We’re getting geared up for the busiest time in most of our lives, the NCAA Division-I tournament season. Justin Meyer and I tag-teamed this list of 25 interesting details about the 2019 NCAA Women’s National Championships. These are the details that will impress the company you keep, so take some notes.
The big dance can serve as so much more than just a path to raising some fancy new hardware. Schools use the experience for growth in a variety of ways. Major milestones will be hit, and countless little moments will happen as a result of years and years of hard work and dedication to the craft. We love every aspect of March, so we made five lists of Top 5’s to get you just as ready as we are.
5 TEAMS THAT CAN USE TOURNAMENT AS PROGRAM BUILDER
5. No. 6 South Dakota State
The Jackrabbits joined Division-I in 2004 a season after winning the 2003 Division-II national championship. Since becoming eligible for the Division-I NCAA Tournament in 2009, South Dakota State has made eight appearances, solidifying itself as a top dog in the Summit League. In its eight trips, the Jackrabbits have won two games, the latest a first-round upset of No. 5 seed Miami (FL) in 2016. This is the program’s best seed to date, and a run to its first Sweet 16 or further could be huge for its continued development.
4. No. 2 Oregon
For two straight years, this team has made it all the way to the Elite Eight, and for two straight years, it has lost one game before the Final Four. Now, with an experienced team and the firepower of juniors Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard and sophomore Satou Sabally, aiming for the program’s first Final Four isn’t enough. This team is good enough to win a national championship, and that or a Final Four appearance could change Ducks basketball forever.
3. No. 12 UCF
The Knights barely snuck into the field with their first-ever at-large bid. It’s their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011, and they’re still searching for their first tournament win. Athletics at UCF have been outstanding in recent years, with the football team’s winning streak and men’s basketball team getting ranked and earning an at-large bid to the Big Dance comfortably. This is a huge opportunity not only for UCF’s women’s program but for the entire athletic department for another impressive notch on its belt.
2. No. 8 South Dakota
The other Summit League team in the tournament has a great opportunity in front of it, too. The Coyotes are making their second tournament appearance. In 2014, they lost 81-62 to Stanford in the first round as a No. 15 seed. This program is in a much different place now, winning a few games against ranked opponents during the season, getting ranked itself and sharing dominance over the Summit with South Dakota State. Even one win would be a milestone for this program, but if it could also pull off a shocker in the second round against likely No. 1 seed Mississippi State, it would launch South Dakota into the stratosphere.
1. No. 13 Florida Gulf Coast
Since moving up to Division-I, this program has dominated the A-Sun. This is FGCU’s sixth tournament appearance in eight years and third in a row, including last year’s run to the second round off an 80-70 upset of No. 5 seed Missouri. The Eagles will have a chance to earn their third-ever tournament win against No. 4 seed Miami (FL) in Coral Gables, a fantastic opportunity to make some noise within their own home state, and the impact of something like that could be felt for years to come.
5 TEAMS MOST LIKELY TO WIN 1ST TITLE
5. No. 3 NC State
Okay, let’s be honest here. This one is going to be a massive undertaking. Of the top seeded teams in the country, there’s two No. 1 and two No. 2 seeds that already have a trophy on display, leaving one No. 3 seed to make this list. NC State is in one of the hardest corners of the bracket, along with Iowa and Baylor. They’re one of eight ACC to get a chance to attend the dance, and lost out on the auto-bid by falling to Louisville in the finals. They Wolfpack’s scoring is well-distributed across the lineup, but they’ve got a tall mountain to climb.
4. No. 2 Iowa
This one’s going to be nearly as difficult, but I wouldn’t completely count out the Big Ten champions. Iowa should be comfortable with the Big Dance by now, and if things go as planned, it’s going to get an early test from the previous team on this list. I like Iowa’s chances of getting to the end of the Greensboro Region, but squaring off with a one-loss Baylor unit in the Elite Eight might be the end of the line. Their dominating performances in the Big Ten Tournament are going to work wonders for their confidence but lasting that long is going to be a trial.
3. No. 2 Oregon
This is a massive year for Oregon, but it’s going to have its work cut out for it over the next couple of weeks. Assuming the high seeds move on, the Ducks are going to get a tough new look at Syracuse before being tasked with one of the angriest teams in the tournament, Mississippi State, to get out of the Portland Region. The Ducks have made it through the entire season with very few hiccups led by the electrifying play of Sabrina Ionescu, but they’re not deep at the top end, rotating a core of six players. If they get past the Bulldogs, they’ll need their health and a few days to breathe and reload. Don’t discount their chances.
2. No. 1 Louisville
They took the Final Four all the way to OT last year but couldn’t find enough gas in the tank to keep it going. The Cards have been a powerhouse in recent years to the point that it’s almost strange to think they’ve never raised the hardware. They have arguably the easiest path back to the Final Four, with UConn drawing the No. 2 seed in the Albany Regional and having a “down year” for Huskies basketball. If things go as planned, they’d get a fiery Notre Dame in the semifinals, a new look in the tourney, but a squad the Cards are all too familiar with this season, having been bested twice. Could the third time be the charm to send them into the finals?
