Women's NCAA Tournament Des Moines 1st Round Breakdowns
#1 Baylor vs. #16 UC Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara made a nice run through the Big West Conference Tournament to reach the NCAA’s despite their 8-8 conference mark. Coach Carlene Mitchell has her team playing good basketball at the right time, but that will not stop Brittney Griner and Baylor from advancing.
#8 Ohio State vs. #9 Florida
Ohio State was on a roll for a couple of months, but they really fell off late in the year, finishing up with just five wins in their last ten games. Fortunately for the Buckyes most of their struggles came away from home and this game is in Bowling Green, Ohio. That gives the Buckeyes a good shot at winning this game. Florida has a very strong frontcourt the Buckeyes rely on 20 point scorers Samantha Prahalis and Tayler Hill on the perimeter. If this is a high scoring game, Ohio State will win. If not, Florida will win. And when that is the case it comes down to which point guard can do a better job of dictating tempo.
#5 Georgetown vs. #12 Fresno State
This is another game that pits a high scoring offense and a stifling defense. Fresno State ranked 12th in the nation averaging 75.1 points per game. Georgetown ranked 13th in the nation in scoring defense with a mere 52.4 points per game. Something will have to give. The Bulldogs can score from everywhere on the floor and that makes them a little more difficult to manage compared to a high scoring team that relies almost entirely on their frontcourt or backcourt. Yet, Georgetown has seen plenty of great offenses this season and have found a way to stop them. More importantly for the Hoyas will be avoiding those long scoring droughts and that is where Sugar Rodgers will make all the difference.
#4 Georgia Tech vs. #13 Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart had a good season, but Georgia Tech has way too much talent to lose this game. Center Sasha Goodlett is expected to dominate the paint. She is averaging 14.8 points per game and she will force Sacred Heart to focus on the interior. That is when the Yellow Jackets can strike with guards Metra Walthour and Tyaunna Marshall. But Goodlett will make a bigger impact on the glass. Sacred Heart lacks the rebounding ability to compete with Goodlett on the boards and the Yellow Jackets will get quite a few opportunities for second chance points.
#6 Nebraska vs. #11 Kansas
Kansas was one of the last teams to make the tournament and are also trying to get by without Carolyn Davis. The injury to Davis is huge and her 16.9 points per game have been, and will continue to be, missed by the Jayhawks. Meanwhile Nebraska is hot again after going through a rough patch in February. After beating Ohio State in the regular season finale, Nebraska beat Northwestern, Iowa and Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament before finally falling to Purdue in double overtime in the final. Forward Jordan Hooper could very easily score 20 points and grab ten rebounds against a Kansas team without Davis.
#3 Delaware vs. #14 Arkansas-Little Rock
Many pegged Delaware as a possible Final Four team. But the road to Denver is really, really tough. Nebraska is a really good team right now and Tennessee and then Baylor would likely await after that. But first the Fightin’ Blue Hens have to think about Arkansas-Little Rock. The Trojans have a solid inside-outside duo in Taylor Gault and Marian Kursh, but they will not be able to stick around with Elena Delle Donne and company for too long.
#7 DePaul vs. #10 BYU
DePaul has been the model of inconsistency this season. There are not many quality wins on the resume despite all of the opportunities they had in the Big East. The Blue Demons have lost three of their last five, including a bad home loss to Syracuse. Meanwhile BYU is coming off a WCC Tournament Title run. If DePaul shows up, this is a team that can certainly make a run little tournament run, but consistency is key. The Blue Demons take a lot of three-pointers and if they are not falling, DePaul is not getting out of the first round for the fifth time in six years.
#2 Tennessee vs. #15 Tennessee-Martin
This could be a fun game for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. The last time Tennessee-Martin beat Tennessee, Coach Summitt was playing for the Skyhawks. The Volunteers obviously have way more talent than Tennessee-Martin and Meighan Simmons, Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson will be very difficult for UTM to stop, or even contain. If the Skyhawks are going to stick around for a little while in this game they will need to continue to shoot the ball very efficiently from beyond the arc. Jasmien Newsome and Heather Butler are just sophomore, but they are big-time scorers. Tennessee-Martin ranks second in the nation with 10.3 three-pointers per game and they make 38.2 percent of their attempts from long range, which is third in the nation, so this group does have the weapons to at least stay close to Tennessee if they can keep shooting like that. So maybe it will not be fun for Coach Summitt.
