March 24, 2003
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The opponent will be better and the setting more
hostile when Notre Dame seeks its second straight upset in the NCAA women's
basketball tournament.
And then there's all that purple.
At No. 11, Notre Dame is the lowest-seeded team left in a tournament that
went almost strictly to form in the first round. The Irish will try to take the
next step Tuesday night in a second-round East Regional game at third-seeded
Kansas State (29-4), which will have the home court and 10,000-plus purple-clad
fans on its side.
"I like purple," said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, who quickly added,
"Green would be number one."
Blue would describe how Notre Dame (20-10) left sixth-seeded Arizona feeling
in the first round Sunday night. The Irish overcame shooting just 19 percent in
the first half with sticky defense and beat the Wildcats 59-47 on Kansas
State's court.
They'll need a similar effort on the defensive end to contain a Kansas State
team that has the Big 12's player of the year, 6-foot-4 Nicole Ohlde at center,
and surrounds her with outstanding 3-point shooters in Laurie Koehn, Kendra
Wecker and Megan Mahoney.
"We have to get out on every shooter and we're going to have to shut down
all five players because they can all score," Notre Dame guard Megan Duffy
said. "Good defense is definitely going to be the key again."
It also will be important for TCU, the No. 9 seed in the East.
TCU (20-13) was the only other lower-seeded team to win in the first round,
beating No. 8 Michigan State 50-47. The Horned Frogs will be looking for a much
bigger upset Tuesday night when they play top-seeded Connecticut (32-1), the
defending national champion, in front of the Huskies' usual sellout crowd in
Storrs.
Connecticut overwhelmed Boston University 91-44 in the first round, showing
no sign of a hangover from the loss to Villanova that broke the Huskies'
70-game winning streak.
"We'll have to play better, we know that," TCU coach Jeff Mittie said.
"They are the best passing team in the country that I have seen."
Tuesday night's games will conclude the second round of the tournament,
which moves to the regional semifinal level next Saturday and Sunday.
One of the more entertaining matchups could be at State College, Pa., where
fourth-seeded Penn State (25-8) hosts fifth-seeded South Carolina (23-7). Penn
State's Kelly Mazzante is fourth nationally in scoring with a 24.2 average and
had 27 in a first-round win over Holy Cross. South Carolina's Jocelyn Penn is
right behind at 24.0.
"That's what brings fans out," South Carolina coach Susan Walvius said.
"Fans want to identify with players and personalities and the people that are
on basketball teams. They're very, very different players, but they both are
great at what they do for their teams."
In the other Mideast game Tuesday, second-seeded Villanova (26-5) plays
seventh-seeded George Washington (25-6) in Norman, Okla.
In the Midwest, top-seeded Duke (32-1) plays eighth-seeded Utah (24-6) in
Raleigh, N.C., and second-seeded Texas Tech (27-5) hosts seventh-seeded UC
Santa Barbara (27-4). And in the West, it's second-seeded Texas (26-5) against
seventh-seeded Arkansas (22-10) in Cincinnati and fourth-seeded Ohio State
(22-9) at fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech (30-2).
The Texas-Arkansas game renews a rivalry that goes back to their days in the
old Southwest Conference.
"Arkansas and Texas, that's something very special," Arkansas coach Gary
Blair said. "You out-of-state writers might not understand."
Kansas State's challenge will include finding room for Ohlde to operate
against Notre Dame's zone defense, which frustrated Arizona's freshman star,
6-5 Shawntinice Polk. Ohlde scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting in a 79-69
victory over Harvard on Sunday night but had only five points in the second
half.
"I think they are very athletic," Ohlde said of the Irish. "They have a
really tall lineup. They bring in a lot of height from the bench. I think they
are a blue-collar, hard-working team. They are going to be very tough."
Notre Dame is just two years removed from winning the national championship
and has a history of beating teams on the road in the NCAA tournament.
The Irish won at third-seeded Texas in the second round of the 1997
tournament en route to a Final Four berth. The next year, a Notre Dame team
that was seeded ninth pulled off a second-round upset at top-seeded Texas Tech.
"We like being in the underdog role," McGraw said. "I think it's an
easier role for them to be in than in the championship year when we were the
No. 1 seed. This is much easier for this team. Hopefully it will make us a
little more relaxed and maybe we'll even make some of those layups tomorrow."
