Women's March Madness Tournament Structure Critiques
The women's tournament is properly on its way with blowouts and bracket breaking upsets ensuing left and right. However, leading into the tournament after the Selection Sunday show, several of the games most prominent coaches were frustrated with the seeding.
When the bracket was revealed last Sunday, UCLA was awarded the overall No. 1 seed placing them firmly in Spokane regional allowing them to play closer to home and commute within their own time zone. This reveal was followed by South Carolina and Texas taking No. 1 seeds that plant them in the Birmingham regional and the University of Southern California taking the final No 1 seed on the Spokane side.
When interviewed about this seeding, South Carolina's Dawn Staley was critical of not receiving the overall No. 1 based on the Gamecocks schedule. South Carolina played 19 quad one opponents going 16-3 in that schedule, a feat that Staley felt should have received more praise from the committee.
Perhaps even more vocal, Lindsay Gottlieb, Southern Cal's head coach said, 'I never thought I would be a one seed and feel so disrespected.' Gottlieb went on to clearly express frustration on being the overall number four No. 1 seed. Perhaps Gottlieb is disappointed mainly because her regional path now includes going through UConn as the No. 2 seed and an Elight Eight matchup to get to the Final Four in Tampa.
To no one's surprise, UConn's Geno Auriemmo was also extremely vocal on the decision-making of the committee. Similar to Staley, Auriemmo was critical over the strength of schedule played during the regular season and how it impacted seeding for the tournament, stating, "Maybe we [UConn] don't get the respect we deserve. If you can go 4-12 in your league and you can still make the NCAA Tournament and get an eight seed, does it matter what you do in the regular season?"
Additionally, Auriemmo was on podcast Good Game with Sarah Spain this week where he situated structural issues within the women's tournament needs to fix. He brought up having the regional in Spokane causing teams to travel across three time zones and a lack of fans for east coast teams that travel to the west coast. Furthermore, Auriemmo noted that when women's teams get to the Elite Eight and Final Four they are given less days of rest between games than their men counterparts.
Last year the Spokane regional was a hot topic and became noteworthy as hotel space was limited in the city causing many teams to stay across the Idaho border in Coeur d'Alene. Coeur d'Alene, long has a White Supremacy history and the University of Utah encountered racial harassment staying in the city for their regional games. It will be interesting to see this year if despite the regional being in Spokane yet again, if the NCAA has made changes to negate these issues and prioritize player safety.
To follow along with coverage of the women's March Madness Spokane Regional starting next week, follow me on Twitter.
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