Women's Basketball
Buckeyes Head to Maryland to Open NCAA Play
By John Porentas
After a rather early exit from the Big Ten tournament, the Buckeyes are anxious to get back into action. They will do so as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament at noon on Sunday when they take on Holy Cross in College Park, Maryland in the first round of the tournament.
The Buckeyes are joined by four other Big Ten squads in the tournament. Regular-season co-champion and tournament champion Michigan State is a No. 1 seed. Minnesota earned a No. 3 seed, Penn State a No. 4 seed and Purdue a No. 9 seed. OSU Head Coach Jim Foster says he is a bit surprised there wasn't a sixth Big Ten team invited as well.
"I'm surprised Iowa didn't get in quite frankly," Foster said.
The NCAA is working to eliminate home-floor advantages in it's tournament, and while it has not yet completely done so, it made a giant step in that direction this year.
"Thirty-two teams last year played on their home court. This year only five have that ability," said Foster.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they are in a bracket that could very well match them up against teams that are playing in their home towns. If the Buckeyes get past Holy Cross, they could very well find themselves facing Maryland in the next round on Maryland's home floor. Should the make the field of 16, the Buckeyes would move on to Philadelphia where they could match up with either Rutgers or Temple, both of whom would enjoy a home-court advantage. For his part, Foster isn't looking at any of that at the moment.
"I spend less time worrying about things I can't control than anyone else I know," said Foster, "and I can't control that. I know I'm happy with the general direction we're taking with the tournament.
"I don't want to look past anything except Holy Cross."
Foster seemed very upbeat about his team as it heads into tournament play.
"I think we've gotten healthy," Foster said.
"We weren't healthy at the end of the year.
"I'm a firm believer that we're so young that we're still getting better.
"For example, our three freshmen now understand the difference between a regular-season game and post-season game.
"They didn't have a clue, but the Wisconsin and Minnesota games open the eyes of our freshmen that this is a little bit different," Foster said.
"We've played a schedule that's prepared us for what's in front of us.
"This is the mental time of year. Teams are tired, teams are beaten up a little bit. How tough are you between the ears. Historically this time of year there's been a couple of tough teams that are going to step up. You've got to get there mentally."
Foster does not think that his team's early-out from the Big Ten tournament will hurt their chances in the NCAA. In fact, he saw some new fire in his squad when they came back home early from Indianapolis.
"We had a great practice the first day back," he said.
"I think that was a reflection of the attitude. We didn't have to walk in and motivate them. We started practice and we were at a very significant level," he added.
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