The women's basketball team may have received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on Monday, but the selection committee was none too kind when setting up Tufts' draw.
When March Madness tips off for the nationally ranked No. 16 Jumbos tonight in Bethlehem, Pa., they'll have to contend with a Moravian squad that, though unranked, represents a formidable foe, particularly with home court advantage. Though the Greyhounds struggled at times on the road, posting a 7-5 mark away from Johnston Hall, they were an unblemished 14-0 at home.
One of three teams to receive a Pool B at-large bid to this year's tournament, Moravian also has a decorated history with six prior appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including one in 1992 that culminated in a trip to the championship game and two others that ended in trips to the Sweet Sixteen. In addition, despite playing the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation, the Greyhounds averaged a robust 73.1 points per game.
"Now it's the best teams in the country that are left," coach Carla Berube said. "Moravian is a very good team with some history involved with their program. They've been very successful, and it's on their home court, where they haven't lost a game this season. I don't think we're going to look past [them]. I think we'll be up for it and be ready to play our best basketball."
As the highest-ranked team of the four schools that will play first-round games at Moravian -- TCNJ and national No. 19 DeSales will meet in the other matchup, slated for 5 p.m. -- Tufts would normally have a case to host this weekend's action. But Cousens Gym is eight feet short of NCAA regulation standards, forcing the Jumbos to make a roughly 315-mile trek to eastern Pennsylvania in the hopes of handing the Greyhounds their first home loss.
"It is a little disappointing that we can't host an NCAA game just because of our court size, but I think the team is really looking forward to travelling as a group and going to a different place," senior co-captain Kim Moynihan said. "I'm excited that we have been shipped out to a different region; it's nice to play against different teams and kind of change things up."
At the very least, the Jumbos will head into tonight's 7 p.m. matchup with plenty of motivation. Tufts is coming off a painful 49-46 loss to bitter rival Amherst in Saturday's NESCAC semifinals, the Jumbos' fourth consecutive single-digit loss to the Lord Jeffs in the last two years.
Last season, the Jumbos went into the NCAA Tournament on a similar note, falling to Amherst in a closely contested NESCAC Championship game. But the team went on to put the disappointment of that setback behind it, following a historic run to the Elite Eight in the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Along the way, the Jumbos rolled past Wheaton, Mount St. Mary and the preseason No. 1 team in the country, Mary Washington, before falling to eventual runner-up Messiah.
With the sting of another NESCAC Tournament letdown in the rearview mirror, Tufts now has its sights set on replicating last year's run.
"Of course, the NESCAC Championship was something that we had been looking forward to, but that didn't turn out the way we wanted," Berube said. "So we've moved on from that, and this is what is next. It's great to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large [team]; that just means you've had a very successful season, and we should be proud of that and be excited to be back into the tournament. We did pretty well last year and hope to be as successful or more successful. It's one and done, so it's an exciting time of the year."
One statistic that bears watching in tonight's contest is the free-throw disparity. In Tufts' four losses this season, opponents have made more free throws (77) than the Jumbos have attempted (63). Staying out of foul trouble will be imperative for Tufts to avoid a first-round upset, as Moravian is the nation's best free throw-shooting team, shooting at an 80.2 percent clip from the line this season.
"We're going to have to play smart," Berube said. "They're a very good free-throw shooting team. We can't have any dumb fouls. We've got to just play smart, composed [and] contained defensively and attack them ... I think the pain of the NESCACs has subsided and we're ready to go. It's exciting to be in the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully we'll represent Tufts in a great way."
