COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘86-87 : National Women’s Preview : Longer Reign for the Longhorns?

Deep in the heart of Texas--Austin, to be exact--a program continues to grow, perhaps into a dynasty.

The Lady Longhorns of the University of Texas, last season’s National Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s basketball champions, are the consensus favorite to win the title again, despite having graduated six seniors and three starters from the 34-0 team. How fitting that the tournament final next spring will be at home in the James Ervin Center, a 16,200-seat arena where the women outdrew the men at the start of last season.

Need more? In Andrea Lloyd, a 6-foot 2-inch senior forward, and Clarissa Davis, a 6-1 sophomore forward, Texas has two of the country’s top players. Davis, USC fans will recall with a wince, had 56 points and 32 rebounds in 51 minutes of Final Four play, including 24 points and 14 rebounds against the Trojans in Texas’ 97-81 title-game win. Not bad for coming off the bench.

Between that finish and the start of the 1986-87 season Friday in the USC Invitational at the Sports Arena, Coach Judy Conradt recruited 6-3 prep All-American Susan Anderson from Deming, Wash.; 6-8 Ellen Bayer from Scottsdale, Ariz., and 6-3 Doreatha Conwell from national junior college champion Odessa, Tex., by way of Locke High School in Los Angeles. The Longhorns, 21 wins short of breaking Louisiana Tech’s record of 54 straight victories, have stocked the cupboard well.

Should someone hook the ‘Horns, it most likely will be another familiar name--Louisiana Tech, Tennessee, USC or Old Dominion. USC and Old Dominion will also be at the Sports Arena this weekend, along with Cal State Long Beach and star forward Cindy Brown.

Louisiana Tech has four starters back from the team that went 27-5 last season, including leading scorer and rebounder Tori Harrison, who averaged 16 points and 7.7 rebounds a game. The Lady Techsters, ranked in the top 10 ever since 1979 and in the top three in most every preseason poll, will also get a boost from Nora Lewis, who was averaging 13.3 points when she went down with a knee injury 15 games into last season.

Meanwhile, Rutgers (29-4), Auburn (24-6), Iowa (22-7) and Tennessee (24-10) each have all five starters back, Tennessee from the team that made the NCAA semifinals before losing to USC. Coach Pat Head Summitt’s teams have a 291-96 record in 12 years and have made the Final Four seven times--but have never won.

USC, having made its third title-game appearance in four years, is still a top-10 team, Cheryl Miller or not. The Trojans (31-5) were in the top five in many preseason polls before losing freshman Tammy Hammond to Proposition 48 but will have 6-6 Monica Lamb, a redshirt last season, to go with point guard Rhonda Windham, the school record-holder in assists.

Western Kentucky, the only team to make the Final Four each of the past two seasons, opens 1986 as No. 13 in the Associated Press coaches’ poll. The Hilltoppers (32-4) lost three starters to graduation, among them All-American Lillie Mason, but still have Clemette Haskins, who last season averaged 12.8 points and had a school-record 232 assists.

Old Dominion, another perennial championship contender, will be watched for a different reason: a comeback. The Lady Monarchs (15-13) were devastated by injuries and missed the playoffs for the first time. The return of forwards Donna Harrington, who averaged 18.2 points and 10.6 rebounds, and Adrienne Goodson (14.3 points and 8.6 rebounds) and the addition of freshman Kelly Lyons, who averaged 30 points, 16 rebounds and 8 blocked shots last season at Bethel, Ohio, should have Coach Marianne Stanley back in top-10 territory.