Notre Dame, Texas A&M clash again, this time in Sweet 16

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Gary Blair didn't need to be reminded about the last time Texas A&M came across Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament.

The ring on the right hand of Texas A&M's coach commemorating the 2011 national title game win over Notre Dame did the job.

"I think about it every day," Blair said. "But I don't think about the game itself. To be honest, I've never seen the complete game after the fact. I've only seen the highlights."

For the first time since that title game, No. 1 seed Notre Dame and fourth-seeded Texas A&M will meet again in the NCAAs, this time in the regional semifinals Saturday. Only once since the Aggies (26-9) won their lone national title has Texas A&M advanced beyond the Sweet 16.

Doing it this time would mean taking down the Irish, who have made reaching the regional semifinals a yearly accomplishment. Notre Dame (31-3) has reached this round in nine straight tournaments and made the Elite Eight in six of the past seven years.

This could be among the most gratifying for the Irish and coach Muffet McGraw after a season during which Notre Dame has been hit hard by injuries.

"There's been some difficult situations come up. They've persevered. They haven't let it get them down," McGraw said. "I think they've been knocked down a couple of times. They keep getting back up. They've really stayed together as a unit."

The other regional semifinal features Pac-12 champion and second-seeded Oregon (32-4) taking on No. 11 seed Central Michigan.

Oregon coach Kelly Graves knows all about taking an 11-seed on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. He was the coach at Gonzaga when the Bulldogs made back-to-back Sweet 16 runs in 2011 and 2012. Graves has been the head coach of the last two double-digit seeds to reach a regional final - Gonzaga in 2011 as a No. 11 seed and Oregon last year as a No. 10 seed.

Graves was asked if he had any advice for the No. 11 seed based off his past success as a lower seed.

"Just play, be who you are. I don't think at this point it helps anybody to change or to add new things or anything like that," he said. "I think at this point pretty much every team has seen everything. They're not running anything tomorrow that we haven't seen before. I think just kind of be yourself, have fun with it."

Central Michigan is the outlier among the four teams here, but the Chippewas (30-4) may be the best story remaining in the tournament. The champs of the MAC regular season and the conference tournament routed third-seeded Ohio State in the second round behind 14 3-pointers, playing a style Graves said was reminiscent of how his teams at Gonzaga played earlier this decade.

"If anything, I think it's going to be a fun game for the fans to watch and maybe a nightmare for me," Central Michigan coach Sue Guevara said.

Here are other things to watch in Saturday's regional semifinal games:

STAR GUARDS: Two of the top guards in the country will be featured in each game. Texas A&M is led by freshman Chennedy Carter, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the second-round win over DePaul, while Oregon runs off the play of star sophomore Sabrina Ionescu. Carter is the top scoring freshman in the country and had 32 points in the second half against DePaul, while Ionescu averages nearly 20 points per game and set the Pac-12 single-season record for assists.

INJURY STATUS: There is uncertainty about the status of Notre Dame forward Kathryn Westbeld for Saturday's game. Westbeld injured her ankle early in the first-round win over Cal State Northridge and was limited to just 16 minutes in the second-round victory against Villanova. McGraw said Westbeld has been in a protective walking boot all week.

HEAVY MINUTES: All five Central Michigan starters average at least 31 minutes per game and two - Presley Hudson and Renya Frost - top 35 minutes. The most important player against Oregon may be 6-foot-3 senior Tinara Moore. The MAC player of the year and defensive player of the year will be trying to match Oregon standout forward Ruthy Hebard, who is shooting nearly 66 percent from the field on the season.

LATE ARRIVAL: Oregon didn't arrive in Spokane until Friday morning, the result of a mechanical problem with the Ducks' charter jet. Other than dealing with the unexpected delay, the only major hiccup caused by the plane problems was the team missing out on dinner at the home of Oti Gildon, who is from Spokane, and Graves getting a chance to catch up with some old friends.