NCAAW: South Carolina the juggernaut in Greensboro, adopted by Iowa

The 2022 NCAA Match begins on Friday, March 18, and every day this week, Swish Enchantment shall be diving into one area at a time to organize you for the insanity that’s to return. We proceed at the moment with Greensboro.

How the No. 1 seed received right here

The South Carolina Gamecocks had been the wire-to-wire No. 1 crew within the nation this season and boast wins over the present No. 2, 3, 5, 9, 13 and 18 groups within the nation and two wins over No. 15 Kentucky. Their solely losses have been to a the second crew out of the event (Missouri on Dec. 30) and Kentucky (within the SEC Match championship recreation on March 6).

South Carolina gained the nationwide championship in 2017 — A’ja Wilson’s junior 12 months. Since then, the Gamecocks have continued to be a perennial energy with exits coming within the Elite Eight, Candy Sixteen and Closing 4. In 2020, when the event was canceled, South Carolina was No. 1 AP crew at season’s finish and was robbed of the possibility to pursue a title. For sure, the Gamecocks are hungry for a second championship.

All through 2021-22, South Carolina has been dominant on the boards, at instances drastically outrebounding even different elite groups. It comfortably sits at No. 1 within the nation in rebound margin (17.2). The Gamecocks have additionally been identified for retaining video games low-scoring this 12 months and have the fourth-best scoring defensive within the nation (51.7 factors allowed per recreation).

South Carolina heart Aliyah Boston is at the moment on a 24-game double-double streak and is a number one candidate for nationwide Participant of the Yr. The 24 video games is an SEC report. Boston’s fellow junior Zia Cooke was imagined to be the crew’s second-best participant this 12 months and he or she has performed properly with 11.2 factors per recreation. Nevertheless, senior Destanni Henderson has been the second-best participant. She leads South Carolina with 30.8 minutes per recreation, a 3-point share of 40.6 (a minimum of 10 makes an attempt), 4.3 assists per recreation and 1.4 steals per recreation.

The Gamecocks’ supporting solid is made up of gamers who do the little issues like Victaria Saxton, Brea Beal and Laeticia Amihere. It is going to be fascinating to see if Syracuse switch Kamilla Cardoso, who was the 2021 ACC Rookie of the Yr, and highly-touted freshmen Saniya Rivers, Bree Corridor and Sania Feagin play greater roles within the event when the season is on the road. South Carolina additionally introduced within the No. 2 recruit in Raven Johnson, however she suffered a season-ending knee harm within the second recreation of the season.

Who’re the challengers to South Carolina?

The No. 2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes characteristic the opposite predominant nationwide Participant of the Yr candidate in sophomore guard Caitlin Clark, who headlined Swish Enchantment’s Across the NCAAW Weekly thrice.

Iowa additionally contains a large who can take consideration away from Clark in Monika Czinano. Regarding for the Hawkeyes is the truth that inside their first 17 video games they misplaced to No. 13 seed IUPUI and groups that ended up lacking the tourney in Duke and Northwestern. Nevertheless, since their misplaced to the Wildcats, they have not had any dangerous losses and naturally completed the season on hearth with a convincing win over No. 12 Michigan of their regular-season finale — when the Huge Ten regular-season title was on the road — and a clear sweep within the Huge Ten Match.

The No. 3 seed Iowa State Cyclones had been a lot better at dwelling as much as expectations this 12 months than they had been final 12 months. In 2021 they started the season ranked No. 15 and weren’t even receiving votes by the top of the season. They made the NCAA Match as a No. 7 seed and practically made up for a disappointing season with a Candy Sixteen journey, however misplaced a second-round heartbreaker to No. 2 seed Texas A&M on a Jordan Nixon buzzer-beating layup in time beyond regulation.

This 12 months, Iowa State improved from No. 12 to No. 10 over the course of the season. It’s led by WNBA prospect Ashley Joens, the all-time scoring chief in its program’s historical past. Be careful for sophomore level guard Emily Ryan as properly — she’s fourth within the nation with 7.1 assists per recreation.

The No. 4 seed Arizona Wildcats could also be dealing with a chilly stretch, however no person was speaking about them getting into final 12 months’s event they usually made all of it the best way to the nationwide championship recreation. Plus, they’re getting main scorer Cate Reese again from a dislocated shoulder. Sam Thomas can even be key — the tremendous senior is taking pictures 42.5 % from past the arc with 45 makes.

Any lower-seeded groups to control?

The No. 5 seed UNC Tar Heels misplaced six video games this 12 months and 5 had been to at the moment ranked groups. The opposite was to Georgia Tech, which was ranked as excessive as No. 11 this 12 months and is now a No. 9 seed. So no dangerous losses. Deja Kelly (15.9 factors per recreation) is a good all-around scoring guard for UNC and Alyssa Ustby is an undersized however scrappy ahead who averages 13.2 factors and eight.6 rebounds per recreation.

The No. 6 seed Georgia Woman Bulldogs nonetheless characteristic the celebrities (Jenna Staiti and Que Morrison) that led the crew to the SEC Match title recreation and a No. 3 seed final 12 months, in order that they may very well be harmful. The No. 8 seed Miami Hurricanes simply went on an exciting underdog run to the ACC Match title recreation. If the No. 11 seed DePaul Blue Demons can win their play-in recreation in opposition to Dayton, be careful for freshman Aneesah Morrow within the first spherical in opposition to Georgia.

Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

Gamers to look at

Aliyah Boston, South Carolina: A terror inside on each ends of the court docket

Destanni Henderson, South Carolina: Speedy level guard who’s an elite defender and distributor

Caitlin Clark, Iowa: Triple-double menace whose vary practically extends to the emblem

Ashley Joens, Iowa State: Pure scorer who can rack up rebounds as properly

Mya Hollingshed, Colorado: WNBA prospect who averages 14.1 factors and seven.5 rebounds for Colorado

Aneesah Morrow, DePaul: Double-double getter who has introduced pleasure to the DePaul program