The 2019 20 women s college basketball bracket predicted in the opening week
The 2019-20 women's college basketball bracket, predicted in the opening week NCAA.com
RANKINGS : STAY UPDATED: HISTORY: STORE: . The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.
CHAMPS
PRESENTED BY We asked NCAA.com women’s basketball expert Michelle Smith to fill out an early March Madness bracket based on what she saw last season, top returning players and the early chatter from around the sport. We’ll break down some of her prediction, but let’s first look at the bracket itself (): OREGON ON TOP: And here's that same bracket in table form. Greenville, S.C. Dallas Portland, OR Fort Wayne 1 Maryland Baylor Oregon Stanford 16 Robert Morris Abilene Christian N.C. A&T Southern 2 Louisville Oregon State UConn Texas A&M 15 Furman Maine Radford Ohio 3 South Carolina Mississippi State UCLA Florida State 14 UC Davis Lehigh Idaho Fordham 4 Minnesota Texas Notre Dame Kentucky 13 Belmont James Madison Arkansas Little Rock Florida Gulf Coast 5 N.C. State Michigan Arkansas DePaul 12 New Mexico State Houston Quinnipiac Green Bay 6 West Virginia Arizona State Indiana Duke 11 Utah Missouri State South Dakota Princeton 7 Michigan State Rice Miami Gonzaga 10 Drake Boise State Auburn Middle Tennessee State 8 Arizona Syracuse Clemson LSU 9 Iowa State UCF Tennessee BYU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BEST RETURNING:Top Four Seeds
Oregon Baylor Maryland StanfordTerps Lady Bears Ducks Cardinal are No 1 seeds
It's shaping up to be a competitive year in the Pac-12 based on Smith's predictions with Oregon and Stanford both grabbing No. 1 seeds. Oregon of course returns Sabrina Ionescu and a host of other talented role players from a team that made the Final Four last season, while Stanford brings back a veteran squad that made the Elite Eight last year and added the nation's top recruit in Haley Jones. Oregon and Stanford will meet in the regular season on Jan. 16, Feb. 24 and likely in the Pac-12 tournament. SABRINA IONESCU TRACKER: Some might argue that Maryland underachieved last season as Brenda Frese's talented squad fell in the Big Ten title game to Iowa, then were upset on their home-court in the second round of the NCAA tournament by UCLA. The Terps bring back dynamic guard Kaila Charles, leading rebounder Shakira Austin and 90 percent of their scoring from last season. Coming off a national championship, Baylor is looking to get back to the Final Four again. They'll miss Kalani Brown and Chloe Jackson, but the Lady Bears bring back two All-Big 12 defenders in Lauren Cox and DiDi Richards, as well as versatile guard Juicy Landrum. Joining Baylor this season are also a pair of transfers in South Carolina's Te'a Cooper and Texas Tech's Erin DeGrate. Sophomore NaLyssa Smith will also likely have a bigger role this season. 2019 FINAL FOUR: If Smith's predictions hold true, the Portland region could be an interesting one to watch as it features three of last year's Final Four teams with Oregon, UConn and Notre Dame. This could set up a Notre Dame vs. Oregon match-up in the Sweet 16 and then the winner of that game taking on UConn in the Elite Eight. Maryland's potential path in the Greenville regional wouldn't be easy either with Louisville and South Carolina in the Terps' way. AWARD WATCH LISTS:Automatic Qualifiers
America East - Maine American Athletic Conference - UConn Atlantic 10 - Fordham ACC - Louisville ASUN - Florida Gulf Coast Big 12 - Baylor Big East - DePaul Big Sky - Idaho Big South - Radford Big Ten - Maryland Big West - UC Davis Colonial Athletic Association - James Madison Conference USA - Rice Horizon - Green Bay Ivy - Princeton MAAC - Quinnipiac Mid-American - Ohio MEAC - North Carolina A&T Missouri Valley - Drake Mountain West - Boise State Northeast - Robert Morris Ohio Valley - Belmont Pac 12 - Oregon Patriot - Lehigh SEC - South Carolina SoCon - Furman Southland - Abilene Christian SWAC - Southern Summitt League - South Dakota Sun Belt - Little Rock West Coast - Gonzaga Western Athletic Conference - New Mexico State WNBA FINALS:RANKINGS : STAY UPDATED: HISTORY: STORE: . The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.