Birmingham Regional Features Familiar Foes But Different Matchups

The NCAA Tournament bracket has been highlighted by rematches and the Sweet 16 in Birmingham has brought us two of potentially the best.

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When the NCAA Tournament bracket first came out eyes immediately started darting all over. What matchups could we get? What needs to happen for us to get those great matchups?

Often times those matchups that we look for are matchups we may only get during the NCAA Tournament. Those true heavy hitter cross-conference matchups are what normally catch my attention, but this year it was a little bit different.

Rematches were on the table all over the bracket. Some just being between conference opponents, some being from last year’s tournament, and several coming from earlier this year during the non-conference schedule.

Two of those rematches that got people very excited are officially on deck today and both are in the same region, #2 TCU vs #3 Notre Dame and #1 Texas vs #5 Tennessee in Regional 3. What makes the matchups intriguing this time around is the fact that there are the key differences compared to the first time we saw these teams square off.

#2 TCU vs #3 Notre Dame

First game result: TCU 76 Notre Dame 68

Over Thanksgiving Week where every team enters into the women’s basketball twilight zone of neutral site matchups that people can barely find to watch, Notre Dame was handed their first loss of the season by TCU.

I vividly remember my initial confusion over how we got that result. Keep in mind, Notre Dame was fresh off their win against USC on the road and the vibes seemingly could not have been higher…until they weren’t!

We have learned a lot about both of these teams since that day in November. TCU is more legit than most people imagined in year two under Mark Campbell. Notre Dame is as good as anyone at their peaks but that week in November was their first of two shaky stretches of games. Notre Dame later lost three of their last five games heading into March Madness.

What we’ve seen from Notre Dame in March Madness, however, is resilience. They feel like they are back and a lot of that to me has to do with what they didn’t have in the first TCU matchup which is experience.

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said in her press conference Friday that they’ve gained experience in multiple ways.

“Yeah depth was a big area for us, not having one post-up off the bench”, said Niele Ivey. “Kate (Koval) was maybe her fifth game of the season, so very green at that point. Looking forward to having more depth in the post position. With the experience Maddy (Westbeld) and Liza (Karlen) both have incredible experience. Definitely going to rely on that and happy that we have a healthier roster than the last time we played them.”

When you play a team so early in the season, playing them in March can truly be a different ballgame. We will see if the additional pieces added to Notre Dame’s roster can change the end result of this one in favor of the Fighting Irish.

#1 Texas vs #5 Tennessee

First game result: Texas 80 Tennessee 76

There are no such things as moral victories when you look at resumes come bracket time, but man if they did Tennessee would have had a monster resume.

And while Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell would be the first to tell you that they shouldn’t count, I do mean that genuinely! Tennessee came so close, so many times, against good teams this season, but just couldn’t get themselves over that hump.

That was what happened when the Lady Vols traveled to Austin for their first ever SEC matchup against Texas.

A wire-to-wire close loss against a Texas team who certainly has their faults, but also absolutely earned that #1 seed.

The difference from game one to game two of this matchup this season is pretty glaring; the Lady Vols got their coach back.

“Yeah, I was not very involved in the prep on that one. A little bit busy.” Caldwell joked in her Friday press conference. “But, you know, it was interesting to sit at home and watch it and to yell at your team through the TV like a fan as opposed to a coach. We did go back and watch the film and just treated it like a normal game prep since.”

Oh hey, by the way, that “little bit busy” was literally giving birth. Busy is certainly one way to describe it!

Caldwell has instilled a new energy to this Tennessee team in year one that has left me incredibly impressed. Getting her back on the sideline in this rematch, especially with the momentum Tennessee is carrying from their win on the road in the Round of 32 against #4 Ohio State, could end up being enough to flip this result in the Lady Vols’ favor.