WBB: 2025 NCAA Tourney Thread

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Tappan Zee Devil said:
Perhaps not the appropriate thead, but not worth starting a new one ...

Although a Duke grad, my graduate and faculty career have been at Columbia, so I am going to crow about the Columbia women beating Washington to get into the real tournament.

So, if only now our women (the interim president and my dean) can only beat Washington to preserve the university ...
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There is no other thread on the women's tournament so seems the best spot. How about a shout-out also to the William & Mary women for winning their 16-versus-16 prelim game tonight in Austin over High Point, thereby notching the first-ever tournament victory by a W&M team: the women had never made it before this year, and the men remain one of three charter NCAA schools (Army and Citadel are the others) to have never danced.

Even better, for purposes of the narrative, the Tribe women still have a losing record at 16-18, because they entered the Colonial Athletic Association tournament a week or so ago as an 11-18 9th seed before catching fire and rolling through #8 Hofstra, #1 NC A&T, #4 Drexel, and #3 Campbell to win their first conference championship.

Texas will destroy them on Saturday, but still, what a March!
 
I don't know if this is the place to link this, but there is a great story at SBNation on Duke women's assistant coach Tia Jackson:
www.sbnation.com

The coach that helped Kara Lawson build Duke back into a contender

Tia Jackson is the through-line between the great eras of Duke women’s basketball and she’s helped mold Kara Lawson into a head coach.
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com

I didn't know much about her before reading this, but she sounds like an amazing addition to the women's program. I'm excited to see how they do in the tourney.
 
brevity said:
Duke WBB faces Lehigh on Friday 3/21 at 8pm ET on ESPNU (streaming link, listen, live stats)
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wbb20250321.jpg
(source)

Duke links: preview, PDF game notes
Lehigh links: preview, PDF game notes

dudog84 said:
I don't know who Jenn Hildreth is, but I like her. (scroll to FF picks)

www.espn.com

Can South Carolina run it back? Will UConn end title drought? ESPN experts predict Final Four, national champ

Which team will cut down the nets in Tampa? ESPN's experts pick the Final Four, the title game matchup and 2025 champion.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Jenn Hildreth (Emory soccer/basketball/track, bio) and Kelly Gramlich (Clemson basketball, bio) will announce the game for ESPNU.

After about 12 days of rest, it's finally Game Day. Duke WBB posted a short clip in which the resident Canadians, Emma Koabel and Toby Fournier, get the fans ready in the politest way possible.


March Madness livestreamed videos of Thursday's pregame pressers for all 4 teams playing in Cameron: Duke, Vanderbilt, Oregon, and Lehigh. Vanderbilt's Jordyn Oliver (formerly of Duke) and Oregon's Deja Kelly (formerly of UNC) were on hand, and the first question to each of them was about returning to Durham.

Jordyn Oliver: "It feels good being back, honestly. I've made a lot of good memories here, met a lot of good friends. I'm just really focused on Vanderbilt right now, and playing against Oregon on Friday, and hopefully advancing from there."

Deja Kelly: "This is of course a historic building, historic gym. I have played here quite a few times, so I'm excited to be back. Here with a different squad, but we're excited to be here."

I'll embed both the full Duke presser linked above, which includes Delaney Thomas and Taina Mair as well as Kara Lawson, and the Duke WBB version, which isolates Coach Lawson's part. ASAP Sports has some transcripts here and here.


Taina Mair: "I think our preparation has been to stay focused on this tournament. Although we did win the ACC tournament, we're on to a new goal. So we're just looking forward."

Delaney Thomas: "I think, just to add on to that, keeping the competitive spirit high. We still have something to go for and win for so we're just going to keep it together."


Coach Lawson: "It's not like we're going to start the [Lehigh] game up 10-0 because we won an ACC title. Nobody in this tournament cares that we won the conference tournament. You just have to be prepared to play your best.

It was great, I'm not saying 'nobody cares' to diminish the accomplishment. In the moment and in the immediate aftermath, we celebrated and we were excited about it, as we should be. I do believe in celebrating in the moment. I don't believe you should all wait until the end of the year and then reflect on it. To me, like, celebrate it. If you have big moments in your life, celebrate them in the moment. Tell people you appreciate them in the moment.

But then at some point, the moment passes and there's the next moment that you have to chase and that you have to pursue. So that's what we're focused on, what's next, and what's next is to try and win a first round game and get to where there's 32 teams left. And that's a big cut to go from 64 to 32. You have to play well to make that cut.

So that's kind of what we're focused on."
 
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91Duke said:
I don't know if this is the place to link this, but there is a great story at SBNation on Duke women's assistant coach Tia Jackson:
www.sbnation.com

The coach that helped Kara Lawson build Duke back into a contender

Tia Jackson is the through-line between the great eras of Duke women’s basketball and she’s helped mold Kara Lawson into a head coach.
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com

I didn't know much about her before reading this, but she sounds like an amazing addition to the women's program. I'm excited to see how they do in the tourney.
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Great find, thanks. An enduring image from the video after the championship is the long embrace of Kara and Tia.
 
91Duke said:
I don't know if this is the place to link this, but there is a great story at SBNation on Duke women's assistant coach Tia Jackson:
www.sbnation.com

The coach that helped Kara Lawson build Duke back into a contender

Tia Jackson is the through-line between the great eras of Duke women’s basketball and she’s helped mold Kara Lawson into a head coach.
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com

I didn't know much about her before reading this, but she sounds like an amazing addition to the women's program. I'm excited to see how they do in the tourney.
Click to expand...
Her and Kara had a great moment after winning the ACCT. It was a LONG tear filled hug.
 
Does anyone know why the lower seeded team goes off first in some regions and not in others? Seems like the higher seeded team should play first, not just for the couple more hours of recovery but the advantage in watching the second game (after winning) to live-scout your competition in the upcoming game.
 
dudog84 said:
Does anyone know why the lower seeded team goes off first in some regions and not in others? Seems like the higher seeded team should play first, not just for the couple more hours of recovery but the advantage in watching the second game (after winning) to live-scout your competition in the upcoming game.
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All about tv.

-jk
 
dudog84 said:
Olivia Miles injured with ND leading 82-43 in the 4th quarter. SMH

www.espn.com

Notre Dame's Miles injures knee in 1st-round win

Star guard Olivia Miles injured her left knee late in Notre Dame's women's NCAA tournament opener Friday and did not return to the game.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Thankfully it's her ankle and not her knee. Don't know if she'll be playing Sunday, but she told the coaches "she's ok". (I'm guessing like Cooper told Jon that he was ok.) Sounds like a similar situation, where she landed on someone's foot.
 
Made it from Raleigh to catch most of the second quarter. Oregon hitting some threes to get separation. Baby looks a little rattled.

Oregon’s band has some bright yellow shirts that would serve well in a fog.
 
Ugh, overtime.

Vandy, down 19, comes back to tie with 4 seconds left in regulation. So our game is likely to start around 8:30
 
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Let's Go Duke! In the immortal words of Jimmy V: “Survive and advance, Baby!”

-jk
 
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