Life University is in the NCR Women's playoffs, and that might turn heads a bit, but there's a method in the madness.

The Running Eagles will still play in D1 Elite in the spring, and in fact played Lindenwood, BYU, and Penn State this fall. For the most part these games had relaxed sub rules and sometimes teams completely replaced their lineups. So, yes, Life beat Penn State twice and BYU once, and lost twice to Lindenwood, but these results come with a grain of salt.

What all the games did for Life was to give playing time for everyone. Head Coach Rosalind Chou wanted this just to help develop her players, but also because the younger players are who will be in the NCR playoffs.

"We packed our schedule," said Chou. "My big thing was to get the NCR squad some playing time, and it was really cool to see them forced to step up."

Chou will be fielding a team made up predominantly of freshmen and sophomores. They might be augmented by one or two juniors, and Life made a deal with NCR that they would be able to field one D1 Elite player in each game. It would have to be a different player each time, and Chou said the spirit of that rule is that she wouldn't use any All Americans or capped players, and that is how she will pick her team.

"What I wanted was for the players to learn how to pull through," said Chou. "Putting these first- and second-year players out there and leaving them to learn to pull out a game was more valuable than you can imagine."

Life will have a small roster, with some young players such as Emma Fredland Adams, Nina Mason, Amaya Moala, and Emma Diaz bringing good skills and athleticism, but young players that also have to learn.

Life takes on Syracuse Saturday in the NCR Round of 16.

NCR Women's College Playoff Brackets Set

Are they favorites? Even with the young lineup they probably are. But this is not a red carpet to a national title for the Running Eagles. They will have to work hard to get to the top.