MSU women: Pop goes the bubble?

INDIANAPOLIS -- With January coming to a close, Michigan State women's basketball team was teetering on the brink of missing the postseason for the first time since 2001. Even finishing with a .500 record simply seemed a tough task for the young squad.

Then, February arrived. In the shortest month, the Spartans made a markedly quick and decided turn toward a sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and a fifth straight 20-win season.

Friday, the Spartans defeated Minnesota, 56-51, in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com and Charlie Creme of ESPN.com each said MSU had to win a game in Indianapolis to earn a spot in the NCAAs, and a victory over the team with the conference's top RPI likely helped even more.

"It was very important -- it was a statement game," senior guard Courtney Davidson said. "I feel like with Minnesota being (the fourth seed) and already in the (NCAA) Tournament, we needed to get this win."

It's expected that the Big Ten, in a down year, could get as few as three spots in the NCAA Tournament -- with regular season co-champs Ohio State and Iowa, along with the 20-11 Gophers, considered the only locks. Both MSU and Purdue were deemed as teams sitting on the bubble for one of 33 at-large berths before advancing to Saturday's conference semifinals.

"With any team that plays in March, you just want to keep anything and everything in your own hands...," MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. "One thing I know is that we can't control what other people think about us. All we can control is what we do on the court."

MSU, at 19-12, will make the postseason for sure. Whether it's the NCAAs or Women's NIT is the question.

The Spartans defeated all four teams at the top of the Big Ten standings (No. 22 OSU, Iowa, Purdue and Minnesota). They also have a win over No. 19 Kansas State and have won six of their last seven entering Saturday's Big Ten semifinal with Illnois. Prior to the conference tourney, MSU's RPI was 47th by collegerpi.com and its schedule was rated the 33rd-toughest in the country.

Three other conference tournaments also are of interest to the Spartans' NCAA hopes. In Conference USA, they need 18th-ranked UTEP to win the automatic berth to avoid having the Miners take one of the at-large berths. Same holds true in the Metro Atlantic with No. 24 Marist and in the Sun Belt with Western Kentucky. A loss by any of those three teams certainly would put the NCAA selection committee in a tough position when it makes its choices next week: Do you take a top-tier mid-major with a better record or a mid-level Big Ten team with a higher RPI and tougher schedule?

"You hear it in the media all the time -- it's a down year in the Big Ten because they only got three or four teams in," Creme said. "Absolutely, it's something we all use as a tool to measure the success of a conference. But as (the NCAA selection committee members) sit in a room making their decision, that's not a factor."

Of course, if they were to win the Big Ten Tournament, an automatic berth in the NCAAs would be the Spartans' and, as Davidson said, settle any questions to whether they should receive an invitation.

"We might have got an NCAA bid based on this game," senior Alisa Wulff said after beating Minnesota, "but it's all about taking each game as if it's your last and going at it really hard."

In two weeks, if they are in the Big Dance, that truly will be the case.

Comments

[kirk]

IT WAS REALLY DISAPPOINTING TO SEE THE TEAM PLAY ILLINOIS SO TIMID AND WITHOUT FIGHT, AFTER PLAYING SO WELL AGAINST MINNIE THE FRESHMEN REALLY PLAYED LIKE FRESHMEN. FEFAR WAS APPARENT IN THOMAS. AND JOHNSON WOULDN'T TAKE CONTROL. SO HELLO NIT.

[Pops]

The women played like two different teams on two different days. Sound familiar.

[Tim]

NO one cares about women's bball. Please quit talking about it and wasting space.

[Chris Solari]

Tim, if you don't care, then don't read it. It's a simple, age-old philosophy. Otherwise, direct your eyes to Hey Joe (http://noise.typepad.com/hey_joe) or post when Neil Koepke writes about MSU hockey. But this part of the Spartan Spin blog is reserved for women's basketball discussion. The only thing taking up space here are comments that don't pertain to it.

[Michael Motta]

Well UTEP lost to SMU and to add insult to injury it propelled SMU ahead of MSU in RPI ranking. Marist did win though, handily. That game was on DirecTV (FSN New York). It's amazing how many freaky games you can pick up on the SportsPack. Here's one you left out - Gonzaga lost the WCC Championship Game to San Diego. I watched the end of that game and wasn't pleased. Gonzaga will now be competing for an at-large bid with a 24-8 record and a 33 RPI. WKU has safely advanced to the Sun Belt Semifinals on Monday afternoon versus Arkansas State.

[Blue]

Looks like you are having some fun Chris. Don't forget us poor saps back at South Dakota State University. I understand the Big Ten doesn't have to worry about spots in the tourney as much as the Summitt League schools do. But what if every conference got the top 2 teams in with 2 at large bids available. Cinderella's slipper would be that much bigger. And the tourney would be much less predictable. Keep up the good work Solari.

[David]

Tim,

Just because you don't care about MSU women's basketball, it does not follow that nobody else does either. Nobody is forcing you to read the Spartan Spin section of the LSJ. If your premise was true, then nobody would blog about the Lady Spartans. Clearly that's not the case.

As for the Lady Spartans themselves, I'm satisfied with the way they closed out the season, whether they make the tourney or just the WNIT. Back in the middle of the season it did not appear that they would be going ANYWHERE in the post season. They finished strong and at least forced the NCAA commitee to take a long hard look @ them. That's pretty good for a rebuilding yr, and they should be able to get better next season. Best of luck to the Lady Spartans!

DSR