This year’s Women’s March Madness tournament had tough competition. Just during the regular season, there were already many upsets. Coming into the tournament, there were some top teams you wouldn’t expect to be there based on recent years. The teams coming out of most people’s mouths were UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, UConn, South Carolina, Texas, and a few others.
Before the first official round of the tournament, 4 games are held to determine the last 4 teams that make it into the tournament. This year, the last 4 teams in were Southern, Columbia, Iowa State, and William & Mary. At the official start of the tournament, there are 64 teams. If you win your conference tournament, you automatically make it into the tournament. The other teams that made it into the tournament, but did not win their conference championship, are selected by the NCAA Selection Committee, which bases its decision on a team’s in-season performance. A team’s seed/rank is also determined by the Selection Committee’s decisions.
The bracket is divided into 4 regions, each region consisting of 16 teams. This means that there are 4 total #1 seeds, 4 total #2 seeds, and so on. This year, the 4 #1 seeds were UCLA, South Carolina, USC, and Texas. During the regular season, some teams rose to the expectations of their fans, but others reignited the light of their program this year. This year’s tournament was going to be very competitive, and everyone who loves college basketball was surely going to be enticed.
The first round of the tournament wasn’t filled with many HUGE upsets. The minor upsets were when the #9 seed, Mississippi St, beat the #8 seed, California; when the #10 seed, South Dakota State, beat the #7 seed, Oklahoma State; when the #9 seed, Indiana, beat the #8 seed Utah; but the most well known upset was when the #10 seed, Oregon, beat the #7 seed, Vanderbilt. Though there weren’t many upsets in the first round, there were still some BIG games. There were 5 total teams with over 100-point games, which were South Carolina, Notre Dame, Tennessee, UConn, and Texas. 4 of these teams won their games by over 50 points!
In the second round of the tournament, there were, once again, some small upsets. Some examples were when the #5 seed, Ole Miss, beat the #4 seed, Baylor; when the #5 seed, Tennessee, beat the #4 seed Ohio State; and when the #5 seed Kansas State beat the #4 seed Kentucky, 80-79 as Senior, Georgia Amoore missed the game winner at the buzzer. Though this wasn’t an upset, it surely took some fans by surprise due to the extreme score differential when the #3 seed, Oklahoma, beat the #6 seed, but also last year’s tournament runner-up, Iowa, 96-62.
Going into the Sweet 16, the competition was getting even harder as the teams’ seed numbers were getting smaller by the second. Throughout this tournament, there has been a pattern of very minor upsets. In this round, though each game was very intense, there was only one upset. This was when the #3 seed, LSU, beat the #2 seed, NC State. Though based on seed number, it wasn’t an upset; many brackets were shaken when #2 seed, TCU, beat #3 seed, Notre Dame. During the regular season, Notre Dame was a very strong competitor. In many interviews with WNBA players, celebrities, and even young athletes, the majority of their Final 4 contending teams had Notre Dame in the mix. Because of the result of this game, TCU senior Hailey Van Lith has now officially led 3 different teams to the Elite 8: TCU, LSU, and Louisville.
Heading into the Elite 8, some people weren’t prepared for a crucial accident that happened in the previous round of the tournament. In the Sweet 16, USC’s star player, JuJu Watkins, went down, resulting in a torn ACL. This injury not only shook JuJu but also the rest of USC. Going into the next round of the tournament, USC knew they were going to have to play the strongest they have ever played to carry JuJu’s weight on the team if they wanted to take down UConn like the did during the regular season; however, they couldn’t pull off the win, causing the only upset of this round. USC fans can only hope for an amazing recovery for JuJu, hoping that she will be game-ready sometime next season.
The Final 4 has officially been finalized. This year’s Final 4 consisted of the following teams: UCLA, UConn, South Carolina, and Texas. As you can see, three of these teams are #1 seeds, with the only #2 seed being UConn. In this round, UCLA played UConn, and South Carolina played Texas. Each game started very competitively, but both games ended up not being close. #1 seed, South Carolina, swept #1 seed, Texas, 74-57. However, in the UConn game, something was unleashed in UConn that we have never seen before. #1 seed, UCLA, could not stop #2 seed UConn, as UConn won 85-51, which marked the largest win margin in Final 4 history.
This year’s championship game consisted of the #2 seed, UConn, and the defending champions, the #1 seed, South Carolina. Heading into the championship game, UConn has won a total of 11 championship titles, and South Carolina has won a total of 3. However, UConn knew they were going to have to turn up the heat to take down the defending champs. If you watched last year’s tournament, you would know that South Carolina had an incredible, undefeated season. In the regular season, UConn actually beat South Carolina 87-58, which was highly unexpected. South Carolina came into this game plotting their revenge in hopes of finally taking down the Huskies. However, whatever mentality and rhythm the Huskies played with when they took down UCLA, they took with them into the Championship Game. Once UConn got a small lead in the first quarter, they never let go of it. South Carolina couldn’t defend their title, as they lost the game 82-59. Because of this HUGE win, UConn now has 12 Championship titles.
