Women’s basketball teams around the country will gather in front of TV sets today in a scene that has become as much a part of March as the arrival of spring.

They’ll eat pizza, sip soft drinks and watch the NCAA Tournament selection show. They’ll cheer if their school name appears on the bracket. They’ll suddenly lose their appetite in disappointment if it doesn’t.

ESPN will cut live to some of these gatherings for on-the-spot reaction. With fax machines, e-mail and the Internet, the word spreads quickly.

It wasn’t always this way. When the first NCAA women’s tournament bracket was announced only 20 years ago, there was no live TV coverage. Only two reporters showed up for the announcement, and one was late.

To notify the 32 schools in the field  there are 64 now  members of the selection committee got on the phone and called each one with the news: “You’re in.”

“I would divide up who called which schools,” said Nora Lynn Finch, who chaired that first committee. “While we were having our press conference, members of our committee were phoning women’s basketball contacts or the person whose name was on the official form from the institutions.”

According to Finch, the calls went something like this:

“You’re going to be hosting the first round and coming to you will be North Carolina State. The game is Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30 and here’s the name of the person and the phone number for that person at North Carolina State.

“Call that person, please, first thing tomorrow, give them the hotel contact person, tell them when they’ll practice. We’ll get the officials information to you. You need to get someone to come in and evaluate the officials. Call your conference office and have them make those plans.”

And so on.

Tennessee was in that first tournament, and Gloria Ray, the women’s athletic director at the time, took the call from the NCAA. She then called sports information director Debby Jennings, who called coach Pat Summitt.

Where was Summitt? On a recruiting trip.

“I just remember at that particular time being a lot more anxious,” Summitt said. “That may have something to do with the team then as compared to the team now. As the talent has gotten a little better, the anxiety has gone down.”

But finding out who Tennessee played  it was Jackson State  was only part of the job for Jennings. She and other sports information directors began calling each other to see who was playing where, because that was the only way they came up with the bracket.

Check the NCAA’s Web site? Forget it. There wasn’t one.

How different it is now. The selection has become an integral part of the process. Teams know immediately who and where they are playing. They check the Web or their e-mail if they miss the show.