Two left feet

Boston College not dancing after snub by NCAA

BOSTON (AP) -- Two Big East schools are coming to Boston for the NCAA tournament. Boston College won't be in the 64-team field at all.

BC, the regular-season champion of the Big East's East Division, did not receive an invitation from the selection committee on Sunday as the conference was unexpectedly limited to four teams. The only Massachusetts team to make the men's field was Holy Cross, which was given a 14th seed and a trip to Indianapolis to play Marquette.

"We've been there before," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard, whose team has won the Patriot League in three of the last four years and lost in the first round both of the other times. "We have a hunger there, and a drive to get over the hump."

The state put four teams in the women's field: Boston College, Holy Cross, Harvard and Boston University.

The first-round games at the FleetCenter feature Pittsburgh, the Big East champion and a No. 2 seed, against No. 15 Wagner, and third-seeded Syracuse will play No. 14 Manhattan. The other games here match Ivy League winner Penn, an 11th seed, against No. 6 seed Oklahoma State, and No. 7 seed Indiana against No. 10 Alabama.

"I kept seeing teams on the board that I thought we were ahead of," BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said after watching the men's field announced on television. "I kept seeing them come up and up and up. At that point, I didn't have a great feeling."

BC suffered a setback when forward Uka Agbai broke a bone in his neck in November. By the time the Eagles adjusted, they were 1-4 in the conference with an embarrassing loss to Northeastern.

The Eagles managed to win nine of their last 11 games to finish the regular season atop the division. But they lost by 37 to Connecticut in the finale, and then scored just 48 points in a conference tournament semifinal loss to Pittsburgh -- performances that probably hurt them in the selection committee discussions.

"Northeastern was pretty bad," said senior guard Troy Bell, the conference player of the year. "But I thought we did enough to get there."

As the brackets were being announced on television, the BC players grew more nervous.

"Everyone felt a little bit uncomfortable," coach Al Skinner said. "But we didn't think, until they announced the last game, that we wouldn't be up there."

All four of the state's women's teams will play at their opponent's home court. BC, a No. 5 seed, will play at No. 12 Old Dominion, and No. 13 Holy Cross will play at No. 4 seed Penn State.

"We knew that would be a possibility, but we were willing to play anybody, anywhere," Boston College coach Cathy Inglese said when asked whether it was fair to play a road game as a higher seed. "We're comfortable with where we are."

Harvard will play at Kansas State as a 14th seed against a third, and Boston University was given a date with defending champion Connecticut as a 16th seed against a No. 1.

"We know some of the girls at BU," Boston College's Becky Gottstein said, "and we wish them the best of luck."

 

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