Who? The Lady Longhorns of Texas. Horns for short.
What? After the Longhorn cattle of Texas. The 'Horns take the "Hook 'em Horns" thing seriously- their costumed mascot is Hook 'Em.
Where? Austin, Texas. Keep Austin Weird, y'all!
When? Saturday the 19th, against Marquette in Knoxville.
Why? Because as an 8 they were given the privilege of playing an underseeded and somewhat irked Marquette team, with the dubious reward of playing Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena if they get past the Golden Eagles. And people say it's the double-digit seeds who are given the most agita...
How? They were an at-large selection from the Big XII.
Surprise? Your intrepid blogger believes a team being in the tournament at 19-13 and under .500 in conference, even as a 9 seed being fed to a 1 seed at home, should surprise people.Who's driving this thing, anyway? Gail Goestenkors, since 2007. Formerly coach at Duke, where she and Coach K were a nicely matched pair of letters.
RPI: 38
SOS: 13
Record: 19-13 (7-9 Big XII)
Best win: Kansas State (A)
Worst loss: Missouri (A)
Notable results: Stanford (L, A, 93-78), Michigan State (L, A, 71-57), Tennessee (L, A, 92-77); with only UT-Pan-American in the middle of all of these big names, this looks like the kind of suicide run C. Vivian Stringer might schedule.
Freshman guard Chassidy Fussell might be the most overlooked player to lead her team in scoring (16.3) in the country. It's easy to see big Ashley Gayle in the middle, with her 113 blocks, or Ashleigh Fontenette's wild drives in the lane, or senior guards Kathleen and Kristen Nash firing long-range jumpers. (Just for the record, in case the commentators gloss over it: despite being sisters in the same year with a strong family resemblance and similar first names, Kathleen and Kristen Nash aren't twins. Kristen is older.)