Dani Edwards was in her room “chillin’” when a team manager called her and wanted to know if the team was planning to go to Littlejohn Coliseum early because Monday’s selection show was moved up after an unfortunate glitch on ESPN2 revealed the NCAA Tournament bracket around 4:15 p.m.

One of the glitches showed Clemson as a No. 9 seed and was playing in Starkville, Miss., against South Dakota.

However, Edwards had not been on any social media platforms and did not realize the women’s championship bracket had been released.

“I had not been on social media all day because I was waiting for this moment,” Clemson’s senior guard said. “Then of course our group chat started popping and that is how I found out.”

Clemson scheduled a viewing party at Littlejohn Coliseum for seven o’clock on Monday, but when ESPN decided to move its selection show up to 5 p.m., because of the mess up, it left Clemson scrambling to try and save the moment for their girls.

“It was just kind of crazy,” head coach Amanda Butler said.

Butler found out her team was in when she got a phone call from one of her coaches.

“One of my assistants called me and told me there had been a mix up somehow and that the bracket had fallen into the hands of Twitter and asked did I want to know who we were playing. And I said, ‘Yes! I want to know who we are playing.’”

When word got out that the bracket was put on Twitter, Clemson tried its best not to let the team see it. It wanted them to be able to view the event at seven o’clock, when ESPN’s regularly scheduled show was to air.

They wanted it to be special, especially considering they are the first Clemson women’s basketball team to receive and NCAA Tournament bid in 17 years.

“I will say I had hoped that we could somehow, which is really a reflection of my limited grasp of technology, keep them from knowing until we actually got to the show,” Butler said. “Then they moved the show up to five. It was a very unorthodox and unplanned way, but still it was a great celebration for the seven o’clock showing.”

Though the Tigers, who will play No. 8 seed South Dakota in the Portland Region on Friday in Starkville, Miss., found out a couple of hours early they were in the tournament field, they still made the best of it at the viewing party.

The team sat in tall orange chairs up front in the Coliseum Club so they could watch the show on the big video board in the middle of Littlejohn Coliseum. When they showed Clemson’s name on the bracket, the team and the hundred or so supporters who came to watch cheered loudly and started the Cadence Count.

“There are a lot of things they are trying to figure out on how this happened or that happened or whatever,” Butler said. “I told these guys that it will be a great story for them about getting in the tournament. The whole season, the ‘Ugly Ducklings’ and everything that has kind of led to this. Now we have this big selection moment and then all of a sudden it is not quite the traditional unfolding of events.

“In the end, all we care about is that we are in and we get another opportunity to play.”

—Photo courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications