At 32-1, Wisconsin-Green Bay matches perennial power Connecticut for the best record in Division I women's basketball, but that translated only to a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament for the Phoenix.
Arkansas-Little Rock, Green Bay's first-round tournament opponent, can commiserate. Last season the Trojans, despite a 26-5 record at the time, sweated out an at-large bid and received a No. 11 seed before beating major-conference foe Georgia Tech in the first round. This time around, UALR is a 12 seed.
The matchup between Green Bay of the Horizon League and UALR (23-7) of the Sun Belt provides a snapshot of mid-major frustrations. Both were among four double-digit seeds to prevail in the first round of last season's tournament, each beating an Atlantic Coast Conference foe.
But moving up the sport's food chain has proven to be difficult.
''All mid-major programs are in that situation and when you've won a lot of games, it's tough,'' UALR coach Joe Foley said. ''And I'm sure that is where the (NCAA tournament) committee has their biggest problems with strength of schedule, mainly because the big schools won't play the small teams because they want to maintain their RPI, and we do just the opposite. We try to get in as many hard games in non-conference.''
Without naming names, Foley said after UALR's win over Georgia Tech, a handful of big-name schools quietly canceled deals to play the Trojans. Green Bay coach Matt Bollant said the Phoenix also have scheduling issues. It only played four teams ranked in the top 100 of the RPI, all before entering conference play, and hosted only one major-conference foe in Wisconsin.
Green Bay's only loss came by three points at Marquette of the Big East.
Sixteen teams - including Green Bay and Connecticut this season - have entered the NCAA tournament with at least 30 wins and no more than one loss. The previous 14 all reached the regional semifinals and all but two reached the Final Four.
''I would love to play home-and-aways with every BCS school in the Big Ten and Big 12, but the problem is, they're not coming to Green Bay,'' Bollant said. ''You know, we've got Marquette and Wisconsin who are willing to do that, but the chances of other teams, I've called just about every other program to try and get them to do a home-and-away with us.''
Without those opportunities to boost schedule strength - a key component considered by the NCAA tournament committee - it's hard for a mid-major to earn a high seed.
