In past seasons, North Carolina was a lock to make the NCAA Women's Tournament.
This season was different.
The Tar Heels sweated out an at-large bid after an uncharacteristic seventh-place finish in the ACC before sliding in as the No. 10 seed in the Sacramento Regional. They will open at 10:30 Saturday night in Seattle, against No. 7 seed Gonzaga.
The Tar Heels (19-11) will make their 22nd appearance. They're one of six ACC teams in the field, the eighth straight year that the conference has had at least that many.
UNC, a Final Four team in 2006 and 2007, won its first-round game last season, defeating Central Florida 85-80, then lost 85-70 to Purdue in the second round.
Coach Sylvia Hatchell, a 34-year veteran (24 seasons at UNC) with a career record of 831-292, said that just receiving an invitation this season is a big deal.
"We are certainly very excited to be back in the NCAA Tournament and to be one of the 64 teams with a chance to play for a title," Hatchell said. "Obviously we have struggled at times this season, but I think our best basketball is still ahead of us, and we look forward to facing a very good Gonzaga team."
The Tar Heels finished 6-8 in the ACC, tied Boston College for seventh place and spent much of the season in The Associated Press Top 25 before a late-season slide. They tuned up for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, with an 88-66 win over N.C. Central.
One of UNC's highlights late in the season was a 64-54 home win over Duke. UNC lost to Maryland 83-77 in the ACC Tournament and will start the postseason with eight losses in its last 11 games.
"We're in a little different situation than we are used to being in, but I think our team will step up to the challenge of being an underdog," Hatchell said. "Coming out of the ACC, we're used to having to battle game in and game out, and I think that has prepared us well for a tournament atmosphere."
The strength of this team is its guards, Italee Lucas and Cetera DeGraffenreid. They're both juniors who average 14 points each, shoot 40 percent from the field and were voted All-ACC.
DeGraffenreid said that the Tar Heels were happy to be invited.
"It was pretty nerve-racking not knowing if we were in or not," she said. "I know my heart was pounding pretty hard, so it was awesome to see that we made it. Seeing some of the teams that we beat getting high seeds gives us a lot of confidence going in to the tournament, so we're excited to keep playing."
The Tar Heels faced eight schools in the field, going 5-6 with wins against Duke, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, St. John's and East Tennessee State. The Tar Heels lost to top-seeded and unbeaten Connecticut 88-47 on Jan. 9 and have gone 6-9 since then.
jdell@wsjournal.com
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