INDIANAPOLIS -- DePaul's Doug Bruno and Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw didn't think twice about skipping two days of practice in the middle of the Big East season to attend a seminar on setting brackets for the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
Even with a showdown looming between their teams Sunday, Bruno wanted to better understand the decision-making behind the selections.
"Any coach who wouldn't want to take the time to come here isn't seeing the big picture," said Bruno, a former president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. "For years there was the thought that everything was cloak-and-dagger and decided in 15 minutes."
Bruno made the three-hour drive from Chicago to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis on Friday for the mock-bracket exercise.
"It's pretty important for us coaches to know that it's not easy for them to decide," he said.
The NCAA came up with the idea last year to help demystify the process. The governing body invited media for the second straight year and coaches for the first time.
"It's fascinating to see the process and how it develops," McGraw said. "Honestly, because we play on Sunday and we would have been off one of those days anyway, why wouldn't you come."
Bruno already had some understanding of the process. His athletic director, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, was on the committee from 1992-98, including chairing it her final two years. Still, he learned plenty.
"As a coach you really just focus on two teams -- yours and the one you're playing next," Bruno said. "The committee has to be responsible for hundreds of teams. To hear that they get daily updates and the vast amount of information they have is incredible."
Joining Bruno and McGraw were coaches Sherri Coale of Oklahoma and Gary Blair of Texas A&M. Coale's No. 2 Sooners play Oklahoma State on Sunday. Blair came straight to Indianapolis after his No. 10 Aggies lost at Iowa State on Wednesday.
"It's a good addition because they're the ones who are playing in those games and playing either in a tough environment or close to home," said ESPN analyst Beth Mowins, who has been at both mock-bracket exercises. "I think it clarified for us what we thought was a big argument last year about the site over seed."
The coaches and media members were given information to assemble a tournament field. They had to fill at-large spots and eventually seed the field, getting a feel for the task facing the selection committee.
"I think they're beginning to understand," said Marilyn McNeal, who has been on the selection committee three years. "It's a comfort to know that at least these coaches will understand that the committee doesn't simply 'throw a stack of papers down the stairs and let the heaviest ones get in."'
The men's selection committee will do a similar exercise next week, but no active coaches were invited.
