March 17, 2011
NCAA Women’s Championships – The Pit
First/Second Rounds — Saturday/Monday
Saturday: No. 5 North Carolina (25-8) vs. No. 12 Fresno State (25-7)
Time/TV: 2 p.m. (MT); On ESPN2
Saturday: No. 4 Kentucky (24-8) vs. No. 13 Hampton (26-6)
Time/TV: 4:30 p.m. (MT); On ESPN2
Monday: Winners play at 7:30 p.m.
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The NCAA did not favor Albuquerque or The Pit with geographical darlings such as Arizona State or Texas A&M, but if underdogs are your thing, this NCAA first-round dance has its gifts.
We give you Fresno State. We give you Hampton.
Of course, Fresno State and Hampton are not supposed to survive Saturday’s action and charge into Monday’s NCAA Pit finale. That’s why they are underdogs.
But the NCAA dance always invites a guest named “Cinderella” and the Fresno Bulldogs and the Hampton Lady Pirates have the necessary requirements to wear this dancing shoe. Fresno is a No. 12 seed; Hampton wears a No. 13 glass slipper.
The Cinderellas that emerge to take their shots at the Goliaths of the bracket are sweet stories (at least for a while) and that spoiler of seasons already has taken the ballroom floor on the men’s side. Goodbye, mighty Louisville and Vanderbilt. Dance on, No. 13 seed Morehead State and No. 12 Richmond.
These Cinderella’s were clever enough to pull their upsets in the same bracket, so one of them will dance on to the Sweet 16. Hampton and Fresno State have the exact same opportunity in Albuquerque.
It won’t be easy.
Fresno State of the Western Athletic Conference is about 900 miles and 14 hours of drive time to the West and actually is the geographical darling of this tournament. The Bulldogs also have a favorable link to Lobo fans, who don’t remember a football coach named Sweeney, because the Lobos used to play ball in the WAC. Fresno has a sweet guard in Jaleesa Ross, who averages 16.4 points and four assists.
North Carolina, Kentucky and Hampton probably would have been happier back East, but they get to join the wild, west show in The Pit and – if Lobo fans show up – will get a mild taste of what makes New Mexico basketball so special.
The Bulldogs of Fresno get to go at North Carolina. The Tar Heels are NCAA quality and won the national title in 1994. This ACC product will step into The Pit wearing The Associated Press No. 14 ranking and the swagger of an ACC team.
It has been suggested that there isn’t as much parity in women’s basketball between the top programs and the wannabes, but Fresno State didn’t fashion a respectable 25-7 record by playing for second place on a scoreboard.
Still, the Bulldogs are 1-5 against Top 50 competition (RPI) and have never won an NCAA game. It will be tough to end that drought against a 26-8 Carolina team that has been ranked in the Top 20 all year. The Tar Heels finished second to Duke in the ACC tourney, thus they got shipped out West.
The Hampton Lady Pirates get to go at a quality Kentucky team that didn’t have what it takes to hang with Tennessee in the SEC race. The Wildcats have one of the top players in the nation in Victoria Dunlap (17 pts., 8.8 rebounds), but Kentucky was hammered by Tennessee.
Hampton (25-6) needs to control Dunlap’s scoring and board work while not watching the rest of the Wildcats race by. Kentucky likes to run and the `Cats are good at it. Well, except when Tennessee is on the floor.
Hampton earned its ticket to the NCAA dance by winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title. The Pirates have slashed their way to a 13-game win streak and beat a solid Florida team of the SEC earlier. Hampton also has never won a first-round NCAA game.
On of the Pirate players was quoted as saying, “Let’s get us some Wildcat.”
Easier said than done. Since expanding to 64 teams, the No. 4 team is 63-5 against No. 13. But Cinderella has a way of showing up at this dance and stealing some thunder. How many people had Morehead State or Richmond reaching Sweet 16 territory on the men’s side?
For sure, the action Saturday should be high quality. If you aren’t a fan of Cinderella and want the “supposedly” better teams to advance, then a North Carolina/Kentucky game on Monday would definitely showcase some high-class ball.
Tickets for the Albuquerque bracket (three games) are $28 for adults and $18 for students. Single-session tickets are $17 and $10.
The No. 1 seeds in the women’s bracket are Connecticut, Stanford, Baylor and Tennessee. The No 2s are Texas A&M, Xavier, Notre Dame and Duke.