Greg Hansen’s Guide to the 2023 NCAA Tournament(s) — Part 2

The Star's longtime columnist on a familiar face awaiting the Arizona women's team in Maryland, ASU's frequency in the First Four, UA outlooks for both teams in the NCAA Tournament and more. Looking for Part 1? Read it here.

A familiar face in Maryland may await

If Arizona beats West Virginia and host Maryland beats Holy Cross in Friday’s opening games of the women’s NCAA Tournament in College Park, Maryland, the Wildcats will be re-introduced to perhaps the biggest name in UA women’s basketball history — Maryland coach Brenda Frese.

Frese played at Arizona from 1989-92, first for coach June Olkowski and in her senior year for Joan Bonvicini, who two years later successfully recruited Adia Barnes, now the Wildcats' head coach.

After leaving the UA, Frese became an assistant coach locally at Pima College and Mountain View High School before returning to her home turf, Iowa, where she served four years as an assistant coach at Iowa State.

But once Frese was hired as Maryland’s head coach in 2002, she became a national figure as the Terps' head coach, winning the 2006 NCAA championship and winning Big Ten titles in 2004, 2006, 2014 and 2015.

Frese, who has won 617 games as a college head coach (she earlier coached at Ball State and Minnesota), has turned Maryland’s XFINITY Center into one of the most feared venues in women’s college basketball. The Terps averaged 7,381 fans this season.

If the Wildcats and Terps meet on Sunday, it’ll be the fourth game Frese has coached against her alma mater. She beat the Wildcats in a reunion game at McKale Center in 2005, and also beat the Wildcats in Maryland the next two seasons.

Hurley and Sun Devils more like the ASU '66ers

Wednesday night marked the third time Bobby Hurley’s ASU Sun Devils have opened the NCAA Tournament in the “First Four,” where teams who are either the lowest-seeded or last at-large teams in the Big Dance are involved in play-in games in Dayton, Ohio.

The only other Pac-12 teams to play in the First Four since its inception in 2011 are USC (twice) and Cal.

The Sun Devils, who might as well have been the 66th of 68 teams to get in, played in the First Four in 2018 and 2019. They join a not-so-elite crowd of multiple First Four participants. Only Texas Southern, with five First Four appearances, ranks ahead of ASU, North Carolina-Central, Mount St. Mary’s and Fairleigh Dickinson, all with three visits to Dayton.

Gates at the gate for Mizzou

If Arizona and Missouri advance to a Round of 32 game in Sacramento on Saturday, you might recognize the Tigers' first-year coach, Dennis Gates.

Gates was an off-the-bench guard at Cal, 1999-2002, who played in nine games (eight of them losses) against Arizona.

On Senior Day at McKale Center, 2002, Gates scored three points for the Bears in an absolute blowout, won 99-53 by Arizona as Luke Walton almost had a triple-double, credited with 11 assists while scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

Gates soon became a Cal assistant coach, losing his job when Ben Braun was fired in 2007, but resurfaced as an assistant at Nevada and Florida State before becoming the head coach at Cleveland State and now Missouri.

Arizona NCAA outlook (men)

There is almost nothing that hints of No,. 15 Princeton upsetting No, 2 Arizona in the UA’s first-round game Thursday.

Almost.

Arizona has played seven No. 15 seeds through the years, beating six of them — Loyola of Maryland, St. Francis, South Florida, Eastern Illinois, Texas Southern and North Dakota — by an average of 19 points.

But the most infamous loss of Arizona’s NCAA history tempers all of that. The UA’s 17-1 Pac-10 champions of 1993 — blessed with future NBA players Damon Stoudamire, Khalid Reeves, Chris Mills, Reggie Geary, Joseph Blair and Ed Stokes — lost to No. 15 Santa Clara 64-61.

No, it wasn’t that future NBA star Steve Nash overwhelmed Arizona. Nash, a freshman, shot 1 for 7 from the field as an off-the-bench player that day. The Broncos were only 18-11, third-place finishers in the weak West Coast Conference who had lost 66-35 to Pac-10 runner-up Stanford earlier in the season.

Never say never.

I clearly remember watching No. 13 seed Princeton shock defending NCAA champion UCLA 45-43 in the first round of the 1996 tournament, a UCLA team that won the Pac-10 at 16-2 and swept Arizona, home and road.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned — but I’ll still take Arizona to beat Princeton 84-66 and move toward a notable Sweet 16 engagement against Baylor.

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Arizona’s NCAA outlook (women)

In its postseason history, Arizona has gone bust when playing the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament away from home. It has failed to advance out of the first weekend away from Tucson every time. (The COVID-19 tournament of 2021, played on a neutral court in San Antonio, is not included.)

• In 1997, Arizona lost at Georgia in a Round of 32 game.

• In 1999, Arizona lost at Rutgers in a Round of 32 game.

• In 2000, Arizona lost at Tennessee in a Round of 32 game.

• In 2003, Arizona lost to Notre Dame in a first-round game at Kansas State.

• In 2004, Arizona lost to Michigan State in a first-round game at Texas.

• In 2005, Arizona lost to LSU in a Round of 32 game at LSU.

Advancing this week would almost surely require a win on No. 2 seed Maryland’s home court. The Terrapins are 20-3 in NCAA Tournament home games during Frese’s coaching days.

But there is hope: One of those three losses came in 2016 when No. 7 seed Washington upset the No. 2-seeded Terrapins in College Park.

All-American Kelsey Plum scored 32 points. Sound familiar? That ‘16 Washington team included assistant coach Adia Barnes, who had recruited Plum to play for the Huskies.

Two weeks later, Barnes and the Huskies were in the Final Four in Indianapolis, at which time Barnes accepted an offer to coach Arizona.

I like that karma. I’ll pick Arizona to beat West Virginia on Friday, upset Maryland and reach the Sweet 16 to cap a reasonably good season.

One man’s Final Four (women)

• UConn: Ho-hum, but pick against the Huskies at your own risk.

• Iowa: Caitlin Clark is the most feared player in women’s college hoops.

• Indiana: Final Four, for sure.

• South Carolina: The nation’s most dominant college basketball program.

But I’m not taking the chalk. Picking the Gamecocks is too easy. I’ll go with Clark and the Hawkeyes in a memorable Final Four.

One man’s Final Four (men)

• Baylor: The Bears’ week-by-week battles in the crazy-good Big 12 could be too much for Alabama or Arizona in the South region.

• Duke: The last team I want to see in the Final Four is Duke, but the Blue Devils are 18-1 when their core rotation is healthy. Duke is now healthy.

• Gonzaga: Oh, I’d love to see UCLA’s cranky Mick Cronin humbled and quieted in a Sweet 16 loss to the Zags.

• Houston: Kelvin Sampson’s defense-first Cougars could block Sean Miller (and Xavier) from a long-awaited Final Four.

The winner? Why not Gonzaga? It's Drew Timme Time.

Greg Hansen’s Guide to the 2023 NCAA Tournament(s) — Part 1

Longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen on his personal history of covering the NCAA Tournament, the origins of March Madness, Tucson ties to the tourney and more.