With the official March Madness sticker finally affixed to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, this year’s field truly bears the name of the game. As fiscal, concrete and abstract changes have been made to this year’s women’s tournament in an attempt to make it fairer to men, the folly of it all is also proving to be the case. fair. The women’s 68-team field for the first time is also one of the widest in recent memory with disturbances and setbacks piling up.
The first two rounds of the women’s tournament, which took place Friday through Monday at campus locations across the country, set an all-time tournament record attended by 216,890 fans – but attendance isn’t the only thing hitting the book record for 2022.
Notre Dame Cathedral’s women’s five-seeded team beat four-seeded Oklahoma by 44 points on Monday, making them the first team in men’s and women’s tournament history to beat a 40-point higher-seeded team. ND guard Olivia Miles broke her own record, becoming the first freshman in tournament history, again, both men and women, to ever score three doubles in a game, which she did achieved in Ireland’s first match. against UMass.
Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers came very close to making it into the history books for all the wrong reasons in the first round, just barely avoiding the first 3-14 defeat in women’s tournament history. before Jackson State. LSU fell to Ohio State in the second round and wouldn’t make it to the Sweet 16.
Mulkey can offer some consolation as her former team won’t see the sweetness this year either. Take down 2nd-seeded Baylor in a stunning second-round loss to 10th-seeded South Dakota, who will advance to Sweet 16. The Coyotes are yet to track in a tournament game, knocking out 7-seeded Ole Miss Breeding in the first round is relatively easy.
The lowest seed to ever reach the Finals in the women’s tournament was nine-seeded Arkansas in 1998, but given the way South Dakota have taken down Power 5 opponents, they could break that record if they get through. Okay. Michigan and winner Louisville-Tennessee. They joined the 10 Creighton seeds in round 3 of the tournament.
UConn extended its record streak to 28 consecutive seasons in the Round of 16 Sweet after taking a very close lead against UCF, who helped cash in on the Huskies in a 52-47 win. This matchup reflects the widespread belief that this year’s tournament featured more tie-ins than any other in recent memory. Blues are no longer as dominant as they used to be, following the trend of the last five leagues producing five different champions.
The action will continue this Friday as the league moves to neutral pitches in areas designated for Sweet 16 and Elite 8.
