The Stanford Cardinal edged out the Iowa Hawkeyes as the final No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket, while the No. 2 seed Maryland Terrapins and No. 3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish face a potential Sweet Sixteen rematch of the Diamond Miller buzzer-beater, and this year’s Sweet Sixteen will be without either the preseason-No. 7 Louisville Cardinals or the preseason-No. 3 Texas Longhorns.
Stanford is the No. 1 seed and Iowa is the No. 2 seed in the Seattle 4 region so the Cardinal’s path to the Elite Eight will be slightly easier than that of the Hawkeyes despite Iowa winning the Big Ten Tournament and Stanford losing in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.
Miller, who is Maryland’s top player and ESPN’s projected No. 2 pick in the WNBA Draft, hit the game-winner from mid-range to lift the Terps past the Irish on Dec. 1 in South Bend. Maryland and Notre Dame are in the Greenville 1 region, along with the No. 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks.
Texas is the No. 4 seed and Louisville is the No. 5 seed in the Seattle 4 region. Only one team from their Austin bubble will advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
The Indiana Hoosiers are the No. 1 seed in Greenville 2 and the Virginia Tech Hokies are the No. 1 seed in Seattle 3. LSU got a No. 3 seed (Greenville 2); as expected, their weak schedule outweighed their 28-2 record. The UConn Huskies, who were also considered to be in the running for the final No. 1 seed, are the No. 2 seed in Seattle 3. The Utah Utes are the final No. 2 seed (Greenville 2).
The Kansas Jayhawks’ loss to the lowly TCU Horned Frogs in the Big 12 Tournament’s opening round (even before the quarterfinals) cost them a trip to the Big Dance and the West Virginia Mountaineers’ heartbreaking loss to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals can be forgotten as the Mountaineers are dancing. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme had Kansas in and West Virginia out.
Kansas was the only team on the right side of Creme’s bubble not to make it and West Virginia was the only team on the wrong side to make it.