Colorado University Athletics

BUFFS SIX SEED IN EAST REGION, PLAY AT UCSB

BUFFS SIX SEED IN EAST REGION, PLAY AT UCSB

Colorado earned the sixth seed in the East Region of the 2004 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament the NCAA committee announced on Sunday.

The Buffaloes, 22-7 overall, will face the No. 11 seed University of California-Santa Barbara, 25-6, in a first round game in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Saturday, March 20. The winner of that game will face either No. 3 seed Houston or No. 14 Wisconsin-Green Bay in Santa Barbara in the second round on Monday, March 22. Times for the games have yet to be released.

"I thought we’d be a higher seed," CU head coach Ceal Barry said. "But I did say in the (Big 12 Tournament) press conference, that the number of the seed really doesn’t matter in this situation. We’re going to have to beat two good teams to go to Connecticut and we’ll use that as motivation."

The East Region semifinals and final will be played in Hartford, Conn., March 27 and 29. Penn State is the top seed in the region followed by Connecticut, Houston, North Carolina, Notre Dame and the Buffs.

"Our loss (to Oklahoma) kind of opened our eyes," CU senior forward Randie Wirt said. "Teams are starting to play their best basketball and we also need to play our best to a win those close games that we've been losing. I think we're ready for it."

"After the loss down in Dallas (to Oklahoma) we're as motivated as ever," added CU senior and national player of the year candidate Tera Bjorklund. "Right now we just want to get out there and play."

All of CU's NCAA Tournament games can be heard on CUBuffs.com. Due to NCAA Broadcasting regulations, these games are not be part of the normal Buffs Backstage Pass subscription package and will be available for free.

Colorado Head Coach Ceal Barry

GENERAL: “We’re excited about being in the tournament again, forth straight year for Randie (Wirt), Kate (Fagan) and Tera (Bjorklund).  We knew we were traveling, we knew we didn’t have a bid and we would much prefer to go to warm weather and Santa Barbara is about as beautiful as Boulder, so we’re looking forward to the weekend.

“Santa Barbara has a transfer point guard from Tennessee, a transfer from Iowa State, Kate Bauman that played AAU ball on Randie’s AAU team.  They have a player named Kristen Mann who Veronica knows very well from high school, so there’s some familiarity with their personnel.  That will be a real difficult first round match-up for us, particularly on their home floor. 

 

“Despite the numbers next to the names of the schools, I think we’re in good shape.  The only thing better would have been a neutral site.”

 

ON PLAYING A LOWER SEED ON THEIR HOME FLOOR: “That’s the way the tournament is set up.  I don’t want to say we’re disappointed, where last year north Carolina comes here and complained about it pretty much all the way through to the point that they played us.  It’s the way that the tournament is run and we knew that we were going somewhere.  It’s close for our fans, its direct flight and its as good of a place as any.”

 

ON BEING A NO. 6 SEED: “I thought we’d be a higher seed.  There’s five Big 12 teams seeded ahead of us.  We played Oklahoma tougher than anybody, tougher than Texas, tougher than Kansas State, and we were penalized for it.  Going in to the tournament we were probably a three or a four, but the seed really doesn’t matter and in this situation it’s not going to matter.  We’re going to have to beat two good teams to go to Connecticut and we’ll use that as motivation.”

 

ON BEING IN THE EAST REGION: “Having gone to Tennessee last year, it’s a long flight from Denver to Knoxville, two years ago we were at Vanderbilt, and I would like to think that being a team in the western part of the United States that at some point we wouldn’t constantly be sent back east after we play a couple of games, but that’s not going to hurt our motivation to go to Hartford.”

 

ON UC SANTA BARBARA: “We played Santa Barbara in 1993 to go to the regional here, Mark French was the coach so I remember their style, I know what they like to do.  They like to run.  I have some familiarity recruiting against some of those kids and knowing his style.  I’m sure we have video tapes on Santa Barbara right now, so we’ll be getting to that tonight.”

 

ON EXPERIENCE IN THE TOURNAMENT: “I feel like these seniors feel as if we were very close last year against Villanova and we were a shot or two away from going to the elite eight and they’ve been in big games.  We play in the toughest arenas in the nation and I don’t think they fear anybody.  They’ve gone out against some of the best players, the best coaches and the best fans in the nation and there’s nobody that is going to be more prepared than Colorado.  We’re going to be ready.”

 

ON COMING OFF OF A LOSS: “We’ve got an edge.  I don’t think there’s any way this team’s going to go down there without the idea of coming away with two wins.  We’re focused.”

 

Colorado Players

 

C Tera Bjorklund

ON GETTING BACK ON THE FLOOR: “After that loss that we had down in Dallas, we’re as motivated as ever right now.  We just want to get back out there and play.  Especially for us (the seniors) knowing that each game we play could be our last, so I don’t think that anyone is not ready to play.”

 

ON UCSB C LINDSAY TAYLOR: “I remember her from this summer, she was at the trials and I remember seeing her play.  Obviously her size is going to be something that I haven’t come across very much and that’s going to be a little bit different but from what I know about their team they do have some strong post plays.”

 

ON THE SELECTION: “I was still excited.  As it started I started getting nervous and jitters but excited all at the same time.  Even though we have done this a few years, it’s still really exciting each time.”

 

F Randie Wirt

ON GETTING READY FOR THE TOURNAMENT: “I think that our loss kind of opened our eyes and maybe in the beginning of the year some of these teams that we were going against, we were able to pull them off, but now teams are starting to play their best basketball and we need to also play our best to win those close games we’ve been losing.  I think we’re ready for it.”

 

G Kate Fagan

ON EMOTIONS AFTER SELECTION: “Obviously I was excited to be in the east region.  If we can get by the first two rounds, Connecticut is only a couple hours from my house so I was excited about that.  I was a little disappointed about our seed, but like Coach Barry said, we wound up with some good match-ups and in the end the seed really isn’t going to matter if you’re playing teams that you stay focused on and get the win against.”

 

ON BIG 12 HIGHER SEEDED TEAMS: “You can look at it any way, saying we beat Baylor and the fact of the matter is we lost a lot of games down the stretch and Baylor came away with a win in the Big 12 Tournament and played Texas to a two point game.  It just goes to show that it really doesn’t matter what place you’re going to finish in the Big 12 if you’re not going to finish strong down the stretch and just get some key wins that those other teams pulled out.”