Old Dominion University's athletic ticket office likely won't send a bouquet to the NCAA women's basketball committee this morning.

But it should.

The committee dropped a gem -- several gems, actually -- into Old Dominion's lap last night by assigning the three most dynamic women's basketball teams in the state -- ODU, Virginia and Liberty -- to Norfolk for next week's first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I tournament.

"Wow," Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "How about that? A state championship tournament as part of the NCAA tournament. I know this: [ODU's Ted Constant Convocation Center] is going to be rocking."

No argument there. Old Dominion, the 14th-ranked Colonial Athletic Association champion, was seeded fifth in the Greensboro Region. The Lady Monarchs (29-4) will play host to Liberty (28-3), the 12th-seeded Big South champion, on Easter Sunday.

"Playing Old Dominion at Old Dominion? That's going to be tough, obviously," said Liberty guard Allyson Fasnacht. "Playing on somebody else's home floor is something you hope you'll never have to do in the NCAA tournament."

Then she brightened. "But then again, it's Norfolk, which means it's close. Maybe we'll be able to take a couple of busloads of fans with us and take away some of their advantage."

Also playing in Norfolk on Easter Sunday: No. 4-seeded Virginia, which will meet 13th-seeded Cal-Santa Barbara (23-7). Should the Cavaliers (23-9) win their first-round game, their next task could be a Tuesday night date with the Lady Monarchs, who are 16-0 on their home floor this year. These two clubs have met 30 times but have collided only twice as NCAA opponents. Virginia won both of those games, played in 1996 and 2005.

Cavaliers senior point guard Sharnee Zoll, like Fasnacht, found reason to be optimistic despite the apparent advantage given the Lady Monarchs.

"It's good for our preparation because it's close and we won't have to leave as early," Zoll said. "We'll be in a familiar setting and we'll be in the same time zone. When you have to play in a different time zone, sometimes it takes a few days to adjust. So staying [close to home] should be really good for us."

Some chose to ignore the committee's fascination with geography.

"The way I look at it, at this time of year you have to be ready for anybody -- and I think we are," said ODU forward Megan Pym. "We'll play whoever they ask us to play. Our concern is doing the things we need to do to win. It's not who we're playing or where they're from."

Last night's developments were particularly sweet for Virginia, an at-large entry from the ACC; and Liberty, an automatic entry from the Big South. U.Va made 21 NCAA appearances in 22 years before failing to qualify in each of the past two seasons. Only one Virginia player, Zoll, has NCAA tournament experience.

Said Cavaliers junior forward Lyndra Littles, "I'm not all that excited yet, but I will be when I get there and realize that I'm playing in the NCAA tournament. It's going to be a nice change from playing in the WNIT every year."

Liberty won 10 consecutive Big South championships before an injury to standout forward Megan Frazee doused the Flames in last year's conference semifinals. That failure stung for 12 months.

"We had a saying this year. It was only two words, but it said a lot. It was: 'Earn It,'" Frazee said. "We had it printed on sweatshirts."

Frazee said it was used as a mantra of sorts before every game and during every practice. "I think we all knew in the locker room [following the 2007 semifinal setback] what we had to do. We were willing to do whatever it took and make whatever changes we had to make to get back."

The selection committee bestowed No. 1 seeds upon Connecticut (32-1) in the Greensboro Region, North Carolina (30-2) in the New Orleans Region, Tennessee (30-2) in the Oklahoma City Region and Maryland (30-3) in the Spokane Region. UNC, stalking its third consecutive Final Four appearance, will take its first steps on the tournament trail in Norfolk. The Tar Heels, ranked No. 2 nationally, will face 16th-seeded Bucknell on Easter Sunday.

Two state teams, James Madison of the CAA (22-9) and Radford of the Big South (23-11), have received automatic invitations to the 48-team women's postseason National Invitation Tournament. Virginia Commonwealth University's NIT status was unclear at press time last night.