Think about it. 9 straight NCAA tournaments, and the lowest we have been seeded is 6 in 2006. Every year since we have been a 4 or better, and 7 straight a 3 or better. When Gary Blair was hired I wondered why we were wasting money on a women's basketball team, thinking we could hire a graduate student and get the same success we were having. That's why the success is so amazing.
Gary Blair
Karla Gilbert
Jordan Jones
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
Aggies draw three-seed in NCAAs, dance for ninth-straight season
The saying goes, ‘If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best’.
If the Texas A&M women’s basketball team wants to grab their second national title in four years, the Aggies truly will (most likely) have to beat the best.
On Monday evening, over 400 fans watched at the Cox-McFerrin Center as the No. 15 Texas A&M women’s basketball team drew the third-seed in the Lincoln regional of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Sitting atop the region is the defending national champion and wire-to-wire AP Poll number one Connecticut Huskies.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M head coach Gary Blair has his team in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive season.
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“I didn’t have us going to Connecticut’s region, but that’s what [the committee] does sometimes,” said A&M head coach Gary Blair. “The most important thing is being good enough to get to Connecticut.”
A&M (24-8) plays host to the first two rounds of the tournament and will open up play in a 7 p.m. matchup against 14th-seeded and Big Sky champion North Dakota on Sunday. The weekend’s matchups mark the third straight year Reed Arena has hosted the tournament.
“Getting a chance to play North Dakota is going to be fun," Blair stated. “We’re going to have to work on guarding the post players on all the teams that shoot the ball well from outside. We will play every team just like they are Connecticut.”
If the Aggies prove to be victorious over UND, they will most likely face sixth-seeded Gonzaga in the second round on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. for spot in the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs face-off against 13th-seeded James Madison at 4:30 Sunday afternoon.
“We’re at home. You’re supposed to take care of business at home,” Blair said. “When it comes to dancing, you better have your shoes on and you better be able to keep them laced.”
Once out of the College Station sub-regional, A&M could possibly see two-seed and ACC runner-up Duke in the Sweet 16 before facing the Huskies in the Elite Eight. However, while Connecticut is the odds-on favorite to advance out of the region, regional host and fourth-seeded Nebraska could potentially stand in their way.
While advancing deep into this year’s tournament looks to be a daunting task, the Aggies are somewhat familiar with a few of their potential opponents.
A&M lost to Gonzaga to end the 2010 season, split a home-and-home with Duke in 2009 and 2010, lost both ends of a home-and-home with Connecticut in 2011 and 2012, and had their season prematurely ended by Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
Blair believes the familiarity could help the Aggies, but he enjoys playing teams he hasn’t faced before as well.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Karla Gilbert, one of just two players remaining from A&M's 2011 National Championship team, hopes she can conclude her A&M career with a bang.
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“Connecticut, Duke, Nebraska, and Gonzaga are teams I’ve faced through my whole career," said Blair. “I’ve been in it long enough to face everyone but North Dakota. You get excited to play a new team. I get up for the coaches I play rather than the name of the team.”
The SEC as a whole was rewarded handsomely for their performance on the court this season by landing eight teams in the field, including one-seeds South Carolina and Tennessee. The eight bids by the conference are tie the ACC for the most by a single league this year.
"We got eight teams in," Blair said. “That says a lot. It gives credit to three teams that were 7-9 (Georgia, LSU, Vanderbilt) that made the field in one conference. That’s never happened before.”
In addition to the announcement of the bracket, Blair also announced that the Aggies will take on longtime rival Texas in an SEC-Big 12 challenge next season in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the comment, A&M officials stressed that the game was not set in stone, but Blair said he had been told the game was happening.
“It’s a done deal,” said Blair. “The SEC and Big 12 are the ones arranging the whole thing. What they’re trying to do is build up the [2015] SEC Championship in Little Rock. They haven’t drawn well the last couple years, but if you go in there with Arkansas and Oklahoma playing and us and Texas playing, now you’re building up a crowd base that will hopefully come back.”
According to Blair the plans are to flip-flop teams and have Arkansas play Texas and A&M play Oklahoma in Oklahoma City during the 2015-2016 season when the Big 12 Tournament returns to OKC.
If the Texas A&M women’s basketball team wants to grab their second national title in four years, the Aggies truly will (most likely) have to beat the best.
On Monday evening, over 400 fans watched at the Cox-McFerrin Center as the No. 15 Texas A&M women’s basketball team drew the third-seed in the Lincoln regional of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Sitting atop the region is the defending national champion and wire-to-wire AP Poll number one Connecticut Huskies.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M head coach Gary Blair has his team in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive season.
{"Module":"photo","Alignment":"right","Size":"large","Caption":"A\u0026M head coach Gary Blair has his team in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive season.","MediaItemID":41209}
A&M (24-8) plays host to the first two rounds of the tournament and will open up play in a 7 p.m. matchup against 14th-seeded and Big Sky champion North Dakota on Sunday. The weekend’s matchups mark the third straight year Reed Arena has hosted the tournament.
“Getting a chance to play North Dakota is going to be fun," Blair stated. “We’re going to have to work on guarding the post players on all the teams that shoot the ball well from outside. We will play every team just like they are Connecticut.”
If the Aggies prove to be victorious over UND, they will most likely face sixth-seeded Gonzaga in the second round on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. for spot in the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs face-off against 13th-seeded James Madison at 4:30 Sunday afternoon.
“We’re at home. You’re supposed to take care of business at home,” Blair said. “When it comes to dancing, you better have your shoes on and you better be able to keep them laced.”
Once out of the College Station sub-regional, A&M could possibly see two-seed and ACC runner-up Duke in the Sweet 16 before facing the Huskies in the Elite Eight. However, while Connecticut is the odds-on favorite to advance out of the region, regional host and fourth-seeded Nebraska could potentially stand in their way.
While advancing deep into this year’s tournament looks to be a daunting task, the Aggies are somewhat familiar with a few of their potential opponents.
A&M lost to Gonzaga to end the 2010 season, split a home-and-home with Duke in 2009 and 2010, lost both ends of a home-and-home with Connecticut in 2011 and 2012, and had their season prematurely ended by Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
Blair believes the familiarity could help the Aggies, but he enjoys playing teams he hasn’t faced before as well.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Karla Gilbert, one of just two players remaining from A&M's 2011 National Championship team, hopes she can conclude her A&M career with a bang.
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The SEC as a whole was rewarded handsomely for their performance on the court this season by landing eight teams in the field, including one-seeds South Carolina and Tennessee. The eight bids by the conference are tie the ACC for the most by a single league this year.
"We got eight teams in," Blair said. “That says a lot. It gives credit to three teams that were 7-9 (Georgia, LSU, Vanderbilt) that made the field in one conference. That’s never happened before.”
In addition to the announcement of the bracket, Blair also announced that the Aggies will take on longtime rival Texas in an SEC-Big 12 challenge next season in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the comment, A&M officials stressed that the game was not set in stone, but Blair said he had been told the game was happening.
“It’s a done deal,” said Blair. “The SEC and Big 12 are the ones arranging the whole thing. What they’re trying to do is build up the [2015] SEC Championship in Little Rock. They haven’t drawn well the last couple years, but if you go in there with Arkansas and Oklahoma playing and us and Texas playing, now you’re building up a crowd base that will hopefully come back.”
According to Blair the plans are to flip-flop teams and have Arkansas play Texas and A&M play Oklahoma in Oklahoma City during the 2015-2016 season when the Big 12 Tournament returns to OKC.
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