The 11th-seeded Cougars will face the 6-seed Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the first round next Monday, while 16th-seeded Utah Valley has a date with the top-seeded Cardinal in its first-ever run in the Big Dance
Dancing, jumping around, screaming and then more dancing.
That’s how star BYU women’s basketball player Shaylee Gonzales described the scene at the team lounge in the Marriott Center Annex — BYU’s practice facility — on Monday evening as the Cougars saw their name flash on the television screen during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show.
“We all just went crazy,” Gonzales said. “I mean, my heart is still racing right now. I can’t believe it. I just feel so much joy and happiness for our team. We are excited to get there and show what we are made of.”
“There” is San Antonio, Texas, and the surrounding area, as all the women’s tournament games will be played in southern Texas, just as all the men’s tournament games will be played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
BYU got an 11-seed and will face sixth-seeded Rutgers of the Big Ten next Monday at 10 a.m. on ESPNU at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. It will be BYU’s 14th NCAA Tournament appearance, its fourth time as a No. 11 seed.
“We weren’t sure we were going to make it,” Gonzales said. “We feel so blessed and so lucky. It shows our hard work paid off.”
Utah Valley is also in the tournament for the first time in school history. The second-place (regular season) Wolverines, who got the WAC’s automatic bid because tournament champion Cal Baptist is not yet eligible, will face No. 1 seed Stanford on Saturday.
“It is just amazing,” said UVU coach Dan Nielson. “I am really happy for our team to get to have this experience.”
After their heartbreaking last-second loss in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game last week to Gonzaga when Bulldogs star Jill Townsend made a shot at the buzzer, there was uncertainty if the Cougars would make the NCAA Tournament field.
“We knew it was 50-50,” said BYU coach Jeff Judkins. “I mean, this was a lot of stress, not knowing you are in. I am not going to lie to you. ... We are shocked.”
But incredibly happy,
BYU women's basketball gets an at-large bid to NCAA Tournament. Cougars get a No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 Rutgers in San Antonio area.
— Jay Drew (@drewjay) March 15, 2021
The journey begins.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/EYVJs3N766
— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) March 15, 2021
Rutgers will present major challenges, Judkins and Gonzales both said, because the Scarlet Knights are coached by the legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer and play an aggressive, full-court pressure defense to utilize an array of big, strong, athletic players.
“It is going to be a big challenge for us to handle that, but I think we can,” Judkins said.
Coincidentally, Judkins watched Rutgers play a couple of times on TV this past season and took a few notes, thinking there was a chance the Cougars could face the school from New Jersey.
“We are going to have our hands full,” he said. Family members will be able to attend games, but the general public is not welcome due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gonzales, the WCC Co-Player of the Year with Gonzaga’s Jenn Wirth, said the one-point loss in Las Vegas six days ago “was definitely very, very devastating and frustrating” for the Cougars, and it took a couple days to recover.
“We got back together and we told ourselves that we were making the NCAA Tournament,” she saiid. “And then we also told ourselves that if we don’t get into the NCAA Tournament and we into the NIT we are going to win that whole tournament to show people that we deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament.”
That won’t be necessary now, she said with a grin.
“Ten minutes of just jumping up and down and screaming and dancing (ensued),” she said. “It was a really awesome feeling.”
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3bPRdNh
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