FAYETTEVILLE - Too many close losses cost Arkansas’ women’s basketball team its chances to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
Arkansas (19-12) suffered five losses by six or fewer points to NCAA Tournament teams Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.
If the Razorbacks had been able to win a couple of those games - added to their victories over NCAA Tournament teams Kansas, LSU, Oral Roberts and Tulsa - they would probably be in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row instead of playing Memphis (17-14) at 7 tonight in the first round of the WNIT at Walton Arena.
Maybe even winning at Auburn or Mississippi State - the Razorbacks lost each of those road games by three points - would have been enough to convince the NCAA selection committee to include Arkansas. Maybe Arkansas would have gotten in with an 8-8 or 7-9 SEC record instead of 6-10.
“I think in the back of your mind, you always hold out a little bit of hope because from year to year the philosophy of the committee changes little bit, and in any given year they might favor the BCS conferences and they might decide that the seventh- and eighth-place teams in those conferences still have better strength of schedule, still have more quality wins,” Razorbacks Coach Tom Collen said. “I felt like our resume was good. Obviously, we were probably a win or two short.”
The challenge tonight for Collen and the Razorbacks is to put the disappointment of missing the NCAA Tournament behind them and focus on beating Memphis.
“I think the big factors going into the NIT is how badly do you want to play and how badly do you want to compete,” Collen said. “I think there’s probably historically some teams that have gotten into the NIT and maybe the players really didn’t want to continue to play and really compete and want to try and win that thing.”
Collen said he believes the Razorbacks have a good mind-set for tonight’s game.
“But I don’t think we’re going to know until we step out on the court and we find out just how competitive we are,” he said.
Arkansas’ players said they are ready to play and have a goal of winning the WNIT championship, which the Razorbacks did in 1997 while playing all of their games at home.
“Obviously, the NCAA Tournament is something everybody wants to be in, but we can’t look at that,” sophomore guard Calli Berna said. “We just have to look at this tournament and say ‘Why can’t we win it ?’
“We want to win it. We don’t think there is any reason we shouldn’t be able to win it.”
The WNIT offers players like Berna a chance to improve for next season. For seniors like forwards Sarah Watkins and Quistelle Williams, it’s a chance to keep playing and end their college careers on a high note.
“I don’t want it to be my last game against Memphis, and I don’t want it to be my last game against the teamafter that or the team after that,” Watkins said. “So the goal right now is just to win out and not play the last game yet.”
The WNIT doesn’t assign seeds, but Collen said he believes Arkansas is regarded as one of the top teams in the field. Other teams from major conferences include Auburn, Florida, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas State, Marquette, Minnesota, North Carolin State, Utah and Washington.
“They try the best they can, I think, to protect the integrity of the tournament and they do try to assign seeds in their minds and match people up and give the opportunity for the top teams … to get the best draws,” Collen said. “My guess is we probably were pretty well thought of by the NIT.”
The Razorbacks said they don’t have any regrets about practicing and playing this week while other studentsare on spring break.
“I don’t think any of us are bummed out about missing a week off,” Watkins said. “We all still enjoy our week off from school and not having to go to class, so that’s enough break for us.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 03/21/2013