#4 Oregon St. vs. #5 Colorado
Colorado beat #12 Oregon so thoroughly, we have to ask whether the Buffaloes who rose to a national #3 are back in business, or if it was a mirage courtesy of the Ducks’ record-setting badness.
I wouldn’t hazard an educated guess or a shot in the dark.
Maybe the important thing is that Colorado believes they’ve regained their mojo, because that could make for the best game of the quarterfinals.
#1 Stanford vs. #5 Cal
Somehow I miss the Battle of the Bay games that are well-contested. If the basketball gods be kind, the whole slate of quarterfinal games will be high quality.
If the Utah transfers — Cal’s Kemery Martin and Oregon State’s Kelsey Rees — go deeper in this tournament than the Utes do, my feelings will be mixed.
#2 USC vs. #7 Arizona
Whether their semifinal opponent is the Trojans or the Wildcats, Utah or UCLA is in for an equally difficult evening.
Both teams are on the rise, and if it happens to be Arizona moving forward, I’ll be nudged toward believing Coach Barnes’ has a magic ability to bring her teams together in March.
How tight was the coach of they year voting? Didn’t Coach Rueck (whose team was 10th in the preseason poll), and coaches Gottlieb and Close (whose roster moves worked out so splendidly) exceed expectations to a greater extent than Coach VanDerveer?
#3 UCLA vs. #6 Utah
Think UCLA, like Arizona St., would let Utah up off the mat following seven turnovers in the first quarter?