With an eye on the past, but its gaze overwhelmingly focused on the future, women’s college basketball set up a historic Final Four earlier this week. On Monday, the Baylor Bears dispatched the Tennessee Lady Vols and legendary coach Pat Summitt. Prior to that, the Stanford Cardinal did away with No. 2 seed Duke. On Tuesday, the University of Connecticut got the ball rolling again for the 1 seeds, and Notre Dame finished off the excitement against Maryland. Over the course of four games in two nights —hardly in one fell swoop, but still in a pretty decisive manner—all four No. 1 seeds confirmed their reservations for the women’s NCAA Final Four in Denver. This marks only the second time in the history of the women’s tournament when this has happened—the other occurring back in 1989.Stanford got the sweep started, carried by its senior Nnemkadi Ogwumike. Ogwumike’s been in this position before, as she’s made the Final Four in each of her four years with the Cardinal, having been beat by UConn twice and losing to eventual champ Texas A&M last year. Stanford, in fact, made the Final Four before Ogwumike arrived, which makes this its fifth in a row. Coach Tara VanDerveer has done an amazing job getting this school back up to lofty standards, but they’ve been posited with the unfortunate problem of playing Baylor on Sunday night. If there’s a standout amongst the four top seeds, it’s got to be the Baylor Bears. Brittney Griner may be getting the most publicity for her in-game dunks, but there’s no doubt that her defense in the true highlight. In the NCAAs, she’s flirted with triple doubles, especially against Tennessee. However, the Bears’ ascension means that something has to be left behind, and this year, the Tennessee Lady Vols will not be a part of the Final Four for the fourth year in a row. To put this in perspective, to find the last time Pat Summitt’s team didn’t make the Final Four two years in a row, we have to stretch back to 1993 and 1994. While Summitt’s future is up in the air, it appears as though it’s no longer a foregone conclusion that Tennessee and UConn will run women’s basketball—and the sport is all the better for it.Despite the Lady Vols being sidelined, the old guard will be well-represented by the University of Connecticut and its Huskies. Coach Geno Auriemma matches Stanford’s accomplishment by making his fifth Final Four in a row, but he won’t be satisfied with making just that; UConn has won seven previous national titles—and three in a row at one point—so it’ll be geared up to play against Notre Dame. Coach Auriemma has even admitted that after losing Maya Moore last year, he wasn’t sure what kind of team this was going to be, or how deep of a run they could make. As usual, though, the Huskies have come through with a dominant regular season and a stifling defense. UConn lost only four times in the regular season. Two of those losses, however, came at the hands of Notre Dame.The relative newcomer of the group finished things up on Tuesday night by unleashing a beating on Maryland. The Irish, who were national runners-up last year, getting edged in the title game by Texas A&M, have only won the national title once and have only been to the Final Four once besides that. To couch these accomplishments in terms such as "only won the national title once before" shows what a decorated group of teams are about to converge on Denver. The great guard play of Notre Dame starts with Skylar Diggins, but extends to the rest of the team, too, comprising one of the deepest teams in the field.When the games begin on Sunday in this ridiculously talented women’s field, anyone who’s watching will see some of the finest basketball that will be played that weekend. And when a new champion is crowned on Tuesday, it will have long-lasting ramifications for the game—no matter which No. 1 it is.
Women's Final Four All No. 1 Seeds
Tennessee On The Way Out
4 min read
