The weekend was packed with dramatic conference tournament showdowns.
Some were predictable: South Carolina winning another SEC championship. Caitlin Clark doing Caitlin Clark things to win the Big Ten title. UConn dominating to advance to the Big East finals.
Some were less predictable: Iowa needing a comeback against Nebraska. Georgetown advancing to the Big East finals. USC taking down Stanford for the Pac-12 crown.
But the lasting image, unfortunately for the sport, will be the benches clearing in the South Carolina-LSU game.
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Here’s what else you need to know about the conference tournaments and how teams fared as we inch closer to Selection Sunday:
Don’t bet against the Irish. Here’s why …
Injuries have been a part of so many team’s stories this season, but when it comes to Notre Dame, there aren’t many teams who’ve been hit harder. First, it was Olivia Miles, who sustained a knee injury in last season’s ACC tournament and has missed the entire season. Then, it was Cassandre Prosper, who played only five games this season before suffering a lower leg injury. Then, it was Sonia Citron, who missed weeks in the middle of the season with a knee injury.
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When Kylee Waton went down in the ACC semifinals with an injury that appeared to put her finals’ availability in doubt, part of me still believed that if any ACC team could handle this late-season adversity and regroup, it could be Notre Dame.
Against NC State, the Irish’s defense was phenomenal, holding the Wolfpack to 7 points in the second quarter and 8 points in the fourth quarter. They limited NC State to just 18 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Neither team went (or could) go deep into their bench — both played just six players — but that didn’t seem to bother freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo, who finished with a game-high 22 points, six rebounds and six assists. In the final 6:44, the Fighting Irish closed out on a 12-2 run to close out the game 55-51, winning their first conference tournament title since 2019.
Game 1⃣4⃣: @Spalding Shot of the Game. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/EJUjVaph2K
— ACC Women's Basketball (@accwbb) March 10, 2024
Last season, even after losing Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey late, Notre Dame made its way to the Sweet 16. Even with an even greater number of injuries this season, could the Fighting Irish make it just as far or further? At this point, I’m not quite sure why anyone would bet against Hidalgo and Niele Ivey. — Chantel Jennings
‘Look how much we have’: Iowa’s cast shines
Teams that perform well in the postseason are usually those that have experienced, veteran guards, players who won’t be rattled with the ball in their hands (or their opponent’s) late in the game.
Perhaps there was no better evidence of this than in the Big Ten tournament championship when Iowa’s guards took over. Obviously, there was Caitlin Clark. The 6-foot senior garners all kinds of well-deserved headlines, but let us not forget the impact of players like sixth-year senior Kate Martin and fifth-year senior Gabbie Marshall — both of whom came back to Iowa because they believed in the team’s potential — as well as Sydney Affolter, a junior who has seen a massive uptick in minutes after Molly Davis’ injury. All three were key to the Hawkeyes’ championship on Sunday and will be cornerstones to any success Iowa finds in March.
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We came into this season questioning how Iowa would regroup after losing Monika Czinano. But the answer was that Hannah Stuelke secured the paint, and the progress all of the perimeter made became more than enough to cover any interior lapses that might happen. For Iowa, that has worked and on Sunday, was on display. The chemistry between Clark, Martin and Marshall is palpable, and that trio — even beyond what Clark does individually — will be what determines how long Iowa plays in March.
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“Everybody knew how much we lost last year, and everybody kept talking about how much we lost,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We kept saying look how much we have. We have a lot.” — Chantel Jennings
USC’s frontcourt is an underrated strength
In the Pac-12, where every contender has an All-American — or maybe even two — in their frontcourt (think Cameron Brink, Raegan Beers, Lauren Betts, and Alissa Pili), USC can sometimes seem like an outlier. Rayah Marshall is regarded as a WNBA prospect, but she wasn’t selected to the All-Pac-12 team or the conference’s All-Defensive team. Kaitlyn Davis doesn’t stuff the box score, and backup center Clarice Akunwafo barely averages 11 minutes per game.
