The Guru’s NCAA March Madness Report: UConn’s the Overall One Followed by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

On the verge of reaching a labor settlement with its players, according to reports, the WNBA was nice enough to stay out of the way of the Selection Sunday announcement of the 68-team NCAA women’s basketball tournament draw, a prime-time event on ESPN that was not shy of going head to head with the Oscars all of which illustrates how much things have changed.

Selection night for a long time was Monday and the Oscars the same night a week later.

One staple which has been consistent remained as such as soon as the director queued the lights and cameras and the TV talent took it right from the top revealing the committee was making unbeaten UConn (34-0), the defending champs, the overall No. 1 pick.

Last year’s other three Final Four participants garnered the other No. 1s but in a different order, UCLA was next in line, followed by Texas and Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad whom the Huskies routed in last season’s championship game.

In recent weeks UCLA, having spent its second year in the Big Ten, was drawing much support for the top honor off the data components but in a narrow outcome the committee went to the human element, the eye test, to render its decision.

“That’s where I’m at,” said Charlie Crème, ESPN’S bracketologist, who begins churning out forecasted matchups as soon as the season tips off in early November.

“It’s close, but when you watch them, they look like the best team.”

The Huskies are bolstered by the combo of Sarah Strong and senior Azzi Fudd, left to keep the machine humming after the graduation of WNBA rookie of the year Paige Bueckers, but UCLA’s Lauren Betts is also a strong force in making the Bruins almost as unbeatable  with just a slim loss to Texas back in November.

UConn has already had six perfect seasons as part of 12 trophies and is trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since the program won four straight titles from 2013-16 led by Breanna Stewart.

“When you break it all down, in the next three weeks, if we are lucky enough to play all three weeks, you have to beat the best teams,” said Huskies Hall of Fame coach GenoAuriemma who grew up in Norristown. “It doesn’t matter if you are the 1, 2, 3 or whatever (seed) you are.

“There are some teams in there that we have already played or just recently played. Everybody is going in front of the media and say our bracket is the toughest, what our matchups are and it is just pointless.”

UConn was joined by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina as No. 1 seeds.

UConn, which is led by stars Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, opens the tournament at home against 16th-seeded UTSA and will play in the Fort Worth Regional. If seeds hold, the Huskies could face No. 2 Vanderbilt, which is coached by former UConn great Shea Ralph. This is the 23rd time UConn has earned a No. 1 seed and first since 2021.

The Longhorns, who joined the Southeastern Conference last season, gained two wins over South Carolina, including a dominating triumph in the SEC title game to jump ahead of the Gamecocks in the top of the bracket.

Several years ago, the tournament format changed from four to two sites with eight teams each – this season at Fort Worth, Texas and Sacramento, and next year the Xfinity Mobile Center in South Philly will be one of the sites.

As for the Final Four in three weeks, while bringing the heat, the heat will be waiting in Phoenix for everyone.

Locally, Villanova, which finished second to UConn in the Big East, built a strong resume and was given a 10th seed, ending a three-year NCAA drought since advancing to the Sweet 16 with senior sensation Maddy Siegrist.

The Wildcats (25-7) will face seventh seed Texas Tech (25-7) Friday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU in Baton Rouge, La., and if advancing would likely face two-seed LSU (27-5) under veteran coach Kim Mulkey, whose team scored 100+ points in a slew of games.

“You have a game there, you want to battle, you want to prove yourself,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon at Sunday night's watch party at Finneran Pavilion. “That's our position right now, that we belong there and we want to go.”

After winning another Ivy crown, No. 23 Princeton got a nine seed in the same Sacramento 2 Region as Villanova and have been sent to Los Angeles, Saturday, playing eight seed Oklahoma State and if advancing would likely face UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.

The Tigers getting the AQ opened the door for some bubble teams and Richmond with Broomall’s Maggie Doogan will play Nebraska Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Saint Joseph’s was bypassed from being chosen for the three-year old WBIT field, in part crowded out by the large number of No. 1 seeds in conference tourneys that were upset and gained automatic bids.

The Hawks no longer support the WNIT, but Drexel learned Sunday it has an invite and will learn Monday of its site and opponent.

The NCAA has gotten much deeper as opposed to the days the event was a warmup to the finals.

Tennessee, under the legendary and late coach Pat Summitt, was one of those teams and while the Vols, now under second-year coach Kim Caldwell, are the only team in every NCAA tournament, they took a deep seven-game plunge at the end and are holding a 10 seed playing seven seed N.C. State at 8 p.m. Friday night on ESPN in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The second seeded Wolverines will play Patriot League champion Holy Cross at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

The Crusaders, whose roster includes Plymouth Whitemarsh grad Kaitlyn Flanagan and Hannah Griffin, a daughter of Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin, eliminated Lehigh in Sunday’s title game.

Though some fans off the recent mega ESPN women’s deal with the NCAA seeing their mid-major teams in the first rounds on platforms such as ESPNews and ESPNU wonder what’s going on, an ample amount of the elite teams will air on ESPN, ESPN, and ABC.

Former Saint Joseph’s star Laura Ziegler is on second-seeded Louisville, which plays Vermont Saturday at noon on ESN, while former Penn star Jordan Obi is on Kentucky, which plays James Madison at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU at West Virginia.

Charleston, which won the Coastal Athletic Association, Sunday, is the only new team in this year’s field.

More to come.