.3 points in LaTech's three NCAA Tournament games last year. "It's not just her points we missed. It's her leadership. Her work ethic. We didn't really have a vocal leader and we needed that person to come in and get on others," Budke said.

2. Rice (21-8, 14-4)
Coach: Cristy McKinney
WAC tournament titles: 1 (2000)
Leading scorer/rebounder: F Lauren Neaves (12.7) / Neaves (8.6)
Outlook: One reason Rice has won nine in a row is the Owls are the deepest team in the conference. Seven different players have been high scorer, and six have been high rebounder this season. "We're playing a lot of young players, and I think they're getting more comfortable with what we're doing," McKinney said.

3. Tulsa (19-9, 11-7)
Coach: Kathy McConnell-Miller
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: F Jillian Robbins (18.5) / Robbins (9.6)
Outlook: Robbins, already one of the league's toughest low-post players, diversified her game as the season progressed and now can score from 15-feet in -- and that includes the free-throw line, which was a problem last season. Still, McConnell-Miller wants steadier production from others. "We're not playing poorly, but we're just a better team when everyone's contributing," she said.

4. Fresno State (19-9, 10-8)
Coach: Adrian Wiggins (interim)
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: F Amy Parrish (13.6) / Parrish (6.9)
Outlook: The Bulldogs ended the season with a four-game winning streak, so the suspension early last month and eventual dismissal of controversial head coach Stacy Johnson-Klein might have been a plus. Wiggins likes the quarterfinal draw of SMU, a team FSU has beaten twice. "We don't play better at home than on the road, we play better against certain teams and not other teams. If we do have a chance for success, we need to play a team we're confident against."

5. SMU (19-9, 10-8)
Coach: Rhonda Rompola
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: P Janielle Dodds (14.6) / Dodds (8.3)
Outlook: The Mustangs broke out quickly, winning 12 of their first 13. But they've lost five of their last eight to finish in the middle of the WAC. Sarah Davis, a 6-foot-2 forward, helps Dodds with 9.7 points and 7.4 boards. Rompola is known as a tough coach to gameplan for because of her multitude of offensive sets.

6. San Jose State (17-11, 10-8)
Coach: Janice Richard
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: C/F Amber Jackson (15.2) / Jackson (8.6)
Outlook: Point guard Erica McGlaston, who hung 20 on Rice, has emerged as a scoring threat at Richard's urging. The magic number is 60 for the Spartans. They've lost just once when the opponents score fewer, and that was 58. "The key for us probably is defense. We slacked off a little and have to find that intensity again to make a run at it," Richard said.

7. Hawaii (11-14, 7-11)
Coach: Jim Bolla
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: F/G Amy Sanders (11.7) / F Jade Abele (6.7)
Outlook: The knee injury to Abele is a serious blow to the Wahine. She leads UH in rebounds, steals, assists, 3-pointers and one-liners. The advantage of playing bottom-seed Nevada is negated by the fact that the Wolf Pack are home. The Wahine beat Nevada there last week, but that was with Abele. "No one's going to replace Jade," Bolla said.

8. Texas-El Paso (12-16, 7-11)
Coach: Keitha Green
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: C Marta Dydek (10.2) / F Charnette Phelps (6.4)
Outlook: The Miners are one of the WAC's most balanced squads, but also, strangely enough, one of its most erratic. "We've been on that rollercoaster. If we're playing at our abilities, good. If we come out lethargic, it's not very good," Green said.

9. Boise State (9-18, 4-14)
Coach: Jen Warden
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: G Tasha Harris (11.5) / F Jamie Hawkins (5.6)
Outlook: The Broncos have lived by the 3-pointer, chucking it up from the hinterland 504 times. The results have been decent (.325), but not good enough to make up for rebounding and turnover deficits. Roosevelt alum Jodi Nakashima remains one of the main bombers, but she has been way less accurate than last season (29 percent compared to 42).

10. Nevada (7-21, 3-15)
Coach: Kim Gervasoni
WAC tournament titles: 0
Leading scorer/rebounder: F Meghan McGuire (13.4) / G Amber Young (7.6)
Outlook: Nevada has lost five in a row, but Gervasoni remains optimistic because her team is nearly even (6-7) in the thin air of Reno. "Our home record is a lot better than away, so we're excited about the opportunity to have it here. It's a huge opportunity for us and we will try to take advantage of it," she said.