BATON ROUGE- Coming off the fourth best score in school history and a second place finish at the SEC Championships, LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux hoped her team’s performance was enough to keep her seventh-ranked Tigers close to Baton Rouge as they awaited Monday’s announcement as to which NCAA Regional they would attend.
Unfortunately for Breaux, her worst fears became a reality, as the Tigers were shipped to Tuscon, Ariz., in what is arguably the toughest of the six regionals in the NCAA. The regional will be held at the McKale Center on the campus of the University of Arizona on April 1.
On paper, the Tigers should have been shipped to Tuscaloosa, Ala. But due to their seeding in the NCAA rankings, the Tigers could not be placed in a regional with fellow SEC rival Alabama. As a result, the Tigers have been placed in a regional with No. 5 Nebraska, No. 12 Arizona State, host Arizona, Missouri and Illinois-Chicago.
The top two teams from each of the six regionals advance to the NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho from April 13-15.
“I’d say it’s the toughest regional in the country by far,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “There’s a big difference between driving to Tuscaloosa and flying across the country to Arizona. It’s a home meet for Arizona, Arizona State is in their backyard, Nebraska is a top five team, so it’s as tough a draw as we could have gotten.
“The bottom line is we’re going to have to perform like we did at the SEC meet last weekend, it will take that kind of score to advance.”
The Tigers will take this weekend off before heading to Tuscon next Thursday. While not enthused about the location, Breaux has to be enthused about the roll her team has been on heading into the regional. Starting with a sizzling 196.800 against Centenary on Feb. 18, the Tigers have recorded three of the top five scores in school history in the last month, culminating with a 196.825 to finish tied with Georgia for second at the SEC Championships this past weekend.
LSU will be gunning for its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Championships. The Tigers finished second to Stanford at their own NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge a year ago before heading to Salt Lake City for the NCAA Championships where they finished ninth.