Despite a pre-emptive complaint from coach Andy Landers, No. 4 Georgia (29-3) was placed in the West Regional as expected Sunday. But the Lady Bulldogs held on to a coveted No. 1 seed, joining top-ranked Connecticut, second-ranked Tennessee and third-ranked Louisiana Tech.

Actually, Georgia opens the tournament at home, meeting Big Sky Conference champion Montana (22-7) at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday. The subregional also includes Stanford and Michigan, who meet in the other first-round game at Athens.

The first-round winners advance to play two days later in Athens. The team that emerges from that game heads to the West Regional in Portland.

"I wasn't too surprised by the way people talked," senior Angie Ball said. "I really haven't thought too much about where we were going to play. I was just hoping to get a No. 1 seed. That's the best way possible to go into the tournament."

Bernadette McGlade, who chairs the selection committee, said Tennessee and Connecticut were placed in their natural regionals, leaving the Midwest and West. Because Louisiana Tech was in the West Regional last year, the committee put the Lady Techsters in the Midwest this time, leaving the West for Georgia.

Landers, who had complained about being sent West so often, was prepared to accept that fate by the time the pairings were announced late Sunday afternoon. The Lady Bulldogs were hurt by a loss to No. 12 Mississippi State in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Georgia was placed in the West for the sixth time in 17 NCAA appearances. The Lady Bulldogs are 9-4 in that bracket, reaching the Final Four in 1985.

"It really doesn't bother me right now," Landers said. "The thing that concerns me the most is playing Saturday and Monday."

Georgia had requested games on Friday and Sunday -- particularly if placed in the West Regional. The committee decided otherwise.

"If we're fortunate enough to win Saturday and Monday, we'll be leaving to go to the West Coast," Landers said. "That doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

But he is confident the Lady Bulldogs can handle life on the road.

"We've been to the West Coast already this year," Landers said. "We have a sense, a feel for what the travel is like. We can relate to it. We've played a lot of games, probably more than anybody in the country, on the road. We seem to handle it very well. I really hope we get the opportunity to travel."

Georgia has a 17-2 record at home in the NCAA Tournament, winning 10 in a row since its last loss, to Arkansas, in 1990.

Landers noted, however, that two other prominent, major-conference schools were placed in Georgia's subregional.

Two-time national champion Stanford (20-8) is one of four teams from the Pac-10 in the 64-team field, while Michigan (22-7) and three others were picked from the Big Ten.

"It's a really challenging subregional," Landers said.

In addition, the No. 3 seed in the West is Mississippi State, the team that knocked off Georgia in the SEC tournament. If the seedings held up, the schools would meet again for a chance to play in the Final Four at Philadelphia.

"It's just reality when you play in this conference," Landers said. "You're going to get lots of people who deserve to be in the tournament and there's not enough regions to keep us all separated."

Georgia will have gone two weeks since its loss to Mississippi State by the time it steps on the court Saturday night.