Great preview of the "other March Madness" at The UConnBlog. Here's a snippet featuring Oklahoma's region.
KANSAS CITY REGION
Pairings
At Minneapolis, Minn. (Sunday & Tuesday)
[1] Nebraska (30-1) vs. [16] Northern Iowa (17-15), 7:05 p.m.
[8] UCLA (24-8) vs. [9] North Carolina State (20-13), 9:30 p.m.
At Louisville, Ky. (Saturday & Monday)
[5] Michigan State (22-9) vs. [12] Bowling Green (27-6), 12;10 p.m.
[4] Kentucky (25-7) vs. [13] Liberty (27-5), 2:35 p.m.
At Norman, Okla. (Sunday & Tuesday)
[3] Oklahoma (23-10) vs. [14] South Dakota State (22-10), 9:40 p.m.
[6] Georgia Tech (23-9) vs. [11] Arkansas-LR (26-6), 7:15 p.m.
At South Bend, Ind. (Sunday & Tuesday)
[7] Wisconsin (21-10) vs. [10] Vermont (26-6), 12:20 p.m.
[2] Notre Dame (27-5) vs. [15] Cleveland State (19-13), 2:45 p.m.
Favorite: [1] Nebraska
Nebraska made it through the Big 12 unbeaten (until a loss to Texas A&M in the conference semifinals, ending their hopes of an unbeaten-vs.-unbeaten matchup against UConn), but they didn't play anyone played just three tournament teams out of conference (No. 7 LSU, No. 10 Vermont, No. 11 Arkansas-Little Rock). The Big 12 schedule was rugged, though, and maybe I'm spoiled by seeing UConn schedule Texas, Florida State, Oklahoma, Duke, Stanford and North Carolina out of conference. They're good - and post Kelsey Griffin is excellent and worthy of the Big 12 player of the year award - but if you had to bet on a #1 seed to go down, it would be the Huskers.
Darkhorse: [6] Georgia Tech
Way back in November 2008, when UConn's current streak was one loss in a row, the Huskies opened their season against a young Georgia Tech team. The Yellow Jackets had it tied at halftime before UConn broke it open late. Most of that team is still around, and this is an aggressive, fast team that could make some noise. Junior guard Alex Montgomery and Aussie forward Brigitte Ardossi both score in double figures, but the awful-shooting Jackets will need to win with defense (they average 10 steals per game and allow teams to shoot just 38.6 percent).
Upset Potential: [10] Vermont over [7] Wisconsin
Vermont impressed me as a 16-seed against UConn last year with their intensity and their spark plug, Courtnay Pilypatis (14.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg). They crushed everyone in the America East (except for a couple close losses to a Hartford team that was ranked in the top 25 until they lost Beverly in the final game), beat Dayton and bubble team Boston College, and lost by five at Oklahoma State.
OVER RATED CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP: [4] Kentucky
Maybe you can tell, but I'm not a huge fan of the SEC. Here's another team that played nobody out of conference and played reasonably well in-league (5-4 against the six SEC tournament teams). Nevertheless, I'd be surprised to see the Wildcats advance to the second weekend.
Best Player: Griffin, Nebraska
Player to watch: Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame
The freshman guard, the Irish's leading scorer, is a huge reason why Notre Dame is 27-2 against non-UConn teams. They'll lean on her if they want a chance to beat potentially two Big 12 teams (Oklahoma, Nebraska) in the regional in Kansas City.
Best game, first-round: Michigan State-Bowling Green
Best potential game, later rounds: Oklahoma-Notre Dame
UConn Fan-Approved Coach Alert: That would be Sherri Coale of Oklahoma. UConn fans love her because Geno loves her, and she is the anti-Summit in just about every way.
The Sooners finally broke through to the Final Four in Courtney Paris' senior season last year, only to be unceremoniously upset by Louisville. Without Paris, the Sooners are still an elite team (and they lead the nation in superstar siblings, featuring Carlee Roethlisberger and Abi Olajuwon), but they don't have anyone as dominant as Paris (or her sister) this time around.
Et ceterae: North Carolina State is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, when they were coached by late Hall of Famer Kay Yow ... Liberty became one of the first true Cinderellas in the women's tournament, advancing to the 2005 Sweet 16 as a #13 seed, upsetting then-national powerhouse Penn State ... South Dakota State has only been D-I for a few years, but have dominated the Summit League; last year, they lost just four games and nearly knocked off Baylor in the second round.
