BYU women relish underdog role against No. 3 Louisville in NCAA women's tourney


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PROVO — When the BYU men’s basketball team waited until the final matchup of the NCAA tournament selection show to be announced to hear its name called, the Cougar women’s squad had a much easier go of it.

No. 14-seed BYU, which had already clinched its berth to the tournament via the West Coast Conference tournament championship last week, will play third-seeded Louisville at 2 p.m. MT Saturday in an Albany regional first-round game in Tampa, Florida, the tournament selection committee announced Tuesday. All games are broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.

UConn, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Maryland drew the top seeds in this year’s tournament, which will contest the final April 7 in Tampa, Florida. WCC regular-season champion Gonzaga drew an 11 seed and will face George Washington on Friday in Corvallis, Oregon.

The Cougars (23-9) don’t know a lot about the Cardinals, the second-straight first-round matchup against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. But that didn’t hinder BYU’s Sweet 16 tourney run that began with a win over fifth-seeded North Carolina State last year in Los Angeles, BYU post Morgan Bailey said.

“I don’t know anything about Louisville, to be honest,” the senior from Orem added. “We didn’t know a lot about NC State, Nebraska or UConn, as well, and I think it works in our favor.

“We’re not scared, because we don’t know anything about them.”

The Cougars will see themselves as the underdog against a more vaunted Louisville squad that finished the year 25-6 and ranked No. 8 in the nation. The Cardinals are led by freshman forward Mariya Moore, who averages 13.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in 30 minutes per game.

BYU guard Lexi Eaton (21) shoots over Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Sunny Greinacher (14) during the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships semi-final game in Las Vegas Mar 9, 2015. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
BYU guard Lexi Eaton (21) shoots over Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Sunny Greinacher (14) during the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships semi-final game in Las Vegas Mar 9, 2015. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

Louisville also boasts a double-figure scoring interior presence in forwards Myisha Hines-Allen and Sara Hammond, who score 11.5 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.

“Louisville is a great opponent from a very tough conference,” BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. “For some reason, they keep putting us against the ACC in first-round games. It’ll be a great challenge. I’ve seen them a little on TV, and they have a really good coach. I think we match up pretty good with them. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

The veteran BYU coach is less excited about traveling to Florida after a favorable first-round location a year ago. The Cougars’ roster only includes one player from Florida, sophomore Kristine Fuller, a flex guard who went to Palm Harbor University High School in nearby Crystal Beach, Florida.

“I’m not very excited about going to Tampa. I would’ve liked to go a lot closer so that some of our fans could come to the game and support us,” Judkins said. “But we don’t have a lot of control over that. I’m sure my team will be ready to go; we’ve been here before and we played another ACC team last year, so this will be a good opportunity for us.”

The Cougars’ path to another tourney run would lead through an ACC squad that hasn’t been a paradigm of consistency down the stretch. The Cardinals lost two of their final three games of the regular season and went 1-1 in the ACC tournament before a loss to Florida State on March 7.

Similarly, BYU’s regular season ended with losses in four of its final five games — but the Cougars rallied to earn the WCC’s automatic bid with three wins in Las Vegas, including knocking off top-seed Gonzaga in the semifinals and a 76-65 win over San Francisco last Tuesday.

The week off has helped Bailey, a senior who averages a double-double at 17.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. It’s also given time for guards Lexi Eaton (20.7 points per game) and Makenzi Morrison (13.3 points per game in the WCC tourney) to carry the scoring load.

“Our zone has been very active. We’ve done a really good job of that,” said Judkins, a man-to-man defensive purist at heart, when asked what’s been working down the stretch. “Makenzi Morrison has been playing a lot better, shooting the ball and having confidence.

“This week off really helped.”

BYU also likes playing with the double-digit seed, underdog title. The Cougars drew a No. 11 seed during their Sweet 16 run in 2002, and a No. 12 seed in last year’s tournament, which ended with a loss to No. 1-seed Connecticut.

“Our type of team is a team that if someone says we can’t, we’re going to do it,” Bailey said. “We’ll prove it and go hard. That 14 is another chip on our shoulder, and we are ready to brush it off and show people what we can do.”

In March, after all, everything comes down to a competition — something Judkins’ teams have relished in his 14 years at the helm.

“I think this time likes a challenge,” Judkins said. “They aren’t afraid. I think they showed that last year with UConn. We know if we come out and do what we need to do, we can stay with anybody. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”

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