While the ASU men's basketball team failed to build on its recent success, Charli Turner Thorne and the ASU women's basketball team continues to make strides as a program. The Sun Devils made the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in seven seasons, earning the seventh seed in the Dayton regional.
The Devils (20-10) will take on the Temple Owls (23-8), the champions out of the Atlantic 10. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 1:05 P.M. Arizona time, and will be hosted in Salt Lake City, Utah. ASU has an RPI of 30 while Temple has an RPI of 37. Neither team is very highly regarded in 2011, with a total record of 5-11 against RPI Top 50 opponents between the two schools.
Should the Devils advance, they would take on the winner of No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 15 Utah. The Fighting Irish are 26-7 this season and have defeated quality teams such as DePaul, Gonzaga, Marquette, and Georgetown (all NCAA Tournament qualifiers). Notre Dame would be a very tough team for ASU to beat in this bracket.