RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — There won't be many introductions needed for a trio of teams showing up for the NCAA Tournament's opening-round games at North Carolina State.
Kellie Harper has arrived with her Tennessee team to the venue where she once coached, though she noticed differences right way at a remodeled Reynolds Coliseum. N.C. State (27-6) is the host team under Wes Moore, holding the No. 3 seed in the Portland 4 bracket of March Madness.
But before there’s any juicy matchup between coaches who once worked on the same staff, there’s other matters in Saturday’s first-round games.
Sixth-seeded Tennessee (19-12) will tangle with No. 11 seed Green Bay (27-6), which is in its 47th consecutive winning season – second in NCAA history behind only Tennessee’s 54 – in the early matchup. Then N.C. State will face 14th-seeded Chattanooga (28-4), a reunion for Moore with the program he coached for 15 seasons.
“I’ve actually not been back to Raleigh in 11 years,” Harper said. “Obviously the coliseum looks different. It looks amazing. Just being back, brings back a lot of memories, a lot of great people, some really good times.
Harper had a four-year stint as N.C. State’s coach following the death of Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow. She led the Wolfpack to the 2010 NCAA Tournament in her first year, but couldn't get traction into building a consistent winner and was fired in 2013. The job then went to Moore, who had worked under Yow and had Harper on his staff at Chattanooga.
It's just one example of how the familiarity runs deep for Moore, too, this weekend.
“I still know a lot of people in the administration and all there,” he said of Chattanooga. “They gave me an opportunity to be a head coach at the Division I level.”
Moore took the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament nine times. He’s revered in many ways for his time in Chattanooga.
“He built our program and others,” Chattanooga coach Shawn Poppie said. “A lot of the banners we get to look at every day he was a big, big part of that.”
Poppie, in his second season with the Mocs, was a Virginia Tech assistant coach, so he has idea of what to expect from the Wolfpack.
“The good storyline is that I’m very familiar with not only this arena, but how they’ve played,” Poppie said.
Green Bay doesn’t fit cleanly into this reunion theme, but the Phoenix could carve out something memorable.
“What you will notice about us is we hustle and play together and we play hard for each other, and a lot of that comes on the defensive end,” Green Bay guard Natalie McNeal said.
Coach Kevin Borseth is in his second go-around with the Green Bay program. He was at the helm when Tennessee beat his team in the 2016 first round in Tempe, Arizona, though this will be the first NCAA Tournament game for the Phoenix since 2018.
“It’s kind of sweet to be back.” Borseth said.
KNOWING YOU
N.C. State’s Madison Hayes is from Chattanooga, arriving with the Wolfpack after a season at Mississippi State. So Saturday’s game holds significance for her, too.
“It’s really exciting playing against my hometown,” Hayes said. “Always used to go to the UTC games, men or women. So it’s always cool to see that they’re good enough to come here and play in the NCAA this year.”
In high school, Hayes played against Jada Guinn, who’s Chattanooga’s leading scorer at 19.7 points per game.
“I think it is good that I played against her in high school,” Guinn said. “Kind of gives me a feel of how she’s going to play.”
NEW LOOK
N.C. State performed a major renovation on Reynolds, the venerable campus arena that was formerly home to the men's basketball program famously led by the late Jim Valvano in the 1980s. That $35 million project was completed in 2016, shrinking the seating bowl to make room for offices and a Wolfpack sports hall of fame while still keeping some familiar looks from the old days.
“I think the modern twist to Reynolds Coliseum is pretty cool in how it looks, especially in those end zones,” Harper said. “I think they look great.”
WELCOME BACK II
Tennessee guard Jewel Spear is averaging 13.3 points per game, second behind Rickea Jackson’s 19.4 for the Volunteers. Spear is in her first season after three years with Wake Forest, which made annual trips to face N.C. State in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
“I also have like a lot of family in this area as well, and the North Carolina area,” Spear said. “Excited to see them come out. … It’s a great environment here, excited for that again.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness