LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska went from a losing record last year to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“To put Nebraska on the map in the women’s basketball world with teams like UConn—never would you imagine little old Nebraska would be up there,” senior forward Cory Montgomery said Monday night.
The No. 1 seed is another in a long list of milestones during a surprising run that has made the Cornhuskers the darlings of the sport this year.
As the top seed in the Kansas City region, Nebraska (30-1) will open against Northern Iowa (17-15) on Sunday in Minneapolis.
“You can’t ask for anything better than being a No. 1 seed,” Big 12 player of the year Kelsey Griffin said. “But just because you’re a 1 seed doesn’t mean you automatically get victories.”
Nebraska won 30 straight games before losing 80-70 to Texas A&M on Saturday in the Big 12 tournament semifinals. Huskers coach Connie Yori figured the top seed had been locked up after her team beat Kansas State on Friday.
“We deserved the 1 seed,” Yori said. “We worked hard all year to earn the right to be the 1 seed. We play in the best league in the country and we went undefeated in the best league in the country, so it makes sense where we are.”
Before this season, the Huskers hadn’t won a conference title since 1988, had never finished higher than a tie for fourth in the Big 12 in Yori’s first seven seasons and had never won more than 23 games.
“It’s come a long way,” senior guard Yvonne Turner said.
With Griffin out because of injury last season, the Huskers were 15-16 and lost in the first round of the WNIT. Even with the return of Griffin and five other seniors, they were picked sixth in the coaches’ preseason poll.
Nebraska cracked the AP Top 25 after routing its first eight opponents by an average of 27.5 points. The Huskers barely slowed down as they kept piling up wins in the nation’s toughest RPI conference.
The Huskers, among seven Big 12 teams to get a bid, are in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years and ninth time overall.
Northern Iowa got in as the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion. The UNI-Nebraska winner plays either UCLA or North Carolina State next Tuesday.
The Huskers have made it past the first round only three times in their eight previous appearances. No Nebraska team has gotten past the second round.
Junior guard Dominique Kelley said the loss to Texas A&M didn’t put a dent in the team’s confidence.
“But I think it put into perspective that every game now could potentially be our last,” she said. “We have competitive kids on our team. I think we’re going to bounce back from it super well and it’s going to make us a little bit more hungry.”
