Did Hampton get hosed again?
The Lady Pirates aren't saying it. But for the second straight year, the NCAA selection committee didn't do Hampton any favors when it came to setting up the brackets. A year ago, Hampton was relegated to a No. 16 seed and assigned a first-round game against mighty Stanford.
Monday night, the Lady Pirates were seeded 15th - they were hoping for a 13 - and matched up against No. 2 Duke in Durham.
"It's not what we wanted," Hampton coach David Six said. "But it's what we've got."
Six said he was disappointed less by Hampton's seeding and more by the fact that the Lady Pirates must face Duke on its home floor. The Blue Devils went 14-0 last season at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"It's one thing to play them on a neutral floor. But at their place? C'mon," Six said. But hey, we'll be ready."
The bracketing worked out better for Liberty, which is seeded 13th and will open against No. 4 and Big Ten tournament champion Purdue at Louisville.
And the news is great for the folks at Old Dominion, who will be hosts to one of the four regional sites in a couple of weeks. As expected, Notre Dame, featuring charismatic star Skylar Diggins, is the top seed in the Norfolk region. Duke is No. 2, Texas A&M is No. 3 and South Carolina, which is coached by Virginia legend Dawn Staley, is the fourth seed.
The Hampton-at-Duke first round scenario also played out in 2010, Six's first in charge of the Lady Pirates. Duke rolled to a 72-37 victory. Six expect HU to give a much better accounting of itself this time around.
"We're much longer, more athletic now," he said.
After last years stellar season the NCAA jerked HU by giving them a #16 seed and 1st round matchup with the Cardinal of Stanford, their reasoning, "well at least you got to play close to home", so I didn't expect any consideration from the NCAA committee this season, especially since our RPI was 79/80, but what I did expect is that they wouldn't give them a draw that has them traveling to Durham to face Duke on their home floor.
ReplyDeleteThey could have giving them a 14 seed and sent them to NY to face Penn St on a neurtal court (b/c of what they did to HU last yr)... Cal Poly got the 14, are you kidding me, you don't think HU is better than them. Hampton had a quality win of LSU (a ranked team) and one bad loss; to PV, early in the season (but at least PV won their conf tourney). They could have easily given that 14 to Hampton.
It just goes to show you that the NCAA doesn't care anything about or even look at the body of work of schools in smaller conferences. If you doubt it, pls tell me why Hampton, with an RPI of 61 last year, was paired with Stanford.
When Hampton was giving a higher seed, they were 1 missed freethrow away from beating Kentucky 2 years ago. I know hampton can play with any 3 seed in the country and at least one 2 seed, but Duke, on their home floor ? For the NCAA to pair Hampton against Duke on Dukes home floor is a SLAP in the Face, period !!!
Yeah, I'm an HU Fan !!
I was surprised at the seed Hampton rcvd as well. Liberty getting a 13 seed is another team that stands out for me. Especially since they loss to NC A&T, at home.
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