COLUMBIA, S.C.
Jeff Mittie started his news conference Saturday with a joke.
“If you didn’t have us in your bracket, please leave,” he said.
Mittie might as well have fun with it while he is coaching a team in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
Mittie knows what kind of task his team is facing when the ninth-seeded Wildcats, 19-12, take on top-seeded South Carolina on Sunday with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.
The Gamecocks, 32-1, are playing in their home building, which again had the country’s top-ranked attendance, and the 10,000-plus that were cheering for the Wildats to defeat George Washington on Friday will be against them.