Women’s Champ Week takeaways: No. 1 seeds and NCAA hosts set

Champs Week in the Power 4 conferences concluded on Sunday with the top seeded pair – ruler (acc) and UCLA (Big Ten) — and a pair of No. 2 seeds — texas (SEC) and West Virginia (Big 12)–Winning tournament titles. Those four leagues set the landscape of the NCAA bracket — a total of 39 teams from the quartet are involved on Sunday night bracketology Projection – So the resume has been prepared and many of the NCAA Tournament questions have been answered.

Now it is up to the selection committee to shortlist those answers. Between now and Selection Sunday when the bracket is announced on March 15 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), 23 more automated bids A decision will be taken once the complete picture emerges.

What are the biggest things we learned on Championship Sunday? Which teams will have benefited the most from Champs Week so far? Which resume was a hit? Let’s take an in-depth look at Champ Week, how it will shape the bracket and what to expect on Selection Sunday.

How did Champ Week change the No. 1 seeds?

Texas was the only weak No. 1 seed entering Champ Week; How the SEC Tournament finished was going to determine the final placings on the 1-line. Vanderbilt And LSU Those entering Friday were still in the mix. By late Sunday afternoon the Longhorns had emphatically ended those hopes. Texas clinched the top seed by not only defeating South Carolina In the SEC Finals, and doing so in such a dominant manner, the Longhorns swept the Gamecocks at the 1-line and are the No. 3 team overall.

This is significant because it allows Texas to be placed in one of the Fort Worth areas. South Carolina will now have to travel to Sacramento, while the Longhorns will have to play just 190 miles from home as they advance to the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.

1-Another question has come up around the seed: should Yukon Or will UCLA go No. 1 overall? The Bruins’ metrics – 18 Quad 1 wins, top win above the bubble number, best strength of schedule – suggest they should be first. However, the Huskies remained in the same place throughout the season and remain the only undefeated team in the country. More importantly, the NCAA selection committee has UConn ranked No. 1 overall in both top-16 appearances this season. At the time of each of those announcements – February 14 and March 1 – UCLA also had the advantage in those metrics – and the committee was still with the Huskies.

Nothing has changed on that front. Essentially, the committee has already spoken here, and UConn has been the consistent choice. The only element that has changed: The Bruins are now Big Ten regular season And The tournament champion, with a performance in the Big Ten Tournament finals that was almost perfect, beat iowa From 51 points. If the committee decides to change its mind and overturn UConn and UCLA, it will be the logic, not the numbers.

Have the top-16 teams been decided?

All teams in talks to make the Top 16 are finished playing, but there was some upset over the weekend. West Virginia’s potential entry was the largest as it hosted NCAA Tournament games for the first time since 1992. The Mountaineers had not won a Big 12 Tournament title since 2017, but were the better team from start to finish against the regular season champion. TCU.

kentucky The SEC was a weak No. 16 overall seed after losing to South Carolina on Friday in the quarterfinals, but also michigan state Lost its first game in the Big Ten Tournamentand North Carolina And ole miss It took until Sunday for one team to knock the Wildcats out of that final hosting spot, one win short of what they needed to reach the semifinals of their respective tournaments.

Biodata of the last two teams in the top 16 — maryland And West Virginia – and the first few – Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan State – have minor differences, but the Mountaineers are the only Mountaineers with a championship.

Sunday’s loss likely cost the Horned Frogs the No. 2 seed, which they clinched the following Saturday michiganLose to Iowa. The Duke was the beneficiary. By winning the ACC Tournament title after capturing the regular season crown, the Blue Devils now have a claim to the final spot on the No. 2 line.

game

UCLA beats Iowa to win second consecutive Big Ten title

The No. 2 UCLA Bruins defeated the No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes 96–45 to capture their second consecutive Big Ten title.

How has Champ Week affected the bubble so far?

This is the stickiest bubble in years. The selection process involves more teams than seen in the past, with more advantages and disadvantages to include.

south dakota state Probably the best weekend ever. The jackrabbits had been on the wrong side of the bubble, from the outside looking in, for several weeks. But they made it irrelevant by winning the Summit League championship and claiming the automatic bid. Selection Sunday in Brookings, South Dakota will now be a lot less stressful.

arizona state Won two games in the Big 12 Tournament to help lead one of the remaining teams in the at-large pool, including an upset iowa stateAnd playing competitively with West Virginia in the quarterfinals. The Sun Devils are ranked 51st in the NET and still don’t have a Quad 1 win, but their 12-9 record against the NET Top 100 is easily the best among bubble teams, so they get the nod.

so does RichmondBut for different reasons. Spiders stumble badly in Atlantic 10 semi-finals george mason On Saturday, and he appeared to be out of the field. But later that day, Harvard Worried ColombiaThe Lions dropped out of first place in the Ivy League and the conference’s projected automatic bid. he left princeton As the Ivy’s lone NCAA Tournament team, opening up another spot in the field. Richmond took it and immediately came back in. When Ivy Madness is played Thursday and Friday, the Spiders could once again be eliminated if Princeton stumbles and another Ivy League team returns to the field.

nebraska Another team is on the edge after being eliminated from Champs Week earlier than expected. The Cornhuskers, who went 2-6 in February, blew a 20-point lead Indiana Losing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. But Nebraska’s overall tally nets 28. While it’s not unprecedented for such a highly ranked team to be ousted (Oregon in 2023), it is rare. In a year without any obvious options, Nebraska may be stuck with a bid, despite a disappointing Champ Week.

game

Duke beats Louisville in OT to win ACC Tournament title

The Blue Devils defeated the Cardinals to claim the ACC Tournament Championship.

Which teams should be worried or encouraged by Champ Week?

Encouraged: Ohio State. The Buckeyes solidified their spot in the Top 16 and gave UCLA its most competitive game in a month in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Jaloni Cambridge There is a rising star who is good enough to carry the Buckeyes to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Concerned: tennessee. The Lady Vols, the only team to play in every women’s NCAA tournament since their inception in 1982, have not played well since the beginning of February and are just 16–13. And while a net of 23 and five Quad 1 wins means they should be in no danger of missing the tournament for the first time, there is little evidence to suggest a long-term stay. The SEC Tournament represented a chance to right the ship, but the Lady Vols lost to Alabama.

Encouraged: Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are playing their best basketball of the season and were in slightly better shape than beating Duke a day after defeating them in the ACC Tournament semifinals. nc state. hannah hidalgo Has scored more than 25 points in six of his last seven games, and was just shy of a 24-point performance in a loss to the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament. ACC teams play against Hidalgo regularly and still have not been able to stop him. Now the Irish will only face teams unfamiliar with their style.

Concerned: South Carolina. Did Texas uncover something in South Carolina or was Sunday’s SEC Tournament final a bad day for the Gamecocks? There’s no doubt that Don Staley will break down that game tape and try to fix what went wrong, but when a South Carolina team goes down 14-0, gets outrebounded, scores a season-low 61 points and gives up 40 points in the paint, it’s worth raising questions. Maybe it’s just a matchup issue with Texas. The Longhorns held South Carolina to 64 points in their first meeting in November and 68 points in mid-January. Georgia was the only other SEC team to take on South Carolina in the ’60s, and now the earliest the Gamecocks will have to face Texas again will be in the national championship game.