With a 68-60 win over Stony Brook, Drexel became the final women’s basketball team to secure an automatic berth to this year’s March Madness. It ends a semi-chaotic Championship Fortnight that saw a handful of major upsets. However, Portland was the only major “bid-stealer” in their upset of Gonzaga. Despite this, the 32 automatic berths include two first-time dancers and a handful of teams ending lengthy droughts. This includes Eastern Washington, who appear in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1987. Later today, 36 teams will join the 32 conference champions.
Furthermore, the bracket reveal will answer several pressing questions. For example – who takes the final two No. 1 seeds? South Carolina and Iowa are locked in, which leaves USC, Stanford, and Texas all vying for the last two spots on the top line. ESPN currently favors the two Pac-12 schools despite Texas’ Big 12 title. Another question will surround which bubble teams make it and which miss the tournament. Will Columbia finally make March Madness before Abbey Hsu graduates? Or did losing to Princeton in the Ivy League title game seal their fate?
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Oklahoma Could Miss Out On March Madness Hosting Duties Due To Scheduling Conflict
Meanwhile, an interesting situation surrounds Oklahoma. Oklahoma could be named as one of the top-16 seeds in the tournament, which would typically come with the right to host first- and second-round games. However, a scheduling conflict could mean that Oklahoma may miss out on that opportunity. The Big 12 gymnastics tournament is scheduled to be hosted at Oklahoma’s basketball arena on the same weekend as the opening rounds of March Madness.
ESPN currently has the Sooners as a five-seed in a quadrant hosted by Colorado in Boulder. However, the Sooners’ regular season title plus Gonzaga’s shock loss in the WCC title game could see Oklahoma move up to a four-seed. Due to rules about when teams from the same conference can play each other, that would see Oklahoma and Kansas State, the current five-seed in Gonzaga’s quadrant, swap places. However, due to Oklahoma’s scheduling conflict, Gonzaga would still have the option to host the games in Spokane.
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