We are 50 days away from Selection Sunday β the day women's college basketball teams find out their fate in March Madness.
I predicted my third field of 68, which includes my automatic qualifiers for each conference, and then filled in the rest with my at-large bids. I took into consideration what we've seen so far, but keep in mind things could still shake up as we're now in the thick of conference play with more non-conference marquee matchups to come.
Here's my bracket in table format:
SEED | GREENSBORO | Spokane | Bridgeport | Wichita |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | South Carolina | Stanford | NC State | Tennessee |
16 | Fairleigh Dickinson/Campbell | Jackson State | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi/ Howard | Troy |
8 | South Florida | Missouri State | UCF | Kansas State |
9 | Arkansas | Kentucky | Missouri | DePaul |
5 | North Carolina | Notre Dame | Oklahoma | Iowa |
12 | Princeton | Dayton | South Dakota | Stephen F. Austin |
4 | Georgia Tech | Baylor | BYU | Texas |
13 | Toledo | Youngstown State | Drexel | Belmont |
6 | Ohio State | Nebraska | Maryland | Florida Gulf Coast |
11 | Oregon State/ Liberty | Gonzaga | Boston College/ Texas A&M | Northwestern |
3 | Arizona | UConn | Iowa State | Georgia |
14 | New Mexico | Western Kentucky | Stony Brook | Long Beach State |
7 | Duke | Virginia Tech | Oregon | Ole Miss |
10 | Creighton | Utah | Kansas | Colorado |
2 | Indiana | LSU | Michigan | Louisville |
15 | Fairfield | Mercer | Boston College | Idaho State |
FIELD OF 68: Expansion of 2022 DI womenβs basketball tournament to 68 teams approved
Tennessee breaks into No. 1 line
As of right now, the Lady Vols deserve to be a No. 1 seed after opening up the season with a 17-1 record, which includes wins over tough non-conference foes South Florida, UCF, Texas, Virginia Tech and now breezing pass SEC foes.
Tennessee opened up its season with a nine-game winning streak up until Stanford, the national defending champs, snapped its flawless record. Despite the outcome, Tennessee controlled majority of the ball game and only fell by single-digits.
Tennessee is staring at one of its best seasons since the Vols started the 2007-08 campaign at 22-1. The 6-0 league beginning is Tennessee's best since going 13-0 in 2014-15.
Louisville falls
I had Louisville as one of my No. 1 seeds in my second bracket prediction, but the Cards recently took a tough hit in a major comeback from ACC foe NC State, who's featured on my one line.
Despite the loss, the No. 6 defense in the nation is still a Final Four contender. The Cards are currently 15-2, with its other loss coming to Arizona earlier this season. However, Louisville can add victories over Michigan, Kentucky, UConn and Georgia Tech to its resume.
DARK-HORSES: 11 women's basketball dark-horse teams that could shake up March Madness
Last four in
- Liberty
- Boston College
- Texas A&M
- Oregon State
First four out
- Mississippi State
- UCLA
- Florida State
- Purdue
In case you missed it, here is a link to my second bracket of this season.
The automatic qualifiers
Here are my 32 AQs, based off of who I think will lock in spots by everlasting foes in each respective conference tournament.
Conference | Automatic qualifier |
---|---|
America East | Stony Brook |
American Athletic | UCF |
Atlantic 10 | Dayton |
ACC | NC State |
ASUN | Florida Gulf Coast |
Big 12 | Iowa State |
Big East | UConn |
Big Sky | Idaho State |
Big South | Campbell |
Big Ten | Indiana |
Big West | Long Beach State |
Colonial Athletic Association | Drexel |
Conference USA | Western Kentucky |
Horizon | Youngstown State |
Ivy | Princeton |
MAAC | Fairfield |
MAC | Toledo |
MEAC | Howard |
Missouri Valley | Missouri State |
Mountain West | New Mexico |
Northeast | Fairleigh Dickinson |
Ohio Valley | Belmont |
Pac-12 | Stanford |
Patriot | Boston University |
SEC | South Carolina |
Southern | Mercer |
Southland | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
SWAC | Jackson State |
Summit League | South Dakota |
Sun Belt | Troy |
West Coast | BYU |
Western Athletic Conference | Stephen F. Austin |