MINNEAPOLIS -- Alcorn State is up against a lot -- and that
goes beyond the Braves' first-round foe, top-seeded Michigan State
and its bruising, balanced attack.
Alcorn State (21-8), the Southwestern Athletic Conference
champion, is seeded 16th in the Kansas City Region. No. 16 seeds
are 1-43 in the history of the women's tournament, with Harvard's
win over Stanford in 1998 the only triumph. Plus, the SWAC has
never won an NCAA tourney game in 13 appearances.
But that doesn't deter these Braves, whose one-point loss in
December to perennial power Louisiana Tech (a No. 11 seed in the
Philadelphia Region) was their most impressive performance of the
season.
"We don't have anything to lose," said shooting guard LaToya
Johnson, one of four senior starters. "They have everything to
lose. That puts us at an advantage and them at a disadvantage,
because they never know what to expect. I feel that the element of
surprise is always the best thing, because when you hit someone
straight forward, they're expecting it. But when you hit them and
surprise them, it hurts them more. I feel that we'll come in, play
hard, and we'll surprise them."
Coach Shirley Walker, in her 27th year, realized the ambush
factor could quickly become irrelevant if her team can't contain
the Liz Shimek and Kelli Roehrig inside.
"I'm going to be honest with you," Walker said, referring to
her film study of the Spartans, "I didn't see anything weak about
Michigan State."
This is Alcorn State's third appearance in the NCAA tournament
and the first since 2000.
"You can't just look us over," Johnson said. "We coming. We
coming. You've got to watch out for us.
"Not only do we have faith in each other. We have faith in
God."
A victory might, indeed, require some divine help. But Johnson
scoffed at the prediction made by a local newspaper, The
Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, that the Braves would lose by 40.
"I beg to differ," she said.
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^LOOKING FOR FANS:@ Michigan State is hoping that conference
loyalty overrides conference rivalry.
Because the Gophers also are in the field, thousands of
Minnesota fans will gather in Williams Arena for the first-round
games on Saturday. Michigan State wouldn't mind having their
support for the Spartans' game with Alcorn State.
"Hopefully we can play hard and exciting and the Minnesota fans
will be behind us," Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
"And that would be a really neat thing because it wouldn't happen
very often. ... We would love to play in a way that they would be
proud that we're part of the Big Ten."
Michigan State and Minnesota wouldn't meet until the
championship game. The Spartans beat the Gophers twice this season,
including a 78-49 rout in Williams Arena on Feb. 10. After such a
drubbing, can Michigan State still expect support from the Gopher
fans?
"We're all together in the Big Ten. I mean, come on," senior
center Kelli Roehrig said. "We're rooting for Big Ten teams in
this tournament to win and go far as well. I think we're all family
when it comes down to it."
Added teammate Kristin Haynie: "Until we meet them again."
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^ODU TRAVEL WOES:@ With so many teams trying to get to one
place, somebody was bound to have a travel hang-up. Old Dominion
was the unlucky one, missing its connecting flight in Atlanta.
"Unfortunately, we weren't protected, so therefore we had to
separate -- divide and conquer," coach Wendy Larry said. "Five
groups later, we got in about 2 o'clock this morning."
Larry let her players sleep in, but when they got up, they found
themselves in the middle of a good ol' Minnesota snowstorm. And
after coming all this way, the Lady Monarchs' opponent on Saturday
is Virginia, a school just 160 miles up the road from ODU's Norfolk
campus.
Virginia beat Old Dominion 72-64 back in December, but playing a
familiar rival won't diminish the experience for ODU senior
Shareese Grant.
"I'm happy to be here, as is the team," Grant said. "We've
played them before. We know what they'll bring, we know what we
need to do."
Few players are coming into the tournament off a better game
than Grant. She scored 35 points on 15-for-19 shooting in an
overtime victory against Delaware in the finals of the Colonial
Athletic Association tournament.
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^BOARD BATTLE:@ The battle on the boards should be intense on
Saturday.
Three of the eight teams rank among the nation's top eight in
rebounding margin, headed by Old Dominion. With no starter taller
than 6-feet-2, Old Dominion is outrebounding its opponents by an
average of 11.9 a game, a figure that ranks third nationally.
Minnesota is seventh with an 8.4 rebounding edge and Michigan
State is eighth at 7.9.
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AP Sports Writer Chuck Schoffner contributed to this report.