Top-seeded Cardinal set to start tourney run
SAN ANTONIO >> This year’s women’s NCAA Tournament may be one of the most-wide open in years, with nearly a dozen teams having a good chance to win the championship.
The uncertainty seems apropos after a pandemic-stressed season of stops, pauses and cancellations.
The top seeds Stanford, South Carolina, N.C. State and Uconn are definitely the favorites to win the title on April 4 at the Alamodome. The four No. 2s also are among the favorites to win it all with Louisville, Maryland, Baylor and Texas A&M all title contenders.
“This is as wide-open a year as any. Last year maybe it was Oregon or people might say South Carolina,” Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer said. “Past years there’s been Baylor with Brittney Griner or Connecticut with Maya Moore but I think this year is wide open. There are a lot of different teams that could win this tournament. I think it will be very exciting and great for TV.”
Stanford opens tonight in the Alamodome against NCAA first-timer Utah Valley (13-6), the WAC runner
up in with unbeaten California Baptist not yet eligible for the NCAA Tournament while making the transition from Division II.
History is on the side of the top teams. A one or two seed has won every women’s tournament title since 1997, including the last eight by a No. 1.
Even if that trend doesn’t change, there are more teams capable of pulling off upsets and at least reaching the Final Four especially since there were fewer regular season games and practices than there would be during normal year.
The talent also seems to be more spread out now.
A look at the AP AllAmerica team and for the first time ever there were 15 different schools represented on it. Throughout the season, the No. 1 team in the poll changed four times— the second most alltime. N.C. State and Stanford both lost games to unranked teams this season.
Also, with all the NCAA Tournament being played on neutral courts there’s a better chance that there will be more upsets as lower-seeded teams won’t have to win on a higherseeded squad’s homecourt to advance to the Sweet 16.
Any team that will make a deep run will have to deal with the mental aspect as well. A school that wins the national championship will have spent nearly three weeks in San Antonio cooped up in their hotel.
Stanford, the overall No. 1 seed, might be in the best position to overcome that. The Cardinal spent nine weeks away from home because of the virus. If they can, Vanderveer could win her first national championship since 1992. The Cardinal has tournament experience on its side, although this year’s event is a little different with all games taking place in and around San Antonio.
“I think it helps,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “We’re used to testing every day and used to eating in our rooms. It has prepared us for this. We’ve been her done this, we can handle it.”
Vanderveer is the winningest coach in women’s basketball history with 1,119 career victories, and the Cardinal carries an alltime mark of 89-31 (.742) alltime at the NCAA Tournament. The coach leads all coaches in NCAA Tournament appearances with 35
Vanderveer tells her players their middle name has to be “flexible.”
Six players on the Cardinal average at least seven points per game, including four averaging over 10 points per game, led by Kiana Williams at 14.3 points a game. Williams led the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting. NCAA ADDS EQUIPMENT TO WOMEN’S WEIGHT ROOM >> The NCAA responded overnight to criticism of the workout facility for women’s teams participating in the NCAA Tournament, with ESPN sharing video of added gym equipment in a ballroom turned weight room in San Antonio.
Late this week, photos circulated on social media that showed a men’s weight room in Indianapolis full of equipment and just one rack of weights available to the women. The tournaments are being played in condensed locations this season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Mention also has been made about the differences in the quality of food available at the sites, the “swag” given to players and the COVID-19 tests being administered.
South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley blasted the NCAA and president Mark Emmert over the disparity between benefits given to women’s teams compared to men’s teams playing in the NCAA Tournament.
“There is no answer that the NCAA executive leadership led by Mark Emmert can give to explain the disparities,” Staley posted to Twitter on Friday night. “Mark Emmert and his team point blank chose to create them! The real issue is not the weights or the ‘swag’ bags. It’s that they did not think or do not think that the women’s players ‘deserve’ the same amenities of the men.”