Chalk talk: Women’s March Madness goes mostly according to seed as top teams advance to second round

By Canadian Press on March 23, 2025.

March Madness has mostly been March Predictable in the women’s NCAA Tournament so far.

For the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, no team seeded 11 or worse advanced to the second round.

The only two double-digit seeds still standing in the round of 32 were a pair of 10s — Oregon and South Dakota State. The Ducks needed overtime to beat Vanderbilt and the Jackrabbits topped Oklahoma State by six points, rallying from a double-digit second-half deficit.

That sets up some solid second-round games, with No. 5 Kansas State facing No. 4 Kentucky and No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 4 Ohio State. The Wildcats had the biggest scare of any team hosting the first two rounds as they held off Liberty 79-78.

No. 6 Florida State plays No. 3 LSU and No. 6 West Virginia takes on No. 3 North Carolina on Monday.

There also is intrigue with second-seeded TCU and Hailey Van Lith facing her former Louisville team, a No. 7 seed, on Sunday.

Even with the lack of upsets, it doesn’t mean that there weren’t eye-popping performances in the first 32 games. The top teams all looked dominant in their first-round victories. The four 1-seeds — South Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Southern California — won by an average of 47 points.

Offense was on full display with the Gamecocks, Longhorns, UConn, Notre Dame, LSU and Tennessee all putting up more than 100 points. That was the second time in NCAA history that six teams went over the century mark.

Defense also took center stage at times. Duke held Lehigh to 10 points in the first half while USC gave up only 11 to Lehigh. UConn led Arkansas State 66-16 at the half.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press

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