USF head coach Jose Fernandez had been preaching his team, “If we do what we need to do, we’re a tournament team.” The women’s basketball team, boasting a 21-10 record overall and a 9-7 record in conference play, is poised to grab a NCAA Tournament berth for just the second time in the program’s history.
Fernandez, who led USF to its first tournament berth in 2006 and an NIT championship in 2009, knew that despite a worthy record the Bulls would need to do decently in the Big East Championship to cement themselves as a tournament team.
While their peers were enjoying spring break, the women’s basketball team traveled to Hartford, Connecticut to participate in the Big East Championship. USF had a first-round bye as the No. 8 seed and played its first game on March 9, taking on ninth-seeded Rutgers.
It was not the matchup that the Bulls wanted for their first game of the tournament. Rutgers had been difficult to play against earlier in the season and were coming off back-to-back wins over ranked opponents. The game earlier in the season ended in win for the Scarlet Knights by the score of 68-56. Fernandez said that loss was because of a poor effort by his team on defense.
The Bulls had to earn every basket against the Scarlet Knights, trailing 14-3 midway through the first half before clawing their way back to within a point of the lead at halftime.
Eight unanswered points, all of which were free throws, in the final five minutes allowed USF to top a Rutgers squad that was defensively sound throughout the game. The Bulls went on to win by the score of 42-39, advancing to the quarterfinals to take on the No. 1 seed Notre Dame.
The Bulls nearly pulled off the upset when they played the Fighting Irish earlier in the season losing75-71 in overtime. The close game prompted Irish coach Muffet McGraw to declare that the Bulls are “a very, very good basketball team” and that they “should be ranked in the top 25”.
The second time around the result wasn’t as close. The Bulls fell 75-66 to the Irish. Notre Dame would go on to win the Big East Championship over UConn who had won the championship each of the past five seasons.
Many felt as though the Bulls would need to get at least one win in the Big East Championship in order to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. USF was able to get that one win, but due to upsets in other conference tournaments the Bulls’ spot in the tourney is not yet secure. Still, it would be a considerable snub if a 21-win team with a winning Big East record was excluded from the big dance.
The women’s NCAA Tournament selection special will be made on Monday, March 18. Charlie Creme, the “bracketologist” for women’s basketball at ESPN.com, has the Bulls as a bubble team and the first of the “last four in” selections, as of Sunday. If Creme is right, USF will face the LSU Tigers on their home court in Baton Rouge, LA.
USF will hold a watch party for the selection show at the Sun Dome, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The watch party is open to the public, and Director of Athletics Doug Woolard, Coach Fernandez, and the entire women’s team will all be in attendance. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special will be televised on ESPN beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Photo: USF Athletics
