March Madness: 5 things to know before Kent State-Notre Dame NCAA Women's Tournament game
The Kent State women's basketball team is off to Notre Dame for Saturday's NCAA Division I Tournament game against the Fighting Irish.
The first-round game will be the first NCAA Tournament game for the Golden Flashes since 2002. Kent State is seeded 15th in the Albany 1 Region. Notre Dame is the No. 2 seed.
Coach Todd Starkey's Flashes will look to pull off the upset and win an NCAA Tournament game for the second time in program history. Here are five things to know heading into the matchup:
Flashes can't let the setting intimidate them
Playing a nationally ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team on its home court can overwhelm some mid-major teams.
Kent State's 2023-24 nonconference schedule was built for moments like this. The Flashes faced Angel Reese and defending national champion LSU on the road in November. A few weeks later they played at nationally ranked Florida State.
Starkey said those games helped put the Flashes in the position they're in now. When they go to Notre Dame, they should know what to expect.
There is one difference this time.
"It's the NCAA Tournament," Starkey said. "Notre Dame is a different atmosphere. It will be a sellout on ESPN. That brings a little extra pop to it.
"I've been to NCAA Tournaments before. It will feel that much different."
Coach Todd Starkey has NCAA Tournament experience
Some of the Flashes were not even born the last time Kent State played an NCAA Tournament game.
March Madness isn't foreign to Starkey, though.
The Youngstown-area native was an assistant coach at Indiana in 2016 when the Hoosiers won their first NCAA Tournament game in 33 years. Indiana's 21 wins that season tied a school record.
Starkey also led Lenoir-Rhyne to the NCAA Division II Tournament four times as head coach of the Bears. His 2008-09 team reached the round of 32.
If the Flashes want to know what March Madness is all about, they have a good source they can turn to.
Katie Shumate is one of Kent State's all-time best players
Win or lose, Flashes graduate student guard Katie Shumate has established a very successful legacy.
Shumate has scored 1,837 points in five seasons. She moved up 12 spots to fourth on Kent State's career scoring list this year. She trails only Bonnie Beachy (2,071 points), Tracey Lynn (2,066) and Amy Sherry (2,014).
A Newark native, Shumate became the Flashes' first four-time All-MAC selection this season. She is also just one of two players in the conference to rank in the top 10 in scoring (15.0 points a game) and rebounding (7.6 a game).
Will this be the year a 15 seed springs an upset?
Kent State hopes to become the first women's 15 seed ever to win an NCAA Tournament game.
In fact, no 14 or 15 seed has ever advanced out of the first round. The most recent double-digit Cinderella was No. 10 Creighton, which made the Elite Eight in 2022.
The women's tournament actually had a 16 seed stun a 1 seed before UMBC did it in the 2018 men's tournament. Harvard knocked off Stanford in 1998.
Notre Dame almost unbeatable in NCAA Tournament first round
The Irish have been a tough hurdle to clear for opponents in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame is 24-4 all-time in tournament openers. The Irish have won 12 straight first round games since a 2009 loss to Minnesota.
Two of the Irish's first round losses came in their first two tournament appearances — 1992 and 1994.
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: 5 things before the Kent State-Notre Dame NCAA Women's Tournament game
