Starzz coach Candi Harvey put it best: "Hey, whoever we play in the playoffs, spread the word, get in here and support this team because we're not finished playing basketball."
That's right, the Starzz are in the playoffs for the second consecutive year, this time sporting a franchise record 20 wins. Utah is seeded third in the West and will play second-seeded Houston when post-season play starts later this week. The Starzz should be propelled by an exciting regular-season ending victory over Sacramento, played at the Delta Center before some 11,000 fans on Monday night.
While the Starzz also made the playoffs last year, this was the first year that Harvey had command of the team for the entire season. The consistency in the coaching ranks enabled the team to gel in a manner that it previously had not. Credit Harvey for building on the successes of the 2001 season, when the team finished the season 14-5 after Harvey was installed as head coach midway through the season.
Harvey's winning percentage is the best of any Starzz coach to date. A former Starzz assistant coach, Harvey has also coached
Texas A&M, Tulane and Stephen F. Austin, and was head coach of a Nashville ABL team that folded with the league just a few games into the season.
Team officials credit Harvey for bringing stability and direction to a team that has had talented, athletic players who were standouts in their own right but had struggled to come together as a team. Harvey appears to have settled on a formula this season that emphasizes teamwork but enables individual strengths to flourish. In addition to a record 20 wins in the regular season, Starzz players Margo Dydek, Adrienne Goodson, Natalie Williams, Jennifer Azzi and Marie Ferdinand should finish near the top in league statistics.
We congratulate the Starzz organization for a successful season that took the team to a new level. We encourage Utah fans to respond in kind by turning out in droves when the Starzz' playoff bid commences later this week.