espnW's Sweet 16 picks

[toadfoot]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...891/women-ncaa-tournament-2014-sweet-16-picks

Thought it might be interesting to see what BY’s predict, so I’ll stick my neck out.

UConn vs BYU - could be close for 15 minutes, but UConn wins easily.

DePaul vs Texas A&M - interestingly, these teams had 3 common opponents. Both lost to Kentucky, A&M by 9, DePaul by 11, A&M lost by 2 to St. John’s, DePaul by 10, but DePaul also beat St. John’s twice by 15 & 8. A&M bet Washington by 6 and DePaul be at Washington by 7. I’m picking DePaul in a close game.

North Carolina vs South Carolina - common opponents… both defeated Charleston Southern, SC by 70, NC by 51. SC bet Clemson by 25, NC by 23. NC defeated SC by 8 in December on a neutral court (Myrtle Beach, SC). Never know what you’ll get with NC’s playground style, but I’m picking NC in another close game.

Stanford vs Penn St. - common opponents… both lost by 19 to UConn, Stanford at Storrs, PSU at home. PSU defeated Oregon St. on a neutral court by 5, Stanford at home by 22. PSU split with Purdue winning by 3 and losing 10 while Stanford won by 17. Gotta go with Stanford at Maples.

Notre Dame vs Oklahoma St. - would love to see Oklahoma St. pull off the upset, but it ain’t happening. ND by double digits.

Baylor vs Kentucky - Kentucky beat Baylor in the 4 OT game in Arlington earlier this year in a total foulfest with 4 Baylor starters fouling out. Both teams do a lot of clutching and grabbing, so this could be a repeat, but this time Sims won’t foul out and Davis has improved. Baylor advances.

Tennessee vs Maryland - common opponents… Both defeated Georgia Tech, UT by 11, Maryland twice by 11 & 17. UT beat Virginia by 9, Maryland lost by 14. UT beat North Carolina by 16, Maryland won by 9 and lost by 3. UT be at Texas by 14, Maryland won by 5 last weekend. Both lost to Notre Dame, UT by 16, Maryland by 4. Close game, hoping UT loses, but I think Tennessee wins.

Louisville vs LSU - common opponents… Both lost to Kentucky, LSU by 7, Louisville by 5. Both beat Rutgers, LSU by 4, Louisville by 9 and 15. Louisville beat LSU by 21 last December in Louisville. Louisville does it again.

To summarize:

UConn over BYU
DePaul over A&M
NC over SC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
UT over Maryland
Louisville over LSU

 

[jdubct]

I think you've picked correctly on 6 of the games with Baylor winning a close game over Ky. The other 2 seem very tough to call. I'll guess A&M over DePaul, and SC over NC.

 

[dtbtbtb]

My geuss is the the winning teams will be: UConn, TX A&M, ND, Baylor, TN, Louisville, NC and Stanford.
UConn, ND and Louisville will win easily!

 

[MilfordHusky]

My geuss is the the winning teams will be: UConn, TX A&M, ND, Baylor, TN, Louisville, NC and Stanford.
UConn, ND and Louisville will win easily!

I agree, though the TAMU game could be close. I'd like to see Maryland win, but UT is a better team and will win by 10-15.

 

[ndmb]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...891/women-ncaa-tournament-2014-sweet-16-picks

UConn over BYU
DePaul over A&M
NC over SC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
UT over Maryland
Louisville over LSU

Those are my picks as well.

 

[wire chief]

I'm not among the ND haters, for I respect what Muffet has built. I'd be most pleased to see 2 undefeateds in the NC.

 

[semper]

My picks:

UConn over BYU
A&M over DePaul
SC over NC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
Maryland over UT
Louisville over LSU

 

[UcMiami]

Interesting and I think the locks are Louisville, ND, Uconn, and Stanford. I think the others are all very intriguing match-ups. I suspect UNC can string together two solid games and think they can handle SC but will not be surprised with either team winning. I like DePaul in a minor upset. I think Baylor easily handles KY - they are a better team than they were (that game was the first 'real' game of their season having played a string of complete nobodies before that game) and I think KY is a worse team (certainly a more inconsistent team) than they were. And ... I think TN/Maryland is going to be fun. TN is on a nice run but it has come against flawed teams (SC and KY) and they certainly didn't look that convincing at home the first weekend. If they play poorly and they are very capable of doing that then MD wins. MD is no powerhouse, but their star player is much more consistent and dependable than TNs.

 

[DobbsRover2]

The ESPN picks are always kind of a waste. 32 picks among them and 30 are favorite picks, with only Graham and Michelle daring to be even slightly venturesome.

Last year of course was kind of a gruesome year for the ESPN pickers that added in Kate Fagan. They got at best 28-12 on the S16 picks (evidence mainly removed) but I believe it was a bit worse than that. E8 was even worse, and I think Fagan was kind of shunted off this year's panel for picking KY over UConn, which made her the target of much mockery in forums. Loved the SEC fans picking a three SEC team FF that included ND. Um, nope.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...891/women-ncaa-tournament-2014-sweet-16-picks

Thought it might be interesting to see what BY’s predict, so I’ll stick my neck out.

To summarize:

UConn over BYU
DePaul over A&M
NC over SC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
UT over Maryland
Louisville over LSU

I go back and forth on DePaul/A&M, but these are basically my pics as well. I predicted NC in the Final Four when the brackets were first announced.

