The look on Jon Newlee’s face said all there needed to be said about how he felt of his team’s selection for the NCAA Tournament.
While smiles and laughter crossed the faces of his players, a look of displeasure and surprise crossed the face of Newlee’s when Idaho received a No. 14 seed to the NCAA Tournament, being sent to Iowa City to play No. 3-seeded Louisville.
The game will be televised on ESPN at 2:30 PT on March 23.
Idaho’s WAC Tournament champion women’s basketball program, fans and media gathered inside the Kibbie Dome’s Team Room C, with the regular season and conference tournament trophies sitting on a table next to the projector screen serving as decoration, on Monday to see where the Vandals would be participating in March Madness. Surprise filled the room when it was learned that Idaho would be sent to Iowa City, instead of being sent to Seattle as many had predicted.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme was one who had Idaho playing its opening game in Seattle.
Being paired with No. 3 seed Louisville, which happens to also be the No. 3 ranked team in the AP Top 25, didn’t help to subside that shock.
“We really thought we’d be in that Seattle bracket over there, everyone was saying Nebraska, but now it’s Louisville, so another national big time program, but we’ll go out and do the best we can,” Newlee said.
“I think they were saying the committee wanted to keep people closer to home. We went across the country last year and now we’re going halfway across the country, instead of putting us where they could have. Disappointed in that, disappointed for our fans who won’t be able to get to Iowa, so definitely disappointed about that,” he said.
Regardless, Idaho is up for the challenge. In its second consecutive NCAA Tournament by way of back-to-back WAC Tournament championships the Vandals have a better understanding of the process and what to expect when they arrive in Iowa City.
“We know a little bit more about the tournament and how things go and how to travel, what happens when they get there and I think that experience will help us once we get to Iowa, to be a little more prepared and not getting used to everything brand new,” senior Alyssa Charlston said.
The challenge of playing the No. 3 ranked team in the nation may not be as daunting for Idaho. The Vandals played the best team in the nation last season in its first round NCAA Tournament game when they faced eventual national champion UConn.
“It’s exciting, you want to play against the best and Louisville is up there, they made it to the championship last year and we’re just really excited,” Charlston said. “We definitely respect Louisville, we definitely know that team well. It’s really exciting but you want to challenge yourself and it’s definitely a challenge.”
In getting Louisville, Idaho is getting the national runner up from last season’s NCAA Tournament and the the American Athletic Conference runner-up to No. 1 ranked and currently undefeated UConn. The Cardinals have only lost to UConn (three times) and No. 12 ranked Kentucky.
The perhaps lone advantage of getting the No. 14 seed is that Idaho won’t have to play on Louisville’s home court.
Newlee had said he hoped his program’s resume would be respected enough for a No. 10 or No. 12 seed, but he admitted some bad out of conference losses played a part in where Idaho was seeded.
“I thought our seeding would be better but we gave away a couple games, games we shouldn’t have lost and those always in come back to bite you at this time of year. I was afraid that was going to happen to us and it did,” Newlee said.
Should Idaho pull the upset, it would become the first 14-seed to ever knock off a 3-seed in women’s NCAA Tournament history. Creighton came close to being the first 14-seed to pull the upset while in the 2012 tournament, losing to St. John’s 69-67.
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Louisville
Conference: American Athletic (2nd)
Record: 30-4
RPI: 8
Losses: Dec. 1 at Kentucky 69-64, Feb. 9 at UConn, 81-64, March 3 v. UConn 68-48, March 10 – UConn 72-52 (AAC Tournament final)
Here is a list of opponents Louisville played with RPIs similar to Idaho. The Vandals finished with an RPI of 93 after winning the WAC. RPI listed for those Louisville opponents in parenthesis.
Notable wins: Dec. 7 v. Wright State 91-49 (90), Nov. 27 at Western Kentucky 74-61 (109), Nov. 11 vs. Quinnipiac 100-82 (72), Dec. 21 v. Colorado 69-62 (107), Dec. 29 v. SMU 71-51 (92), Jan. 1 at Temple 77-68 (101), Feb. 12 v. Temple 60-50 (101)