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Mitchell Northam | krikya18.com | December 3, 2019

NCAA women's basketball bracket, projected about 100 days from the selection show

Oregon State's half-court heave leads women's basketball plays of the week

About 100 days from the selection show for women's college basketball, we asked krikya18.com basketball expert Michelle Smith to fill out a March Madness bracket based on everything she has seen so far this season.

Smith filled out a bracket in the preseason too, about 50 days before opening night.

We'll break down her bracket in a second, but let's take a look at it first. (Click here to open the bracket in a new window.)

krikya18.com Michelle Smith projects the NCAA women's basketball bracket about 100 days before the selection show. Dec. 3, 2019. Michelle Smith projects the NCAA women's basketball bracket about 100 days before the selection show. Dec. 3, 2019.

UPSETS APLENTY: Louisville beats No. 1 Oregon in Paradise Jam | No. 2 Baylor falls to South Carolina

And here's that bracket in table form...

  Greenville, S.C. Dallas, TX Portland, OR Fort Wayne, IN
1 UConn Baylor Oregon Stanford
16 Furman Wagner Southern Cal Baptist
         
2 Oregon State South Carolina Louisville Texas A&M
15 UNC Asheville Abilene Christian UC Irvine Howard
         
3 Mississippi Stat UCLA Maryland Florida State
14 SE Missouri Marist UT Arlington Lehigh
         
4 Miami Michigan State Kentucky N.C. State
13 Green Bay FGCU Idaho Maine
         
5 Syracuse Arkansas Indiana DePaul
12 Ohio Northwestern Oklahoma State Dayton
         
6 Gonzaga USF Tennessee Michigan
11 Iowa State Iowa Boise State Marquette
         
7 Arizona WVU Missouri State Notre Dame
10 Drake Rice Georgia Tech Kansas State
         
8 Rutgers Arizona State Minnesota South Dakota
9 James Madison Princeton Texas LSU

SABRINA IONESCU TRACKER: Where we left off with Oregon's triple-double record-breaker

UConn, Baylor, Oregon, Stanford take No. 1 seeds

Smith's predictions for the top seeds have mostly remained the same since her preseason projection, but she has replaced Maryland with UConn in the top four. Smith slid the Terps back to a No. 3 seed in the Portland region after they lost to South Carolina and had a close call with James Madison.

UConn is off to a 6-0 start, though the Huskies haven't faced a real formidable opponent yet. However, DePaul, Notre Dame and Oklahoma are on their schedule for December. Megan Walker has led the Huskies so far with per-game averages of 20.3 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Baylor, the defending champs, are 7-1 this season. The Lady Bears have posted wins over two ranked teams in USF and Indiana, but fell to South Carolina by 15 points at the Paradise Jam. Baylor still has the fifth best offense and the sixth best defense in the nation, in terms of points scored and allowed per-game.

Oregon recently lost its top spot in the AP Top 25 rankings after losing to Louisville at the Paradise Jam. Still, the Ducks are 6-1, beat Team USA in an exhibition, and still have the third best offense in the nation, scoring 88.6 points per-game. Smith believes they'll bounce back from that loss to Louisville and take a No. 1 seed, and -- in this projection -- potentially face the Cardinals again in the Elite Eight.

Stanford has the 10th best scoring offense in the country and is the new AP Top 25 No. 1 this week. The Cardinal are 8-0 with wins over Gonzaga, Syracuse and Mississippi State, all teams Smith predicts will make the tournament. Stanford has been led by Lexie Hull's 14.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per-game.

2019 FINAL FOUR: Baylor is old school | DiDi Richards' heroics | Win over Notre Dame | Smith steps up

Automatic Qualifiers, according to Smith

  • America East - Maine
  • American Athletic Conference - UConn
  • Atlantic 10 - Dayton
  • ACC - Louisville
  • ASUN - FGCU
  • Big 12 - Baylor
  • Big East - DePaul
  • Big Sky - Idaho
  • Big South - UNC Asheville
  • Big Ten - Maryland
  • Big West - UC Irvine
  • Colonial Athletic Association - James Madison
  • Conference USA - Rice
  • Horizon - Green Bay
  • Ivy - Princeton
  • MAAC - Marist
  • Mid-American - Ohio 
  • MEAC - Howard
  • Missouri Valley - Drake
  • Mountain West - Boise State
  • Northeast - Wagner
  • Ohio Valley - SE Missouri
  • Pac 12 - Oregon
  • Patriot - Lehigh
  • SEC - South Carolina
  • SoCon - Furman
  • Southland - Abilene Christian
  • SWAC - Southern
  • Summit League - South Dakota
  • Sun Belt - UT Arlington
  • West Coast - Gonzaga
  • Western Athletic Conference - Cal Baptist

AWARD WATCH LISTS: Lieberman Award | Meyers Award | Miller Award | McClain Award | Leslie Award

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The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.

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