Selection Monday came and passed in unexciting fashion for the Virginia women’s basketball team, who landed a slightly-disappointing fifth seed in the Trenton region. Though the Cavaliers spent most of the season ranked in the national polls — peaking at No. 11 — and played considerably better than they did last year, their placement in the NCAA Tournament actually is one seed worse than last season.
Virginia comes into the tournament on a losing streak; the team has dropped two of its past three games, including a loss to Duke in the second round of the ACC Tournament; the Blue Devils were given a one seed in the NCAA tournament. Virginia kicks off the tournament with a matchup against 12th-seeded Marist, which has put up an impressive 29-3 record out of the MAAC.
Should Virginia advance past this first round, the Cavaliers will take on fourth-seeded California — a matchup that could be in Virginia’s favor. The Cavaliers have seasoned themselves against some of the best teams in the country and have a star-studded roster and a reasonable chance at upsetting the 25-6 Golden Bears who finished second in the Pac 10.
The Cavs are a very long shot to advance past the Sweet 16, though. Beyond the first two games of the bracket looms a match-up with the undefeated, No. 1 Connecticut. The Huskies are having a historic season and are considered heavy favorites to win it all this year. They also have sophomore forward Maya Moore, the most dominant player in women’s college basketball.
But let’s suppose for a moment that Virginia has a chance against the Huskies. If Virginia pulls what could be considered its biggest win of the decade, the sky’s the limit. With that sort of momentum and confidence, nothing’s stopping the Cavaliers from making a run through the Final Four. Fifth seed or not, Virginia has proven that they can be one of best teams in the country when they’re hot.
Though the selection committee made the best picks for the first seeds that they could have, I like Stanford and UNC pulling upsets against Duke and Oklahoma, respectively. A UConn-Stanford-UNC-Maryland Final Four would be some top-tier basketball, even though I thoroughly expect the Huskies to tear through the tournament and emerge with the title.
It’s a shame to see the Cavaliers’ promising season dwindled into a placement in the tournament that’s about the same caliber of last year’s. I’d love to see Lyndra Littles and Aisha Mohammed leave Virginia in a blaze of glory. Though I’m realistic enough to see that the Cavaliers probably aren’t talented enough to take out Connecticut — and not even dominant enough that I should be taking wins against Marist and Cal for granted — I’ve seen them play with enough fire and brute force that I know they can put up a fight against the Huskies.
On a side note, I just want to take a moment and compliment junior Monica Wright on her absolutely phenomenal season. She started out playing as well or better than anyone in the country; look no further than her career performance at Tennessee — 39 points, 8 boards, 5 steals — when Virginia upset the then-No. 5 Volunteers. Although her scoring average fell once Littles rejoined the team after being academically ineligible to start the season, Wright continued to perform as the best player on the team and as one of the best in the conference. She’s on the short list for some national player of the year awards and was selected as a first-team All-ACC player. She also broke Virginia’s single season scoring record and is on pace to shatter quite a few records by the time her final season concludes next year.
Though the odds are against Virginia advancing more than a few games in this year’s NCAA tournament, they’ve provided fans with a riveting and exciting year full of big upsets and dramatic moments. What more can we ask for?
Well ... being able to add another year to that Final Four banner in JPJ would certainly be nice.
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