The biggest story out of the Tempe site of the NCAA women's tournament is who is not playing and why.
An ill-advised slap to the back of an opponent's head two years ago has become a major pain in the neck for the 20th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls.
Coach Kurt Budke's team, seeded fourth in the Sacramento Region, is preparing to play without the nation's third-leading scorer Andrea Riley against No. 13 seed Chattanooga on Saturday night, a situation he believes is unfair.
Fifth-seeded Georgia, in its 16th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, plays No. 12 seed Tulane in Saturday's second game at Wells Fargo Arena on the Arizona State campus.
``This is the oddest thing I ever had to deal with,'' Budke said at his team's pre-tournament news conference on Friday. ``I don't think there is any history of this and this kind of penalty.''
Riley, who averages 26.6 points per game, is suspended for the opener for the slap to the head of LSU's Erica White in the 2008 NCAA tournament. The NCAA delayed the suspension until Oklahoma State made it back to the tournament after missing out last season. Budke complained that Riley, a senior, is a far different person than she was two years ago.
``My wife said the other day it's like having a 14-year-old make a mistake and telling them they can't drive a car when they turn 16 because of that two-year-old mistake,'' Budke said. ``This kid has developed so much. She has come so far, it's incredible what she's done.''
But rules are rules, he said, so the Cowgirls (23-10) must figure out how to win without someone who averaged 37 points in the Big 12 tournament and took a whopping 44 shots in a 43-point performance against Iowa State in that tourney's quarterfinals.
``Hands down we play best with Andrea,'' said forward Tegan Cunningham, the team's No. 2 scorer at 16.2 points per game. ``But it is a matter of us coming together for this one game and coming together for this win. It's a matter of everyone coming together and doing things they wouldn't ordinarily do.''
A loss would be a sour end to Riley's phenomenal career. She has been declared off limits to reporters, so it was left to her teammates to describe how she's dealing with the punishment.
``She's handling it well,'' Cunningham said. ``She's encouraging us and we know she believes in us as a team. She's doing all she can. She's very confident we're going to win and she's going to be with us for the next game.''
Cunningham, a senior from Melbourne, Australia, said everyone will bear an increased scoring load.
``I know I can shoot the ball and I'm pretty confident with my shot,'' she said. ``There are other people on the team that need to step up and shoot. The other team knows I can shoot the ball and they're going to defend me like they would. Everyone else needs to find their roles whether it's shooting a few more extra times or getting more put-backs.''
Chattanooga coach Wes Moore says that because everything Oklahoma State has done went through Riley he isn't sure what to expect.
``They have a lot of talented players and I think this will motivate the rest of their team to go out and try and prove they are a good team,'' he said. ``They're still a BCS school, and we're still a mid-major, and it's still a big challenge for us.''
The Lady Mocs (24-8) are in the tournament for the 10th time, eighth under Moore, but they have won only once, a 74-69 victory over Rutgers in 2004. They are 22-3 since opening the season 2-5.
``I think it's a great opportunity for us,'' Chattanooga senior Jenaya Wade-Fray said. ``In all our games that I've played in the NCAA tournament, we've been right there but haven't been able to get over the hump. I think we have a really good chance of getting over that this year.''
Georgia (23-8) started the season a school record 16-0 and was as high as sixth in the national rankings but is 7-8 since then, including a 67-52 loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.
``We hit a rough patch,'' said the Lady Bulldogs' senior leader Ashley Houts. ``We've discussed as a team some complacency here and there where we didn't play as hard. That's not what we stand for or who we are. We've made a conscious effort to improve on that as we play each game.''
Coach Andy Landers, in his 31st season at Georgia, said his team has had to overcome injuries and inexperience. He said his team won the close ones early and lost them late.
``So maybe it was just a matter of the odds evening themselves out,'' he said. ``We didn't play as hard in two or three of those games. If you don't do that in our league, you almost assuredly are going to lose.''
Tulane (26-6), the Conference USA champion, made the NCAA tourney from 1995 to 2003 but hasn't been back since. The Green Wave start four guards and will try to rattle Georgia with a pesky defense and a fast pace.
``We're fast,'' coach Lisa Stockton said. ``We make teams play like we do.''
