The Bracket

[Vowelguy]

Since I'm having a hard time keeping track of who is where ...

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 Notre Dame/-- Indiana vs #13 Stanford/--So Dak St
#5 Maryland/--Washington vs #12 Kentucky/#24 Oklahoma

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 So Carolina vs #14 Syracuse
#9 Ohio St vs -- Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 Baylor vs #17 Fla St/#18 Tx A&M
#6 Oregon St vs #20 DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 UConn/--Duquesne vs #15 Miss St
#7 Texas/--Mizzou vs #10 UCLA/#21 USF

ELIMINATED
#8 Louisville (to #20 DePaul)
#11 Ariz St (to -- Tenn)
#16 Mich St (to #15 Miss St)
#19 Miami (to --So Dakota St)
#22 Colorado St (to #21 USF)
#23 WVa (to #9 Ohio St)
#25 Florida (to -- Albany)

 

[Plebe]

I have a strong feeling that we could be seeing a SC-Tenn rematch in the Elite 8 in Sioux Falls. If Tennessee plays with the same energy and purpose it did against Arizona State, that is a very winnable game for them, especially with Ameryst Alston nowhere near 100 percent.

Oregon State-DePaul will be a fascinating contrast in styles in the Sweet 16. But does either of them look like they can pose a threat to Baylor?

 

[Vowelguy]

With Massey ratings in brackets

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame/-- [34] Indiana vs #13 [12] Stanford/-- [33] So Dak St
#5 [5] Maryland/-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky/#24 [23] Oklahoma

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Fla St/#18 [20] Tx A&M
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn/-- [28] Duquesne vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas/-- [27] Mizzou vs #10 [9] UCLA/#21 [22] USF

ELIMINATED
#8 [15] Louisville (to #20 DePaul)
#11 [11] Ariz St (to -- Tenn)
#16 [17] Mich St (to #15 Miss St)
#19 [24] Miami (to --So Dakota St)
#22 [30] Colorado St (to #21 USF)
#23 [21] WVa (to #9 Ohio St)
#25 [26] Florida (to -- Albany)

 

[UcMiami]

I have a strong feeling that we could be seeing a SC-Tenn rematch in the Elite 8 in Sioux Falls. If Tennessee plays with the same energy and purpose it did against Arizona State, that is a very winnable game for them, especially with Ameryst Alston nowhere near 100 percent.

Oregon State-DePaul will be a fascinating contrast in styles in the Sweet 16. But does either of them look like they can pose a threat to Baylor?

Well, at least we know OSU knows zone defense as they played a lot against WV, whether they actually decide to play defense is another story. Alston has another 6 days and she didn't look that bad against WV.
DePaul can pose a threat to any team if they are shooting well and that is especially true to teams with big posts that don't like to defend on the perimeter.

So Pac12, ACC x2, and SEC all have suffered upsets. But credit where it is due, the SEC has played better than seeding with MsSt, Mizzou, Auburn, and TN all offsetting Florida and Georgia

 

[toadfoot]

There's one major difference between OSU and ASU. OSU can actually score. Before yesterday I would have said ASU's defense was better, but I saw little evidence of that yesterday. Tennessee's problem all year has been extended periods of scoring drought and even a small one against OSU could be the deciding factor. Lastly, Tennessee's gaudy shooting percentage against ASU was boosted immeasurably by the number of layups and putbacks allowed by ASU.

 

[toadfoot]

Well, at least we know OSU knows zone defense as they played a lot against WV, whether they actually decide to play defense is another story. Alston has another 6 days and she didn't look that bad against WV.
DePaul can pose a threat to any team if they are shooting well and that is especially true to teams with big posts that don't like to defend on the perimeter.

So Pac12, ACC x2, and SEC all have suffered upsets. But credit where it is due, the SEC has played better than seeding with MsSt, Mizzou, Auburn, and TN all offsetting Florida and Georgia

Of course that assumes the seedings were reasonably accurate. Both BYU and Green Bay were overseeded by 2 or 3 spots, which gave easy first round opponents to Missouri and Tennessee. And Mississippi St. getting a big break when MSU couldn't host helped MS tremendously. That game could have gone either way as it was, but played in Lansing who knows. I still think the sweet 16 is were conference matches mean something, but not before.

 

[Orangutan]

Oregon State-DePaul will be a fascinating contrast in styles in the Sweet 16. But does either of them look like they can pose a threat to Baylor?

I think Baylor would probably rather play DePaul. DePaul's pressure defense shouldn't get much traction against Niya Johnson and Alexis Jones. Oregon State is a threat to all non-UConn teams.

