NCAA Women's Tournament Bracket: Tennessee State Lady Tigers preview

Who? The Lady Tigers of Tennessee State.

When do they play in the first round? They play on Friday, March 20 against Kentucky.

What? Aristo-Cat does seem to have a certain haughtiness about him.

Where? Nashville, Tennessee. Go visit the Hermitage; I know a guy there.

When did they clinch? March 7th, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Why? They won the Ohio Valley conference tournament.

How? UT Martin's Ashia Jones forced overtime with a pair of free throws, but the Lady Tigers of Tennessee State came up with the buckets in the OT to claim a 64-60 win. Brianna Lawrence scored 22, with Rachel Allen adding 13.

Surprise? Predicted to finish sixth in the conference, they ended up in third, four games back of UT Martin.

RPI: 179

SOS: 240

Record: 18-12 (12-4 Ohio Valley)

Good wins: The one that activated this Dance Card, UT Martin in the OVC final.

Bad losses: Norfolk State.

Who's driving this thing? Larry Joe Inman, since 2012. He was the longtime coach at Eastern Kentucky before being brought out of retirement.

Extra, Extra! The Tennessean.

Senior forward Chelsea Hudson leads Tennessee State with 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Senior guard Rachel Allen rides herd on the offense, at five assists per game; the two seniors carry the highest minute load for the Lady Tigers. Worrisome for this team is the shooting: no rotation player shoots better than junior guard Brianna Lawrence's 47.3% from the field.

Random stat anomaly that will only amuse me: going into the OVC final, Tennessee State and its opponents had scored exactly the same number of points over the season. (This will obviously have changed after the OVC final.)  (But not by much.)