Women's March Madness Predictions
March. The most chaotic times in sports. With bracket breaking teams, magical Cinderella runs, and unpredictable outcomes, March Madness lives up to its name. At times it even seems pointless to make predictions with this tournament. However, basketball fans around the world can’t help but fill out their brackets on Selection Sunday and make their predictions. Read mine below.
Final Four Predictions: South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, UConn. This year women’s basketball has been at an all time high and has gotten more viewers than ever. With a competitive set of teams being placed into the tournament and a wide variety of star players, this year's tournament will be one to watch. Undefeated South Carolina is the favorite to win it all but doesn’t have the easiest road to do so. South Carolina may have to face teams like UNC, Notre Dame, and Stanford assuming they can advance as well. It’s important to note that center Kamilla Cardoso will not be available to play in the first round of the tournament due to an altercation during the SEC championship game that led to her ejection. Cardoso averages 14 PPG for the team and could cause a significant loss. The GameCocks tend to struggle at the line but make up for it by limiting turnovers and have one of the best shooting games in the country. South Carolina poses a real threat. Next, Stanford has a lot to prove after falling short in the Pac 12 championship game and losing the number one seed spot to Texas on Selection Sunday. Forwards Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen will be two key players for the Cardinal. Stanford has one of the best offenses but must clean up their defense if they want to make it to the final four. Third, The Iowa Hawkeyes seem to be the talk of not only college basketball but sports as a whole. Caitlin Clark has been a dominating force for the Hawkeyes leading the team in almost every category every night. While Clark may be getting lots of attention, she isn’t their only weapon. Kate Martin and Hannah Stuelke are two players that bring a lot to the Hawkeyes. As dominant as the Iowa offense, they must improve their defense. Iowa must increase their number of blocks and steals.The path to victory won’t be easy as Iowa has arguably the hardest regions. Assuming they can advance, the Hawkeyes will have to face off against defending national champions LSU in the Sweet 16.. Finally, UConn is once again Big East conference champions. The Huskies received a three seed falling behind USC and Ohio State. The odds of UConn having to face off against one or both of these teams are high depending on who advances. Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards will be two players for UConn to watch.
Potential Cinderella teams: Oklahoma and Texas A&M. It happens every year. A lower seed team that many people do not think twice about goes on a magical run in the tournament. While these teams rarely win, runs like this are why people love March so much. Oklahoma is a 5th seed and has continued to be underrated all year despite some impressive wins and solid record. The Sooners are great at hitting deep three or at the free throw line but they have impressive rebounding and limit turnovers. Oklahoma has to play 12th seed FGCU in round one of the tournament. Texas A&M is an 11th seed and has a tough path having to play 6th seed Nebraska in round one. It might seem like a long shot for the Aggies to go on a run considering they have had some brutal losses during the regular season. However, the Aggies have very solid defense, which is something that many other teams lack. If the Aggies can improve their shooting, they may be a team to watch.
