Husker Women Earn 6th Seed in NCAA Tourney; Will Face Kansas in First Round
Lincoln - The No. 17 Nebraska women's basketball team claimed a No. 6 seed when the 64-team field for the 2012 NCAA Tournament was announced on Monday.
The Huskers, who finished the season with a 24-8 overall record as the Big Ten Tournament runner-up, will face traditional rival and No. 11 seed Kansas in the first round at Little Rock, Ark., at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The hosts from UALR earned the No. 14 seed as the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions, and will play No. 3 seed Delaware (30-1) in the other first-round game at Jack Stephens Center on the UALR campus. The Blue Hens earned the automatic bid as the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament champions.
"I'm excited for our players and our program," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said during the team's selection show watch party at the Hendricks Training Complex. "We're excited to be going to Little Rock, which is a drivable distance for our fans. We obviously know the Kansas program very well and have great respect for them and the Big 12 Conference. We know it will be a great challenge, but we're looking forward to being back in the tournament."
Nebraska, in its first year in the Big Ten, was one of a conference-record seven teams to earn bids in the NCAA Tournament, while Kansas was one of seven Big 12 schools to claim spots in the 64-team field.
The first-round game will mark a renewal of the longest running series in school history. Nebraska has played Kansas every season the Huskers have had a varsity women's basketball program, dating back to 1974-75. The Huskers and Jayhawks have squared off 80 times on the court, with Kansas owning a 49-31 all-time advantage. However, Nebraska carries a 21-9 edge in the last 30 meetings dating back to the 1997-98 season.
Last season, as Big 12 Conference counterparts, Nebraska split with the Jayhawks, with the Huskers defeating Kansas, 75-61 in overtime on Jan. 16, 2011, at the Devaney Center. KU avenged the loss with a 77-61 win over NU in Lawrence, Kan., on Feb. 26, 2011, in the last meeting in the series.
If Nebraska can advance past a strong Kansas team, and through the second round, the Huskers would move on in the Des Moines Regional at Wells Fargo Arena the following weekend.
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