California-Santa Barbara (UCSB)...the tournament (still) starts and ends with them. They are the 3-time defending national champions. They are coming in this year as a regional qualifier from Region 6 into the championship division. What other teams are here to challenge UCSB?
Let's begin with 2009 national finalist Penn State. Penn State is looking to repeat their run to the final but write a different ending. They have been strong over the last few years. They are one of 3 teams that automatically qualified from Region 1. The other teams from Region 1 include: Consolation Semifinalist Delaware and Consolation Quarterfinalist Cornell.
What do the other regions have to offer?
Region 2 automatic qualifiers include: Virginia Tech (Round of 16) & Virginia (Round of 16).
Region 3 automatic qualifiers include: Michigan (Quarterfinalist), Ohio State (Quarterfinalist) and Purdue (Did not participate in 2009-DNP).
Region 4 automatic qualifiers include: Texas A&M (Round of 16), Texas (Round of 16) & Baylor (2008 Quarterfinalist).
Region 5 automatic qualifiers include: Colorado “Gold” (Round of 16) & Colorado State (Consolation Quarterfinalist).
Region 6 automatic qualifiers include: UCSB (3-time defending national champions), Arizona State (DNP) & Arizona (Quarterfinalist).
At-large tournament berths went to the following: Pittsburgh (Region 1; DNP), The College of New Jersey (Region 1; Consolation Quarterfinalist), Florida (Region 2; Consolation Finalist), Marquette (Region 3; Round of 16), Texas State (Region 4; Semifinalist), UCLA (Region 6; Semifinalist), California (Region 6; Open Quarterfinalist) and North Carolina (Region 2; DNP).
In all 13 of the 16 teams who made the knock-out rounds last year will return.
It promises to be an exciting tournament. Will anyone unseat UCSB? It begins in 2 Days!!! Remember it begins and ends with: (again) UCSB.
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