It’s Down to Waves, Gauchos

As soon as Pepperdine Coach Mark Trakh saw his team was given the eighth seeding in the West Regional of the NCAA women’s tournament, there was reason to celebrate.

“Getting an eighth seed is pretty high for us,� Trakh said.

Not that the 23-7 Waves, who won the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament championships, got any breaks from the NCAA selection committee, which made Connecticut, Oklahoma, Duke and Vanderbilt its four No. 1-seeded teams.

The Waves were sent to Norman, Okla., where they will face Villanova, a 19-10 Big East team, in the first round Saturday. If Pepperdine wins, it will most likely face the Sooners, who are coming off an impressive Big 12 tournament title victory, in the second round on Oklahoma’s home floor.

“We don’t want to go there and just bring home a T-shirt,� said Trakh, whose team is 5-0 on neutral courts this season. “We want to win a game. It’s important for us to win a game for our conference.�

This is Pepperdine’s second NCAA appearance in women’s basketball. The school’s first tournament game came in 2000, and Virginia quickly showed the Waves the exit sign with a 74-62 first-round beating.

Senior Sarah Richen, who was on Pepperdine’s NCAA team two years ago, said the Waves will be taking a different attitude into the postseason this time.

“This trip is a lot different from the last one because there was no finger-crossing involved,� Richen said. “We knew we were in the tournament.

“We’re going in on a mission this time instead of just being happy to be there.�

UC Santa Barbara and Coach Mark French have a similar sentiment.

The Gauchos (25-5), who face fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech Friday in the East Regional at Austin, Texas, have a longer tournament history with seven appearances since 1991.

But Santa Barbara, which won a sixth consecutive Big West tournament championship, has gone beyond the first round only twice. The past three years the Gauchos lasted only one game.

The point was brought home to French when Santa Barbara was seeded 12th despite a 21-game winning streak and a rigorous schedule that included tournament teams Stanford, Penn State, Virginia and Nevada Las Vegas.

“I was a little surprised,� French said. “I thought our [nonconference] schedule would carry more weight. But it also shows me if we had won, say, even three first-round games in the six years we might have received better treatment.

“Still, it’s a great honor to play a legendary program like Louisiana Tech and a legendary coach, Leon Barmore. For those of us who are historians, Louisiana Tech is one of the top three or four programs. It’s a big opportunity for us.�

Senior Kayte Christensen shares French’s belief that Santa Barbara has had its chances to advance in the tournament.

“Coach has this random stat about [how] a couple of possessions would have won three or four games in the tournament,� Christensen said. “We’ve tried to keep that in mind when we practice, that one basket can make the difference.�

While moving past the first round is a formidable challenge for the Southland teams, nothing but an NCAA title will suffice for top-ranked Connecticut.

The Huskies have barely broken a sweat in going 33-0. Connecticut faced eight ranked teams and only Virginia Tech managed to lose by fewer than 10 points.

Sunday was a first important step for the 64 teams trying to get to San Antonio for the Final Four, and already there are winners and losers.

The winners: The SEC and Big 12 conferences, which got eight and seven teams, respectively, into the tournament. All seven Big 12 teams will play host to first- and second-round games.

The big loser: The Pacific 10 Conference, which has only two teams in the tournament.

The toughest bracket: The Midwest, which has Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Iowa State, Florida, Minnesota and Arizona State. All are or were ranked during the regular season.

Best gift recipient: Penn State, with a fourth seeding in the Mideast. Although the Lady Lions reached the Big Ten tournament final, it is rare that a team with 11 losses is placed this high.

As for potential upsets, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Boston College, Colorado State and Minnesota could have trouble with first-round opponents Liberty, New Mexico, Mississippi State, Tulane and UNLV.