The Guru Report: No. 15 Villanova Lands a Four Seed and 15th Overall in First NCAA Reveal — South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford, and UConn Earn Top Seeds

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Villanova made its way into the NCAA’s Top 16 seeds in the tournament committee’s first reveal announced Thursday night.

The No. 1 seeds, in order, were Dawn Staley’s defending NCAA champion South Carolina squad, one of two still unbeaten with LSU, followed by second-ranked Indiana, which won a key game Thursday night in the Big Ten over No. 5 Iowa; Stanford, and, UConn, despite the stunning Wednesday night loss to Marquette, 

The Wildcats (21-4, 13-1 Big East), second in the conference with the nation’s leading scorer in Maddy Siegrist, were made the 15th overall seed, meaning that at this moment if the entire field were announced Villanova would be a host site for the first two rounds.

This season the Sweet 16 format is being changed from four sites of four teams to two  sites of eight— half at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., and half at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Wash. 

The The two winners from each site will advance to the Women’s Final Four in Dallas.

Villanova was placed in No. 2 Greenville, meaning if coach Denise Dillon’s squad made it out of the Main Line, and if Indiana advanced, the two would meet in the round of 16. The other game in that round if the teams advanced would have Utah playing Notre Dame and then the two winners would meet to determine which one goes to Texas.

That the Wildcats earned their way into the high rent district is no surprise. The Net, which has only been in use by the women’s committee for a few years after dispensing with the RPI, as the men’s committee has done, has ‘Nova through Wednesday ranked at 11.

In 2003, the year then-coach Harry Perretta’s team surprised UConn in the Big East title game ending a then-Huskies NCAA record win streak and 70, the Wildcats earned a No. 2 seed and advanced to the Elite Eight in Knoxville, losing to Tennessee.

That year, the team at an RPI of eight when the field was announced, was the best-ever for a Big Five school.

“They got a great resume, they passed the eye test, and how much can you keep saying about Maddy Siegrist,” said a source familiar with this week’s deliberations in Indianapolis.

As much as Villanova has reaped what it is being given, there is much to be done yet for the Wildcats to hold the same status on Selection Sunday.

That begins Saturday, hosting the first of the home-and-home series with Seton Hall, then heading to St. John’s Wednesday to engage the Red Storm, which will be looking for revenge for the fourth-quarter rally and defeat Villanova hung on them last month. Then a week from Saturday UConn visits to complete that two-game set after the Wildcats nearly upset the Huskies again in Hartford late last month.

Somewhere in there, at the rate she continues to score, Siegrist will likely pass former Drexel great Gabriela Marginean to become the all-time women’s scoring champion in the Philly Six after already claiming the combined men’s and women’s career scoring title at Villanova and the career Big Five women’s crown.

She’s also nearing the Big East women’s record, a statistic that only includes conference competition.

Should Villanova succeed on the final stretch, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme in using a comparison between Florida State, which didn’t make the group, and the Wildcats, which did in his analysis of the committee moves, said, “…if the Wildcats can beat everyone left on their schedule, or only suffer a loss or losses to UConn the rest of the way, there’s a good chance first- and second-round games will be played on the Main Line.”

If there’s an uproar to be had anywhere in the first NCAA list it likely is occurring down in Baton Rouge where despite being the only other unbeaten squad left in Division I, Kim Mulkey’s LSU squad was made a two-seed.

But UConn, despite the loss to Marquette, is still a two in the Net and the overall resume is two compelling for now.

LSU’s schedule has been weak and the Southeastern Conference is not as strong as it has been over time but the Tigers can help themselves Sunday when they visit South Carolina.

After the top seeds, the rows line up with the two seeds, in order, being LSU, Utah, Iowa and Duke. The threes are Maryland, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas, while the fours are Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Villanova, and Ohio State.

The next reveal will be in two weeks on Thursday, February 23, during halftime of the Tennessee-South Carolina game.

No. 2 Indiana Tops No. 5 Iowa Despite Clark’s 35 to Hold Big Ten Lead

Caitlin Clark’s 35 points for No. 5 Iowa kept her right on the heels of Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist in the battle for the 1-2 NCAA scoring lead with Drexel’s Keishana Washington maintaining third.

But the night in the first Top Five women’s pairing in the Big Ten in almost 30 years belonged to No. 2 Indiana, which got a combo 26 points, nine rebounds, and six assists from Grace Berger while Mackenzie Holmes collected 24 to give the Hoosiers an 87-78 win over the Hawkeyes (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten) to maintain the top spot in the conference.

It’s been quite a season for the Hoosiers (23-1, 12-1), who have drawn record crowds in Assembly Hall three straight times since January, the latest 13,046.

On Monday Indiana rose to second in this week’s AP Poll, the best ever in program history, and also Thursday, coach Teri Moren’s team was made the second No. 1 seed in the initial NCAA committee 16-team reveal.

“I just really wanted to win,” said Berger after the win streak grew to 11 while the Hawkeyes run was halted at eight. “I remember losing to them three times last year and in the (conference tourney) championship game, so any time you play a team like that, it means a little more.”

Indiana’s only other regular season Big Ten crown came in the first season of women’s competition in 1982-83.

South Carolina Runs Past Auburn on way to Sunday’s AP 1-3 Showdown with LSU

There was no post-UConn win letdown from Sunday as Dawn Staley’s reigning NCAA champions and top-ranked squad stayed unbeaten with an easy Southeastern Conference 83-48 triumph at Auburn as the Gamecocks (24-0, 11-0 SEC) won their 30th straight game.

On Sunday, Staley’s team will host LSU in a battle of SEC and national unbeaten squads before she is ready to settle in and cheer for her hometown NFL Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl in Arizona.

Zia Cooke scored 15 points and dealt four assists in just 20 minutes of play.

