LOS ANGELES -- Best friends Gary Blair and Joe McKeown will
spend time in Galen Center on Monday night -- a long way from their
respective homes.
Neither hopes the other has a good time.
That's because Blair coaches fourth-seeded Texas A&M, McKeown
leads fifth-seeded George Washington, and their teams play in a
second-round game of the NCAA tournament. A berth in the third
round next weekend in Dallas awaits the winner.
Texas A&M (25-6) is relatively new to this, having played in
only three previous NCAA tournaments. The Aggies' 58-50 victory
over Texas Arlington in the first round was their first tournament
triumph since 1994, when they had their only two previous
tournament wins.
George Washington (27-3) is more familiar, having played in five
straight tournaments and 14 of the past 17. The Colonials, seeking
their first Sweet 16 berth since 1997 and third overall, advanced
with a 76-67 triumph over Boise State.
Sixth-seeded Louisville (27-7) faces third-seeded Arizona State
(29-4) in the second round of the Greensboro Regional in Monday
night's second game.
Blair said it'll be fun coaching against his best friend.
"But it's still about George Washington and Texas A&M," he
said. "The girls on the court are going to decide it -- not us
coaches.
"He won't be my best friend tomorrow night. He'll just be an
opponent, and a very well-respected opponent. I like their
basketball team. The loser's going to head to the golf course, the
winner's going to head to Dallas."
As head coaches, they've played three times, with McKeown's
teams winning twice.
"We're probably about 298-297 on the golf course," Blair said.
The two met when both were young assistant coaches in the early
1980s -- Blair at Louisiana Tech and McKeown at Oklahoma.
In addition to playing a lot of golf together, they attended the
Master's tournament last April in Augusta, Ga.
"We both take credit for getting those tickets," McKeown said.
"We've been friends a long time. He's stolen most of my ideas and
turned it into a very successful career. We talk every week --
sometimes three or four times."
There won't be much conversation Monday night until after the
game.
Texas A&M will have to deal with 6-foot-4 sophomore Jennifer
Adair, whose 21 rebounds against Boise State were the second-most
in George Washington history.
"I had no idea Adair was that good until yesterday when I saw
her in person," Blair said.
Adair has been compared to Oklahoma star Courtney Paris.
"I guess we're both an inside presence," Adair said Sunday.
"I'm going to come out with the same mentality I had yesterday."
Texas A&M's Katy Pounds, mindful of George Washington's 19-0 run
to begin its game against Boise State, stressed the importance of
how this game begins.
"We want to go out and we want to set the tone," she said.
"We don't want them to do that to us. Each game can be your last,
and that's the attitude you have to take. You have to look at it
from that standpoint and that you have to go out there and control
the game from the tip."
While Louisville breezed to an 80-54 victory over 11th-seeded
BYU in the first round, Arizona State needed to rally from a
15-point second-half deficit to beat 14th-seeded UC Riverside
57-50, outscoring the Highlanders 28-6 to finish the game.
"We're happy to still be here," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne
said. "Having a little time to reflect, I really do think the 12
or 13 days without playing a game affected us. We were a little
rusty.
"We hope to do what we do for 40 minutes (against Louisville)
instead of 15."
Louisville outrebounded BYU 43-31, and UC Riverside outrebounded
ASU 35-31.
"Rebounding is the key to winning this game," ASU's Reagan
Pariseau said. "We know that they've got good size. We've been
undersized all year."
The Cardinals, in their 11th NCAA tournament, are trying to win
a second-round game for the first time ever.
"When I got hired four years ago, our goal was to get to a
Final Four and win a national championship," Cardinals coach Tom
Collen said. "Making it to the NCAA last year really helped us and
motivated us to take it a step further.
"Now, the bar is raised. You've got to get to the Sweet 16
before you get to the Final Four. Right now, our goal is that
second-round win."
Like the other coaches in Monday night's doubleheader, Turner
Thorne and Collen have known each other for many years.
"We go back quite a ways," Turner Thorne said. "That seems to
be the trend here in our bracket."