For the 3rd straight year and after advancing to the Sweet 16 last season, women's basketball (24-10 overall; 13-7 in conference play) has earned a bid to the NCAA tourney as they were selected Sunday as a #5 seed in the "Albany 2" bracket. Their 1st round game is slated to be against the Drake Bulldogs (Out of Des Moines, IA; 29-5 overall, 19-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)). The game will be at the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas, with the tipoff scheduled for 5:00 PM MT.
After dominating their conference in the regular season, Drake will DEFINITELY be battle tested after their conference tourney experience. They had to go to overtime before winning their semi-final game against Northern Iowa, and then lost a 14 point lead they had with ~6-1/2 minutes left in the final against Missouri State before making a layup at the buzzer to earn a 1 point victory and the MVC auto (and only) berth. (Wanted to also note that the MVC was one of only a few conferences that had their women's tourney this past weekend rather than the prior one, and that final game was just yesterday (vs. the Buffs having over a week "off", at least from official games).)
The game is being shown on that most obscure of ESPN channels, ESPNEWS. (Further info and links for media options available near the bottom of this post.)
A couple notes:
(1) Not that they matter at all anymore, but in the last (pre-tournament selection) NET rankings, CU is #16 and Drake #65 .
(2) It could be a tense double header for Buff fans IF the men win their "1st 4" game against Boise State game on Wednesday night, as the winner of that game is scheduled to play the Florida Gators on Friday in a game that has a scheduled 2:30 PM MT start time.
Go Buffs!!!
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CU's initial post-selection article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/3/17/womens-basketball-colorado-returns-to-the-ncaa-tournament
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Buffs earn a No. 5 seed and will head to Manhattan, Kan.
By: Seth Pringle, Athletic Communications
BOULDER – No. 18 Colorado returns to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, earning a No. 5 seed in the Albany 2 Region on Selection Sunday. The Buffaloes will travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on No. 12-seeded Drake in the first round.
The first-round game will be played on Friday, Mar. 22 (5 p.m. MT). Host No. 4 Kansas State will take on No. 13 Portland (2:30 p.m. MT). Both first-round games will be on ESPNEWS.
"[We're] so excited," head coach JR Payne exclaimed. "So many of us have been here a long time, and really been a part of building our program to where we expected to play in March. I think that in of itself is an incredible thing. An incredible testament to the amount of work and effort that's been poured in from players, staff, coaches, and everybody involved."
The selection to the field of 68 marks CU's third consecutive trip to the Big Dance. The last time the Buffs made back-to-back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament was with four straight trips from the 2000-01 to 2003-04 seasons.
Colorado is 19-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has advanced to the Elite Eight three times, the last coming in 2002. CU's advanced to the Sweet 16 last season as No. 6 seed. The Buffs traveled to Durham, N.C., picking up a pair of wins over Middle Tennessee and Duke before battling the eventual national runner-up in Iowa in the Sweet 16.
"It matters a lot," graduate guard Jaylyn Sherrod said of last season's experience. "We're going to another hostile environment. I don't know much about Kansas or the city [Manhattan] itself. It's all about bringing our own energy. We've been in this position before so we know how to get it done."
Colorado (22-9) draws the No. 5 seed for the second time in what is now 16 trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs were the fifth seed in the 2013 tournament and hosted the first and second rounds in Boulder. CU is 0-1 all-time as the No. 5 seed, falling to No. 12 Kansas.
Junior Aaronette Vonleh, an All-Pac-12 selection, led the Buffs with 14.1 points per game this season. She's scored in double figures 25 times, including starting the year with a season-high 24 points in the Buffs' win over then No. 1 LSU. Sherrod, an All-America candidate, is averaging a career-high 13.0 points per game to go with 4.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds this season. She scored a career-high 34 points in CU's win over then-No. 12 Utah, earning multiple national player of the week honors. She became the school's all-time leader in games started (130) and just the third player in CU history to have over 1,000 career points (1,449) and 600 assists (624).
The postseason trip will be CU's fourth in a row. Colorado used the 2021 WNIT as a building block and graduated to the NCAA Tournament in both 2022 and 2023. The last time CU had four consecutive postseason berths were the 2011 WNIT, 2012 WNIT, 2013 NCAA Tournament and 2014 WNIT.
