2014 NCAA Tournament Lincoln Regional Sweet 16 Game Breakdowns
#1 Connecticut vs. #12 BYU (Lincoln, Nebraska)
The Connecticut Huskies continued along its dominating undefeated ways by dismantling ninth seed St. Joseph’s 91-52. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis’ triple-double was of many standout performances by the Huskies. The reemergence of Mosqueda-Lewis at full strength can’t be underestimated in the NCAA Tournament to this point. It can’t be underestimated because teams even more so will not be able focus on just slowing down Breanna Stewart as that will leave everyone else open to destroy opposing defenses.
BYU comes in as the ultimate underdog in this matchup, but overall has had a fantastic NCAA Tournament. The Cougars have made a big time statement for their program by taking care of fifth seeded North Carolina State 72-57 with ease and fourth seeded Nebraska in the second round in an 80-76 victory. Jennifer Hamson was very vital in getting BYU to the Sweet 16 as she scored 15 points, collected 14 rebounds and had four of her 13 blocked shots in the NCAA Tournament against the Huskers. Hamson is one of the better shot blockers in the nation and will be a fun matchup to watch against the shot blocking prowess of Breanna Stewart and Stefanie Dolson. The Cougars in this matchup with Connecticut are going to have to do a fantastic job of taking care of the basketball as the Huskies make you earn everything offensively. BYU was a -9 in turnover differential against Nebraska in the second round and they can ill afford to have that happen against Connecticut. For the Huskies, they need to continue be relentlessly focused and ignore the seed next to the Cougars name. They may get a little bit of push back in the first few minutes from BYU but in the end the overall quality of talent for the Huskies should wear down the Cougars and they should steadily pull away and win with ease in similar fashion to the first two rounds.
#3 Texas A&M vs. #7 DePaul (Lincoln, Nebraska)
This is a fantastic matchup stylistically as the Texas A&M Aggies are more of an attack the basket type of team and DePaul will press you as soon as they get off the bus and can be very electric from three-point range. The Aggies come into this matchup holding off a good battle from 11th seeded James Madison in the second round in an 85-69 victory. Texas A&M has now either won a conference title or made it to the Sweet 16 every year since the 2006-07 season. That is some of the best consistency in all of women’s college basketball. DePaul continued its run by dispatching of second seeded Duke 74-65. The win was the 600th victory in the coaching career of Doug Bruno. The Blue Demons did an excellent job of slowing down the tempo on the Blue Devils, forcing turnovers and taking advantage of Duke being deficient at the point guard position.
In this matchup, the Aggies are going to have to do a great job of taking care of the basketball and that is going to start with Jordan Jones, who has roughly a 2.5-to-1 assist to turnover ratio on the season. Jones is going to have to be at her best in taking care of and distributing the basketball to her teammates to get open looks. The DePaul press will create openings for easy baskets if Texas A&M attacks their press effectively. For the Blue Demons, they will need to continue to play with great confidence and attack at both ends of the basketball court. Megan Rogowski and Megan Podkowa combined for 40 points to pace a scoring attack that made 14 three-pointers and kept the Blue Devils off balance all night long. These two teams should be able to battle each other all the way down to the final buzzer and there is not a whole lot separating these two teams. The inside game of the Aggies could be an x-factor with Karla Gilbert, but DePaul was able to deal with Duke’s Elizabeth Williams well enough to advance on so that battle will be interesting to watch.
