nc AA Women’s basketball Tournament primer: Upsets, dark horses and title picks

By AIDAN THOMAS sports editor

The nc AA Women’s b asketball Tournament is generally less prone to upsets than the men’s tournament. b ut as the depth and talent in the field increase the parity of the event, upsets are beginning to happen with more frequency. Just last year, four teams sitting on the 11 and 12-seed lines won their opening game.

Two 10-seeds made the s weet 16, and 10th-seeded c reighton crashed the e lite e ight party. s o which upsets seem feasible as the tournament nears? Which top seeds are the most fallible? While not every bid is secured yet, let’s look at an early primer for the nc AA Women’s b asketball Tournament.

Any madness at 14, 15 or 16?

In the history of the tournament, there has been one upset by a 14th, 15th or 16th-seed. That was 16thseeded h arvard back in 1998. m eanwhile, 33 of such upsets have occurred in the men’s tournament. Is this the year the streak breaks?

In all likelihood, probably not. b ut there are a couple of teams that could make it interesting.

v irginia Tech, fresh off winning the A cc , secures a n o. 1 seed in most projections. That recent ascent, in my mind, makes them the weakest n o. 1 seed, as the other teams sitting atop projections have been top-five teams basically all season.

c urrent bracketology has the h okies matched up with Jackson s tate, a 20-8 squad on a 14-game heater. That’s at least the beginning ingredients of a potential upset.

e lsewhere, Utah and U c onn have been in my personal top six teams in the country for the better part of two months. They won’t be upset in the first round. Iowa is receiving top-seed consideration, and c aitlin c lark is arguably the best player in the country. They should easily survive any firstround madness. m aryland is the most questionable potential two-seed. I’ve got them closer to a four-seed in my own bracketology, or maybe the last three-seed. A poor matchup could have the Terrapins sweating in their opener. vermont is a solid squad to keep an eye on out of the America e ast and could be a good challenger if they pull this matchup,

as current bracketology projects.

Along the three-seed projections, we have d uke, L s U, o hio s tate and n otre d ame. h aving not filled out my bracket just yet, L s U is definitely a Final Four contender at this point, and I don’t see them losing too early. The other three present interesting cases at the very least. I’ve got d uke firmly on the two-seed line in my own bracketology, so I think they’re better than this projection and will survive.

n otre d ame is dealing with a lot of injuries, so I think a poor matchup could make them a target. o hio s tate is the weakest three-seed in this scenario, so keep an early exit for the b uckeyes on the table. Gardner-Webb and Iona are two intriguing teams currently sitting on the 14th-seed line that I could see causing early chaos.

t rue dark horses (11-13 Seed)

Looking at teams sitting in that mid-tier upset range, I’ll give you my three favorite dark horses to make noise with an upset (or maybe even two)?

Cleveland State c leveland s tate beat 27-4 Green b ay 73-61 in the h orizon League championship to win their 30th game of the season and secure an automatic bid. It’ll be tough to beat a four-seed in the first round, and they rank 36th in my book. d oing the math, I think they should be closer to a n o. 9 or 10 seed. That’s enough to put them among my favorite dark horses.

UN l V

If the currently projected matchups hold, I likely wouldn’t blink before taking U n Lv over fifth-seeded o klahoma. The r ebels are 30-2 and haven’t lost in nearly three months. I’ll take that when looking at a potential 12-over-five upset.

U n Lv is likely to be underseeded, and I like their odds of escaping the first round.

Middle t ennessee

This team is probably my favorite dark horse. s o much so that I’m barely considering sixth-seeded matchups. r ather, I’m already looking at potential three seeds they could beat to reach the s weet 16. I have been extremely high on the b lue r aiders for a while, and I would absolutely hate to draw this team on opening weekend. They’re ranked heading into the postseason, and all four of their losses have come by five points or less. They will be tough out.

My Sweet 16 h ere’s a quick look at my s weet 16. This combination of teams may not be exactly possible in the true bracket, but here’s what I have based on current bracketology.

Greenville 1

Top-seeded s outh c arolina will advance with ease. I don’t anticipate them breaking a sweat through two rounds. Fifth-seeded c olorado will pull the minor upset of fourth-seeded U nc c hapel h ill. e leventhseeded Florida Gulf c oast nearly made my dark horse category, and right now, with o hio s tate as the three-seed in their region, they have the most favorable road to the s weet 16. I like second-seeded Utah’s chances of surviving, too.

Greenville 2

For the sake of chaos, make this my chaos region.

Top-seeded Indiana survives a small challenge versus o le m iss in the r ound of 32. 12th-seeded U n Lv pulls back-to-back upsets over o klahoma and then U c LA to progress into the s weet 16. 11th-seeded c olumbia is one of two teams out of the Ivy League I really like, and the team takes advantage of a very injured n otre d ame squad in the second round. s eventh-seeded s outh Florida is a s weet 16 caliber squad, and they shock U c onn in the r ound of 32.

Seattle 3 e lsewhere, top-seeded v irginia Tech avoids any r ound of 64 nightmares and rolls into the s weet 16. Fourth-seeded v illanova and second-seeded m aryland round out the chalk picks advancing past the opening weekend.

