Although the Gamecocks will likely prove to be a fierce opponent, the Jackrabbits may be at less of a disadvantage than in past years. It all boils down to location, location, location.
The air is a little bit thinner in Colorado, where the Jacks will take on the fourth seeded South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon.
"I mean, I guess location and everything is a little bit different. As far as playing in this tournament, we are ranked about as high as we have been," SDSU Senior Katie Lingle said.
But by all accounts, the location of this year's tournament is a step up for State.
The last three years the Jacks have taken on their opponents on their home court. This year, they're looking forward to a more neutral site.
"Oh, it feels great. I feel really good about it. It doesn't mean that we're going to win, but it's a lot better than playing at Oklahoma, or at Purdue, or at Xavier. Nobody can deny that. It's a huge difference," SDSU Women’s Head Coach Aaron Johnston said.
That means the odds are good that the Jackrabbits will have an advantage in the number of fans in the stands. It could keep the tide pushing in favor of the blue and yellow.
"I think we'll have a really good crowd. There are a lot of alums in this area. For our fans in Rapid City, it's as close to get here as it is to swing over to Brookings, so I think we're going to have a good crowd tomorrow," Johnston said.
But good crowd or not, it's all going to come down to who plays a better game.
"We need to cut hard and play to our strengths. We have to play our game and not really worry so much about what they are doing so much as what we can do," Lingle said.
Another interesting sidenote: The game will take place on the Sox Walseth court within the Coors Events Center. It's named after Russell "Sox" Walseth who was from Aberdeen, was an all-state basketball player for Pierre and actually coached the SDSU Men’s team in the 1950s.
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