One No. 7 seed and two No. 5 seeds were the only teams not seeded 1 through 4 to make the Sweet 16 in an ultra-competitive women’s field.
No. 7 Duke knocked off No. 2 Ohio State in the Round of 32 while No. 5 Colorado defeated No. 4 Kansas State and No. 5 Baylor eliminated No. 4 Virginia Tech. This means three Sweet 16 matchups are No. 2 vs No. 3 seeds.
Iowa-LSU, UConn-USC, Texas-Stanford and South Carolina-Notre Dame are all potential Elite Eight matchups, but top teams like Stanford and Iowa have already faced challenges in the first two rounds, and lower-seeded teams will be giving their all to keep their runs in the big dance alive.
Here are six storylines to watch for during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s March Madness tournament.
The next generation leads the way
Players who will likely be headed to the WNBA after the tournament — the likes of Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso — have caught attention and headlines as they not only have led their teams to this point but are also looking to make final impressions before their college careers end.
But many teams, while having veteran leadership on and off the court, have been led by freshman players like Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, USC’s JuJu Watkins and Texas’ Madison Booker.
Notre Dame’s roster is depleted due to injuries, but the efforts of Hidalgo, Maddy Westbeld and Sonia Citron have not gone unnoticed as they’ve scored 71 per cent of Notre Dame’s points through two games. Hidalgo, the ACC tournament MVP, ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year is playing 38.5 minutes per game, notching 16.5 points, 7.5 assists and five steals on average per game in the tournament. Hidalgo has been able to handle everything thrown her way both offensively and defensively and will take on a defensively tough Oregon State team next.
Watkins led USC with 28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists against Kansas, but it was the five points she added late in the third quarter that helped USC get their momentum back after Kansas cut the lead to one. Watkins hit a massive three-pointer and two free throws, and after assisting Kayla Padilla’s three-pointer, the lead was back to 10. Watkins is averaging 25.5 points and eight rebounds per game in the tournament, and thanks to her efforts, USC is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994 – 11 years before Watkins was born.
During the regular season, Booker averaged 16.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game for the Longhorns. In the first round, the 6-foot-1 forward showed her playmaking abilities as she notched a season-high 14 assists. Then in the win over Alabama in the second round, Booker showed off her scoring abilities with 21 points on 56.3 per cent shooting and will look to continue that against Gonzaga.
We need to talk about South Carolina
For a team that dominated the regular season and the SEC tournament, No. 1 South Carolina does not get as much attention as they should after losing all five starters as well as some strong reserves from last season. They may have fallen in the Final Four last year, but they cut the nets as champions just two years ago in 2022.
Viewers were expecting South Carolina to dominate against Presbyterian, but it was a bit more of a shock when they defeated No. 8 North Carolina by a massive 47 points. Earlier in the season when the two met, the Gamecocks only won by seven.
MiLaysia Fulwiley tallied 20 points with four three-pointers, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks, while Raven Johnson added 11 points with three more three-pointers. Kamilla Cardoso had 12 points and 10 rebounds in her return from a one-game suspension.
Add in clutch playmaker Te-Hina Paopao, who is averaging 13 points and 4.5 assists per game during the tournament — and a 47.6 3-point shooting percentage ranking first in the nation — and the Gamecocks have options all across the court that make it hard for defenders to read, which makes them so good.
Is UConn back?
Not that UConn ever went away, but 1993 was the last time the Huskies weren’t in the Sweet 16, and Geno Auriemma’s current squad wasn’t going to stop short of that, especially after last year missing the Elite Eight for the first time since 2005.
The Huskies have struggled with their fair share of major injuries over the years, most notably losing star guard Paige Bueckers twice, missing 19 games in 2021-22 and missing all of 2022-23, with 2023-24 her first healthy season since she was a freshman. But this year Azzi Fudd went down with a season-ending injury, as the junior guard suffered a torn ACL in November.
Bueckers has powered UConn, averaging 30 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game during March Madness on 56.8 per cent shooting; she’s a player who can change the trajectory of a game on any given night, but what makes the Huskies so dynamic is that they are not a one-dimensional team.
