As predicted in Friday’s paper, the Terrapin women’s basketball team will be headed to Spokane, barring another early round upset.
But, as predicted by practically nobody, the Terps won’t be going as a No. 2 seed.
The Terps–not Stanford–were named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s Spokane region tonight, one of the biggest surprises of Selection Monday.
The Terps thought they had left their hopes of a top seed behind in Greensboro last week when they lost to Duke in the ACC semifinals, but their early-season body of work was apparently good enough to carry them to a No. 1.
They will play Coppin State in the first round on Sunday.
Coach Brenda Fraser (as Selection Show host Trey Wingo called her) had been hyping the Terps’ bulked-up out-of-conference schedule all season, and apparently it paid off.
Selection Committee chairwoman Judy Southard, appearing on the show, cited the Terps’ strength of schedule as a deciding factor.
Assuming they get past the Eagles, the Terps will play either No. 8 Nebraska or No. 9 Xavier on Tuesday.
The No. 2 Cardinal, feeling snubbed, and No. 3 Baylor lurk on the bottom half of the Spokane bracket.
At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be any reason why the Terps can’t make it back to the Final Four this year.
In other news, Terp fans will get another chance to heckle Duke when the No.3 Blue Devils play their Oklahoma City region first round game against No. 14 Murray State at Comcast Center on Sunday.
Oklahoma City’s No. 6 Arizona State and No. 11 Temple will also be playing at Comcast.
Let the games begin.
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