Two No. 1 seeds in Indiana and Stanford were knocked out in the round of 32.
The Miami Hurricanes upset the Indiana Hoosiers in nail-biting fashion with a 70-68 win, while Ole Miss took care of business against the 2021 tournament champion Stanford in a 54-49 win.
South Carolina remained dominant in their bracket, winning by 31 against South Florida and are set to face No. 4 UCLA next, while Virginia Tech keeps rolling after a convincing win over South Dakota State.
Here is a look at some of the intriguing storylines as the road to the Final Four in Dallas continues.
Two No. 1 seeds down, but will two more go?
South Carolina and Virginia Tech are the two final No. 1 seeds remaining after both Stanford and Indiana were upset in the Round of 32, though the Gamecocks don't look like they are slowing down any time soon.
Beating their first two opponents by 31 or more points in the first two rounds, the Gamecocks take on the UCLA Bruins who were propelled to victory by a dominant 36-point performance by Charisma Osborne.
For South Carolina, Zia Cooke's 21 points complimented Aliyah Boston's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Laeticia Amihere came off the bench to add 10 points and six rebounds in their win.
This game will be the first true test for the Gamecocks. Although, if they continue to put up 70+ points per game — they are 33-0 when scoring more than 62 points this season — they should easily get past the Bruins.
As for Virginia Tech, they'll take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers who have put up 94 or more points per game in their last two rounds as well as allowing 50 points or less from their opponents.
Jordan Horston was hurt the last time the Lady Vols reached the Sweet 16 while Rickea Jackson was in the transfer portal. Those are the two playmakers Tennessee will rely on to keep things close. Horston scored 21 points against Saint Louis, going 9-of-11 from the field and adding eight rebounds. Jackson added 18 points.
However, Virginia Tech guard Georgia Amoore may be the best scorer on the court in the matchup. She tallied 21 or more points in four straight games including the ACC championship game and the first two rounds of March Madness. Amoore isn't afraid to keep taking shots even if some don't fall as she will find a way to contribute 20-plus for the Hokies regardless.
Iowa look to continue their dominance
Caitlin Clark is a game changer. She managed 22 points against Georgia, but more importantly notched 14 assists, to help Iowa secure a Sweet 16 spot.
Clark leads the nation in assists per game, and when Iowa tallied 27 consecutive points against the Bulldogs, only three were from the sharp shooter who was actually held to 6-of-17 shooting in the game. There is no stopping Clark, but Georgia found a way to slow her.
Ole Miss has held both of its opponents — including No. 1 Stanford — under 50 points in each of the first two rounds. While Louisville narrowly escaped Drake in the first round, the Cardinals beat Texas by 22 points and held the Longhorns to 34.5 per cent field goal shooting and just 10 per cent from the three-point line.
Iowa moves the ball well, and Clark seems to find a way to score and even hit other-worldly shots when the Hawkeyes need her to most. She can shoot from deep, she's even better at facilitating the game, but the next two rounds won't be a cake walk.
Can LSU pull out of their region?
Tigers forward Angel Reese made history becoming the first player with 25 points, 20 rebounds and five or more blocks in a women's NCAA tournament game since 2000 in her performance against Michigan.
The LSU star is averaging 23.8 points and 15.7 rebounds this season, and the tournament has just been a bigger stage to see Reese's dominance. She recorded 34 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks against Hawaii in the first round.
What makes LSU so dynamic isn't just the woman dubbed "Bayou Barbie", but also guards Flau'jae Johnson and Alexis Morris. Johnson's role outside of scoring is primarily a playmaker with her assists, and Morris is stealthy defensively — averaging a career-high 1.9 steals per game — while also adding 14.7 points per game on average.
Utah has a fast-paced offence of their own, as they did share the regular season title with Stanford. The Utes are also a team that ranks third in Division I scoring averaging 83.5 points per game, and rely heavily from deep to propel their game making 8.3 three-pointers per game.
Forward Alissa Pili is averaging 21 points per game this season and recorded 33 points, eight rebounds and eight assist against the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs in the first round. She then tallied 28 points and 10 rebounds against Princeton.
Gianna Kneepkens was kept quieter against Princeton, but the Utes guard recorded a near double-double of 17 points and nine rebounds against Gardner-Webb. She is also shooting a whopping 50.5 per cent from field goal range this season.
The game on paper looks to be close, but knowing LSU hasn't been to a Final Four since since 2008, and that second-year head coach Kim Mulkey took her former school Baylor to a national title in 2019, if anyone knows how to win, it's Mulkey.
UConn's tough path to keep Final Four streak alive
The Seattle 3 region is one of two regions in the Sweet 16 that still have the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seed all still alive, along with Greenville 1. The Huskies tallied comfortable wins in the first two rounds, but now is when they will start to sweat a bit more.
While the Ohio State Buckeyes didn't feel that same comfort in either of their first games, the trio of Jacy Sheldon, Taylor Mikesell and Cotie McMahon showed that big players show up in big games. Each player has tallied at least 14 points in each of the Buckeyes' first two rounds, and Sheldon showed her basket-to-basket skills in the final seconds against North Carolina.
UConn has been playing the was UConn always plays in March: dominant. But they will have to clean up some of their turnover tendencies as Ohio State knows how to make a team sweat defensively with their press.
Offensively, all cylinders have been firing for the Huskies as Azzi Fudd went off for 22 points against Baylor, looking unaffected by any prior injury. Aaliyah Edwards continued her standout season as she added 19 on 81.8 per cent shooting going 9-of-11 in just 24 minutes.
If UConn makes it another round to attempt to keep up their streak of Final Four appearances, they'll still have to face the winner of Virginia Tech-Tennessee first, which will wear them out before they face the eventual winner out of Greenville 2.
Keep an eye on...
• Villanova's Maddy Siegrist has the longest streak of any Division I player this century, male or female, of 20-plus point games with 26. Siegrist also needs just 13 points against Miami to move into second for most points in a single season, behind Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum. Should Villanova keep dancing, Siegrist is only 59 points away from Plum's record.
• Louisville dominated a higher-seeded Texas behind the play of Hailey Van Lith. The guard is a player to watch after she suffered heartbreak with the Cardinals in the Elite Eight in 2021 and the Final Four in 2022, losing the the eventual champion both times. Van Lith has only recorded less than double-digit scoring twice this season, and is shooting over 50 per cent from field goal range in the tournament scoring at least 21 points per game.
Schedule
Friday
No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 9 Miami, 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT (Greenville)
No. 2 Utah vs. No. 3 LSU, 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT (Greenville)
No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 6 Colorado, 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT (Seattle)
No. 5 Louisville vs. No. 8 Ole Miss, 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT (Seattle)
Saturday
No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT (Greenville),
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 UCLA, 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT (Greenville)
No. 2 UConn vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT (Seattle)
No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 4 Tennessee, 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT (Seattle)
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