Women’s Hoops Coach Jim Davis Comments On NCAA Tournament Selection

March 12, 2000

“We are very happy to be invited to the NCAA Tournament. Many people thought this would be a rebuilding year for us and this selection says a lot for our program. We are a basketball program.

“This team has been through quite a bit this year, but it has been resilient and now we are in the NCAA Tournament. I am very proud of this basketball team. To have just one returning starter and make the field is just great. And that one returning starter (Erin Batth) was coming off a knee injury.

“We are looking forward to playing at Connecticut and Gampel Pavilion. We have been there before, in fact we defeated UCONN there in 1990 to advance to the Sweet 16. It is a great environment for basketball.

“Drake is our opening round opponent and they are an excellent basketball team. Obviously at this point we don’t know that much about them, but they come into the tournament having won seven games in a row. They defeated Southwest Missouri State in the championship game of their conference tournament and that was a quality win. They also have a quality win over Iowa State, who just won the Big 12 Tournament.

“Drake has a balanced team just as we do. Both of us don’t have a player averaging 15 points a game, but both of us have a number of options on offense. They are a very good defensive team also as teams shot just 38 percent against them this year.”