Women's College Basketball

Former NBA guard Nick Young claimed his Instagram account was hacked after a sexist comment was posted under his username on a post about the disparity in facilities at the women's NCAA tournament compared to the men's tournament. 

"Man y'all not bringing in the big bucks, y'all the JV team and it's cool," Young's verified Instagram account, swaggyp1, posted Thursday in response to a video where Oregon forward Sedona Prince highlighted the limited resources available in the women's weight room.

Young offered his explanation Friday on Twitter:

Prince's video, which has received over 7.6 million views on Twitter as of Friday, showcased a women's weight room with a handful of dumbbells and contrasted it with the men's full-scale weight room:

"Wow, come on now! March Madness, NCAA, y'all trippin trippin," Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry posted in response to the video.

NCAA VP of women's basketball Lynn Holzman released a statement, saying there's "limited space" with so many teams packed into facilities in San Antonio, Austin and San Marcos, Texas, but said they'd work to improve the conditions:

Both the men's and women's tournaments were moved to more centralized locations, with all of the men's games taking place in Indianapolis, Bloomington and West Lafayette, Indiana, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 68-team men's event tipped off Thursday night with the play-in matchups, while the 64-team women's tourney is set to begin Sunday with the first round.

UConn's Paige Bueckers, Kentucky's Rhyne Howard, Louisville's Dana Evans and South Carolina's Aliyah Boston were named the finalists for the 2021 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year on Thursday. 

"Despite the challenges of the pandemic, once the games began it was very clear which players emerged as the leading candidates for the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy," said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. "Each finalist's consistency throughout the course of the season and ability to dominate games make them among the top performers, and we look forward to honoring one of them at the end of the season."  

Whereas three freshmen men have won college basketball's top individual honor, no women's player has ever captured the Naismith in her first season. 

Bueckers, one of the most hyped prep prospects in basketball history, may just wind up being the first. The UConn guard averaged 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds during the regular season while leading the Huskies to a 24-1 record and the top seed in the NCAA tournament. Her brilliance has left even UConn's all-time greats in awe of her poise at a young age.

"What she's done this year, in such a year of unknown, is actually ridiculous," former UConn great Breanna Stewart told Mechelle Voepel of ESPN. "She doesn't look like a freshman, that's for sure. Even when I look back on my freshman year, I had moments where it was like, 'Stewie is a freshman.' Paige has the confidence in leading her team as a freshman, which is crazy in itself."

Bueckers joined Maya Moore as the only player to win Big East Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors in the same season. 

If Bueckers is the favorite, her competitors aren't far behind. Howard averaged 20.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists during the regular season, guiding Kentucky to a No. 4 seed. The junior guard was the only player in the SEC to lead her team in points, rebounds and assists. She was also the SEC Player of the Year for a second straight season.

Evans averaged 20.0 points, 4.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds for Louisville, which went 23-3 to win the ACC regular-season championship and earn a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance. She scored in double figures in all but one of the Cardinals' 26 games this season.

Boston is the only big on the list, and she's been by far the best in the nation at her position, putting up 13.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game as a senior. She is also a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

The ultimate award winner may come down to which of these women can best lead their team in the NCAA tournament. Bueckers, leading a strong No. 1 seed that looks like the national title favorite, again stands out as the likeliest possible option. However, if Kentucky can make a deep run with Howard continuing her one-woman show, there's a strong argument to be made in her favor. 

Tara VanDerveer became the all-time winningest coach in women's basketball earlier this season. Now, she'll look to cap off a historic season with Stanford's third national title.

The selection committee announced the 64-team field for the 2021 installment of the tournament Monday, and the Cardinal claimed the No. 1 seed in the Alamo Region.

Connecticut, South Carolina and NC State joined Stanford atop the four regions.

2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket

Alamo

Mercado

Hemisfair

River Walk

Stanford successfully navigated its way through arguably the toughest conference in the country. The Cardinal went 25-2, avenging both of their defeats to Colorado and UCLA. In the case of the latter, they hammered the Bruins 75-55 in the Pac-12 title game.

