N.C.A.A. Women’s Tournament: What to Watch as the Round of 16 Begins

The Sweet 16 will be back at the N.C.A.A. as usual. women’s basketball tournament, after the 2020 tournament was canceled and last year’s event was based around a single city because of the pandemic.

The women’s regionals are in Greensboro, N.C.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Wichita, Kan.; and Spokane, Wash., with round-of-16 games on Friday and Saturday and round-of-8 games on Sunday and Monday.

Here’s what to watch entering Friday’s games.

All times are Eastern.

Two No. The extra dose of unpredictable 10 seeds gives you more options.

Creighton & South Dakota, the teams that were 10th in the bracket, are not the same apart from their bracket-breaking wins. Creighton is young, with a sharp offense, while South Dakota’s suffocating defense hinges on fifth-year players who have worked together seamlessly.

One similarity: Most of the tournament teams don’t know them. Creighton, South Dakota and South Dakota compete against each other because they are so close, separated only by a two-hour drive. South Dakota and Creighton also have only one remaining tournament team. Creighton lost twice at Connecticut in Big East Conference play. South Dakota lost to South Carolina November.

They are wildcards in a sea of familiar faces. That has made South Dakota very dangerous. The Coyotes have not fallen in tournament wins over Mississippi or Baylor, a feat that suggests that they were under-seeded.

So Creighton will face third-seeded Iowa State on Friday, 9:30 p.m. ESPN2 in Greensboro, and South Dakota faces Michigan on Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ESPN2 in Wichita), they will attempt to resolve their mysteries.

The first major test should be given to the top seeds.

All four No. All four No.

Their opponents were defeated by North Carolina State and Stanford. While Kansas was close to Stanford in the first half, the Cardinal responded with an offensive explosion that won the game by 26. That was after Stanford’s 41-point win over Montana State in the first round. The North Carolina State team also won by large margins in its two first games, allowing its bench to join the action.

These teams will start facing greater pressure. Stanford will play fourth-seeded Maryland on Friday, 9:30 p.m. ESPN. Maryland’s offense has been explosive. In November, Stanford beat Maryland.

North Carolina State will play fifth-seeded Notre Dame (Saturday, 11:30 a.m., ESPN), which was responsible for one of the Wolfpack’s three losses. That loss, 69-66, on Feb. 1 in South Bend, Ind., was North Carolina State’s sole defeat in Atlantic Coast Conference play, a testament to the Wolfpack’s dominance and to the Fighting Irish’s potential to create chaos.

In round two, two powers put the ‘survive’ in ‘survive and advance.’

Two teams that sprinted out of the tournament’s gates staggered in the second round.

The No.2 seed Connecticut, back in Big East, was challenged. 7 seed Central Florida, which it had consistently thwarted during both teams’ time in the American Athletic Conference. UConn won, 52-47, but the score showed how frustrating the Knights’ defense proved to be. The Huskies’ second-round victory margin was the smallest since 1999, a historic achievement they would prefer to not make.

In its 49-33 win over eighth-seeded Miami South Carolina, South Carolina looked slow offensively. When the national champion scores fewer than 50 in an early-round match, eyebrows will raise.

The Gamecocks will play fifth-seeded North Carolina at Greensboro Regional (Friday, 7 p.m. on ESPN). Arizona, fourth-seeded, was blown away by its defense in the regional. South Carolina has been great defensively, but it has not faced an offense as shifty as the Tar Heels’ or a player as productive as Deja Kelly, a sophomore who averages 16.3 points per game.

The Huskies will be competing against an experienced Indiana team on Saturday, February 2, at 2 p.m. ESPN. This is a difficult task for them as they are undoubtedly reviewing film from the Central Florida game. UConn’s advantage will be in the seats: playing in Bridgeport, the Huskies can expect a friendly, fervent crowd.

“One of the first things we say, before the game even starts, is to punch first,” the Texas freshman Rori Harmon said. “When you punch first, the game is in your favor.”

The No. The No. 2 seeded Longhorns will face off against the No. 6-seeded Ohio State as the favorites (Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN2), but they’ve clearly retained some of the underdog mentality that fueled last year’s round-of-16 victory over second-seeded Maryland. This year, though, they’re hoping to reach the Final Four.

“We both have similar teams, and we have certain players we don’t want to bring off the floor,” Texas Coach Vic Schaefer said about Ohio State. “So it’s probably going to be a game of attrition a little bit.” The Buckeyes will be counting on guards Jacy Sheldon and Taylor Mikesell to facilitate scoring, while Schaefer and the Longhorns will look to post players like Lauren Ebo and Aaliyah Moore to take high-percentage shots.

The Buckeyes have been a mystery, barely escaping their first round game against No. 11-seeded Missouri State was defeated by third-seeded Louisiana State, 79 to 64 in Baton Rouge, behind 23 points from Sheldon, and 18 from Mikesell.

To the Buckeyes, though, the win wasn’t a surprise. When asked about the upset victory, Ohio State guard Kateri Poole said, “March is for everybody.”