FAYETTEVILLE — The NCAA may have done a little finagling to make an enticing second-round women’s NCAA Tournament game possible.
Now, Arkansas just has to take care of things in the first round. The Razorbacks were given a sixth seed and sent to College Station, Texas.
Arkansas will play No. 11 seed Dayton at 3:05 p.m. Saturday. It is the Razorbacks’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003 while the Flyers are making their third consecutive appearance.
If the Razorbacks (23-8) make it past the Flyers (22-6), they would most likely play third-seeded Texas A&M in the second round. Texas A&M plays No. 14 Albany in the first round.
The Aggies, of course, are the defending national champions. They are coached by Gary Blair, who led the Razorbacks to the 1998 Final Four.
Arkansas Coach Tom Collen was Blair’s assistant and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas and received a lot of credit for recruiting the players who were the backbone of the 1998 Final Four team.
“The NCAA loves a good storyline,” Collen said Monday night. “When they fill out their brackets, they love to try to find some things to talk about outside the basketball court. Sending us to Texas A&M isn’t a complete surprise.
“Gary and I have a great relationship, and they’re coming into the SEC. Hopefully, we can take care of our business, and they can take care of their business.”
Arkansas’ players said they were aware of Blair’s history at Arkansas but were more excited - by a long shot - to be in the tournament. The team found out during a private watch party at Collen’s home.
For the seniors, who were members of Collen’s first recruiting class at Arkansas, the selection announcement was the reward for a four-year quest.
“This is what we fought for,” senior guard C’eira Ricketts said. “To know we finally reached it, I’m at a loss for words.”
Senior guard Lyndsay Harris said she knows of Blair’s history at the school but that’s about it. The players do know who won the national title a year ago and who will have home-court advantage in the possible second-round game.
“It was definitely brought up that if we won the first round, we would be playing Texas A&M at Texas A&M,” Harris said, “which is fine, it’d be a good opportunity.”
Collen said he was confident Arkansas would get into the tournament so the televised selection show wasn’t nerve-racking in that regard. He thought Arkansas could get as high as a No. 5 seed but figured 6 would be where his team landed.
Collen made seven NCAA tournaments in nine seasons at Colorado State and Louisville. This will be Arkansas’ first NCAA Tournament in Collen’s five years at the school.
“We clearly anticipated being a part of the field but there’s nothing like when your name finally comes up on the board,” Collen said. “I’ve got to admit to you it has been a while since I’ve felt that. I really didn’t think I would be all that nervous about it. It was a good anxiety.”
There was preselection talk that Arkansas may be sent to the Little Rock pod, hosted by No. 14 seed UALR.Collen said he would have loved that site, more because the Razorbacks fans would have an easier time attending, but said College Station was a good fallback choice, especially when compared to possible destinations on the East Coast or Washington state.
“I think we were most excited we didn’t have to go to Washington,” Ricketts said. “It’s a long trip. No matter where we went, we would have been happy.”
COLLEGE STATION SUBREGIONAL SATURDAY No. 6 Arkansas (23-8) vs. No. 11 Dayton (23-6), 3:05 p.m. Central, ESPN2 No. 3 Texas A&M (22-10) vs. No. 14 Albany (23-9), 6:35 p.m., ESPN2
Sports, Pages 15 on 03/13/2012