NCAA Tournament 2000 - Rutgers furious heading to Philly after travel woes

Rutgers furious heading to Philly after travel woes
By Tom Canavan
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. -- If playing for the national championship wasn't enough, Rutgers also is going to the women's Final Four angry.

Not only are the Knights tired of being in the shadow of national powers like Connecticut and Tennessee, they are also starting to think the NCAA has it in for them.

Less than 24 hours after making the Final Four, Rutgers complained to the NCAA because its team was forced to take a commercial flight home from Oregon, while West Regional runner-up and top-seeded Georgia was sent home on a charter flight.

U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, a Rutgers alumnus, sent a letter of protest to the NCAA, which books travel for teams in its tournament.

The Rutgers players, which will face Tennessee in the first national semifinal on Friday night in Philadelphia, did not get back on campus until 1 a.m. Wednesday. The flight from Portland had a stopover in Salt Lake City.

The Knights didn't finish their 59-51 win over Georgia in Portland, Ore. until after 2 a.m. ET Tuesday.

"I think in the spirit of everything this team has gone through over the years, it probably makes us angry," coach C. Vivian Stringer said after arriving at Newark International Airport with her staff around 4 p.m. "I know it does! That's good because we're getting stronger. We'll be able to overcome anything.

"Maybe through all of that, we'll know we're not the chosen people going down there," she added.

The Knights (26-7) have to be back in Philadelphia around noon today, giving them a little more than 48 hours to prepare for Tennessee (31-3). The Vols beat Texas Tech in a game in Memphis, Tenn. on Monday night.

"The one thing I am very concerned about and have voiced my concern to the NCAA today was that I felt there was a tremendous oversight in not flying us back last night," Rutgers athletic director Robert E. Mulcahy said.

Donna Noonan, the vice president of Division I basketball for the NCAA, said from Philadelphia that the NCAA approved a charter flight for Rutgers, but it fell through because a flight crew could not be found.

Georgia got a charter because there was a Delta Airlines plane available and it would only fly to Atlanta, Mulcahy said.

"I expressed to the NCAA today that somebody should have been paying attention to who won the game, the fact we were coming out of the West all the way East and the other (Final Four) teams were all home after their games," Mulcahy said.

Connecticut and Penn State will play in the other national semifinal.

In a letter addressed to "Dear Commissioners of the NCAA," Torricelli complained that it was "altogether illogical" to accommodate the travel arrangements of teams already eliminated from the tournament.

He added that it was unfair that Rutgers was "forced to wait at the other end of the continental United States, while their opponents were already home" and said the NCAA and its official travel agency owe the university and its team an apology.

Mulcahy said the NCAA offered an apology, but sources close to the university felt that the NCAA didn't seem to care that it was putting Rutgers at a competitive disadvantage.

Stringer, who is now the only coach to take three teams to the Final Four, plans to use the travel situation to motivate her team against Tennessee, which has beaten Rutgers in seven of nine meetings.

"Wouldn't you be motivated, if you have to play in a couple of days and you're still there in Portland?" Stringer said.

The one thing that won't be a problem is getting to the Final Four from New Brunswick, the home of New Jersey's state university. It's about 60 miles.

"We know our direction down there to Philadelphia," a visibly exhausted Stringer said. "It won't be too difficult."


Search for on