What a difference a year makes. After missing out on postseason play last season, the LSU women’s basketball team jumped at the news of receiving the No. 5 seed in the Kingston, R.I., regional of this year’s NCAA tournament. LSU (22-10) will face No. 12 seed San Diego State (25-6) in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday at the PMAC. The Lady Tigers, surrounded by fans and family, watched the NCAA selection show Monday night on the PMAC scoreboard monitor. “It’s always good to see your name across that board when the 64 teams are being called,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “This team has worked extremely hard to position themselves.” Caldwell said she’s familiar with San Diego State because of the time she spent coaching at nearby UCLA prior to her landing at LSU. “I’m very familiar with [San Diego] Coach [Beth] Burns,” Caldwell said. “I know she’s going to have her team very fired up.” Should the Lady Tigers advance past the first round, they will face the winner of No. 4 seed Penn State (24-6) and No. 13 seed University of Texas-El Paso (29-3). The second-round contest will tip off March 20 at the PMAC. Connecticut (29-4) holds the No. 1 seed in the Kingston regional and would face LSU should both teams advance to the Sweet 16. “We understand what region we’re in and what road we have to take, but that’s part of March Madness,” Caldwell said. “You’re going to have to play the best in the country to beat the best.” Caldwell said senior forward LaSondra Barrett will be “100 percent ready to go come Sunday” after suffering a concussion and being knocked unconscious in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game against Tennessee on March 4. “Barrett is such a competitor, and there’s not going to be anything that’s going to stop her,” Caldwell said. Barrett said the team is excited to make the tournament after falling short last season but won’t be taking it for granted. “It beats last year, I can tell you that,” Barrett said. “Right now the record is 0-0. Any team can lose any given day, so we just have to stick with them, and then we move on.” Senior forward Courtney Jones agreed and said watching the show was nerve-wracking, even though the team suspected it would earn a NCAA bid. “Last season was pretty devastating for all of us,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t say we [knew] for sure, but we had some idea. We didn’t think we were practicing for nothing.” ____ Contact Scott Branson at [email protected]