Missed Opportunity

In the world of sports journalism, women's sports are usually covered as if they are a secondary sport. They are so unappreciated that papers like The Philadelphia Inquirer have to set aside a particular section of the paper one day a week so that a women's sport story HAS to be covered.

Therefore, it is not too far-fetched to think that in the grand scheme of Philadelphia sports, a mid-major women's basketball program is lucky to get press even in their University's student newspaper.

Drexel University's women's basketball team is having one of its best seasons in their modern era, but does anyone know about them?

No, and here's why. Currently, the press has a lot on their tables including March Madness, the John Chaney/St. Joe's saga, the NFL draft and free agency, the NHL ongoing impasse and MLB spring training. Those are just the major stories. There are also a host of other topics that the writers have been focusing on, still ahead of women's basketball. They include Villanova's great season, the Stewart Elliot mishap and even the Soul's firing of head coach Mike Trigg.

So obviously, Drexel women's basketball, no matter their success or their plethora of "feel good" stories, will get as much attention in this city as horse racing, with the exception of Smarty Jones, or high school sports. Case in point, Temple women's basketball. They are 24-3 and are ranked 16th in the country but fail to garner much more than back-page props.

Bringing things back to the Drexel Lady Dragons, I noticed that they did get coverage from their last game versus George Mason- the extent of the coverage was the issue. The blurb appeared about one dozen pages in from the back cover of The Philadelphia Daily News condensed into a two-inch box like it was meant for the classifieds section of the paper. Is it a problem with Drexel’s program or its media relations’ people? Either is doubtful! Most likely it is a problem with the coverage of women’s sports.

Now is the time and this is the place that will make up for that.

Drexel women’s basketball program has a rich history- mostly of losing. Their last winning season was in 2000-01 and prior to that a decade before in 1990-91. Since the program’s inception in 1944, they have never reached the “women’s” NCAA tournament or the “women’s” National Invitation Tournament. Considering all of that, this current season and this current team is that much more special.

Coming into this season, the Dragons have had three consecutive losing seasons, two of which were under a different head coach and a different regime. Candice Crabtree, the coach of the Dragon’s last winning team in the 2000-01 season while they were in the American East Conference, couldn’t continue her success as they lost their first two seasons in the Colonial Athletic Association. Coincidentally, they were also Crabtree’s last two seasons as head coach of the Dragons.

Current head coach Denise Dillon took over for Crabtree last season and was named interim head coach. Before the 2004-05 campaign, the interim tag was removed and she was given a multi-year contract.

This is officially her team and her program to turn around. “Different coaches have different philosophies. And my philosophy is team basketball, trying to find each player on the court and make sure they are a threat and that they understand what is going on and they understand our system,” said Dillon.

“Like I said last season, the girls were very receptive. They were willing to do what I needed them to do. But it took some time to learn the whole system. It helps having a number of kids returning this year and they got it so they helped the freshman out,” continued Dillon.

Last year, Dillon’s Dragons finished 10-18 last year, landing them in 8th place ahead of only William and Mary and Towson. So obviously, coming into this season, the Dragons could really go no where but up. Or so you would think? The so-called experts of the CAA media picked the Dragons to finish 9th place in the CAA. (One member of The Triangle picked them to finish 5th.) Does that disrespect from the media provide motivation?

“Absolutely…it definitely does…that was something we showed them from the very beginning; we put it in the locker room. We highlighted the 9th place pick. I thought we might have fallen in the middle of the pack- returning Katrina and Catherine Scanlon- two key players. I was kind of surprised that we were picked 9th,” said Dillon.

That motivation, coupled with great coaching, inspired play and instant maturity, all lead to the Dragon’s 18-9 record and 3rd place in the CAA standings. So is Dillon surprised by the program’s success thus far?

“At this point, no. At the beginning of the year, trying to look through the schedule, yes,” Dillon explained.

With their first ever win over national powerhouse Old Dominion in their last game of the regular season; the Dragons now look forward to postseason play.

She stated, “A major goal of ours was to stay out of that play-in game which hasn’t been the case for Drexel women’s basketball, so we have achieved that already. We know we aren’t in that play-in game. And I think as you continue to win, when you see success, you obviously want more. So we have already stepped that up saying ‘We have to win that quarterfinal game.’ So the goals are set higher and the expectations are set higher. They want to be challenged.”

And if the Dragons meet that challenge, the program may get its first taste of a NCAA or NIT tournament bid in its 60-year history.