Top-seed Memphis picked for NCAA games in North Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK — As local officials hoped and expected, top-seeded Memphis was picked Sunday for a first-round NCAA Tournament game at North Little Rock. Another top choice, Texas, is also headed to Alltel Arena as a No. 2 seed.

The first- and second-round games in North Little Rock are scheduled for Friday and Sunday.

The Friday matchups are Memphis versus No. 16 seed Texas-Arlington and No. 8 seed Mississippi State versus No. 9 seed Oregon. Texas plays No. 15 seed Austin Peay and No. 7 seed Miami plays No. 10 seed St. Mary’s of California.

North Little Rock is the westernmost site of cities having games on Friday and Sunday, and organizers said they expected to have at least one team from the West Coast. Oregon fits that projection, as does St. Mary’s.

In addition to drawing a crowd from Memphis, the site is also close for fans from Texas and Southeastern Conference school Mississippi State. Austin Peay is in Clarksville, Tenn., and Texas-Arlington is in the Dallas area.

Oregon and St. Mary’s, which is in Moraga, Calif., are the two schools that are a prohibitive distance from Little Rock.

Local planners said they expect that if fans of teams that lose on Friday leave, more fans of winning teams will drive in for the second round on Sunday.

Several weeks ago, officials from Memphis visited North Little Rock to check out places they could use for booster gatherings and pep rallies.

Each participant school is allotted 550 tickets for the Alltel Arena games. The portion of the 16,000 tickets that went on sale to the public are sold out. Organizers booked hotels for the teams, media and NCAA officials in advance. It’s up to fans to book their own accommodations.

Tipoff times will be announced later.

South Alabama heads to Birmingham for NCAA tournament

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — South Alabama is heading a few hours up I-65 for the NCAA tournament.

The 10th-seeded Jaguars (26-6) will face No. 7 Butler (29-3), the Horizon League tournament champion, Friday at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

South Alabama’s merits had been the subject of much debate since falling to Middle Tennessee in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, but still wound up the first league team to receive an at large bid since 1994. Western Kentucky landed the automatic invitation by winning the Sun Belt tournament.