Arkansas is hoping for at-large selection

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas women’s basketball team posted a 23-8 regular season record with an RPI of 33 and are hoping for an at-large invitation to the 2012 NCAA Tournament Monday.

The field of 64 will be reviled Monday at 6 p.m. central live on ESPN.  The hour-long selection show will be followed by a review of the bracket from 7-8 p.m. on ESPNU.

The Razorbacks and head coach Tom Collen will gather as a team to watch the selection show tonight.

Arkansas’ 23 regular season wins ties the program-best for most wins prior to the postseason.  The Razorbacks won a program-best eight consecutive Southeastern Conference games and finished with a 10-6 record in the SEC, also a program-best.

In addition, the Razorbacks defeated four nationally-ranked teams and went 13-1 in non-conference games, winning 13 in a row after dropping the season-opener to Minnesota on the road.

As a head coach Tom Collen has made seven appearances in 13 years (he is making his eighth in 14 years this season) in the NCAA Tournament.  Collen guided Colorado State is four NCAA Tournaments and one WNIT appearance in his five seasons with the Rams.  He paced Louisville to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2005-07) and the WNIT in four seasons with the Cardinals.  Collen has taken Arkansas to the postseason twice with WNIT appearances in 2009 and 2001.  This is his first trip to the NCAA Tournament with the Razorbacks.

NOTES
The Razorbacks have made nine NCAA Tournament appearances and their most recent appearance came in 2003 when they reached the NCAA Tournament second round.  Arkansas defeated Cincinnati at home and lost to fifth-ranked Texas, also in Cincinnati. 

Arkansas is 12-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and the Razorbacks’ best finish came in the 1998 NCAA Final Four when they became the lowest seeded team (ninth seed) to reach the Final Four. 

Arkansas is 9-4 when they are selected to the West Region, 1-1 in the Mideast Region and 2-4 in the Midwest Region. 

The only opponent the Razorbacks have ever faced more than once in the NCAA Tournament is Duke (1998, 2001) and Arkansas has faced SEC opponents Georgia (1990) and Tennessee (1998) in the postseason – although the meeting with Georgia came two years before the Razorbacks joined the league.