The excellent news for UConn is that the star sophomore guard Azzi Fudd, who has missed 22 whole video games this season due to knee accidents, is again in its lineup. Fudd was cleared to return simply forward of the convention event and scored 11 factors within the title sport.
“So many issues have occurred on and off the court docket this previous season,” Auriemma mentioned. “Personally and team-wise, all the pieces, to get so far, you wish to simply shut that ebook and begin a brand new brand-new one.”
Alternatively, Stanford is stumbling into the event, having misplaced two of its final three video games. Its final loss got here within the Pac-12 Convention event semifinals to U.C.L.A. It was the primary time Stanford had not made the Pac-12 title sport since 2016.
Nonetheless, Stanford, which gained the nationwide title in 2021, has the expertise and expertise to be one of many hardest groups to get rid of from the event, however late-season inconsistency makes the Cardinal appear extra weak than they’ve been in years previous.
“I don’t assume we’re anyplace near our ceiling,” guard Haley Jones mentioned after the convention event loss. “So I feel that if we’re capable of get issues collectively in these subsequent few weeks and proceed to play collectively and make changes, then I feel we now have a variety of good things forward of us by way of March and the start of April.”
After which there are the groups that might get in the best way of the historic juggernauts. They begin with Iowa, spearheaded by the sharpshooting guard Caitlin Clark. She has led Iowa to 4 straight wins, together with the Large Ten Convention event championship, the place she recorded the one triple-double within the title sport’s historical past.
Clark and Iowa are enjoying their greatest as of late and have confronted a way more tough schedule than many different high groups, making them a straightforward decide to make a deep run. Virginia Tech, the Atlantic Coast Convention event champion, comes into the event driving an 11-game successful streak and is buoyed by Georgia Amoore, a degree guard who averaged just below 22 factors per sport and broke the A.C.C. event 3-point file with 14 over three video games.
No. 3 seed Louisiana State can also be a workforce to look at, led by the boisterous, trash-talking ahead Angel Reese. L.S.U. was upset by Tennessee in a SEC event semifinal, squandering a 17-point second-half lead, but it surely has top-of-the-line gamers within the event in Reese and an skilled coach in Kim Mulkey, who gained three nationwide championships at Baylor.
Supply: NY Times
