UConn women get 2nd seed in Bridgeport Regional

Mar. 14—STORRS — For the seniors on the UConn women's basketball team, the NCAA tournament Selection Show is something that's on the Huskies' schedule every year.

UConn clinched its 33rd consecutive NCAA bid by winning the Big East tournament title a week ago. The Huskies are the No. 2 seed in the Bridgeport Regional and will open play against No. 15 and Southern Conference champion Mercer Saturday at Gampel Pavilion.

For graduate student Dorka Juhász, however, Sunday's show ended a four-year wait to be a part of March Madness.

"I was nervous," Juhász said with a smile. "I've never experienced this before. Yes, I knew that we were going to be there but seeing UConn on the screen my feeling was, 'Wow, I'm actually going to play in the NCAA tournament after not being able my first three years.' It was so much fun and I'm so excited and looking forward to my first NCAA tournament game."

The Huskies (25-5) and Bears (23-6) will be joined at Gampel Pavilion by No. 7 and American Athletic Conference champion Central Florida and No. 10 Florida out of the Southeastern Conference. The two winners from Saturday will play a week from tonight for a spot in the Sweet 16 in Bridgeport.

Juhász did not get to play in the NCAA tournament in her three years at Ohio State. The Buckeyes were 14-15 her freshman season following a first-round loss in the WNIT. They would have received an at-large bid in 2020 but the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. They were 13-7 a year ago but the school's self-imposed postseason ban due to violations by a former assistant coach kept Juhász and her teammates home.

The 6-foot-5 forward from Pecs, Hungary began following the NCAA tournament when her recruitment by American colleges picked up.

"I never understood how seedings and different regionals and things like that worked. It was all new to me," Juhász said. "Then when I committed to Ohio State, I'd follow what they would do. When I got here ... It's always fun to watch March games on both the men's and women's sides. But that was as a spectator and now I'll be playing it's amazing. I'm very blessed that after three years I'll be able to play in it.

"One thing I would watch for is there are always Cinderella teams. Last year the Ohio State men lost to Oral Roberts and Oral Roberts went on to make a run. It's March. It doesn't matter what seed you are. Every game is the most important of the season. It doesn't matter what conference you're from or what your record is, you have to be ready to play every day or else it's over."

Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina State is the No. 1 seed in the Bridgeport Regional. Indiana out of the Big Ten is seeded third, Oklahoma from the Big 12 is No. 4, and Notre Dame out of the ACC is seeded fifth.

The Huskies were the No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA's final top-16 reveal on Feb. 28. But the teams seeded 5-8 — Baylor, Iowa State, LSU, and Michigan — lost in their conference tournaments allowing UConn to slide into the No. 6 slot and line up on the S curve with the Wolfpack in Bridgeport.

"There really wasn't anything that I was expecting," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Once we won the Big East tournament, obviously we knew we had improved our chances and that we made ourselves much more attractive for a better seed than maybe a month ago.

"So at that point, where we were going to go doesn't really matter. You've got to play teams you've got to play, you've got to go play where they tell you to go play. So everybody's got a tough bracket, everybody's got tough matchups. Nobody's got an easy path. As it should be, right?"

The Huskies have won a season-high 10 in a row and 16 out of 17. They avenged their Feb. 9 loss to Villanova by routing the Wildcats 70-40 in the Big East final at Mohegan Sun Arena.

And they are as healthy as they've been all season. Paige Bueckers has played in the last five games and averaged 14.2 minutes per outing after missing 19 games with a left knee injury that required surgery. Auriemma hoped the break between Big East and NCAA play would help the sophomore guard physically and mentally.

"She looks really good," Auriemma said. "Each and every day I see more and more and more of her being her old self physically, mentally, and emotionally."

Joining UConn in the 68-team field out of the Big East were Villanova, Creighton, and DePaul. The four selections match the Big East's most, last achieved in 2018, since conference realignment in 2013-14.

Villanova (23-8) is the No. 11 seed in the Wichita (Kansas) Regional and will play Brigham Young in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Creighton (20-9) is the No. 10 seed in the Greensboro (North Carolina) Regional and will play Colorado in Iowa City, Iowa. DePaul (22-10) was one of the last four at-large teams and will play Dayton in a play-in game in Ames, Iowa, with the winner facing Georgia in the round of 64.

"They all deserved to be there and I'm glad to see our conference get that kind of recognition," Juhász said. "They're great teams so hopefully they're going to do some good things."

Marquette (21-10) and Seton Hall (19-12) accepted WNIT bids.

South Carolina is the overall No. 1 seed and was placed in Greensboro. Reigning national champion Stanford is the top seed in the Spokane (Washington) Regional. Louisville is the No. 1 seed in Wichita.

The Final Four is set for the Target Center in Minneapolis April 1 and 3.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.