 

[Vowelguy]

Of course that assumes the seedings were reasonably accurate. Both BYU and Green Bay were overseeded by 2 or 3 spots, which gave easy first round opponents to Missouri and Tennessee.

Oh that's rich.
There was a pretty vocal group on this board saying TN wasnt even qualified for a 12 seed. Now after they've won -twice- it's because they had an easy draw?

 

[UcMiami]

Of course that assumes the seedings were reasonably accurate. Both BYU and Green Bay were overseeded by 2 or 3 spots, which gave easy first round opponents to Missouri and Tennessee. And Mississippi St. getting a big break when MSU couldn't host helped MS tremendously. That game could have gone either way as it was, but played in Lansing who knows. I still think the sweet 16 is were conference matches mean something, but not before.

Agree about BYU but I think GB was right where it should have been, and they as a ten seed played a very respectable game against TN as a seven seed - closer than you would expect, and closer than ASU played TN.

 

[JordyG]

I think Baylor would probably rather play DePaul. DePaul's pressure defense shouldn't get much traction against Niya Johnson and Alexis Jones. Oregon State is a threat to all non-UConn teams.

Unless of course Bruno plays the same offense he used against UCONN. 5 player substitutions, pacepacepace.

 

[JordyG]

Oh that's rich.
There was a pretty vocal group on this board saying TN wasnt even qualified for a 12 seed. Now after they've won -twice- it's because they had an easy draw?

C'mon. Can't we UCONN fans have it both ways? Although to steal a phrase, Arizona State was a #11 seed no one feared.

 

[toadfoot]

Oh that's rich.
There was a pretty vocal group on this board saying TN wasnt even qualified for a 12 seed. Now after they've won -twice- it's because they had an easy draw?

Then how about you direct your comments to someone in that vocal group who thought Tennessee was at best a 12 seed. I thought Tennessee should have been an 8 based on their body of work.

In fact on January 17 I said "Unless Tennessee makes a miraculous turnaround, they'll be lucky to make the NCAA as a 8 seed."

On February 21 I said, "I said several weeks ago, when Charlie Creme was slotting Tennessee as a #4, that I could see them falling to #8, but short of losing their last 2 games to Alabama and Georgia they should be in."

Clearly they did turn things around a bit in the SEC tournament, but I still think given their season as a whole they should have been an 8.

 

[toadfoot]

Agree about BYU but I think GB was right where it should have been, and they as a ten seed played a very respectable game against TN as a seven seed - closer than you would expect, and closer than ASU played TN.

I think reasonable people could agree to disagree about GB. I just thought that 2, not 1, but 2 losses to a truly horrible Oakland team would have been enough to move them down, especially considering their only win that could be considered quality at all was a 1 point win over South Dakota St. at home.

 

[Vowelguy]

With Massey ratings in brackets

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame vs #13 [12] Stanford/-- [33] So Dak St
-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Florida St
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn/-- [28] Duquesne vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas/-- [27] Mizzou vs #10 [9] UCLA/#21 [22] USF

ELIMINATED
#5 [5] Maryland
#8 [15] Louisville (to #20 DePaul)
#11 [11] Ariz St (to -- Tenn)
#16 [17] Mich St (to #15 Miss St)
#18 [20] Texas A&M
#19 [24] Miami (to --So Dakota St)
#22 [30] Colorado St (to #21 USF)
#23 [21] WVa (to #9 Ohio St)
#25 [26] Florida (to -- Albany)[/QUOTE]

 

[Vowelguy]

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame vs #13 [12] Stanford
-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Florida St
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas vs #10 [9] UCLA

PAC & SEC = 4
ACC = 3
B12 = 2
B10, BE, AAC = 1

 

[Gus Mahler]

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame vs #13 [12] Stanford
-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Florida St
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas vs #10 [9] UCLA

PAC & SEC = 4
ACC = 3
B12 = 2
B10, BE, AAC = 1

Thanks for doing this.

 

[Plebe]

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame vs #13 [12] Stanford
-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Florida St
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas vs #10 [9] UCLA

PAC & SEC = 4
ACC = 3
B12 = 2
B10, BE, AAC = 1

Wow, Pac-12 and SEC with 4 teams each in the Sweet 16. I hope all the boo-birds take notice.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I'm excited about these games...

 

[UConn79]

This is the 1st Womens Tournament I can remember with so many seeds (5) below 4 making the sweet 16. On the mens side ther are always more upsets. I know 5 ( two 5's, one 6, and two 7's) does not seem like a lot. Other than the clear top 4 teams, I believe this is a great sign for WBB.

