Cavs’ Ryan hits the road in pursuit of 700th win

Don't expect waves of applause or billows of confetti if University of Virginia women's basketball coach Debbie Ryan captures her 700th career victory tonight.

The Cavaliers' Hall of Fame coach will begin her 33rd season at U.Va. -- and will make her second attempt to reach the 700 plateau -- in an indifferent, if not hostile, setting. Virginia opens against Maryland-Baltimore County in the 4,000-seat Retriever Activities Center.

"That's my own fault," Ryan said. "The schedule is done long before you actually know about anything like this." Then she paused. "Besides -- I'd have (reached 700) on the road anyway if we'd won our last game of last season."

Ryan, 699-298 in 32 seasons, climbed to the doorstep of 700 when the Cavaliers defeated Marist in last year's NCAA Tournament opener in Los Angeles. California mauled Virginia 99-73 in the second round.

A victory tonight will place Ryan in elite company. Only nine other Division I women's coaches have won 700 or more games. All are assured of spots in the sport's pantheon. Among them: Tennessee's Pat Summitt (No. 1; 1,005 victories), Texas' now-retired Jody Conradt (No. 2; 900) and Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer (No. 3; 825).

The impact of 700 career victories "is more about the pride that we take as a program as a team not about individuals," Ryan said. "I honestly don't feel like this belongs to me. I feel like it belongs to all of us. I haven't scored even one basket for the University of Virginia."

Ryan, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000, 173 victories ago, said the most significant aspect of her accomplishment has little to do with basketball.

"It's that I got to live this long to see it happen," she said.