TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Last season, the Tallahassee Community College women's basketball team celebrated a National title, the first in the program's history. On Monday, they learned they would not have the opportunity to defend that title though, as selections were made for this years National Tournament, and the Eagles were left off the list.
Every region in the country can have just three representatives at the National Tournament. The Region Champ gets an automatic bid. One of the country's eight At-Large bids went to this year's Region runner-up. The other? To Florida Southwestern, a team that played just one ranked opponent all year and lost by 16. The team that beat them was a team TCC beat twice.
The Eagles finished the year ranked sixth in the country, played nine games against ranked opponents and beat a Region Champ out of Maryland, but in the end, it wasn't enough.
"It kind of sets a precedent that maybe we didn't have the respect I thought we had in the country being the defending National Champs," said head coach Q Bedell. "We finished ranked sixth, 25-5. You go 4-0 in your last four beating Nationally ranked teams. Just being snubbed as one of the top six teams in the country, I mainly feel it for our kids."
Another part of the criteria in determining an At-Large bid? Historical results of your conference at Nationals. When Tallahassee won the Championship last year, it sealed up the Panhandle Conference winning the last four National titles.
