The Guru Report II: Night of NCAA Second-Round Upsets Shake Up the Sweet 16; Ivy Duo Prevail in WNIT Round Two

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Bracket busting amped up in the NCAA women’s tournament’s first two rounds, especially Monday night when the final eight games were played to set up the Sweet 16.

 

A bunch of givens all season long went out the window highlighted by two No. 1 seeds going down in shocking fashion.

 

On Sunday night No. 8 Mississippi as a road team in the second round of the Seattle 4 Regional, knocked off Stanford 54-49 in the Cardinal-hosted Maples’ Pavilion .

 

This will be up there as one of the worst losses if not the worst loss in the history of one of the exalted programs in America.

 

What about 16-1 with Harvard back there in time.

 

In terms of what was on the floor of the first-ever 16-1 upset in either the men’s or women’s tournaments, the seeds were bogus by the time the opening tip arrived.

 

Stanford lost one key starter in its final game as the committee was wrapping up the bracket, a deduction alone that should have deprived the Cardinal of the premium slot. And then during the week another was lost to an injury.

 

Meanwhile, Harvard, with future WNBA pro Allison Feaster, was much better than a 16, but that was where Ivy champions were placed back then, no matter how good they were.

 

Plus, with Stanford at the time referred to as the Ivy of the West Coast, the Crimson under Kathy Delaney-Smith were the one team that wasn’t going to feel intimidated going into the game. 

 

Time out. Speaking of Ivies, two of the three that landed in the WNIT field, one of which had a good argument to be one of the last to be accepted in the NCAA dance, are still standing following wins on Monday night.

 

In a metro-related battle, Columbia at home in Levien Gym off Broadway on New York City’s Upper West Side beat the Bronx bunch from Fordham 78-73.

 

Anna DeWolfe had 21 points while Asiah Dingle scored 20 with 10 rebounds for the visiting Rams (19-13) of the A-10 Conference.

 

For the home team Lions (25-5), Abbey Hsu double-doubled her way to 20 points, while Jaida Patrick scored 18, Kaitlyn Davis scored 16, Hannah Pratt had 12, and Kitty Henderson dealt 11 assists.

 

One Thursday, having successfully bid for a third straight home game, Columbia will host Syracuse (20-12), which rolled over host Seton Hall 72-54 in South Orange, N.J., as Dyaisha Fair scored 24 points, fueled by four successful shots from deep, and Georgia Woolley scored 19.

 

Lauren Park-Lane scored 23 for the Pirates (19-15).

 

Harvard (19-11), meanwhile on two foul shots by Harmoni Turner went up on host UMass (27-7) by three points 88-85 with 22 seconds left.

 

A-10 player of the year Sam Breen got the conference regular season co-champions with Rhode Island within one on a layup with 14 seconds left.

 

Turner then went 1-for-2 from the line with 13 seconds left, leading to the 89-87 final score when Destiny Philoxy missed a three and Elena Rodriguez grabbed the rebound as time expired.

 

Harvard’s McKenzie Forbes scored 24, Lola Mullaney scored 22, Rodriguez had 16, and Turner double-doubled for 15 points and 11 assists.

 

Sydney Taylor had 21 for the Minutewomen, Philoxy had 16, Ber’Nyah Mayo scored 15 with 10 assists, and Breen scored 14 with 11 rebounds.

 

The Crimson will host the other in the A-10 co-championship, Rhode Island (26-6), on Thursday, at 7 p.m.

 

Meanwhile, back in the NCAA, the other No. 1 team to fall as addressed in the Villanova story was Indiana, ranked second in the final AP poll, which was caught by ninth-seeded Miami 70-68.

 

The Hurricanes face Villanova in Greenville on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

 

As UConn gets healthier, running the Huskies’ Final Four consecutive appearance streak up to 15 is no longer so daunting.

 

The Huskies put away Baylor far more easy than the narrow two-point Elite Eight win two seasons ago, winning 77-58.

 

Azzi Fudd led the way to getting her team back into its 29^th straight Sweet 16 with 22 points while Aliyah Edwards scored 19 points, Aubrey Griffin had 12 rebounds.

 

The No. 2 seeded and sixth-ranked Huskies in the Seattle 3 Regional will face 3-seed and 12^th-ranked Ohio State ( 27-7), which rode Jacy Sheldon’s tie-breaker with 1.8 seconds left to a 71-69 win over sixth-seed North Carolina (22-11) at home in Columbus.

 

Two teams ranked high in the preseason poll and then dropped out of sight continued their comebacks of late, No. 24 Tennessee (25-11) at home in Knoxville, won easily over Toledo 94-47 after the 12^th-seeded Rockets (29-5) had shocked fifth-seeded and 17^th-ranked Iowa State on Saturday, winning 80-73.

 

Louisville (25-11), a fifth seed, ended 16^th ranked and fourth-seeded Texas 73-55, while sixth seeded Colorado took down third seed and 13^th-ranked Duke 61-53 in overtime.

 

And that’s the report.