There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.
There will not be a rematch of the nationwide championship sport in girls’s faculty basketball in 2024, however LSU vs. Iowa could possibly be a blockbuster of an Elite Eight matchup. If each even get that far, that’s.
Who’re the winners and losers of the ladies’s NCAA match bracket? We begin on the losers’ facet, and it begins with the final two groups standing in 2023. Each aren’t going to make it to Cleveland. In truth, neither one could be there.
The Albany 2 Regional has three groups that many may need picked to make the Closing 4 earlier than the bracket was revealed: defending nationwide champion LSU, nationwide runner-up Iowa and UCLA.
Who thought this was a good suggestion? Apparently the NCAA choice committee, which determined to jam-pack that trio collectively, together with No. 4 seed Kansas State.
As ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo stated, South Carolina, the No. 1 total seed within the match and prime seed within the Albany 1 Regional, earned — and acquired — what seems to be the so-called “best” regional bracket. Iowa — a No. 1 seed for the primary time since 1992 — ought to have earned the second-easiest nook of the bracket, however as an alternative obtained the toughest.
The Massive Ten match champion Hawkeyes, SEC match runner-up LSU and Pac-12 semifinalist UCLA had been all within the prime 4 within the preseason Related Press ballot and are within the prime eight now. In fact, ballot rankings are one factor and NCAA match placement one other. Nonetheless, it is a shock to see all of them collectively.
“Initially, I simply thought, ‘Oooh, it is a powerful, powerful area,'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey stated of her first response to the bracket.
Let’s additional break down the ladies’s bracket winners and losers, and what the trail forward appears like for unbeaten South Carolina and Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
Winners
Carolyn Peck: South Carolina is motivated going into the tourney
Carolyn Peck, Andraya Carter, Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan break down South Carolina’s path within the girls’s NCAA match.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Two-time nationwide champion South Carolina is in Albany 1 Regional together with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. The Irish are the ACC match champions and are enjoying nicely, however the Gamecocks get pleasure from having confronted them already this season. That was again in November in Paris — a 29-point Gamecock victory — and each groups have since grown so much.
The Gamecocks have been so good they had been most likely going to be “winners” no matter their bracket matchups. However coach Daybreak Staley ought to be happy with the trail in entrance of her workforce.
Heart Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina’s opener towards the Presbyterian-Sacred Coronary heart winner after her ejection for combating within the SEC match closing. That shall be of little consequence in that sport. However the Gamecocks shall be glad to have her again towards the winner of North Carolina-Michigan State, the 8-9 matchup.
Offered the Gamecocks get by to the Candy 16 — they final fell within the second spherical in 2013 — they may face a No. 4 seed Indiana workforce that hopes to be a lot more healthy since its quarterfinal loss within the Massive Ten match.
If there’s an Elite Eight matchup between South Carolina and Notre Dame, we’ll see two of the very best freshmen within the nation within the Gamecocks’ MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo. However South Carolina’s inside presence and depth ought to take the Gamecocks by to Cleveland.
Ivy League
The convention obtained two groups within the discipline: Ivy Insanity champion Princeton and runner-up Columbia. It is simply the second time two Ivy groups reached the sector (Penn and Princeton superior in 2016).
The Tigers and Lions each completed 13-1 in league play, with Columbia handing Princeton its lone league loss, 67-65 on Feb. 25 in New York.
Andraya Carter: Regional 3 is the ‘licensed bucket’ area
Andraya Carter breaks down how Regional 3 within the girls’s NCAA match is full of “licensed bucket” getters.
USC Trojans
Not since 1986, Trojans legend Cheryl Miller’s senior yr, had this system earned a No. 1 seed till Sunday. USC, the highest seed within the Portland 3 Regional, has had a breakthrough season, thanks largely to JuJu Watkins, the highest freshman in a stellar rookie class. However because the Trojans proved in profitable the Pac-12 match closing when Stanford targeted on shutting down Watkins, USC is extra than simply its younger celebrity.
The Trojans have waited a very long time — since 1994 — to host the early rounds of the NCAA match once more, in order that’s thrilling for USC, too.
USC appears to have a great path to the Elite Eight, the place an epic showdown with Paige Bueckers and No. 3 seed UConn — by far probably the most embellished workforce on this nook of the bracket – may await.
Texas Longhorns
The Massive 12 match champion earned its first No. 1 seed since 2004. The Longhorns, like fellow No. 1 seed Iowa, did not win their convention regular-season title however did win the league match.
After shedding star guard Rori Harmon for the season in late December to a knee damage, Texas needed to navigate Massive 12 play with out her. They misplaced to Baylor, Kansas State and regular-season champ Oklahoma twice. Within the Massive 12 match, the Longhorns beat Kansas, Okay-State and Iowa State, with freshman Madison Booker profitable MVP honors.
