Mark Saltz

The march toward semester exams is on at colleges across the country, which means the schedule for college basketball is slowing down before conference schedules go into full swing in January. There isn't much change in my projections from last week to this week.   USC moves up to a #4 seed after Notre Dame lost to Ole Miss, and then Ole Miss lost to Kansas State. Iowa State made a case to be a #2 seed with a win over Iowa.  ESPN currently has the Cyclones as a #3 seed.  It will be interesting to see if that changes in their next Bracketology. #1 Seed UConn Texas South Carolina UCLA #2 Seed Michigan Maryland LSU Iowa State #3 Seed TCU Oklahoma North Carolina Iowa #4 Seed Vanderbilt Kentucky USC   Baylor Blue letters mean new entry.

  The latest ESPN Women's Bracketology has Tennessee on the 4 seed line, and Baylor on the 5 seed line.  Both teams are projected to play in the Knoxville subregional. A few thoughts: Baylor is better than Tennessee.  Baylor's lone loss to Iowa 57-52.  Tennesse has two losses.  One loss was a 22 point beatdown against UCLA on November 30. If both teams do face off in the subregional Baylor would beat Tennessee.  Baylor is offensively more efficient.  (46% to 41% shooting from the field, 74% to 67% free throw shooting, 34% to 28% from 3 point range.) I also thought Notre Dame was better than Ole Miss.  Then they played each other, and Ole Miss won.  

2026 NCAA Women's Tournament Projections December 4 As the calendar winds down on 2025, I want to look ahead to who could receive a top 4 seed in the 2026 NCAA Women's Tournament.   Why stop the top 4 seeds? Because those teams will have home court advantage in their first, and possible second games of the NCAA tournament.  There are some games tonight that will likely shift some of these teams up or down.   North Carolina plays at Texas.  This could move North Carolina up a seed line with a win.  A loss for Texas, especially in a close game, would not move them either direction as they have already beaten UCLA, and South Carolina. Notre Dame plays at Ole Miss.  The winner of this match up is solidly a top 4 seed.  Right now, I give the slight edge to Notre Dame, but an valid argument could be made for Ole Miss. That argument would be solidified with an Ole Miss victory at home against Notre Dame. As of the morning of December 4, 2025 here ar...