Photo by Hilary Nakasone
In a season full of excitement, the women’s basketball team experienced another thrilling moment on Monday night. This time, though, it was off the court. At the Monday selection show, the Hoyas learned they had received a bid to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1992-1993 season. The team has known they would get a spot in the tournament for a while now, due to their impressive resume, but when they found out they were given a five seed and would face 12 seed Marist in Berkley, California on Saturday, they could barely contain their joy.
“We’re really in, I was so excited, my heart was pounding, skipping a beat, the whole nine,” junior guard Monica McNutt said. “But we worked really hard, so there’s no doubt in my mind that we deserve it and we’re going to do well.”
It was somewhat surprising to see that the Hoyas would be traveling to the West Coast to face a team from New York, when nearby Norfolk, Virginia was another possible destination, but the selection committee has a funny way of doing things
“I’m not surprised, I knew we would go out West, for some reason I told my coaches we’re going out West,” Head Coach Williams-Flournoy said. “There was no way they were going to send me back home to Norfolk, Virginia.”
Jetlag won’t be as much of an issue as the lack of games the team has played recently. By the time they step onto the court in California on Saturday, the Hoyas will have played only one game in the last 19 days. Although that rest may be a cause for concern, the squad has stayed focused.
“I think just going to the NCAA Tournament and understanding the value and the importance of the NCAA Tournament has been enough to keep them interested,” Williams-Flounoy said.
If the prospect of playing in the tournament wasn’t enough to keep the players focused, the coaches have kept them hard at work, correcting some of the mistakes that led to an early exit in the Big East Tournament when they lost a heartbreaker to Rutgers in double overtime.
“Our four coaches have a way of keeping us in tip-top shape,” McNutt said. “This week we’re really focusing on ourselves and sharpening up things that we do and getting ready to play this team. We don’t have a choice, we will stay sharp.”
The NCAA Tournament will be the culmination of a historic season for the Hoyas. In the beginning of the year, they burst onto the scene with a 16 game winning streak that pushed them into the national rankings for the first time in 17 years. They eventually reached No. 11 and cemented their status as an elite team by beating juggernaut Notre Dame and finishing with a perfect 13-0 record at home. The remarkable campaign was mostly a result of the Hoyas defensive prowess. They had the highest turnover margin (8.32) in the entire country and finished third in steals per game with 13.4.
The Hoyas’ achievements are the product of many different things aligning at the right time. The last two recruiting classes have brought in a lot of young talent and Williams-Flourney’s emphasis on tough defense and fast-paced offense fits the new players’ abilities and attitudes.
“We [sophomores] all had this same vision, we all wanted to make it to this day, so I feel like our class really did start new things,” sophomore forward Latia Magee said.
The upperclassmen have not always been part of winning teams at Georgetown, and their early frustrations on the Hilltop have made this season even more meaningful. They have the ability to let their younger teammates know how great an opportunity this is.
The Hoyas are going to need contributions from both their old and young players to make a deep run in the tournament. They are in the Memphis region, a group full of teams with talent and experience. Georgetown’s first opponent, Marist, is making their seventh straight trip to March Madness. If the Hoyas can take care of the Red Foxes, they will likely face fourth-seeded Baylor in the next game. The Lady Bears have freshman phenom, center Brittney Griner, who is dominant in the post and can dunk a ball with ease. A trip to the Sweet 16 would be nice, but with a likely match up against Pat Summit and Tennessee in Memphis, the Hoyas will definitely have their work cut out for them.
“When it becomes one and done, it kind of makes things a little bit different,” Williams-Flournoy said. “You have to play as hard as you can for that one game because the next game is not guaranteed.”
The Lady Hoyas look to win their first NCAA Tournament game in seventeen years against Marist on Saturday at 8 p.m. in California.
