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Message: [QUOTE="Carnac, post: 2548667, member: 5798"] Good points. I remind yarders every year. Watch out for the "Dark Horse(s). They show up EVERY YEAR, but no one recognizes them as such until it's too late. Last year, [B]Mississippi State [/B]and[B] Oregon[/B] were dark horses. When the brackets were announced, no one thought or said that either of these teams would go as far as they did. Look at the high seeded and favored teams they knocked out along the way. They put together a good run of "A" games. Your opponent does not care what you did, or what your record was during the regular season. They enter the game figuring they can beat you, then go about trying to do just that. Sometimes they do. Ask Baylor, and UConn. Two #1 seeds sent home by Mississippi State. Any team that makes the tournament makes it because they (in most cases) proved they deserve to be in the field of 64, based on the criteria used by the selection committee. All of the weak teams are gone after the first weekend. HoopsFan21 said:[B] "[/B][I][B]Kind of crazy to say the women's title is wide open this year, because in reality it's maybe 5 or 6 teams with a legitimate shot. I guess that's progress though". [/B][/I]Fans wanted parity, last year they got it. They'll get it again this year too. UConn may win, but it's not going to be easy, for any team. Getting to the final four will be just half the battle. [B][/B] The first two games are merely warm ups for the top ranked teams. [B]For them, the tournament begins the second weekend, because this is where most of the "upsets" occur.[/B] This is where [B]Notre Dame, [/B]and[B] Baylor[/B] got knocked out the last two years. As others have mentioned, there are about 5-6 teams that could [B]legitimately [/B]win the tournament. Every team needs to go into this year's tournament with their eyes w-i-d-e open, and their "A" games in tow, because only four teams will survive to the final weekend. Geno has often said that (in his opinion) the [I]regional final [/I]is the hardest game of the tournament. Some very good teams won't make it. Some very good (and favored) teams were sent home last year during that 2nd weekend. :( [/QUOTE]

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