SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥� There’s a familiarity among the four teams playing in Sacramento Regional 2 as UCLA and Minnesota are Big Ten opponents while LSU and Duke faced off in December in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting thing. You鈥檝e got a couple matchups that way,” UCLA coach Cori Close of the rematches. 鈥淏ut I think if you鈥檙e really good at scouting, which I鈥檓 very thankful that I have a staff that is, I think we鈥檙e doing a deep dive and trying to leave no stone unturned.鈥�
UCLA beat Minnesota in the first meeting back on Jan. 14. LSU topped a month earlier. All four teams have developed since those matchups from earlier in the season.
鈥淲e鈥檙e both a lot different than we were the first time, and that鈥檚 normal,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. 鈥淚 mean, we鈥檙e coming off a similar situation where we played Baylor in the second round and we played them the first game of the season, and then we鈥檙e playing them again in the tournament. … They鈥檙e one of the top teams in the country. Have some of the top players in the country. It鈥檚 a challenge to play against them.鈥�
Duke won 23 of its 25 games after that loss to LSU, which had the Blue Devils 3-6 on the season. LSU has been nearly unstoppable on offense, scoring more than 100 points in an NCAA-record 16 games this season.
鈥淭hey are better today then they were in that game,’ LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. 鈥漌e looked at (the film) and looked at things they did well and things we did well and what we didn鈥檛 do well. … They are so much better today then they were then. I think we are too.”
While the other three teams all reached the Sweet 16 the past few seasons, getting this far is new for Minnesota, which last reached the regional semifinals in 2005. The Gophers credit a run to the WBIT championship last year as helping prepare them for this year.
鈥淚 think it just gives you more experience in a tournament-type atmosphere, kind of having that win-or-go home feel. And I think that was a big step for us,鈥� said Gophers player Grace Grocholski. 鈥淥bviously our goal was to make it to March Madness last year. We didn鈥檛 reach that. So we went into the WBIT saying we鈥檙e here, we鈥檙e going to win this thing. So it was a great way to just learn how it feels like to be in the tournament.鈥�
Cheering from afar
Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit will have her eyes on the Division II Final Four Thursday night as her daughter Lexi plays for Grand Valley State, which is facing University of Alabama Huntsville.
Coach Plitzuweit had her first head coaching job at Grand Valley State from 2002-07. She was pregnant with Lexi in her first year at the school.
鈥淓ighteen years later she decided to go back to Grand Valley and play for a dear friend in Mike Williams, who was just named national coach of the year,鈥� Plitzuweit said.
Plitzuweit said she went to Pittsburgh the other day to see her daughter then came back to Minnesota for practice and then came to Sacramento.
鈥淚鈥檒l have a chance to watch her today so I packed my Grand Valley clothes to sit in my room by myself and not be around anyone else and be a mom and watch the game,” Plitzuweit said. “I鈥檓 really excited about that.鈥�
Back in Sacramento
Kara Lawson has fond memories of her time in Sacramento while playing for the Monarchs, who drafted her with the fifth pick in 2003. She helped the franchise win a championship two years later.
鈥淪pent many years here playing and winning a championship here,鈥� Lawson said. 鈥淎 chance to see a lot of old friends and visit with them. It鈥檚 a special city. One of the great basketball towns we have in the country. How much they love the game. … I think the banner is here in the arena bowl.鈥�
She might have played her whole career in the California city had the team not folded after the 2009 season.
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