Considering that they’ve worn the underdog label for the entire 2005-06 season, the members of the University of Washington women’s basketball team wouldn’t mind sneaking into the NCAA tournament under the radar.
The Huskies entered the season without much confidence from either the media or Pac-10 coaches, who picked them sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 10-team conference. All the Huskies did was surprise just about everyone by going 18-10, finishing fourth in the league and advancing to their 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in 22 seasons.
“I think our mentality is still going to be the underdog role, simply because we wore that cape all year,” coach June Daugherty said as the Huskies prepared for today’s first-round game against Minnesota (19-9). “I think we like that role. We’re comfortable with it, and we’ll try to use it to our advantage.”
Not that the ninth seed can be considered a huge underdog in a game against the No. 8 seed Gophers. But the winner of today’s game probably faces top seed LSU (27-3), meaning just about everyone who knows anything about college basketball is expecting the UW’s season to end within the next three days.
That’s just fine with the Huskies, who have proven dissenters wrong before.
“What (the media and Pac-10 coaches) didn’t see was what was going on in the offseason,” Daugherty said of her team’s unexpected success. “We had great senior leadership, with our three seniors getting these kids more disciplined, more dedicated on their improvement. They were all here all summer, they played an enormous amount of basketball together.
“That type of chemistry, and that type of work in the offseason, is priceless.”
While the Huskies’ chemistry carried them through most of the season, they’re not exactly peaking right now. Washington has lost its past three games, including a 70-63 loss to USC in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament.
Given two weeks to prepare for the NCAAs, Daugherty and her staff have been working on a way to improve the team’s transition defense. That will be particularly important today against a Minnesota team that hit 36.5 percent of its 3-point shots during the season. The Gophers have five players who have hit more than 10 3-pointers, led by Shannon Schonrock’s 56.
“If you’re not going to get out on shooters, especially against a team like Minnesota, they’re really going to make you pay for it; they’re going to knock 3s down on you,” Daugherty said. “So we’re really working hard on our rotation so that we can force a tough shot or force a turnover.”
The Gophers aren’t exactly rolling into the tournament, either, having lost five of their last seven games. But Minnesota has a strong inside-outside combination that has given teams problems all year.
“They’re really well-rounded, and they play extremely hard,” UW senior Kristen O’Neill said. “It’s going to be a battle, but I’m excited.”
One of two remaining seniors – Arlington native Kayla Burt retired from the sport midway through the season because of a heart condition – O’Neill is hoping to prove the so-called experts wrong again by extending the UW season into next weekend.
“I’m not really comfortable with the term ‘underdog’ because I have a lot of confidence that this team can compete with anybody in the country,” O’Neill said. “But considering that we were a bubble team coming in, we felt very fortunate to be here. To be a nine seed and have the selection committee recognize the talent that we do have is a great reward.
“…This is a great reward to a hard-fought season, and we’re not done yet.”
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