Back-to-back national titles and the return of Crouse -- the NCAA Division II national player of the year -- left UND under the gun.
Crouse said this season -- for her -- lacked the pressure of the 1997-98 season. Still, she was the trigger person on UND's season, which ended Saturday with its third straight national title.
With her steadiness, Crouse scored 24 points in leading the Sioux to an 80-63 win over scrappy Arkansas Tech in the Elite Eight championship game. As usual, Crouse showed little emotion on the court. She just went out and did her business.
Pressure?
There wasn't too much.
"I would consider last year as pressure because everyone thought our first championship was a fluke," Crouse said. "The second year (1997-98) we had to prove we were the best."
This season was different for Crouse in the respect that she was targeted by other teams more than she was in her first three years. Slower teams continually held and pushed Crouse, especially when the Sioux were on the road.
Scoring 600 points -- a UND single-season record -- wasn't easy for Crouse, considering players were draped on her for much of the season. But she went through the season without showing much emotion. If the clutching and grabbing bothered her, she didn't show it.
"There was a target on Jenny's back," Roebuck said. "Every night players got after her inside. But I think she had her greatest year. She really stepped it up."
Crouse again won this season's national player of the year award and won the Elite Eight's Most Outstanding Player award for the second straight year.
After Saturday's title win, Crouse calmly talked about her season, saying the pressure really didn't get to her. UND's career scoring leader viewed the season as one in which she had to continually step up her game because of circumstances out of her control.
"For every game, I had to be ready," Crouse said. "The more injuries we had, the more it was an opportunity for me to step up."
She also had to battle another circumstance out of her control, as did the rest of her teammates. Before UND arrived in Pine Bluff, the Sioux were identified as "North Dakota State" in the local newspaper.
Twice at the tournament banquet, North Dakota State received recognition instead of the UND. That bothered Crouse.
"We were not happy," Crouse said. "We're the University of North Dakota, not North Dakota State."
There is no mistake that Crouse is the most dominant player in Division II women's basketball. And the Sioux, for the third straight year, are the best team in the nation.
"That's all that matters," Crouse said.