Chalk talk: Women's March Madness goes mostly according to seed as top teams advance to second round
March Madness has mostly been March Predictable in the women’s NCAA Tournament so far
March Madness has mostly been March Predictable in the women's NCAA Tournament so far.
For the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, no team seeded 11 or worse advanced to the second round.
The only two double-digit seeds that made it to the round of 32 were a pair of 10s — Oregon and South Dakota State. The Ducks needed overtime to beat Vanderbilt and the Jackrabbits topped Oklahoma State by six points, rallying from a double-digit second-half deficit. The Ducks saw their seasons end when they fell to No. 2 Duke in a close game Sunday. South Dakota State plays UConn on Monday.
With mostly the top seeded teams advancing, it set up for some competitive second round contests and they didn't disappoint Sunday, especially the five seeds, who all won.
No. 5 Kansas State beat fourth-seeded Kentucky in overtime. The Wildcats barely survived the opening round holding off Liberty 79-78.
Kentucky wasn't the only host to go down Sunday as Baylor was edged by fifth-seeded Ole Miss and No. 5 Tennessee topped No. 4 Ohio State.
This was the first time since the NCAA went to the top four seeds hosting the first two rounds that three No. 5 seeds advanced when playing on an opponents home court. It also happened in 2021 when the entire tournament was played in Texas because of the coronavirus.
No. 6 Florida State plays No. 3 LSU and No. 6 West Virginia takes on No. 3 North Carolina on Monday.
There also was intrigue with second-seeded TCU and Hailey Van Lith facing her former Louisville team, a No. 7 seed, on Sunday. After a good start by Louisville, Van Lith and her TCU teammates took control in the second quarter and won 85-70.
Even with the lack of upsets, it doesn't mean that there weren't eye-popping performances in the first 32 games. The top teams all looked dominant in their first-round victories. The four 1-seeds — South Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Southern California — won by an average of 47 points.
Both South Carolina and UCLA had harder times in the second round. Both pulled away in the second half to advance to the Sweet 16.
Offense was on full display in the opening round with the Gamecocks, Longhorns, UConn, Notre Dame, LSU and Tennessee all putting up more than 100 points. That was the second time in NCAA history that six teams went over the century mark.
Defense also took center stage at times. Duke held Lehigh to 10 points in the first half while USC gave up only 11 to Lehigh. UConn led Arkansas State 66-16 at the half.
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