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No Dance In USF Women's Future

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

USF players Jessica Lawson, left, Jazmine Sepulveda, center and Allyson Speed have a look of disappointment after not being selected to the compete in the Women's NCAA Tournament.

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 16, 2009

Updated: 03/17/2009 12:20 am

In the final weeks of the season, the University of South Florida celebrated each victory by grabbing a hammer, signed by the entire team, and pounding away. Each player and coach hammered a nail into a logo of that night's opponent into a 6-inch by 2-foot piece of wood.

Coach Jose Fernandez's message: You can be the hammer or the nail.

The motivational tactic worked. USF won five of its last six road games in Big East play and closed 4-1 overall to improve its NCAA hopes.

Monday night, though, the NCAA Selection Committee took the hammer to USF. Despite a school-record 22 wins, including five against Top 50 RPI teams, the NCAA snubbed USF.

Instead, USF will host the George Washington-Florida Gulf Coast winner on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the WNIT.

"It's very surprising, almost devastating," Fernandez said. "The excuse from the committee in 2006 was that we played a tough schedule, but we didn't win those games (USF went 20-11 in the regular season).

"There's no excuse this year. We won five top-50 games, nine top-100. I don't understand how you put ourselves against those final teams in that room and we don't get in."

TCU (20-10, 46 RPI), Georgia (18-13, 53 RPI) and Minnesota (19-11, 54 RPI) each received at-large bids over USF (22-10, 45 RPI).

"South Florida's nonconference strength of schedule ranked 264th," Selection Committee chair Jackie Silar said. "That was a factor that the committee members would take into consideration."

Fernandez, who has guided USF to six consecutive postseason berths (five WNITs, one NCAA), was dumbfounded.

"This group has unjustly been left out of the NCAA Tournament two of the last three years," he said.

"There's a lot of things I'd like to say, but I can't say. Our committee is a lot different than the men's side. If what happened today happens on the men's side, there would be a lot more interest and a lot more people talking about it. Our game won't move forward until things like this stop happening."

USF senior guard Shantia Grace said she started to get nervous when ESPN was halfway through revealing the 64-team bracket.

"It was tough for us to look at the television and not see USF called," Grace said. "This is something that will stick with me. But we have a chance to prove we deserved to be in the NCAA by winning the NIT."

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