aggies prepare for elite eight

Gary Blair has been there and done that.

He has been to the Women's Final Four before. In 1998, he coached the Arkansas Razorbacks to their first and, so far, only Women's Final Four appearance. As on Monday, Arkansas is the lowest seed to compete in the Final Four. The Razorbacks were the No. 9 seed.

On Tuesday, Blair has another opportunity to go to his second Women's Final Four. His Texas A&M will play Baylor in a Texas-sized Dallas Regional championship game. Texas A&M has never been to the Final Four.

"It's great," Texas A&M senior Danielle Adams said in the Texas A&M Battalion on Monday. "I've never been to an Elite Eight. This is my first one, and I'm pretty sure these girls are happy to get back to the Elite Eight. So it's all a dream come true to us. We just have to keep our focus and keep pushing towards the next game."

Adams is one of 27 seniors who are setting their sights on going to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Connecticut's Maya Moore, Stanford's Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen, Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund, Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot and Baylor's Melissa Jones are among the other star seniors who are playing in the round of eight this week.

UConn is playing Duke in the Philadelphia Regional championship game on Tuesday. The Dayton Regional (Tennessee vs. Notre Dame) and the Spokane Regional championship games will be played on Monday.

The Aggies are looking to prevent Baylor from qualifying for the Final Four for the second straight year. So far, Texas A&M is 0-3 against Baylor, including a loss in the Big 12 championship game in Kansas City.

The Aggies qualified for the Elite Eight by crushing Georgia 79-38 in the Dallas Regional semifinals on Sunday, making it the second time Texas A&M made it to the round of eight. Three years ago, the Aggies lost to Tennessee in regional finals.

The win over the Bulldogs was a historic one for Texas A&M. The Aggies improved to 30-5, guaranteeing their first 30-win season in program history.

Now, Texas A&M is one win away from making more history and helping Blair get back to the Final Four for the first time in 13 years.