COLLEGE PARK — You don't expect to see two top-15 teams collide in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
And there lies the rub for Princeton coach Courtney Banghart as her undefeated Tigers prepare to meet top-seeded Maryland Monday in the NCAA women's basketball round of 32.
To her mind, it's a matchup that deserves a bigger stage — perhaps in the Elite Eight or the Final Four — and on a neutral floor instead of Maryland's home court.
"The basketball geek in me is always excited to play against an elite team and to do so in front of so many people in a meaningful environment," Banghart said Sunday before her team practiced at the Xfinity Center. "Do I think the year warranted this to be later down the road? Of course. To be playing a one seed in the second round for a team that's 31-0 is unfortunate for the game. If you look at the ratings from [Saturday], our game was on around the globe. A lot of people are interested in our team."
Banghart's players are tired of discussing the controversy that erupted when Princeton received a No. 8 seed despite entering the tournament as the only undefeated team in the country.
But there's a practical downside to the seed — a result of Princeton's relatively weak schedule, according to the selection committee.
As Banghart explained after her team's first-round victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay: "The issue on the seed is not ego-driven. … The one seeds, let's just call a spade a spade: the one seeds in women's basketball are really good. So regardless of the result, if we don't beat Maryland, that doesn't mean we couldn't beat the No. 15 team in the country. That's the part where the seed bothers you, the second round of this tournament. Because you're playing a one seed."
All the talk about Princeton has put Maryland (31-2) in the odd position of being an overlooked top dog.
"I think it's fun," said sophomore point guard Lexie Brown. "I wouldn't say we're the underdog, but it kind of feels like that."
Maryland coach Brenda Frese said Princeton's gripes about the No. 8 seed were justified, but she's focused more on the basketball challenges the Tigers present.
"There's a lot that keeps you up at night," she said. "They're a really high-IQ team, and they do a tremendous job executing what they want."
The Terrapins are bigger inside, swifter in transition and stocked with highly recruited stars who'd probably beat most of Princeton's starters in one-on-one matchups.
But the Tigers can play rough inside, as Green Bay players noted after Princeton racked up a 49-22 rebounding advantage. And they're exceptional at working for good shots, a discipline which paid off in 49 percent shooting and 41 percent three-point shooting during the season.
"We can extend them pretty well, which is probably what they're not excited about," Banghart said in assessing the Maryland matchup. "But they can really pound us inside, which we're probably not excited about dealing with. So it's about who can execute the right game."
Princeton had never made the NCAA Tournament before Banghart took over eight years ago, but she's led the Tigers to five appearances in six years. They hadn't won a tournament game until Saturday, however, so there's a novelty that isn't present for Maryland players, who are used to making deep NCAA runs.
The Tigers know they can make the story even better by knocking off a true powerhouse.
"Maryland is definitely a game we're looking forward to, a game where we can prove the Ivy League can compete against big schools," Princeton captain Blake Dietrick said.
Banghart was swept up enough, thinking about her program's journey, that she almost didn't register President Barack Obama cheering on her team Saturday.
"It was wow, it's come to be," she said. "In terms of all that goes into the pieces being good enough and then the whole being even better than the sum of the pieces."
One of those pieces is Obama's niece, freshman reserve Leslie Robinson. The president picked Princeton, also his wife's alma mater, to beat Maryland and roll on to the Final Four.
Despite such high-level backing, Banghart knows her team will have to play its best game to upset Maryland.
"Should we win?" she said. "If I was doing my bracketology, knowing them and knowing us, knowing it's at Maryland, if you play that game 10 times, they're going to win it more than five. But as I've said all the time, we don't have to win it more than five. We just have to win it once."