What's a NCCAW? Is it a state tournament for crows?
Obligatory Iona joke follows. There are many variations, but I went with the Sports Illustrated Vault.
ESPN: Every team in the bracketDuring those lean early years, when the coach was introduced at camps and clinics, he would say, "I'm Jim Valvano, Iona College." "The kids would just look at me and tell me I must be the youngest dude in America to own his own college," Valvano says.
Duke Blue Devils
The Blue Devils' one-year turnaround in Kara Lawson's third season in Durham is nothing short of remarkable. They finished 10th in the ACC standings (7-11 in conference play) in 2021-22, and in this season's preseason poll were expected to be only a bit better, coming in seventh. Fast forward a few months, and in arguably the best league in the country, Lawson's squad was the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and is dancing for the first time since 2018. The Blue Devils (25-6) have done it by emerging as one of the toughest defensive units in the country, spearheaded by the efforts of ACC Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor. Offense isn't their strong suit, though: They barely shoot above 40% from the field, and all of their losses have come when they scored 57 or fewer points. In fact, Duke failed to hit 50 in four of its past six games, including a 58-37 loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament semifinals.Awful Announcing: Your 2023 NCAA Women’s Tournament First Four and First Round announcing scheduleIona Gaels
The Gaels enter their second NCAA tournament (and first since 2016) as winners of the MAAC regular-season and tournament crowns, as well as 20 of their past 21 games. With their first 20-win season since 2016, Billi Chambers was named MAAC Coach of the Year as she led her team to a 26-6 record. Juana Camilion added to her trophy case this season as MAAC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and tournament MVP, but Ketsia Athias earned headlines for recording the second triple-double in conference postseason history in the championship game versus Manhattan. Earlier this season against Rider, the Gaels set NCAA records for most consecutive 3-pointers made in a game (15) as well as the best 3-point field goal percentage in a game (16-for-18, or 88.9%).
#6 Colorado vs #11 Middle Tennessee
7 PM, ESPNEWS
Sam Ravech, Kelly Gramlich#3 Duke vs #14 Iona
9:30 PM, ESPN2
Sam Ravech, Kelly Gramlich