Dykes says team needs at-large bid
Jimmy Dykes’ Arkansas women’s basketball team didn’t upset No. 1 seed South Carolina on Friday. But the first-year coach doesn’t think the 58-36 loss should do anything to his team’s prospects of reaching the NCAA Tournament.
Dykes used most of his postgame comments Friday to stump for his team, which needs to earn an at-large bid to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. The field will be announced March 16.
“I still feel like we play like an NCAA Tournament team,” Dykes said.
Among the reasons Dykes cited for the Razorbacks being worthy of selection:
A 17-13 record against what was ranked Friday as the seventh toughest schedule in the country, according to warrennolan. com.
Six nonconference victories, including four over teams ranked in the top 100 in the Ratings Percentage Index, according to the NCAA, in Iowa (7), Oklahoma (19), South Dakota State (53) and Middle Tennessee (67).
A defensive brand of basketball that held South Carolina to less than 60 points for the fourth time all season on Friday, which Dykes said gives his team a chance on a neutral court.
“How we play is built to win games on a neutral floor,” Dykes said. “I think if that selection committee is watching, what kind of team is having success? They look at Arkansas and say ‘That’s the kind of team that can have it.’ ”
Arkansas was ranked 43rd in the RPI before Friday’s loss. ESPN’s Charlie Creme, who projects the NCAA women’s tournament, projects Arkansas as a No. 11 seed playing No. 6 Princeton in a bracket released Friday.
“We deserve to be in the tournament,” Dykes said. “If we’re not in, I know this, there will be teams that get in that don’t have the resume that we do. If they go by what they said. I trust them.”
Coming out
Attendance for this year’s SEC Tournament at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock has been plagued by inclement weather in central Arkansas.
Friday’s first session — which featured Arkansas vs. South Carolina and Texas A&M vs. LSU — had an announced crowd of 4,630, the largest of the tournament.
Through the first two days of the tournament, 5,659 had attended the tournament, with 1,915 visiting Wednesday night and 3,744 coming out Thursday.
Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair, who coached at Arkansas in 1993-2003, has campaigned for good crowds this week and he was pleased with what he saw Friday despite his team’s 71-65 loss to LSU.
He hopes today’s crowds will be better, with South Carolina facing LSU and Tennessee taking on Kentucky or Mississippi State.
“You’re going to see two great semifinals Saturday,” Blair said. “So people need to come out and support women’s basketball, not just the University of Arkansas. Come out and support women’s basketball at the highest level.”
Play on
Inclement weather in the South forced two SEC pep bands to stay home this week.
So, the SEC and Leslie Claybrook, the conference’s assistant commissioner of championships, arranged for the Arkansas and Ole Miss bands to play for Georgia and Kentucky. Georgia and Kentucky’s pep bands had to stay in Athens, Ga., and Lexington, Ky., respectively, because they couldn’t leave because of snow and ice that has plagued the region.
Arkansas’ band, which played earlier Thursday during the Razorbacks’ SEC Tournament game against Mississippi, played for Georgia’s band. Texas A&M’s pep band played for Georgia on Friday night for its game against Tennessee and its dance team also cheered for the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss’ band, who saw their team lose to the Razorbacks earlier in the day, played for Kentucky’s band. Ole Miss’ band was forced to stay overnight at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock because of road conditions between central Arkansas and northern Mississippi.
Kentucky beat Vanderbilt 67-61 while Georgia beat Missouri 75-64, which gives the substitute pep bands a 2-0 record in the SEC Tournament this week, so to speak.
After the Wildcats’ victory Thursday night, Coach Matthew Mitchell credited the SEC and Claybrook for their lastsecond arrangements.
“Those young folks in the band showed up with a lot of enthusiasm for our team,” Mitchell said. “That’s really, really admirable, commendable. “We appreciate it.” While Mitchell — a Mississippi State graduate — was complimentary, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring up his alma mater’s rivalry with the Rebels.
“It’s hard for me to compliment Ole Miss,” Mitchell said. “But I do tonight.”