South Carolina women's basketball: Instant Analysis of the NCAA Tournament bracket
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The brackets are out and there are plenty of surprises. Here is my Instant Analysis of all the Madness.
Albany 1 Region
North Carolina as an 8 seems awfully low, especially since Duke got a 7 and the Tar Heels were the better team for most of the season.
Texas emerging as a top-eight seed helped South Carolina. In the Top 16 Reveals the glut of Pac-12 teams prevented a true S-curve. Because Texas knocked a Pac-12 team out of the top eight, the conflicts were eliminated and South Carolina got paired with the lowest four-seed, Notre Dame.
#13 Fairfield has the nation’s second-longest winning streak behind South Carolina. The Stags have won 29 straight games and their only loss was to Vanderbilt. They are coached by Carly Thibault-DuDonis, daughter of legendary WNBA coach Miek Thibault.
Befitting the top overall seed, the Albany 1 region might be the easiest region. #3 Oregon State might be a bigger threat to South Carolina than Notre Dame. Watch it turn into madness.
For the Presbyterian players, it’s probably disappointing not to get sent further from home. But for their fans, it’s probably nice to get to see the Blue Hose play an NCAA Tournament game (or two).
Albany 2 Region
This region is absolutely loaded. The top five seeds have all been ranked #2 at some point this season, and LSU is the defending national champion. UCLA looked like the second-best team in the country for about two-thirds of the season, before Lauren Betts missed some games with illnesses.
The only favor the committee did for Iowa was putting the Hawkeyes across from South Carolina. Kansas State has won two of its last three against Iowa, and LSU dismantled the Hawkeyes last season. Louisville is also a tough 6 seed.
Portland 3 Region
Southern Cal and Ohio State are 1 and 2, a flip from the top 16 reveal when they were in Albany. Selfishly I liked that better because I’d get to see Juju Watkins and the Buckeyes.
Syracuse seems underseeded at 6, but the big surprise is that the committee actually made the right move and sent UConn to Portland. It would have been massively unfair for a 3-seed to have home court advantage, and the committee apparently felt the blowback from letting 2-seed UConn host in 2022. It does set up a revenge game against Ohio State, who ended UConn’s Final Four streak last season.
The biggest question is whether Virginia Tech will have Elizabeth Kitley. The Hokies are a Final Four contender with her, but may struggle to even make the second round without her.
This is the region that looks most likely to see some upsets. Southern Cal is inexperienced, Ohio State can lose games it shouldn’t, and never count out UConn.
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Portland 4 Region
It’s a little surprising that Texas got the fourth number one over Stanford, but it doesn’t make a huge difference. Stanford plays Norfolk State in the first round, and the Spartans impressed everyone with how they played South Carolina as a 16 last year.
Utah is a dangerous 5-seed, if they can get past South Dakota State. That might have the most upset potential.
#6 Tennessee and #7 Iowa State improved significantly as the season went on and seem to be peaking at the right time. They could be tough outs.
Gonzaga held on to a top 16 seed despite losing in the WCC championship game. That’s a big assist in a potential second-round game against Utah.
