When Maeve McErlane put her name into the NCAA transfer portal last year, she was looking for a fresh start.
Plenty of places could have given her that new opportunity, but she wanted a team that could win, too.
As McErlane and the Colorado women’s basketball team now prepare for the NCAA Tournament, there’s no doubt she found what she wanted.
“Definitely, itap such a high-level program and (head coach JR Payne) and the rest of the coaching staff, they know what the players need to do in order to get there because they’ve been there before,” said McErlane, a junior point guard for the Buffs. “So I just had trust in them that they were going to put us in that position and if we put in the work, as well, that we totally could have gotten to the place that we are now.”
Seeded 10th in the Fort Worth 1 region, CU (22-11) will face seventh-seeded Illinois (21-11) in Nashville on Saturday (7:30 p.m. MT, ESPN2) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
McErlane is one of 12 players on the roster that has never played in the NCAA Tournament. She spent the previous three seasons at DePaul, which had three straight losing seasons.
For McErlane, itap been a dramatic change from last year to this year. As DePaul went 13-19 in the 2024-25 season, McErlane was out with injury. Now she’s a starting point guard for a team in March Madness.
“Honestly, itap a dream come true,” she said. “Last year I was literally out for the whole year, didn’t practice, didn’t play in one game. Then, now to transition and we have a chance to compete in the tournament is truly special and something I do not take for granted.”
McErlane’s impact doesn’t show up as much statistically as it does in intangibles. She’s averaging 1.4 points but brings calm and a steady ball-handler to the floor when she’s in the game.
She played some of her best basketball of the season during the Buffs’ run to the Big 12 conference semifinals two weeks ago. She committed just two turnovers in 74 minutes on the court, helping the Buffs go 2-1 in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I think everyone right now is stepping up,” she said. “We’re all playing our best basketball in March, which is what you want to be doing. So, just taking that and what we’ve been doing and the success that we did have in the (Big 12) tournament and bringing that into March Madness.”
Homecoming
The trip to Nashville will be a homecoming of sorts for Payne, who was born in Jackson, Tennessee.
While her family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, when she was a toddler, Payne visited extended family in Tennessee nearly every summer of her youth.
“Hopefully I’ll have some cousins or some people that come out,” she said. “I’ve never actually played at Vanderbilt, so it’ll be a really cool experience to be there to experience that environment and then to play a great team like Illinois.”
CU has another unique tie to the opener. Outgoing athletic director Rick George graduated from Illinois and then later spent seven years working at Vanderbilt.
State pride
Colorado State is in the tournament, as well, as the No. 12 seed in the Sacramento 4 region. The Rams will face fifth-seeded Michigan State on Friday (5:30 p.m., ESPNews).
This is just the fourth time ever that two teams from Colorado have made the women’s NCAA Tournament, and the first time since 2002 (also in 1996 and 2001).
“I think itap huge (for the state),” Payne said. “I think the state of Colorado, our youth and our development system and high school play, is continuing to get better and better, and there’s more talent and great AAU programs and great high school coaches that are developing players that also want to play on a big stage in this environment.
“And so, great for them to see the two sort of premier programs in the state have that success.”
