The Guru’s NCAAW Postseason Report: Princeton, Lehigh, Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, and, yes, Rutgers Ready for NCAA, WBIT, or WNIT Competition

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Five Guru locals made it into postseason play, though one of them – Rutgers – was a surprise to many since attention wasn’t paid after the Scarlet Knights finished 15th to get to the Big Ten tournament on the final day of the regular season and then was ejected in a loss to Nebraska.

 

Lehigh stormed through the Patriot League during the regular season and then the Mountain Hawks (27-6) as top seed stayed home through three rounds at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., culminating Sunday with a 74-62 win over second-seeded Army for the fifth conference title and ensuing automatic NCAA tournament bid and first since launching a series of Patriot League tournament upsets winning at Boston U. In 2021.

 

“This was the vision,” said coach Addie Micir, a former Princeton star and Tigers assistant coach from lower Bucks County who was promoted when longtime mentor Sue Troyan stepped aside.

 

“Am I going to shout out Sue and everything she did,” Micir said Sunday. “I said it in my press conference, `The foundation was set, so we’ve got to keep building.’ This is what we all had in mind. To have this senior class get to do it on their home court is so special.”

 

Five Lehigh players scored in double figures against the Black Knights, led by fifth-year senior Maddie Albrecht, the tournament MVP with 13 points with 10 boards.

 

Colleen McQuillen, one of three Mountain Hawks on the all-tournament team along with Albrecht and Ella Stemmer, scored 13 points, as did Lily Fandre, while Stemmer had 12 points and Remi Sisselman shot 4-for-4 from the field for 11 points.

 

A few hours later Lehigh had learned it was the 15th seed and will open Friday at second-seeded Duke, a first-ever meeting at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., with the Blue Devils, who became the surprise winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C.

 

Duke is coached by former Tennessee star and WNBA standout Kara Lawson.

 

Princeton (21-7) as a second seed in the Ivy Madness four-team tournament at Brown’s Pizzacola Sports Center in Providence, R.I., was upset last Friday by third seed and eventual winner Harvard.

 

Two days later the perennial champs in recent years learned they became part of an historic first-ever trio of Ivy reps the same year in the NCAA field, the Tigers, one of the last four teams taken, will open against Iowa State (22-11), both 11 seeds, Wednesday night at

7 p.m. at three-seed Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana, in a First Four contest.

 

The Cyclones fell in the Big 12 tourney to eventual runner Baylor and are led by Audi Crooks (23.2 ppg., 7.6 rebs.).

 

Wednesday’s winner meets 6th seed Michigan while on the other side  the Irish are hosting 14th seed Stephen F. Austin, the upset winner of the Southland Tournament.

 

The other two Ivy teams are Columbia, which won its first outright regular season crown, held off fourth-seeded Penn Friday and then fell to third-seeded Harvard in the championship game sending the Crimson to the NCAA with an automatic bid for the first time since 2007.

 

Columbia, in its second straight year as an at-large invitation, as an 11th seed on Thursday will play Washington (19-13) at 7 p.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C., at three-seed North Carolina’s Carmichael Arena, the winner moving into the first-round field against 6th seed West Virginia (24-7).

 

North Carolina is meeting surprise West Coast Conference winner Oregon State (19-15), a 14th-seed and one of two former Pac-12 teams with Washington State who just spent the first of two seasons taking shelter in the conference until returning to a reconfigured outfit under the Pac-12 name.

 

The Beavers beat co-champions Portland and Gonzaga for the WCC bid.

 

Harvard got the 10th seed and will open Saturday in Raleigh, N.C., against seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-9), the winner playing Monday against either second-seeded NC State or 15th-seeded Vermont, the upset winner for the America East over UAlbany.

 

Rutgers (11-19) as the 15th place team in the Big Ten back into the WNIT automatic bid held by the conference, one of all 31 with automatic WNIT bids to the highest remaining teams not in either the NCAA or WBIT, which have first dibs. Then 17 at-large teams complete the field. A year ago, Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10, two games under .500 at the outset, won the tournament and this year, William & Mary, the surprise ninth-seed and four-day winner of the Coastal Athletic Association, is in the NCAAs with a 15-18 record.

 

The Scarlet Knights even drew  a bye into the second round and will face either Bryant )17-14), the America East with the automatic bid or Army, the runnerup Patriot League team with the automatic bid.

 

Should Rutgers make it into the third round, the team will see either Charleston (24-7), the CAA team with a bid, or Howard (21-11), the MEAC team with a bid, or Siena (17-13), the MAAC team with a bid.

“We are thrilled to continue our season by participating in the WNIT,” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington said in a statement with the email announcing the participation. “Playing in March is really exciting, and it gives us a chance to gain valuable post-season experience. I’m especially happy for our seniors, as their college careers  get to last a little longer.”

