USF women's basketball team is dancing after AAC title win, so let the Madness begin

Winning the American Athletic Conference tournament was, of course, a thrill for the USF women’s basketball team.

The smiles and hugs the players exchanged on the floor after final buzzer sounded on the Bulls’ 69-62 win over Rice in the AAC championship game Wednesday testified to that.

However, achieving their goal of a conference title and NCAA tournament bid looked more than thrilling. It looked satisfying to have overcome adversity and  accomplish everything that people said this team could do when this season began.

“This is a special group, special group. They had to win three games in three days. There was a lot of disappointment, us losing on the road at Tulsa and then losing at home to East Carolina and playing ourselves out of the at-large conversation,” Bulls coach Jose Fernandez said.

“So I think they came to Fort Worth with a purpose, and it showed, it showed all three days.”

The Bulls will be tuned to the TV to learn who they will play and where when the NCAA selection show airs Sunday at 8 p.m. They’ll likely be seeded 12th or 13th, meaning they’ll be matched against a team the selection committee believes is among the top 20 in the country.

However, that won’t faze this team in the slightest. Remember that non-conference gauntlet the Bulls faced before AAC play began was designed to prepare them for this next step.

“You know, if I was a four or five (seeded team), I wouldn't want to play us right now,” Fernandez said.

This is the 10th NCAA tournament bid in program history and USF’s second AAC title. The Bulls are the second team in conference history with multiple wins (UConn had seven titles).

In the title game, the Bulls had four starters play the entire 40 minutes – Vittoria Blasigh, Sammie Puisis, Mama Dembele, and Carla Brito, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Brito finished the tournament with a combined 43 points, and 32 rebounds.

“She had a tough year last year and she knew she did,” Fernandez said. “But she took responsibility and was accountable,” Fernandez said.

“She's in the gym all the time. She's always doing extra, she doesn't take plays off, and she lets me coach her. When a player lets a coach, coach her and coach her hard and demand from her…”

Great things happen.

“She means everything for this team. I think she's the glue. She's the person that brings the energy every day. You're gonna look at her face, you don't know if she's having a good game or a bad game, but she doesn't care,” Blasigh said.

“She cares so much about all of us that we gotta care about her too. This award is everything she deserves.”

And a spot in March Madness is what this team deserves. The Bulls were preseason favorites to win the ACC but national bracketologists all but ignored them during the season.

Fernandez is correct about a how a highly seeded team won’t be happy to see their first-round game is against a team that beat Duke and went toe-to-toe with South Carolina, Louisville, and Mississippi State.

Is this a good time to mention that the Final Four is in Tampa?

The confetti has dropped and the championship trophy has been presented. The Bulls are dancing.

Let the Madness begin!