It’s just about time for women's basketball conference tournaments. This thrilling week of basketball gives teams from every conference in America a chance to secure a coveted automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA tournament.
Here are my top four storylines for conference tournaments, starting March 5, that you need to know:
Who will claim the throne in the Pac-12?
The Pac-12 parity is out of control. Fresh faces like USC and Oregon State are rising to stardom as top contenders — not only in the conference, but in the national picture as well. Both the Beavers and the Trojans have a great chance at winning the Pac-12 tournament title; in fact, it could be up in the air between at least six teams, including Stanford, Colorado, UCLA and Utah.
Stanford has stood alone atop the Pac-12 the past few years, but last year’s chaos set the tone when Washington State shocked the nation and went on an upset rampage in pursuit of its first Pac-12 tournament title. When it comes to who’s securing the 2024 Pac-12 Championship, your guess is as good as mine.
What a way to go out with a bang in the Pac-12’s last year.
👉🏼 Two huge Pac-12 upsets on the final women's hoops Sunday of February
South Carolina vs. LSU for the SEC title
South Carolina is dominating and Dawn Staley’s squad is showing that it's them vs. everyone else. The Gamecocks haven’t shown any signs of slowing down, taking down any ranked and non-conference foes in their path while dominating SEC play.
LSU, on the other hand, has hit a few bumps, but is still in the conversation of repeating and bringing a second title back to Baton Rouge. These two teams met up in January where the Tigers showcased they could hang with the Gamecocks in a single-digit loss. We’ll see who’s crowned victorious in the SEC soon.
A repeat of Iowa vs Ohio State for the Big Ten championship game?
Any team with Caitlin Clark, NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer, is going to be a favorite in conference title talk. This Iowa team is going to go as far as Clark takes them, and perhaps even further with their balance as one of the top offenses in the nation. Without last year’s front court duo that helped Iowa make a national championship run, the Hawkeyes have stepped up to the challenge to fill the void. This is a complete unit who has the potential of going for a three-peat as Big Ten champs.
🤩 Caitlin Clark tracker: Catch up on the Iowa star's biggest games and highlights this season
But if any team is going to pump their brakes for a Big Ten title, it’s likely to be Ohio State, who is also looking like a Final Four team. The Buckeyes are another balanced team that thrives off of their suffocating press. OSU already proved it can knock off Iowa, paced by Cotie McMahon's career-high 33 points in an upset on Jan. 21.
The Big Ten tournament will be must-see TV.
ACC and Big 12 titles are up for grabs
There are tons of surprises coming out of these two conferences. Oklahoma, West Virginia and Kansas State have been surging at the top to prevent Baylor and Texas from sharing the Big 12 throne, all while Iowa State’s young squad has entered into the chat by pulling off some upsets.
It's the same situation over in the ACC, where Syracuse is having one of its best seasons yet and is sitting as one of the top contenders in the conference. However, the Orange have plenty of competition in a stacked conference which includes powers Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Notre Dame and NC State. We’ve seen plenty of upsets come from Duke, Miami (Fla.) and Florida State, while the Hokies are looking like they’re back in Final Four form.
