The Automatic Bids

[Dale8R]

http://espn.go.com/ncw/s/2003/autobids.html A good link to check on who has made it in so far. You don't have to look right this minute, as the list only consists of

Austin Peay (27-9), Ohio Valley
Chattanooga (26-4), Southern
Harvard, Ivy League (22-4)

BUT, it won't be long until the dance card starts to fill up!

[Jennifer]

TCU was the first non-top 4 seed to win Conference USA. They were seeded 5th, so had to play 4 games in 4 days to get the win and the automatic bid.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/topstories/stories/031003dnspotcuwomen.b9ad0.html

[YCN]

TCU was the team that everyone had speculated might have committed scheduling suicide this year by taking on such a challenging non-conference schedule.

And it looked like that was the case for a long time after conference play started too. C-USA is one of the better conferences this year, and TCU got knocked around a lot in the early going, with their RPI going down, down, down.

A funny thing happened a few weeks ago, though. TCU started winning games, even some they weren't supposed to win. Although they won their conference tourney, TCU's record and RPI were good enough on their own merits to deserve an at-large this season.

[DblT81]

Missouri and Baylor have to hate that TCU got the automatic bid from CUSA. Cincinnatti is a host for a subregion and the committee would probably like to get them in the field. They should be in based on record and RPI, but if Cincy had the auto big from CUSA it would have been easier to work in another bubble team. Although TCU's RPI 34 is much higher than Baylor or Missouri so they may have gotten that slot anyway in spite of a record of 19-13.

[Dale8R]

Austin Peay (27-9), Ohio Valley
Chattanooga (26-4), Southern
Duke (31-1), ACC
George Washington (24-6), Atlantic 10
Harvard (22-4), Ivy League
Liberty (26-3), Big South
LSU (27-3), Southeastern Conference
Manhattan(20-9), Metro Atlantic
Pepperdine (22-7), West Coast
Purdue (26-5), Big Ten
Stanford (26-4), Pac-10
TCU (19-13), Conference USA
UW-Green Bay (27-3), Horizon
Western Kentucky (22-8), Sun Belt
Villanova (25-5), Big East
Valparaiso, Mid-Continental

That's 16

[Dale8R]

This is the list from Yahoo. ESPN is woefully behind. Still listing 17. I don't think they work weekends.

Boston U. (15-14) America East 3/15
Georgia State (19-10) Atlantic Sun 3/15
Texas (24-5) Big 12 3/15
Weber St (20-9) Big Sky 3/15
Old Dominion (19-10) Colonial 3/15
Western Michigan (19-11) Mid-American 3/15
Hampton (22-8) Mid-Eastern 3/15
New Mexico (22-8) Mountain West 3/15
SW MISSOURI STATE (17-12) Missouri Valley 3/15
St Francis, Pa (22-7) Northeast 3/15
SW Texas St (17-13) Southland 3/15
Alabama St (19-10) Southwest 3/15
Lousiana Tech (29-2) Western Athletic 3/15
Santa Barbara (26-4) Big West 3/15
Holy Cross (24-7) Patriot League 3/12
Western Ky (22-8) Sun Belt 3/11
Valparaiso (18-12) Mid-Continent 3/11
Villanova (25-5) Big East 3/11
Stanford (26-4) Pac-10 3/10
Duke (31-1) Atlantic Coast 3/10
Purdue (26-5) Big Ten 3/10
Geo Washington (24-6) Atlantic 10 3/10
Pepperdine (22-7) West Coast 3/9
Liberty (26-3) Big South 3/9
LSU (26-3) Southeastern 3/9
TCU (19-13) Conference USA 3/9
Manhattan (20-9) Metro Atlantic 3/9
Wisc Green Bay (27-3) Horizon 3/9
Austin Peay (27-9) Ohio Valley 3/8
Chattanooga (26-4) Southern 3/8
Harvard (22-4) Ivy League 2/28

That's 29 ~~ almost time to start filling in the blanks. In case anyone did not notice, that is SMS winning the Missouri Valley! A bit of a surprise, unless a person had been following their recent upsurge.

EDITED to add the missing two (Weber State & New Mexico), that's 31. NOW it's time to pick the other 33!

[This message has been edited by Dale8R (edited 03-16-2003).]

[TXSNOS]

Soutwest Texas State University is going to the NCAAs as the Southland Conference tournament champion. I think the last time they made it, they were sent to Austin and got killed by Texas in the first round. They won't be coming to Austin this year though since Texas isn't hosting. Good luck to the SWT Lady Bobcats!

TXs N Os

[dem]

Originally posted by Dale8R:
In case anyone did not notice, that is SMS winning the Missouri Valley! A bit of a surprise, unless a person had been following their recent upsurge.

SMS first-year head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was one of Bill Fennelly's assistant coaches at Iowa State for the great run from 1995-2000.

[DblT81]

Originally posted by TXSNOS:
Good luck to the SWT Lady Bobcats!



Add my congratulations to Southwest Texas State as well. Two assistant coaches for the Bobcats are from Tech. Noel Johnson was the pg on Tech's national championship team and Will Flemons was a star interior player on the Red Raiders men's basketball team.

Flemons was an assistant coach for James Dickey on the Tech men's team. He was without a job when Dickey was replaced by Bob Knight. I think Coach Sharp's coaching ties got him a job at Bucknell on the women's team. Bucknell made the NCAA tourney last year. Flemons wanted to be back in Texas so he took a job with SWT and now they will go to the NCAA tourney. So Flemon's wbb teams are 2 for 2.