Few programs have enjoyed the kind of consistency Stanford has had under VanDerveer. The program's last national championship was in 1992, though. This could be the year the Cardinal end that drought.

Four players (Kiana Williams, Haley Jones, Lexie Hull and Cameron Brink) are scoring in double figures, and Stanford's defense is eighth in points allowed (52.7 points per game) and second in opponent field-goal percentage (32.6).

Breanna Stewart not only led UConn to four straight national titles but also collected four NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player nods. Paige Bueckers will look to keep pace with Stewart this spring.

The 5'11" guard has been excellent in her first year with the Huskies. She's averaging 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds. She's also shooting 53.9 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from beyond the arc.

"Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of Bueckers' case to be the national player of the year. "Who's done more than her? And if you can give me a better argument, then I would say I'll vote for them, too. But I don't think you can."

Crediting Bueckers solely for UConn's 24-1 would be a disservice to the rest of the roster. Evina Westbrook is a dynamic playmaker, while Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are combining to score 28.3 points per game.

But Bueckers is the singular talent the Huskies have lacked since Stewart graduated and moved on to the WNBA.

Whereas UConn seems to be a lock for the Final Four every year, NC State has struggled historically to get over the hump. Largely a product of the Kay Yow era, the Wolfpack have reached the Sweet 16 on 13 occasions but have just one Final Four trip on their resume.

NC State won both of its head-to-head meetings with Louisville and knocked off No. 1 South Carolina in December.

A double-digit overtime loss to Virginia Tech preceded that first victory over the Cardinals, but Elissa Cunane was absent on that occasion. The junior center made her impact felt in the ACC tournament, averaging 23.3 points and nine rebounds.

The selection committee had NC State fifth behind No. 4 Texas A&M in its most recent top-16 ranking. The committee obviously saw enough in the ACC tourney to vault the Wolfpack into their first-ever No. 1 seed.

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament, Baylor enters as the defending champion.

NaLyssa Smith and Moon Ursin were supporting players during that 2019 title run and have emerged as key pieces for the Lady Bears. Smith is the team's leading scorer (18.1 points) and rebounder (9.1 boards), while Ursin has filled up the stat sheet (11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals).

DiDi Richards has made a full recovery from a spinal cord injury in October that left her temporarily paralyzed. The senior guard's defense was invaluable when the team went all the way two years ago, and her contributions on that side of the floor will once again set the tone for Baylor.

The selection committee did Baylor few favors, slotting the Lady Bears into the River Walk Region with UConn. That could be a great Elite Eight clash.

The NCAA is staging the women's tournament across multiple sites in Texas. The Alamodome in San Antonio will host the Final Four starting April 2.

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the 2021 NCAA women's basketball tournament. 

Deena Casiero, UConn's director of sports medicine and head team physician, issued a statement:

"After we received notification of the positive test result yesterday, we initiated contact tracing protocols, which included interviewing individual members of the basketball program and in-depth video analysis of practice. Only household close contacts were identified. Given the fact that we have been doing daily testing for the past seven days, we feel confident that we were able to catch this very early on in the disease process. The remainder of Tier I tested negative yesterday and today."

According to the school, Auriemma "did not have close contact" with anybody on the team since March 12. The Huskies haven't played since beating Marquette in the Big East championship game on March 8.

The legendary coach, who UConn said received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on March 10, won't be able to rejoin his team until at least March 24, which is the second day of the second round. The Sweet 16 tips off March 27.

Associate head coach Chris Dailey will presumably be in charge for the time being. Dailey joined Auriemma in Storrs, Connecticut, when he first took the job in 1985, and she has remained there ever since. She was promoted to her current role in 1988.

That level of continuity should guarantee there isn't a big drop in the team's performance.

In general, Connecticut shouldn't have much trouble handling its first two games of the Big Dance. The Huskies, 24-1, are a lock for a No. 1 seed, and they sat atop the selection committee's most recent top-16 rankings.

