Lady cagers await ticket to NCAA Tournament

By DONNIE COLLINS
Collegian Staff Writer

Last year at this time, members of the Penn State women's basketball team gathered around their televisions, hoping for nothing more than a chance.

A chance at a return to the Big Dance.

A chance to play in the NCAA Women's Tournament -- a competition in which the Lady Lions had competed 14 times in the previous 16 seasons, but missed the season before.

It was a chance Penn State never got.

Instead of following their unforgettable run through the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament to the title game as the No. 7 seed with a trip to NCAAs, the Lions settled for a berth in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, which they went on to conquer.

Gathering around the television to watch this year's selection show promises to be a more satisfying experience for the Penn State players. At 5:15 p.m. Sunday on ESPN, the NCAA will announce the competitors for this year's NCAA Women's Tournament, and it is expected that, unlike the last two selection shows, Penn State's name almost certainly will be called.

After a 21-win season and a second-place finish in the Big Ten, the No. 18 Lions are a veritable lock to be making an appearance in the tourney for the 15th time during coach Rene Portland's tenure in Happy Valley. Should Penn State be selected, conference champion Purdue will join it in the postseason. The No. 1 Boilermakers earned the conference's automatic berth by defeating Illinois in the Big Ten Women's Tournament final Monday.

Although confident her team will indeed be selected, Portland believes the Lions' upset loss to third-seeded Illinois in the semifinals of last weekend's tournament may have hurt their chances of securing a higher seed for NCAAs.

The top four seeds in each of the tournament's four regions host two games before advancing to the round of 16, which will be held at neutral sites. In all probability, Penn State currently sits on the borderline between a No. 4 and No. 5 seed.

"The key to this whole thing is that we have 21 wins and we're not going to have to worry for the next two weeks. We're going to the tournament," Portland said. "I think we gave away our home-court advantage, and that's disappointing."

Most Big Ten coaches list the 18-win mark as the plateau that must be reached for a conference team to be a favorite to be selected for the tourney. If that holds true, 18-game winner Illinois also will be making its third straight attempt for a national championship.

Coach Theresa Grentz' Fighting Illini have already proven their tournament mettle this season with their 77-75 win over the Lions.

"(Portland) does such a great job preparing her teams in tournaments," Grentz said. "To win, it means something."

Teams like Ohio State and Michigan, however, are at the mercy of the selection committee. Both squads won 17 games this season and were victorious one time apiece during the conference tournament.

The conference could be well represented in the WNIT as well. Fifteen-game winner Michigan State and Wisconsin, which entered the win column 14 times, are hoping for berths in the WNIT.

The jury is still out on whether either the Buckeyes or Wolverines will be deemed NCAA Tournament-worthy. But it is evident the Big Ten can end up with as many as five teams, or as few as three, competing for women's college basketball's ultimate prize -- the national championship.