Double-digit seeds Quinnipiac and Oregon bring buzz

Quinnipiac and Oregon are crashing the Sweet 16.

The two double-digit seeds joined a field of mostly top seeds in the women’s regional semifinals that will be played next weekend.

It’s no shock that No. 1s UConn, Baylor, South Carolina and Notre Dame made it out of the first weekend. Seeing these two newcomers, though, brings an unexpected buzz to the tournament.

It’s only the third time in NCAA Tournament history that two double-digit seeds made the regional semifinals.

The 12th-seeded Bobcats shocked the field, first beating Marquette, then knocking off host Miami and will now play South Carolina. Quinnipiac’s run comes 10 years after fellow Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference school Marist made a run to the Sweet 16.

“It’s funny, we never really put a goal on how far we can go, just because we didn’t know what we had,” No. 10 seed Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We’ve kind of attacked the entire season as a work in progress.

“Just a great game,” Quinnipiac coach Tricia Fabbri said after her team advanced.

Here are a few other things to watch in the women’s regional semifinals:

FREQUENT FLYERS

Stanford, Quinnipiac and Oregon will have spent a lot of time in the air by the end of this week.

The Cardinal couldn’t host opening round games because of a gymnastics tournament on campus so were shipped to Kansas. They will have to fly back to Lexington, Kentucky, for the Sweet 16 after returning home Monday night.

Quinnipiac got out of the frozen Northeast for a trip to Miami. After returning home, the Bobcats will head across the country to Stockton, California. Oregon flew from the Pacific Northwest to North Carolina. The Ducks had a charter flight home late Monday night so that some of the players could take exams at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The Ducks will then fly to Connecticut later in the week.

EXCITING REMATCH

The faces are different – only two players remain from the game – but Louisville and Baylor will meet again in the regional semifinal in Oklahoma City. The two teams played there in 2013 and the Cardinals pulled off one of the greatest upsets in tournament history, taking down Brittney Griner and the top-seeded Lady Bears.

STAR POWER

There are plenty of big-name players still around. The two Kelseys–— Plum and Mitchell – will try to guide Washington and Ohio State further. There’s a lot of young talent, too, with Maryland freshman Destiny Slocum and Oregon first-year Sabrina Ionescu squaring off.

PAC-12 SUCCESS

The Pac-12 has made claim to being the best conference all season long, and it’s tough to argue with five of their teams in the Sweet 16. Oregon was joined by Stanford, Oregon State, Washington and UCLA.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Double-digit seeds Quinnipiac and Oregon bring buzz."