Ah, Selection Monday. The tradition. The suspense. The overwhelming Monday-ness of it all. 

It just doesn’t have the same ring as the big event that precedes it.   Why follow the men?  Why not have Selection Saturday?  Why does anyone make me do anything on a Monday? 

As airtight as these arguments are, Selection Monday is a cold reality, and the Maryland women’s basketball team will have to wait until then–a full 11 days after their final game–to find out whether they are going dancing. Early returns, however, are not encouraging.

After defeating North Carolina in the first round of the ACC tournament, the ladies lost a tough one to top-seeded Duke, 66-64, to finish (for now) at 19-12 overall and 6-10 in the conference. That Duke win probably would have gotten them in, but as it is, NCAA Women’s Bracketologist Charlie “I Hate Joe Lunardi” Creme has the Lady Terps in his first four out. Not good. Especially since all the women’s conference tourneys are over. Any upsets that would have shaken up the bubble have happened by now, and it’s clear it didn’t break in a good way for Maryland. (Big tourney runs from Iowa, Rutgers, and Vermont, for example, were probably detrimental for the Terps.) So unless the selection committee disagrees with the bracketologist — and really, who’s ever heard of such a thing? — the Lady Terps may be out of luck and out of chances. For dances.

But fear not, for all is not lost. As you might expect, the future looks bright for Brenda Frese’s young crew. Sophomore Lynetta Kizer made All-ACC third team, while Diandra Tchatchouang (free fake prize for anyone who can provide a prounciation key) made the all-freshman team. Congrats to them, and to all the Lady Terps. Even if they don’t go dancing, they made the most of a season that could have been a lot worse.