Raiders coach looks to build on tournament experience

One of the lessons women’s basketball coach Beth Combs has preached to her Raiders team all year is that there is a time and place for everything.

Her players are incredibly excited about their NCAA Tournament appearance this Saturday against Tennessee. They’ve talked a lot about meeting and playing against Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols’ legendary coach.

‘When they see Coach Summit, they’ve said they want to get her autograph and hopefully get a picture, and that’s fine, as long as it doesn’t happen an hour before game time or during a timeout,’ Combs said with a laugh.

‘There’s a time and place to enjoy and a time and place to perform,’ said the third-year coach. ‘Our players have been very disciplined all year. Now, we want them to be able to enjoy some of the environment surrounding the tournament. It’s all about them; we’re (the coaches) just along for the ride.’

But now that the Raiders (21-9) have achieved the goal they set at the start of the season ‘  becoming one of the 64 teams invited to the national tournament ‘ they have a new objective.

‘We’ve hopefully been able to put Colgate on the map; people are talking about Colgate across this country,’ said Combs. ‘We feel it’s about earning respect for our university and for the Patriot League, and for ourselves, as well. And I think our players are going to take that very, very seriously.’

Combs said her squad has had good practices this week at Cotterell Court. They’ve watched tapes of the Lady Vols (26-3) in action and talked about going up against Summitt, who is in her 30th year of coaching.

So exactly how does Colgate, a No. 16 seed playing in the tournament for the first time, prepare for Tennessee, the No. 1 overall seed and a winner of six national titles’

‘At this stage of the game, we’re not going to add anything new. We need to take care of ourselves. Execute our plays. Play our type of defense,’ said Combs. ‘Rebounding is going to be very, very big for us. We’re definitely undersized against Tennessee. We’ll have to do a good job on the boards and get great position.’

Regardless of the game’s outcome, Combs is convinced that making it to the tournament has already helped her program.

‘People are talking about us, and that definitely helps with recruiting. We want to make this a tradition here, and build on that. Next year we won’t be in awe of a team like Tennessee.’

In November, Combs signed three players for next year’s squad, the first recruiting class in which she’s been able to provide scholarships under a policy recently adopted by the university. She said the scholarships have been beneficial in attracting quality students who also are good basketball players, and the exposure her team is getting now is an added bonus.

‘Players in high school want to come into a program that goes to the NCAA, has a chance to win some ballgames, and have 20-plus win seasons,’ she said.

This is the first tournament experience for Combs, who before coming to Colgate served as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University for three seasons and played basketball for the University of Illinois in the Big Ten Conference. Summitt, on the other hand, has guided Tennessee to the tournament for 23 consecutive years.

‘What she’s done for women’s basketball over the years is incredible,’ said Combs, who has spoken with Summit several times over the years during conferences or at amateur competitions. ‘She’ll offer advice or explain a play. That’s the reason she’s a legend, she’s always willing to give something back.’

Summitt said good things about the Raiders in an article in The Tennessean newspaper.

”They play really well together,” she said. ”They do a good job of getting the ball inside and kicking out. They’re very strong in their half-court offense in terms of their movement and their cutting.”

Summitt said she was impressed with 5-10 senior guard Malissa Burke (14.7 ppg), who leads the Raiders in 3-pointers with 50. ”She’s really very versatile, shoots the 3, puts it on the floor pretty well,” the coach said.

The entire team has impressed Combs all season long. The Raiders went through some adversity, losing starting point guard Victoria Briscoe and then her replacement, Molly Patterson, to season-ending injuries. But starting on Jan. 25, the Raiders went on a 12-2 run and come into the tournament with a six-game winning streak, including a 71-60 win over American on March 10 that clinched their first-ever Patriot League championship.

‘I’ve said it all year, this team is something special. We’ve had some adversity, but each time the players have stepped up and said, ‘I’m not going to be the one to let this team down.”

Combs said she, her staff, and her players know what they are up against on Saturday:  a major women’s basketball program that has never lost a first-or second-round tournament game.

‘We have no illusions as far as what we expect to do down there. We really hope to play our game, have some fun, and hopefully represent the university and the Patriot League to the best of our ability,’ she said.

And, ultimately, she said she is especially proud of what the team already has given her and the university this season.

‘These are 14 amazing young women who give us everything they’ve got. They do it for me, and they do it in the classroom. They are remarkable leaders here at Colgate, very successful as both students and athletes.

‘It’s really the epitome of what Colgate athletics and Colgate academics are all about.’