1. No. 1 Mississippi State
Who is more likely to finally get the job done than the squad that has dropped back-to-back NCAA National Championship games? They’ll likely skate their way to the quarterfinals to see the Ducks. Like I said, Oregon had a great campaign but proved beatable in the Pac-12, and these Bulldogs are fully reloaded. Their seniors have tasted their own blood year after year from the Madness. We’ll get to why they’re built for a run based on leadership.
5 MOST EXPERIENCED TEAMS IN THE DANCE
All five of the schools on our list have played four seniors for at least 400 minutes this season, the only five programs in the tournament to do so. We only judged players with at least one-third of the minutes played in comparison to the top floor-time on their own team. The criteria to make the Experienced Teams list included making the dance four-straight seasons and the ratio of seniors and juniors to sophomores and freshmen.
5. No. 13 Belmont
Belmont is the perennial champion of the OVC and finds its way into the Madness quite regularly. Unfortunately for them, in comparison to the rest of this list, being a mid-major typically lands them a tough draw in the first round. Drawing Duke, Kentucky, Michigan in the last three events, respectively, and this year they’ve drawn South Carolina as a No. 13 seed. The Bruins keep their senior core on the court for as long as they can, led by Darby Maggard (549) Ellie Harmeyer (534) on the offensive end. They’ve seen their fair share of talent in the first round, could their group of leadership bust some brackets on their last hurrah? This is their best year to expect it.
4. No. 6 DePaul
Winning the Big East is going to give DePaul some much appreciated momentum going into this week. They’ve been going after Marquette to be the big dogs in the conference and finally got to prove it in the tournament. DePaul, like the rest of our group, relies heavily on a quad of seniors, but a pair of juniors frequent the lineup just as consistently. Leadership is their backbone, the top three scorers, two seniors and a junior, are ahead of the pack by over triple digit points. They’ll be hungry too. DePaul hasn’t made it out of the round of 32 since 2016, when they made it just one step further. Strong runs in the Big East tourneys and making it back year after year is going to help give an edge, but you can imagine the Demons are going to be hungrier than ever because if they can escape a couple games in Ames, Iowa, they’ll return to Chicago as the host of the following two rounds.
3. No. 5 Arizona State
Big time scoring comes through the hands of senior Kianna Ibis (428), but the rest of the load seems to be pretty well distributed amongst the seniors and juniors. Arizona State’s only scorer from the underclasses to break 100 points on the season was frosh Iris Mbulito, hitting 121 despite seeing about half the floor time of her elders. The No. 5 seed is actually coming back to bite ASU in the rear-end a bit, having to face two of three teams from Florida in Coral Gables through the first two rounds. If they work through UCF, they’ll meet the winner of Florida and FGCU, again in the Sunshine State. It’s a tough draw, but this list is all about having been there before. They lost to Texas in Austin last time and South Carolina in Columbia, both in the second round. It hurts, but they’ve got at least eight major contributors (all seniors and juniors with significant minutes) that were all there to guide their electric freshman class through the process for the first time. Being on the other side of the country in a Florida trap is going to be tough, but ASU might be that sleeper team to break brackets because they’ve seen it all before.
2. No. 1 Notre Dame
It’s no secret that Notre Dame has been able to through ride through a solid chunk of the season on Arike Ogunbowale’s record-setting final lap. She was the hero in last season’s Final Four and making of plenty of noise this season, but she’s not doing it alone. There’s three other seniors on the squad with over 800 minutes and averaging right around 50% from the field, or better. The Irish are one of the most senior-heavy lineups in Division-I, only having one player, junior star Jackie Young, in the rotation with over 500 minutes of court time. A No. 1 seed out of Chicago, they might not feel resistance until the Elite 8 and being a short trip up the freeway, it’s going to be a home-like experience for Notre Dame. Having been there before, talented leaderships, and geographical help is going to make a real difference for a deep run.
1. No. 1 Mississippi State
With the recent domination of Mississippi State, it’s hard to argue that they aren’t poised for another run for the hardware. They know exactly what it takes to get the final game, but they’ve seen it slip right out of their hands two-straight years in a row. After getting stopped in the Sweet 16 in ’16, they made their big run to the finals in ’17 only to take a thrashing in the championship by South Carolina. With a chip on their shoulders, they returned to the grand finale only to let of the gas in the final stretch and drop by just three points. They were in the driver’s seat of last season’s title game, holding the Irish to just three points in the second quarter for a, 30-17, lead at the half. The lead was blown over the following 18 minutes of basketball and it all came down to a prayer from the Irish with .1 seconds to seal the deal and sink the Bulldogs. No team in this whole tourney knows pain like that. They lost big in the finals and returned thinking they knew what it was going to take, then were let down yet again. This is going to be one angry No. 1 seed.
