Freshmen to impact Sweet 16
UConn, Iowa stars in featured game
SAN ANTONIO — The NCAA women’s tournament regional semifinals field is set with many familiar faces such as Connecticut, Baylor, Stanford and South Carolina. There’s also some fresh ones, including Michigan and Arizona.
The Sweet 16 will tip off Saturday with a much anticipated matchup between Connecticut and Iowa. The schools are led by heralded freshmen Paige Bueckers and Caitlyn Clark. Geno Auriemma, who will be coaching the Huskies for the first time in the tournament after being sidelined with COVID- 19 the first two rounds, couldn’t remember a time when there was so much hype around two freshmen.
“It’s been a while since you have two kids that have had this kind of an impact, both on their teams and on the game itself nationally. To have one is kind of cool. To have two and to be so alike in so many ways?” Auriemma said.
“It’s two really, really young kids, really good players that do a lot for their teams.”
Clark has led Iowa back to the Sweet 16. The Hawkeyes are one of a record four Big Ten Conference teams in the regional semifinals with Michigan, Indiana and Maryland joining them.
Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico is happy to have her team in the regional semifinals for the first time as opposed to Connecticut, which is making its 27th consecutive appearance in the Round of 16.
“Things have changed. You could go somewhere else and you could have the opportunity right away to make an impact and create something that’s never been done before,” she said. “Those kids are different.”
Arizona has made it back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998 when coach Adia Barnes was playing for the Wildcats.
Asked how different the feeling was to get to the Sweet 16 as a coach as opposed to when she did it as a player, Barnes responded, “coaching is a lot harder than playing. Because as a player, you’re kind of oblivious to a lot of things. You just kind of go out and play.”
Barnes said it is also more meaningful and gratifying, getting to watch the players being rewardedfor their hard work.
Some other things to know about this Sweet 16 field:
• For the first time since 2013, three No. 6s advanced to the Sweet 16 with Michigan, Oregon and Texas reaching the regional semifinals. At the other end of the spectrum, for the third consecutive time all the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds reached the Sweet 16.
• For the first time in this tournament the NCAA will allow the public to attend games. That will be limited to 17% of the Alamodome’s capacity per game — which is roughly 4,800 tickets.
“We’re in Texas, so, I feel like we’re going to have a lot of fans,”” Baylor forward NaLyssa Smith said. “People’s families finally start to get to come. So, it’s about to be very exciting.”