Vermont center Alisa Sheftic celebrates their 64-55 victory over Wisconsin in the first round NCAA Tournament Sunday March 21, 2010. (Joe Raymond/Vermont University)
When 10th seeded Vermont dropped 7th seeded Wisconsin 64-55 it was the first of many firsts for the Catamounts. This was the first time Vermont beat a Big 10 school and their first NCAA win in school history. It was just the 4th win in 19 tries for the entire America East Conference.
“We said in the beginning of the year that this was one of our goals to get back to the NCAA and not just compete, but win a game”, said Vermont senior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis. “I think it feels great to win this game. Great for our program to get the first win, and now we are just looking to build on that.”
After an opening day where all top seeds won, Vermont triggered a slew of upsets on day two of the tournament all by mid-major schools. The most surprising is 11th seeded San Diego State knocking off 6th seeded Texas 74-63 on their own court! The Aztecs jumped out to a 19 point lead on the Longhorns. Jene Morris scored 32 points including a flurry of 3 pointers to shock Gail Goestenkors and company.
“I give credit to San Diego State. They made big plays, especially Jene Morris,” said Goestenkors. “We obviously couldn’t do anything with her. She hit ‑‑ from outside she penetrated, hit from inside, and she’s also an outstanding defensive player. So she pretty much had her way with us.”
From there 12th seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay dropped 5th seeded Virginia 69-67 in the closest game of the upsets. The Cavaliers needed more support for ACC player of the year Monica Wright who scored 34 points in the losing effort.
The win was significant because Wisconsin-Green Bay was granted the first ever at large bid for the Horizon League… they showed their gratitude by claiming their fourth win in eleven tournament appearances.
The ACC took the brunt of the upsets going 2-4 including 11th seeded Arkansas-Little Rock dropping 6th seeded Georgia Tech 63-53.
Other mid-majors that advanced were Gonzaga, Dayton, Temple and Xavier. This goes to show the talent pool is growing and slowly narrowing the gap between the top seeds and the lower seed. The level of visibility for these “lower seeds” are receiving will also continue to close the gap when coaches hit the recruiting trail this spring.
Making the sweet 16 will be the next step for these programs.