And nice job on the quick hits/analysis, toadfoot!

 

[rocky rococo]

My geuss is the the winning teams will be: UConn, TX A&M, ND, Baylor, TN, Louisville, NC and Stanford.
UConn, ND and Louisville will win easily!

I agree. I also suspect Tennessee will win more easily than people may expect. They have the athletes to handle Thomas on the inside, which very few teams do.

 

[Icebear]

I am expecting MD. Given my distaste for MD you know how hard it is for me to say that.

 

[DobbsRover2]

UConn over BYU
A&M over DePaul
NC over SC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
Maryland over UT
Louisville over LSU

Picks and previews are always risky. Last year's S16 ESPN preview of the Bridgeport region featured a long and generally well thought out overview of the four teams with the correct picks being for UConn and KY, though the columnist would then pick KY to beat UConn in the E8. But what startled some BY posters was that of the dozen names mentioned in the preview, two who were absent were Breanna Stewart and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis. They promptly went out and combined for 72 points in the two games in two crushing wins. Don't think they'll be ignored this year in any previews.

 

[Zorro]

MY personal distaste for the LV is trumped only by my personal distaste for Brenda. I just wish there were some way they could both lose.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

UCONN over BYU (yea, you know)
NC over SC (IF its the NC team that plays good then it wont be too close)
Stanford over PSU (could be tight but the Cardinal prevail)
ND over Oklahoma State (wont be close)
Baylor over Kentucky (Sims revenge-wont be close)
Louisville over LSU (wont be close)

then...

Maryland over Tennessee (just because I cant pick Tennessee and their defense usually allows a prolific scorer to go crazy-see Diggins, McBride, either Ogwumike among others)

and the one I just cant pick is TAMU vs Depaul....I am going with TAMU but I could see Depaul winning. If Karla Gilbert gets into foul trouble I could see the Blue Demons doing the same thing they did to Duke.

One other thing to note::

This time last year in the Sweet Sixteen no one was expecting Louisville to beat #1 Baylor and we all know how that worked out. So with that said, its tournament time and ANYTHING can happen!

 

[Wonkster]

MY personal distaste for the LV is trumped only by my personal distaste for Brenda. I just wish there were some way they could both lose.

Would you settle for the MD-UT game going 8 overtimes?

 

[ChicagoGG]

Would you settle for the MD-UT game going 8 overtimes?

YES!!!

 

[toadfoot]

MY personal distaste for the LV is trumped only by my personal distaste for Brenda. I just wish there were some way they could both lose.

I'll never root for UT in any sport until the UT athletic department issues a full apology for the unfounded and classless allegations of recruiting violations against UConn, which likely means I'll never root for UT ever. My personal dislike of the LV's is matched only by my hatred of the 1969 NY Mets!

 

[triaddukefan]

UCONN
TAMU
MARYLAND
LOUISVILLE
UNC
STANFORD
Notre Dame
BAYLOR

 

[01Neaggrad02]

My Picks

UConn over BYU
DePaul over T A&M
NC over SC
PSU over Stanford
ND over Oklahoma St.
Maryland over UT
Louisville over LSU[/quote]
Baylor over Kentucky. However, in my heart of hearts.. I think Kentucky could pull it out.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I'll never root for UT in any sport until the UT athletic department issues a full apology for the unfounded and classless allegations of recruiting violations against UConn, which likely means I'll never root for UT ever. My personal dislike of the LV's is matched only by my hatred of the 1969 NY Mets!

Wait a minute. You have a death wish on Gil Hodges' crew? That's just wrong. Even I learned to love Tennessee --- the Titans that is, when they had my Fantasy Football stud Eddie George. And I even root for the UTenn women's XC team for personal reasons. There's always room for forgiveness, except for SF Giants fans.

 

[Rayvin56]

UConn over BYU
DePaul over A&M
NC over SC
Stanford over PSU
ND over Oklahoma St.
Baylor over Kentucky
UT over Maryland
Louisville over LSU

I'm with you on all your picks except I see Alyssa Thomas coming up big and MD pulling out a close one, despite Meighan Simmons taking 39 shots...

 

[toadfoot]

Wait a minute. You have a death wish on Gil Hodges' crew? That's just wrong. Even I learned to love Tennessee --- the Titans that is, when they had my Fantasy Football stud Eddie George. And I even root for the UTenn women's XC team for personal reasons. There's always room for forgiveness, except for SF Giants fans.

Lifelong Chicago Cubs fan. I was able to watch many, if not all, the Met's games that summer via channel 19 out of North Adams, if I recall correctly. Never, ever has a less deserving team won the World Series. They had 3 really good starting pitchers, Seaver, Ryan and Koosman, but the rest of that team was mostly retreads and journeyman that had career years. I can still picture Ron Svoboda making diving catches in right field when the guy was barely able to catch balls thrown directly at him

 

[Rayvin56]

Lifelong Chicago Cubs fan. I was able to watch many, if not all, the Met's games that summer via channel 19 out of North Adams, if I recall correctly. Never, ever has a less deserving team won the World Series. They had 3 really good starting pitchers, Seaver, Ryan and Koosman, but the rest of that team was mostly retreads and journeyman that had career years. I can still picture Ron Svoboda making diving catches in right field when the guy was barely able to catch balls thrown directly at him

AMAZING!!

Sorry, couldn't help myself...

 

[toadfoot]

AMAZING!!

That's not the word I would use