Can anyone recall a tournament where more than 5 seeds 5 or higher made the sweet 16 ?

 

[Fairfield Fan]

LEXINGTON (Fri/Sun)
#3 [2] Notre Dame vs #13 [12] Stanford
-- [19] Washington vs #12 [13] Kentucky

SIOUX FALLS (Fri/Sun)
#2 [3] So Carolina vs #14 [10] Syracuse
#9 [8] Ohio St vs -- [25] Tennessee

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [16] Florida St
#6 [6] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [14] Miss St
#7 [7] Texas vs #10 [9] UCLA

PAC & SEC = 4
ACC = 3
B12 = 2
B10, BE, AAC = 1

So four of the sixteen in the Sweet Sixteen are current or former members of the Big East. And four legitimately from the Pac-12. Four legitimately from SEC. Shows that the current version of the ACC is really cobbled together. The one member from the ACC is actually a relatively recent tack-on: Florida State. The traditional b-ball schools are all gone: UNC, Duke, and even Maryland, which was sent home by a Pac-12 school.

 

[chuck.r]

Wow, Pac-12 and SEC with 4 teams each in the Sweet 16. I hope all the boo-birds take notice.

To be fair, the SEC did start the tournament with 9 bids, so a bit easier probability-wise to have as many as 4 survive to round of 16. The PAC-12 success, with only 5 participants, is more remarkable. Another aspect to this is that both the SEC & PAC-12 had 4 teams host opening rounds (with the SEC's Miss St benefiting from Mich St's conflict.).

I still think the NCAA awarding 8 at-large bids to one Power 5 conference (SEC) was excessive. This certainly prevented at least 1 deserving mid-major (or Group of 5) at-large, like So. Dakota, FGCU, or Temple, from making the big dance. Incidently, all 3 teams I mentioned made the sweet 16 in the WNIT. One, So. Dakota, did so on the strength of a 101-pt. performance against Minnesota.

 

[ocoandasoc]

Agree about BYU but I think GB was right where it should have been, and they as a ten seed played a very respectable game against TN as a seven seed - closer than you would expect, and closer than ASU played TN.

Missouri probably should have been a 9 (Creme had them there), and BYU an 8.... but they might have been matched up that way anyway.

Hard to seed Tenn when you don't know which team will show up. Either the good defense/good offense or the good defense/NO offense. Same thing goes for their game against OSU. Warlick's game plans have left a bit to be desired this year... and if she doesn't position the team to hold Mitchell to a reasonable number they'll be in trouble. Russell played her best game EVER against Az St. They'll need that kind of effort again along with a decent game from DeShields.

Arizona State played one of their worst games of the year... they looked incredibly tentative... they kept passing up decent shots. The rest of the Pac 12 has looked okay and I was stunned by the Washington defeat of Maryland. Not sure they'll get a team to the Final Four, though.

I wasn't surprised by Florida. I'd seen them play many times and they choked on a few occasions. Along with some impressive wins they had some bad losses to Georgia, Auburn and Mizzou where they led or were tied at the half.

 

[Vowelguy]

LEXINGTON (Sun)
-- [15] Washington vs #13 [9] Stanford

SIOUX FALLS (Sun)
-- [19] Tennessee vs #14 [11] Syracuse

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [10] Florida St
#6 [5] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [16] Miss St
#7 [6] Texas vs #10 [8] UCLA

PAC = 4
SEC, ACC, B12 = 2
BE, AAC = 1

 

[Gus Mahler]

LEXINGTON (Sun)
-- [15] Washington vs #13 [9] Stanford

SIOUX FALLS (Sun)
-- [19] Tennessee vs #14 [11] Syracuse

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [4] Baylor vs #17 [10] Florida St
#6 [5] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Sat/Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #15 [16] Miss St
#7 [6] Texas vs #10 [8] UCLA

PAC = 4
SEC, ACC, B12 = 2
BE, AAC = 1

Vowelguy, thanks for doing this. And the color coding.

Let me be the first to comment: No Big 10 schools remain. Sad commentary on what ought to be a strong WBB conference.

 

[Vowelguy]

LEXINGTON (Sun @1)
-- [12] Washington vs #13 [8] Stanford

SIOUX FALLS (Sun @330)
-- [19] Tennessee vs #14 [7] Syracuse

DALLAS (Sat/Mon)
#4 [2] Baylor vs #17 [11] Florida St
#6 [5] Oregon St vs #20 [18] DePaul

BRIDGEPORT (Mon)
#1 [1] UConn vs #7 [6] Texas

PAC = 3
ACC, B12 = 2
SEC, BE, AAC = 1