Texas A&M coach will use upsets in men's tournament to motivate Aggies

Naturally, no one at Seattle's NCAA women's tournament sub-regional took the upsets from the men's opening round lightly. But Texas A&M coach Gary Blair may have taken it too far.

"After what happened on the men's side, I have plenty of ammunition to go into my practices," Blair said of prepping his No. 2 seed Aggies to play on Saturday. "By the time we play Portland State, they will be the Los Angeles Lakers and Claire (Faucher) will be Kobe Bryant."

Faucher, the No. 15 seed Vikings' point guard, is key to Portland State's system. She averages 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds and ranks fifth in the nation in assists (6.6).

PSU coach Sherri Murrell said Faucher, a native of Yakima, loves a stage to perform, really strutting her game to help win the Big Sky championship. But Blair caught Faucher by surprise with the flattering association.

"Wow. Kobe and I," said Faucher when asked if she was prepared to be treated defensively like the NBA star. "I'm not even sure what to say. I expect them (Aggies) to come out and have their focus be shutting me down. I think it's smart to go into a game having to focus on a key player but there are several players on the (PSU) team who can knock down big shots. Hopefully they don't completely shut me down but I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Texas A&M, which won the Big 12 title, is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. Blair, hired in 2003, started building the program with signature defense, but this season has three players with more than 100 assists each.

"I've never been able to have this many options before and it's been fun," he said.

Homecoming?

There are 15 players from the state of Washington competing Saturday. Murrell's coaching experience at Washington State is a local connection, too, not that she was thrilled to see all the purple when she stepped off the bus in front of Hec Ed on Friday.

"I hate this place," she said. "I was a Cougar and I don't have good memories here. But the good thing is I have good memories with this team. So, walking off that bus and looking at this purple — it's all behind me."

Name calling

The term "mid-major" isn't appreciated among the four teams in Seattle. In fact, all are fighting to be the underdog in their respective games.

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, whose Tar Heels slipped in the tournament backdoor as the sixth ACC team, said it's because there's more parity.

"There are 144 teams in postseason play; a few years ago you didn't have enough to really field the NIT," said Hatchell, in her 24th season at UNC. "People say mid-major, but I don't like that. If you're a Division-I school, you're top level."