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Women’s basketball bracketology: NCAA’s final eight teams shake up the field

By Russell Steinberg

UNCASVILLE, CT - MARCH 11: UCF Knights Guard Sianni Martin (0) drives to the basket while UConn Huskies Guard Christyn Williams (13) defends during the game as the UCF Knights take on the UConn Huskies on March 11, 2019 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. (Photo by Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
UNCASVILLE, CT - MARCH 11: UCF Knights Guard Sianni Martin (0) drives to the basket while UConn Huskies Guard Christyn Williams (13) defends during the game as the UCF Knights take on the UConn Huskies on March 11, 2019 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. (Photo by Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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UCF and Ohio are in danger

This is it. This is my last, best guess at the NCAA Tournament bracket before it is revealed Monday night. The two main changes from my last update: A few unexpected automatic qualifiers (shoutout to Abilene Christian, making its first tournament appearance in both the women’s and men’s fields this year) and an altered last four in.

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Why change the last four in when most of those schools were done playing days ago? Because on Sunday, the NCAA revealed the eight teams it was debating for the last four spots. So four of those teams HAD to be in the last four in. Those teams were:

The big surprises were Ohio and UCF being ranked so low. UCF has been hard to peg all year, as the Knights have not really beaten anyone great, but also have no inexcusable losses. Ohio is a little more curious, as the Bobcats have an RPI of 34 and have beaten four teams in quadrant one.

Princeton ended up winning the automatic bid from the Ivy League, so we were able to strike them from the list immediately. They’re in no matter what. That left seven teams for four spots and it just so happened that four of those teams were already in my field — so I naturally had them ranked higher than the other three. I just had to move them down and make them my last four in. They were: Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and UCF. Auburn, Arkansas, and TCU move immediately to the first three out.

Procedural bumps:

Tennessee from an 11 to a 12
Quinnipiac from a 12 to an 11

The NCAA Tournament selection show will air on Monday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The First Round will begin on campus sites on Friday.

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