Texas A&M, Hartford eye history

• By WILLIAM WEATHERS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Mar 24, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

On one hand you’ve got Texas A&M’s Gary Blair, one of the nation’s foremost program-builders, primed to take the Aggies to the next step in their development in his fifth season.

Then there’s one of the nation’s fastest rising stars on the coaching scene in Jennifer Rizzotti, who has taken a once obscure program at Hartford to never before seen heights.

Now what both rebuilding projects lack is another addition to the already solid foundation that would help each coach facilitate their respective cause when No. 2 Texas A&M (27-7) meets No. 10 Hartford (28-5) today at approximately 8:30 p.m. at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The winner of the second-round NCAA tournament game will advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history in Oklahoma City on Sunday.

“It’s time to quit playing close and being satisfied,” Blair said. “It’s time to have that little bit of a hunger. These kids are never going to get another chance.”

This is Texas A&M’s second straight second-round appearance after opening Saturday in convincing fashion with a 91-52 demolition over No. 16 seeded Texas-San Antonio.

A year ago, though, the Aggies failed to negotiate the next step in their growth under Blair and dropped a 59-47 decision to George Washington.

“Of the eight teams that are seeded in the top two — we’re expected to get to regionals,” Blair said. “We’re expected to get there. We’re going to have our team ready. It would mean so much for our area back there.”

Hartford finds itself back in second-round action for the second time in three years and hopeful of taking a significant step forward for not only its program, but for the American East Conference.

“I think for any program, with the exception of maybe two or three, getting to the Sweet 16 is a pretty big feat,” said Rizzotti, a former All-American guard at Connecticut. “So as much as it means to them, it means that much to us well. It can do wonders for the exposure of our program and with what we’re trying to accomplish, being a good NCAA tournament every year. Not just a team that gets there, but a team that wins it. This is certainly going to help us in that cause.”

Both teams enter this potential fork in the road for their programs with plenty in common.

Hartford has won 10 straight and 19 of its last 20 games. That included Saturday’s 59-55 win over No. 7 Syracuse, where MaryLynne Schaefer broke a tie with just more than a minute remaining with a 3-pointer and wound up with a career-high 19 points.

Senior center/forward Danielle Hood (15.8) and sophomore forward Erica Beverly (8.6) are the top two scorers for the Hawks, who have clamped down defensively on opponents as of late — allowing 45 of fewer points seven times during their 10-game win streak.

“For us, it’s a chance to take a step further, and I know there is nothing more that the players want more than a berth to the Sweet 16,” Rizzotti said.

A&M, which claimed the Big 12 Conference’s tournament title, has also won its last 10 games in its rapid rise to a school-best No. 8 ranking.

The Aggies has reeled off 14 wins in their last 15 games and would love nothing better than to improve upon their school-record victory total by one more game.

Junior guard Takia Sparks is the team’s top scorer at 16.8 points with junior guard/forward Danielle Gant supplying 14.8 points and reserve guard/forward Morenike Atunrase 10.3.

“I think we’re going to have one of the best second round games around,” Blair said.

One filled with plenty of meaning on both sides.