The Guru’s NCAAW Report: 11th Seed Villanova Looks to Trigger Another Upset Facing Sixth Seed Michigan in Round Two of the Wichita Rergional

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgur

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s been a good run in the NCAA women’s tournament for lower seeded teams turning aside Power 5 programs and Sunday two more went by the wayside, one that could be helpful to Villanova though the Wildcats still have heavy lifting directly ahead in the second round of the Wichita Regional when they face sixth-seeded Michigan Monday night at 6 p.m. here in the the Wolverines’ Crisler Arena.

Early in the day Michigan’s Big Ten rival Iowa at home in front of a sellout crowd in Carver-Hawkeye Arena was sent packing by Villanova’s Big East rival Creighton 64-62, the game winner coming from Lauren Jensen, an ex-Iowa member in the closing seconds.

Villanova split with the Bluejays, losing early on the road in the conference during the six games All-American and Big East player of the year Maddy Siegrist was sidelined with a hand injury and then shortly after her return triumphing on what the Poughkeepsie native called the Revenge Tour weekend in Finneran Pavilion when Creighton and Providence were dispatched.

On Sunday Jensen scored 19 points, while Payton Brotzki and Emma Ronsiek each scored 13, with Ronsiek posting a double double for the Bluejays (22-9) collecting 10 rebounds.

Iowa (24-8), meanwhile wasted a 27-point performance from Monika Czinano while sophomore Caitlin Clark, one of the top scorers in the nation, was held below explosive number levels though still put up a double double of 15 points, 11 assists, and a near triple-double day with eight rebounds.

Then later in the Wichita Regional sector of the tourney, one of the all-time shockers in NCAA history, but not yet occurring when the Monday preview interviews were conducted here, as second-seeded Baylor at home in the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas, fell to 10th-seed South Dakota, the Summit Conference champion, by an astonishing lopsided 61-47 triumph, snapping the Bears’ 12-straight Sweet 16 appearances in a game the under seed led wire-to-wire.

The loss by Baylor (28-7), which was under new coach Nicki Collen, comes a week removed from an upset loss by the Bears to Texas in the Big 12 championship.

Seniors NaLyssa Smith, a potential overall No. 1 pick in next month’s WNBA draft, just scored 10 points, while Queen Egbo collected 13, each of the duo still around from the 2019 NCAA champs.

Under Collen, the former WNBA Atlanta Dream coach, who replaced Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey, who left for LSU and completed an impressive one-year rebuild, Baylor suffered some early upsets and the new coach expressed awareness of dismay in the fan base.

But eventually the ship was steadied, Baylor finishing first in the regular season and being touted as a strong bet to be made a No. 1 seed and even if not still be a strong contender for the NCAA crown.

However, the loss to Texas knocked the Bears down and then came Sunday’s collapse to South Dakota (29-5) as Coyotes’ triple seniors attack produced 16 points from Hannah Sierven, 15 from Chloe Lamb, and 11 points and five assists from Liv Korngable.

South Dakota becomes just the second team from the Summit to advance to the Sweet 16, and first conference squad to down a top 10 ranked team since 1994. It’s also the first team outside of the Big 12 to beat the Bears in their den since 2014 eight seasons ago.

The Coyotes have now gone wire-to-wire twice in both wins heading to the next phase of the tournament and in this one mined 20 points out of 19 Baylor turnovers.

South Dakota last beat a Top 25 squad on Dec. 15, 2018, and it’s the first time since 2015 that the Bears have been held under 50 points. The last win over a top-10 opponent came against then former national Division I threat Delta State, no longer at that level, when the Lady Statesmen were ranked No. 1 and the 68-58 setback occurred in the 2008 Division II Final Four.

So on one hand, should Villanova still be alive at the end of Monday night’s clash here, the Wildcats joining the nationally-prominent men’s program in Sweet 16 fields, would no longer be facing Baylor at the end of this week.

However, Louisville (27-4), the top-seed in the Wichita Regional, is still around this weekend, having ousted ninth-seed Gonzaga 68-59 at home in the Yum! Center, as Haley Van Lith scored 21 points,Emily Engstler a double double 12 points and 11 rebounds, Kianna Smith also 12, and Olivia Cochran scoring 11.

As for the next opponent after the upset of 6th seed BYU Saturday night, Michigan (23-6) is loaded , paced by all-American Naz Hillmon.

The men’s team is back in town having advanced to the same Sweet 16 regional this weekend that will also feature Hall of Famer Jay Wright of the Villanova men.

Knowing social ties by a member of the Wolverine men’s staff, former Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, to the Villanova women, Michigan women’s coach Kim Barnes Arico was asked in a quip if the popular Martelli this weekend understands who now issues his paycheck.

