BATON ROUGE — It was predetermined that LSU was going to host the first- and second-rounds of the 2004 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The NCAA selection committee made it official that the Lady Tigers will be playing at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center by awarding the program an at-large bid as the No. 4 seed in the West Region.
The Lady Tigers earned the bid with a 23-7 overall record and a second-place finish in the Southeastern Conference.
It was also announced on Sunday during the selection show that LSU will play No. 13 seed Austin Peay out of the Ohio Valley Conference, while No. 5 Miami (Fla.) (BIG EAST) and No. 12 Maryland (Atlantic Coast Conference) will also play in the Maravich Center in the first-round match-ups.
The first-round games will be played on Sunday and the second-round game will be played on Tuesday. Times will be determined for the first- and second-round games no later than Monday evening.
Austin Peay, making their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, posted a 23-7 overall record and earned the OVC’s automatic bid by defeating Morehead State, Southeast Missouri and Eastern Kentucky in the conference tournament. The Lady Govs, located in Clarksville, Tenn., also won the regular season title.
Miami (Fla.), marking their sixth trip into the field of 64, were 22-6 overall and finished fourth in the BIG EAST, but bowed out of the BIG EAST Tournament in the second round to Boston College.
Maryland, marking the Field of 64 for the 13th time, posted an overall 17-12 record, finishing fourth in the ACC. The Terrapins advanced to the Semifinals of the ACC Tournament before falling to Duke.
LSU is hosting the first- and second-round games for the first time since 2000 when the team advanced to the Regional Final.
The team that advances out of Baton Rouge will travel to Seattle, Wash., for the West Regional Semifinals on March 27 and 29.
ACTING HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN
On finally finding out their seeding in the NCAA Tournament …
“I am not going to sit here and comment on who is number one, two, three, four, but talk about being in control. I know that we have a game on the 21st (of March) and it’s going to be played at the PMAC, and I know that you guys (the fans) will be there. We’ll talk about being in the moment and at the moment we are going to bask for a little while because a lot of times the energy that people have is that last game and that was against Vanderbilt and they forget that. This is a team (LSU) that lost three players to the draft, experience player Kisha James, also Patty Hanten. We were wounded in the post early on — post by committee — and long story short we went on to finish second in the best conference in the country. That’s our potential and we haven’t maximized that yet and that’s what we are going to work on right now. We are definitely familiar with the West Coast route, and we have adjusted to the time. In my opinion we are going to do what we have to do in terms of getting ready for our opponent on the 21st.”
On seeing that Vanderbilt was a No. 2 seed and assuming that LSU would be a No. 3 seed …
“Yeah, well I said a couple of other things as well, but you never can tell and that’s why I try not to get too anxious about it. But, that speaks volumes for the conference and the run that Vanderbilt put together. You can’t control those things and I know what we can control starting on those things tonight.”
On the dangers of paying too much attention to the seedings …
“It is a danger. You can go back and forth, but once the tournament starts, none of the things happen. There are upsets, the whole nine yards and you need to focus on the task at hand.”
On 4,200 tickets being sold and a possibility of selling more …
“We have been known for a great walk-up, but we want to make sure people are going to be up in the stands and cheer, and I think that they will be pleased with the product.”
On the possibility of avenging last year’s Elite Eight lost to Texas …
“We will talk about Austin Peay. There are a lot of story lines that are set, but I think the most important one right now is for us to concentrate on Austin Peay.”
On being able to turn last week’s lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament into being a good thing …
“I think it is good because you don’t just want to forget about that and there are some elements that you can correct. Right now you are one and done so you have to take the bad and turn it into a good because you have the time to do it and get ready to play on the 21st.”