South Carolina No. 1 overall seed in women’s NCAA Tournament March Madness: Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Purdue the 1 seeds No. 4 Alabama finishes off SEC title double dip at tourney Courtney Ramey lifts No. 8 Arizona over No. 2 UCLA for Pac-12 title San Diego State beats Utah State for Mountain West title Wichita State fires Isaac Brown after 3 seasons
Don Staley has six wins in South Carolina before the end of a historic season.
The Gamecocks are looking to become the 10th women’s basketball team to go undefeated all season as they enter the NCAA Tournament as the #1 seed overall.
Staley’s team ran into problems a few times this year, but always got through. The defending national champions will play Norfolk State in the first round of the tournament, the NCAA selection committee said Sunday night.
“It wasn’t hard for us to learn from the close game,” Staley said. “Now we’re in a position where we can’t afford to lose.”
While the Gamecocks, led by star Alia Boston, were in contention for the top spot for most of the season, several schools including Iowa, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Stanford, and Utah were vying for other spots. The Hawkeyes, led by incendiary quarterback Caitlin Clark, have already won first place twice, in 1988 and 1992.
The committee ultimately chose the Hoosiers, Hokies and Cardinal. Indiana and Virginia Tech won first place for the first time. Stanford has won the top spot 13 times already, including in the last three tournaments.
“We spent a lot of time on a variety of things. Definitely the number one line and the right teams,” said Lisa Peterson, chairman of the selection committee.
The tournament starts on Wednesday with the first two games. The madness starts with 16 games on Friday and 16 more the next day.
South Carolina may have the easiest route to the Final Four in Dallas as they won’t have to travel far from home. The Gamecocks, who are the 18th team to reach the NCAA Tournament undefeated, will play their first two games on campus before possibly heading to Greenville, South Carolina in 90 minutes for one of two regional tournaments. The Gamecocks just won the Southeastern Conference tournament on this site.
“It’s great. When we were sent to Stockton, California in 2017, we thought it was too difficult, but in the end we won the national championship. So there are blessings in all types of situations,” Staley said. “Greenville was a region. We’re lucky that we’ve done enough to be sent to this region and we need to make it work for us. We know it won’t be easy.”
This season, the NCAA has changed its format and has two regional grounds for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. One hosts Greenville, the other hosts Seattle. Once again, the top four teams in each region will host the first two rounds.
The other top teams in South Carolina’s draw are the #2 seed at Maryland, the #3 seed at Notre Dame, and the #4 seed at UCLA. The Gamecocks have beaten Maryland and UCLA this season.
“I like it. Some familiarity. Take care of Norfolk State and then see where it takes us,” Staley said. play with someone.
Indiana is another top seed in Greenville. Utah is in second place, LSU is third, and Villanova is fourth.
UConn, who were the last team to go undefeated and win the title in 2015-16, are looking to continue their story and reach the Final Four for the 15th year in a row. The Huskies had a difficult year due to injuries, but they finally started to get better by March. Star guard Azzi Fudd, who missed 22 games with a knee injury, returned to the Big East and helped the Huskies win it.
Geno Auriemma’s team, which has won a record 11 national championships, is second in Seattle. Hokies take first place in this part of the grid. Ohio is ranked 3rd and Tennessee is 4th. The Lady Vols have competed in every NCAA Tournament since it began in 1982.
Cardinal – No. 1 in the other region of Seattle. Iowa is 2nd, Duke is 3rd, and Texas is 4th.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has eight teams, while the Big Ten, SEC, and Pac-12 each have seven. There are six of them in the Big 12, and five in the Big East.
Four teams will take part in the tournament for the first time: South Utah, Southeast Louisiana, Sacramento State and St. Louis.
Columbia, Kansas, Massachusetts and Oregon were the first four teams to leave the field.
Alabama, who finished first overall, was on a roll despite being implicated in a murder case. Another No. 1 seed, the reigning national champion Kansas, suffers a crushing defeat and his coach is released from the hospital. Another, Houston, just watched his best player go down in a heap with a horrific injury.
This year’s March Madness leaders are far from perfect, but the presence of these teams and all their questions at the top of the table could lead the NCAA to want its tournament to be a completely unpredictable mess.
Much of the draw drama this year was resolved long before qualifying Sunday.
