Wright excited by Irish's site

IOWA CITY -- When the NCAA brackets were announced and Notre Dame's destination was revealed, it was met largely with a collective shrug from the Fighting Irish.

Except from Markisha Wright.

"I was really happy."

Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw said, "(Wright) was the most excited person in the room when she saw we were coming back to Iowa. I know ticket requests are going to be unbelievable for her."

Wright led Des Moines East to a state championship in 2011.

Before her senior season at East, she signed with Notre Dame, picking the Irish over Iowa.

"Iowa was my second choice," Wright said. "It sucked telling Coach (Lisa) Bluder I wasn't coming. I really did like the staff, but Notre Dame was just a little higher."

Wright averaged 3.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game as a freshman in South Bend, then her numbers increased to 4.5 points and 4.5 boards per contest this season.

"She's had a great year for us," McGraw said. "She's a physical post player; I like what she's doing on defense. She's a really smart player, picks things up really quickly. I'm really pleased with her progress this year."

In the late 1980s, the Iowa Hawkeyes were in their heyday under C. Vivian Stringer. A high school player from Wheaton, Ill., named Katie Meier wanted to be a part of it.

"I don't know if you want to know this, but I wanted to come here," Meier said. "I spent a lot of time here.  I did all the trips in the van with my mom and dad.

"True story, my high school coach said:  'I think you're kind of good, because some schools are looking at you, where do you want to go?'

"I said, University of Iowa, because I was so close with my family."

Two of Meier's sisters and a brother were students at Iowa.

To make a long story short ...

"Iowa was great at the time but I probably wasn't good enough," Meier said.

She laughed.

"I'm not bitter. I still have the letter -- no, just kidding, I don't."

Meier instead played at Duke. Then, after assistant-coaching stops at UNC-Asheville and Tulane, she took her first head-coaching position in 2001 at Charlotte and has been at Miami the past eight years.

The 2011 Associated Press national coach of the year, Meier takes her Hurricanes into battle with the Hawkeyes on Sunday.

TICKET COUNT: 5,200

According to Iowa women's basketball sports information contact Aaron Blau, more than 5,200 tickets have been sold for Sunday's games.

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 apiece.