The women's basketball team finished its season 18-8, grabbed the highest seed in the NESCAC tournament in the program's history, and won its first postseason game, ultimately bowing to the nation's No. 1 team in its first-ever appearance in the conference championship.
Yet it seems someone forgot to invite the Jumbos to the Big Dance. Despite the laundry list of accomplishments, Tufts was denied a bid to the NCAA Div. III tournament.
"We were very disappointed," coach Carla Berube said. "Actually, going into the Bowdoin game on Sunday, I wasn't really thinking about it - I didn't think that if we lost we would be in, but I heard [D3hoops.com] projecting [that we would be in] after the game. We waited and found out online that we didn't make it and it was disappointing. It's hard to know the criteria involved in choosing."
As the NCAA selection committee revealed on Sunday, Berube's group will have to sit this one out, as perennial conference champion Bowdoin and the NESCAC's No. 4 seeded Williams were the only two conference teams chosen to partake in the March Madness festivities.
"We felt Tufts deserved to get in," Williams women's basketball coach Patricia Manning said. "I was hoping they would get in, as well. I think this is a year where there are a lot of strong conferences - Keene State came on strong at the end of year, Norwich was strong throughout the year. It was an unusual year in that you don't expect the NESCAC to only get two teams in. The quality of the region was so strong across the board."
Indeed, it was the depth of the field that made Tufts the odd man out. Twelve teams were selected from a variety of conferences across New England, and there was little room for a league like the NESCAC to earn multiple invites. As opposed to last year, when the conference sent three teams outside of automatic-qualifier Bowdoin, the NESCAC only received one at-large bid this time around.
"I think [the conference was] a little bit down compared to last year," Manning said. "There were a lot of young teams on the bubble. I feel that our conference is strong, but other conferences have really picked it up and come on. [New England sent] 12 teams as well last year, but the talent in the region is more spread out now."
With 65 teams invited to the tournament and 39 of those spots automatically locked up with conference champions, at-large bids are hard to come by, especially considering there are over 400 institutions at the Div. III level.
Bowdoin was the only NESCAC squad spared the drama of trying to secure an at-large bid. The Polar Bears, who spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, have had a guaranteed ride to NCAA play since the NESCAC began hosting a tournament in 2001 as winners of the last seven conference championships.
Though Bowdoin did not receive the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament - that honor was awarded to Howard Payne, who was the only team in the tournament to receive a first-round bye - it is still the top seed in its division and remains one of the teams to beat.
"Bowdoin just knows how to win," Manning said. "We played a great first half with them [in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday] as did Tufts the next day. As a team, you can tell, they feel they're going to win. They always pick it up a notch at crunch time. They expect to win, which is really half the battle."
With NESCAC leading scorer senior Eileen Flaherty making her last trip to the postseason, the Polar Bears may be playing with a greater sense of urgency, hoping to outdo last year's Elite Eight appearance, and advance to the finals for the first time since 2004, when Flaherty was a freshman.
"They have a great player in Eileen Flaherty, who can get it done on the court," Berube said. "She gets to the foul line, and makes tough shots. They will jump on her back. They also have a strong point guard in [senior] Katie Cummings, who's a tough defender, and leads the team. I think they have what it takes from what I've seen."
But it may be a tougher road to the finals than in years past, as talent is more widespread and there are no clear-cut powerhouses.
"I think the tournament is wide open this year," Manning said. "There are a lot of teams that could pull it out - Scranton, Rochester, and there are other strong teams that have [a] great shot."
Pushing to outdo last year's Sweet Sixteen loss at the hands of Baldwin-Wallace College, Williams will get a taste of the field's strength early on, facing-off against first-round host and regional No. 3 Southern Maine tomorrow.
"[Southern Maine is] a very talented team - they have a lot of weapons," Manning said. "This year I think what's exciting about it is there are a lot of really good teams - there aren't just two or three that are dominant. Last year I thought Southern Maine was bound to go to the Final Four. They were just incredibly talented. This year is more open. Our region reflects how it is nationally: anyone can pull it out. Most of the teams in each region have a shot."
Regionals begin tomorrow, followed by Sectionals March 9-10, with Springfield College hosting the Final Four March 16-17.