5 GREAT SENIORS ON THEIR LAST RIDE
Megan Gustafson, Iowa
The most dominant force in the NCAA this season has been Gustafson. The 6-foot-3 center leads the country in scoring with 28 points per game, breaking 30 in 12 games, including 45 in the Big Ten Tournament Final against Maryland. The Hawkeyes are poised for a deep run in the tournament and seem to be in their best shape to get to the Final Four since their first and only run there in 1993. However far Iowa goes, Gustafson will be at the center of it.
Cierra Dillard, Buffalo
It’s been a long road here, starting her career at Massachusetts and sitting out a year to transfer to Buffalo for her final two years of eligibility. Now, Dillard has the Bulls back in the tournament after their Sweet 16 run last season, and she should be even more fired up than she was for the MAC Tournament to get Buffalo into the Big Dance. The guard is scoring 25.3 points per game, second in the country to only Gustafson, and adds 5.7 assists per contest, too. In last year’s run, Dillard had 36 points with seven triples against South Florida in the first round and dropped 22 on Florida State in the second round. I doubt she will go out with a whimper.
Asia Durr, Louisville
During last year’s run to the Final Four, Durr averaged 17.5 points and 4.5 assists per outing, earning the Lexington Regional MOP distinction after being named ACC Player of the Year following the regular season. Now, it’s her last go around and final shot at winning a national championship. You can expect some big things out of the Cardinals guard, who has increased her scoring and even become more efficient than last season. If Louisville wins it all, Durr will be a major reason why.
Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame
Ogunbowale will go down in history for her game-winning shots against Connecticut and Mississippi State last year within 48 hours of each other to win the national championship, but she’s back and ready to do it again. She’s having just as good of a season, maybe even better, and we’ve seen what she does in big moments. It will be difficult to top the improbability of 2018, but Notre Dame could win another title, and Ogunbowale would undoubtedly play a huge role.
Napheesa Collier, Connecticut
For the first time since 2006, UConn is not a No. 1 seed. But don’t let that fool you: this team is very capable of winning the program’s 12th national championship. If it happens, Collier will be in the middle of it. The 6-foot-2 forward is virtually automatic down low, shooting 61.4 percent from the field, top 10 in the NCAA. She’s also a beast on the glass, averaging 10.5 rebounds per game to round out her double-double average. Collier won a national championship when she was a freshman, but her contributions then were nothing compared to now. It’s going to be important to her to help lead UConn to a title to leaving a lasting legacy in Storrs.
5 COACHES WITH POSSIBLE MILESTONES
Kelly Graves, Oregon
Graves has been at the helm in Eugene since 2014 and acted as a Division-I head coach since 1997, previously coaching at St. Mary’s and Gonzaga. In his more than 20 years as a Division-I coach, he has had three runs to the Elite Eight, one at Gonzaga and two with Oregon, but a trip to the Final Four has eluded him. With one of the nation’s best teams and back-to-back Elite Eights with the Ducks, this year provides Graves with a great opportunity to get his first Final Four.
Jennie Baranczyk, Drake
When Baranczyk took the Drake job in 2012, the program was five years removed from its last tournament appearance and 10 from its last tournament win. She left her position as an assistant at Colorado to oversee the Bulldogs, and in 2017 got them back into the Big Dance. Now, Drake is in its third-straight NCAA Tournament, but Baranczyk is still seeking her first March Madness victory. Drake is slotted as a No. 10 seed facing Missouri in the first round. This is as good as time as any for Baranczyk to get over the hump and for Drake to advance to the second round for the first time since 2002.
Vic Schaefer, Mississippi State
Schaefer has taken Mississippi State to heights it had previously never seen and has the Bulldogs as one of the nation’s best programs the last few years. Mississippi State made it to the last two national championships but lost both games, in 2017 to South Carolina, 67-55, and last season to Notre Dame, 61-58, on Ogunbowale’s buzzer beater. Yet again, the Bulldogs are expected to be in the mix as the No. 1 seed in the Portland Region. Maybe this is the year Schaefer brings a title to Starkville.
Kim Mulkey, Baylor
No matter what happens this season, Mulkey is already one of the best coaches in the country and in basketball history. She can add to her legacy, though, with two wins to give her 46 tournament victories in her career, which would move her up to seventh all time over Sylvia Hatchell (North Carolina, 1987-2015). Additionally, Mulkey is one of six coaches to have won multiple national championships and one of four who are sitting at two, meaning a third this year would set her apart and give her sole possession of third place on the national titles list.
Wes Moore, North Carolina State
Last season, Moore led the Wolfpack to their first Sweet 16 since 2007, and the team will have that and then some on its mind again. It was the veteran coach’s first trip to the Division-I Sweet 16, and now he has an opportunity to take it even further. Moore has been a head coach since 1987 and in Division-I since 1998, spending 15 seasons building Chattanooga into a perennial tournament team. Now in his sixth year in Raleigh, Moore could enter personal uncharted waters in the Elite Eight, or dare I say, the Final Four. A repeat Sweet 16 run would be NC State’s first back-to-back second weekend appearances since 1991.
