Over the past two weeks, college basketball conference tournaments have been in full swing as teams across the nation compete for an automatic qualifying spot in the 2024 NCAA March Madness Tournament. This year, women’s college basketball exploded in popularity, averaging a larger audience (981k viewers per game) than men’s college basketball (946k viewers per game) on FOX. Between Caitlin Clark breaking NCAA records left and right, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks going undefeated for a second year in a row, and Angel Reese having a block party practically every game, this NCAA D1 Women’s Basketball season is definitely one that we will be discussing for years to come. However, the season is far from over, as on Sunday, March 17 at 8:00pm ET, ESPN hosted the Selection Sunday show that officially announces the qualifying teams for the 2024 Women’s NCAA Division 1 March Madness National Championship Tournament. The tournament, referenced colloquially as March Madness, begins play on March 20 and runs all the way through to the National Championship game on April 7 at 3:00pm ET in Cleveland, Ohio. After a very intriguing Selection Sunday, there is so much to look forward to with what is sure to be the most exciting women’s March Madness tournament to date.
Before I get into some of the teams and players to watch out for in the tournament, you first need to understand how the bracket works. There is a field of 68 total teams chosen on Selection Sunday for the tournament, and eight of these teams compete for a seed spot (usually a lower seed, somewhere between the 10-seed and 16-seed) in the First Four section of the tournament, taking place March 20-21, in order to finalize the 64-team bracket. The 64 teams are separated into four quadrants, and each quadrant’s teams are ranked #1 through #16. The four quadrants this year are Albany 1, Albany 2, Portland 3, and Portland 4, named after the two regions in which the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds will be played: the MVP Arena in Albany, New York, and the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Each quadrant competes for a spot in the Final Four and hopefully the National Championship, which will take place at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. In the Round of 64, or First Round, teams are matched up with the seed farthest from them; the #1 plays the #16, the #2 plays the #15, and so on. All games are win-or-go-home, and this brings out an extremely high level of competitiveness and intensity of play that is always fun to witness.
Each of the 68 teams chosen for the tournament have been fierce competitors all season long, yet there are a few standouts among this year’s field that you should be familiar with before tuning in. First and foremost is the current face of college basketball, Caitlin Clark. Clark is a senior at Iowa, the #1 seed in the Albany 2 quadrant of the bracket, and has been making basketball history left and right. During the 2023-24 regular season, she became the NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball scoring leader, the leading scorer in major college basketball history overall, and the NCAA Division 1 single-season 3-point record. She is projected to either match or surpass eight NCAA Tournament records this year, three of which she already holds.
Though Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes are a deserved 1-seed going into the tournament, their road to Cleveland and a national championship will be far from easy. In Albany 2 alone, they must contend with #2 UCLA and #3 LSU, not to mention a strong #5 Colorado team and competitive #6 West Virginia, whose coach announced following the Selection Sunday show that the Mountaineers are set on “sending Caitlin Clark packing” if the two meet in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. All things considered, though, Iowa likely has less to worry about with #6 West Virginia than with #3 LSU, who is ready to make another championship run and repeat their victory should an Iowa-LSU championship rematch take place in the Elite 8. LSU, for their part, is out for blood after being put at a 3-seed despite their elite performance all year under head coach Kim Mulkey, and with their win over Iowa in the 2022-23 National Championship Game, they are prepared to defend their title. Leading the way for the Tigers is senior Angel Reese, aka Bayou Barbie, who has been averaging a double-double all year with 19.0 points per game and 13.1 rebounds per game, not to mention her 2.3 steals per game and 25 blocks on the season. Additionally, #3 LSU is looking ahead to the Second Round where they could potentially face a heated matchup with #5 Louisville, former school of LSU starting guard Hailey Van Lith, which will be a must-see game.
The Albany 1 quadrant is no less competitive, headed by #1 South Carolina, the top seed of the entire tournament. Head coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are coming off an undefeated 32-0 season for the second year in a row (first back-to-back undefeated seasons in program history) and are the favorites to take the National Title. Stunning on both ends of the floor for #1 South Carolina are senior Kamilla Cardoso, who has been averaging 14.0 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game, and 2.6 blocks per game, and freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley, who was named the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player and was the leading scorer for South Carolina in the SEC Tournament Championship game versus LSU with a career-high 24 points.
But #1 South Carolina needs to watch out, as #2 Notre Dame is coming in hot with their own freshman-senior powerhouse duo of Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld. #2 Notre Dame is on an eight-game winning streak, including their ACC Tournament Championship win over NC State, who is the 3-seed in the Portland 4 quadrant. Freshman point guard Hidalgo is the team’s leading scorer and primary defender, while senior forward Westbeld leads the team in rebounds and 3-point percentage. The two combined put on a clinic in the second half of the ACC Championship game, during which the duo scored all but one of Notre Dame’s second-half points. If Hidalgo and Westbeld really get going, #2 Notre Dame definitely has a shot at defeating #1 South Carolina, if not going all the way to a National Title; to say an Elite 8 matchup between these top-two teams would be an understatement.
