In fact, Berenato, who considers herself an educator first and coach second, saw it as a chance to impart some life lessons. When the Panthers lost their senior point guard, Mallorie Winn, to a season-ending ACL injury in practice, they didn't modify their hopes for the 2006-2007 season. No wonder her team plays a brand of basketball that is infectious. And Berenato coaches with a joie de vivre that's palpable all the way up in the rafter seats. Maybe establishing identity and continuity are as important to winning as is running effective offensive screens. Duke basketball and Mike Krzyewski are interchangeable. When you think Penn State football, you think JoePa. Players come and go, but the best college coaches define their programs. In fact, maybe the Steelers are why coaches are on my mind right now. They'll probably just ask if you favor Russ Grimm over Ken Whisenhunt.

'We want to change that.'Īsk people about women's basketball in Pennsylvania and they'll say. 'Ask people about the state of Tennessee and they'll say UT, or ask people about the state of California and they'll say Stanford,' Berenato says. To this point, it seems, interest in women's basketball has been so widely scattered that it can support only one team per state. 'Penn State has always been the crème de la crème of women's basketball in Pennsylvania.' 'We had never done that,' says Pitt coach Agnus Berenato.

It's even beaten the perennial big fish in Pennsylvania's pond, Penn State. The team has national ambitions, and in the spirit of thinking globally, acting locally, it has beaten its city counterparts, Robert Morris and Duquesne. And they're doing it in a tough conference: The women of the Big East play much like their male counterparts - so physical it could be mistaken for a rugby game on a hard court. The University of Pittsburgh's Lady Panthers are making a name for themselves, and laying the foundation for a winning tradition. and I couldn't sport any of their colors.īut now I'm hooked, because I've finally got a team I can get behind. The only teams I was even aware of were Stanford, Tennessee, UConn, Rutgers and Penn State. For years, I saw NCAA women's basketball out of the corner of my eye, maybe watching the tournament from the Sweet Sixteen on. I admit I'm a women's-basketball neophyte. It could easily host six, because Rutgers should climb back into the Top 25 any second. The Big East boasts five teams in college basketball's Top 25: UConn, Louisville, Marquette, DePaul and Pitt. Pitt's Agnus Berenato coaches with a joie de vivre that's palpable all the way up in the rafter seats.

Panthers on the prowl pitt