JR Payne has the Buffs dancing again.

After missing the NCAA Tournament last season, the Colorado women’s basketball team on Sunday earned the No. 10 seed in Regional 1 and will face off with No. 7 Illinois in Nashville on Saturday.

In the other first-round game in Nashville, host Vanderbilt (27-4, 13-3 SEC) will take on Big South Conference tournament champion High Point (27-5, 13-3 Big South). The winners of the two first-round games will meet in the second round on Monday, March 23.

Payne has guided the Buffs to four NCAA appearances during her time in Boulder, including back-to-back Sweet 16 runs in 2022-23 and 2023-24. They also made it in 2022 and lost in the first round to Creighton.

Colorado finished the season 22-11 and 9-9 in the competitive Big 12. The Buffs lost to West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament semifinals last week.

Illinois (21-11) is coming off a 64-58 loss to Iowa in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinal round.

The Buffs will make the program’s 17th overall NCAA Tournament appearance. Colorado has reached three Elite Eights and is 21-16 (.568) in NCAA Tournament games.