ESPN simulated NCAA women’s tournament. No. 1 USC loses in finals, and not to Oregon
South Carolina and Oregon, the top two ranked teams in women’s basketball, never got to settle which team would have won the women’s NCAA tournament this season because it was canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus.
According to a projection from ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the two wouldn’t have met in the NCAA tournament even if it would have taken place.
ESPN’s BPI projected No. 1 seed Baylor to top No. 1 seed South Carolina in the national championship game in what would have been a rematch of a game played earlier in the year.
The Gamecocks beat Baylor 74-59 when the two teams played in the Paradise Jam tournament in November. However, Baylor was without star forward Lauren Cox for that game. Cox averaged 12.5 points and 8.4 rebounds this season.
If the Bears would have indeed won the national title, as ESPN projected, it would have been their second in a row.
The projection had South Carolina beating No. 16 seed Jackson State in the first round and No. 9 seed Florida Gulf Coast in the second.
It had the Gamecocks earning a win over No. 4 seed Oregon State in the Sweet 16 before beating No. 3 seed UCLA to advance to the Final 4.
BPI projected South Carolina, Maryland, Oregon and Baylor — all four No. 1 seeds — to reach the Final 4.
Finally, it had South Carolina and Baylor reaching the national title game, with the Bears and former Gamecock Te’a Cooper coming out on top.
“Make it two in a row for the Baylor Lady Bears,” ESPN’s article says. “The doubts that a loss to Iowa State in the regular-season finale conjured up now seem foolish as Baylor plays a near flawless six games to win its fourth championship. The formula of adding a graduate transfer point guard works again for Kim Mulkey as Te’a Cooper helps beat the team that she played for a season ago. But she’s not the one to hit the game-winning shot like Chloe Jackson did in 2019. This time it’s another senior guard, Juicy Landrum, who provides the late-game heroics. Sophomore NaLyssa Smith wins the simulated Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.”
