I agree - we were ranked 13th nationally coming into the tournament, but beating the 3rd-ranked team has got to bump us up considerably. Plus, we were ranked as high as 4th nationally in the early non-conference slate as late as September, then had a run of losses and ties - including a 2-0 loss to then 11th-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa - that dropped us out of the top 25 for a week. Then we climbed back up to where we are now.
I think the tournament committee may see that rough stretch as just a slump, and that we're now more like the top 5 national team we were thought of back in the early portion of the season.....