Women’s hoops upsets
Arizona State volleyball squeaked into the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year as one of nine teams from the Pac-12. Arizona also made the 64-team field as an at-large selection.
ASU (19-13) opens against BYU (22-6) at 8 p.m. Friday in Honolulu. The winner advances against the winner between No. 11-seeded Hawaii (24-4) and Idaho State (23-11).
Jason Watson, in his sixth season at ASU, formerly coached at BYU. Last season, the Sun Devils lost 3-2 to Oklahoma in the NCAA first round in Provo, Utah, missing out on a second-round match against BYU.
“If we make it in, we’re the last team in,” Watson said just before selections were announced Sunday night. “If not, we’re one of the (first) four out.”
UA (20-12) will play New Mexico State (22-10) in the first round Friday in San Diego, with the winner advancing to face either No. 9 San Diego (24-3) or UCSanta Barbara (18-10).
ASU and UA split their regular-season matches, with the Wildcats winning 3-1 on Friday, a loss that Watson feared might keep his team out of the postseason. Instead, the Sun Devils got through thanks to a non-conference win over No. 1 seed and defending NCAA champion Texas and going 6-4 in their last 10 matches.
ASU is making consecutive NCAA appearances for the first time since 1999 and 2000.
ASU and Washington State brought some welcome national attention for Pac-12 women’s basketball over Thanksgiving weekend with victories over No. 11 North Carolina and No. 10 Nebraska.
Through Sunday, Pac-12 women’s teams are a combined 6-15 against opponents ranked in the Sagarin Top 50 and 4-10 vs. the Sagarin Top 25.
No. 6 Stanford, as usual, leads the way but lost 76-57 to No. 1 Connecticut before beating Texas and No. 16 Purdue. No. 14 Colorado has a win over Iowa and UCLA knocked off No. 18 Oklahoma 82-76. That was pretty much all the Pac-12 had to shout about until ASU’s 94-81 overtime upset in Cancun on Friday and Washington State using a dozen 3-pointers to take down the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday.
The Cougars beat a Top 10 team for the first time in school history while ASU won for the first time in five tries vs. perennial national power North Carolina.
“It’s a whole different mind-set with this team in terms of this focus on winning and being a great team,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said Sunday.
Coming off a rare losing season (13-18), ASU was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 by conference coaches, a forecast that seemed unduly low considering program history and the additions to a team that was ninth in 2012-13. In Sunday’s Sagarin ratings, ASU (6-1) was No. 23 nation- ally, second-highest in the Pac-12 behind Stanford.
“We can play a lot better,” Turner Thorne said. “I’m happy for this team. They worked hard off-season, and it’s paying off. Our Number 1 thing is toughness. The North Carolina game was representative of a lot of games at ASU over the years in terms of toughness. I’ll take that over anything.”
Adrianne Thomas, who had a career high 23 points including a buzzer-beating layup to force overtime against the Tar Heels, was chosen MVP of ASU’s division in the Cancun Challenge. Deja Mann also made the alltournament team.
Saturday’s opening games in the ASU Classic are expected to be played at 9 a.m. (Long Beach State vs. Harvard) and 11:30 (ASU vs. Sacred Heart) at Wells Fargo Arena so they will be completed before the Pac-12 Football Championship Game. The tourney will conclude Sunday with a game at noon and ASU playing at 2:30 p.m.
“I feel bad for teams coming in; it’s not what we wanted to do,” Turner Thorne said. “This was the only option to play games, and we’re fortunate it is an option (since the Pac-12 controls what happens for its football title game). Teams will get extra rest for the second day. There is really nothing we can do, so I hope everybody just embraces it.”