Lady Bears Garner a No. 2 Seed in NCAAs
3/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2005
WACO, Texas - The Baylor Lady Bears, currently ranked No.6 nationally and Big 12 regular season and tournament champions, have received a No. 2 seed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Baylor, 27-3 on the season, will make its fourth NCAA appearance in five season under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson. The Lady Bears will travel to Seattle to play a first round game against 15th-seeded Illinois State on Saturday, March 19 at the University of Washington's Bank of America Arena.
Illinois State is one of 31 automatic qualifiers and received an automatic bid by winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Redbirds, 13-17 on the season, are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1989. Also playing a first round game in Baylor's bracket will be No. 7 seed TCU (23-9) and No. 10 seed Oregon (20-9). The two winners will play a second round game on Monday, March 21. The winner of the Monday game will advance to the NCAA Regional in Tempe, Ariz. Game times have not been announced at this time.
"There were four teams fighting for those last two (No. 1) seeds, said Mulkey-Robertson. "There were four of us that there wasn't much separation between. When you look at records versus top 25 opponents, top 50, the committee had to come up with sometinhg they all agreed on to separate us. They chose Michigan state and North Carolina. Well, if they'd chosen Baylor or Stanford, we'd still be matched up with Michigan State and North Carolina. You would have just inverted the seedings and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. So go West, we've been out there."
This year marks the first time the Division I Women's Basketball Championship will have the eight teams, eight sites format for the first and second rounds. There are eight first and second round sites: Dallas, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Minnesota, Minn.; Seattle, Wash.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; College Park, Md., Storrs, Conn. and Knoxville, Tenn. Two teams from each site will advance on to the Regionals which will be taking place in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Tempe, Ariz.; Philadelphia, Pa. and Kansas City, Mo.
Baylor is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth overall. The Lady Bears first NCAA Tournament participation came in 2001 when they were eliminated in the first round by Arkansas in Durham, N.C. In 2002 Baylor was a No. 2 seed but was upset by Drake in the second round in Waco. Last season the Lady Bears advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history but lost to Tennessee in a game played in Norman, Okla.
Bank of America Arena is familiar territory for Baylor. The Lady Bears played there on Dec. 15 and posted a 74-58 victory over Washington.
