The LSU women’s basketball team is crammed between a last-minute quarterfinal exit in the Southeastern Conference tournament and the hopeful future of the NCAA tournament in a week and a half.The No. 22 Lady Tigers have used this week to sharpen fundamentals and tighten up any lingering problems.”This is a great week,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “You can go in and clean up all the things where you had game lapses.”LSU will practice Thursday and then scrimmage Friday before taking the weekend off.Junior guard Katherine Graham said the focus Friday will be on improving rebounding from the Vanderbilt game.The scrimmage will help the team get live action and keep game shape between the SEC and NCAA tournaments, Graham said.LSU guard Allison Hightower knows what it takes to succeed in the NCAA tournament. The  senior has seen the bright lights of the Final Four twice and advanced to the second round last year.”We have to work our butts off in practice to be prepared for the tournament,” Hightower said. “It’s all about how we want this thing to play out.”Hightower was named to the 2010 Southeastern Conference Community Service Team on Wednesday. The guard has led the Lady Tigers’ “Grades, Perseverance and Education” program.LESSONS LEARNEDChancellor said Friday’s 63-61 loss to Vanderbilt was a wake-up call for the Lady Tigers.”We had to lose to get our team’s attention,” Chancellor said. “You got to know that every game’s a fight.”LSU failed to advance to the semifinals in the conference tournament for the first time since 2000.”You can’t dwell on it,” Hightower said. “It was a really big disappointment for us. It’s all about trying to learn from the situation.”The Lady Tigers won five of their final six games in the regular season, but the momentum stalled against the Commodores.”We still have a lot of work to do,” Hightower said. “Everybody has to be determined to get better.”LINGERING PROBLEMChancellor would like to find a solution for one recurring problem this season: winning close games.LSU is 0-6 this season in SEC games decided by single digits. Vanderbilt also edged LSU late last Friday when Graham missed a potential game-tying layup with 10 seconds remaining.Graham said LSU has to lock in more precisely to every possession in the final minutes.”In the last two minutes they made plays, and we struggled to make plays,” Chancellor said. “Losing these close games is driving me nuts.”LSU roared to a 15-3 lead before allowing the Commodores to sneak back and tie the game, 22-22, with 4:58 left in the first half.”We couldn’t take care of the game and let them back in the game,” Chancellor said. “Once they were back in the game, I knew it would be a battle down to the last play.”BRACKET TIMENCAA tournament brackets will be announced Monday night at 6 p.m. LSU’s 20-9 overall and 9-7 SEC record should qualify the Lady Tigers for the Big Dance. But LSU’s seed will be in the hands of the tournament selection committee. “We’re going to get a bid Monday night,” Chancellor said. “I think we are on the five, six [seed] row. I’ve been doing this for 26 years, and I haven’t been right yet.”ESPN women’s  bracketologist Charlie Creme gave the Lady Tigers a No. 5 seed in his latest prediction.LSU would clinch its 12th straight and 20th overall NCAA appearance with a berth Monday night.–Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]