As champion of the Big West Conference women’s basketball tournament last week, the won a trip to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row — and this time they get to go.
AT A GLANCE
- WHAT: ºÙºÙÊÓƵ vs Missouri State in Round 1 of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
- WHEN: 4:30 p.m. PDT Monday (March 22)
- WHERE: Bill Greehey Arena, San Antonio
- TV: ESPNU
- RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM
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The pandemic prompted the NCAA to cancel last year’s tournament. This year, all 64 teams will be in one general area — San Antonio — for the entire tournament, in a bubble environment, instead of the typical set-up that would see the teams spread out all over the country and traveling long distances between venues as the tournament progressed.
Monday afternoon (March 15), the Aggies gathered on their home court in The Pavilion to watch as ESPN announced the tournament’s seeding and first-round schedule. The sports network showed the Aggies and other teams reacting when they heard their names called.
The Aggies (13-2) jumped and cheered at the news they had received a 12th seed in the tournament’s 16-team Alamo Region. They will play No. 5-seed Missouri State (21-2) at 4:30 p.m. Monday (March 22),
Stanford, the No. 1 seed in the Alamo Region, has defeated ºÙºÙÊÓƵ in the Aggies’ two previous appearances in the NCAA’s Division I tournament. ºÙºÙÊÓƵ and Stanford could meet in the third round of this year’s tournament.
Big West tournament
The Aggies have won the Big West Conference regular season the last five years. But it’s the conference tournament that determines who gets the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAAs.
The Aggies won the 2021 tournament with wins over Cal State Fullerton, 61-54; Hawaii, 64-52; and, finally, UC Irvine, 61-42, Saturday.
The Aggie men’s team won its first game in the conference tournament, 58-56, over Cal State Bakersfield, before losing to the eventual tournament winner, UC Santa Barbara, 71-55, in the semifinals.
Aggie football
The has its home opener this Saturday (March 20) in the delayed Big Sky Conference season. ºÙºÙÊÓƵ (1-1) and Cal Poly (0-1) are set for kickoff at 1 p.m. No fans allowed in ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Health Stadium — but you can watch on Sacramento television CW31 or listen on KHTK 1140 AM.
ºÙºÙÊÓƵ and Cal Poly are scheduled to meet twice in the shortened season; the first game has been designated the teams' traditional Battle for the Golden Horseshoe.
The Aggies are coming off a loss last Saturday at Weber State, 18-13, after an upset win over No. 2 Idaho, 27-17, in the season opener. The Cal Poly Mustangs have played only one game so far, losing last week to Southern Utah, 34-24.
The Aggies are scheduled to play three in a row at ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Health Stadium — March 20 and 27, and April 5 — and that will be it for home games.
Here’s the remaining schedule, home and away:
The ºÙºÙÊÓƵ schedule as of Feb. 18 (all games on Saturdays, all at 1 p.m. PDT):
- March 20 — vs. Cal Poly, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Health Stadium (Battle for the Golden Horseshoe)
- March 27 — vs. Idaho State, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Health Stadium
- April 3 — vs. Eastern Washington, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Health Stadium
- April 10 — at Cal Poly