But that unheralded trio just won the frontcourt battle against Betts and the Bruins, and then Brink and the Cardinal, en route to USC’s second Pac-12 tournament title. The Trojans may lack star power, but collectively, they are a complete rotation capable of handling the best bigs in the country.
Marshall is an outstanding defensive rebounder, and she collected 19 such boards in the semifinal and final. All three are elite offensive rebounders, combining for 14 against Stanford and nine against UCLA. Marshall is a better shot blocker, which was useful against the Bruins, whose guards like to attack the paint. Akunwafo is stronger, able to push opposing bigs off their spot in the post, like she did with Brink and Iriafen. And Davis is quick, swiping away at entry passes and getting her hands on 50-50 balls to force tie-ups, a skill that frustrated Betts.
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The variety of options allows the Trojans to shape-shift depending on the matchup. More importantly, all are playing at their best at this moment. Marshall has had four double-doubles in her last five games, including 10 points and 18 rebounds against Stanford. Davis has the second-best on-off rating on the team in conference games behind freshman guard JuJu Watkins, while Akunwafo maintains that level of play off the bench.
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“I wouldn’t trade our trio for anyone,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said Sunday. “They play the way we need them to play. They’re so athletic and buy into game plans and are hard to score on. We’re also outrebounding people. That’s the level that we need to be at to be as good as we can be.” — Sabreena Merchant
#TashaTough has Georgetown in Big East finals
It’s hard to imagine what it has been like for the players at Georgetown this season — losing coach Tasha Butts, 41, after a two-year battle with cancer just before the season started and then going into the year with interim coach Darnell Haney. The Hoyas were picked to finish 10th in the Big East and managed to go 9-9 to earn the Big East tournament’s No. 6 seed.
On Friday, the Hoyas took down 11-seed Xavier, and then they followed it up with upsets of three-seed St. John’s and two-seed Creighton over the weekend to put themselves in the program’s first-ever Big East title game.
Georgetown women’s basketball lost its head coach, Tasha Butts, to cancer at the age of 41 in October. This team has played for her all year. They were picked 10th in the Big East.
The Hoyas are going to the conference title game for the first time ever. pic.twitter.com/1mK5j5YAtT
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) March 10, 2024
In their three tournament games, Georgetown has had three different leading scorers — showing just how balanced it can be. But more than anything, peaking at the right time and doing so during a season of loss exemplifies Georgetown’s toughness. — Chantel Jennings
Numbers to know
1: As we detailed earlier this week, the Atlantic 10 tournament was one to watch as four teams had won 23 or more games in the regular season, though, potentially only one was going to make the field of 68. Well, with conference tournament action having concluded, Richmond, the conference tournament’s No. 1 seed, claimed the A-10 automatic bid. The Spiders defeated Rhode Island 65-51 on Sunday to win their first A-10 tournament championship. It is also the program’s first conference title since the 1991 season in the CAA.
0: That’s how many points Marquette scored in the final 14:51 against UConn in the Big East semifinals. The Golden Eagles ‘ Jordan King hit a jumper just over halfway through the third quarter to bring Marquette to within 11, but that was the last it would score in its 58-29 loss. Marquette is still projected to make the field of 68 in The Athletic’s latest update, but a scoreless final quarter-half is not exactly an ideal way to enter the NCAA Tournament. “I thought we could still make a little bit of a run after halftime,” Marquette coach Megan Duffy said. “And just for whatever reason, it went in the wrong direction.”
Upcoming
James Madison vs. Marshall, Sun Belt championship | 2 p.m. ET | ESPNU
Iowa State vs. Oklahoma, Big 12 semifinal | 2:30 p.m. ET | ESPN2
Kansas State vs. Texas, Big 12 semifinal | 5 p.m. ET | ESPN2
Georgetown vs. UConn, Big East championship | 7 p.m. ET | FS1
(Photo of Iowa’s Kate Martin: Matt Krohn / USA TODAY Sports)