Stony Brook Basketball First NCAA Tournament Appearance
20 March 2021
BY: Paulina Vairo
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The dream for the Stony Brook Women’s Basketball team has finally come true as the program made it to their first ever NCAA tournament. With the program being around for 36 seasons in Division I, the dream of making it to the Big Dance will become a reality to these players in what has been a rough year.
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Last season Stony Brook had an incredible season. With an undefeated record at home and a 28-3 overall record, the Seawolves were one game away from the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NCAA to cancel all remaining games for the season, including March Madness.
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Stony Brook managed to pick up from where they left off from last season after a crazy offseason. With preseason canceled, players practicing individually, and many workouts done on Zoom, the team managed to keep their momentum going and the goal of making it to Nationals.
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Many new players arrived to the team with very high standards to perform elite. Junior point guard Asiah Dingle transferred from Kent State to Stony Brook as a huge piece to the team, taking over the roll of point guard Kaela Hilaire. She spoke about the standards coming to Stony Brook and how she was able to fit in with her new teammates and the new system.
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“We all had this one goal, basically just picking up where they left off. I would think that’s hard for us transfers because the standards are so high already. There used to winning, they had an amazing record last year” says Dingle. “If I go here [Stony Brook] I have to be up to par cause obviously they don’t want to take any steps backwards, so just being able to adapt to the standards and the new system, and being able to flow with my teammates and get along with them is really what make us so good.”
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Dingle played up to her expectations this season, averaging 28.5 points per game, 68 assists, and 34 steals in 19 games played this season. She was also named to the American East All-Championship team, Second team All-American East, and American East player of the week for Nov. 30.
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The key to Stony Brook’s success the last two seasons has been their defense. They have one of the best defenses in the nation and are ranked fourth in average points allowed per game with 50.7. Head coach for Stony Brook Caroline McCombs’ philosophy of coaching is defense, and it shows on the team’s stats.
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“Our defense has always been our identity since I took over as the head coach. We say our defense tells us if we win, our offense tells us by how much” said McCombs “Our players know that our identity is our defense and that’s something that, I don’t want to say is challenging to newcomers, but you really rely on your veterans to send that tone. We want be diving on the floor for loose balls, we want to be stepping up and taking charges we value boxing out and rebounding. Every single day we do those things and that is how we win games is our defense.”
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Making it to the NCAA tournament is the biggest accomplishment in the program’s history. Senior forward Hailey Zeise has been with the team for four seasons and is grateful to be making the NCAA tournament in her last year of college basketball.
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“It feels like a dream honestly. I think every athlete dreams of making it to the biggest stage, so just to be here especially after everything we’ve been through, it feels like a relief, you just feel in your heart it was all worth it and it is not about the wins that does that but just to be able to be here with my teammates and experience all these things together.”
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During the season players were forced to keep quarantine, preventing them from visiting family and friends. They also had to go through several COVID-19 testing to be eligible to play in games.
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Stony Brook will see a ton of growth to the program, especially with its success in the last two years. They will face No. 15 overall Arizona in what will be their toughest opponent this season. The team will have to rely heavily on their defense to try to stop Arizona’s star player Aari McDonald, who has been named Pac-12 Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and ESPN Second Team All-America.
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The game will take place on Monday at 2pm EST at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas to kick off their first ever March Madness game.
