Women’s tournament winners, losers: Not chaos. You want unpredictability? Go watch men’s Final Four.
The upsets of top-seeded Stanford and Indiana were fun and all, and the double-digit comebacks that shook up the early rounds were wildly entertaining.
If chaos is what you want in your Final Four, however, you’re going to have to watch the NCAA men’s tournament. Even accounting for Virginia Tech reaching the national semifinals for the first time, there are no wild cards left in the women’s bracket.
While the lowest seed left in the men’s tournament is No. 4 UConn, the highest in the women’s tournament is a No. 3. The defending national champion South Carolina is still alive. LSU hasn’t won a title in its previous five trips to the Final Four, but coach Kim Mulkey has. Three, in fact, when she was coaching Baylor.
And Iowa has Caitlin Clark, the front runner for national player of the year, and a starting five that has been together for the last 90 games, most in the NCAA in 20 years.
So no, not exactly a lineup that makes you scratch your head or do a double take and ask how in the world they made it to the Final Four. (Yeah, Florida Atlantic, we are talking about you.) Whatever surprises the women’s tournament had in store already happened.
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Here’s a look at the other winners and losers from the Elite Eight:
WINNERS
SEC
The SEC will take your apologies now.
LSU in Dallas after dismantling Maryland on Monday night.
“Two. That’s 50% last time I checked,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “What is down? We had seven make (the tournament), four of the seven made it to the Sweet 16. How down is that?”
The ACC (Virginia Tech) and the Big Ten (Iowa) have the other two Final Fours.
Kenny Brooks
With the 84-74 win over Ohio State, Brooks becomes just the second Black male coach to lead a team to the women’s Final Four since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1994. (The other was former Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman, who led the Orange to the 2016 Final Four.)
Brooks, now in his seventh year, came to Blacksburg after 14 seasons at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. In his final 11 years at JMU, Brooks won at least 24 games per season including three consecutive CAA championships (2014-2016).
LSU’s 54-42 win that earned the Tigers a trip to the Final Four. Caitlin Clark pulling up from the logo or Aliyah Boston swatting an opponent’s shot attempt into the third row or Angel Reese snatching someone’s soul along with a rebound or Elizabeth Kitley’s feathery touch around the rim, then you really don’t like basketball — women’s or otherwise.