COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The opportunities are fleeting in the NCAA Tournament.
For the University of Delaware women’s basketball team, this was four years in the making while Jasmine Dickey and the three other senior starters in Paris McBride, Lizzie Oleary and Ty Battle navigated their way through the trials and tribulations of their careers.
And just like that, it was over.
The No. 13 seed Blue Hens were buried 102-71 by No. 4 Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
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Sure, some of the seniors can return for an extra year due to the COVID-affected season of 2020-21.
That includes Dickey, who is 19 points shy of becoming the second player in UD history to eclipse 2,000 points for her career.
Dickey would need 1,059 points next season to pass Elena Delle Donne, who finished with 3,039 points, the fifth most in NCAA history. That means Dickey would have to average 33.1 points per game over 32 games next season.
That’s probably out of reach. Then again, Dickey was third in the nation in scoring this season, averaging 25.3 points per game after pouring in 31 points Friday.
At the very least, she could make a run at 3,000.
But Dickey isn’t coming back. She has already announced that she will enter the WNBA draft, and Maryland coach Brenda Frese, for one, said she’ll make “a great pro.”
So where does this leave the Blue Hens?
After all, it took UD nine years just to get back to the NCAA Tournament after Delle Donne had taken the Hens to the Sweet 16 in 2013.
At the mid-major level, that’s reality.
Delaware coach Natasha Adair knows she can ride a star player to win three Colonial Athletic Association tournament games in order to reach the NCAA Tournament.
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But she needs more than Dickey against a team like Maryland, ranked No. 13 in the AP poll. The Terps have played all three No. 1 seeds in the tournament, and have a win over No. 2 seed Baylor.
“You don’t replace (Dickey),” Adair said. “But you do understand that she grew in this program … And over her career, she developed into a star.
“But we do understand that this was a culture that she brought. All of those intangibles, characteristics that she helped to build. You won’t ever find another Jasmine, but you will find other players that can feed off the legacy that she has built, and her team has built.”
Dickey, after all, averaged 7.9 points per game as a freshman and 12.6 as a sophomore before blossoming her last two seasons.
So who’s the next Dickey?
Is it Tyi Skinner, the 5-5 sophomore guard who was the only other Blue Hen in double figures with 10 points? Or could it be one of the seniors? Or one of the incoming recruits?
Those aren’t the right questions, though.
That’s because for every player like Dickey, who comes along maybe once a decade at Delaware or any other mid-major school, Maryland has three.
The Terps had guards who were bigger than any player UD put on the court. That included Diamond Miller, a 6-foot-3 guard who spent the game following Dickey everywhere she went.
Miller and others made Dickey work extremely hard for those 31 points. Dickey hoisted 32 shots, making 12.
It was the same under the basket for Battle, who came into the game sixth in the nation in double-doubles with 22. But the 6-footer had to deal with Angel Reese (6-3), Chloe Bibby (6-2) and Shyanne Sellers (6-2), all of whom can play on the perimeter, too.
Battle finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds.
You get the idea.
UD has the culture and the winning pedigree in place to be successful in the CAA, even without Dickey. They’re 48-13 in these last two seasons under Adair. And that could be good enough for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
But in women’s basketball, there’s a big difference between the top schools in the power-five conferences and everybody else. That’s not going to change anytime soon.
None of that should take away from what the Hens accomplished these last two seasons. They reached the semifinals of the WNIT last season, and then the NCAA Tournament this season.
Even the lopsided defeat to Maryland was encouraging in that the Hens were within 9 midway through the third quarter after Dickey scored. At that point, Dickey had scored 21 straight UD points.
But it wasn’t sustainable. Maryland scored the next 12 points and quickly pulled away. Before long, the Hens’ fate was sealed.
“It’s the now, and it hurts, and it should hurt because all that was invested in getting here,” Adair said. “But I want them to be proud that they are sitting here, that they’re one of 68, one of the elite.
“When this dies down, and this little sting goes away, we’re going to celebrate and we’re going to party because there’s so much to be proud of.”
Dickey showed the Hens what they can grow towards. Reaching the NCAA Tournament is always the goal. But going even farther becomes the new goal.
That this is even possible is a tribute to Dickey.
“This loss isn’t going to take away from what we accomplished,” Dickey said. “I wanted to make my mark. Our team wanted to make our mark. I think that’s what we did. I feel like we put Delaware on the map.”
Now it’s up to Adair and the Hens to make sure Delaware stays on the map.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