Drake (29-5) got the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the tournament by beating Missouri State at the buzzer in the MVC Tournament championship. The Bulldogs went 19-1 in conference play and enter the NCAA Tournament with a 14-game winning streak.
"I think being able to lean on that experience [from last season] and recognize that it's just a number," Payne continued. "We have played a lot of tough road games this year, and this one will be no different. Just be excited about being able to prepare now and knowing who our opponent is. We're just excited to be playing."
The Pac-12 landed seven teams in the field of 68. Southern California earned a No. 1 seed in the Portland 3 region. UCLA and Stanford both earned No. 2 seedings in the Albany 2 and Portland 4 regions, respectively. Oregon State (3), Utah (5) and Arizona (11) also got into the field.
"
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Links with more info on Drake:
Roster - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster
Stats - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2023-24?path=wbball
Schedule - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
Their preview article - Initial after selection -
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Media links:
NCAA's game page for this game - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6284785
NCAA Interactive bracket - https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d1/2024
NCAA's initial article with general tournament information (Dates of the various rounds, hosting cities, etc.) - https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketbal...s-womens-ncaa-tournament-schedule-dates-times
Live video - Game is scheduled to be shown on ESPNEWS. For anyone with a subscription that includes access to that channel, I assume it will also be viewable on the ESPN app and/ or at https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b49d2eac-ce23-4b80-a06a-7479dcc5f2a3 . (If for any reason that specific link doesn't work, access to all ESPN streams can be found at https://www.espn.com/watch/ .)
Live audio - The game will be available on 630 AM (or maybe 850 AM and 94.1 FM if they decide to upgrade the radio channel since it's a tourney game?) in the Denver/ Boulder area and maybe other stations in the Buff radio network. In addition, a free audio stream will be available at https://cubuffs.com/watch/.
Link to link to live stats (All games) - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=colo (Link to links for ALL women's tourney games looks to be https://www.statbroadcast.com/ncaa/sites.php?tid=d1wbb .)
For this specific game (If blank, not available as I type this.) - https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401637543/drake-colorado
Game notes -
cubuffs.com
After dominating their conference in the regular season, Drake will DEFINITELY be battle tested after their conference tourney experience. They had to go to overtime before winning their semi-final game against Northern Iowa, and then lost a 14 point lead they had with ~6-1/2 minutes left in the final against Missouri State before making a layup at the buzzer to earn a 1 point victory and the MVC auto (and only) berth. (Wanted to also note that the MVC was one of only a few conferences that had their women's tourney this past weekend rather than the prior one, and that final game was just yesterday (vs. the Buffs having over a week "off", at least from official games).)
The game is being shown on that most obscure of ESPN channels, ESPNEWS. (Further info and links for media options available near the bottom of this post.)
A couple notes:
(1) Not that they matter at all anymore, but in the last (pre-tournament selection) NET rankings, CU is #16 and Drake #65 .
(2) It could be a tense double header for Buff fans IF the men win their "1st 4" game against Boise State game on Wednesday night, as the winner of that game is scheduled to play the Florida Gators on Friday in a game that has a scheduled 2:30 PM MT start time.
Go Buffs!!!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CU's initial post-selection article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/3/17/womens-basketball-colorado-returns-to-the-ncaa-tournament
"
Buffs earn a No. 5 seed and will head to Manhattan, Kan.
By: Seth Pringle, Athletic Communications
BOULDER – No. 18 Colorado returns to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, earning a No. 5 seed in the Albany 2 Region on Selection Sunday. The Buffaloes will travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on No. 12-seeded Drake in the first round.
The first-round game will be played on Friday, Mar. 22 (5 p.m. MT). Host No. 4 Kansas State will take on No. 13 Portland (2:30 p.m. MT). Both first-round games will be on ESPNEWS.
"[We're] so excited," head coach JR Payne exclaimed. "So many of us have been here a long time, and really been a part of building our program to where we expected to play in March. I think that in of itself is an incredible thing. An incredible testament to the amount of work and effort that's been poured in from players, staff, coaches, and everybody involved."
