Pins and Needles (Getting Asked to the Dance)

Perhaps it was fitting for the Gophers to find out this way.
After all, every game they played this year seemed to come down to the final few possessions. Why should the NCAA Selection Show be any different?
After 10 days of hand-wringing and nervous pacing and talking themselves into believing they would go, the Minnesota Women's Basketball team finally got to the day that would give them the answer.
There was plenty of reason to believe the invitation to the dance wouldn't come. All season the mantra was, "Get to 20 wins and we are in". But a dicey finish to the regular season and a loss in their only game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament left Minnesota with just 19 wins and gave an excuse to the NCAA Selection Committee for leaving them out.
I have to admit, when the Maroon and Gold lost at home in the season finale to Illinois, I thought the WNIT was a sure bet unless they made a run in the tournament. When the run didn't happen, I KNEW Minnesota would be in the WNIT with only my heart flicking out the random reassurances that the NCAA's were still a possibility.
Still, hope prevailed amongst the team and, throughout the week of waiting, the prognosticators all seemed to think the Gophers would be one of the last teams to make it in (with the key word being "in").
Finally Monday arrived, with gorgeous weather giving me hope that I've indeed made it through my last 10 degree day for another 7 months and that there might be room on the tournament floor for Minnesota. Now, it was my heart that was leading the charge with my head only squeaking through the fuzziness occasionally to warn me the WNIT was more likely to happen.
Last year, the drama was over early. Minnesota was the very first game they announced. This year, the year of the greatest doubt about whether or not it would happen, the year that begged for decisiveness, the year that the team needed to know early in order to keep a few of those hairs from becoming prematurely gray and prevent months of pages falling off the end of life's calender, the team would have to wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Three regions went by and still Minnesota's name had not popped up. The fourth region was the Gophers' final hope, but this wouldn't be a runaway to start the fourth quarter. Nope, it was going to come down to the last few possessions.
The top half of the bracket went by without the Maroon and Gold and only four matchups remained unrevealed. Realistically, the Gophers only had a chance of being in two of those four matchups; the 6 (seed)-11 game or the 7-10 game.
It wasn't the 6-11 game. Arizona State vs. Georgia popped onto the screen and the cloud of hope I had perched my elbows upon sagged in the middle. I said to the two media members watching with me (and perhaps more so to myself), "It doesn't look to good for the Gophers."
The 3-14 game was revealed and Minnesota was down to their final chance.
My heart was still holding on to the possibility of seeing the Gophers up on that screen while my head was cracking its knuckles and preparing to console my heart with tender pats.
And then it happened.
The second to last game they announced, finally, was tinged with Maroon and Gold.
At 6:45 pm, forty-five minutes after the Selection Show had started, Minnesota's women's basketball team leaped for joy, burst into tears, and screamed wildly in their locker room. Despite everything that said they shouldn't, they did. The Gophers were going to the NCAA Tournament.
Upstairs, we shook our head in amazement and conjectured about what the emotions must have been like for the team as they waited, and waited, and waited. Forty-five minutes later, we found out at the press conference as Head Coach Pam Borton and three players, Emily Fox, Ashley Ellis-Milan, and Brittany McCoy sat glowingly at the table and answered questions. Genuine excitement, tinged with a dose of relief, showed on their faces.
At least that's the way it looked to me, and probably because that's the way I felt. Sure, it might have come down to the last few possessions for this team again, but like it did so many times this year, it came out the way Gopher fans wanted it to.
Next up, the NCAA Tournament! Minnesota will play Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana and I'm lucky enough to get to tag along. Hopefully it will be just as exciting as the selection process. I don't have enough hair to go gray anyway.