As Good as Ever
An exciting opening weekend is further proof that the women’s game has more parity than ever, but don’t think it just got that way.
Tipoff
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament had a coming-out party of sorts over the weekend. Stanford’s Fran Belibi dunked in the middle of a game. Iowa and National Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark lost to 10-seed Creighton. Baylor had a NPOY candidate of their own in NyLyssa Smith but fell to 10-seed South Dakota. The sport has been dominated by programs such as UConn and Tennessee that have seemingly been more talented than their peers. The reality, though, is that parity is par for the course in the women’s game.
On ESPN, Charlie Creme, Alexa Philippou, and Mechelle Voepel discussed a crazy first weekend and scoffed at the notion that any of this is new. Multiple double-digit seeds made it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament as recently as 2018, after all. The tournament is more than the opening weekend. Lopsided victories, such as South Carolina pummeling Howard 79-21 (including a shocking halftime score of 44-4) may make it seem like only a few teams are capable of winning the whole thing. On the other hand, as we saw in an exhilarating Final Four and National Title game just last year, anything can happen.
The NCAA women’s National Champions have not had a repeat winner since UConn went back-to-back-to-back in 2014 through 2016. No team has gone undefeated since that 2016 squad with Breanna Stewart, either. None will this year, either. The women’s game is deep with star pliers spread around the country. No one is telling you to watch the games. But if you want to see exciting games and upsets, the women’s tournament is for you.
Field of 68 Live from the Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Philadelphia
The Field of 68 will be streaming LIVE from the Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Philadelphia during the First Round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Tune in live to hear from Rob Dauster, Terrence Oglesby, and Randolph Childress. The crew will stream on YouTube each day:
11:00 am-12:15 pm (all times Eastern)
5:45-6:45 pm
12:00-1:00 am
During each broadcast, you can sign up to win prizes, including one of five $50 Top Golf gift cards and a grand prize of two tickets to the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. Winners will be selected at random and announced on the live shows broadcasting at www.youtube.com/c/thefieldof68.
The Mixtape
The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.
Did it feel like Thursday night never ended? Maybe that was my 3-month old or maybe it was the exciting games on the first night of the Sweet 16. On early Friday morning, the After Dark crew broke down an exciting first day of the Sweet 16. Gonzaga fell again. Arizona lost to Houston. Villanova won the 2018 National Title Game rematch against Michigan. And a 74-year old Coach K beat that up-and-coming 65 year-old first-year head coach, Mark Adams as Duke advanced past Texas Tech. Rob Dauster, Jeff Goodman, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton, and former South Carolina/future UMass head coach Frank Martin were online to run through a crazy night.
Rob Dauster, Terrence Oglesby, and Carter Elliott were on After Dark on Wednesday night to preview the Sweet 16. Is Purdue’s size and Jaden Ivey’s athleticism too much for the 15-seed Saint Peter’s? Can UCLA overcome a bum ankle and a red-hot UNC? Will Providence’s luck run out against Kansas? And which double-digit seed, Miami or Iowa State, make it to the Elite 8? The crew has their picks.
Yesterday, I wrote about the refs and how they have been a major story of the NCAA men’s tournament through the first weekend. That continued on Thursday night as a number of missed and controversial calls took place in the Arkansas-Gonzaga game. On After Dark, Rob Dauster, Jeff Goodman, Mike Boynton, and Frank Martin discuss the refs. This is a game played, coached, and refereed by humans, so it will always include errors. Can you reduce the frequency of mistakes, though?
Tournament Tracker
It’s The Big Dance! Let’s take a look at NCAA men’s basketball tournament action and the schedule for the day.
#3 Purdue vs. #15 Saint Peter’s (7:09 p.m. EDT on CBS)
#1 Kansas vs. #4 Providence (7:29 p.m. EDT on TBS)
#4 UCLA vs. #8 North Carolina (9:39 p.m. EDT on CBS)
#10 Miami vs. #1 Iowa State (9:59 p.m. EDT on TBS)
And the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Sweet 16 begins tonight, too!
#1 South Carolina vs. #5 North Carolina (7:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN)
#2 Texas vs. #6 Ohio State (7:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)
#1 Stanford vs. #4 Maryland (9:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN)
#3 Iowa State vs. #10 Creighton (9:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN2)