UConn also counts one of the best players in college basketball among its ranks.

Paige Bueckers is averaging 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 47.4 percent from beyond the arc. The highly touted freshman guard has lived up to the hype, raising the ceiling for a roster that already included Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook and Aubrey Griffin.

The Huskies will learn their path to the Final Four during Monday night's selection show.

With only eight conference tournament championship games remaining, the NCAA women's basketball tournament field is beginning to take shape. And while Sunday's action could bring about some changes, many teams are already locked into this year's field.

That includes at the top, where it's clear that Stanford and UConn are the best teams in the country. Will either of that duo make a run to the national championship?

Here's everything you need to know for the women's tournament selection show Monday, followed by a breakdown of the current bracket picture.

Selection Show Information

Date: Monday, March 15

Start Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN app

Current Bracket Picture

The four No. 1 seeds appeared to be set for the tournament based on the latest bracket projections. ESPN's Charlie Creme has Stanford as the No. 1 overall seed, with UConn, South Carolina and Texas A&M earning the other three spots.

The Cardinal are 25-2 after winning the Pac-12 tournament championship. They have won 14 games in a row, and they have defeated some tough conference competition over the past month, including Oregon, Arizona and UCLA.

With four players averaging double-digit points, including senior guard Kiana Williams (team-high 14.3 points per game), Stanford will be looking to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2017 and win its first national championship since 1992.

It's no surprise that UConn is among the tournament favorites once again. The Huskies have won 11 national championships (most recently in 2016), all of which have come under coach Geno Auriemma. They have also reached the Final Four in each of the past 12 NCAA tournaments.

This season, UConn has lost only one game (at Arkansas on Jan. 28) and has 24 wins after beating Marquette in Monday's Big East tournament championship game.

If Creme's projections are accurate, then two SEC teams will be receiving No. 1 seeds for the tournament. South Carolina is 22-4 after winning the SEC tournament championship, while Texas A&M is 23-2 but was upset by Georgia in the conference tourney semifinals.

The Aggies may not have won the SEC tourney title, but they beat the Gamecocks in the only meeting between the teams, notching a 65-57 home victory on Feb. 28.

Sunday's best action is come in the Big 12 tournament championship game, which features No. 6 Baylor and No. 17 West Virginia. Creme has the Bears as a No. 2 seed and the Mountaineers as a No. 4 seed, but those could change depending on how this matchup goes.

Baylor enters with a 24-2 record and owns two wins over West Virginia this season. So while an upset is possible, it's more likely that the Bears win and keep building momentum ahead of the NCAA tournament.

As for the bubble watch, Creme has Washington State, DePaul, Wake Forest and UCF as his last four teams in the tournament. Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss and BYU are Creme's first four teams out.

The event is set to get underway March 21. Because this year's tourney is being played amid the coronavirus pandemic, every game is taking place in the San Antonio area.

The tournament will conclude with the national championship game on April 4 at the Alamodome.

Having rolled to a regular-season Big East title, UConn did exactly the same thing in the conference tournament.

The Huskies cruised past Marquette 73-39 on Monday night to lift their 19th conference championship.

Paige Bueckers led the way with a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block. The freshman guard was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

UConn hasn't won a national championship since 2016, which qualifies as a drought for a program that reeled off four straight national titles and 10 over a 17-year span. Based on how the team is performing this year, that stretch could come to an end in April.

The Huskies didn't drop a single Big East game, and their lone nonconference loss came courtesy of Arkansas, which sits 15th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. That dominance carried over into the Big East tourney, where they outscored their opponents 234-119 over three games.

In the event UConn goes on to be the last team standing in the NCAA tournament, it will be down to more than simply Bueckers.

Evina Westbrook has made a big impact upon becoming eligible to play following her transfer from Tennessee. Her experience, along with fellow juniors Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams, helps balance out a roster with seven freshmen.

