May 13, 2012 NCAA Bracket SEATTLE -The Huskies didn't have to wait long to find out they their NCAA Tournament fate Sunday night. The NCAA Selection Show announced the UW as the No. 16 overall seed for the 2012 Championships. The Huskies will host the NCAA Regional for the third-straight season, hosting Harvard, Texas Tech and Maryland. "We are proud to be hosting," said head coach Heather Tarr after the team watched the show together at the field. "Our body of work proved we were worthy of hosting. We are expecting great weather and excited that our fans get to watch us play at home in the postseason." The first game featuring Texas Tech and Maryland will be played Friday at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Harvard and Washington game at approximately 6 p.m. Game times for Saturday are 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. and the championship game Sunday is at 1 p.m. with the "if necessary" game to follow. The UW has never played Harvard, met Maryland once in 2001 on a neutral site, winning 10-5, and holds a 6-1 advantage over Texas Tech. The UW last met Texas Tech twice in 2008 in the preseason and splitting the two games. The Huskies were ranked No. 18 in both national polls last week and 17 entering this week in the RPI. The UW was as high as No. 3 in the country in the polls after starting the season 32-1. In 2012 regular season, the Huskies ended with a 36-17 record and earned an at-large berth into the tournament along with Maryland and Texas Tech. Harvard received the automatic bid from the Ivy League. This is the 19th-straight postseason appearance for the UW. The Huskies are 80-36 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Since UW started the program in 1993, the Huskies have won 13 Regionals and have been to the Women's College World Series 10 times; tied for fourth in all-time WCWS Appearances. Coach Tarr has an impressive 37-16 postseason record. The Crimson earned its way into the NCAA tournament thanks to a sweep of Penn Friday in the Ivy League Championship Series. At 33-13, Harvard is making its second-straight NCAA appearance. Texas Tech wrapped up the regular season 40-15 overall and 13-10 in Big 12 play, marking the program's first winning conference record since the 2001 season. It is also the second-straight year where Tech has reached the 40-win mark. This marks Maryland's third-straight NCAA Regionals appearance (2010, 2011, 2012) for the first time in school history, and all are under seventh-year head coach Laura Watten. Prior to 2010, the Terrapins' only Regionals appearance was in 1999. Maryland, out of the ACC, finished the regular season with a 34-20 overall record and won 14 out of its last 16. Pac-12 schools have been dominant in the tournament. In the last six consecutive years, a Pac-12 school was crowned national champions. Since the inaugural NCAA tournament season in 1982, the Pac-12 has sent a team to the final series 28 of 30 years with a combined 23 national championship titles (UCLA-11, Arizona-8, Arizona State-2, Washington-1, Cal-1). The only other teams that have won the title came from the Big 10 (Michigan), the Big 12 (Oklahoma, Texas A&M), the WAC (Fresno State), and the Big West Conference (Cal State Fullerton). The Seattle Regional is paired with the Berkeley Regional and the winners of each of those regionals will play in the Super Regionals. Cal is the No. 1 overall seed and hosting Iona, Boston U and Arkansas. Tickets for the Seattle Regional go on sale Monday and fans can purchase tickets by visiting gohuskies.com or calling the UW Ticket Office. All session tickets range from $12-$36 and single session from $5-$14. All games of the Seattle Regional will be streamed live on www.gohuskies.com for free. Live stats for all games will also be available. Mike Brown will be calling the UW games live for free via all-access. |
