On Wednesday, Mar. 19 and Thursday, Mar. 20, eight teams will compete in NCAA Tournament’s First Four, aiming to earn an official spot in the tournament’s 64-team field.
No. 11-seeds Princeton and Iowa State kick things off at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, followed by No. 16-seeds Southern and UC San Diego at 9 p.m. ET. On Thursday, No. 11-seeds Washington and Columbia meet at 7 p.m. ET before No. 16-seeds William & Mary and High Point fight for the final spot.
Here are four things to know when tuning in for the First Four:
Audi Crooks is awesome!
After last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Stanford, where Iowa State took the Cardinal to overtime before coming up short, expectations were high for the Cyclones. A No. 11 seed indicates that Iowa State disappointed, finishing seventh in the Big 12.
But, the Cyclones’ subpar season was not due to Audi Crooks. The sophomore center averaged over 23 points per game while shooting better than 60 percent from the field. She scored 30 points or more seven times, highlighted by her 36-point and 10-rebound double-double in Iowa State’s dominant win over Kansas State, a No. 5 seed in the tourney, in early March.
Crooks’ singular scoring star power…
