Daily Campus’s take on the tourney

[HuskyNan]

From the UConn student newspaper:

Stratton’s Stand: UConn WBB’s March Madness outlook

March and UConn. Those two five letter words go together like peanut butter and jelly. The UConn women’s basketball team has been the most historically dominant team in March, boasting 11 national championships and are in search of its 12th this upcoming tournament. Even with their ups, downs...

dailycampus.com

 

[warbler1055]

The road for the NC will be hard, very hard
"As a two seed, they will have to play a one seed to make it out of their region (barring an upset). Then if they win that game, they’d have to play another one seed in the Final Four and another one in the championship."

 

[donalddoowop]

The road for the NC will be hard, very hard
"As a two seed, they will have to play a one seed to make it out of their region (barring an upset). Then if they win that game, they’d have to play another one seed in the Final Four and another one in the championship."

That is true only if all the one seeds survive to the FF.

 

[Bama fan]

That is true only if all the one seeds survive to the FF.

Usually, but not always, a pretty good bet. You never know though.

 

[Wilderness]

Usually, but not always, a pretty good bet. You never know though.

From Wikipedia: since 1982 there have been just four years in which all four #1 seeds reached the Final Four. In 26 of the 40 tournaments the finals featured one team that was not a #1 seed.

 

[EdSaid]

The road for the NC will be hard, very hard
"As a two seed, they will have to play a one seed to make it out of their region (barring an upset). Then if they win that game, they’d have to play another one seed in the Final Four and another one in the championship."

It will be very hard, but I say no more than two # 1 seeds make it to the final four. If you look at the 2-4 seeds and even some of the 5's and the way this season has gone, there will be many upsets in the 3rd and 4th games.

 

[Bama fan]

From Wikipedia: since 1982 there have been just four years in which all four #1 seeds reached the Final Four. In 26 of the 40 tournaments the finals featured one team that was not a #1 seed.

And this year if UConn makes it they may face two teams seeded first in their regions. That does not seem an unreasonable expectation. As I said, who knows?

 

[DefenseBB]

Ok, if this team is as good as it is supposed to be and much improved from 1-8 (Paige is #9 and is working her way back into form) then yes, you will have to prove it even more in the postseason as you lost games during the season.

To me, the comment is logical and frankly nothing to be overly concerned about. All the #1s have a weakness- SC has scoring depth issues, Stanford has guard issues, NC State has a lack of height depth, Baylor has a complete lack of depth and suspect guard play. Louisville also has post depth issues. So who exactly is any UCONN fan afraid of to play at any juncture of the tournament?

Bring them on I say, and let the best team win!

 

[EdSaid]

I think UConn is in a very good position right now. Far better than they were from mid December to mid January

 

[JellyBean]

Pretty solid comments by all and nice article. This season is so unpredictable. I won't be surprised if one of the #1 Seeds fall before the Sweet Sixteen or during the Sweet Sixteen Round. With that being said, I agree with @DefenseBB, who should UConn be worried about or afraid of playing?

 

[HuskyNan]

I love how everyone forgets about Azzi. Let’s hope the opponents do, too

 

[EdSaid]

I love how everyone forgets about Azzi. Let’s hope the opponents do, too

Not forgetting about azzi. She starts, plays 30+ minutes and she is a bucket. She is exactly where she needs to be

 

[oldhusky]

That is true only if all the one seeds survive to the FF.

True and we can hope that the number 1 seeds in all the other regions don't make it, along with a long-shot hope that the number 1 in our region falls before we have to play them.

Sometimes you get lucky based on other team's results, and it does affect the odds of winning a championship, but remember last year. IMO we had an unfair match-up with Baylor which I think should have been a number 1 seed just to get to the Final Four, and we overcame that tough challenge. Then we had what on paper was a much easier match-up with a number 4 seed in Arizona, the kind of Final Four match-up you hope for, and lost.

Now with the benefit of hindsight, Arizona was playing way better than a 4 seed at that time, not just the Uconn game, but they went right down to the wire against Stanford. Maybe they were just jelling late in the season. Maybe we are that kind of team this season. Still if fate gives us an easier path to the championship I will be rooting for that too.

 

[HuskyNan]

Not forgetting about azzi. She starts, plays 30+ minutes and she is a bucket. She is exactly where she needs to be

Not saying you did. I would have thought she’s be a “Kemba” candidate or at least a dark horse. The article, which I appreciated, never mentioned Azzi by name - or any of the immensely improved post players.

 

[warbler1055]

True and we can hope that the number 1 seeds in all the other regions don't make it, along with a long-shot hope that the number 1 in our region falls before we have to play them.

Sometimes you get lucky based on other team's results, and it does affect the odds of winning a championship, but remember last year. IMO we had an unfair match-up with Baylor which I think should have been a number 1 seed just to get to the Final Four, and we overcame that tough challenge. Then we had what on paper was a much easier match-up with a number 4 seed in Arizona, the kind of Final Four match-up you hope for, and lost.

Now with the benefit of hindsight, Arizona was playing way better than a 4 seed at that time, not just the Uconn game, but they went right down to the wire against Stanford. Maybe they were just jelling late in the season. Maybe we are that kind of team this season. Still if fate gives us an easier path to the championship I will be rooting for that too.

Great post. I believe that it was the 5'6" Aari McDonald guard who won the game for Arizona. We do have pretty good guards this year. Or should I say potential exceptional great guards!!!!

 

[LoboDays]

The road for the NC will be hard, very hard
"As a two seed, they will have to play a one seed to make it out of their region (barring an upset). Then if they win that game, they’d have to play another one seed in the Final Four and another one in the championship."

It’s insightful journalism like this that make me proud to be a collector of Mad Magazine. Has there ever been a year since someone came up with the idea for this tournament where the that statement didn’t apply? My god. What’s this writers nickname…..Scoop?

 

[Zinethar]

Don't forget Nika was hurt during the tournament. She would likely have had the responsibility of Aari because she is the smallest quickest guard UConn has. Might have been different, who knows. I just think the team felt they were already the champions after the huge win over Baylor.

 

[AmeriConn]

The road for the NC will be hard, very hard
"As a two seed, they will have to play a one seed to make it out of their region (barring an upset). Then if they win that game, they’d have to play another one seed in the Final Four and another one in the championship."

As it was from the beginning and now and ever shall be.

 

[EdSaid]

Not saying you did. I would have thought she’s be a “Kemba” candidate or at least a dark horse. The article, which I appreciated, never mentioned Azzi by name - or any of the immensely improved post players.

I say, in the next couple of weeks, Azzi will go off for 40. Part of the rise to nasty

 

[fomalhaut]

There were times this year when Connecticut didn't resemble any earlier teams in the years I've been watching. They do now.