Tonight's remaining Elite 8 results:
UConn heated up in the second half to clobber Kentucky, 80-65.
Notre Dame throttled Maryland, 80-49. Skylar Diggins lead the Irish with a triple-double - her first: 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Unsurprisingly, the head band stayed on the entire game.
Notre Dame and UConn will have the first game this Sunday, and Stanford and Baylor will go at it in the second match up.
So....after a wild season of unprecedented upsets, we have four number-one seeds in the Final Four.
Some are saying that this means parity in women's hoops is still a long way off.
Others are saying that the NCAA finally seeded a tournament correctly.
(Someone's always going to have a complaint)
I don't necessarily agree with either of those hypotheses.
But, hopefully no one is naive enough to think that next week's Final Four will be boring. We already have the previously-mentioned delicious Stanford-Baylor tangle. Notre Dame vs. UConn will be just as fun.
Many trip out on the seedings every year. What causes me to stop and ponder are the placements in regionals. They pretty much determine the championship.
What if the pairings in five days were Baylor vs. UConn and Stanford vs. Notre Dame? Or Baylor vs. Notre Dame and Stanford vs. UConn? Who would win those, and then who would take the title in each case? Call it the fickle finger of fate.
Although the Tournament is far from over, I'll begin taking "favorite road to Denver" moments right now. Feel free to add yours, whomever your team may be.
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5 comments:
The real "final" will be the later game - Stanford v.s. Baylor. The Cardinal will come in with a chip on their shoulders and should give Baylor all they can handle. I just hope the officials don't protect Griner and make good honest calls. Mulkey will whine her way through the game, which is so irritating to watch, and will be lucky to come out with a win. As a west-coaster, I am rooting for Stanford!
I wonder how, or if, teams might be affected by playing at the higher elevations. It will be interesting to see which players could be "sucking wind" at halftime.
Have a great time.
IM in OC
I have also wondered why more isn't being said about the elevation. I think it will definitely play a factor in some athletes, as none of the Final Four schools are located much above sea level.
Will they play with a heavier ball? The ball they play with will go through the air and carrom off the rim differently. I think the running teams will be affected. There should be a lot of subbing. Teams will probably get to Denver as soon as possible to acclimate as best they can in a short time. The high altitude will affect players differently. I don't know why the NCAA would choose a place like Denver. It makes the games even more interesting.
I think I'm going to do an entry on this, Nat.
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