Georgia Tech will go back to the NCAA Women’s Tournament for the second year in a row, a significant accomplishment. But the Yellow Jackets will start tournament play at a lower seeding than coach Nell Fortner had anticipated.
Tech was assigned the No. 9 seed in the Spokane, Wash., region, and if the Jackets get past No. 8 seed Kansas on Friday, their reward most likely will be playing No. 1 seed and defending national champion Stanford in its own arena.
“I was thinking we could fall anywhere from 6 to 8,” Fortner said Sunday night on a media videoconference after the bracket was set. “I might have been a little surprised at 9, but what’s the difference between 8 and 9. It just is what it is.”
Fortner is correct in saying there is no difference between the eighth and ninth seed in a region, as they play each other with the winner getting the 1/16 winner. There is a difference, though, between being No. 8 or 9 and being No. 6 or 7. The No. 6 seed faces the 3/14 winner, and the No. 7 seed the 2/15 winner, both generally preferable scenarios to almost certainly facing the No. 1 seed.
“When (the seeding) flashed up there, maybe kind of the way we finished the season wasn’t what the committee wanted to see,” Fortner said. “That’s OK. We’re alright with it. We feel good about where we are and the progress we’ve made in the last week so we’ll take that go and compete hard.”
Tech was projected as a No. 7 seed last week by ESPN bracket expert Charlie Creme. Tech was also No. 28 in the NCAA’s NET ranking, which the committee uses as a tool in setting seeding. The Jackets had been ranked higher before losing six of their final nine games. All six were to NCAA Tournament teams, four to team seeded fifth or higher.
Tech was not the only team that received a seeding that strayed from its NET ranking. Of teams around Tech’s No. 28 slot, Georgia received a No. 6 seed despite being ranked 26th in NET, two slots ahead of Tech. Arkansas (No. 30 in NET) was a 10th seed. Ohio State was 31st in NET but a No. 6 seed.
Like Tech, Arkansas finished poorly, winning two of its final seven games. Ohio State, meanwhile, closed hot, winning eight of its final 10 games. Georgia did not fit the pattern, finishing 3-5 in its past eight games but getting a seed above its NET ranking.
Despite the dreary finish, Tech brings a 21-10 record into the tournament, with notable wins over No. 2 seed Connecticut (a No. 2 seed), North Carolina (No. 5) and Georgia (No. 6). Fortner’s focus was on a new start in the postseason.
“There’s a real excitement that comes along with getting into the NCAA tournament,” she said. “It’s exciting for the coaches, it’s exciting for the players. Normally, you’re playing someone that you have not played all year long. Maybe you haven’t even seen them play all year long. So there’s this surprise element, excitement element, something new and fresh and I think that we all feel that. Probably every team in the tournament feels that because we’re all back at the starting point of a new season. Anything can happen.”
Said guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, “I’m excited. Obviously, the draw, you can never take for granted getting into the tournament. I’m very excited to go to Cali. I’m very excited to play with all my teammates and get this run in the NCAA tournament.”
Tech has not played since losing its ACC Tournament quarterfinal game to Notre Dame on March 4. It has afforded time for its heavily taxed starting lineup to rest and also for the Jackets to retool following their slow finish.
“I think the rest was definitely a good thing for us, and I hoe it works for us now going into the tournament,” Lahtinen said.
Ball movement and speed on the floor were two areas given attention. Tech was shooting 41.3% from the field after its 25th game of the season, a 92-84 win over Clemson on Feb. 13. The Jackets have shot 37.5% in the six games since.
“Our tempo has got to improve offensively,” Fortner said. “The ball getting stuck in people’s hands and just moving the ball more efficiently and giving us more opportunities at the basket, more shot opportunities.”
The defense might need more tweaking. After its 59-46 win over Duke on Feb. 1, Tech was No. 1 in Division I in scoring defense at 47.1 points per game. In the past nine games, the average is 63.4 points per game, which does include three overtime games.
“We know we’re a good defensive team, but we’ve got to get back to really being a lockdown defensive team,” Fortner said.
The berth is Tech’s second in a row, the first time that the Jackets have earned an NCAA berth since making it six years in a row 2007-12. Lahtinen, forward Lorela Cubaj and center Nerea Hermosa all were starters on last year’s Sweet 16 team. Sunday, Fortner recalled the second-round win over West Virginia as one of the happiest days of her coaching career.
“So we’ll take that, we’ll remember that and we want to go farther than that,” she said. “We want to feel that feeling again so that’s what we’re striving for.”
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