I think this region has a lot of potential crazy upsets, but some of the midrange seeds don’t have enough firepower to make a run. m iddle Tennessee, my favorite dark horse, unfortunately matches up with the most lethal three-seed in L s U, and doesn’t pull off the upset.

Seattle 4

Top-seeded s tanford will have no issues in their first two games. Their opponent in the s weet 16 will be a surprise, however.

Green b ay and s outh d akota s tate will both win as the 13th and 12th seeds, respectively. I’ll pick n o. 13 seed Green b ay to squeak on into the s weet 16. Thirdseeded d uke will survive Princeton in the r ound of 32, and second-seeded Iowa holds serve on home court as well.

Final Four

At long last, here’s my ultimate Final Four and championship picks. s outh c arolina advances out of their bracket without too many issues. Indiana manages to survive their upset-laden region and reach the semifinals. Thirdseeded L s U triumphs over v irginia Tech to reach the Final Four.

In the last region, give me third-seeded d uke in a hotly-contested battle over s tanford. s outh c arolina will beat the upstart b lue d evils, heading back to the national title game. I’m really excited by the possibility of L s U-Indiana in the semifinals, but give me the Tigers to set up the All- sec championship.

The Gamecocks have been my top team all year, and at this point, I can’t change the pick. s outh c arolina over L s U in the national championship.

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

competition. That’s just her being a more confident person.” s he will be followed by junior e ve b alseiro running the 400m. b alseiro will then hand the baton off to sixth-year graduate student Katie r yan to run the 800m leg. s parks is excited to see this veteran group compete. h e believes m arkezich could be the difference as the relay’s anchor.

In the dmr , graduate student transfer Katie Thronson will lead the relay off with the 1200m leg.

Finally, m arkezich will anchor the 1600m leg of the relay.

“I challenge anybody to have a more veteran group at the national meet,” s parks said. “The veteran of national championships for us is o livia m arkezich. s he had a great cross-country season for us. s he will do a great job of finishing off for us there.” m arkezich will finish the mile on fresh legs as well, which should be a huge boost for the Irish.

The relay is n o. 8 seed, but there is not much of a gap between most of the teams in the race.

“In this event, it really comes down to who decided to save their mile leg for that relay,” s parks said.

The elevation in Albuquerque is roughly a mile above sea level, and s parks believes this could impact distance races across the board in the meet.

“In the distance races, it affects everybody a little bit differently,” s parks said. “We don’t want to overload people and put them in a lot of different events because they might not recover as quickly. We aren’t going to overdo it with anybody by having them do too many events.”

In the 3000m race, s parks expects m arkezich to be towards the front, although she will have run the mile leg of the dmr the day before.

“ s he can be in the top five,” s parks said. “ s he will be coming off the double because she will have raced the day before, and she will be racing some girls who aren’t racing anything but the 3000.” o n the men’s side, junior m ichael s hoaf and sophomore c arter s olomon will get their first indoor nationals experience.

“There are a couple of guys that snuck in on the backend that will be firsttime competitors for each of them at the national meet,” s parks said.

“ m ichael s hoaf has been to the outdoor national meet, but it’s his first time indoor.

And for c arter s olomon, it will be his first time on the track in a championship.

It will be a new experience for both those guys, and they’re both young. They have a couple of years to go at the national meet as well.” s parks is excited for s olomon to get a chance to race a national meet on the track and learn from the experience.

“ c arter has a couple of years to go, and he’s never been there. s olomon raced very well in last fall’s championship cross-country races, and s parks believes that s olomon is in a great place right now ahead of his first track national meet. h e won the conference title for us in cross country and ran really well at the national meet. h e is really trending in the right direction the last couple of weeks,” s parks said.

It will be a new experience for him. h e was one of the last guys to make it in his event, so it could be a steep learning curve for him,” s parks said.

“The exciting thing for him is he has always raced really well at championship time for us.

“ c arter is in a really good place right now fitness wise and he’s really confident. We expect to see him fare really well.”

This national meet is a full-circle moment for the team. The 2020 indoor championships were supposed to be held in Albuquerque. The 2020 Irish team had already traveled to the meet before the meet was canceled suddenly because of the rapid onset of the cov I d -19 pandemic.

Former Irish thrower r achel Tanczos was seeded first in the weight throw that year, and the men’s dmr team was one of the favorites to win that event.

Although none of the athletes that made the trip in 2020 are competing this weekend, s parks hopes that the athletes competing this year can compete for those athletes that didn’t get a chance to compete in 2020.

“The men’s [ dmr ] team was one of the favorites going into [the 2020 meet], so we would like to go into [the women’s dmr ] and perform well for those athletes that didn’t get a chance to,” s parks said.

“We would like to go back there and finish what never was able to get started last time.”

Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu con TInued From pAge 16 s aturday and with firstyear guard JJ s tarling remaining sidelined with a knee injury, there were worries that n otre d ame could come out flat in g reensboro. The game’s opening minutes did nothing to assuage those fears, as v irginia Tech jumped out to a quick 7-0 advantage. 12 early points courtesy of graduate student guards m arcus h ammond and c ormac r yan kept the Irish in the game. b ut they were still struggling to find consistent offense. When the h okies scored nine straight points to take a double-digit advantage, they seemed poised to grab control of the game. b ut n otre d ame understood a loss would end the college careers of their six graduate students, including all five of Tuesday’s starters. s o, the Irish continued to fight. g raduate student guard d ane g oodwin and h ammond connected on back-to-back three-pointers. When junior forward m att Zona drilled a third consecutive three — just his fourth of the season — to trim the v irginia Tech lead to 26-23, it felt like the momentum was on n otre d ame’s side. h e gave n otre d ame a 34-33 advantage with a mid-range jumper on the first possession of the half. A few minutes later, he knocked down another con TInued From pAge 15 vigorously shadowboxing and bouncing around the ring, in the same style as Frazier, Ali’s former opponent.

They would carry that energy through the rest of the first half.

The Irish closed the frame on an 18-7 run to end the half down just one.

Following a relatively low-scoring first half, both teams came out of the gates firing in the second. h ammond led all players with 14 points before halftime and did not slow down.

The crowd in the Joyce c enter reacted with thunderous cheering and applause.

“ o h, so that’s your question?’” Ali asked, as Fussman continued the story. “And he waved me into the ring, and I saw something I thought I’d never see again — m uhammad Ali start to dance.” b ut the stupor didn’t three-pointer. b ut v irginia Tech seemingly had an answer for every Irish bucket. m uch of their production came from forward g rant b asile, a graduate transfer from Wright s tate whom n otre d ame had sought to add to their roster in the offseason. h e was just as impactful Tuesday, leading his team with 20 points and making several critical plays down the stretch.

When the teams met earlier in the year, b asile tied his season-high with 33 points in a narrow h okies win.

The margin remained within one possession for the first 12 minutes of the second half. The lead changed hands several times, but neither side could get enough stops to gain an edge. With the Irish leading 52-51 and just over seven minutes remaining, Zona sank his third threepointer of the night. The shot sent the n otre d ame bench into a frenzy and gave the Irish their largest lead of the night.

After b asile answered with a dunk, r yan hit another three-pointer for n otre d ame, stretching the lead to five. s oon after, r yan scored again, boosting his point tally to 18 and giving the Irish a 60-56 advantage entering the final media timeout.

Late-game woes have been the story for n otre d ame all season. In what proved to be their final chance to flip the script and pull out a narrow win, they remained unable to get over the hump. The final three minutes of the game belonged to the h okies.

The two teams traded baskets before v irginia Tech’s r odney r ice buried a clutch three-pointer to make the score 62-61 in n otre d ame’s favor. After an Irish turnover, the h okies scored in transition. b rey quickly called timeout, with the Irish down one about a minute after last. Fussman said Ali soon crossed his feet, stumbled and fell. b efore Fussman could help him up, “he’s flipped on his back, and he’s doing stomach crunches.”

“I see what’s in the well. You don’t have to do it anymore,’” Fussman told Ali.

“‘It feels good,’ [Ali said],” Fussman remembered. “ I thought I’d pushed him as far as I possibly could, but he had more to give.” h e “points to a line in the center. It says: g od will not place a burden on a man’s shoulders knowing that he can’t carry it,” Fussman leading by four. b ut three unanswered v irginia Tech points gave them a 66-64 advantage with 30 seconds remaining. s eeking a game-tying basket, r yan found a lane to the rim but could not finish, forcing n otre d ame to foul. v irginia Tech’s s ean p edulla, one of the A cc ’s best free throw marksmen, gave the Irish hope by going just one of two from the line and keeping the score within one possession. b ut graduate student forward n ate Laszewski’s last-second three-point attempt was off the mark, sealing another heartbreaking defeat for the Irish. h owever, many of these players formed n otre d ame’s backbone for the last several years and came within minutes of reaching the s weet s ixteen last season.

Later that night, Ali showed Fussman a sheet of paper.

A pair of free throws from graduate student guard Trey Wertz would put the Irish back in front.

With n otre d ame’s loss comes not almost certainly only the end of the season, but the end of an era. In addition to b rey stepping down after a programrecord 483 wins over the course of 23 seasons, the Irish roster will look completely different next year. The program will lose six graduate students, including five of the seven players who entered the game Tuesday.

Their final season in blue and gold has not gone as planned.

For now, n otre d ame will face the disappointment of dropping another game they very easily could have won.

They will say goodbye to their departing players and legendary coach.

And then they will turn their attention to an eventful offseason that will set the tone for the program’s future.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu said. To cap off the night, Ali served Fussman a bowl of ice cream. h e said the boxers in the ring s aturday night would meet many challenges and achieve great things.

“I was able to, for a moment, bring out the best in the person who had inspired me over the years, just as everybody who’s stepped in this ring tonight is going to be great,” Fussman said.

“[For] many people, we don’t even know what’s coming, but it’s going to be fantastic,” he concluded.

Contact Maggie Eastland at meastlan@nd.edu