Nebraska, Arizona State surprised to be in NCAA field (Mar 15, 2018)

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Nebraska and Arizona State have reasons to celebrate yet another NCAA Tournament appearance in a season in which their paths may not have seemed as clear-cut as in the past.

Nebraska (21-10) won seven games in coach Amy Williams' first season a year ago. Arizona State (21-12) lost three senior starters from its 2016-17 NCAA team and guard Sabrina Haines, a key returning contributor, suffered a season-ending knee injury in December.

But here they are in the 64-team NCAA field for a first-round game in Austin, Texas, in the Kansas City Region. Arizona State is the seventh seed; Nebraska is the 10th seed. The winner will advance to play Texas or Maine on Monday.

"If I'm going to be 100 percent honest, it's not really something that we felt like was probably ... we knew that's what we were building toward," Williams said of the NCAA bid when it was announced Monday.

"To expect that to happen that way this year, we probably wouldn't have said, 'Yeah, that's a guaranteed goal.' But I will tell you this team sets their sights high, and they know how hard they worked in the offseason.

"As we were progressing through the non-conference, then it started to become a more realistic goal for this group fairly early on in the season."

Nebraska is making its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance, its first since 2015. The Cornhuskers have won nine of their last 13 games, and three of the late losses came against teams ranked in the top 17 in the AP Top 25.

The Cornhuskers have three double-figure scorers, led by sophomore point guard Hannah Whitish, who averages 12.6 points and 4.8 assists. Forward Maddie Simon averages 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds, and 6-foot-5 freshman center Kate Cain averages 10.1 points and 7.1 rebounds.

"After the season we had last year, we were just working on being the best we could be, and whatever happened this year happened," Whitish told reporters. "But then some of the wins we got, and seeing all the 'W's in the book we had, I think it gave this team more confidence."

Williams was named the Big Ten coach of the year, and he is a semifinalist for national coach of the year.

Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne, a two-time Pac-12 coach of the year, led the Sun Devils to their fifth consecutive NCAA appearance and fifth straight 20-win season.

The Sun Devils have made the tournament in 18 of the last 19 seasons, including 13 under Turner Thorne. They have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in 10 of their last 11 appearances.

Six of their regular-season losses this season came against teams ranked in AP Top 25 and also in top 25 in the NCAA RPI.

"I'm so proud of what this team has accomplished," Turner Thorne said.

"To lose our most experienced player (Haines) and you would have told me we're going to be talking about March Madness and getting an even higher seed than we did last year with an incredible senior class, I don't know if I would have believed you. But this team is capable of great things, and they showed that in the Pac-12 tournament."

Arizona State upset No. 10 Oregon State 57-51 in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament on March 2 after two closes losses to the Beavers in conference play.

Like Nebraska, Arizona State is a balanced group. It has three players averaging double figures, led by 6-foot-1 forward Kianna Ibis at 12.4 points per game. Guard Robbi Ryan (10.0) and former UConn transfer forward Courtney Ekmark (10.0) follow.

Center Charnea Chapman-Johnson averages a team-high 6.5 rebounds for a team that has outrebounded its opponents by almost seven boards a game this season.

"When I was younger, I would come home from school and watch the first couple rounds, and that was a blast," said Ekmark, who was part of two national championship teams while playing 61 games at UConn from 2014 to 2016.

"Now that we get to play in it, it's going to be so much fun."