THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
SPORTS
3B
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jessica Hill/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, center, raises his hand with his team after practice in Storrs. Conn. Monday
Tournament seeds announced Duke gets top seed, excited to be staying in North Carolina
BY DOUG FEINBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
Duke, Tennessee, Connecticut and North Carolina were selected Monday as the No.1 seeds for the women's NCAA tournament.
The Blue Devils, who went 29-0 in the regular season and then lost to
N. C. State in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals, will open up against No. 16 Holy Cross on Sunday in Raleigh. With a regional in Greensboro, Duke would stay in North Carolina until the Final Four in Cleveland
The 64-team tournament begins Saturday.
"We're really excited. We're playing all year long, hoping to get a chance to stay in Raleigh, and stay in Greensboro which is about an hour and 15 minutes down the road," Duke coach Gael Goellenkens said.
Duke, ranked atop the AP Poll for the final nine weeks, hopes for better results than the last time the Blue Devils finished No. 1 — the 2003-04 final poll. They lost to Minnesota in the regional final that season.
In the West, LSU, which saw Pokey Chatman abruptly resign last Wednesday, is seeded No. 3 in the Fresno region.
Others in the Greensboro regional are No. 8 Temple vs. No. 9 Nebraska, No. 4 Rutgers vs. No. 12 East Carolina, No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 12 Delaware, No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 11 Brigham Young, No. 3 Arizona State vs. No. 14 UC Riverside, No. 7 Bowling Green vs. No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 15 Delaware State.
The university reacted promptly and properly to assistant coach Carla Berry's allegations, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because it was a personnel matter.
Former coach Chatman was not allowed to be alone with her players after an assistant reported alleged improper conduct to the university in February, a school official with direct knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
The Tigers will play UNC Asheville on Friday night in Austin, Texas with coach Bob Starkey at the helm.
"The kids have done a wonderful job." Starkey said. "They are a very resilient bunch. They have been through difficult times with Sue Gunter's death and Hurricane Katrina."
The defending champion Maryland Terrapins will face Ivy League champion Harvard on Sunday afternoon in Hartford.
Maryland, which returned all five starters from last season's team, was 0-5 against Duke and North Carolina this season. The Terps are looking to become the first repeat champions since Connecticut won three straight from 2002-04.
West No. 1 seed Connecticut (29-3) will play No. 16 UMBC on Sunday in Hartford.
The sentimental choice in Fresno might be North Carolina State and
"They are a very resilient bunch. They have been through difficult times with Sue Gunter's death and Hurricane Katrina."
coach Kay Yow. The Wolfpack, who have won 11 of the 13 games since Yow returned after breast cancer treatments, are the No. 4 seed in Fresno. Also in the West bracket, it will be: No. 5 Baylor vs. No. 12 Chattanooga, No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 11 West Virginia, and No. 7 Old Dominion vs. No. 10 Florida State.
BOB STARKY UNC coach
California vs. No. 9 Notre Dame,
No. 5 George Washington vs. No.
12 Botsie State, No. 4 Texas A&M vs.
No. 13 Texas Arlington, No. 6 Iowa
State vs. No. 11 Washington, No.
3 Georgia vs. No. 14 Belmont, No.
7 Georgia Tech vs. No. 10 DePaul,
and No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 15 Oral
Roberts.
The Big East placed the most teams in the championship bracket with eight, followed by the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 with six each.
Six-time champion Tennessee is now the only team that has competed in every NCAA tournament
after Louisiana Tech didn't make the field this year. The Lady Vols, who are a No. 1 seed for the 17th time in 20 years, will open up Sunday against No. 16 Drake in Pittsburgh. The No. 8 Panthers will host No. 9 James Madison in the other game in that subregional.
Other games in the Dayton regional include: No. 5 Middle Tennessee, which has won 26 straight games, vs. No. 12 Gonzaga; No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 13 Marist; No. 6 Marquee vs. No. 11 Louisiana Lafayette vs. No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Southeast Missouri State; No. 7 Mississippi vs. No. 10 TCU.
Holy Cross and Drake became the fifth and sixth teams with losing records to make the tournament. The Crusaders won the Patriot League, and the Bulldogs were victorious in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The 42 runs scored in the two games served as a sign of the low level of difficulty the NIA pitchers presented to the layhawk lineup.
