She is always with them, in them. Her spirit pervades an institution erected on history, heroism, honor. Her women of West Point, one already in Iraq commanding a company of 80 male soldiers, repeated her words and wore her initials on their uniforms and daily rededicated their play to Maggie Dixon's memory.

That's why, when their season ended in a crush of tears, Dave Magarity sent them away for spring break.

"It was disappointing on the one hand," the first-year women's basketball coach at the U.S. Military Academy said this week over the telephone, referring to a 24-6 survival test that concluded with neither a bid to the NCAA tournament nor the Women's National Invitation Tournament. "On the other hand, they needed this break. It's good for our kids. I'm tellin' you, it was such a tough year."

One year ago today, Pitt's Jamie and Army's Maggie Dixon were a brother-sister act unprecedented in college basketball history: each coached in concurrent NCAA tournaments. Last March 18, against the same Tennessee that today visits the Petersen Events Center for the start of the women's draw, there on ESPN danced Maggie's upstart Black Knights -- whom she guided in six, short months to a 20-11 record, their inaugural Patriot League championship, their first postseason berth. This landmark game wound up a 102-54 defeat for Army, but the ultimate loss came 18 days afterward. Margaret Mary Dixon, 28, collapsed and later died of arrhythmia. Black nights, indeed.

"We were so much better this year, but we ended up with a tough opening game, Lehigh," Magarity tried to explain of a four-point loss in the Patriot League quarterfinals. "I think we were just so tired by the end of the year. I may have ... I dunno. I was just trying to be consistent with what I did. That's the way I presented it: 'You dedicated the season to her, she's looking down on you, she loves you.' Boom."

Magarity, whose wife, Rita, hails from Wilkinsburg, is a St. Francis of Loretto guy. He played there, started there as an assistant, began his head-coaching sojourn there. Thirty-four years there, Iona and Marist, all around men. So he was out of his element when, in October 2005, Maggie asked the then Mid-American Conference director of men's basketball to join her on the Army women's bench. "She really blew me away -- all smiles and energy." She kept her brother in one ear, over the phone daily, and Magarity in the other.

At season's end, ex-Marist assistant and New Orleans Hornets general manager Jeff Bower offered him an attractive NBA scouting post ("I was gone"), so Maggie gave his job to the only previous women's player the self-professed "old fart" ever guided: his daughter, Maureen Magarity. "It wasn't like Maggie skipped a beat; 'congratulations, but you're easily replaced,'" he teased. Then, in an eye-blink, she was gone.

Magarity ultimately accepted Army's offer to take over leadership. It was no ordinary coaching job, overseeing women for the first time (a rookie at age 57), working in the specter of a civilian so embraced that she was buried in West Point's cemetery alongside Heisman Trophy winner Glenn Davis, generals and soldiers. So Magarity decided that Maggie would join him on the Army women's bench. The shamrock patch with her initials, the flower garden, the gravesite, the Maggie Dixon Classic, the philosophy. The vision of Cadets carrying her off the court after the 2006 Patriot title still Christl Arena clear.

"Thank goodness I had my daughter with me," Magarity said. "You know what? She's a lot like Maggie. She's got that way about her. She's got a feel for the game. It makes me feel good that Maggie hired her.

"Every day was tough, though. Some kids took it tougher than others. There were days I was walking on eggshells. But, on the flip side, it was my job to get them to the next level. She started something here."

This space wishes the Dapper Dan Club or somebody here would honor Jim and Marge Dixon, Magarity and Maggie's memory with a plaque, a mention, something. The late Jim Valvano's V Foundation will announce in a fortnight if their Army women are its Comeback Award winner. For now, though, the postseason continues without the Black Knights, who return from spring break tomorrow to sunrise wakeups, reveilles, military hours, the looming shadows of war and Maggie remembrances.

"The way I look at it, now that I've had time to think about it: Last year, we were lucky if we were the third-best team in the league. The stars were aligned. She gave them something, made them believe in themselves, and everything fell into place," Magarity said. "I got seven of my top eight players back. But it's going to be hard to keep it going. It's hard for these kids."