Women’s NCAA Tournament Cinderellas: Five teams that could break brackets

Upsets happen in the Women’s NCAA Tournament much less often than they do in the men’s. A double-digit seed has never made the women’s Final Four and the sport doesn’t really have a true iconic Cinderella story to lean on like the men have with 2006 George Mason, 2011 VCU or 2018 Loyola Chicago.

But upsets do happen. Long before UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the men’s tournament, it happened on the women’s side in 1998 when Harvard, led by UConn star Sarah Strong’s mom Allison Feaster, upset Stanford.

Advertisement

Even more recently, the 2023 tournament saw two No. 1 seeds lose on their home floor in the second round. No. 8 Ole Miss defeated Stanford, and No. 9 Miami took down Indiana on their way to a magical run to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. That same season, South Dakota State beat USC in the first round, Toledo defeated Iowa State, and Princeton upset NC State.

Last season’s tournament featured a Richmond win over Georgia Tech and win for South Dakota State over Oklahoma State.

At the mid-major level, Karl Smesko built a team at Florida Gulf Coast that regularly upset teams in the NCAA Tournament before he left for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. The Eagles won their first-round game over a Power 4 opponent four times between 2015 and 2023.

So, brackets still get busted in the women’s tournament.

Advertisement

Here’s five teams to consider when looking at potential upsets this year.

Fairfield

The Stags are in their third consecutive NCAA Tournament under fourth-year coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis. Each year, they’ve climbed up one seed spot and are slotted at No. 11 this season, taking on No. 6 Notre Dame in Columbus, Ohio. Fairfield is powered on the court by the duo of Kaety L’Amoreaux and Meghan Andersen, who both average north of 16 points per game.

For Fairfield, the key number is 11.4 — that’s how many 3-pointers the Stags make per game this season, which leads the nation. The Stags also rank fourth…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/women-ncaa-tournament-cinderellas-five-100721316.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-03-16 10:07:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.