Bears to face No. 1 UConn> UM women surprised to be seeded last in NCAA East Regional

ORONO – The University of Maine women’s basketball team locked up the first NCAA basketball tournament berth in school history Saturday, earning an automatic bid with a 70-59 victory over Northeastern in the North Atlantic Conference title game at Alfond Arena.

After posting a 24-5 record, winning their last 13 games, and posting non-conference victories over then 10th-ranked Alabama and two other NCAA tourney teams, the Black Bears expected to get some respect when the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced Sunday afternoon.

Instead, Coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie and Co. received a shock. Maine was seeded 16th, in last place, for the first round at the East Regional. The Bears must play top-ranked Connecticut, 29-0, at 8 p.m. Thursday at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., where the Huskies have won 33 straight games.

Palombo needed only a moment to get over the shock and refocus on the positive aspects.

“I’m very excited to be in the East Region, very disappointed about the 16 seed,” Palombo said. “As I said to the players, we’re in this NCAA Tournament for the first time, we might as well face the best.

“There’s no `poor us’ thing,” Palombo added. “Some very good teams are not going to the NCAA Tournament and we are, and we’re very excited about that.”

Fifty people gathered at the Alfond Arena’s Dexter Lounge on Sunday were shushed and the volume was turned up on the large-screen TV as ESPN began its NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection show.

Less than a minute into the program, the first pairing appeared on the screen. It said Maine would play UConn. It produced a gasp of disbelief.

“I thought it was a mistake,” said basketball player Erin Grealy. “Actually, I didn’t have my contacts in, so I started squinting. I thought it was Mercer or something else. Then, when I heard everybody go `oohhh,’ I knew it was us.”

Last season, when the women’s NCAA Tournament was expanded to 64 teams, the NAC winner received an automatic bid. While the Maine contingent had not known what to expect, it fully expected to be seeded higher than 16th.

Vermont, last year’s NAC champ, had earned a 13th first-round seed with a 19-10 record.

Soft-spoken NAC Commissioner Stu Haskell was quick to comment.

“That’s a mockery,” Haskell said as the crowded lounge continued to buzz with confused conversation and nervous laughter. “Last year our conference was ranked 15th (out of 32) and Vermont had a higher seed (13th) last year,” he added.

NCAA tournament selection Chairwoman Linda Bruno later explained in a conference call that only the top four teams in each region wereconference call that only the top four teams in each region were “real seeds.”

“We try to see if we could not make teams travel a lot,” Bruno said. “It doesn’t mean, in our perception, Maine is a 16th seed. It made sense to put them right where they are.”

The Bears thought they might have earned a measure of respect this season, but they didn’t know the selection process was so unscientific for the 48 “non-seeded” teams.

“Our program is definitely on the rise,” said senior tri-captain Rita Sullivan. “This is definitely not what we expected, but you still can’t take away how far we’ve come this year. We’ve done pretty well in our role as underdogs, so we’ll just have to do it again.”

Maine junior Steph Guidi rationalized the No. 16 seeding by pointing to the fact the Bears have a lot to prove at the national level.

“After the initial surprise, I’m excited,” Guidi said. “I think because we’ve never been there before, they don’t know what we can do. We basically have to prove that we can play with the big teams. We have our chance now, the opportunity of a lifetime, and we just need to take advantage of it.”

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma admitted he doesn’t know much about Maine, but he didn’t appear overly concerned about facing the Bears.

“I know they have a great point guard in Cindy Blodgett who’s probably going to be the best player to play in that conference when she’s done,” he said. “But they are not just going to come down here and be happy to show up. … Our kids are excited about playing, and I think we’ll play the same way against Maine as we’d play against anybody.”