If there was ever a time chalk may very well be penned, look no additional than the underside Spokane area of the 2025 NCAAW March Insanity Match.
The fourth quadrant options the controversial faces of girls’s school basketball, as JuJu Watkins’ USC Trojans cleared the path, 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 event mainstays like UConn, Oklahoma, and Kentucky cannot be denied.
With Spokane rounding out this season’s fateful 4 brackets on the ladies’s circuit, this 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 newbie {and professional} fillers alike: many count on Spokane’s actions to return right 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 nicely 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 workforce in current reminiscence. Bueckers speaks for herself whereas Sarah Sturdy mans the inside and two-way sport, averaging a team-best 8.4 rebounds and nearly 4 shares per sport. Touted prospect Azzi Fudd lastly gained some medical consistency as she, Ashlynn Shade, and Kaitlyn Chen have hardly hesitated to let unfastened from deep.
The ready is even harder in Los Angeles, which has not been to the Ultimate 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 partly to a mixed 52 factors from Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards.
Miller can be happy with the Trojans’ bodily prowess, which pulled in over 41 rebounds a sport (second-best within the Large 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 identify, as her go-ahead tally gave the Trojans a everlasting lead of their final battle at XL Middle.
Clark Barred
All issues thought of, the Hawkeyes dealt with their high-profile exodus pretty nicely: Lucy Olsen and Jan Jensen had been by no means going to be Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder, however they actually did a good impression. Olsen landed first-team All-Large 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 may’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 Large Ten, however step into the event as one in all its hotter groups: the 10-3 ledger to shut issues out contains wins over USC and Michigan and the mixed margin of defeat within the losses is 11 (one in all which was an additional time tilt in opposition to Ohio State).
If they will survive the damaging backside bracket (which incorporates a possible second-round match in opposition to third-ranked Oklahoma), a rematch with the Trojans may very well be an intriguing reward. Getting out of the primary spherical will likely be laborious sufficient, as they face a Murray State group that simply dealt with its Missouri Valley tasks.
Foolish Rabbits’ Tips
USC most likely owes somebody on the choice committee a purchasing 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, one in all three NCAA victories they’ve earned since 2019. The Jackrabbits’ 29 wins are tied for his or her greatest output since 2008-09, they usually’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 workforce nominations and the workforce hasn’t misplaced within the new calendar yr.
A rematch with the Trojans could be a bit a lot to ask for, particularly with the mighty Huskies possible 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 succeed in the 30-win plateau.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
