A look at the D3 connections found in the 2024 D1 Women's NCAA Tournament

The Division III women’s basketball season may have drawn to a close last week in Columbus, but the Division I tournament, more commonly referred to as “March Madness”, is just getting going. The First Four tips off tonight, with first round matchups set for Friday and Saturday. And there are plenty of D-III ties in this year’s D-I tournament amongst the coaching staffs, whether that be a former D-III head coach, a D-III alum, or a former assistant at D-III program.

I started working on this on Monday, and it was fun doing the the research on all 68 head coaches in this year’s tournament to see what D-III connections I could find. I ended up with 10 head coaches who had some type of past D-III experience, and I also added a handful of assistant coaches on some of these staffs who have ties to D-III basketball.

Before I get into this article, I wanted to point out that

D3Direct

wrote something similar with the men’s tournament, and that is certainly a post worth checking out!

From D3 to Coaching D1 MBB 'March Madness'

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Scott Rueck, Oregon State

Rueck’s D-III connection came just 58 miles from Corvallis in Newburg, Oregon, as he led George Fox University to new heights in 14 seasons as the program’s head coach. He got his start as an assistant for the Bruins in 1993, and held that role for two more seasons prior to taking the reins of the program as head coach. George Fox did little else but win during his time at the helm, and Rueck posted an 85-8 record over the course of his final three years in Newburg. He won four straight Northwest Coach of the Year honors and in 2009, George Fox went 32-0 en route to a national title.

Rueck was an impressive 288-88 during his head coaching tenure and has continued that success at Oregon State, his alma matter. The Beavers are 294-153 with eight NCAA Tournament appearances since he took over in 2010-11.

Kevin McMillan, UT-Martin

Photo of Kevin McMillan from the archives of the Sou’wester, the Rhodes College student newspaper

McMillan is a D-III alum, having played at Rhodes College for three seasons before graduating in 1989. He opened his collegiate career on the east coast at Wake Forest in 1985, but opted to transfer to Rhodes after his freshman year. McMillan was a three-time All-SCAC selection as well as the 1988 SCAC Player of the Year. He also scored 1,372 points for the Lynx, and graduated with a bachelor’s in math and business.

The head coach at UT-Martin since 2009, McMillan has taken the program to five NCAA Tournaments in addition to qualifying for the WNIT in five seasons. This year marks the program’s first appearance in the NCAAs since 2013-14.

Kim Barnes Arico, Michigan

A team photo of the 1988-89 Stony Brook team that advanced to the D-III NCAA Tournament. Barnes, wearing No. 10, is fourth from the left in the first row. Photo from Stony Brook’s Specula Yearbook in 1989

Barnes Arico is unique in that she played at two different Division III institutions before opening her coaching career at the D-III level. As a freshman at Stony Brook (which was a D3 at the time) in 1989, she helped the Sea Wolves to an NCAA Tournament appearance and a 21-8 record. As it turned out, it would be Stony Brook’s final tournament appearance in D-III, before the institution moved up to Division II in 1995. She then transferred to Montclair State and was a two-time team captain, helping the program to a pair of ECAC Tournament appearances. In 1991 and 1992, Barnes Arico, a native of Mastic Beach, New York, was Montclair’s leading scorer.

She opened her coaching career at D3 FDU-Madison in 1996-97, guiding the program to a 13-11 record. She then moved to NJIT, who was transitioning from D-III to D-II in her first season there in 1997. Barnes Arico has led the Michigan program since 2012, and is the winningest coach in program history, with a 261-132 record in Ann Arbor. This tournament marks Michigan’s seventh appearance under Barnes Arico as the Wolverines have qualified for the field in each of the last six NCAA Tournaments.

Michael Meek, Portland

Another George Fox connection here. Meek took over at George Fox after Scott Rueck left for Oregon State, and the winning tradition continued in Newburg. Meek led the Bruins for nine seasons until 2019, and became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins. He was the D3hoops.com Coach of the Year in 2012 as George Fox made national championship game appearances in both 2012 and 2015. He coached four All-America selections at George Fox in addition to winning Northwest Conference Coach of the Year honors on three occasions.

At Portland, Meek has won three WCC titles, including an upset over Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament final this season that put Portland in the NCAA Tournament after a third-place finish in the conference. This season marks Portland’s second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance under Meek.

Carla Berube, Princeton

We have strong D-III ties across the Princeton staff, led by Berube, who was the head coach at Tufts from 2002-2019. Berube, who played collegiately at UConn, was 384-96 at Tufts, putting together numerous national tournament runs. She was the 2015 USMC/WBCA Coach of the Year and in a four-year stretch from 2014-2017, took the Jumbos to four straight Final Fours. Additionally, in 2017, Tufts was the only team in the country with two Academic All-Americans, considering only 10 players receive the honor.

While coaching at Tufts, Berube also head coached the 2016 USA U16 National Team and the 2018 U17 National Team. The 2016 team went 5-0 at the FIBA Americans U16 tournament, and the 2018 team won gold at the FIBA U17 World Cup. Amongst the players on her 2017 team were eventual collegiate standouts Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Celeste Taylor, Hailey Van Lith, Aliyah Boston, and Cameron Brink.

Aaron Johnston, South Dakota State

The 1995-96 Gustavus Adolphus men’s team, which included South Dakota State women’s head coach Aaron Johnston as an assistant. Photo from The Gustavian.

A D-III alum, Johnston spent two years playing for the Gustavus Adolphus men’s program before stepping into a student assistant role under men’s head coach Mark Hanson. Johnston graduated from Gustavus in 1996, and in his final season with the program, the Gusties posted a 24-5 record, reaching the Sweet Sixteen,

Johnston has led the South Dakota State women’s program since 1999. The Jackrabbits have appeared in a postseason tournament (either the NCAA or WNIT) every year for the last 17 years, with the exception of the 2019-20 season, when all tournaments were cancelled. Under Johnston’s leadership, the program is 598-190 and 27-5 this season.

