Clemson women earn first NCAAs bid since 2002 |
| - Monday, March 18, 2019, 4:31 PM |
The Clemson women's basketball team's long-awaited NCAA Tournament return was cut short by a few hours on Monday.
In an announcement moved up by two hours, Clemson officially picked up its expected first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002 in 1-seed Mississippi State's regional pod, meeting 8-seed South Dakota on Friday (7 p.m./ESPN2). The teams that advance to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 will play in Portland, Oregon and the Final Four will be in Tampa, Florida. A graphics snafu by ESPN looked to reveal that same pairing this afternoon ahead of a scheduled 7 p.m. announcement on one of its networks. ESPN and the NCAA then confirmed that mistake and moved up the reveal. The Tigers made marked improvement under first-year and ACC coach of the year Amanda Butler, going 19-12 overall and 9-7 in ACC play after finishing 1-15 in the conference last season. South Dakota went 28-5 and was ranked by the Coaches Poll before falling in its conference tournament last week. Host Mississippi State (30-2) is ranked No. 4 nationally going into the tournament. They play 16-seed Southern (20-12) on Friday.
Congratulations to @ClemsonWBB on being selected for the NCAA Tournament! I am proud of what this team has accomplished this year! #GoTigers
— Jim Clements (@ClemsonPrez) March 18, 2019
ESPN Statement Regarding the NCAA Women’s Tournament Bracket https://t.co/NpWbMoDCV2 pic.twitter.com/zffGXI6BTx
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 18, 2019
