Postseason journey will be different this year for UW women
Published 1:30 am Friday, March 17, 2017
By Tim Booth
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Washington coach Mike Neighbors could go through a long list of ways that the NCAA Tournament now is strikingly different from a year ago when the Huskies had a minuscule chance at making a Final Four run.
But Neighbors focused on one specific aspect Friday as the Huskies prepared for their first-round matchup against No. 14 seed Montana State.
“This year, (former President Barack) Obama picked us in the Final Four,” Neighbors said. “OK, so that’s the difference.”
Washington’s matchup with the Bobcats is the nightcap on Saturday to a pod that has a decidedly local feel. In Saturday’s opener, No. 6 seed Oklahoma faces No. 11 seed Gonzaga, with the Bulldogs looking to make another deep postseason run as a double-digit seed. Gonzaga has been a No. 11 or No. 12 five times since 2009; the Bulldogs have won at least one game in four of those five tournaments.
The Bulldogs would like to add another tournament victory to their resume after missing the NCAAs last season for the first time since 2008.
“They’re very good and they play the game the way I think it’s supposed to be played,” Oklahoma coach Sherrie Coale said of Gonzaga. “They play together, they’re fundamental, they’re confident, they have an identity, they know who they are, they play really, really hard, and they’re connected.”
Whether it’s being the No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, the fact the Huskies get to host the first two rounds, or the long list of ticket requests that have hounded Neighbors this week, the postseason journey for the Huskies will be vastly different than last season.
A year ago, Washington’s Final Four run took place almost exclusively on the East Coast, with plenty of air travel to get to College Park, Maryland, and Lexington, Kentucky and eventually Indianapolis for the Final Four. That run also created expectations that have been following the Huskies for most of this season, whether it was proving the legitimacy of the Final Four run, or Kelsey Plum’s chase and eventual conquest of the NCAA all-time scoring record. For the most part, the Huskies have handled it without issue, rolling to a 27-5 record.
But there have been the blemishes and most of them in front of big crowds like what’s expected on Saturday. The Huskies stumbled at Notre Dame and Oregon State, and at home against Stanford in front of the largest crowd in school history. The final stumble came in the Pac-12 quarterfinals in a 70-69 loss to Oregon.
“I think we are getting better at it,” Neighbors said. “I don’t think we are 100 percent comfortable with it all the time but I do think we are better prepared for it than we would have been if it were the first time ever that we had the place full.”
