Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
UM to host Florida Gulf Coast in opener
Matchup will be second time in last 3 years that teams will face each other in tournament
CORAL GABLES — Khaila Prather was in class when her phone started buzzing. Emese Hof was in the training room. Beatrice Mompremier was in study hall. And Hurricanes coach Katie Meier? She was with the family of a prospective recruit who’d made an unofficial Monday afternoon visit to Miami.
While the members of the Hurricanes women’s basketball team were all going about their respective afternoons on Monday, a massive technical mistake at ESPN led to the network accidentally unveiling the bracket for the women’s NCAA Tournament four hours before teams across the country were supposed to learn their fates.
At Miami — where the 19th-ranked Hurricanes were hoping their regular-season resume had helped them earn the right to host opening-round play — that accidental unveiling led to cautious optimism.
And not long after the bracket made its way across social media, ESPN and the NCAA pushed their official announcement up two hours, confirming what the Hurricanes had already read: they’d been given the No. 4 seed in the Portland regional and the chance to host No. 13 seed Florida Gulf Coast. Also headed to Coral Gables are No. 5 seed Arizona State and No. 12 seed UCF.
The Hurricanes (24-8) will open tournament play Friday night at 9:30 against Florida Gulf Coast, which earned a spot in the tournament after again winning the ASUN conference title. The winner will advance to the Round of 32 to face the winner of Friday’s early game between the Sun Devils and Knights.
“The past couple hours have been crazy,” said Hurricanes guard Laura Cornelius, who watched the 5 p.m. bracket unveiling at home with her roommate Hof and their dog
Buddy before heading to an on-campus celebration with the rest of the team and its fans. “But, you know, we’re just happy we get to host, really.”
Added Hof, “It takes a little bit away from the excitement, especially since we were in the fourth [portion of the bracket]. We would have had all this anticipation, [waiting] and then it came out. It’s a little different, but it doesn’t take away from how excited we are to host.”
For Miami, the tournament berth is the 14th in program history, the seventh in the past eight years under Meier and the fifth in a row. It also marks the second time in three years the Hurricanes will get to host, a goal the team — and women’s teams across the country — set for themselves even before their respective seasons start.
“Honestly, I’m happy we have another game at home, even though it’s not considered a home game,” Mompremier said. “It’s still our home crowd and we’re still in Miami, so I’m excited for that.”
All season long, the Hurricanes have been shoring up their postseason resume, notching upsets against some of the biggest names in women’s college basketball, including defending champion Notre Dame and ACC powers Louisville and Syracuse.
On Monday came word that resume was solid enough, despite Miami’s early exit from the ACC tournament two weeks ago after a loss to the Orange, who made a tournamentrecord 14 3-pointers in a 92-85 win that avenged their regular-season loss to the Hurricanes.
Now, Miami will have to prepare to face another sharpshooting team that excels from beyond the arc.
The Eagles (28-4) have made 33 percent of the 1,071 3-pointers they’ve taken this season and two years ago, in Coral Gables, they proved a difficult out for the Hurricanes.
With Miami hosting on its home floor at the Watsco Center, Florida Gulf Coast twice rallied from 13-point deficits to take the lead late against Miami before the Hurricanes clinched a 62-60 win and advanced to the second round to face Quinnipiac.
The Hurricanes, who had been bidding for just their second Sweet 16 berth in program history, eventually saw their season end days later when the 12th-seeded Bobcats connected on 15-of-26 3-pointers in an 85-78 win over No. 4 seed Miami.
Now, the Hurricanes are looking to avoid a similar fate and advance in a region that will feature No. 1 seed Mississippi State, No. 2 seed Oregon and No. 3 seed Syracuse.
“They’re so dangerous and we’ve struggled with the 3-point shot. That’s no secret,” Meier said. “You know [the NCAA selection committee] is going to give us a team that shoots the 3-[pointer]. We always get that.That’s what a lot of these programs have done to get in and they’ve won a thousand games in a row doing it. That’s an issue for us. It’s going to be a stylistic fight and we have to be very stubborn and we have to make sure that we control the style of play.”