I picked the No. 8 seed Ole Miss Rebels to beat the No. 1 seed Stanford Cardinal in nearly all my brackets, including my main bracket. The Rebels achieved the feat on Sunday, winning 54-49 in Stanford to become the first team to knock off a No. 1 seed before the Sweet Sixteen since 2009.
I was a little nervous about my pick given Stanford’s talent on paper and the composure the program has shown throughout the years under Tara VanDerveer, including when its current two biggest stars, Haley Jones and Cameron Brink, helped it win the national championship in 2021. However, I didn’t expect Stanford to have that composure this year, because in the regular season, the Cardinal repeatedly demonstrated that they couldn’t take care of business against far inferior opponents:
- Jan. 8: only beat non-tournament team Cal (13-17, 4-14 Pac-12) by four
- Jan. 15: lost to eventual No. 8 seed USC by nine
- Jan. 27: only beat non-tournament team Oregon State (13-18, 4-14 Pac-12) by three
- Jan. 29: only beat non-tournament team Oregon (18-14, 7-11 Pac-12) by eight
- Feb. 5: lost to non-tournament team Washington (17-14, 7-11 Pac-12) by five
- Feb. 17: only beat eventual No. 8 seed USC by three
On paper, I think Jones and Brink comprise one of the best star duos in the country and Hannah Jump…
