The player of the year argument will be settled on the court.
The biggest surprise in the NCAA women’s tournament bracket came in the Greensboro Regional, where top-seeded South Carolina could face No. 2 seed Iowa in the Elite Eight. That means Aliyah Boston vs. Caitlin Clark, a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Stanford (Spokane) and N.C. State (Bridgeport) also were awarded No. 1 seeds, as expected, when the bracket was revealed Sunday night. So was Louisville, in the Wichita Region, despite being upset by Miami in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
“We certainly noted that,” Nina King, chair of the NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball committee, said on a conference call Sunday night. “We had a lot of discussion around their total body of work and what they had done throughout the whole year. … What they have done, as well as the teams above and below them, just didn’t feel like it warranted moving Louisville.”
Another surprise was UConn being seeded No. 2 in the Bridgeport Region, which essentially gives the Huskies home games until the Final Four — no small thing, given their considerable fan base throughout Connecticut.
“A variety of conflicts we’re trying to avoid,” King said, mentioning teams from the same conference and teams that have already played this season. “Then we take into account fan experience, student-athlete welfare, modes of transportation, whether it’s a drive or a fly. There’s a variety of things that we certainly take into account…
