Gopher Women Awarded #3 Seed; Host St. Francis

The Gopher women’s basketball team was awarded a surprise No. 3 seed for the upcoming NCAA tourney, and they’ll host 14th-seeded St. Francis at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.

The Gophers were placed in the Tempe Bracket, in which their road for a repeat trip for a 2nd straight Final Four appearance could include games against No. 2-seeded Baylor and No. 1-seeded North Carolina.

Minnesota was 1 of 5 Big 10 teams awarded a spot in the NCAA tourney. They’re joined by Michigan State (a No. 1 seed), Ohio State (a No. 2 seed), Penn State (a No. 4 seed), and Purdue (a No. 9 seed). Iowa, the Conference’s 6th place team and a 20-game winner, was not selected and will play in the NIT tourney.

About St. Francis. From Loretta, PA., where Gopher men’s player Brent Lawson played for a year before returning to Minnesota, the St. Francis Red Flash are no stranger to the NCAA tourney. With 9 NCAA appearances in the past 10 years, St. Francis won both the Northeast Conference regular season title and the conference tournament title. With 4 seniors and a junior in their starting lineup, St. Francis is led by 6’2″ senior Beth Swink, who averages 23 points per game. Although the Red Flash have been invited to the dance frequently, they’ve never stayed long, with a record of 0-8 and an average losing margin of 35 points.

Notes and Observations:

• On paper, it looks like the Gophers will have an easier route to the Sweet 16 than they did last year, when, as a No. 7 seed, they barely defeated a scrappy and athletic UCLA team and then trounced No. 2 seed Kansas State.

  If the Gophers beat St. Francis, they host the winner of the game 6 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena between No. 6 seed Virginia and No. 11 seed Old Dominion. These 2 teams played early in the season, with Virginia winning, 72-64, at home.

• The 2 teams seeded above the Gophers in the Tempe region are North Carolina (No. 1) and Baylor (No. 2). Both teams won their regular conference titles and their conference tournaments. The Gophers and Baylor could meet in a Sweet 16 game. Baylor just missed a Final Four appearance last year, the victim of a late-game controversial call in a loss to Tennessee. Baylor also just missed being a No. 1 seed and ended up being the top No. 2 seed. The Gophers were the last No. 4 seed. Baylor is an experienced battle-tested team that probably won’t consider their season successful unless they reach the Final Four. Led by star freshman point guard Ivory Latta, North Carolina might be the most athletic women’s college basketball team. As a Gophers fan, they scare the bejeevers out of me. But there are rays of hope: The Tar Heels have been inconsistent at times this year, they would probably have to get past a good Notre Dame team in the Sweet 16 game, and they might struggle against the Gophers’ inside tandem of Janel McCarville and Jamie Broback.
• The Gophers are 8-6 against teams in the NCAA tourney. 3 of those losses were to Michigan State, the No. 1 seed in the Kansas City Bracket.
• Ohio State’s loss to the Gophers in the Big 10 tourney resulted in a tough draw for the No. 2-seeded Buckeyes. They might have to play Brenda Frese‘s Maryland team in a 2nd round game at Maryland. Although Maryland is young and a No. 7 seed, they’re talented and they’ll have a chance to beat the Buckeyes in a 2nd round home game. We all saw last year what could happen when the 7th-seeded Gophers dismantled 2nd-seed Kansas State at Williams Arena.

  If Ohio State is able to advance to the Sweet 16, their probably opponent will be a very good Rutgers team.

• There’s not yet as much parity in women’s college basketball as there is in men’s basketball, so don’t expect a lot of 1st round upsets. 2 of the more interesting matchups with Gopher connections are No. l0 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay against No. 7 seed Maryland on the Terrapins home court. The Gophers beat UW-Green Bay earlier in the year; Maryland is coached by former Gopher coach Brenda Frese. No. 9 seed Purdue, a team the Gophers beat 3 times this year, plays New Mexico, a No. 8 seed the Gophers beat at Williams Arena in January.
• The NCAA Selection Committee was kind enough not to send Kansas State back to Williams Arena, the site of last year’s March Massacre. The Wildcats are a No. 4 seed in the Kansas City bracket.
• How the mighty have fallen? UCLA, the young, upstart team that gave the Gophers all they could handle in last year’s NCAA opening round, did not make the NCAA or NIT tourney fields this year. The Bruins finished a disappointing 16-12 despite having just about everybody back.

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