Rutgers returns to Greensboro in search of more NCAA tournament magic

3/29/2008 6:01 PM

By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - The bus carrying the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to dinner earlier this week passed by the hotel where they stayed during last year's NCAA tournament. For guard Matee Ajavon, that was enough to revive those feel-good memories of their improbable run through the Greensboro Regional.

The Scarlet Knights are back, and ready to do it again.

``It's a little bit of a home-away-from-home,'' center Kia Vaughn said Saturday. ``We're going to come out and just play like we're at home.''

Rutgers (26-6) has plenty of reasons to feel comfortable in this city in the central North Carolina Triad. After upsetting a No. 1 seed here last year, the No. 2-seeded Scarlet Knights are looking to repeat that feat - but not before they take on former Atlantic 10 rival George Washington (27-6) in a regional semifinal Sunday.

``We're not hoping for a miracle, because I don't think it takes a miracle,'' Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said. ``I think it takes for us to play consistently, as well as calmly. Maybe we thought it took a miracle before, but I don't think it takes one at this particular level and at this particular point.''

What happened here a year ago certainly could qualify as one, at least from the Scarlet Knights' perspective. Their season appeared to be over in the semifinals and their one-point lead seemed doomed, as Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Lindsey Harding stepped to the free-throw line with less than a second left. Two shots were all that stood between then-No. 1-seeded Duke and another regional final.

Then, she missed both. Suddenly, Rutgers' season was saved and Stringer's team eventually advanced to the second Final Four in school history.

Now, the Scarlet Knights want their third. But to get there, they'll have to take care of a Colonials team they beat by 25 points in November - the only blemish on GW's 5-1 start.

``I tried to burn the film, but I couldn't do that - fire laws in the gym,'' GW coach Joe McKeown quipped.

The schools shared plenty of history in the A-10, meeting in the league championship game three times between 1992-95 before Rutgers joined the Big East in 1995-96.

If the Scarlet Knights claim their second win this season against George Washington, what most likely awaits them is a third meeting with top-seeded Connecticut. Rutgers gave the Huskies their only loss of the season Feb. 5 before UConn claimed the regular-season finale.

But postseason rematches seemingly are unavoidable for Rutgers, which already has played 10 of the 15 other teams that reached the regional semifinals and went 7-5 against them.

``The good part of that is, there are very few teams that we will not have some sense of who they are and how they played,'' Stringer said. ``I think that's good scheduling on our part.''

Sarah-Jo Lawrence's putback at the buzzer sealed GW's second-round upset of third-seeded California and gave the Colonials the first consecutive regional semifinal appearances in school history.

Though they're seeking only the school's second trip to the round of eight and first since 1997, seniors Lawrence, Whitney Allen and A-10 player of the year Kimberly Beck are plenty familiar with the tournament. They're in the NCAAs for the fourth straight year, and say postseason losses to North Carolina in 2005 and '07 and Tennessee in 2006 have shown them what it takes to win in March and early April.

``We have a lot of experience against those teams, so we know what to expect,'' Beck said. ``They're all physical, they're all really aggressive. ... Rutgers isn't any different, so we know we have to bring it to them and have to be aggressive on the boards and on defense. I think (that experience) is going to help us a lot.''