How about Nebraska's reward for earning the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 1998? Now the Cornhuskers get to face top-seeded and No. 5-ranked Maryland on its home floor.
Such is life for a No. 8 seed in women's college basketball's version of March Madness. Nebraska coach Connie Yori said there's no getting around the challenge that lies ahead.
"There is a reason why Maryland is a No. 1 seed," Yori said. "They are a great basketball team, they're experienced, talented and an exceptional offensive team. I think an interesting stat is when you shoot better from the 3-point line than your opponents shoot from the field I think that says something about how good you are offensively.
"They're very underrated on defense as well."
Nebraska (21-11) will take on the Terrapins (31-3) at approximately 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Comcast Center at College Park, Md. ESPN2 will televise the contest live.
Although Yori was gushing about Maryland on Monday, she doesn't expect the Huskers to shy away from competition. The sixth-year Nebraska coach points out that her team finished sixth in the Big 12 Conference, widely regarded as the best league in the country.
Far and away the country's top conference in terms of RPI rankings, the Big 12 was 8-0 in first-round NCAA Tournament games. That included Nebraska's 61-58 victory over Xavier Sunday.
"We've played against good competition all year," Yori said. "Maryland's a great basketball team. We've seen great basketball teams throughout the year. It will be a great challenge for us, but at the same time, we expect to compete."
Nebraska senior forward Danielle Page said playing in the Big 12 was excellent preparation for what the Huskers will face against one of the Atlantic Coast Conference's top teams in Maryland.
"It's so intense, physically, in the post and rebounding," Page said of Big 12 play.
"Playing against talented teams night in and night out really prepares you for the postseason because you're not going to get an easy game in the NCAA Tournament."
Nebraska junior forward Kelsey Griffin said the Big 12 schedule should also prepare the Huskers for the road atmosphere they're going to encounter. Maryland is 20-0 at home this season.
"One of the other great things about the Big 12 that prepares us is they have really good turnouts, playing at Baylor and Oklahoma," Griffin said. "They bring in a really big fan base. I'm expecting a similar situation Tuesday night.
"We stayed and watched a little bit of the game after ours (Sunday) and their fans were really into the game. It's almost like a sixth man for them, which is great for women's basketball. We're expecting it, but it isn't like we haven't seen it before."
Maryland coach Brenda Frese said she anticipates another challenging game Tuesday with Nebraska playing loose and going for broke. The Terrapins struggled before pulling away for an 80-66 victory over No. 16 seed Coppin State Sunday.
"I think we faced that (Sunday) night with Coppin State because they had nothing to lose coming into the game," said Frese, whose team won the 2006 national title. "I think from our end, we've faced that for two years in getting every team's best game. We fully expect that from a very talented Nebraska team."
For Nebraska, perhaps the most difficult tasks will be defending a Maryland team that features a prolific and balanced scoring attack. All-American and ACC player of the year Crystal Langhorne, a 6-foot-2 forward, leads the Terrapins at 17 points per game.
However, guard Kristi Toliver (16.7 points per game), forward Marissa Coleman (15.9) and center Laura Harper (14.5) are also very capable of scoring. Maryland shoots 49.5 percent from the field as a team, including 38.5 percent from 3-point range.
"They are a great 3-point shooting team, so it's a classic case of pick your poison," Yori said. "We're not going to give you our game plan, but there will be occasions when we will play them straight up and there will be occasions when we do some other things."
Game notes
& Maryland's three losses have come to NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 2 seed Rutgers and No. 3 seed Duke. The Terrapins have outscored their opponents by an average of 18 points per game (82.1-64.1).
& Griffin's 26 points against Xavier equaled the second-highest point total by a Husker in NCAA Tournament play, sharing the mark with Nafeesah Brown's 26 points in NU's first NCAA Tournament win back in 1993 over San Diego. Nicole Kubik tops the list, scoring 32 points in 1999 during a loss to Kentucky.
& Nebraska's previous NCAA Tournament win was a 1998 victory over New Mexico in Norfolk, Va. Maryland has reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament five straight years.
Starting Lineups
Nebraska (21-11) Ht. Yr. Ppg. Rpg.
F Kelsey Griffin 6-2 Jr. 15.5 7.2
F Danielle Page 6-2 Sr. 12.2 6.6
G Yvonne Turner 5-8 So. 7.9 3.3
G Dominique Kelley 5-7 Fr. 6.4 2.9
G Tay Hester 5-10 Jr. 6.6 4.1
Maryland (31-3) Ht. Yr. Ppg. Rpg.
F Crystal Langhorne 6-2 Sr. 17.0 9.3
F Marissa Coleman 6-1 Jr. 15.9 7.7
C Laura Harper 6-4 Sr. 14.5 8.6
G Marah Strickland 6-0 Fr. 8.5 3.2
G Kristi Toliver 5-7 Jr. 16.7 3.3
WHEN: Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. (approx.)
WHERE: Comcast Center College Park, Md.
TV: ESPN2, ESPNU
RADIO: KRGI (1430 AM)
WEB: Huskers.com, ESPN360.com
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