Women’s NCAA conference tournaments: Stanford’s historic NCAA Tournament streak among three key storylines

The calendar has turned to March, which means college basketball takes center stage. While everyone is eagerly anticipating what looks to be a wide open women’s NCAA Tournament, that’s still a few weeks away. First, it’s time for conference tournaments, some of which have already gotten started. 

Most notably, the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC tournaments will begin this week, with all of them concluding on Sunday, save for the Big East, which will play its title game on Monday. Ahead of what figures to be a thrilling week of hoops, here are three key storylines for conference tournament week. 

Stanford’s historic NCAA Tournament streak on the line

Few programs had a worse offseason than Stanford. The Cardinal lost legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer to retirement, star center Cameron Brink to the WNBA, star forward Kiki Iriafen to the transfer portal and starting guard Hannah Jump to graduation, all while making the transition to the ACC, which is headquartered on the opposite side of the country. 

At first, it seemed as though Kate Paye and Co. were going to keep the train rolling, but Stanford’s 7-1 start and early Top 25 ranking didn’t last long. The Cardinal finished the regular season 16-13, including 8-10 in conference play, and will need a deep run in the ACC Tournament to have any hope of extending their historic NCAA Tournament streak. 

Stanford has made 36 consecutive appearances in the Big Dance, which is second only to UConn (42) for the longest active streak in the country. 

In order to make that 37 trips in a row, the Cardinal, who are the No. 11 seed in the ACC Tournament, will have to win multiple games this week to give themselves a chance. They’ll start with Clemson on Wednesday, with Louisville and Duke waiting after that. 

If they win all three of those games, they’ll put themselves firmly in the mix for one of the last at-large spots and would then almost certainly face Notre Dame in the ACC semis. A loss against Notre Dame would leave them right on the bubble, but if they managed to beat the Fighting Irish they would probably get in even if they then lost the ACC title game to, say, NC State. 

Will we get the rematches we want in title games?

One of the benefits of conference consolidation is that it has provided some thrilling regular-season battles. 

USC and UCLA dueled over the Big Ten crown for months, with the Trojans finally earning it in a winner-take-all game at Pauley Pavilion last week. The only two games the Bruins lost in Big Ten play were to the Trojans. 

Texas, a newcomer to the SEC, provided a real threat to defending national champions South Carolina. And after they split their regular season meetings, the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament ultimately had to be decided by a coin flip — a flip won by Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks. 

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NC State, meanwhile, won a share of the ACC title and will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament in large part due to its thrilling double-overtime victory over Notre Dame a few weeks ago. That was the lone meeting between the teams. 

And finally, TCU won its first Big 12 title by beating Baylor on Sunday in the first ever winner-take-all game in the conference’s history. The Horned Frogs won nine of their final 10 games, including two over the Bears by a combined eight points. 

All four of those conferences will play their tournament title games on Sunday in what could be one of the most exciting days of basketball all year. Will we get the rematches we want? As much fun as upsets are, the reward of everything going chalk would be a quadruple-header featuring NC State vs. Notre Dame, South Carolina vs. Texas, USC vs. UCLA and TCU vs Baylor. That would be incredible, especially as the result of those games could swing multiple No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.  

Conference bragging rights at stake

The record for most teams in an NCAA Tournament by a single conference is nine by the SEC in 2016 and the Big East in 2011. That mark is definitely going to be broken this season, but by how many conferences, and by how many teams? This week’s action will help determine the answers. 

The Big Ten could see as many as 13 teams make the tourney, which would be an incredible feat even considering their new status as a mega conference with 18 schools. They have a number of schools right on the cut line heading into championship week, however. CBS Sports’ Connor Groel has Washington as one of the last four teams in and Minnesota as one of the last four teams out in his most recent bracketology. 

Ironically, they play each other in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday. Will both of them still be able to get in even though one is guaranteed an early loss? We’ll see. 

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Down South, the reimagined SEC appears likely to hit double digits themselves. In fact, the only real drama figures to be about seeding. South Carolina, who won the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament via a coin flip, and Texas are both in the mix for No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, if Texas is able to win the SEC tournament, it will earn the No. 1 overall seed. Depending on how the SEC tourney goes and what the selection committee decides, the SEC could have eight of the top-20 overall seeds in the Big Dance. 

Another interesting situation unfolding is the Ivy League’s quest to get three teams in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in league history. Columbia, Princeton and Harvard are all in the mix, though Ivy Madness isn’t until March 14 and 15. The two that get to the Ivy League title game — likely Columbia and one of Princeton and Harvard barring a late shake-up in the standings — will have the best chance. Whether the loser of the Princeton-Harvard semifinal, assuming it happens, gets in will be the big question. 

Regardless, the fact that the Ivy League might get more teams in the NCAA Tournament than the Big East is stunning.