Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Sports

Some would say they got the raw end of the deal. Still others would say they got shafted. I would say the U women's basketball team got dragged up and down a metal stairwell, slapped in the face multiple times and publicly stoned.

An eight seed. A first-round matchup with Purdue on the Boilermakers' home court. A possible second-round meeting with women's college basketball juggernaut and No. 1 seed Tennessee if they win.

That was the Utes' reward for going undefeated throughout conference play -- a feat only accomplished by one other team in Mountain West Conference history.

That was the Utes' reward for losing just three games throughout the regular season, and losing those games in overtime to tournament shoe-ins Stanford and Marist, as well as a solid USC team.

For those of you who don't follow women's college basketball, this is roughly the equivalent of the Memphis men's basketball team going 27-3 through its regular season and then getting stuck with a No. 8 seed. Both teams are from mid-major conferences. Both teams played solid non-conference schedules. But we all know Memphis wouldn't have gotten screwed over with an eight seed.

Of course, the difference in that hypothetical comparison would be the Utes' embarrassing defeat suffered at the hands of Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

That loss definitely should have dropped the Utes' seeding. But to a No. 8 seed? What the hell is the NCAA Women's Tournament Selection Committee smoking?

With an RPI of under 20 (that's pretty good for those who don't know), Utah was slated as high as a No. 3 seed by the likes of ESPN and CBS Sportsline at various points late in the season.

Then came the loss to Colorado State.

One would expect that kind of defeat to be extremely detrimental to a team's national ranking.

Not so in Utah's case. Before the loss, the Utes was ranked No. 18 nationally. After the loss, Utah was ranked...No. 18.

It's like nobody is even paying attention to what's happening in Mountain West Conference play.

By using simple mathematics, we can deduce that Utah should have been around a five seed in the NCAA tournament. I'll even give the selection committee the benefit of the doubt because the Utes are from the MWC and say they deserved a No. 6 seed after the loss to the Rams.

If that happens, Utah at least gets a patsy first-round opponent before playing a solid No. 3 in the second round. Instead, the Utes draw arguably the toughest No. 9 seed in the tournament in Purdue, and they get the unenviable task of playing the Boilermakers on their home court.

Continued...

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