Women’s basketball power rankings: Vanderbilt, Texas will fight for No. 1 seed in SEC tourney – The New York Times

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Will Vanderbilt be celebrating as a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday? A lot depends on the SEC tourney. Carly Mackler / Getty Images
The Texas Longhorns leapfrogged Vanderbilt for the final No. 1 seed in the selection committee’s top 16 reveal Sunday, setting the stage for what could be an epic semifinal date against the Commodores in the SEC tournament.
For all the conversation about how Texas and Vanderbilt stack up against each other — in simplest terms, the Longhorns have the better overall resume, but the Commodores beat them head-to-head — perhaps we’re limiting Texas’ ceiling. Because if the Longhorns get past Vanderbilt in the conference tournament, they shouldn’t be thinking about just the top line; they should also be in the mix for the third No. 1 seed.
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Moving ahead of South Carolina in the S-curve isn’t a matter of semantics. It’s the difference between Sacramento, Calif., and Fort Worth, Texas — and an easy three-hour trek from Texas’ campus in Austin.
While the Gamecocks have assumed their traditional dominance in the SEC, the Longhorns’ nonconference wins have seemingly gone overlooked. Texas has already beaten South Carolina once and is the only team all season to have beaten UCLA. The Longhorns have had a tough time contending with the Gamecocks in their home state, which is where the conference tournament is once again being held, but if they can capture an SEC crown — or even get to the final and lose to a team other than South Carolina — it stands to reason that Texas should vault past the Gamecocks in the seeding order. More Quad 1 wins and arguably the best win any team has this season should do the trick.
Even though the regular season is over, there is still so much at stake in the two weeks before Selection Sunday.
Dropped out: Tennessee (24)
Also considered: Georgia, Iowa State, Washington
At the start of her freshman season, then-UCLA guard Elina Aarnisalo received the highest of compliments from South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. At the time, Staley said she hoped Aarnisalo wasn’t starting for the Bruins because of the trouble South Carolina might have with her.
It has been hard to reconcile the version of Aarnisalo who immediately popped in Los Angeles with the one who faded soon after and who struggled to find a consistent role after transferring to North Carolina. Aarnisalo was moved to the Tar Heels’ bench near the start of conference play and went through a seven-game stretch averaging 15.7 minutes, 5.9 points and 1.1 assists per game, not exactly delivering on her promise.
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But since Reniya Kelly’s injury Feb. 5 forced Aarnisalo back into the starting lineup, the sophomore has regained her verve. She has succeeded on and off the ball, as the Tar Heels split creation responsibilities among Aarnisalo, Lanie Grant and Indya Nivar. Her aggression as a scorer and a playmaker is back to the tune of 12.3 points and 4.6 assists per game in this stretch. North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart is having a hard time keeping Aarnisalo off the court, as she’s averaging 32.7 minutes during the last seven games.
Against Duke, Aarnisalo’s self-creation was the difference-maker in the rivalry win. She was quick to launch when the Blue Devils went under screens and kept the ball on a string to make the defense look silly. She finished with a game-high 22 points and a team-best four assists.
It was the second consecutive game Aarnisalo set a career high in scoring, and her buckets were timely. Her final jumper of the day came after Duke had regained the lead in the fourth quarter. On the ensuing possession, when the Blue Devils had gone ahead yet again, Aarnisalo responded with a drive and drained two free throws.
Ten days ago, when South Carolina wiped the floor with Ole Miss, Rebels coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said her team was doing fine until South Carolina’s Madina Okot turned into Steph Curry on the court. Okot made three 3-pointers that night with Gamecocks legend A’ja Wilson in attendance, and the faucet hasn’t stopped. South Carolina is legitimately running pick-and-pop sets for its 6-foot-5 double-double machine of a center.
There was no indication that Okot would turn into this confident or this effective of a shooter. The transfer didn’t attempt a single 3-pointer at Mississippi State last season and isn’t exactly an elite free-throw shooter. But over the last four games, Okot has taken at least two triples per contest, making two-thirds of them. Kentucky has one of the best shot blockers in the country, but that didn’t matter when Okot was spacing to the 3-point line.
And she hasn’t lost her interior dominance at all. Okot shot 8 of 12 in the paint and had 13 rebounds against the Wildcats. She used her strength against Clara Strack in the post and also defended the paint on the other end. It’s surreal to think that Okot wasn’t supposed to be the Gamecocks’ starting center when she arrived in the portal, and now she is one of the most impactful bigs in the game.
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The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings wrote this week about Michigan’s sophomores deciding to stay in Ann Arbor and build something special together. Seeing the trio combine for a fast-break highlight against Maryland was the visual embodiment of that sentiment. Olivia Olson creates a deflection, Syla Swords controls the possession and pitches the ball up to Olson, who hits Mila Holloway on a one-touch pass for a transition score. It’s practically an origin story for what the Wolverines can become.
With all due respect to Swords and Holloway, Olson has taken the team on her back since Michigan’s desultory loss to Iowa last week. She scored a career-high 31 points, adding nine rebounds and four assists in the Wolverines’ comeback win over Ohio State, including the game-winning basket in overtime. Olson followed up that effort with a near-perfect first half against Maryland: 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and her lone miss was a heat check in the final minute of the second quarter. That performance put the Terrapins out of reach, ensuring a top-three seed for Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. Olson is now the Wolverines’ leading scorer and rebounder, despite nominally playing guard.
It gives her an interesting case for the conference’s player of the year as the best player on a team tied for second place in the Big Ten. Lauren Betts is the best player on the league’s best team, but because of UCLA’s wealth of talent, Betts doesn’t have superlative box-score stats. Jaloni Cambridge has had stellar numbers with sparkling efficiency in the Big Ten this season and is second in the league in win shares behind Kiki Rice, but her Ohio State team finished fifth in the conference.
Regardless of how the award balloting shakes out, Olson is playing her best basketball at an opportune moment. That’s all Michigan can hope for.
There probably wasn’t much debate about the ACC player of the year heading into the final day of the regular season, with Hannah Hidalgo earning six player of the week honors compared with one each for all of her top competitors. Still, with Notre Dame sitting in the middle of the pack of the conference standings, Toby Fournier had a chance to swoop in and steal the award for top-seeded Duke.
Hidalgo ensured there was no shot of that happening. Even if Fournier had played well in the earlier game, Hidalgo’s performance left no doubt. Her second-quarter performance was a virtuoso as she scored or assisted on 23 points; Louisville collectively had only 12 in the period. Hidalgo was creating turnovers, pushing the pace and getting downhill to earn free throws or create open 3s.
Once the Cardinals got back into the game and got better at walling off the paint against Hidalgo, she was able to turn to her shot. She had two long jumpers to end the third quarter and then a couple of midrange pull-ups in the fourth, when she was essentially the Irish’s only source of offense. And in trademark Hidalgo fashion, she forced turnovers on two consecutive Louisville possessions in the final minute to keep Notre Dame’s advantage. Even after all the tumult to start the season, the Irish finished the ACC slate on a 7-1 and landed in fifth place in the conference standings, and everything runs through Hidalgo.
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Sabreena Merchant is a women’s basketball Staff Writer for The Athletic. She previously covered the WNBA and NBA for SB Nation. Sabreena is an alum of Duke University, where she wrote for the independent student newspaper, The Chronicle. She is based in Los Angeles. Follow Sabreena on Twitter @sabreenajm

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