Texas has made the Elite Eight twice since Vic Schaefer took over as coach in 2020-21. He stated after the Massive 12 closing that he thought the Longhorns had confirmed they deserved a No. 1 seed. The committee agreed.
“Whenever you win a championship in a league, you play the schedule these children have performed, I do not know what else we may do,” Schaefer stated. “I really feel actually assured on this workforce. They’ve achieved nothing however present me that they’ll do it.
Why Texas is a workforce to concern within the girls’s tourney
Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and Andraya Carter break down Regional 4 within the girls’s NCAA match.
UConn Huskies and Tennessee Girl Vols
Each groups may make waves within the bracket. UConn ran the desk within the Massive East this season. The Huskies could possibly be motivated by a possible revenge matchup with Ohio State within the Candy 16, because the Buckeyes knocked UConn out of the match in that spherical final yr.
Tennessee, the Portland 4 Regional No. 6 seed, comes into the NCAA match smarting from a last-second loss to South Carolina within the SEC semifinals. However the Girl Vols know from the way in which they’ve performed the Gamecocks that they’ll compete with anybody.
Tennessee’s potential path to the Candy 16, which might doubtless contain a win at No. 3 seed NC State within the second spherical, is not straightforward. However the Girl Vols have an opportunity.
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Final season, Stanford — the No. 1 seed in Iowa’s regional — was eradicated within the second spherical by Ole Miss. The Rebels had been subsequently defeated by Louisville, which then fell to Iowa within the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t a simple path to the Closing 4 for the Hawkeyes in 2023, however it appears simpler on reflection to what they may face this season in Albany 2.
The potential problem begins within the second spherical. The Hawkeyes, who should not have hassle of their opener towards the Holy Cross-UT Martin winner, would face the 8-9 West Virginia-Princeton winner subsequent.
Final yr, Georgia’s capacity to defend Iowa made for a nerve-wracking second-round win for the Hawkeyes. It could possibly be related in the event that they face West Virginia, which leads the Massive 12 in steals. In opposition to Princeton, Iowa would face a program that upset Kentucky two years in the past.
Ought to seeds maintain, Iowa can have a 3rd assembly this season vs. Kansas State; the groups performed twice in November, with the Wildcats profitable the primary and the Hawkeyes the second. Heart Ayoka Lee supplies the muscle inside for a Okay-State workforce that pushed Texas within the Massive 12 semifinals.
If Iowa makes the Elite Eight towards both No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 LSU, one of many largest points shall be how the Hawkeyes fight the dimensions inside for each groups.
UCLA Bruins
Placement-wise, the Bruins would not thoughts buying and selling spots with their Pac-12 rivals Stanford in Portland 4 or USC in Portland 3. However it did not work out that method after UCLA fell to the Trojans within the Pac-12 match semifinals. The Pac-12, in its closing season as we all know it, has three groups within the prime two seeds for the primary time in convention historical past. UCLA seems to have the hardest path of the three.
The Bruins gained an AIAW championship in 1978. However it’s truthful to say UCLA is the very best program to by no means make the ladies’s Closing 4 within the NCAA period, which started in 1982. Throughout elements of this season, the Bruins seemed as if that they had a powerful probability to make that breakthrough in 2024. We’re not ruling them out, particularly with a fifth-year senior chief in Charisma Osborne and a stellar sophomore class that features 6-foot-7 put up Lauren Betts.
However being on this regional makes it tougher for the Bruins. If seeds maintain, they must get by LSU and Iowa back-to-back, two very various kinds of groups. Can UCLA do it? Sure, however it’s an actual problem.
LSU Tigers
The defending champs, the No. 3 seed in Albany 2, additionally match into our bracket losers. Nonetheless, their path would not appear fairly as powerful as that of Iowa or UCLA. For 3 causes: One, they’ve already performed the very best workforce within the nation, South Carolina, twice. The Tigers misplaced their SEC regular-season and match matchups with the Gamecocks, however they hung with them each occasions. Second, LSU gained the NCAA title final season, beating Iowa within the closing, so the Tigers ought to face this regional with confidence. Third, Mulkey already has 4 nationwide championships as a coach. That is her time of yr.
Miami Hurricanes
Final yr, the Hurricanes had been one of many largest tales of March on the ladies’s facet. A No. 9 seed, they beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Indiana and No. 4 Villanova to achieve the Elite Eight, the place they misplaced to eventual nationwide champion LSU.
However final yr’s mojo did not carry over for Miami to 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-12 total however had been 8-10 within the ACC. Victories over NCAA match groups NC State, Duke and North Carolina weren’t sufficient to offset a few of Miami’s losses.