SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The NCAA Women’s Tournament regional semifinals field is marked by many familiar faces like UConn, Baylor, Stanford and South Carolina. There are also some new ones, including Michigan and Arizona.
Sweet 16 will start on Saturday with a much-anticipated clash between UConn and Iowa. The schools are led by freshmen Paige Bueckers and Caitlyn Clark. Geno Auriemma, who will coach the Huskies for the first time in the tournament after being out of COVID-19 in the first two rounds, could not remember a time when there was so much enthusiasm around two freshmen.
“It has been a while since you have had two children who have this kind of impact, both in the teams and in the national game itself. Having one is cool. Having two and being so similar in so many ways? ”Auriemma said. “And yet, unfortunately, they will be put in a situation where it’s like a big football game, where they say it’s (Tom) Brady against Aaron Rogers. It couldn’t be further from the truth.
“They are two very, very young children, very good players who do a lot for their teams”.
Clark took Iowa back to Sweet 16. The Hawkeyes are one of four record teams from the Big Ten in the regional semifinals. Michigan, Indiana and Maryland join them.
Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico is happy to have his team in the regional semifinals for the first time, as opposed to Connecticut, which is making its 27th consecutive appearance in the round of 16.
“Things have changed. You could go somewhere and have the immediate opportunity to make an impact and create something that has never been done before,” she said. “These kids are different. They are special in their own right and wanted to do something that has never been done before and I am grateful to train a group of them. “
Arizona returned to Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998, when trainer Adia Barnes was playing for the Wildcats.
Asked how different it felt to get to Sweet 16 as a coach, as opposed to when she did it as a player, Barnes replied, “coaching is much more difficult than playing. Because, as a player, you are oblivious to many things. You just go out and play. “
Barnes said it is also more meaningful and rewarding to be able to watch players being rewarded for their hard work.
Some other things to know about this Sweet 16 course:
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
For the first time since 2013, three No. 6 seeds advanced to Sweet 16, with Michigan, Oregon and Texas reaching the regional semifinals. On the other side of the spectrum, for the third consecutive tournament, all seeds # 1 and # 2 reached Sweet 16.
SHE SAID
“More and more people are realizing, more and more people are watching. I think a lot of people are going to watch this game and that’s exactly what you want for women’s college basketball. ”- Caitlyn Clark, Iowa.
CROWD NOISE
For the first time in the tournament, the NCAAs will allow the public to participate in the games. This will be limited to 17% of the Alamodome’s capacity per game – which is about 4,800 tickets.
“We are in Texas, so I think we will have a lot of fans,” said Baylor striker NaLyssa Smith. “People’s families finally start to come and friends of everyone and everyone who was not on the ticket list, they can finally come and watch the game. So, it’s about to be very exciting. “
The first rounds allowed each participant only up to six tickets.
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