FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — UConn and Notre Dame are regular participants in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. North Carolina and Vanderbilt have also been there quite a bit, just not on the same consistent basis.
Those four teams, all among only 15 that have made the second weekend of the tournament 15 times, play in the Fort Worth Regional 1 semifinals on Friday. The defending national champion and top-seeded Huskies take on No. 4 seed North
Carolina, after No. 2 seed Vanderbilt plays No. 6 seed Notre Dame in a matchup of two of the nation's three top scorers.
“You play, what, 36 games, and you try to put yourself in this situation as often as you can,” said Geno Auriemma, UConn's 12-time national champion coach. “I think every team that’s here knows that this weekend is probably the biggest weekend of the year. I know everybody talks about the Final Four and all that, but getting there is a lot harder than what happens after you get there, I think.”
The Huskies (36-0), with AP All-America teammates Azzi Fudd and North Carolina native Sarah Strong, take a 52-game game winning streak into their record 32nd consecutive Sweet 16 appearance and 33rd overall. The Tar Heels (28-7) are making their 20th appearance, but before last year had been only once in nine seasons.
“It means a lot. ... We had a lot of milestones every year that we wanted to accomplish. Each year we keep growing and taking that extra step,” third-year UNC guard Indya Nivar said. “We want to keep growing it.”
Vanderbilt (29-4) is in its 15th Sweet 16 but first since 2009. And it comes with graduate transfer guard Iyana Moore now starting for the Fighting Irish (24-10) after averaging 13.1 points in 100 games for the Commodores over three seasons.
“She was a big part of our rebuild at Vanderbilt, so I'm excited to see her and I'm just excited to play against her, see what she's learned,” said Commodores senior forward Sacha Washington, who was Moore's roommate and is still a close friend.
This is the 15th time in a row when making the NCAA Tournament that Notre Dame has gotten at least to the Sweet 16 — the Irish missed the tourney in 2021, the only time since 1995 they were not in the field. They won the national title in 2018 and lost in the title game a year later, but haven't gotten past the Sweet 16 since.
“I think it’s incredible what Vandy has done this year,” Moore said. “They’ve been put in a great position just to go out there and be polished in March.”
Hannah Hidalgo, who leads the country with 5.6 steals a game and is third in scoring at 25.2 points, was the only returning starter for the Irish. They lost eight players after last season, including three now playing professionally and three others who transferred, among them Olivia Miles, who's in the Sweet 16 with TCU.
“It speaks volumes. ... The team that we have, they just are connected,” said sixth-year Irish coach Niele Ivey, who was part of both of Notre Dame's national titles, as a player in 2001 and the other as an assistant coach. “The last several weeks we've done a great job of really peaking at the right time, and our chemistry is clicking at the right time.”
Notre Dame's only loss its last 10 games was to Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, leads the country in scoring at 27 points per game. That's 1.8 points better than Hidalgo, the ACC player of the year who was also named the league's top defensive player.
The player ranked second between them is Audi Crooks at 25.8 points per game, but her Iowa State team lost in the first round.
UConn's Strong is from Durham, North Carolina, not far from Chapel Hill and the UNC campus. The sophomore was heavily recruited by the Tar Heels before choosing the Huskies, for whom she has averaged 17.4 points over 75 games so far.
“She’s a special kid. It’s a kid I’ve loved for a long time. I think she’s a generational talent,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “It’s been fun to support her. I’ve watched a lot of their games because I’m a Sarah Strong fan. You know, you never want to let a kid like that out of your state. I thought we were really close to getting her, but obviously she made a good decision as well. There’s no bad decision for a kid that talented.”
Banghart said her young kids ran up and hugged Strong when the teams played early last season. The Tar Heels lost, giving Auriemma his 1,216th career victory to match the Division I men's or women's record. Her kids are excited about getting to see Strong again this week.
“It was definitely a tough decision. I love Courtney. I love UNC. Just, yeah, every time I visited, she’s made me feel so welcome,” Strong said. “I think she’s a great coach. I have a lot of respect for her and very excited to be playing against them.”
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
