ASU women get No. 7 seed; 64-team bracket inside
Sun Devil women get No. 7 seed in tourney
Charli Turner Thorne wasn’t certain her current Arizona State women’s basketball team – the one with no seniors – could find a path to a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than last season’s team, which boasted three talented senior posts.
And yet, that’s how it turned out Monday when ASU (21-12) received a No. 7 seed, one higher than last year’s team.
“I’m so proud of what this team has accomplished,” Turner Thorne said. “To lose our most experienced player (Sabrina Haines to injury) and you would have told me we’re going to be talking about March Madness and getting an even higher seed than we did last year with an incredible senior class, I don’t know if I would have believed you. But this team is capable of great things, and they showed that in the Pac-12 Tournament.
“We got over the hump there. It’s the right time for this team to be playing their best basketball. So we’re excited.”
ASU opens against No. 10 seed Nebraska (21-10) at 12:30 p.m. Arizona time Saturday in Austin, Texas. The winner meets the winner between No. 2 Texas (26-6) and No. 15 Maine (23-9) on Monday.
In 2017, ASU was a No. 8 seed, beating No. 9 Michigan State in the first round before losing to No. 1 seed South Carolina 71-68. The Gamecocks went on to win the national title, beating five more teams by larger margins than against ASU.
The Sun Devils likely would have
been a higher seed in 2017 had senior Kelsey Moos and freshman Jamie Ruden not missed most of the Pac-12 season due to injury. Both returned in the postseason when ASU, also with seniors Sophie Brunner and Quinn Dornstauder, peaked to give South Carolina a serious scare.
Now ASU has three junior starters – All-Pac-12 forward Kianna Ibis, Courtney Ekmark and Charnea JohnsonChapman – two sophomores – guard Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan – and three reserves also averaging doublefigure minutes. It’s a small roster, but one that has been competitive all season even in losses to top teams.
Using the quadrant measurement system, ASU was 4-10 in Quad 1 games and a combined 17-2 in Quad 2-3-4 games. The Sun Devils' best wins were over Stanford, Oregon State, California and Buffalo. Their worst loss was at home to Utah.
The Sun Devils beat No. 13-ranked Oregon State 57-51 in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals, an important confidence boost, before losing 58-46 to No. 15 Stanford in the semifinals.
“We know what it feels like to close,” Ryan said of beating Oregon State. “We finished strong. We’ve been in a couple of close games, and we just didn’t finish strong. That’s one thing we finally did and got over the hump, and it was a great feeling.”
ASU is among six Pac-12 teams in the 64-team NCAA field. Others are No. 2 seed Oregon, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Oregon State and No. 7 California. USC was one of the first four teams left out.
The Sun Devils are making their fifth consecutive NCAA appearance, tying a school record. They also played in five straight from 2005-09, twice reaching the Elite Eight during that run.
ASU is playing in the postseason (NCAA or WNIT) for the 18th time in the past 19 years, the exception being 2013, and making its 16th NCAA appearance.
This is the first year since 2014 that ASU men's and women's basketball teams are in the NCAA field.
In the final Associated Press Top 25, Oregon was No. 6, UCLA No. 9, Oregon State No. 13 and Stanford No. 15. ASU was second among others receiving votes.