Chasing UConn ... again
Women face usual challenge for title
The college women’s basketball world is facing a familiar challenge in the NCAA tournament: Keep Connecticut, the overall No. 1 seed, from going home with the trophy for the fifth time in six years.
Since the Huskies saw their 111game winning streak end thanks to an unforgettable finish from Mississippi State guard Morgan William in the 2017 Final Four, the Huskies have unsurprisingly resumed dominating the sport. They finished the 2017-18 regular season undefeated, winning all but two games by double-figure margins.
The numbers throughout the season, as they often are with the Huskies, were staggering. One example: In the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, they held Cincinnati to five points in the first half. Five players average more than 10 points per game, led by Katie Lou Samuelson’s 17.9, and have outscored opponents by an average 36.9 points.
That doesn’t mean they have smooth sailing. UConn faces St. Francis (Pa.) in the first round but will likely have to face defending champion South Carolina in the Elite Eight. Notre Dame, Louisville and Mississippi State were also awarded one seeds Monday in the bracket unveiling.
Five more story lines to watch:
❚ Muffet McGraw and Notre Dame are no strangers to success in the NCAA tournament — she’s made five trips to the NCAA title game in her career and seven to the Final Four. But this year, the
2018 USA TODAY Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year has been doing it with a rotation that’s been limited to six or seven players in tight games after four players were lost to knee injuries — making them perhaps the only one seed to have a strong underdog story.
“We kept losing people during the year, but we never put our heads down or felt sorry for ourselves. They just came to work every single day. This was the most rewarding championship I think we’ve had,” McGraw said last month.
❚ Louisville, which finished third in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, beat Notre Dame for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title. Led by junior guard Asia Durr and senior forward Myisha Hines-Allen, the Cardinals have outscored opponents by an average 19.7,
with four players putting up more than eight points a game.
❚ After slaying the dragon in the Final Four, Mississippi State had a perfect season — until losing to South Carolina (again) in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game. Senior guard Victoria Vivians leads the Bulldogs with 19.6 points per game.
The defending champion Gamecocks were victims of the injury bug this season — they lost guards Lindsey Spann and Bianca Cuevas-Moore to season-ending knee injuries — and dropped games against Louisville, Mississippi State, UConn, Tennessee and Missouri. A good sign for Dawn Staley’s crew: They won the SEC tournament this month. A bad sign: Their corner of the bracket (they’re a two seed) includes UConn.
Other teams to watch:
❚ Oregon made a Cinderella run through to the Elite Eight in
2017 before falling to UConn. But this year, a deep run shouldn’t be considered a big surprise for the two seed. Sabrina Ionescu scored 36 points to lead her team to dethrone Stanford for the Pac-12 tournament title.
❚ Three-seeded UCLA is led by Jordin Canada, the Pac-12’s all-time assist leader.
❚ Three seed Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell is the all-time leader in NCAA women’s bas- ketball in three-pointers and six seed Iowa’s Megan Gustafson dropped 48 points in her team’s one-point loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament.
❚ Two seed Baylor lost senior point guard Kristy Wallace to an ACL injury on senior night, but freshman Alexis Morris stepped in and the Lady Bears beat Texas for the Big 12 tournament title.