Maryland Thrilled to Be a No. 1 Seed Again

A hush fell over the crowd of roughly 200 people inside Heritage Hall in Comcast Center last night as the NCAA women's basketball tournament selection show began. The Maryland players -- who sat in the front row, with family members, friends and fans gathered behind them -- knew that they were in the field, having won the ACC tournament, and they had a good idea they would receive a No. 1 seed for the second straight year. But there was still a little bit of suspense.

"I think we totally expected to get the one seed in Raleigh, but I was still holding my breath. You never know what the committee wants to do," senior Kristi Toliver said. "I think we were just really looking forward to see who we're going to play."

They didn't have to wait long to find out. Their matchup was the first one revealed: No. 1 seed Maryland against No. 16 seed Dartmouth (18-10), the ACC champion vs. the Ivy League champion in the South Region. The crowd cheered. The Terrapins will play their first two games in College Park, and if they continue to win, they will move on to the RBC Center in Raleigh.

"Best-case scenario, you're playing at home, you hope you can take care of business," Coach Brenda Frese said. "It's one game at a time, but I just love the fact that if we're able to take care of that, we'd be able to travel to a location where the best fans in the country can follow this team."

Joining Maryland (28-4) as the top seeds are Connecticut (33-0, East Region), Oklahoma (28-4, Midwest Region), and Duke (26-5, West Region). Two-time defending champion Tennessee (22-10) is the fifth seed in the West region -- its lowest seed ever -- and will open with MAC champion Ball State.

U-Conn. is the tournament's overall top seed, and after winning their regular season games by an average margin of 31.5 points, the Huskies are the overwhelming favorites. ESPN host Trey Wingo opened the selection show by asking if the Huskies' undefeated regular season will end with its sixth national championship; the crowd inside Heritage Hall shouted "No!" Analyst Kara Lawson said that the gulf between U-Conn. and the rest of the field "is as wide as I've ever seen." The crowd booed.

With the way the brackets are set up, Maryland can only meet U-Conn. in the national championship game. The Terrapins were the tournament's second overall seed, according to tournament committee chair Jacki Silar.

"U-Conn. is not in my thoughts right now. Right now it is Dartmouth," Toliver said. "U-Conn. could choke and lose to whomever in second round. It's all about who you have coming up, and for us right now it's Dartmouth."

The Big East and SEC each put seven teams into the field, while the Big 12 and ACC -- the two highest-rated conferences according to CollegeRPI.com -- received six bids apiece. Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia, and Georgia Tech join Maryland in the field; Boston College, which won 20 games and finished 7-7 in the ACC, was left out.

But the ACC received the most top seeds. The Blue Devils had more victories against the RPI top 25 (seven) than the No. 2 seeds: Texas A&M (five), Stanford (three), Baylor (six), and Auburn (five).

"I think it speaks volumes about our conference, for us to be able to get two No. 1 seeds," Frese said. "In our conference, we continue to make each other better. I think that gives us a great amount of confidence, knowing that we've been able to compete against Duke and beat them twice."

The Blue Devils have a challenging path to the Final Four, which will be held in St. Louis on April 5 and 7: they could face ninth-seeded Michigan State in a second-round game played in East Lansing, and they could play Stanford, the Pacific-10 champion, in the West Region final in Berkeley, in what would almost be a home game for the Cardinal.

The Terrapins don't know that much about the Big Green -- said Toliver, "They're in the Ivy League, so I'm sure they're intelligent people, and that's about all I know" -- but they are familiar with several teams in the region.

Assistant coach Daron Park used to be an assistant with Utah, the ninth seed and a potential second-round opponent. Fourth-seeded Vanderbilt, the SEC champion and a potential region semifinal opponent, lost to Maryland in last year's tournament. Third-seeded Louisville (coached by former Maryland assistant Jeff Walz) and second-seeded Baylor (lost to Maryland in the region semifinals in the 2006 tournament) are potential region final foes.

On Sunday night, the players gathered at Frese's house to watch the men's NCAA tournament selection show. It served as a trial run of sorts for the youthful Terrapins: Coleman and Toliver may have been part of the 2006 NCAA title team, but five other players -- junior college transfer Dee Liles, redshirt freshmen Kim Rodgers and Anjalé Barrett, and freshmen Lynetta Kizer and Yemi Oyefuwa -- are participating in their first NCAA tournament.

Oyefuwa, for one, wasn't really sure what to expect. The 6-foot-6 center is from London, and "earlier, we were talking about going dancing, and she thought we actually had to go dance," senior Marissa Coleman said with a smile.

"That's the part that blows your mind: the youthful innocence," Frese said. "It kind of reminds me of 2006, when a lot of our kids didn't have a clue, but we had the veterans that understood, and kept the team grounded."