Georgia Tech women's basketball coach MaChelle Joseph has made no secret of wanting to turn her team into the ACC's next power.
After playing one of the tougher schedules of any team this season and navigating it for 21 wins, Joseph feels her team is ready to take the next step.
The fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets will play Virginia Tech at 11 a.m. Thursday in Greensboro, N.C., in the first round of the ACC tournament. They will learn March 14 when and where they will play in the NCAA tournament. With an RPI of 20 and strength of schedule of 19 (according to rpiratings.com), Tech could be anywhere from a three to a six seed, depending upon how it does in Greensboro.
The seeding is important because the team's goal is to make it to at least the Sweet 16, which the Jackets have never reached. To improve those chances, Joseph wants a high seed. To get a high seed, they needed to improve their RPI and strength of schedule.
Joseph set up this season's schedule to do just that, and to prepare her team for the grind of the tournaments. From Nov. 21-27, the Jackets hosted top-ranked Connecticut, before jetting to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to play Georgetown (currently No. 17 in RPI), perennial power Tennessee (No. 2) and Missouri (No. 76) on three consecutive days.
"We've played every conference, Pac-10, Big 12, SEC," Joseph said. "We've played just about everybody out there that you could play. When it comes time to seeding for the NCAA tournament, they are going to look at that."
The Jackets went 1-3 in that November stretch. But after defeating Missouri, they won 12 consecutive games and 14 of 15 before dropping three consecutive games to three of the ACC's better teams: Miami, Maryland and Florida State. Of the Jackets' nine losses, none was against a substandard team, another factor the NCAA tournament selection committee considers when seeding teams.
It's yet another reason why Joseph thinks her team is prepared. The Jackets have played for the ACC championship once, in 1992. To reach that level again, Joseph said the team needs to find better balance on offense. Tech's guards, led by Alex Montgomery, have been the most consistent performers this season. Joseph wants Sasha Goodlett, Chelsea Regins and LaQuananisha Adams to step up. The trio combined for 10 points in the regular-season finale against Miami, a loss that cost the Jackets a No. 4 seed and bye in the ACC tournament. They combine to average 17.8.
"You don't go deep in the tournament without an offensive balance," Joseph said. "We've struggled to find it against top-20 teams."
The Jackets had that balance in a demolition of Virginia Tech in the teams' previous meeting this season. Goodlett and Regins combined to score 21 points in their 78-57 victory Jan. 27.
Montgomery, an All-ACC player who leads the team in scoring (14.1 points per game), wants to see that aggression in both tournaments.
"We have to play to dominate teams," she said.
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