The Buzzer

Things are getting weird in some quarters of women's basketball.
At Rhode Island, coach Linda Ziemke was temporarily relieved of
her duties on Jan. 21 after several players complained about
what they described as her grating motivational methods. The
Rams are 10-36 over the last two seasons and have seen eight
players quit or transfer during that span. And last week at
UNLV, Runnin' Rebels assistant Lisa Rathbun was "reassigned"
after senior forward Amy Wunderlich accused Rathbun of kicking
her and tearing her jersey at practice on Jan. 20. The incident
occurred during a scrimmage that Rathbun and Wunderlich both
played in....

Manhattan, which looked like it was up and coming after it
defeated Oklahoma in Round 1 of the 1995 NCAA tournament under
then coach Fran Fraschilla, is reeling under Fraschilla's
successor, John Leonard, who took over three years ago. Not only
were the Jaspers 4-15 through Sunday and headed for their third
straight losing season, but also two assistant coaches quit on
the same day in early December....

Matchup of the Week: On Feb. 12, Virginia-bound point guard
Majestic Mapp (whose older brother, Scientific, played at
Florida A&M) will lead St. Raymond's High against New York City
rival LaSalle, whose sophomore point guard is Famous Brown. Our
only wish is that Don King could do the play-by-play.

--B.J.S.