Having said that, it's not a total coincidence UConn's period of unparalleled success ended after Breanna Stewart graduated.

For years, Geno Auriemma could seemingly count on having at least one transcendent talent on his roster, be it Stewart, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi or Tina Charles. While skilled, Katie Lou Samuelson, Gabby Williams, Azura Stevens and Napheesa Collier didn't fit into that category.

And in general, the gap between UConn and the rest of the country was bound to close as women's basketball grew in popularity. The John Wooden era ended eventually for UCLA on the men's side.

But with Bueckers, Auriemma once again has a player who's poised to be the best in college basketball. The Minnesota native has more than lived up to the hype, averaging 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 53.9 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from beyond the arc.

UConn was the No. 1 overall seed when the NCAA released the second of its projections for the top 16 teams in the women's bracket on Feb. 28. When the full bracket is revealed, it's a safe bet the Huskies will remain there, and they'll likely be the heavy favorites to win.

UConn freshman Paige Bueckers was one of 15 players to be named a finalist for the 2020-21 women's college basketball Wooden Award on Saturday.

According to ESPN, Bueckers is the only freshman to be named a finalist, while South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston and Stanford guard Haley Jones are the only other underclassmen to make the list.

Bueckers has already been named the Big East Player and Freshman of the Year, joining former UConn star Maya Moore as the only players to accomplish that feat in the same season.

Bueckers has been the driving force behind the Huskies' 21-1 record, which is good enough for the No. 1 ranking in the nation.

She is UConn's leading scorer with 19.8 points per game and is putting up 6.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals per contest, while shooting 53.6 percent from the field and a remarkable 47.6 percent from beyond the arc.

The Wooden Award has been given to the most outstanding player in women's college basketball every year since the 2003-04 season. Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, who plays for the WNBA's New York Liberty, is the reigning two-time winner.

No school has had more winners of the Wooden Award than UConn, as Moore and Breanna Stewart won it twice, while Tina Charles won the award once.

A UConn player has not won the Wooden Award since Stewart claimed the honor for a second time in 2016, but there is a strong chance that Bueckers will end the drought.

She will look to continue impressing Saturday against St. John's and throughout the Big East tournament for a Connecticut team that looks poised to win the conference title.

UConn's Paige Bueckers and Iowa's Caitlin Clark lead the semifinalists for the Naismith Women's Player of the Year award.

Bueckers and Clark, two of the most gifted college freshmen in recent memory, lead a field that is otherwise stacked with more experienced players. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, a sophomore, is the only other junior or senior among the 11 semifinalists.  

2021 Women's Player of the Year Semifinalists

Aliyah Boston (South Carolina)
Paige Bueckers (UConn)
Caitlin Clark (Iowa)
Charli Collier (Texas)
Elissa Cunane (NC State)
Dana Evans (Louisville)
Naz Hillmon (Michigan)
Rhyne Howard (Kentucky)
Aari McDonald (Arizona)
Michaela Onyenwere (UCLA)
NaLyssa Smith (Baylor)

Bueckers has burst onto the scene during a sensational freshman season, leading the Huskies in points and assists while emerging as one of the most dynamic players in the country. She led UConn to a 21-1 regular-season record and the No. 1 ranking in the nation and has the Huskies looking like favorites to win their first national title since 2016.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said last month, per Marisa Ingemi of the New York Times.

Clark has not led Iowa to the same level of success—the Hawkeyes are projected as a mid-tier seed for the NCAA tournament—but she's been every bit as sensational as a playmaker during her freshman season. She averaged 26.9 points and 7.1 assists per game during the regular season, ranking among the nation's leaders in both categories. 

Michigan's Naz Hillmon is likely the Big Ten's best chance at bringing home the award. Hillman has been a double-double machine throughout the 2020-21 season while pushing the Wolverines to the No. 12 spot in the nation.

The race for the top overall seed is largely wide-open, with the conference tournaments likely playing a strong factor in who winds up going into the NCAA tournament as the favorite.