Windy City Heat
The 1 seeds in Chicago and Portland may as well have been placeholders up until Sunday. The ACC championship game was always going to determine whether Notre Dame or Louisville would stay close to home, and the Fighting Irish locked up their spot in Chicago with ease. Jessica Shepard went for 30 points and 13 rebounds in a dominant 99-79 win.
But that was just one of several major conference championship games this weekend. Stanford knocked off Oregon in the Pac-12, but all that really did was move the Cardinal up one spot on the overall seed line and prevent the Ducks from overtaking UConn on the 1 line.
More from Bracketology
- Women’s basketball bracketology: Bid-stealers knock teams off the bubble
- Women’s basketball bracketology: Selection Committee reveals UCLA is a 2 seed
- Women’s basketball bracketology: Yes, Northwestern is a 2 seed
- Women’s Basketball Bracketology: The case for Maryland as a 1 seed
- Women’s Basketball Bracketology: NC State ascends to the 1 line
Provided the Huskies can beat UCF for the third time this season, the 1 seeds will be pretty much locked. As a result, so will all of seeds 2 and 3.
Iowa, with the win Sunday against Maryland, keeps a two seed. Maryland gets a three. This is not a change from how the two were seeded prior to the Big 10 championship game, however.
Bracket Breakdown
Last Four In:
Miami (OH)
BYU
Tennessee
Kansas State
First Four Out:
Auburn
West Virginia
TCU
Saint Mary’s
Butler played itself out of consideration on Sunday.
Procedural Bumps:
Rutgers from a 7 to an 8
North Carolina from an 8 to a 7
Monday games to watch (all times Eastern):
Saint Mary’s vs. Gonzaga, 3 p.m.
Pepperdine vs. BYU, 5 p.m.
UCF vs. UConn, 7 p.m.
Iowa State vs. Baylor, 9 p.m.
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