“We have a team that just takes care of what’s in front of them,” Staley said. “We stay current and that’s because we’ve got a very experienced, seasoned team. They’ve always been that way. No matter what game that’s in front of us, they’ve stayed current.”

Sydney Shaw matched a career high with 15 points and shot 3-of-4 from deep for Auburn (13-10, 3-8).

ACC Upsets

No. 9 Duke had little difficulty staying on top of the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 68-27 romp at Boston College, allowing the second fewest points allowed in a conference game by the Blue Devils (21-3, 11-2 ACC). Reigan Richardson had 14 points and Celeste Taylor scored 11 in what was the 1,000th triumph in program history.

Not so much, however, for No. 19 Florida State, which fell 86-82 in a cross-state rivalry game at Miami (16-8, 9-4 ACC)  as Haley Cavinder scored eight straight foul shots in the final 30 seconds at home in Coral Gables, Fla., to finish with a personal best 33 points.

The Seminoles (20-6, 9-4) got 19 points from Makayla Timpson, who led three other players in double figures.

Likewise for No. 14 North Carolina, which took a 75-67 road loss at Syracuse (16-9, 7-7 ACC), as the Orangewomen were led by Dyaisha Fair scoring 18 of her 20 points in the second half, while Georgia Woolley scored 20 for the game.

The Tar Heels (17-7, 8-5) were missing injured starters Alyssa Ustby and Eva Hodgson.

No. 10 Notre Dame came close to being a third ACC upset victim, escaping at home in South Bend, Ind., with a 69-63 win over Pittsburgh, as Sonia Citron scored 20 and Maddy Westbeld had 17 for the Irish (19-4, 10-3).

Other Notables

Trailing early on the road in the Big Ten, No. 8 Maryland hit the reserve to overrun host Northwestern 79-54 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

Diamond Miller scored 18 for the Terrapins (20-5, 12-3), who held the Wildcats (8-16, 1-12) without a field goal in the second quarter.

In a game between two PAC-12 squads that met for the NCAA title two seasons ago in San Antonio, Texas, No. 6 Stanford, which won that game, bounced back from Sunday’s shocking loss to Washington,  to win at No. 17 Arizona 84-60 in Tempe.

The win gave the squad a half-game lead over seventh-ranked Utah in the conference.

Cameron Brink and Haley Jones each scored 18 points for the Cardinal (23-3, 11-2 PAC-12), while Jones double-doubled with 12 rebounds. Lauren Betts scored 12 off the bench. 

“Everything was 10 times better,” Jones said. “I think this was one of our best games we played overall, 40 minutes-wise. I was really proud of the bounce back that we had tonight.”

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer increased her NCAA Division I women’s record win total to 1180, which is ten more than UConn’s Geno Auriemma (1170).

Esmery Martinez, Cate Reese, and Paris Clark each scored 10 points for Arizona (18-6, 8-5).

In the Colonial Athletic Association, idle Drexel, which moved back into first place Sunday, got some helping hands.

In a game between two new members, Hampton pushed North Carolina A&T back a half-game with a 66-53 win while Hofstra’s Brandy Thomas at home at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead, N.Y., nailed a three-pointer as time expired for a 58-57 win over Towson, which dropped two games behind the Dragons into a three-way third place tie with Stony Brook and William & Mary.

Jersey Locals Split

There were only two games on the local card, both involving New Jersey schools.

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Rider pulled off a 60-54 win on the road over Marist (10-12, 6-7 MAAC) in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Makayla Firebaugh scored 23 points for the Broncs (6-17, 3-11), while Ralphaela Toussaint scored 12 with 10 rebounds.

“If you’ve watched us, you know we’ve been turning the corner and doing some good things,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. It all came together today. We really locked in on the game plan.”

The Broncs are home Sunday at 1 p.m. hosting Manhattan in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., on ESPN3.

Rutgers, meanwhile, fell to Purdue  68-54 in a Big Ten game at home at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

Awa Sidibe was the only one in double figures for the home team scoring 16 points for the Scarlet Knights (10-15, 4-9).

Purdue (16-7, 7-6) got 17 points from Lasha Petree, while Cassidy Hardin scored 12, and reserve Rickie Woltman scored 10.

Rutgers goes to Iowa Sunday at 3 p.m. on FS1.

Looking Ahead: Only two locals play on Friday, both in the CAA as Drexel tries to enhance its lead a little further hosting Charleston at 6 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on FloHoops.

Delaware hosts UNCW at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark on FloHoops. The visitors are now coached by former longtime Delaware coach Tina Martin.

On Saturday, locally, as mentioned earlier above, Villanova in a key Big East game at the Finneran Pavilion hosts Seton Hall at 1 p.m. on FloHoops.

Penn has another major Ivy showdown hosting Harvard at 2 p.m. in The Palestra at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ looking for revenge, while Princeton at 1 p.m. can stay in the first-place hunt beating visiting Dartmouth at Jadwin Gym on ESPN+.

Temple hosts Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference at 2 p.m. in the Liacouras Center on ESPN+, while in the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s visits Dayton at noon on ESPN+.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh visits Loyola, Md., at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ while on the same network Lafayette is at Boston U. at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, locally ahead of the Super Bowl, of games not mentioned above, La Salle hosts Duquesne at 2 p.m. in the Tom Gola Arena on ESPN+, Drexel visits new member Monmouth at 3 p.m. in the CAA on FloHoops while Delaware hosts Charleston at 2 p.m.

The other local involved with the Big Ten has Penn State visiting Michigan State at 3 p.m.

Nationally, the South Carolina/LSU showdown is at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

There’s only two games — both national — on the tracker for Monday, in the Big 12, Texas visits Iowa State at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, while at the same time in the Big Tne Indiana will visit Ohio State.

And that’s your report.