Jessica Lantz has stayed on top of the 2012 NCAA women's basketball tournament over the last few days and has already posted the brackets for this weekend's Sweet 16.
Meanwhile, bloggers around SBN have been previewing the upcoming games as well as looking ahead to next season for a few teams that fell short.
- Will Shelton and Chris Pendley of Rocky Top Talk had me on their podcast yesterday to discuss the Tennessee Lady Vols' upcoming game against Kansas and their potential meeting with Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears should they advance to the Elite Eight. We covered a lot of ground, but focused on the play Glory Johnson, Meighan Simmons, and what benefit starting their seniors provides them. Read (and listen to) more >>>
- Owen of Rock Chalk Talk took up a topic that we touched on in the podcast, looking briefly at the Kansas Jayhawks' 70-64 upset over Elena Delle Donne and the Delaware Blue Hens to set up a Sweet 16 meeting with the aforementioned Lady Vols. Angel Goodrich was the focal point there and Owen says she was the "the best and most important player on the floor." Read more >>>
- Mark C. Moore of Our Daily Bears recaps Baylor's win against Florida on the other side of the Des Moines bracket, highlighting how special it is for the team to have pulled off a win despite playing poorly offensively for most of the game. Odyssey Sims' performance sort of punctuates what makes the team so difficult to beat: despite 3-for-11 shooting from the field, Sims finished with 14 points due to 7-for-10 free throw shooting. Read more >>>
- norcalnick of California Golden Blogs reflects on Cal's loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and also started looking ahead to a bright future for women's basketball in Berkeley. After competitive losses to Rutgers, Texas, Ohio St., Stanford, and finally Notre Dame this year, he wonders: "Is Cal set up to be one of those elite teams next year?" Read more >>>
- Jordan Esco of Crimson and Cream Machine starts getting excited for next year after the Oklahoma Sooners suffered a difficult 74-70 loss at home to the St. John's Red Storm on Tuesday evening. As our own Jessica Lantz reported yesterday, Sooners coach Sherri Coale said that the Sooners' 19 turnovers "weren't happening because of a certain thing St. John's was doing on defense" and Esco essentially echoed that sentiment, writing that many of those miscues were "just careless" - and thus preventable - which cost the Sooners a trip to the Sweet 16. Read more >>>
- Avid women's basketball fan aurabass posted a summary of "the Lady Lions magnificent victory over Nikki Caldwell's LSU Lady Tigers down in Baton Rouge" at Black Shoe Diaries, noting a personal connection to Caldwell. Rather than focusing on a recap and analysis, he praises the effort it took for Penn State to overcome LSU's homecourt advantage to win a physical game and advance to the Sweet 16. Read more >>>
- AndyPanda of Building the Dam provides a recap and photos of the Oregon State Beavers' 55-49 loss to the Washington Huskies in the WNIT. Although UW's advantage in the paint was a defining feature of the game, Andy points out the role of Oregon State's turnovers in the loss as well. Read more >>>
- KennardHusker of Off Tackle Empire - SB Nation's Big Ten blog - stays loosely with the Des Moines region in writing that he doesn't yet feel connected to the Big Ten conference as a long-time fan of Nebraska, which lost to former Big 12 foe Kansas in the first round. It's an interesting reflection on conference realignment after one year, particularly with the Big 12 being at the center of future realignment next year. Read more >>>
- aubtigerman of Track Em Tigers looks at NC State Coach Kelli Harper as a candidate to replace former Auburn Tigers coach Nell Fortner. He concludes that she would be a great hire "because of her coaching resume and her Auburn connections." Read more >>>
Click here to see the complete brackets for the Sweet 16. For more on the 2012 NCAA women's basketball tournament, check out our "NCAA Tournament 2012" section.