NCAA's ruling upsets former player

Tiffanne Ryan said she took a lot of pride in playing for the first Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team to win championships in Division I.

Ryan was a key reserve senior guard on the 2005-06 squad that claimed Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and made the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance.

But while Ryan will still have those memories, she no longer officially will have those accomplishments.

That's why Ryan expressed dismay over the recent NCAA ruling that took away the two OVC titles and NCAA tournament appearance from 2005-06 under former coach B.J. Smith.

Those were part of the penalties handed down for NCAA rules violations in the Southeast women's basketball program during Smith's four-year tenure.

Southeast was forced to vacate its 44 wins from the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, making the Redhawks officially 0-8 and 0-9 those two years, instead of 22-8 and 22-9.

"It's very disappointing. It's kind of a slap in the face, I guess, losing the wins and championships and everything," said Ryan, the only four-year letter winner during Smith's tenure at Southeast. "It hurts to be the first [women[']s basketball] team in school history to do it, but having to take down the banners.

"To know we earned it on the court, but now it's taken away."

Ryan, an Oklahoma native, currently works for the St. Louis Cardinals as a summer intern in community relations.

After earning a degree in sport management at Southeast, Ryan went on to obtain a master's in business from Ohio University. She will return to that institution in the fall to work on a master's in sport management.

Ryan said she still fondly remembers her years at Southeast, regardless of last month's NCAA ruling.

"We accomplished a lot," she said.

As for what some of the other members of that 2005-06 team — which was led by all-OVC pick Tatiana Conceicao — think about losing their titles, Ryan said she had not spoken with any of them.

"A lot of them are overseas. We e-mail each other some, but I haven't talked to any of them in a while," Ryan said. "I'm sure they're disappointed like I am."

Attempts to reach other 2005-06 squad members were unsuccessful.

Four freshmen from that team are still with the Southeast program and have won three more OVC championships since then. Tarina Nixon, Rachel Blunt, Sonya Daugherty and Szandra Pal helped lead the Redhawks to OVC regular-season and tournament crowns in 2006-07, along with the OVC regular-season title in 2007-08.

Nixon is the only one among that foursome who saw significant action in 2005-06. She was a starting guard.

The players remaining from that 2005-06 squad declined to comment through current Southeast coach John Ishee, who was not involved in any of the rules violations.