Tuesday, March 13TCU, Baylor among five invited
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas – Jeff Mittie already knew his Texas Christian Horned Frogs had earned their tickets to the Big Dance, but he still sweated it out a bit. "When I got up this morning, there was still a level of nervousness," said the second-year head coach at TCU. "There's so much excitement to hearing your name on TV." So when TCU's name finally flashed across the big-screen TV as the No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament's East Region, Mittie let out a deep sigh of relief. For the first time in the program's 24-year history, the Horned Frogs received a bid to the NCAA tournament – and nearly 200 delighted fans were on hand at TCU's John Justin Athletic Center to witness the historic moment. "We've played some games in the past few years with this kind of turnout," Mittie quipped. TCU will face No. 6 seed Penn State in Ruston, La., on Saturday. The Horned Frogs earned their berth after they won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and conference titles this season, both school firsts. "Basically everything we've done this season is new – anything else we do is a bonus," said TCU guard Tricia Payne, who was named the WAC tournament's most valuable player on Saturday. "It's just so exciting to see your name on TV and witness this turnaround." About 90 miles south of Fort Worth, Baylor also was celebrating its first-ever invitation to the NCAA tournament. The Bears (21-8) are the No. 8 seed in the West Region and will play No. 9 Arkansas (19-12) in Durham, N.C., on Saturday. In her first season as Baylor's head coach, Kim Mulkey-Robertson has revived a program that had earned only two postseason bids to the National Invitational Tournament in 27 years and finished 7-20 last season. Mulkey-Robertson came from Louisiana Tech, where she won three national championships and went to 11 Final Fours as a player or assistant coach. "We may have raised the bar too quickly," said Mulkey-Robertson. "You just don't put these kind of unrealistic expectations on a program – this is just so special. There's no way I could have ever expected this." Texas Tech (23-6), the No. 2 seed in the Mideast Region, is no stranger to success. The Raiders will host No. 15 seed Pennsylvania (22-5) on Friday. It's the fourth consecutive time Texas Tech will host a NCAA subregional. Coach Marsha Sharp said the Raiders are ready for tournament play, but don't know much about their first-round opponent. "It's funny, we got over 200 tapes with every team in our bracket except (Pennsylvania)," Sharp said. "Our players are pretty confident, but I get the same butterflies every time around this time of year." Raiders forward Plenette Pierson said the team's 73-62 loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament's semifinal, hasn't hurt their confidence. "The loss just gave us a little more time to rest and prepare for the tournament," Pierson said. "We'll be ready come tournament time." In the other half of the Mideast Region, No. 8 seed Texas (20-12) will face St. Mary's (Calif.) on Friday in Knoxville, Tenn. The Longhorns lost to conference rival Tech 71-58 in the Big 12 quarterfinals, leaving coach Jody Conradt a little unsure about the team's NCAA hopes. "It was a big relief for the coaches and the players," said Conradt, who has led Texas to its third straight NCAA bid. "We had a lot of factors to overcome for us to be selected. I had been agitated all day, because I knew we had so many opportunities during the year to control our destiny." Even the players weren't quite sure about the Longhorns' prospects. "My stomach has been in a big knot all weekend," said Texas' Tracy Cook. "All I could do was pray. Then we got the news when our bracket popped up on the selection show and I was so excited." Should Texas defeat St. Mary's, looming in the next round is No. 1 seed Tennessee (29-2), which defeated the Longhorns 67-50 on Dec. 22. Tennessee is hosting the subregional. "It's the nature of collegiate women's basketball that very seldom does a home team lose, but we know we can play with Tennessee," Conradt said. "We had a great game against them here in Austin. However, our focus will be on St. Mary's only the next few days." In the West Regional, Stephen F. Austin (26-6) plays Rutgers (22-7) in the first round Saturday in Piscataway, N.J. The Ladyjacks defeated Northwestern State 82-73 Saturday to win the Southland Conference Tournament title and their 14th straight NCAA Tournament invitation.
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