Wes Moore, North Carolina State

Newspaper clipping from the Maryville student newspaper, noting head coach Wes Moore and the accomplishments of the Maryville women’s basketball team in the 1988-89 season.

Moore led the Maryville College women’s program from 1987-1993, and is regarded as the first coach in women’s basketball history to take three different teams to the NCAA Tournament at all three levels of the NCAA. He led Maryville to five consecutive national tournament appearances, and took team that won just one game the year prior to his arrival to a 15-12 record in his first season. Moore went 131-36 at Maryville, with Converse/WBCA Region 5 Coach of the Year honors in 1990, 1992, and 1993.

He also took Francis Marion to the NCAA Division II Final Four, led D1 Chattanooga to 12 SoCon regular season titles and nine NCAA Tournaments, and has led NC State to seven consecutive national tournament appearances. His team enters the tournament with a 27-6 record.

Mark Kellogg, West Virginia

Newspaper clipping from the AC Observer, published on Feb. 11, 1997, noting Kellogg’s exceptional play.

Kellogg’s connection to D-III comes through his own collegiate career, which was spent at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. A 1998 graduate, Kellogg played for AC’s men’s basketball team as well as on the golf team, and excelled in his performance on the court. His 1,446 career points ranks in AC’s Top 5 amongst all-time scorers, and Kellogg was both an Jostens Award finalist as well as a three-time All-ASC honoree. He was also nationally-ranked in free throw percentage and three-point field goals made as a senior.

Kellogg is in his first season leading the West Virginia program after going 195-55 in eight years at Stephen F. Austin. West Virginia enters the tournament with a 24-7 record.

Aaron Roussell, Richmond

Aaron Roussell in the huddle with his team as Chicago’s head coach. Photo from The Chicago Maroon

Roussell is in his second stop as a D-I head coach, now at Richmond after seven years at Bucknell. But prior to Bucknell, he led the University of Chicago as its head coach from 2004-2012, putting together a 161-50 record that included an Elite Eight appearance in 2011, and three runs to the Sweet Sixteen in 2008, 2010, and 2012. He led the Maroons to unprecedented success, as Chicago had never earned a spot in the Top 25 prior to his arrival, but ascended to No. 1 in the 2006-07 season.

Richmond enters the tournament with a 29-5 record.

Jim Flanery, Creighton

Besides Creighton, Flanery has coached at just one other school in a lengthy coaching career that began in 1987: Loras. Flanery, who played collegiately at Creighton, spent two years as an assistant at Loras from 1990-1992 under Connie Yori, When Yori got the head women’s job at Creighton, Flanery joined her staff and became the program’s head coach in 2002. Loras went 25-25 under Yori, as the program transitioned to D-III just a few years beforehand, in 1986.

Amy Mallon, Drexel

Photo courtesy of Drexel Athletics

Mallon’s first coaching job at the collegiate level came at Rosemont College in 1994, when she joined the program as an assistant coach shortly after an exceptional senior year at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. She spent one season at Rosemont before moving on to Villanova. Drexel is 19-14 overall this season in Mallon’s fourth season.

Other notable D3 connections

Fairfield: Blake DuDonis, Assistant coach: DuDonis previously spent three years as the head coach at UW-River Falls, as the Falcons reached new heights as a program and tallied three Top 25 wins along with ranking in the Top 10 nationally in fewest turnovers per game.

Fairfield: Alex McKinnon, Assistant coach: McKinnon was a 1,000 point scorer at Montclair State and helped the program to a pair of NJAC titles. She was also a grad assistant at Salisbury in 2021-22, helping the program reach the NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina: Lisa Boyer, Associate head coach: Boyer played at Ithaca, where she was a standout forward and graduated in 1979. She was inducted into the Ithaca Hall of Fame in 2014.

Duke: Karen Middleton, Assistant coach: Middleton was the head coach at UW-La Crosse previously, leading the Eagles from 2016-2023. She went 111-58 during her time at UWL.

Chattanooga: Jonathon Goldberg, Assistant coach: A 2014 Emerson graduate, Goldberg was part of the Emerson men’s team in 2013-14 that took down both top-ranked Amherst and 3rd-ranked WPI. He started 53 straight games and averaged 33.6 minutes per contest over his final two seasons.

Columbia: Allie Bassetti, Assistant coach: Bassetti played at Rowan from 2008-2010 as a point guard, and also coached at Rowan for a short time, including a stint as the program’s recruiting coordinator.

Columbia: Tyler Cordell, Assistant coach: Cordell played at Ohio Wesleyan and graduated in 2011, leaving as the program’s all-time assists leader, with 495. She also scored 1,507 career points for OWU.

Princeton: Lauren Battista, Assistant coach/recruiting coordinator: Battista spent the 2018-19 season on staff at Tufts, as the Jumbos went 28-3 en route to a NESCAC title.

Princeton: Lauren Dillon, Assistant coach: Dillon played at Tufts, where she was the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore, and left as the Jumbos’ all-time leader in assists and steals. She also spent time on the coaching staff at Tufts before moving to Princeton.

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Is there anyone I missed? If so, let me know!

Also, for anyone interested, I put together a group on the ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge. It’s free to join, and the link is here.

Hope everyone is having a great week. I’m planing to put together some “Final Four in review” pieces in the coming week, so stay tuned on that front. Until then, enjoy March Madness! Thank you to everyone for your support of my coverage during the 2023-24 season.