NEW ORLEANS -- Brian Boyer was in the same position he was a year ago late Saturday night at Lakefront Arena.
His Arkansas State women's basketball team had just lost in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game, coming just one victory short of earning its first ever berth to the NCAA Tournament, just like it did a year ago.
"I'm proud of the effort," said Boyer, ASU's 16th-year coach. "We just came up a little bit short."
Boyer made similar comments after ASU lost to Western Kentucky 61-60 in last year's final. The difference Saturday came at the end of Boyer's postgame comments, though, when he made a case for his team to earn an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament.
When the field is unveiled at 6 p.m. today on ESPN, UALR will be in after beating ASU 78-72 on Saturday night, but the Red Wolves also will watch intently. Boyer never thought his team had a chance last year as it settled for the WNIT. But, Boyer touted Saturday his current team's difficult nonconference schedule, 23 total victories and a top-50 Ratings Percentage Index ranking as enough to warrant a pick.
"I don't think here's any question," Boyer said. "Our nonconference schedule is as hard as anybody out there. We played the SEC, we played the Big Ten, we played the Big 12, we played the Pac-12 and we played the top 25 in Chattanooga, a top 25 [Florida] Gulf Coast.
"I know the answer to 'What more do you want us to do," is we needed to win a couple more of those."
Still Boyer likes what his team has done.
The Red Wolves entered Saturday No. 45 in the RPI and a nonconference strength of schedule of 20. They had victories over No. 20 Chattanooga and No. 31 UALR, both of which won its respective conference tournaments.
Three of ASU's nonconference losses were to top 50 teams -- Florida Gulf Coast, Ohio State and Missouri State -- and two others were to Colorado (101) and Kansas (106).
What might keep ASU out are losses to Sun Belt foes Texas State (140), Louisiana-Lafayette (144) and Appalachian State (174).
"I think we definitely deserve it," said junior guard Aundrea Gamble. "But it's not in our hands. It's in somebody else's."
ASU has one advocate in UALR Coach Joe Foley.
"I think we showed tonight that both of us should be in the NCAA Tournament," Foley said. "You know the committee is going to look at every little thing, and if they got to watch any of this game [Saturday], they're going to see that both of us deserve to be NCAA Tournament teams."
If ASU does not receive an at-large bid, it will earn the Sun Belt's automatic bid to the WNIT like it did last year. ASU has submitted a bid to host a WNIT first-round game, but could get sent on the road like it did last year in a loss to Texas-El Paso.
If the Red Wolves do miss out on the NCAA Tournament, it won't be for anything Gamble did. The two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year bounced back from a slow offensive game in a semifinal victory over Louisiana-Lafayette to score 27 points, the most against UALR this season.
She scored three consecutive baskets for ASU early in the second half to trim a 43-38 halftime deficit to 47-46 three minutes in. Later, a free throw gave ASU a 49-47 lead and a three-pointer gave it a 58-50 lead, ASU's biggest of the game.
Her final basket came with 7:25 left and gave ASU a 62-59 lead. The final four minutes were filled with failed possessions that led to UALR points off turnovers, one in which Gamble slipped as Alexius Dawn grabbed the ball and turned it into a fast break layup.
Despite the disappointing finish, Boyer complimented the junior guard who made 11 of 17 shots had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Gamble averaged 18.0 points and made 54 percent of her shots in the three-game tournament.
"Just competed, did everything she could defensively and just an amazing effort on her part," Boyer said. "I thought she was aggressive and she rebounded well and I thought ... was a great performance by her."
Sports on 03/16/2015