Yikes. I didn't know Utah had to play Purdue on their home court. Is that fair? Oh, well. Still a nice season for the Utes. Too bad the MWC can't hold up to some of these other conferences.

Wasn't it just last week that the Ute women were whining that they deserved a higher seed in the tourney despite having just lost to CSU (3-27) in the MWC tournament? Let this be a lesson to all teams (BYU's men included) to just keep their mouths closed about their NCAA seeds and prove the naysayers wrong on the court rather than in the media. Purdue's women and TX A&M's men certainly read all about how their first round opponents felt slighted and deserving of better matchups than what they got, and bot Purdue and TXA&M took advantage of that lack of focus and bested the whiners on the court. CHampionships are not handed out based on dominating the MWC. They are earned on neutral floors against whomever you are paired against. focusing on what seed you didn't get is a sure recipe for a humbling, and deserved, defeat.

Tournament championships earned on neutral courts, hmmm, what a novel idea...

Congrats to the Utah Women on a great season!

btw, I wouldn't put too much stock in an 8th seed being expected to beat a 9th seed. Historically, at least on the men's side, the 8th seeds have a losing record against the 9th seeds.

Isn't the NCAA Tournament great!? Every team goes home a loser, except one.

this is not the same ute women's team i saw clobber the Y women at the Big MAC. wow. sad. disappointing. did the utes just play in a terrible conference? high altitude sickness must have caught up with them or something. too bad. they played so well for so long i just assumed they would make it to the sweet 16.

When all is said and done, the Lady Utes went flat for about 5 minutes that took the game out of reach for them. I do think the home court advantage that the Purdue Ladies had certainly helped them out. It's time the women's tournament goes to a nuetral floor like the men's games do.

IT'S ROUGH TO SEE THE UTE WOMEN LOSE, THEY GOT A HORRIBLE SEED GOING INTO THE TOURNAMENT. BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THE SPORTS NATION HAS ABSOLUTELY NO RESPECT FOR ANY TEAM, IN ANY SPORT IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE NOBODY CAN WATCH US, HOPEFULLY THIS DIRECT TV DEAL WILL START TO SWING THINGS IN OUR DIRECTION.

Guess the loss to Colorado wasn't just a fluke after all. Great year. Too bad they had to end the year like crybabies. Bad seed, poor refs, etc. If you are a champion you win regardless of where you play, if you don't, you whine.

It woud be great if games were played on a neutral court. The Utes lost to Perdue, a lower seed, on their home court. That is patently unfair. The Utes were at a gross disadvantage. I beleive they were unfairly dealt with in the seedings too. As an undefeated conference champ having won 27 games and ranked # 17 in the season ending poll they deserved better than a # 8 seed. Having said that, the Ute Women did not play their usual game and it cost them a defeat. The way to demonstrate that the NCAA is wrong is to go out and prove it by winning regardless of where or who you play. It seems that with rare exceptions (mostly from Utah Men) the MWC cannot do that so we continue to get poor seeds that result in losses. The MWC is really a small pond and big fish from a small pond get eaten by big fish from larger ponds regularly. That is sad.
GO UTES!

If the women's basketball games were on a neutral court, then attendance would be low. Would anyone in Utah go to see a Georgia vs. UTEP women's bball game at the ESA? It wouldn't even fill a high school gym. At least by playing on one team's home court, there's a crowd available to be shown on ESPN cameras.

Hate to see the Lady Utes lose this one. How cool would it have been to see them take on the mighty U of Tenn?

We deserve respect! respect! respect! That's all we hear from the biggest little fish of the little MWC pond... Then they get thrown into the ocean (any conference bigger than the MWC) and get eaten. Well, until they can swim in the ocean with the big fish, don't expect to get any respect from anyone outside of the MWC.

Utah, BYU (men)... be happy in your little pond.

The Ute women got hosed. Props to Elaine Elliot and her staff. I think she could compete with UCONN & Tennessee if she were to coach in a bigger conference. I hope she stays put.

The seeds are correct.

The Mountain West is too weak to adequately prepare teams to play the bigger conferences. These local kids we get excited about at recruiting time appear great against the local mediocre talent but put them up against truly athletic people and they fold pretty quickly.

Enjoy entertaining teams that play well at home and quit worrying about these tournament and BCS games.

BigPimpUtah was right, no one would attend the womens' games on neutral floors. That being said, the higher seed should have homecourt advantage, but really, that is still a lame excuse for whining about the seeding and being beaten on the court by a lower seed. At some point a team just has to keep its mouth closed and prove it dserves better by winning no matter where the game is played. When the Ute ladies reach that point, they will be on their way to real success.

Obviously you don't pay much attention to what you think you know a lot about. utah's players, coach, etc. were all whining about the seeding and the injustice of it all, BYU's coaches and players never complained about it. They were repeatedly quoted as being happy to be where they were. It was just BYU fans griping about it, and I really don't think that Texas A&Ms team was reading the DNEWS Blog section to see what the Cougar fans were saying.

Unfortunately neither school was able to put up, so the fans from BYU, and the coaches, players and fans from utah should now just 'shut up'.