Moving into the lower half of the bracket, the Portland 3 quadrant will be interesting, to say the least. #1 USC enters March Madness with their highest ranking in nearly 40 years at #3 overall, though they were projected to be #21 at the start of the year. Shocking the country, #1 USC beat Stanford for the PAC-12 Championship, which secured them the 1-seed in the Portland 3 quadrant. Leading the way for #1 USC is freshman standout and PAC-12 Freshman of the Year Juju Watkins, who has broken several program records and posted an astonishing thirteen 30-plus-point-games this year. However, the road to the Final Four is far from guaranteed for the Trojans; #2 Ohio State and #3 UConn are set on championship runs of their own.
For #3 UConn in particular, the path to a national championship looks very different than head coach Geno Auriemma is used to.The Huskies are no stranger to March Madness; the 2024 NCAA Tournament marks their 35th consecutive appearance, and Auriemma is the winningest head coach in NCAA postseason history with a 132-23 overall record. However, this is only the third time in program history that UConn has been selected as a 3-seed, and the first time since 2005. This is only likely to motivate the team further, especially redshirt junior Paige Bueckers. Bueckers has shined this year after tearing her ACL and missing the entirety of the 2022-23 season, leading #3 UConn to an undefeated conference record and the Big East Championship, rightfully earning the title of Big East Player of the Year. Bueckers is the team’s points (21.3 points per game) and blocks (1.4 blocks per game) leader, and with help from senior forward Aaliyah Edwards, who averages 17.8 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game, #3 UConn is always hard to discount when looking at Final Four contenders.
Arguably the most intense quadrant, though, is Portland 4; it truly is anybody’s game. In a surprising choice by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, Texas earned the 1-seed, while Stanford is the 2-seed. Speculations are that because Stanford lost to #1 USC in the PAC-12 Championship while #1 Texas won the Big 12 Tournament, they were awarded the 2-seed rather than the 1. That does not make them any less of a threat, though. Head coach Tara VanDerveer is the winningest coach in college basketball history, and she is unbothered by where #2 Stanford sits in the rankings, believing that their elite level of play will do more than enough to silence doubters of her team. And they are definitely up to the challenge. The Cardinal are led by senior forward Cameron Brink, a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Finalist (alongside #1 South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, #2 Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, and #2 Ohio State’s Celeste Taylor) and the national leader in both total blocks with 109 on the season and blocks per game with 3.52. Brink averages a double-double with 17.8 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game, and so does junior forward Kiki Iriafen with 18.6 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game. The pair have been nightmares in the post and are sure to dominate again in the NCAA Tournament.
Still, #1 Texas is the 1-seed for a reason. The Longhorns have won 12 of their last 13 games including the Big 12 Championship despite losing star guard Rori Harmon early in the season to an ACL tear. Freshman forward Madison Booker has stepped up in Harmon’s absence, though, leading #1 Texas to a Big 12 Championship and earning the title of Big 12 Player of the Year (the first time a freshman has earned the honor in Big 12 Women’s Basketball history). Booker averages 16.4 points per game and 5.2 assists per game while shooting an impressive 31.7% from three, and the team-oriented style of play by #1 Texas should serve them well as they enter NCAA Tournament play. But the Portland 4 quadrant contenders do not end here, as #3 NC State, with a strong, experienced, well-balanced roster, is ready to avenge their devastating first-round loss in last year’s tournament to Princeton, and Gonzaga is more motivated than ever as they earned the 4-seed, the highest ever in program history. With potential Elite 8 matchups between any of the top-four teams, this quadrant will bring close, hard-fought games in every round.
On top of what will be considered one of the most iconic NCAA March Madness Tournaments of all time, there are two other postseason women’s basketball tournaments worth paying attention to, as well. The Women’s National Invitational Tournament, or WNIT, runs from March 2o through to the Championship Game on
April 6 and will feature our very own Cal Poly Mustangs, who are coming off an incredible season under second year head coach Shanele Stires and led by senior Natalia Ackerman, who set a program single-season blocks record with 63 (top-25 nationally) and averages 12.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. 2024 will also see the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, or WBIT, which runs from March 21 through the Championship Game on April 3. This first WBIT is looking highly competitive, with teams like James Madison, Hawai’i, Washington State, Penn State, Georgetown, Villanova, and UC Berkeley all taking part. Though WNIT and WBIT participants may not have made the NCAA Tournament this year, make sure you still catch their games on ESPN+ because they are all hungry for wins and set to show off some championship-level play.
Of all the years I’ve followed college basketball, this year’s postseason field has to be the most competitive, star-studded, and difficult to predict. Any team could make it all the way to the NCAA National Championship Game, but I think that #1 South Carolina and #1 Iowa are going to be especially difficult to shut down. So make sure to catch a few games of the NCAA Tournament, WNIT, and WBIT, and if you choose to fill out a bracket this year (official bracket linked here), don’t hesitate to pick some upsets, as anything could happen; it’s called March Madness for a reason, after all!