Roth: Looking For A Date To The Big Dance

DURHAM, N.C. -- With March Madness upon us, here is an update on several Division I college basketball coaches with Duke ties and how they have fared this season, beginning with the men...

It has been a strong season for former Duke assistant Mike Brey as the head coach at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have been fixtures in the Top 25 and entered this week with an overall record of 22-6 (12-4 in the league). Three of Notre Dame's four losses are to the only teams currently ahead of them in the Big East standings: Georgetown, Connecticut and Louisville.

Alumnus Jeff Capel has directed his Oklahoma team to a middle-of-the-pack showing in the Big 12 thus far, with a 7-7 league mark and a 19-10 overall record. Games with rival Oklahoma State and Missouri remain before the conference tournament.

Former Duke guard Vince Taylor is on Tubby Smith's staff at Minnesota, and the Gophers are tied for fifth place in the Big Ten with an 8-8 mark (18-10 overall). Road games at Indiana and Illinois will close the regular season.

Former Duke player Jim Corrigan is in his 14th season as an assistant at Old Dominion. The Monarchs would need to win the CAA Tournament this week to get into the NCAA. They bring a record of 17-14 (11-7 CAA) into their tourney opener Saturday.

Former Duke assistant Mike Dement, the head coach at UNC Greensboro, is likely in the same position. His Spartans are 11-8 in the Southern Conference, 17-11 overall. His league has been dominated this year by Davidson, which finished 20-0 in conference games while experiencing nonconference losses to Duke, UNC, N.C. State and UCLA. Davidson has won 19 in a row since its one-point loss to State in December.

Finally, former Duke point guard and assistant coach Tommy Amaker is in his first season of trying to build the program at Harvard. He is assisted by former Duke player and veteran assistant coach Kenny Blakeney. Harvard has an 8-20 overall record and a 3-9 Ivy League mark with one week to play. With two games remaining, Cornell has already clinched the league title and NCAA bid with a 12-0 record (20-5 overall). Duke defeated Cornell back in January.

Former Duke women's head coach Gail Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to 13 straight NCAA bids before she left for Texas last spring. She is trying to get the Longhorns into the Big Dance in her first season ? a little ahead of schedule ? and took a big step last week with road wins at Kansas and No. 10 Oklahoma. That improved Texas' record to 18-11 (6-9 in the Big 12) with one game left in the regular season, against Texas Tech.

Former Duke player Joanne Boyle has had her Cal Bears in the national top 10 most of this season. Last weekend Cal had a chance to wrap up a share of its first-ever Pac-10 regular season crown, but the Bears suffered a 74-66 loss to Washington. That gave the title to Stanford (16-2) and left the Bears at 15-3 (24-5) and still in very good position for a high NCAA seed.

Boyle's loss to Washington came at the hands of another former Duke assistant, Tia Jackson, who took over the Huskies program this year. Jackson has directed Washington to a 13-17 overall record and 8-10 league mark in her first year.

Staying in the Pac-10, former Duke assistant LaVonda Wagner, who is now the head coach at Oregon State, has seen her team post an 11-18 (4-14) season. OSU recently broke a nine-game losing streak by knocking off Southern Cal by one point, before dropping the Civil War battle to rival Oregon.

Former Duke men's associate coach Pete Gaudet remains on the staff of the Ohio State women's program, and he will have plenty of film to evaluate in the coming weeks as the Buckeyes shared the Big Ten regular season title with Iowa with a 13-5 league mark and an overall record of 22-7. In the ACC, former Duke star Katie Meier could see her season at Miami end this week, as the Hurricanes are the No. 12 seed at the ACC Tournament on the heels of a 9-20, 2-12 campaign.

Roth: Looking For A Date To The Big Dance

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