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After her playing career, and long stint as an assistant coach at UConn, Shea Ralph moved on to build her own program at Vanderbilt. How well she has done with that opportunity is evident in the Commodores’ 27-4 record, and Ralph’s growing collection of coach-of-the-year awards.
When the NCAA put Vanderbilt in the same region as UConn, it created the possibility of an interesting storyline in the Elite 8, but while March Madness is big business and usually a great show, Geno Auriemma doesn’t think it should necessarily be show business.
“Is Vanderbilt, because they’re playing us, and we’re No.1 overall, that means they’re eighth,” Auriemma told the audience at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Monday in Rocky Hill, an annual pre-tournament appearance. “If it’s done the right way. So if they are legit No. 8 in the country, we should be playing them. If it’s, ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool, put Shea out there with Geno?,’ well that’s not cool. If it’s, we can’t put them in another region because there would be another SEC team in that region, that’s not very cool. You can do that. If they’re legit No. 8, then this is where they belong. I’m not crazy about it, to be honest with you, but if it is done for the right reason, then it is what it is.”
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Auriemma, who has expressed great pride in what Ralph has been doing, argues that Vanderbilt was under-seeded in the tournament, and should be seventh overall. As the No. 1 overall seed in the Fort Worth 1 Regional, UConn would draw, if metrics were followed closely, the No. 8 overall seed as the No. 2 seed in its bracket. The NCAA NET Rankings and wins-above-bubble (WAB) metrics, have Vanderbilt at No. 7, Duke No. 8. UCLA, No. 2 overall, is the top seed in its Sacramento 2 bracket, with LSU on the two line there.
The conflicting emotions of facing Ralph in a regional final is not what concerns Auriemma. He heard it mentioned on TV that a Ralph-vs.-Auriemma matchup would be a “great storyline,” and it rubbed him the wrong way.
“The rule is, you can’t play (a conference rival) in the final eight,” Auriemma said after his speech. “I’m not worked up about playing Shea, it’s just that sometimes these things are done — I heard somebody on TV, ‘oh, what a great storyline this is.’ If we get to that point, is it because it’s a great storyline, or are they legit eighth? They deserve to be where they deserve to be, and not for any other reason than they deserve to be there.”
Ralph has been named the SEC Coach of the Year, and National Coach of the Year by ESPN and The Athletic. The Commodores lost three late-season games, to Georgia and Mississippi in the regular season, and Ole Miss a second time in the conference tournament, that hurt their seeding value.
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UConn (34-0) begins the tournament at home against UT-San Antonio, then faces either Iowa State or Syracuse in the second round. If they advance to the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Maryland, Murray State, North Carolina or Western Illinois are possible opponents. On the other side of the bracket, Vanderbilt would have to get by teams like Notre Dame, Fairfield, Illinois, Ohio State or Illinois.
Splitting up conference rivals for the early rounds sometimes prompts the tournament committee to juggle the seedings. The SEC has 10 teams in the field of 68, including top seeds Texas and South Carolina, and No 2’s Vanderbilt and LSU. Another priority is to have rematches of out-of-conference regular season games, so they kept Michigan, a No. 2 seed, out of UConn’s bracket, since they played in November.
Ralph, with her UConn ties and successful run of head coaching experience at Vanderbilt is often mentioned as a potential successor when Auriemma, who turns 72 this month, retires. UConn and Vanderbilt have signed on to play a home-and-home series between in the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.
“I hope we get to play Vanderbilt,” Auriemma said, “because a lot has to happen before then. We play them, it means we’re in the final eight, and they’re in the final eight. So I hope we get a chance to play them.”
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