By Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
SOUTH ORANGE - The two names popped on the big screen at Walsh Gymnasium, all of five minutes into this Seton Hall selection show party, and the old barn erupted.
It wasn't just seeing the Pirates back in the NCAA Tournament bracket after a 20-year drought, but that was part of it. It wasn't just seeing the other name at the top of the bracket - the Connecticut Huskies, the greatest program in women's basketball history - but that was a big part of it, too.
No, it was the other name in the 8-9 game that'll be played in Storrs, Conn., on Saturday that truly made this a special moment. It was a name of a rival that had dropped off the schedule this season, just as the Pirates started to get good, reappearing at the biggest moment, that set off this celebration in South Orange.
It was Rutgers. It was the team that ended Seton Hall's season in the WNIT a year ago. It was the program that, for so much of the recent history, had made the series between the two in-state school so lopsided it barely qualified as rivalry any more.
"It's payback time for Rutgers!" Tony Bozzella, the Seton Hall coach, yelled to a nice crowd on the Walsh Gym floor. "Right? It's payback time!"
So yes, there will be March Madness for New Jersey after all. The NCAA gets plenty wrong, including the indefensible decision to give undefeated Princeton a No. 8 seed in the women's tournament. What more could the Tigers have done? Beat the Knicks?
But this one, the NCAA got right. Two teams, with a similar resume, in the same state - absolutely, they should play each other in this tournament. Even if you're not a diehard women's basketball fan, you'll pay attention to this one if you bleed Scarlet red or Pirates blue. It's unprecedented.
"Nobody wants to be in the pod, because you're going to play the defending national champions, clear the best team in the country (in UConn)," Bozzella said. "But if we're going to do it, let's play someone that generates some excitement. It's a huge game for the whole state of New Jersey."
Bozzella was thrilled. C. Vivian Stringer, his counterpart at Rutgers? She was biting her lip a bit, but said all the right things.
"It's amazing that we're playing Seton Hall," Stringer said. "That's great. Especially because we don't play them during the year. So that's good. A lot of people get what they want on that side."
Oh, and about them not playing this year ...
Bozzella said he wanted to schedule the Scarlet Knights, but said Stringer told him she couldn't fit the Pirates into the schedule. Was Stringer, who always plays one of the most difficult nonconference schedules in the country, guarding against the rigors of the Big Ten?
Or did she see how good this Seton Hall team might be during a double-overtime victory over the Pirates in the quarterfinals of the WNIT?
"It was a tough game. They're very good. They're inspired," Stringer said of the meeting last year. "It's amazing. They have a number of players who have been transfers, great players. He's doing an outstanding job with them."
Stringer knows better than to add any fuel to this fire. Then again, she doesn't have to this time. The Pirates know a victory, on this stage against Rutgers, will be one of the most important in their program's history.
It wouldn't carry nearly the same weight at Rutgers. But a loss, given that it appeared the Scarlet Knights were cruising toward a 4 or 5 seed and maybe even home tournament games this month, would sting just as much.
Rutgers appears to be climbing back into the elite under Stringer. Still, with just one NCAA Tournament victory in the last five years, the Scarlet Knights need this - and the shot their old friends Geno Auriemma and UConn - to validate that progress.
So the stakes are especially high. Maybe it won't make up for another lost men's basketball season for most fans, or cleanse the awful taste that comes from those two programs going a combined 1-18 since February.
But it's a taste of March Madness for a state that needs it, two teams forced to renew their old rivalry in the most important game of the season. Bring it on.
Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
This post was edited on 3/17 11:26 AM by Halldan1
http://www.nj.com/setonhall/index.ssf/2015/03/thanks_ncaa_new_jersey_needed_this_taste_of_march.html#incart_river
