It’s that time of year when Division I college basketball heads into what Columbia University coach Megan Griffith calls a new season. It’s win or go home as the top teams take on postseason action. For the Columbia Lions it involves a return to the First Four — the initial games of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament — with the winners advancing to the round of 64. Columbia faces Washington tonight at 7 p.m. with the action being shown on ESPN2, the largest viewing audience for a Lions game.
“We play one of the most fun and unique styles of basketball,” said Griffith. “We share the ball at a really high rate. Our players play with a tremendous amount of love and joy for the game. I’m excited to put that on national display.”
No other New York City teams will be part of the postseason, but play continues for several teams from New Jersey. Fairleigh Dickinson, which won the Northeast Conference Tournament, advances to its first ever Big Dance. Princeton joins Columbia and Harvard, winner of the Ivy League Tournament, in the NCAA Tournament, the first time in conference history three teams have made the cut.
Related: Columbia women’s basketball continues to make history.
“It’s pretty remarkable what our league has been able to do in a short span of time,” said Griffith. “The first two-bid that we ever got was in 2016 … We get to coach four-year players. That’s a large reason why the league has seen so much success. These players are growing with the league. I know we’re ready to make some noise in the tournament.”
The overall top seed in the Tournament is UCLA as well as the top seed in Regional 1. The other number one seeds are Regional 2 University of South Carolina, Regional 3 University of Texas and Regional 4 University of Southern California.
Also, shout out to the two HBCU schools heading to the Big Dance. Southern won the SWAC tournament and will face UC San Diego in the First Four. Norfolk State is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and has its highest-ever seed, #13 in Regional 2, taking on Maryland.
Two other New Jersey teams play on with Seton Hall heading to the WBIT, hosting Quinnipiac tonight. Rutgers is scheduled to play in the WNIT. Two HBCUs, Coppin State and Howard will also take part in the WNIT.