NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2024: Odds, Picks for Sweet 16 Bracket
March 29, 2024NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2024: Odds, Picks for Sweet 16 Bracket
Albany and Portland will be the centers of the women's college basketball universe for the next four days.
The best teams and individuals in the sport will on display at those sites starting in the Sweet 16 on Friday and Saturday.
Seven of the eight No. 1 and No. 2 seeds advanced to the second weekend, led by the undefeated No. 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks.
South Carolina's biggest challengers to the title could be teams with the top stars, like Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo.
Hidalgo and Notre Dame kick off the Sweet 16 slate on Friday, while other superstars Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins are part of Saturday's four-game schedule.
Sweet 16 Schedule and Odds
Friday, March 29
Albany 1: No. 3 Oregon State vs. No. 2 Notre Dame (-3.5) (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Albany 1: No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 1 South Carolina (-16) (5 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Portland 4: No. 3 NC State vs. No. 2 Stanford (-4.5) (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Portland 4: No. 4 Gonzaga vs. No. 1 Texas (-5.5) (10 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Saturday, March 30
Albany 2: No. 3 LSU (-3) vs. No. 2 UCLA (1 p.m. ET, ABC)
Albany 2: No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 1 Iowa (-7) (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Portland 3: No. 5 Baylor vs. No. 1 USC (-3.5) (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Portland 3: No. 7 Duke vs. No. 3 UConn (-8.5) (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
No. 3 Oregon State vs. No. 2 Notre Dame (-3.5)
Hidalgo was one of the breakout stars of the regular season.
The freshman guard averages 22.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 4.6 steals per game.
She should be the center of Oregon State's defensive game plan, but even if Hidalgo is slowed, Notre Dame can take down its Pac-12 foe.
Notre Dame has three players who average over 14 points per game. Sonia Citron scored 46 points in the NCAA tournament's first weekend, while Maddy Westbeld scored 20 points in the second-round win over Ole Miss.
The Irish's three-pronged scoring attack is better than the Oregon State trio averaging over 10 points per contest, led by Raegan Beers.
Beers and Timea Gardiner combine to average 16.9 rebounds per game, which could be a detriment to Notre Dame without starting center Kylee Watson.
However, the Irish outrebounded Ole Miss by one in the second round. Ole Miss is a slightly better rebounding team than Oregon State, so that absence should not hurt Notre Dame at least in the Sweet 16. It might become a larger issue if the Irish face South Carolina in the Elite Eight.
No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 1 Iowa (-7)
Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes will face every opponent's best performance because of their stature in the sport.
That was the case in the second round, when the Hawkeyes fended off a challenge from the West Virginia Mountaineers, who were within single digits for most of the second half.
Colorado has the potential to produce a similar test on Saturday because it owns wins over Stanford and USC from Pac-12 play.
However, the Buffaloes need more scoring to counter what Clark and Co. throw at them in Albany.
Colorado did not have anyone score over 11 points in the second-round win over Kansas State, and while that may have worked for that specific matchup, it is insufficient to beat a high-scoring Iowa team.
The Pac-12 side has three players who average over 12 points per game, but none of them average over 15 PPG.
There is doubt that one member of that trio can match Clark's scoring output if Iowa dictates the pace because they combined for three 25-plus-point performances all season.
If Iowa plays at its best, Colorado will struggle to keep up and that could lead to an emphatic Hawkeyes win.
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