FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas women’s basketball team’s pursuit of its first Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship since 1999 is seemingly paying homage to the coach who led the Razorbacks to the title nearly 24 years ago.
Gary Blair, the winningest coach in program history, coached at Louisiana Tech and Stephen F. Austin – the Razorbacks’ first two opponents in the 2023 WNIT.
Blair then spent the next 10 seasons taking the Razorbacks to heights it is yet to reach again. Arkansas had five NCAA Tournament appearances under Blair, including a Final Four in 1998, and won the WNIT crown the following year.
Arkansas (22-12) defeated Louisiana Tech in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday, and it hosts Stephen F. Austin in the second round at 7 p.m. tonight inside Bud Walton Arena.
Mike Neighbors, in his sixth season coaching the Razorbacks, comes from the Blair coaching tree. Neighbors was Arkansas’ director of operations in 1999 following a successful five years coaching at the high school ranks.
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He considers Blair one of his biggest mentors and a friend. The “Gary Blair Coaching Tour” his team is on was brought up during a recent phone call between the two.
“I [talked with him] a little bit in-between him making a six-foot downhill birdie putt on eight,” Neighbors said with a laugh. “He couldn't have cared less what I was talking about. He was more interested in describing his golf match.
“But, yeah, two places that you can't really talk about without him.”
The Razorbacks are hoping the second stop on the “tour” goes similarly to the first. Arkansas handled Louisiana Tech on Thursday and claimed a decisive 69-47 win.
Stephen F. Austin (27-6) presents a new challenge for Neighbors' team as the Ladyjacks had an NCAA Tournament-caliber season. But the Western Athletic Conference’s top seed lost in its second game in the league tournament.
“Ironically, we watch them a lot,” Neighbors said. “My wife Jayci coached there back in the day, so she recruited a lot of those kids. We watch them quite a bit. I’ve got a lot of respect for how [Coach] Mark [Kellogg] runs his program.
“They're hard to defend, they play multiple defenses and it'll be really hard for us to have them completely scouted. It was a team that kind of got a bad draw in their tournament but is an NCAA-caliber team year in and year out.”
Though Neighbors’ team was disappointed to miss out on a bid to the Big Dance after exceeding 20 wins for the third time under his guidance, it has now embraced the opportunity at hand.
“I've been on teams where we have not made anything,” said Chrissy Carr, who is playing her final college season with Arkansas after previously playing for Kansas State and Syracuse. “I am happy that we are in the postseason.
“Although it did suck that we did not make the NCAA Tournament, I'm happy that we are able to play in Bud [Walton Arena] again, [and] play in front of our fans one more time, especially for my last year of college basketball.”