The NCAA Women’s Tournament bracket is set, and with it comes the conversations about likely Cinderella teams and bracket busters.

From Creighton upsetting Iowa, to Princeton, Villanova and Florida Gulf Coast ruining brackets across the country last year, the tournament is guaranteed to have surprises. Of the 68 teams that heard their names called on Selection Sunday, these four have the greatest potential to bust some brackets.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame features on this list for the fact that they could bust some brackets simply by losing early. While they’ve dominated at times this season, the Fighting Irish fell in their second ACC tournament game to Louisville 64-38 without star sophomore Olivia Miles.

Miles is a question mark for the tournament, as she remains out indefinitely with a knee injury. Without their starting point guard, the Fighting Irish could find themselves fighting hard just to remain in the field.

UNLV

MORE

The post NCAA Tournament: Watch for these four potential bracket busters appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.

In the latest Women’s NCAA basketball bracketology for 2023, Virginia Tech has made an impressive leap up the rankings. With five NET top 25 wins, they are now ranked 12th in the country and are looking like a serious contender for a No. 2 seed.

The No. 1 seeds remain unchanged, with South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford, and UConn all continuing their impressive seasons. However, there is plenty of movement elsewhere in the rankings, with some razor-thin margins between teams vying for a No. 2 seed.

LSU, Utah, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Maryland, Duke, and Notre Dame all look like contenders for a No. 2 seed, with the margins between them incredibly close. This means that every game down the stretch will be crucial for these teams, as they battle it out for a favorable seeding in the tournament.

Virginia Tech has been the most impressive of these teams in recent weeks, picking up two crucial wins against Duke and NC State. Senior Elizabeth Kitley has been a standout player for the Hokies, averaging 19.3 PPG and 3.8 BPG over their current six-game win streak.

But Virginia Tech will need to continue their impressive form if they want to hold onto their No. 2 seed. They face a tough test on Thursday when they take on North Carolina, a team they only narrowly beat earlier in the season.

Elsewhere in the rankings, Iowa continues to impress with their offensive prowess. With an average of 82.5 points per game, they are the nation’s premier offensive juggernaut. They will face their toughest test of the season so far when they take on Indiana on Sunday.

Overall, the Women’s NCAA basketball bracketology for 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting and closely contested tournament. With so many talented teams vying for a top seed, every game will be crucial as we approach the business end of the season.

The post Virginia Tech rises in Women’s NCAA basketball bracketology 2023 appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.

The women’s NCAA tournament will undergo significant change for the second consecutive season. The field expanded to 68 teams last year. This season, the customary four regional sites have been reduced to two: Seattle and Greenville, South Carolina. The top 16 teams will continue to host the first and second rounds, and the First Four games will again be played at the site of the first-round games to which they feed. Defending champion South Carolina is the heavy favorite, and the Gamecocks seek to become the first repeat champions since UConn in 2015-16. The Final Four is March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

More:https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30423107/ncaa-women-bracketology-2023-women-college-basketball-projections

The post WOMEN’S BRACKETOLOGY: 2023 NCAA TOURNAMENT appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.

The Big Ten Conference is leading the way in women’s college basketball with five of its teams securing top 16 seeds in the NCAA seeding reveal. The Indiana Hoosiers, who are 23-1 and the projected No. 2 overall seed, headline the Big Ten representation, which also includes the No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes, No. 9 Maryland Terrapins, No. 11 Michigan Wolverines, and No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes.

In Thursday’s reveal, which takes into account results through Wednesday, the defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks have named the No. 1 seed with an undefeated record of 24-0. Meanwhile, the ACC also boasts four teams in the top 16, including the No. 8 Duke Blue Devils, who lead the conference with a 21-3 record and an 11-2 record in the ACC. The Big East, SEC, and Pac-12 each have two teams in the top 16, while the Big 12 has only one representative, the Texas Longhorns.

The No. 4 overall seed is the UConn Huskies, while the Stanford Cardinal are No. 3. The NCAA women’s tournament selection show is on March 12, and the women’s Final Four will be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas from March 31 to April 2.

The top 16 seeds in order are South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford, UConn, LSU, Utah, Iowa, Duke, Maryland, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Villanova, and Ohio State. The regional assignments will be divided between Greenville and Seattle, with the first and second-round games to be played from March 17-20 at host sites, and the semifinals taking place on March 24-25.

With five teams among the top 16, the Big Ten Conference is demonstrating its dominance in women’s basketball, and Indiana’s 11-game winning streak, including 7 victories against ranked foes, is a testament to the conference’s strength. The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is shaping up to be an exciting showcase of the best teams and players in the country, and fans can look forward to an intense battle for the championship title.

The post Big Ten Dominates the NCAA Women’s Top-16 Seeds appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.