Miami aims to extend wild NCAA ride

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Miami was only a few hours removed from pushing deeper in the women’s NCAA Tournament than ever before. Another big matchup loomed. Yet Coach Katie Meier needed some time.

“First thing I said is, like, give me an hour to be human,” the coach said.

That’s why she followed the program’s first-ever trip to the Elite Eight by spending time with her mother and nieces in her hotel room afterward. It was an example of how the Hurricanes are savoring a wild March Madness ride even while determined to keep winning — next against LSU today to reach the Final Four.

The ninth-seeded Hurricanes (22-12) can join Arkansas in 1998 as the lowest-ever seed to get there.

“There’s a balance,” Hurricanes guard Hanna Cavinder said. “Obviously we have a lot to celebrate, but we’re not done. And I think we all understand that.”

The Greenville 2 Region final presents the first ticket to Dallas for the national semifinals, and it’s a matchup between teams with vastly different postseason histories.

Third-seeded LSU (31-2) is one of eight programs to reach at least five Final Fours. Coach Kim Mulkey won three national championships at Baylor and is in her second year with the Tigers, who pushed past 2-seed Utah on Saturday to reach their first Elite Eight since 2008.

“You’d better listen,” Tigers star forward Angel Reese said. “Kim Mulkey [is] not playing. We listen to her, we respect Coach. She knows better than anybody else.”

Still, Mulkey has cautioned her team is “overachieving” in its rapid rise so early in her tenure with nine new players, noting LSU “might be feeding that monster too quickly” with outside expectations.

Still, her players “want to please.”

“They allow me to coach them, and I’ve got some strong personalities on this team,” Mulkey said. “I’ve said it all along: I don’t care, just bring me a competitor. I can handle a strong personality. … If they love basketball and they’re a competitor, I can coach them.”

For Miami, the rise is sudden: Its only previous Sweet 16 came in 1992.

The Hurricanes first rallied from 17 down to beat Oklahoma State. Then they won at 1-seed Indiana on a late shot by Destiny Harden. And they hung on late against Villanova despite blowing a 21-point lead.

“Every game gets bigger,” Harden said. “And we expect that. … I think to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.”