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
However, the alternative to playing Tabor and Baker were to simply not play at all, opting instead to forge the three cancelled games earlier in the season. Tabor and Baker gave Kansas a chance to get on the field, which still ranks highest on the importance scale.
"These past couple weeks are the first time that we had a little routine and been able to be outside," junior left fielder John Allman said.
Allman, who had his 10-game hit streak snapped against the Razorbacks in game one of the series, did all he could to make up for it the rest of the weekend. He went 4-8 with a run scored on Saturday and Sunday. The junior continues to lead his team with a .409 batting average, more than 100 points higher than the team's .302 season average.
In its first midweek game of the season tonight, Penn State will face an unranked opponent for the first time in seven games.
Shortstop Matt Cavagnaro leads the Nittany Lions starters entering the evening's game. Cavagnaro is a solid, 318 at the plate, a far cry from his team's, 234 batting average.
Kansas right hander Andres Esquibel (2-0, 1.40) will look to keep him and the rest of the Nittany Lions at bay, as he makes his second start of the season. In 19.1 innings pitched this season, the junior has 18 strikeouts and just three walks.
Penn State will start Seth Whitehill (0-2, 6.92). With numbers quite opposite from Esquibells, Whitehill has walked 10 batters and struck out only two in 13 innings of work.
Nonetheless, Coach Ritch Price knows his team needs such a game to get ready for what's to come.
"I deliberately put Stanford on the schedule after the first two weekends and then I gave us two more weekends at home before we came here to prepare to go to A&M." Price said. "You can look at the box scores right now and the two hottest teams in the country are Vanderbilt and Texas A&M."
Kansan senior sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
Edited by Joe Caponio
BASKETBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Monday, Self updated his status.
"He'll be getting four or five treatments a day over the next few days," he said. "He was hurting pretty good last night."
After a fast start to the season,
Arthur began to come back to earth during the opening weeks of conference play.
He finished the season strong, though, scoring 15 points in 20 minutes against Iowa State and
utes. They'll relieve junior center Sasha Kaun and sophomore forward Wright when the two need a break or get into foul trouble.
Darnell and Darrell each
"He'll be getting four or five treatments a day over the next few days. He was hurting pretty good last night."
following that up with 7 points in 19 minutes against Texas in Lawrence
BILL SELF Coach
During the NCAA tournament, both Arthur and jackson will be called on to play significant min-
arrell each took different paths to the Kansas bench, but now that they're there, both are working to make the most of their time in the postseason spotlight.
Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com.
Edited by Darla Slipke
COLAIANNI (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
critical in tournament play. This team does not get rattled and that will go a long way in the Jayhawks drive to Atlanta.
When facing great perimeter teams in the NCAA tournament that can go on three point barrages, Kansas has a great edge knowing that they can come back. The first time Kansas might see one of those deficits could come in the second round against Villanova, if Villanova can get past Kentucky.
Under Jay Wright, Villanova has taken a simple offensive philosophy: live by the three, die by the three. They hoist up, on average, more than 21 three's a game. Remember this is the team that started four guards last year and went all the way to the Elite Eight. Sure Randy Foy and Allan Ray are in the NBA now, but Scottie Reynolds is by far the best freshman in the country who is not named Kevin Durant.
Reynolds is getting better too. He has had some monster games in recent weeks. He dropped 40 on Connecticut in last weeks Big East tournament and is going to be a star for years to come, as long as Wright can get him to stay in school for a few more years.
He is clutch, too. Not Acie Law clutch, but clutch enough that you better have two defenders close to him late in a close ball game.
Villanova beat Georgetown on the road and disposed of Texas in late January. If this team gets hot, watch out, because almost all of its starting five, including power forward Curtis Sumpter, can drill three point shots. Sumpter is a presence inside and has overcome two season ending knee injuries during the last two seasons and continues to be a great post player.
Villanova has also gotten some big wins along the way this season
Even when facing a team like Villanova that has players who can hit shots from anywhere on the court, Kansas will be feeling pretty confident, even if it gets down early
Colaiani is a McLean, Va., senior in journalism and political science.
Edited by Sharla Shivers
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