If Womens Basketball Was Like Boxing

Bet you didn't know there was a title fight last night. 17th-ranked Miami had won 17 in a row coming in to last night's game against 22nd-ranked Florida State, but the Hurricanes lost in Tallahassee 66-59. If collegiate women's basketball worked like boxing, Florida State would now posess a number one seed.

To make this boxing analogy work, let's say that a title belt is equivalent to a #1 seed in the tournament. And let's assume that the top four teams in the preseason AP poll got to have the #1 seeds. These belonged to UConn, Baylor, Stanford and Tennessee on November 1st. Furthermore, let's say that every single game played is like when someone challenges a champion for his title. When Connecticut beat Baylor on November 16th, Connecticut assumed control of the 2nd #1 seed (let's call this the WBO belt). But when Connecticut lost to Stanford on December 30th, they gave up both their own belt (WBA, let's say) and the WBO belt.

If you follow this analogy, the #1 seeds today would be: Stanford, Stanford, Stanford and Florida State. See the chart below.

Because Smokin' Joe Tennessee's first loss was to Georgetown Foreman, and Georgetown's first loss after that was to Miami Ali, and Miami's first loss after that was to Florida State last night, Florida State now has the last #1 seed.

Obviously this has no bearing in reality. Washington State, worst BCS-conference team in the nation, briefly held the #1 seed when they beat Cal (who beat Arizona State, who beat DePaul, who beat Stanford). I guess they would be the Leon Spinks of womens basketball.



Now in: Southern University
Now out: Alabama A&M

Conferences with multiple bids:Big East: 9
Big Ten: 8
ACC: 7
SEC: 5
Big 12: 5
PAC-10: 4
Atlantic 10: 2

Polar Bears

Last night 1,486 devoted Jayhawk fans made the trek through a snowstorm to watch Kansas get walloped by Baylor 76-37 inside Phog Allen Fieldhouse. The number 1 team in the land was unchallenged; Baylor made Kansas look bad both offensively and defensively. Not only did Kansas have no answer for Brittney Griner (who does?), but they also had no answer for anyone else on Baylor's team. This loss kicks Kansas out of the presumed at-large bids according to the College Women's Hoops S-Factor.

As I'm posting this in the afternoon, I already know there is going to be at least one game that messes with the S-Factor tomorrow. Arizona State just lost to Washington State. Arizona State is the weakest of the four Pac-10 teams projected by the S-Factor to make it into the tournament, and Washington State is one of the weakest major conference teams (second only to Oregon State). A loss to the Cougars certainly hurts Arizona State's chances at making the field of 64, although it remains to be seen if it hurts them that much.


Now in: Missouri State, Houston, Army
Now out: Vanderbilt, Kansas, American University

Conferences with multiple bids:
Big East: 9
ACC: 7
Big Ten: 7
Big 12: 5
SEC: 4
PAC-10: 4
Atlantic 10: 2
Conference USA: 2
Missouri Valley: 2