Fairleigh Dickinson coach calls for neutral NCAA sites following close call at Iowa
· Yahoo Sports
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Mid-majors in men’s basketball weren’t the only teams carrying the banner for plucky underdogs this weekend.
Fairleigh Dickinson (30-5) nearly became the first No. 15 seed to upset a No. 2 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament before falling just shy in a 58-48 loss to Iowa in a first-round game Saturday. The Knights rebounded from a pair of 15-point deficits in the first quarter, coming within 2 points inside the final five minutes before the Hawkeyes pulled away.
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In 127 games matching No. 2 and No. 15 seeds, the lower-seeded team has never won. To the players, there are no moral victories, but they left the overheated arena proud of their performance. FDU had won 22 consecutive games (and has won 40 in in a row in the Northeast Conference) before the loss Saturday. Iowa (27-6) finished second in the Big Ten, both in the regular season and during the tournament.
“I think first it puts a lot of respect on the NEC and mid-major schools,” guard Ava Renninger, a two-time All-NEC player, said. “They’re a top-10 team in the country, and we came in and showed what we’re made of and showed what mid-major schools can do against these high teams.’
“The respect that we brought to the NEC and that we brought to FDU and to show that on any given day anybody can beat anybody, I think that’s a huge step forward for women’s basketball in the East,” Fairleigh Dickinson coach Stephanie Gaitley said.
After upsetting Wisconsin in the NCAA men’s tournament Thursday, High Point coach Flynn Clayman railed against power-conference programs for not scheduling quality mid-major teams. Gaitley was more diplomatic, especially after losing three games to power-conference schools by decisive margins earlier in the season.
Gaitley instead brought up the idea of playing NCAA Tournament games at neutral sites, rather than in home-court environments.
“The one comment that (Iowa coach Jan Jensen) made to me on the way out, she said, ‘This is why we got to get off the home courts. We got to go neutral,'” Gaitley said. “That’s a pretty big statement to say when you’re the team that earned that home court.
“I think the women’s game has grown enough that we can start to pursue doing that. This is a game that maybe we steal if it’s not on the home court.”
In 2023, Fairleigh Dickinson became only the second No. 16 seed in men’s tournament history to upset a No. 1, when it took down Purdue. That game took place in Columbus, Ohio, about 230 miles east of West Lafayette, Ind. Had the Boilermakers hosted that game at raucous Mackey Arena, the home environment might have swallowed the visitor.
“On a neutral court, you have a much better chance,” Gaitley said. “Look at our men’s team against Purdue. It was a neutral court, and the David knocked off the Goliath there. I think we’re at the point in the game now, something like that needs to change.”
According to the Nielsen ratings, Iowa is the nation’s most popular women’s basketball team based on viewership and social media. The Hawkeyes have sold out 51 consecutive women’s basketball games, and during several key junctures, the deafening roars soared beyond 116 decibels. It’s a decisive home-court advantage.
Yet Fairleigh Dickinson wasn’t intimidated. The Knights drilled 10 3-pointers and, on defense, prevented Iowa’s guards from reversing the ball to open shooters. Iowa hit only 1 of 13 3-point attempts, and much of that was because of Fairleigh Dickinson’s aggressiveness along the perimeter.
“We were here last year playing TCU (in the first round), but it’s definitely a different atmosphere here at Iowa,” Renninger said. “You could feel the crowd for sure. It was an amazing experience, and I’m just really proud of how this team handled it. We weren’t scared and we didn’t back down through four quarters.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Iowa Hawkeyes, Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, Women's College Basketball, March Madness
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