Sweet 16 and Elite 8 Weekend in NCAA WBB.

Chantel Osahor Cuts the Net, Washington Makes Final Four

As the field in the Division 1 Women’s Basketball tournament narrowed some teams saw their Sweet dreams become reality and put them in an Elite crowd. UConn has remained dominant, raising national questions if the playing field is level. Much was said about this in the national media, however, I’m unsure how Notre Dame and South Carolina would react to the notion that all the top teams win. The tournament has been full of exciting upsets and just because UConn has made it through this far, doesn’t mean the tournament is finished yet.

Upsets were commonplace in the Sweet 16, with two #1 seeds and two #3 seeds falling to lower seeds. After those upsets #4 Syracuse and #7 Washington passed their Elite test, moving onto the Final Four in Indianapolis next weekend. One of the two will play in the National Championship. On the other side of the bracket there was a little less confusion as #1 UConn beat #2 Texas and #2 Oregon State held off #1 Baylor to set up a battle between the top two shot blockers in the country in Breanna Stewart and Ruth Hamblin.

Players made their mark this weekend for their teams and in college basketball as a whole. Alexis Peterson led Syracuse in scoring in both games with 26 and 29 points. Through Washington’s Cinderella run, we have mentioned the name Kelsey Plum a lot. What happens when Plum only has 5 points in the first 15 minutes? Chantel Osahor emerges! Osahor was an animal on the boards and led Washington when Plum had a slow start. Plum still went on to score 26 points for the Huskies after that slow start.

UConn will be making its 9th straight appearance in the Final Four. The other three teams have combined for 0, yes that’s ZERO Final Four appearances. However, don’t take lightly this group of David’s, as any Goliath can be taken down. We know all about UConn and its stars. We know Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson can take over a game. We’ve seen the emergence in this tournament of the next superstar in Katie Lou Samuelson. However you may not know as much about the other teams.

UConn will face an Oregon State team that is known for defense. Oregon State is one of the two teams remaining from the Pac 12. In Pac 12 play, the Beavers held opponents under 55 points in 19 out of 21 games they played. Oregon State has 2 great Forwards who will match up well with the size of UConn in Ruth Hamblin and Deven Hunter. Hamblin averages a double-double with 11.8 ppg and 10.0 rbg and has blocked 124 shots this year. The matchup of her and Stewart will be fun to watch. On the outside Oregon State’s guard combo of Wiese and Weisner are deadly from 3 point land. Weisner is a 45% shooter from beyond the arc.

On the other side of the bracket we will get to see #4 Syracuse against #7 Washington. Both teams riding high, knocking off some of the best in the country already. Syracuse beat #3 overall South Carolina then Tennessee, Washington knocked off #2 Maryland, #3 Kentucky followed by #4 Stanford. Syracuse is a guard dominated team with Alexis Peterson and Brianna Butler leading the scoring for them. Their 3 point shooting in the tournament has been the difference, hitting 46.7% against Tennessee and outshooting South Carolina and Albany from beyond the arc as well. 6’4 Center Bria Day has been inconsistent on the scoring end, but her size and rebounding abilities helped Syracuse out rebound South Carolina’s tall front court of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson.

Washington is the lowest seed remaining, but has a great chance to play in the National Championship on Monday April 4th. In November, Syracuse beat Washington in Las Vegas 66-62. However, the Huskies played all year in the best RPI conference in the country and has won 8 of their last 9 games with only a 57-55 setback to Oregon State in the Pac12 tournament (remember Oregon State is still playing too). Kelsey Plum has led Washington all year with a 26.2 ppg average, but the size of Talia Walton and Chantel Osahor down low for the Huskies has proven to be the strength of late. Washington has shot 49% from the field in both the Kentucky and Stanford wins.

I don’t believe Oregon State is going forfeit and hand the trophy to UConn and I don’t believe the winner of the Syracuse/Washington game will either. Oregon State and Washington both possess the size to slow the UConn offense. Oregon State and Syracuse both have the 3 point shooters to stay with the UConn offense. UConn and Breanna Stewart may be two games away from Women’s College Basketball immortality, but don’t think it’ll be a walk in the park, the Beavers, Orange, and other Huskies have history of their own to make.

Sioux Falls Region

#4 Syracuse 80, #1 South Carolina 72 – Alexis Peterson 26 pts

#7 Tennessee 78, #3 Ohio State 62– Mercedes Russell 25 pts 15 reb

#4 Syracuse 89, #7 Tennessee 67 – Alexis Peterson 29 pts

Dallas Region

#1 Baylor 78, #5 Florida State 58 – Nina Davis 30 pts

#2 Oregon State 83, #6 DePaul 71– Jamie Weisner 38 pts, 10 reb

#2 Oregon State 60, #1 Baylor 57 – Sydney Wiese 18 pts

Bridgeport Region

#1 UConn 98, #5 Mississippi State 38 – Breanna Stewart 22 pts, 14 reb

#2 Texas 72, #3 UCLA 64 – Imani Boyette 18 pts, 10 reb

#1 UConn 86, #2 Texas 65 – Breanna Stewart 21 pts, 13 reb