Women's Joe Bracket 2023

The NCAA has made a few changes to the women's tournament this year that I don't quite understand.  Instead of having four regional sites, now there are only two.  Two regions will feed into each.  I'm not exactly sure how that helps grow the game, though.  I guess the idea is that it'll help attendance, and Elite Eight doubleheaders do sound kind of cool, but I'm not sure how different it'll be with a day session and night session in the Sweet 16 at both venues.  Because I doubt the locals will be buying tickets for both sessions, so one of them will just be supporters of the four teams.  With four sites, though, you've got four teams AND the locals.

Maybe I'm wrong and the double-regional thing will be a big success.  I just don't see it, though.  It's like when they tried having predetermined sites for a few years before dropping that and going back to the top 16 seeds hosting.  Attendance at the neutral sites was terrible.  It showed them how important it is to have the top teams playing at home in the first round and getting their fan bases out there.

This comes on the heels of last year's major change, which saw the field expanded to 68 and the selection show moved back to Sunday after the men.  Adding those four at-large teams definitely helped the quality of the tournament, since those last teams out are generally pretty good.  They're not beating the top teams, though.  Especially when there's an overwhelming favorite.

South Carolina is the defending National Champions and is 32-0 this season.  So, the Gamecocks will obviously be the No. 1 overall seed and play their regional in nearby Greenville.  Dawn Staley has the makings of a dynasty on her hands, and it would be very surprising to see anybody BUT South Carolina cutting down the nets in Dallas on April 2.

Speaking of cutting down the nets in Dallas, there's another huge change this year, and this one I think actually is a good thing.  The Championship Game will be on ABC.  It's being played in the afternoon, which I think is only because the decision to air it on broadcast TV was made after ABC had already made its schedule, but that should only be this year.  Next year, I'd expect it to be on ABC on Sunday night (or, Sunday evening at least).

Anyway, South Carolina is the only clear No. 1 seed, so I'm curious to see who the other three go to.  Virginia Tech, coming off an ACC Tournament title, is probably a safe bet.  And we'll probably see at least one Big Ten team, as well.  In fact, I think both Indiana and Iowa will be 1-seeds.  Iowa winning the Big Ten Tournament was what put them over Stanford for me.

Which puts Stanford as a 2, along with UConn, Utah and another Big Ten team--Maryland.  That's the other reason why I went with Iowa over Stanford.  The Big Ten has three top 2 seeds, which speaks to the quality of the league.  As for UConn, I think this may actually be the year when their ridiculous Final Four streak comes to an end.  They've uncharacteristically struggled this season, losing five games, including back-to-back losses.  But, would anyone be surprised if they do make another Final Four run?

And with that, let's take a look at my bracket.  Another thing I hate about the double-regional thing is that it's super confusing!  So, I'm referring to two of the regions by the city (Greenville and Seattle) and the other two as simply East and West.  That actually screws up the geographical balance, too, since you're gonna have 1-seeds that have to travel a much farther distance for their regional.  I'm assuming they'll do it by highest overall seed getting site preference, which would put South Carolina and Virginia Tech in Greenville, thus sending Indiana and Iowa to Seattle.

Keep in mind, too, that a lot of conference tournaments still aren't finished, so the teams from some of those one-bid leagues could very well change.  The biggest difference between the men's and women's tournaments is that, for the most part, the Power 5 conferences have their women's tournament a week prior to Selection Sunday, so we don't get those bid stealers.  Just the unexpected conference tournament winners in one-bid leagues.

GREENVILLE
Columbia: 16-Norfolk State/Tennessee Tech at 1-South Carolina (1), 8-Baylor vs. 9-Illinois
Los Angeles: 5-Lousiville vs. 12-Portland, 13-Sacramento State at 4-UCLA
Austin: 6-Washington State vs. 11-Purdue/St. John's, 14-Grand Canyon at 3-Texas
College Park: 7-Florida State vs. 10-Middle Tennessee, 15-Saint Louis at 2-Maryland

SEATTLE
Des Moines: 16-Iona at 1-Iowa (4), 8-Oklahoma State vs. 9-Mississippi State
Chapel Hill: 5-Villanova vs. 12-Florida Gulf Coast, 13-Towson at 4-North Carolina
Baton Rouge: 6-Michigan vs. 11-UNLV, 14-Gardner-Webb at 3-LSU
Stanford: 7-NC State vs. 10-South Dakota State, 15-Hawaii at 2-Stanford

EAST
Blacksburg: 16-FDU/Southern at 1-Virginia Tech (2), 8-Gonzaga vs. 9-USC
Columbus: 5-Tennessee vs. 12-Cleveland State, 13-James Madison at 4-Ohio State
Notre Dame: 6-Oklahoma vs. 11-Marquette/Alabama, 14-Belmont at 3-Notre Dame
Salt Lake City: 7-Creighton vs. 10-Arkansas, 15-SE Louisiana at 2-Utah

WEST
Bloomington: 16-Chattanooga at 1-Indiana (3), 8-Mississippi vs. 9-Miami
Ames: 5-Colorado vs. 12-Toledo, 13-East Carolina at 4-Iowa State
Durham: 6-Arizona vs. 11-Princeton, 14-Vermont at 3-Duke
Storrs: 7-South Florida vs. 10-Georgia, 15-Boston University at 2-Connecticut

Once they get to Dallas, I've got Greenville (South Carolina) facing Seattle (Iowa) and East (Virginia Tech) vs. West (Indiana).  As for who wins the National Championship, as I said earlier, it's South Carolina's tournament to lose.  And I highly doubt they will.  As for who joins them in the Final Four, your guess is as good as mine!