BYU Women’s Basketball Earns At-Large Bid To NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 2022, 6:39 PM | Updated: 9:40 pm
BYU women's basketball guard Shaylee Gonzales drives to the basket against LMU Lions on February 17, 2022. (Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
(Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s basketball was one of the best teams out west this season finishing with a 26-3 record.
.@byuwbb will face Villanova in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 👏 🤙 #BYU received a 6-seed.#BYUWBB #GoCougs #NCAAW pic.twitter.com/JUg3mrRZgR
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 14, 2022
As a reward, they received an at-large bid to the 2022 Women’s NCAA Tournament. The Cougars received a 6-seed in the Wichita Regional.
BYU will face 11-seed Villanova in Ann Arbor, Michigan at Chrisler Arena. The host team is 3-seed Michigan who will take on 14-seed American in the round of 64.
Jeff Judkins’ squad was gathered at the Marriott Center as a team to watch the first-ever selection show on a Sunday, that featured 68 teams.
During the reveal of the bracket, there were spots where BYU was tense. Most notably when UConn was shown as a 2-seed in the Bridgeport regional, there were some tense nerves if the Cougars were going to fall in the 7/10 game.
🗣 @byuwbb star Paisley Harding (@paisleynikelle) is embracing the underdog role going into @MarchMadnessWBB. 💪 😤 🏀 #BYU #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/TCANRECngk
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 14, 2022
Then when Tennessee was shown a four-seed in the Knoxville regional, there was more excitement at the thought of possibly earning a five-seed to take on the Vols. Instead Oregon from the Pac-12 received the five-seed. Thus, sending BYU to a six-seed against Villanova from the Big East Conference.
Villanova finished the 2021-22 season with a record of 23-8 and a second-place finish in the Big East Conference.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
