The Georgia Tech women's basketball team was braced for disappointment. The Yellow Jackets instead were rewarded with all they could have hoped for.
Monday night, the NCAA tournament selection committee gave Tech a No. 4 seed and, more importantly, placed the Jackets in a neutral site in Chapel Hill. Tech has been shipped to brackets with teams with decided geographical advantages each of the past five years.
"We feel like we got one this year," Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said.
Tech will play No. 13 seed Sacred Heart on Sunday on ESPN2. The No. 4 slot is the highest ever given to the Jackets, who won the most ACC games in school history (12) and advanced to the ACC tournament finals for the second time ever. Should Tech beat Sacred Heart, the Northeast Conference champion for the third time in seven years, the Jackets will play the Georgetown-Fresno State winner on Tuesday. Baylor is the top seed in Tech's bracket, followed by Tennessee and Delaware.
Tech has won each of the past two years against North Carolina in Carmichael Auditorium. This figures to be a considerably different experience than last year, for example, when the Jackets lost their second-round game to Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, or the 2009 tournament, when the Jackets beat Iowa in Iowa City.
"Very noisy" was center Sasha Goodlett's recollection of Ohio State's St. John Arena last March.
In the women's NCAA tournament, teams are often given games at or near campus to help with attendance. Joseph said there have been games where the Jackets had 20 fans in the stands compared to 7,000 for the opponent.
Joseph understands it's a decision made to promote the game, but "you would hope it wouldn't happen to the same team year after year after year," she said.
Coaches and players were understandably relieved after the announcement Monday night.
Said Goodlett of Chapel Hill, "We've got a good thing going up there."
The placement aids Tech's goal of advancing to the sweet 16 for the first time in school history. Sacred Heart (25-7), located in Fairfield, Conn., has lost in the first round of its two previous NCAA trips.
"I think we're in very good position," guard Metra Walthour said. "To me, it would mean everything to finally get over that hump and get to the sweet 16 and be considered one of the top-15 programs in the country. That'd be great."
For the Jackets, nothing could be finer.
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