From Wednesday, March 15th 2023 until Sunday, April 2nd 2023, the highly anticipated March Madness Tournament took place. Though the men’s division brought great surprises and top-tier performances, the women’s tournament made history. 68 D1 teams went head to head in this year’s tournament, resulting in shattered brackets all over the country. Despite team records and popularity, the battles between teams brought unexpected results, but also intense games. That being said, what matches broke brackets and broke hearts? 

First Round: 

As expected, the first round of the tournament did not bring many surprises. Games that were most likely to have messed peoples’ brackets up were Southern California (USC) vs. South Dakota St. and Iowa St. vs. Toledo. Considering that USC is a pretty prominent Pac-12 power, many people would expect the Trojans to win over the #9 ranked South Dakota. Unfortunately, they fell short and lost 57-62. Iowa St. and Toledo had a very close fight, but the #12 ranked team came on top to defeat Iowa St. 80-73. 

Second Round: 

Now this is where things get interesting! The matchups of the second round were intense, and resulted in heartbreaking results (if you filled out a bracket..) For starters, in the Greenville 2 region, #9 Miami beat the #1 ranked Indiana. Many participants had Indiana placed in their championship game but alas, the Hurricanes, led by the infamous Cavinder twins, Destiny Harden, and Jasmyne Roberts, made people regret their decision. A heartbreaking loss occurred during the Stanford vs. Ole Miss game. Stanford, a #1 ranked team in the Seattle 4 region, was beat by the #8 Ole Miss Rebels. Stanford fell short throughout the whole game and was not able to dominate. Also in the Seattle 4 region was Louisville vs. Texas. Led by Hailey Van Lith, the Louisville Cardinals took down Texas by a relatively large margin. The fan favorite Duke Blue Devils were beat by a Pac-12 power, which was Colorado. 

Sweet 16: 

Because of the Second Round results, all brackets were busted going into the Sweet 16. Miami just could not stop! In a tight game against Villanova, the Hurricanes came out on top 70-65 in order to advance to the elite eight. Both the Ohio St. vs UCONN and LSU vs Utah games were very close, especially considering that all 4 teams are very strong, but Ohio St. and LSU won their respective games. 

Elite 8:

The Elite 8 set the stage for the intense Final 4 and Championship game coming up. Miami’s amazing run came to an end when the dominating LSU tigers took them down. South Carolina continued to overpower as they beat Maryland in a really tight battle. Virginia Tech also emerged victorious over Ohio St. The Louisville vs Iowa was an interesting one because no one really knew what the results could be. Caitlin Clark and Hailey Van Lith are two, top-tier players who have led their teams to greatness throughout the tournament and in the regular season. All in all, Iowa came on top. 

Final 4: 

The Final 4 was set: South Carolina vs. Iowa and LSU vs. Virginia Tech. The results were without a doubt very, very surprising. LSU breezed by Virginia Tech beating them 79-72. LSU, led by Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, and Alexis Morris, “griddied” their way into the Championship game. The South Carolina vs Iowa game was way more intense on the other hand. South Carolina, despite being a fan favorite and being led by #1 prospect Aliyah Boston, fell short to the dominating Iowa team. With their loss, everyones’ brackets were definitely in the trash. 

Championship: 

Iowa vs LSU. Two unexpected teams to make it on that final stage. Both teams had unveiled their secret talents and displayed their true strengths throughout the duration of the tournament. Leading players Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark lured the views of more than 100,00 people. The first three quarters were very close as the point margin was kept very, very slow. LSU finished the game like a track runner finishes the 400; they pushed and gave it their all. Their efforts led to their big win over Iowa 102-85. This victory marked the first Women’s Championship in any sport at LSU. 

This year’s Women’s March Madness definitely brought the heat. Though no brackets survived, the tournament was very fun to watch and it was very inspiring to see history being made within teams.