Canadian Aaliyah Edwards is not only a strong interior defender helping keep points in the paint to a minimum, but she has also started the tournament with a pair of double-doubles, averaging 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and two blocks a game.
KK Arnold had a 10-point game against Syracuse in the second round, hitting clutch shots when needed while also playing stifling defence. Meanwhile, Nika Muhl not only carried the defence for the Huskies but also notched five assists to break UConn’s all-time assist record, holding the record with 663. The Huskies managed to defeat that pesky Syracuse team, led by third-all-time NCAA women’s scorer Dyaisha Fair, and look to keep rolling against Duke.
Underdogs are the new top dogs
While many higher-seeded teams still made it to the Sweet 16, few games had a comfortable gap, and more often than not, top-seeded teams saw themselves leading by merely a basket or even trailing before finding fourth-quarter momentum to pull a win out.
Iowa struggled against West Virginia, Stanford had to take Iowa State to overtime, and USC saw a large lead slip to Kansas in the Round of 32.
For Duke, they managed to overcome a 16-point deficit and upset the No. 2 Buckeyes behind Reigan Richardson’s 28 points. The third-year guard is averaging 26.5 points and seven rebounds per game this tournament and backcourt partner Ashlon Jackson has added 13.5 points per game, helping Duke now match up with the No. 3 Huskies in this upcoming round.
Jada Walker’s 28 points lifted Baylor over No. 4 Virginia Tech, who appeared in the Final Four last year. Baylor makes the Sweet 16 for the first time under coach Nicki Collen, and is a team that has offensive balance with Sarah Andrews adding 14.5 points and four assists per game.
For a team like Indiana who now has to go up against South Carolina as 15.5-point underdogs, they have already exceeded expectations after losing in the Round of 32 last year. Guard Sara Scalia is averaging 19.5 points per game this tournament, while forward Mackenzie Holmes adds 21 points, six rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game. Together, the Hoosiers should be ready to put their best on the court against the Gamecocks.
What stands between Clark vs. Reese Part II?
The brackets have aligned so that if Iowa and LSU both win their Sweet 16 games, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese could face off in college one last time in a 2023 national title game rematch.
But what is standing in their way on both sides? LSU struggled early against Middle Tennessee before a second-half defensive masterclass helped them cruise to a win, while Iowa had one of their worst offensive performances of the season as Clark scored half the team’s points in their 64-54 win over West Virginia.
Clark, Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, Hannah Stuelke and Aneesah Morrow will all be the big names in their respective match-ups, who are more than well-known at this point. Clark is averaging 29.5 points, eight rebounds and 6.5 assists in the tournament while Reese has 15 points, 15 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game – but what are their opponents in the Sweet 16 bringing to these matchups?
For LSU, they’re going to have to go up against a talented UCLA squad, led by Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts. Rice scored 13 of her 24 points in the third quarter against Creighton, while Betts added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Bruins.
As for Iowa, they’ll face off against Colorado, led by Quay Miller who notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas State, while guard Maddie Nolan is averaging 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the tournament.
Which lower seed has a fighting chance?
Gonzaga, North Carolina State and Oregon State are all in the position of being a 3 or 4 seed, meaning they all have to play the 1 or 2 seed in their region. Each team has made it to the Sweet 16 for a reason, with talent on both sides of the ball, but which team has a chance to advance to the Elite Eight?
Canadian Yvonne Ejim had 17 points against Utah to extend her streak of games scoring in double figures to 39, while sisters Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong combined to hit seven three-pointers — an area the Bulldogs had struggled with during the season — to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, but will now have to face No. 1 Texas.
Saniya Rivers may have put up 16 points for N.C. State in the first round against Chattanooga, but did one better with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks against Tennessee. Rivers, Aziaha James and Zoe Brooks combined for 58 of the team’s 79 points and shot 61 per cent during the first half. Playing with that accuracy shooting would make it much tougher for Stanford to guard.
And as for Oregon State, who are now up against Notre Dame, they are led by Talia von Oelhoffen who scored 19 points and had eight assists against Nebraska. Pair that with Raegan Beers, who is averaging 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals this tournament, and the Beavers will be looking to make things difficult for the Fighting Irish.
