Washington State’s March Madness soundtrack? Shania Twain

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — Man, the Washington State girls’s basketball group has felt like large winners since they adopted Shania Twain’s monster 1997 hit “Man, I Really feel Like A Lady” because the their theme track on their run into March Insanity.

The Cougars sing Twain’s track within the locker room earlier than video games. And after they unexpectedly received the Pac-12 Event title, the opening riff blared on the audio system and the team about drowned out Twain, gleefully singing alongside about males’s shirts, quick skirts — and turning into the lowest-seeded group to ever win the convention tourney.

“We actually are a group of karaoke,” forward Ula Motuga mentioned Friday. “The bus journey, there’s little doubt somebody’s obtained a speaker going after which different folks will sing alongside. Some can sing, some can not. But it surely’s enjoyable. It’s one thing that deliver us collectively.”

Motuga, who’s from Australia, has even used the opening line, “let’s go, women” as a group anthem.

Twain, on tour and unavailable for remark, has grow to be a fan. The five-time Grammy winnerretweeted the Cougars’ team account, writing after the Pac-12 title sport, “I’m honored to have been a small part of your journey!!”

Why cease at a locker room sing-along? The fifth-seeded Cougars tweeted at Twain that it desires to affix her on stage on April 28 when her tour stops in Spokane, Washington, about 75 miles north of campus.

“You feeling a duet with the Cougs that evening?” WSU tweeted.

Motuga is feeling assured: “We will likely be happening stage. She doesn’t comprehend it but, however sure.”

Washington State is also feeling some confidence going into its opening-round NCAA Event sport Saturday in opposition to Florida Gulf Coast at Villanova’s campus — Wazzu’s third straight NCAA look.

The Cougs received 4 video games in 5 days within the Pac-12 Event, beating No. 10 seed California, No. 2 seed Utah, No. 3 seed Colorado and at last UCLA. They’re the primary girls’s group at Washington State to win a convention championship.

Coach Kamie Ethridge joked that her gamers are higher backup singers.

“They’re not shy about singing,” Ethridge mentioned. “You’ll hear all totally different tunes and loudness. I don’t know that I’d say it’s nice. However I’d say it’s a blast to observe them take pleasure in the entire course of. “However Shania, Shania is the lead singer.”

Twain isn’t the one well-known fan throwing her assist behind the Cougars: President Joe Biden picked them to beat FGCU — although he has the Cougars dropping to his national championship pick, Villanova, within the second spherical.

“President Biden, man!” Motuga mentioned. “I feel it’s cool to see a bunch of various folks and public figures tuning in. It simply exhibits the assist they’ve for girls’s basketball, particularly, and extra individuals are shopping for into making a bracket.”

____ AP March Insanity protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25