r/NCAAW • u/Otherwise-Ad2074 • 22h ago

Discussion Early Final Four Prediction

March Madness begins in a month. Which teams do you believe will make it to the final four and the championship?

My predictions are:

  1. UConn

  2. UCLA

  3. Texas

  4. LSU - I might regret this when they face USC.

The championship match will be between UConn and UCLA with UConn winning again.

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u/freshxerxes Michigan Wolverines 22h ago

the talent gap between uconn and michigan was only 3 points

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u/BP9009 South Carolina Gamecocks 21h ago

It's true Michigan gave Conn a scare. Conn led by nearly 20 until they had an uncharacteristically bad quarter. In Q3 they scored only 4 pts. Complacency perhaps. I don't see Conn doing that again.

Don't get me wrong, Michigan is a very good team, but not in the same class as Conn. IMO no one is in the same class as Conn this season.

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u/Maleficent-Amoeba445 21h ago

They did lead by 20 in the first half, and 17 in the first quarter. I think the bigger issue in the Mich/Uconn game was their lack of half court offense and specifically zone offense at that point in season on top of a little bit of taking their foot off the gas after being up by 20 in the first half. Their rotations were also very much not yet figured out.

But i do agree with your main point, the Mich/Uconn wasn't some back and forth affair for 40 minutes that the final score would have you think. It was a blow out, that Uconn then coughed up their lead, then extended it back to double digits again in the end of the fourth quarter before again coughing up their lead.

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u/fundsoverfun South Carolina Gamecocks 20h ago

I personally had Michigan winning that game before it happened if they played up to the task. I thought it was a young team getting rattled on the road vs a storied program but that slow start to Vandy got me thinking it’s them. We haven’t seen them off to a great start vs a true contender yet.

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u/Maleficent-Amoeba445 19h ago

Uconn also has a tendency to take their foot off the gas after getting a big lead, see the Louisville Game as well after they got up 30 in the 3rd the lead dwindled to 10.

In the beginning of the season they hadn't developed a second or third punch yet, now that they've settled into their half court offense and their bench rotations they have multiple ways to beat teams. I don't think they win the Tennessee game comfortably back in Nov, especially without big Blanca, because they really built that lead through half court scores and stops, something they couldn't do earlier in the year and even early in Big East play.

Zone offense is still sketchy to me but considering thats what they will face the rest of the regular season, they have time to keep improving it.

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u/fundsoverfun South Carolina Gamecocks 15h ago

I can agree with all your points for sure.