Friends face off in opener

— When Arkansas Coach Tom Collen had a free Sunday during the season — a pretty rare occurrence to be sure — he would channel surf women’s basketball games on television.

If Dayton was playing, Collen would stop and start watching.

He gets a chance Saturday to watch the Flyers in person from the opposing sideline.

The sixth-seeded Razorbacks (23-8) play No. 11 seed Dayton (22-6) in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament at 3:05 p.m. Saturday at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. No. 3 Texas A&M plays No. 14 Albany in the second game of the College Station pod.

Collen watched Dayton games because the Flyers are coached by Jim Jabir, who has been Collen’s close friend for 30 years. Much of Jabir’s high-post offense was designed after consultations with Collen.

“They’re one of the teams, if they happen to be on TV and I don’t have anything to do, I’ll pull them up and watch them,” Collen said. “They’re a team, because of my relationship with him, that I’ve always pulled for and wanted to see be successful.”

The connection to Arkansas doesn’t stop at Tom Collen. It extends to his wife, assistant coach Nicki Collen, who played for Jabir at Marquette and helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament twice.

“Tom is one of the best coaches I’ve been around,” Jabir said. “We ran a lot of stuff we took from him. I wouldn’t put myself in his class.

“Once they throw the ball up, he’s not a friend of mine.”

Jabir has done quite well at Dayton, where he has won 20 or more games five consecutive years and has made the NCAA Tournament three consecutive times. This year, the Flyers earned an automatic bid after winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament with an upset against then-No. 16 St. Bonaventure in the championship game.

The Flyers started the season 4-3 and lost two regularseason conference games to Temple and St. Bonaventure. They avenged both, defeating Temple in the semifinals.

“We had high expectations,” Jabir said. “We started out slowly. It was great that we were able to come back ... in the A-10 tournament and get some revenge.”

Jabir said it was his team’s experience and senior leadership that carried the Flyers. Dayton has seven seniors but are led by junior forward Justine Raterman, a two-time all-conference player who is averaging 14.4 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.

“She’s somebody who has been the most consistent,” Jabir said. “The seniors were huge. They played an important part. They were able to adapt and adjust.”

Jabir said he didn’t know if the Flyers would have earned an at-large bid if they had lost in the conference tournament. They made the field as a No. 11 seed after losing the 2011 title game.

“We feel we earned it,” Jabir said. “Our goal was the win the A-10 tournament. We took care of what we had to.”

Dayton could certainly raise its profile with a victory against an SEC team, but Jabir said the Flyers’ don’t have any far-reaching goals.

“All we care about is winning the game,” Jabir said. “We’ve grown the program, but it means more to win the game.”

Sports, Pages 19 on 03/14/2012