Posted: Wed March 11, 1998 at 4:14 PM ET

The missing name among this year's No. 1 seeds? Louisiana Tech.

After spending the entire season ranked fourth or higher in the polls, the team gathered Sunday at the home of university president Dan Reneau to watch the selection show. When the school's name popped up on the big screen as a No. 3 seed, the living room went silent.

The Lady Techsters were bumped down because the Sun Belt Conference just isn't all that tough and Tech hadn't beaten enough Top 50 teams.

As a result, the Midwest is the most riveting region. While it would take a major upset to knock off any of the other No. 1's, it wouldn't be surprising to see top seed Texas Tech, two-seed Alabama or Louisiana Tech win a trip to Kansas City.

Cardinal on the mend

Stanford forward Vanessa Nygaard will sit out Saturday's first-round game against Harvard but is expected to rejoin the action after that, wearing a specially-fitted knee brace. Last Saturday, in the final regular-season game of her senior year, Nygaard tore the ACL in her left knee.

She'll have surgery when the season is over -- but that could be a while. Even without Nygaard at full strength, Stanford remains a favorite to advance to its fourth straight Final Four.

Glad to be home

Last year, Arizona was thrilled to be packing for the NCAA tournament. This year, the Wildcats are thrilled not to be. After making their first appearance in the tournament last season, they earned a No. 3 seed and will host first- and second-round games.

But Arizona almost didn't have a home in which to play. The McKale Center is getting a new floor and the school had planned to tear up the old one up this week. But when the Wildcats beat Stanford back in January, coach Joan Bonvicini asked that the work be postponed so her team would have the chance to host. The floor will be torn up on Monday. By then, Arizona hopes to be packing, for a trip to the East Regional in Dayton.