Let the Madness begin: Women’s College Basketball

It's one of my favorite times of the year, March Madness! There are exciting conference tournaments and the fast-approaching Big Dance on the horizon.?

I am so proud and pleased that my Columbia Lions have repeated with a Back-to-Back #1 Co-Champion performance in the regular season for the Ivy League and getting really excited for the Ivy Madness basketball tourney kicking off next week that we are the host site here in NYC. I am definitely dreaming of an NCAA At-large bid this year!! In the meantime, I have been tuning into some great games and seeing the bracket and some storylines getting set for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Here is my take on a few of the hot topics and games leading into Championship week/selection Sunday.?

Nebraska 89, #3 Iowa 94 OT

Even though Caitlyn Clark and Iowa have been a major story throughout this entire women’s basketball season, I was not compelled to tune into the Big Ten tourney. I was not shocked to see the ticker show that Iowa beat Nebraska for the conference title, but a little surprised it took them into OT to do it. As a basketball player “once upon a long time ago…” I think Caitlyn Clark seems to be the real deal as a scorer. Probably not a popular opinion, but I am more excited to see what she does in the WNBA than I am to see how it goes the rest of this month. And really not feeling that photo trying to emulate Kobe. #Sorrynotsorry?

#1 South Carolina 74, Tennessee 73

How about that heartbreaker with South Carolina and Tennessee? Now I personally was not pulling for either team in this game, contrary to the horror of my significant other, but I was interested in seeing if this Lady Vols team would rise to the occasion against the undefeated Gamecocks. And rise they did. I missed most of the game, but definitely with the back and forth, with a few minutes left, I knew that UT would prevail. Such a gut punch to see Cardoso knock down that practically uncontested three to lift South Carolina to victory. I can’t even imagine what the team actually felt like because I felt sick about it and I haven’t picked up a ball in more years than I care to share with y’all!?

#1 South Carolina 79, #8 LSU 72

I was also looking forward to the undefeated South Carolina facing a hyped-up LSU team in the conference tourney. Here’s the chance to send a message to the world before the final brackets get set. Instead, a very long and drawn-out altercation in the last 2 minutes of the game overshadowed the showdown. I really liked what Dawn Staley said about how this is not who her team is and this is just what it is sometimes when emotions run high. My two cents, I think Flau’Jae should have been ejected, too, but I digress.?

#5 USC 74, #2 Stanford 61

I was settled in after watching the South Carolina/LSU matchup to see a good game in the Pac-12. I thought that the storyline of the FOY and the POY going head to head for the ‘ship in the conference would be interesting to watch. The Trojans got ahead and never looked back for the entire game. It was uneventful, to say the least. The most interesting part would be that Stanford was able to effectively put together two halves of a game where they shut down Juju, but the best part was that the other players on the team took the opportunity to show why it's a team effort and not just about one good player. McKenzie Forbes (formerly a Harvard player) made quite an impression in the campaign and showed why you can’t scout them to just jam up one player, there are other tools in their arsenal.?

Looking forward to this upcoming selection Sunday and more March Madness to take shape in the coming weekend. What games and storylines in college men’s and women’s basketball are you looking the most forward to??