For the most part, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection committee did a fine job in choosing and distributing the 64-team field that will begin vying for the Final Four this weekend in Indianapolis. The committee wasn’t blinded by Stanford’s no. 1 ranking, correctly seeding the Cardinal at no. 2 in the Kansas City regional on account of their weak schedule.

While I’m sympathetic to the cases presented by Gonzaga, Delaware, Southwest Missouri State, and Chattanooga – each a mid-major conference regular-season champ that lost in their conference tournament – the committee was consistent in rewarding big conference teams with lesser records, like Purdue and Oklahoma.

But one has to wonder what they have against Rutgers, which is saddled with a no. 3 seed in the Philadelphia regional after finishing the regular season ranked no. 9 in the country. Thanks not only to the low seed, but also the location, the Scarlet Knights will have to face the toughest road to Indy of any top-10 team.

Rutgers should be savoring a chance to assert itself as a regional powerhouse. The team went 25-6 this year, winning the Big East regular-season title before losing to UConn in the conference tournament final. The Knights had the most impressive single week of any team in the nation in late December and early January when they walloped then no. 8 Tennessee 65-51, went to Austin and edged no. 3 Texas 51-47, and returned to Piscataway to beat then no. 1 LSU 51-49.

In addition to Rutgers’ fine season, they’re having a solid recruiting campaign, signing some of New York City’s top high-school players (oddly, the city has been the province of SEC schools like Georgia and Tennessee), and they’re already the school of choice for most of New Jersey’s top high school ballers.

Rutgers’ rise owes to a powerhouse starting lineup, a swarming, physical defense, and stellar coaching. Team leader Cappie Pondexter is an excellent swing woman who can shoot from long range (41.5% from behind the arc) and play effectively inside. Point guard Matee Ajavon breaks down opponents on the dribble and gets to the rim. Essence Carson is a forward with sharp ball-handling skills.

With several players boasting guard skills, you’d think Rutgers would run an up-tempo offense, but instead they work methodically through disciplined half-court sets designed by coach C. Vivian Stringer, one of the storied veterans of the women’s game. She has taken three teams to the Final Four and has more than 700 career victories. All of her teams have been known for their stingy defense, and this Rutgers unit ranks third in the nation, allowing only 51.2 points per game. The Scarlet Knights’ zone press is potent in the women’s game, as few teams possess an agile center who can enable teams to throw over the top of the defense. Despite all these attributes, Rutgers was ranked just 24th before their week of upsets.

Several top teams should coast into the Sweet 16, (for instance, LSU’s first two opponents have combined for at least 24 losses), but Rutgers will have to battle. For one, they will start out of Storrs Conn., the home court of UConn.

Being the Huskies’ chief rival makes Rutgers unpopular already, but that situation was exacerbated by an on-court exchange of harsh words between Pondexter and UConn coach Geno Auriemma at the end of the Big East title game last week. Those factors alone would make Storrs a hostile environment, but Rutgers’ first opponent Sunday afternoon is 14-seed Hartford (22-8), which not only enjoys regional proximity, but is coached by Jennifer Rizzotti, who starred at UConn in the mid-90s.

If Rutgers survives that encounter, they will likely face sixth seed and no. 15-ranked Temple. The Owls, whose 27-3 record includes a 71-60 defeat of Rutgers in mid-December, rides into Storrs on a 24-game win streak. This matchup reveals the shortsightedness of the selection committee, which for some reason paired the no. 10 and no. 15 ranked teams in the round of 32.

The irony is that if the Scarlet Knicks survive their trip to Connecticut, they’ll be the home team in the Philadelphia regional, where they could face rematches with no. 7 Ohio State (to whom they lost 52-50 in January) and Tennessee, the no. 1 seed in the region.

But regardless of how things turn out, the future is bright for Rutgers women’s hoops. Pondexter has another year of eligibility left and has announced that she will return to play it out. Carson and Ajavon are freshmen, and the new recruiting class could be one of the school’s best. At worst, Rutgers figures to remain a formidable rival to UConn. But with their current lineup, stout defense, and solid recruiting, this tournament could be where the Scarlet Knights become known as a dominant force in the region.

Speaking of UConn, they get what should amount to a free ride into the Sweet 16. The Huskies are in the Kansas City regional, though they start with two games on their home court. Their first-round opponent, Dartmouth, figures to offer little resistance. Their second-round foe, Florida State or Richmond, will be tougher, but it’s hard to see how either will overcome the home-court advantage enjoyed by the Huskies.

Once in Kansas City, UConn could face stiff challenges from Michigan State, which thrashed UConn in Storrs earlier this season, and no. 2 seed Stanford. But this weekend, the big games in Storrs are the ones that don’t involve the Huskies.