If you’re scanning the bracket for a potential 15-over-2 upset, circle the Jacksonville Dolphins women’s basketball team.
The numbers, the coaching pedigree, and the trajectory of this program all point to a team capable of making noise when they face No. 2 LSU on March 20 at 6 p.m. ET.
This is not a feel-good story masquerading as a scouting report. This is a team with a legitimate statistical profile — and a head coach, Special Jennings, whose résumé screams tournament readiness at every level she’s touched.
Special Jennings: A Championship Résumé at Every Level
Here’s where the scouting report on this team gets genuinely compelling. Coach Jennings is making her March Madness coaching debut, but she is no stranger to winning when it counts.
As a player, Jennings was a standout point guard who played for Xavier between 2007 and 2011, appearing in 131 games and earning two-time All-Atlantic 10 honors. She helped lead the Musketeers to four A-10 Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
As a junior in 2009-10, she helped take Xavier to the Elite Eight — meaning she has firsthand experience navigating the pressure of the tournament’s deepest rounds. That kind of player experience in high-stakes environments is not something you can simulate in practice.
After playing professionally in Finland between 2011 and 2013, Jennings transitioned into coaching.
She spent time at the University of Illinois Chicago, Flagler College, Augusta College, and Wright State in various coaching and administrative roles before taking over at Monteverde Academy.
Under her leadership, the team went 68-6 and won back-to-back GEICO High School National Championships in 2022 and 2023.
She was named a finalist for Naismith Girl’s High School Coach of the Year in 2023 and served as an assistant coach for the USA Women’s Nike Hoop Summit Team through USA Basketball that same year.
High school nationals. Conference titles as a college player. An Elite Eight run. USA Basketball. Championships seemingly follow Jennings at every stop.
Special Jennings’ Three-Year Turnaround
Jacksonville announced Jennings’ hiring on April 10, 2023, making her the fifth head coach since the program began play in 1999. The rebuild was immediate but steep.
The Jacksonville University Dolphins finished 11-20 her first year and 14-17 during the 2024-25 season. This year’s 24-9 mark represents a 13-win improvement in just two seasons — the kind of rapid ascent that suggests a coach installing a system, not riding a fluke.
“Basketball was a vehicle that had that (gifted) me so many life experiences that I don’t think I would have been able to afford,” Jennings said of wanting to coach, per Cleveland.com. “I knew that I wanted to give back to this game, the way that it’s been given to me.”
Jennings captured the feeling of winning the ASUN title perfectly.
“Everyone thinks about what it would be like to win a championship,” she said, per Cleveland.com. “And then when you actually get in that moment, you don’t know how to feel. … I was happy that it hit zero.”
Jacksonville Dolphins Searching for March Madness Upset
Jacksonville’s 24-9 record this season tied their program’s single-season win mark, but the raw win total barely scratches the surface. The Dolphins set a program record for points per game at 72.9, signaling an offense that can sustain scoring pressure across 40 minutes.
More critically for bracket purposes: Jacksonville leads the entire nation in free throw attempts per game at 25.8. For anyone who has studied how mid-major upsets materialize in March, that number is significant.
Teams that consistently get to the line control tempo, survive foul trouble mismatches, and keep games tight in the final minutes — precisely the formula a 15-seed needs against a power conference opponent.
Getting to the charity stripe at that rate means the Jacksonville Dolphins basketball team is attacking, drawing contact, and putting pressure on opposing defenses to stay disciplined.
On March 9, Jacksonville proved it could win in the tightest of moments, beating Austin Peay 66-63 in overtime to claim the ASUN Championship.
That win secured the program’s second trip to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, joining only the 2015-16 squad.
Winning a conference championship in overtime tells you something about a team’s composure under pressure — a quality that translates directly to the tournament stage.
Is a 15-over-2 upset easy? Of course not. But if you’re looking for the 15-seed with the profile to pull it off, Jacksonville has earned a long look in your bracket.
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