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2014 NCAA Tournament: Women of Troy Prepare For St. John's

USC is excited for its first NCAA tournament game since 2006.

By Evan Budrovich

After arriving in Knoxville earlier this week, USC Women's Basketball is excited to finally take the court Saturday afternoon and continue their magical journey during what has been an epic March Madness journey.

The Women of Troy are flying high, winners of six straight including an incredible run to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship, and are looking forward to an intriguing match up with St. John's at 3:30 p.m. PST over on ESPN2.

Led by senior forward Cassie Harberts (15.6 PPG) and Pac-12 Tournament MVP Ariya Crook (15.8 PPG) the 25th-ranked Women of Troy will look to win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since beating South Florida, 67-65, in the first round of the 2006 tournament.

Under the well-respected and fiery leadership of former legend Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, USC has received an instant spark to its program and believes they can compete with any team in the nation. The proof has been in the pudding this season, especially after USC beat ranked foes Arizona State, California and of course, Pac-12 Goliath Stanford.

The Women of Troy are extremely excited to return to the NCAA Tournament, and it looks like they will certainly have a challenge on their hands against the Red Storm, who finished second in the Big East (22-10, 13-5) with tournament No. 1 seeds Notre Dame or Connecticut not in the conference moving forward.

While these soon-to-be foes had no similar opponents in 2013-2014, the Women of Troy played more ranked teams: nine (3-6) to just one (0-1) and battled in the tougher conference, but that won't matter too much come opening tip.

So now just hours from the opening tipoff against the Red Storm, make sure to check out some of the fun experiences the Women of Troy have had in Knoxville thus far, and hear some thoughts on this game and the possible tilt with the brackets top seed in the Tennessee Lady Volunteers.


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