Rutgers has been in the WNIT twice, most recently in 2016, and previously, in 2014 when retired coach and Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer gave up her long-held reluctance to play in the WNIT in years her team didn’t make the NCAA field and won the  whole thing joining Drexel as local teams crowned WNIT champions.

 

All of which brings us down to Saint Joseph’s and Villanova where the Hawks and Wildcats are switching roles from their prior appearance last season in the inaugural WBIT, launched by the NCAA.

 

This time Saint Joseph’s as one of the first four out of the NCAA deliberations along with regular season champion James Madison, who was upset in the Sun Belt Tourney, Virginia Tech, and Colorado, is hosting the opener and guaranteed to host two more if advancing and then if alive will proceed to Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in  Indianapolis, which was the site last season that Villanova, a first four out and No. 1 seed advanced to beat Penn State and then fall in the championship to Illinois.

 

On Thursday Saint Joseph’s at Hagan and Arena and Villanova at Finneran Pavilion will play the same 7 p.m. time, the Hawks are hosting regular season America East champion UAlbany while the Wildcats are facing Boston College.

Should both win, they will meet Sunday and for Saint Joseph’s that would be a chance avenge the loss at Hagan Arena suffered back in the winter that cost an appearance in the first Big Five Classic title game against eventual champion Temple in the new format.

 

A year ago in the Elite Eight round, it was Villanova at home avenging the loss of the Big Five title in the previous round-robin format.

 

Below are the matchups for the first two rounds and conference reps. The other side of the quad or sector of Villanova contain third-seeded Seton Hall, which is hosting Quinnipiac, and second-seeded Stanford, now in the ACC, hosting Portland, which had the top seed in the West Coast Conference tournament are tying Gonzaga, the perennial champ, for first and both falling to temporary member Oregon State.

 

Besides the first four out of the NCAA field, all the regular season conference champions who did not win their tourneys, are automatic entries into the WBIT, of which are 12.

ESPN+ will air all rounds leading to the WBIT Final Four, when ESPNU will  air the semifinals and ESPN2 the championship.

WBIT

First Round

 March 20

Sector 1

 Davidson (19-13) at 1-James Madison (28-5) 7 p.m.

Marquette (20-10) at 4-Drake (22-11) 3 p.m.

Middle Tennessee (26-8) at 3-Belmont (22-12), 7:30 p.m.

Northern Arizona (26-7) at 2-Arizona (19-13), 9 p.m.

 

Sector 2

(26-6) at 1-Saint Joseph’s (23-9), 7 p.m.

Boston College (16-17) at 4-Villanova (18-14), 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac (28-4) at 3-Seton Hall (22-9), 7 p.m.

Portland (29-4) at 2-Stanford (16-14), 10 p.m.

 

Sector 3

North Carolina A&T (19-11) at 1-Virginia Tech (18-12), 6 p.m.

Texas Tech (17-17) at 4-Wyoming (22-11), 8:30 p.m.

UNI (17-16) at Florida (16-17), 3-Florida (16-17), 7 p.m.

Hawaii (22-9) at 2-UNLV (25-7) 9:30 p.m.

 

Sector 4

Southeastern (26-5) at 1-Colorado (20-12), 9 p.m.

UTSA (26-4) at 4-Gonzaga (22-10), 9 p.m.

Oral Roberts (24-8) at 3-Missouri State (25-8), 7:30 p.m.

Toledo (24-8) hosting 2-Minnesota* (20-11), 7 p.m. *-Site unavailable

 

Second Round

 

March 23

 

Sector One

 Marquette-Drake winner vs. Davidson-James Madison Winner

Arizona-Northern Arizona winner vs. Middle Tennessee-Belmont Winner

 

Sector Two

Villanova-Boston College winner vs. UAlbany-Saint Joseph’s winner

Quinnipiac-Seton Hall winner vs. Portland-Stanford winner

Sector Three

Wyoming-Texas Tech winner vs. North Carolina A&T winner

UNI-Florida winner vs. Hawaii-UNLV winner

 

Sector Four

UTSA-Gonzaga winner vs. Southeastern-Colorado winner

Oral Roberts-Missouri State winner vs. Toledo-Minnesota winner

 

Conference Representatives

^Indicates was top seed

%Indicates tied for first place

 

Sun Belt – James Madison ^

Atlantic 10 – Davidson, Saint Joseph’s

Big East – Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall

Conference-USA – %Middle Tennessee

Big Sky-Northern Arizona

MAAC — Quinnipiac

America East — UAlbany^

Missouri Valley — Belmont, %Missouri State, UNI, Drake

West Coast -Portland^ %Gonzaga

ACC – Stanford, Virginia Tech, Boston College

CAA-North Carolina A&T^

MAC-Toledo

Summit-Oral Roberts

AAC-UTSA^

Southland – Southeastern^

Big 12-Colorado, Arizona, Texas Tech

Big West-Hawaii^

Mountain West – UNLV^, Wyoming

SEC – Florida

Big Ten - Minnesota