URI's women's basketball team is ready to make a run at elusive NCAA tourney berth
How long has it been since one of the state’s women’s basketball programs has reached an NCAA Tournament?
More: For URI women's coach Tammi Reiss, there's no resting on last year's success
It’s not a straightforward answer. Bryant was a Division II power prior to joining the sport’s top level for the 2008-09 season. The Bulldogs played in the postseason seven times before making the jump, seasons that are part of a different chapter in their record books.
The University of Rhode Island last did the honors in the proper Big Dance an even 25 years ago. The Rams secured their only berth by capturing an Atlantic 10 title and notching a program-best 21 wins. If the current state of affairs is to be believed, URI could be well-positioned to break the ongoing drought that dates back to its own singular achievement.
There is a genuine buzz surrounding women’s basketball here as we enter 2021-22, and the Rams have a lot to do with it. URI was picked second in its preseason conference poll after finishing fourth in a shortened campaign last year. Athletic directors search continuously for whatever it is coach Tammi Reiss seems to have — an it factor, a certain confidence, a way of making you believe something special is on the horizon.
The Rams loaded up with four graduate transfers, including All-Big East selection Dez Elmore. The former star at Seton Hall deepens a core group that already included co-conference Player of the Year Emmanuelle Tahane, all-conference selection Marie-Paule Foppossi and all-rookie team member Dolly Cairns. URI is now firmly in the mix with the likes of Dayton, VCU, Fordham and Massachusetts — the Rams would have required binoculars to see that group in the league standings not so long ago.
Bryant returns a player who could make a strong argument to be the best in the state when the season is done. Brooke Bjelko is a double-double machine in the frontcourt and was named to the preseason Northeast Conference elite team. How the Bulldogs fall in line behind their graduate leader will determine whether or not they can make some noise for Mary Burke in her 31st season on the sidelines.
Burke, a former star athlete at Toll Gate High and Providence College, had Bryant knocking on the door of an NCAA bid just a few short years ago. The Bulldogs shared a regular-season NEC title in 2014-15 and reached the league championship game in 2016-17. There is no nationally ranked power lording over the competition in the NEC — no team will count itself out in any given year.
Monique LeBlanc’s year-long wait to put her Brown squad on the floor for her debut will end Tuesday night. She was formally hired in April 2020 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bears sought out the Cumberland native after nine seasons at Merrimack, including a 20-9 finish in 2019-20.
Brown can only rise under its new coach — the Bears were picked last at the Ivy League’s annual media day in October. The program’s only NCAA bid came with its conference title in 1993-94. Brown counts a lone senior on its roster in Massachusetts native Ashley Ducharme, who made 21 starts during the program’s last competitive season.
The Friars enjoyed their best stretch as a program with Burke on the roster. Bob Foley coached Providence to five NCAA appearances between 1986-92 — this would mark an even 30 years without one if the Friars fall short in March. Foley’s final season in 1995-96 saw Providence tie for fourth in the Big East, a place in the standings it hasn’t approached since.
Connecticut returning to the conference adds one of the most daunting challenges in the sport to the schedule twice annually. The Huskies are the consensus favorite to win the league and are expected to reach a 14th consecutive Final Four. Paige Bueckers has quite a task to follow up her National Player of the Year honors, the first freshman to take home any of those major awards.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Previewing the women's basketball teams from the University of Rhode Island, Providence College, Brown University and Bryant University