The selection to the field of 68 marks CU's third consecutive trip to the Big Dance. The last time the Buffs made back-to-back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament was with four straight trips from the 2000-01 to 2003-04 seasons.
Colorado is 19-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has advanced to the Elite Eight three times, the last coming in 2002. CU's advanced to the Sweet 16 last season as No. 6 seed. The Buffs traveled to Durham, N.C., picking up a pair of wins over Middle Tennessee and Duke before battling the eventual national runner-up in Iowa in the Sweet 16.
"It matters a lot," graduate guard Jaylyn Sherrod said of last season's experience. "We're going to another hostile environment. I don't know much about Kansas or the city [Manhattan] itself. It's all about bringing our own energy. We've been in this position before so we know how to get it done."
Colorado (22-9) draws the No. 5 seed for the second time in what is now 16 trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs were the fifth seed in the 2013 tournament and hosted the first and second rounds in Boulder. CU is 0-1 all-time as the No. 5 seed, falling to No. 12 Kansas.
Junior Aaronette Vonleh, an All-Pac-12 selection, led the Buffs with 14.1 points per game this season. She's scored in double figures 25 times, including starting the year with a season-high 24 points in the Buffs' win over then No. 1 LSU. Sherrod, an All-America candidate, is averaging a career-high 13.0 points per game to go with 4.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds this season. She scored a career-high 34 points in CU's win over then-No. 12 Utah, earning multiple national player of the week honors. She became the school's all-time leader in games started (130) and just the third player in CU history to have over 1,000 career points (1,449) and 600 assists (624).
The postseason trip will be CU's fourth in a row. Colorado used the 2021 WNIT as a building block and graduated to the NCAA Tournament in both 2022 and 2023. The last time CU had four consecutive postseason berths were the 2011 WNIT, 2012 WNIT, 2013 NCAA Tournament and 2014 WNIT.
Drake (29-5) got the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the tournament by beating Missouri State at the buzzer in the MVC Tournament championship. The Bulldogs went 19-1 in conference play and enter the NCAA Tournament with a 14-game winning streak.
"I think being able to lean on that experience [from last season] and recognize that it's just a number," Payne continued. "We have played a lot of tough road games this year, and this one will be no different. Just be excited about being able to prepare now and knowing who our opponent is. We're just excited to be playing."
The Pac-12 landed seven teams in the field of 68. Southern California earned a No. 1 seed in the Portland 3 region. UCLA and Stanford both earned No. 2 seedings in the Albany 2 and Portland 4 regions, respectively. Oregon State (3), Utah (5) and Arizona (11) also got into the field.
"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Links with more info on Drake:
Roster - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster
Stats - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2023-24?path=wbball
Schedule - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
Their preview article - Initial after selection -
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Media links:
NCAA's game page for this game - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6284785
NCAA Interactive bracket - https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-women/d1/2024
NCAA's initial article with general tournament information (Dates of the various rounds, hosting cities, etc.) - https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketbal...s-womens-ncaa-tournament-schedule-dates-times
Live video - Game is scheduled to be shown on ESPNEWS. For anyone with a subscription that includes access to that channel, I assume it will also be viewable on the ESPN app and/ or at https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b49d2eac-ce23-4b80-a06a-7479dcc5f2a3 . (If for any reason that specific link doesn't work, access to all ESPN streams can be found at https://www.espn.com/watch/ .)
Live audio - The game will be available on 630 AM (or maybe 850 AM and 94.1 FM if they decide to upgrade the radio channel since it's a tourney game?) in the Denver/ Boulder area and maybe other stations in the Buff radio network. In addition, a free audio stream will be available at https://cubuffs.com/watch/.
Link to link to live stats (All games) - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=colo (Link to links for ALL women's tourney games looks to be https://www.statbroadcast.com/ncaa/sites.php?tid=d1wbb .)
For this specific game (If blank, not available as I type this.) - https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401637543/drake-colorado
Game notes -
NCAA Tournament Game Notes - Drake - University of Colorado Athletics
NCAA Tournament Game Notes - Drake
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