“Yeah, his phone was ringing like crazy, people were calling them about where can they get tickets, or where should they go eat, or what are the best restaurants and where can they got to hang out, and where do they go to have a beer,” she said. “He was handling all those phone calls, and I’m sure he’s probably going to get home today pretty excited about the last couple of days they had.”

Katie Gardler, the mom of senior Kenzie Gardler, is a former Saint Joseph’s great whose husband Chris is the son of Buddy Gardler, who coached Geno Auriemma in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

Barnes Arico has familiarity of all that the Wildcats are drawing on her prior days coaching Saint John’s in the Big East.

“I coached in the Big East 10 years,” she said after Saturday’s win over American University. “So I know Harry Perretta well, and I know Villanova well. “I have folders and folders of what they do. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to guard.

“You can know it. Everybody in the Big East knows it, but it’s still very difficult to guard. Denise (Dillon) is doing an amazing, amazing job. Coach of the year in the league. Three of my former assistants are head coaches in that league. I know that league. I watch that league a ton. I know that league very well. And they all speak the world of her and the job she is doing there. Replacing a legend in Harry that’s not easy to do.

“So they have an incredible program. Similar to American they execute their stuff. They read their screens. They slip their screens. They move the ball.”

Barnes Arico said because American and Villanova are similar, “I brought out all of the folders, you know, of Villanova, too.”

This has been a landmark year for the Michigan program, leading the Big Ten a large part of the season, getting the Wolverines’ first Top Five win back in December playing Louisville as part of the Hall of Fame Showcase at the Mohegan Sun, moving up in the weekly rankings in the Top 10 and eventually reaching the top five before slipping back a bit.

The race at the top of the conference was extremely close and Barnes Arico was miffed that because a game with Illinois was called due to snow and never made up the Wolverines were deprived a chance to be the top seed going into the tournament that was won by Iowa.

Villanova (24-8, 15-4 Big East), once Siegrist returned, down the stretch is 19-2 and Siegrist, all-American and Big East player of the year, is within close to 60 points of all-time program leader Shelly Pennfather after crossing the 1,800-point milestone in Saturday’s win.

Having the win over UConn, which was still hurting at the time, but still quite talented in the roster, Siegrist was asked how much confidence that offers in facing all comers.

“I think we’ve had the underdog mentality all year,” Siegrist said. “I think it’s fun to play in an arena like this in front of all those people.

“You pretend they’re cheering for you. But definitely playing in the UConn environment and again at the Mohegan Sun, you’re ready for it. It’s not that big a difference I don’t think.”

On going against Hillmon, Dillon said, “Obviously, she’s a force. She’s so impressive, seeing her on film but then watching her live yesterday just gave you a full version of her ability on both ends of the floor.

“I’ll just say that great offensive players like her don’t commit to defense like she does, so you talk about an all-around great player, she certainly fits that role,” Dillon continued.

“We’re going to rely on the two who were just in here, Maddy and Brianna (Herlihy) who were just in here to take up some space but it is a rebounding factor.”

Barnes Arico was asked to compare Siegrist to other players Michigan’s faced, and she responded, that her former assistant Joe Tartamella who moved up when she left for here, said, `She’s the closest thing to Delle Donne that we’ve played against,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, so he’s putting her in that category.’ So I know she has a tremendous amount of respect from everybody in her conference, but even nationally, she’s just a great player.

“The way she’s able to elevate and get her shot off of you is really special.”

Princeton Shoots for Sweet 16

The other local in the NCAA still alive is No. 25 Princeton (25-4), the Ivy champion, that upset No. 6 Kentucky and is playing third seed Indiana (23-8) in the Hoosiers’ Assembly Hall Monday night at 8 p.m.

Abby Myers, the Ivy player of the year had 29 against the Wildcats. 

Indiana’s Grace Berger is averaging 16.4 points per game, and Mackenzie Holmes recently returned from knee surgery and scored 19 in the 85-51 win over Charlotte on Saturday.

Sunday’s other games saw third-seed Iowa State oust sixth-seed Georgia 67-44. Top-ranked South Carolina the overall No. 1 seed in the 64-team field eliminate 8th seed Miami 49-33, while fourth-seed Maryland ousted 12th-seed Florida Gulf Cast 89-65.

Top-seed Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, moved ahead beating  No. 8 Kansas 91-65 as Lexie Hull had a career-high 36 points.

Other games Monday night to complete the Sweet 16 have second-seed UConn in the Bridgeport hosting 7th seed UCF, while top seed NC State hosts ninth seed Kansas. 

Fourth-seed Oklahoma hosts 5th seed Notre Dame, while fourth seed Tennessee hosts sixth seed Belmont, and third seeed LSU hosts sixth seed Ohio State.

The day’s events in the NCAA has fourth seed Arizona hosts 5th seed North Carolina.

In the WNIT Drexel hosts Bucknell at 6 p.m.

And that’s the report.