And to madmax- your initial comments are exactly what BYU fans were saying after the conference tournament as they lost to a lower seed on their home court. It's funny, as the ute fans (actually just BYU haters), were silencing these fans and telling them to quit whining, but now it's ok for ute fans to use the same arguments. How hypocritical of the ute fans once again. (And you wonder why very few people like the utes- as evidenced by smaller stadiums, and much smaller crowds).

The '08 Lady Utes join the '04 USU men's team atop the list of biggest snubs by selection committees. The '04 USU men stand as the team with the best record not to get invited to the tourney. (They were 25-3, 0.893 winning percentage. In '92 UNLV was 26-2 and not invited - but they were ineligible for postseason play. College of Charleston men were 24-3, 0.889, when snubbed in 1996.) The thing about '04 USU and this year's Lady Utes is, as mentioned in previous comments, they did not go out and prove the selection committees wrong. USU went on to lose in the first round of the NIT and, of course, the Lady Utes lost to Purdue Sunday, granted on Purdue's home court. The first round losses just prove the committees right and the Utah teams' claims get no respect or public sympathy. If you feel you have been snubbed, you need to keep your mouth shut and prove your point on the court.

Obviously utah was really lucky during the season and played at its true level at the end of the season to finsih by losing to CSU and then they were spanked by Perdue. The truth is that utah isn't a good school and they have a poor sports program.

To Over rated,
According to your logic then, BYU men were also over rated, finishing the season at their "true level" getting spanked by UNLV and losing to A&M. That doesn't say alot about BYU's program either.

The Utah women and BYU men both had great seasons with disappointing finishes. The counterparts of both schools would have been thrilled to have enjoyed the success of their rivals.

Neither team was over-rated. Both teams deserved better seeds in the NCAA tourney, although, the Utah women have more of a reason to be disappointed their seed.

Short-sighted fans making ridiculous claims of being over-rated or trying to belittle the great success of either team are childishly trying to make themselves feel better by tearing down the true accomplishments of the opposition.

Utah lost to the Big 10 Tournament Champion on their home court. BYU lost to a Big 12 team that had been ranked in the top 10 for much of the season and narrowly lost to two No.1 seeds by 6 and 4 points respectively to end their season.

Utah and BYU both suffered disappointing losses to end the season, but no unbiased observer could rightly call either loss embarrassing.

Congratulations to both teams on great seasons!

I'll bet 90 percent of the people commenting on this site knew nothing about the Utes team until they lost to Purdue. Thats really sad considering this team, along with so many of Elaine Elliots teams have been great. This years team has been one of the funnest teams to watch play. Not only were they a great team, they really had fun playing the game. It is really sad that it has ended this way, but to those who want to sit and bash on a team they really know nothing about is just sick and wrong. The saddest part about all of this is that people who live in Utah just don't support womens teams. BYU fans keep saying "Oh well, at least you have the RED ROCKS and Womens Basketball" like thats a consolation prize. Guess what, there are people all over america that would love to watch these two teams but never get the opportunity. They are two of the most successful programs in any sport. Thanks to Elaine and Greg for giving us so many good years. Go Utes!!!

BYU and Utah aren't over rated... The Mountain West Conference is what it is... a weak conference that has an over inflated opinion of itself. And when they get smacked down by other conference team cry foul! It's the same song every year in any sport you care to name. Boring...

If this game isn't played on Purdue's home court, the Utes win. It's that simple.

We get the point.

That is the trash talk that the BYU men's team had to endure on these same blogs.

The trick is to get INTO the dance, then go as deep as you can, depending on the game you play that day.

Great job to both the Utah women's program and the BYU men's program. They made it to the dance. They did it for themselves and not necessarily us the fans.

The ring and the Banner will be something they can show to their children.

NIT and BCI... Sorry, uh-unhhh... Not gonna make it.

BYU Men's and Utah Women's Resume' wiil both incluce NCAA appearances.

How many whiner's on these posts can say the same thing?

Not the Utah or Utah State's mens' programs.

Surely not I.

GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UTES!!!!!!!!!!!

how many mid majors have competed in the ncaas like utah,elte 8 ect

To those of you who seem to know so much about how every year the MWC gets killed in the NCAA tournament did you not follow the Utah Women to the ELITE 8 two years ago. Little fish big pond, did great. Tournament are all about brackets. That is why teams work so hard during regular conference seasons. Have any of you looked deep enough to see Utahs RPI. It was great. The Utes had a great year and it is to bad that things didn't fall into place for them come tournament time. Watching student athletes play a sport that they love with all of their heart will always be rewarding win, lose or draw. GO UTES!!!

And the Davidson Wildcats are a perennial basketball powerhouse too...
Elite 8 two years ago was more of a fluk. Biggest Little Fish in a Small pond.

Fluk (n): cross between a flamingo and a duck. Also used in reference to fish of varying sizes.

Should be fluke:
(noun) Unlikely chance of occurrence. A surprising piece of luck.
ex: Utah's appearance in the elite eight two years ago was a fluke.