Spring Break
UConn Women Earn Top Seed
Women's Basketball
Tim Ehrens
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Sports
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The Huskies (32-1) were selected as the No. 1 seed - the 11th time they have garnered such a distinction - in the Greensboro Region of the 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. They will play 16th-seeded Cornell, Sunday (7 p.m., ESPN2) in Bridgeport at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between No. 8 seed Texas and No. 9 seed Minnesota - a game taking place approximately 30 minutes after the UConn-Cornell tilt.
While the distinction of UConn as the No. 1 overall seed was no surprise, when the rest of the bracket was announced there was a wealth of bewildered looks to go around.
At the bottom of the bracket lies a familiar foe - 2nd-seeded Rutgers - a team that handed UConn its only loss on Feb. 5 and whom UConn routed in its final game to win the Big East regular season championship. However, in the top half lies teams like No. 5 seed Old Dominion and No. 4 seed Virginia, teams the Huskies have beaten this season by 43 and 30 points, respectively.
"I think probably everybody was surprised, with so many teams to choose from it was kind of ironic," said head coach Geno Auriemma on the unusual one and two-seed pairing. "I guess Rutgers is the No. 8 seed in the country and I find that hard to believe but I guess they are. If I was them I would be questioning what is going on."
UConn players Tina Charles, Ketia Swanier and Charde Houston were mostly indifferent to the presence of Rutgers in their bracket but when the Scarlet Knights were announced as the No. 2 seed loud cheers could be heard from the players in the locker room.
"It was probably mixed emotions," said Renee Montgomery. "We had no idea who the two seeds were going to be. Period. You're really anxious trying to find out who you're going to play and now that we know, it's a better feeling."
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