Women's Tournaments Have Many MAAC Tie-Ins

Many MAAC connections, beyond the league's own teams, are still alive and participating in national post-season women's tournament.

Here's a brief rundown and, again, if anyone has been overlooked please let me know via the comment function.

NCAA TOURNAMENT


- Dayton. Its head coach Jim Jabir was Siena's head coach until moving on after the 1989-90 season.

- Princeton. One of its assistant coaches is Melanie Moore whose maiden name is Melanie Halker. She is one of Siena's all-time great players when she played there in the late 1990s. She was twice selected as the MAAC's Player of the Year (1998 and 1999) and also served as a Siena assistant coach for one season (2002-03).
And, if you'll permit a little editorializing here ... she would be a terrific candidate to fill the current vacancy for a women's head coach at Siena.

- LSU. Angel Elderkin is the program's director of video operations. She was a Siena assistant coach for three seasons (2002-03 through 2004-05).

- UAlbany. Mary Grimes is an assistant coach. Under her maiden name of Mary McKissack she was a standout player at Siena from 1999-2000 through 2002-03. She was a starter on the team's only trip to the NCAA tournament in 2001.

WNIT


- Syracuse: Head coach Quintin Hillsman and assistant coach Matt Luneau were were both assistant coaches at Siena in the early 2000's. Both came to Syracuse as assistants prior to the 2005-06 season and Hillsman was promoted to the program's head coaching position in 2007.

CBI


- Robert Morris: Head coach Sal Buscaglia was previously head coach at Manhattan, where he directed that school's run to the NCAA tournament in 2003. Coincidentally, Buscaglia meets up with the Jaspers, his old program, in the first round of this event.

= New Hampshire: Second-year head coach Maureen Magarity had served in the MAAC in a variety of capacities. She was a three-year standout at Marist (2000-01 through 2002-03). Magarity also served as an assistant coach at Marist for one season (2003-04) and at Fairfield for one season (2004-05).