Selection Monday arrived and delivered the DePaul women’s basketball team something they have received for the past 10 years.
The Blue Demons were selected to their 10th-consecutive NCAA tournament Monday evening when the brackets were unveiled. As the seven-seed, they will play the 10th-seed Brigham Young Cougars Saturday at 5:30 p.m. central time at Allstate Arena.
There were a few moments of anxiety in the part of McGrath-Phillips Arena that was sectioned off for the celebration. The Chicago portion in the Des Moines region of the bracket was the last to be revealed by the selection show on ESPN. Just a few minutes before DePaul’s name showed up on the screen, the television signal even went out for a few seconds, heightening the tension.
“We were all looking around like, ‘We’re in, right?’ My hands were shaking a little bit,” junior and unanimous all-conference guard Anna Martin said about waiting to see DePaul’s matchup. “But we were confident that we were in. Just to see your name, we were ecstatic.”
Making the Big Dance was no small feat this season for the Blue Demons, who have been without five players, including preseason All-American Keisha Hampton, for most of the season.
They have played with eight active players and seven in the regular rotation, leading head coach Doug Bruno to nickname them the “Magnificent Seven.” Bruno asked the band leader of the