Lady Jackets to face another No. 1

Iowa City, Iowa — The NCAA tournament selection committee may receive a Christmas card this year from Georgia Tech Coach MaChelle Joseph.

The committee did her Yellow Jackets a favor by giving them a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament, despite finishing tied for fifth place in a competitive Atlantic Coast Conference that has two No. 1 seeds.

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AP

Tech’s Brigitte Ardossi steals the ball from Iowa’s Kachine Alexander in their first round win over the Hawkeyes Sunday night. The Jackets lead the nation in steals and forces an average of 24.7 turnovers a game.

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Georgia Tech then was sent to play No. 8 seed Iowa on its home court in the first round. The Yellow Jackets (23-9) eliminated the Hawkeyes, 76-62, Sunday, setting the stage for Tuesday night’s showdown with No. 1 seed Oklahoma (29-4). Tipoff is 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“[The No. 9 seed] was one of the things that really motivated our team. We were playing for some respect [Sunday],” Joseph said Monday. “It’s one thing to be a nine seed, but we got sent to somebody’s home floor.”

Georgia Tech will join fellow ACC member North Carolina as the only teams to have played all four No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Talk about a great reward for having recorded the second NCAA tournament victory in school history by beating Iowa on its home court in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 5,615 fans.

The Yellow Jackets, however, aren’t looking for sympathy from anyone. They’re clearly battle-tested after playing a daunting schedule that included games against seven different ranked teams, including No. 1 seeds Connecticut, Duke and Maryland.

“I feel like we’re well prepared. We’re going to go out and play with heart and a lot of energy,” Tech senior guard Jacqua Williams said.

Georgia Tech is winless against the top seeds this season, but it did push the undefeated and top-ranked Huskies in Storrs, Conn., losing 82-71 on Nov. 16.

Joseph sized up the four No. 1 seeds, with a clear best team.

“I don’t know that anybody compares with Connecticut,” Joseph said. “Maya Moore is who separates them.”

Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale watched the Yellow Jackets challenge Connecticut on television, so she knew what her team’s next opponent is all about before arriving in Iowa City.

After checking out Georgia Tech’s victory over an Iowa team that had won 20 of its last 21 home games, Coale couldn’t contain her admiration for the defensive- and rebounding-minded Yellow Jackets during the Sooners’ press

conference Monday afternoon..

“We are looking forward to our competition against what I thought was a very inspired Georgia Tech team,” Coale said. “They played incredibly hungry with a great level of intensity and enthusiasm [Sunday]. They beat a very talented Iowa team on its home court in front of its fans. The deck was stacked against them. I thought their victory was an exclamation point.”

Georgia Tech will get the next chance to force Sooner senior all-American post Courtney Paris to live up to her words. Paris has promised to pay back her athletic scholarship if Oklahoma fails to win the NCAA championship

this season.

Paris is 14 rebounds shy of becoming the first college basketball player — any gender, any membership, any division — to collect 2,500 points and 2,000 rebounds in a career.

She, however, isn’t worried about any firsts or having to refund her scholarship.

“I’m just thinking about one more win to go to Oklahoma City [for regionals],” Paris said.