Play tough teams, and beat them

That’s the recipe for success for the Phoenix women’s basketball team. The Green Bay Press-Gazette speculates that even with a late-season slump and an early flameout in last week’s Horizon League Tournament, UW-Green Bay was tournament-bound thanks to early non-conference wins over fellow NCAA invitees Wisconsin, DePaul and Northern Iowa. Read more.

Meanwhile, ESPN analysts label Green Bay the biggest surprise

At a mid-major program where, in the past decade, the women’s team hasn’t always received the benefit of the doubt when it comes to tourney invitations or seeding, and where the men’s program experienced a memorable “snub” or two in the 1990s, being on the positive side of the ledger is a refreshing change.  We feel bad for those left out… but not too much… and even we agree with the ESPN analysts who call Green Bay’s NCAA bid the biggest surprise of the field. (Not because the Phoenix women aren’t worthy — they are — but the women’s selection committee had previously been immune to the charm of most mid-majors.) Read more.