Missouri State Bears are No. 5 seed in women’s NCAA Tournament field led by Stanford
The Missouri State women’s basketball team didn’t get a chance to win its conference tournament.
No matter, the Bears are in the NCAA Tournament anyway.
Missouri State, ranked 21st in the latest Associated Press poll and 21-2 on the season, is a No. 5 seed and will play No. 12 UC Davis (13-2) in the first round at 6:30 p.m. Monday at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
The Bears are in the Alamo Region, led by overall No. 1 seed Stanford. The Hemisfair, Mercado and River Walk are the other region names. Every game of the women’s NCAA Tournament this year will be played in the San Antonio area because of the pandemic, with the last four rounds tipping off at the Alamodome.
Missouri State was trying for its second straight Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and third in six years but chose to opt out of the event last week in Moline, Illinois after one game when it was learned its opponent in Saturday’s semifinal, Bradley, had a positive test for COVID-19 on Friday evening.
“Our top priority is to able to play in the NCAA Tournament,” Missouri State athletic director Kyles Moats said. “Our players lost that opportunity last year with the pandemic and the cancellation of the postseason. We have to ensure that our players and our staff get that opportunity this year.”
Missouri State returns to the NCAA Tournament, where it lost to Stanford in the 2019 Sweet 16. That was under coach Kellie Harper, who moved on to Tennessee after that season and was replaced by Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.
“Playing in the NCAA Tournament is a priority for us, especially after missing the opportunity last season,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
North Carolina State is a No. 1 seed for the first time, joining Stanford, South Carolina and Connecticut on the top lines.
Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer of Stanford downplayed being the top choice.
“What I really tell our team is seeds do not matter,” she said. “It’s not like you get any extra points when you show up at the gym.”
VanDerveer said being healthy and excited to play was most important. Teams basically will be locked down in hotels except to head to practice or games as part of the stringent COVID-19 safety protocols.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s Texas arrival will be delayed. He will remain in isolation for 10 days and can rejoin the team on March 24. The other members of UConn’s travel party have tested negative for COVID-19.
Auriemma will miss the Huskies’ opening game against High Point — one of four first-timers in the NCAAs — and a potential second-round matchup against either Syracuse or South Dakota State.
“I’m an innocent bystander right now. I’m going to sit back and watch them do their thing,” he said. “(Assistant coach Chris Dailey) is undefeated in tournament play. I don’t think you can get a coach who has a better record in the tournament than she does.”
While the coronavirus caused many disruptions to the schedule throughout the regular season, it looks as if most of the teams in the field made it to the tournament healthy.
Stanford, which will open against Utah Valley in seeking its third national title, had quite the odyssey this season because of the coronavirus. It had to play on the road for nine weeks after Santa Clara County health officials announced they were prohibiting all contact sports in late November.
This could be one of the most wide-open tournaments, with a dozen teams capable of winning the title. There were five No. 1 teams in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll this year, including the Huskies, who finished the season at No. 1.
The national semifinals take place on April 2, and the championship game will be held April 4.
Tennessee continued its streak of making the NCAA Tournament all 39 years. Joining High Point as NCAA rookies are Stony Brook, Utah Valley and Bradley.
Notre Dame’s run of 24 straight NCAA appearances came to an end. The Irish were one of the first four teams out of the tournament. They were joined just outside the field by Houston, DePaul and Oklahoma.
Even without Notre Dame, the ACC is well represented with eight teams. The SEC and the Big Ten each had seven schools. The Pac-12 had six, and the Big 12 had five.
With no tournament played last season because of the virus, Baylor is still the defending champion. Coach Kim Mulkey’s team is very different from the one that won the title, but still is quite talented, winning the Big 12 regular season and conference tournaments.
The Bears are a No. 2 seed in UConn’s region.
Like Baylor, the other three two seeds — Louisville, Texas A&M and Maryland — at some point were in consideration for the one line.
“We did have a lot of teams, a lot of discussion around who are the four who were just right for the one line,” NCAA selection committee chair Nina King said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report