Pirates Commence NCAA Tournament Preparations
3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Eager to get back to work with the postseason officially underway, the Seton Hall University women's basketball team began its NCAA Tournament preparations with a practice in Walsh Gym on Tuesday afternoon. Seton Hall, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history and the first since 1995, is a No. 9 seed and will face in-state and former conference rival No. 8 Rutgers in the first round on Saturday night in Storrs, Conn., at 6:30 p.m.
The Pirates will have one more day on campus before departing Thursday morning for the NCAA First and Second Round site in Storrs, Conn., in pod hosted by No. 1 overall seed and defending national champion Connecticut. The winner of Seton Hall and Rutgers' First Round matchup will face either No. 1 Connecticut or No. 16 St. Francis (N.Y.) in the NCAA Second Round on Monday, March 23, at 9 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN 2.
Seton Hall's practice session on site will be Friday, March 20. The Pirates will hold a press conference at Gampel Pavilion from 12:30-1 p.m., with a 90 minute practice to follow from 1:10-2:40 p.m. The first 15 minutes of practice will be open for members of the media.
Seton Hall and Rutgers are extremely familiar first round foes, as this will mark the 21st-straight season the teams have played one another. Last year's game came in the third round of the WNIT, a classic back-and-forth affair that saw the Scarlet Knights prevail 91-79 in double overtime.
Seton Hall led 60-52 approaching two minutes to play in regulation, but after Ka-Deidre Simmons was whistled for a non-shooting foul with 0.2 to play, Briyona Canty hit 1-of-2 at the line to force an extra period.
Rutgers leads the all-time series 33-9, and the teams have met just twice on a neutral court, a pair of BIG EAST Tournament matchups that were won by the Scarlet Knights.
At 28-5 overall, Seton Hall earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Pirates won the BIG EAST Regular Season title for the first time and advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament championship game for the first time since 1995; the 28 wins this year are a program single-season record.
Head coach Anthony Bozzella is in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in his career, having led LIU Brooklyn to the field of 64 as the NEC Champions back in 2001. That year, the Blackbirds were ousted in the first round by the University of Connecticut.
