If there was ever a time chalk could possibly be penned, look no additional than the underside Spokane area of the 2025 NCAAW March Insanity Event.
The fourth quadrant options the controversial faces of ladies’s faculty basketball, as JuJu Watkins’ USC Trojans paved the way, only a step forward of Paige Bueckers and the Connecticut Huskies. The fashionable previous and current dominate this part of the March Insanity bracket: Watkins has restored the glory of the Trojans’ basketball program, whereas the dominance of match mainstays like UConn, Oklahoma, and Kentucky cannot be denied.
With Spokane rounding out this season’s fateful 4 brackets on the ladies’s circuit, here is what to look out for on the street to The Lilac Metropolis…
Combat or Chunk?
This may not be an space for a lot of upsets on the brackets of beginner {and professional} fillers alike: many anticipate Spokane’s actions to come back all the way down to a rematch between the Trojans and Huskies, who beforehand performed to a 72-70 USC victory again in December in Hartford.
UConn is trapped in an eight-year nationwide championship drought which can as properly be an eternity by Storrs requirements. Regardless of continued harm points (i.e. the unlucky case of Caroline Ducharme), the Huskies boast what some consider is their most full group in current reminiscence. Bueckers speaks for herself whereas Sarah Robust mans the inside and two-way recreation, averaging a team-best 8.4 rebounds and nearly 4 shares per recreation. Touted prospect Azzi Fudd lastly gained some medical consistency as she, Ashlynn Shade, and Kaitlyn Chen have hardly hesitated to let free from deep.
The ready is even harder in Los Angeles, which has not been to the Last 4 since Cheryl Miller’s heyday in 1986. A protracted-sought return journey, after all, was denied by the Huskies final season in Portland, thanks partially to a mixed 52 factors from Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards.
Miller could be happy with the Trojans’ bodily prowess, which pulled in over 41 rebounds a recreation (second-best within the Huge Ten behind UCLA) due to Kiki Iriafen’s flirting with a season-long double-double and Rayah Marshall’s work inside. Marshall is probably a cursed Connecticut title, as her go-ahead tally gave the Trojans a everlasting lead of their final battle at XL Middle.
Clark Barred
All issues thought-about, the Hawkeyes dealt with their high-profile exodus pretty properly: Lucy Olsen and Jan Jensen have been by no means going to be Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder, however they definitely did a good impression. Olsen landed first-team All-Huge Ten honors after transferring from Villanova, Clark period holdovers Addison O’Grady and Hannah Stuelke every saved the momentum alive, and the Hawkeyes labored three freshmen into their common rotation.
Maybe nobody might’ve blamed the Hawkeyes in the event that they wilted within the wake of so many departures (which additionally included Kate Martin). They sat at 2-6 within the first foray into the revamped Huge Ten, however step into the match as considered one of its hotter groups: the 10-3 ledger to shut issues out consists of wins over USC and Michigan and the mixed margin of defeat within the losses is 11 (considered one of which was an extra time tilt in opposition to Ohio State).
If they’ll survive the harmful backside bracket (which incorporates a seemingly second-round match in opposition to third-ranked Oklahoma), a rematch with the Trojans could possibly be an intriguing reward. Getting out of the primary spherical will probably be exhausting sufficient, as they face a Murray State group that simply dealt with its Missouri Valley tasks.
Foolish Rabbits’ Methods
USC in all probability owes somebody on the choice committee a buying spree on Rodeo Drive after they seeded the South Dakota State Jackrabbits within the tenth spot, assuring the Trojans that the earliest they’d see them would see them within the Elite Eight on the earliest.
SDSU is lower than two tournaments faraway from an upset of USC within the opening spherical, considered one of three NCAA victories they’ve earned since 2019. The Jackrabbits’ 29 wins are tied for his or her finest output since 2008-09, and so they’ve completed undefeated in Summit League play in every of the final two seasons. The unrelated Brooklyn and Paige Meyer led the way in which with Summit League group nominations and the group hasn’t misplaced within the new calendar 12 months.
A rematch with the Trojans is likely to be slightly a lot to ask for, particularly with the mighty Huskies seemingly looming in spherical two. Even so, Saturday afternoon’s conclusion of a doubleheader in Storrs in opposition to Oklahoma State ought to make for one of many extra fascinating matchups within the first spherical and afford them a sterling alternative to achieve the 30-win plateau.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
