Ohio State gets No. 2 seed in women’s NCAA Tournament

The winner of that game will play No. 7 seed Duke or No. 10 Richmond.

McGuff told reporters after the announcement his team is happy to have an opponent to focus on more than a week after getting knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament early by Maryland on March 8.

“I think we learned from that tough loss and also kind of moved past it and tried to focus just on ourselves and getting better,” McGuff said.

Ohio State (25-5) will play in the women’s NCAA Tournament for the 28th time overall and eighth during McGuff’s tenure, although appearances in 2017 and ‘18 were vacated because of NCAA sanctions against an assistant coach.

Last year, the Buckeyes advanced to the Elite Eight for the fourth time but first in 30 years.

Ohio State also hosted NCAA Tournament games in 1984, ‘86, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90, ‘93, 2004, ‘09, ‘11, ‘16, 18 and ‘23.

Last season the third-seeded Buckeyes topped James Madison in the first round and beat North Carolina in round two before knocking out Connecticut in the Sweet 16 and losing to Virginia Tech in a regional final.

Ohio State has not lost a first-round tournament game under McGuff, who has taken the Buckeyes to the Sweet 16 four times.

For the second year in a row, there are only two regional sites for the four regions — Portland, Ore., and Albany, N.Y., — and the Buckeyes would be headed west this year if they win their first two games.

There they could run into No. 1 seed USC (or No. 8 Michigan) in the regional final, and a rematch with Connecticut is possible in the round before that. The Huskies are a three seed and also set to open the tournament at home this weekend.

This year the Final Four will be held in Cleveland.

Maine (24-9) won the America East regular season and conference titles. The Black Bears are in the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time and last made it in 2019.

They are led by Anne Simon, a 5-foot-9 senior guard from Luxembourg who is the two-tie America East Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

She averages 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game and has 277 career steals.

“I don’t know a ton about them, but I know they’re a program that’s used to winning,” McGuff said. “They’ve had a great season, look at their record. At this time of the year you’ve gotta play somebody good.”

Maine coach Amy Vachon was named the America East Coach of the Year for the fifth time and is a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

She was a two-time captain for the Black Bears and part of the only Maine team to win an NCAA Tournament game when they upset Stanford in the first round in 1999.

As for Duke, guards Reigan Richardson and Oluchi Okananwa lead coach Kara Lawson’s Blue Devils, who are 20-11 and finished in the middle of the pack in the ACC.

Richardson averages 11.5 points per game and made the All-ACC second team while Okananwa averages 9.8 points per game and was named the conference’s sixth player of the year.

Richmond (29-5) won the Atlantic 10 regular season and conference tournament for the first time. A-10 Coach of the Year Aaron Roussell’s team has four double-figure scorers, including Maggie Doogan (15.4 points per game) and Addie Budnik, the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

FRIDAY’S GAME

Maine at Ohio State, Noon, ESPN