Arizona State and Nevada came out of the bubble and into a field of 68 teams. Rutgers and Oklahoma State did not. Perdue, with 7’4″ Zach Edie, led the way, sweeping UCLA for the fourth and final #1 seed.
And in a decision that almost everyone expected, the selection committee eliminated North Carolina from last year’s national second-place finish. This made the Tar Heels the first team since the grid expanded to 64 teams in 1985 to start the season in first place in an Associated Press poll and finish it without participating in the Big Dance.
The team they lost to is from Kansas trying to become the first consecutive NCAA champion since Florida in 2007.
The Jayhawks finished first in the Western Region, but only third overall behind Crimson Tide and the Cougars. The Jayhawks are looking forward to the return of coach Bill Self, who was hospitalized last week with chest tightness and balance problems. He has been discharged and is expected to return this week.
Selection committee head Chris Reynolds said he takes into account every injury and every absence.
“Of course, that’s something the committee has been talking about for a year, and it certainly played a role in the seedings and selections,” said Reynolds, Bradley’s athletic director.
He said the committee didn’t ignore lopsided losses either: Two of Kansas’ seven Ls came in March to Texas, the No. 2 seed, with 16 and 20 points.
“They’re celebrating it the way they feel, and we’re just going to do what we need to do to get where we need to be,” Kansas forward K. J. Adams said.
The tournament starts on Tuesday with the first two games. The madness starts on Thursday with 16 first round games and then 16 more the next day.
Kansas’ loss to Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 semi-finals likely played a role in bookmaker FanDuel, setting the Jayhawks 10-1 to win the title, losing to both South Region Alabama (8-1 odds) and the overall favorite, Houston (5-1). 1 chance) who will play in the Final Four in his hometown if the Midwest region wins. The semi-finals and finals will take place at the NRG stadium on 1 and 3 April.
The Cougars lost their conference title game on Sunday, in large part because they were without Marcus Sasser, the top scorer, who left the previous day’s game early after slipping awkwardly and injuring his groin.
Purdue likely hit number one when it won the program’s second Big Ten tournament title on Sunday, less than 24 hours after UCLA, also underperformed this season, lost by two to Arizona in the Pac title game. -12.
For Alabama, the SEC tournament went relatively smoothly – no one stayed within double digits of the Tide – in contrast to the past two months, which have been marked by an almost constant stream of headlines about former player Darius Miles being accused of equity. Murder In the January 15 murder of 23-year-old Jamie Harris.
“I’m not sure we could have predicted that,” said Tide’s coach Nate Oates, who became the first seed for the first time. “Being the #1 seed overall is great. It goes to show what an incredible regular season we’ve had. You still have to win games.”
The SEC and Big Ten were in the lead, placing eight teams in a field of 68 teams. Duke won the ACC for the 22nd time and was one of the five teams in this conference in a relatively weak year.
But this tournament is always bigger than big schools with big pedigrees.
Some teams to keep an eye on include 13th No. 13 Ayona, coached by legend Rick Pitino, who has the Gaels on the show for the second time in three years, and some people are wondering if he will move on to the vacant job at St. Jones soon. Jonah got a brutal draw – the first round meeting against the fourth seeded UConn.
There is Southern Conference champion Furman, returning to the tournament for the first time since 1980, and MEAC champion Howard, returning to the tournament for the first time since 1992.
There is Kennesaw State, a program that went 1-28 in 2019-2020 and is now on the grid. For the rest of the dreamers, there’s Texas Southern, a team that won their conference tournament as the No. 8 seed and arrived at March Madness at 2:20 pm to play a game against Fairleigh Dickinson.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee. Brandon Miller scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as fourth-seeded Alabama choked out No. 18 Texas A&M 82-63 on Sunday in Crimson Tide’s second Southeastern Conference championship in three seasons.
Crimson Tide also completed their second SEC double fall in three seasons with a regular season trophy ahead of Friday’s quarterfinals. The Tide (29-5) extended the program’s win record by adding their eighth tournament title in their 15th appearance; both are second only to Kentucky in the SEC.
Miller, the tournament MVP and AP All-SEC player and Rookie of the Year, recorded his ninth double-double of the season. Javon Quinerley, who shot 0-for-9 with one point in the semi-finals, made his first three triples and scored 13 of his 22 points in…
Source: collegebasketball.nbcsports.com
