UNLV: 1 in, 1 out

Steve Guiremand

Monday, March 11, 2002 | 10:41 a.m.

Next up -- Women NCAA first round

There was a whole lot of screaming going on Sunday in the ESPN Zone at the New York-New York hotel-casino.

Specifically, at about 2:26 p.m., when the UNLV Lady Rebels saw their name flashed up on the big screen TV during the NCAA women's tournament selection show.

"I didn't even see who we were going to play," a teary-eyed senior forward Linda Frohlich said. "I just saw UNLV pop up on the TV. I was thinking, 'Jump! Jump! Enjoy the moment.' "

Judging by the decibel level and the number of players with tears in their eyes, Frohlich wasn't the only one enjoying the fact the Lady Rebels had been picked to face the University of Minnesota (21-7) in the first round of the Midwest Regional on Saturday at the Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.

"This is what we wanted since the beginning of the year ... The Big Dance," Lady Rebels' head coach Regina Miller said. "Now we've got that opportunity."

"This is what you come here for, to play in the NCAA Tournament," junior guard Julia Gray said. "I didn't see who we're playing or anything like that. Once I saw our name I just started jumping and screaming."

"I knew we were going to get in," guard Constance Jinks said. "But I didn't know where or who we'd play. I think it says something that our conference got four teams in."

Indeed, the Mountain West had four teams picked in the 64-team field, twice as many as the more prestigious Pac-10 Conference. Conference champ Colorado State (24-6) is a No. 7 seed in the West Regional and will play Tulane (23-10) in the first round at Stanford. New Mexico (22-8), which lost twice to UNLV this year, is a 10th seed in the Midwest Regional and will play Notre Dame (19-9) at Tennessee. And MWC tourney winner BYU (22-8) is a No. 11 seed in the Midwest and will play Florida (18-10) in the first round at Iowa State.

Here's the scary part for the Lady Rebels (23-7): They are seeded 12th, the lowest of the four Mountain West teams to get in. Had they not upset Colorado State, 72-58, in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tourney on Friday, they may not have been selected.

"They needed to do what they did to get in," MaryAlyce Jeremiah, chairwomen of the Division I women's basketball committee, said when asked if the CSU win clinched it for the Lady Rebels. "I suppose you can read between the lines whatever you want. I'm not ready to say that. That's 'what if?' and 'what if?' didn't happen."

"Beating Colorado State was huge," Miller admitted. "When you beat a Top 20 team like that twice ... and we beat New Mexico twice, too. And Santa Barbara won their conference. I thought we had a lot of good wins on our resume."

"We just wanted to see our name up there," Gray said. "It didn't matter where."

The Lady Rebels got a tough draw. Minnesota, which like UNLV will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994, shared a second place finish in the Big Ten with Penn State and handed champion Purdue, the No. 2 seed in the Mideast Regional, one of its five losses this season.

The Golden Gophers finished with a glossy No. 16 power ranking and were hoping to land a top four regional seed and a first round home game. However, an early Big Ten Tournament exit at the hands of Wisconsin (74-64) apparently led the selection committee to give Penn State, which defeated Minnesota in their only meeting this season, the nod for a much coveted No. 4 seed.

The Golden Gophers have made a remarkable turnaround under first year coach Brenda Oldfield, who was named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year. Minnesota was a dreadful 1-15 in Big Ten play in 2000-2001 but turned it around to 11-5 this season.

Minnesota is led by Big Ten Player of the Year Lindsay Whalen, a 5-8 sophomore point guard who led the conference in assists (6.06 per game) and finished second in scoring (22.8 ppg), and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Janal McCarville, a 6-2 center who averaged 7.8 rebounds per game and was a second team all-conference pick.

If the Lady Rebels should get by Minnesota, they would likely play No. 4 seed North Carolina (25-7), which hosts Harvard (21-5) on Saturday, in Monday night's second round at 6:36 p.m. (PST) on ESPN2.