The first-round games of the women's NCAA tournament begin Friday on the road to Minneapolis. The home-court advantage of the top-16 seeds will be one thing we will be watching for.
The only time a 16 seed has won in the first round was in 1998 when Harvard beat top-seeded Stanford. The Nos. 14 and 15 seeds have never won an NCAA tournament game. Wright State beat Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, but that game was on a neutral court.
It can be more difficult for teams to protect their home court in the second round. Four host teams were upset in the second round in the most recent year when games were on home courts. Missouri State beat Iowa State in a double-digit seed. While the Lady Vols alum was going to be a candidate for the open Tennessee job that year, guiding the Lady Bears to the Sweet 16 was a boost for her moving to Knoxville.
Pick the winner of each game of the women's NCAA tournament. Play a tournament.
The Wright State victory last season helped Merriweather move to Memphis. The coaches carousel and transfer portal will be active off court while the gears are grinding on court. There is always a lot to speculate about during March Madness. Some of the top storylines will be watched by Mechelle Voepel, Alexa Philippou and Charlie Creme on Friday and Saturday.
You can find a complete look at the first-round games and the schedule on these links. The games are on the family of networks.
Once the games start, visit this link to fill out or check your Women's Tournament Challenge brackets.
Florida Gulf Coast is playing Virginia Tech. The program is on the cable network, ESPNU. The Eagles should be a 9 or 10 seed, not a 12. Virginia Tech is in a tough position. FGCU makes a nation-best 11.7 3-pointers per game, so the Hokies are going to have a hard time chasing them. The Eagles don't have an answer for Kitley on the inside. Great fights are made by styles. The teams are trying to impose their own style.
FGCU-Virginia Tech feels like it shouldn't be a first-round game, but we are. I am also interested in the Dayton vs. Georgia game. In Ames, Iowa. The highest scoring offense in the country was held to just 57 points by the Flyers in their First Four game. They were the second team in the past 20 years to register 12 3-pointers and 12 blocks in an NCAA tournament game.
Dayton has both the bigs, including 6-5 Tenin Magassa, who recorded seven blocks against Aneesah Morrow and the rest of the Blue Demons, capable of containing Georgia's Staiti.
Voepel is not saying that it will be a pretty game. It will be cool to see Kansas in the tournament for the first time in four years. The Georgia Tech team will play the Jayhawks. The Yellow Jackets held their opponents to an average of 51.9 points this season. Georgia Tech started the season with two wins over Georgia. The Yellow Jackets have lost six of their past nine games. The Jayhawks lost four of their past five games, but they proved they are worthy of a return to the Big Dance. The winner will get the defending champion.
If I buy a ticket, it would be in Norman, Oklahoma, where both of the games on Saturday are possible upsets. 13 seed IUPUI and Macee Williams, a 6-2 senior center who averages 18.7PPG and 10.5RPG, are a tough match up for the fourth seed Oklahoma. It does not defend the post well. The NCAA record for points scored by a center in a single game was 61 by Kansas State's Ayoka Lee.
If the Minutewomen beat Notre Dame on Saturday, Sam Breen will be a household name. The program airs on the cable network, ESPN2). The Irish have a 52.3% win probability according to Her Hoops Stats. Both games should be more competitive than the seeds suggest.
Voepel thinks that Oklahoma could have three really interesting games. I want to draw attention to the games on Friday at College Park, Maryland, as the host Terrapins take on Delaware. The fifth-seeded Virginia Tech plays the 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast.
After victories against Iowa and Ohio State, Maryland looked ready to take over the Big Ten. The Terps lost to Indiana 62-51 in the Big Ten tournament.
Delaware doesn't have a lot of size, but the Blue Hens have some talent, including wing Jasmine Dickey and forward Ty Battle, who both average double-doubles. The Virginia Tech-FGCU game should be an interesting contrast in teams that play differently.
Philippou thinks the Saturday games in Tucson will be interesting. Things might be looking up for the Arizona team. For the first time since 2002 the NCAA tournament will be played with a player expected to return from a shoulder injury. I will be looking to see how they look now that they are healthy and ready to go in the NCAA tournament, since last time out they advanced to the national title.
5 seed North Carolina has an edge over 12 seed Stephen F. Austin. The style of play of the Lumberjacks makes them a tough squad to face. Their full-court press helps them force 23.7 turnovers per game, the second-best mark in the country, and they are great at attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. The Tar Heels will have to play smart.
Florida Gulf Coast's Kierstan Bell has gotten a lot of attention, especially after she announced that she would enter the NBA draft. The Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American missed a month of the season due to a partially torn meniscus, but since returning helped the Eagles secure their NCAA tournament berth. In FGCU's first-round loss to Michigan in the NCAA tournament, Bell had an inefficient 25 points on 24 shots, despite being listed as a 6-1 guard for the Eagles. Can she do better in her last tryout before her professional career begins?
Voepel: We will mention the obvious ones, such as South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, Iowa's Caitlin Clark, Iowa State'sAshley Joens and Stanford's Haley Jones. Mya Hollingshed, who is playing in her first NCAA tournament, is another player to keep an eye on. The Buffaloes are in the Big Dance for the first time in four years. She symbolizes the work Colorado has done to get back to this point. Hollingshed is a 6-3 forward and leads the Buffaloes with 14.1 points and 7.5 rebound. Colorado plays in Iowa City. Friday is ESPNews.
The rejection was on the Gamecocks.
Ole Miss is playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time in seven years. She will be playing in her second. Austin had a taste of March Madness as a freshman at Maryland. How can she help her teammates understand the environment? Friday could be a big day for Austin. The game is against South Dakota. The 5-5 Austin could dominate in a fashion unlike any other player in the first round.
In the first round, I picked seven lower seeds. The 13 seed UNLV over the 4 seed Arizona was the most notable.
The fact that the Lady Rebels beat Arizona in Tucson might seem crazy, but the Cats weren't playing well at the end of the season. Reese, their leading scorer, was missing, but the offense became so anemic that she might not have helped much. The Lady Rebels can score from a lot of different places, and point guard Essence Booker is someone to watch. UNLV's coach is familiar with all things Pac-12, having played and coached at Cardinal.
In a battle of conference players of the year, I believe that the winner is the one who can upset the other. The sting of losing the title game might not be over for the team.
Voepel said that Charlie is more daring than him. I went with three early-round upsets. Dayton over Georgia, Arkansas over Utah and Kansas State over Washington State.
If they shoot from the perimeter again, it could be a tough game for Georgia, as they did in the First Four game. The Razorbacks were upset in the first round last year. Washington State has had a great season, but I am not sure if they can stop Kansas State if center Ayoka Lee gets going.
There has been a lot of inconsistency in women's college basketball this season, so I have a lengthy list of games that would not shock me if they end in upsets. The most realistic, remarkable ones are IUPUI over Oklahoma, Dayton over Georgia, and FGCU over Virginia Tech.
IUPUI is my pick to make it to the Sweet 16. The Oklahoma Sooners are likely going to have their hands full with the strong 3-point defense and dominance of Macee Williams that the Jags have. IUPUI has the ability to go toe-to-toe with Power 5 teams, as evidenced by their win over Iowa and overtime loss to Michigan.
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