How Ole Miss upset 1-seed Stanford in March Madness

The Rebels’ victory ended a chalk-dominated day as the women’s No. 1 seed sent home before the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009, setting up the regional semi-final half. Ole Miss advanced to Sweet 16 for the first time since her 2007.

How far will Ole Miss go, and how will that win change the race for the Seattle 4 Regional? So far the Rebels, who went 7-23 overall and 0-16 in the SEC in 2019-20 which almost no one expected. But under manager Yoret McPhee-McKin, who took over in 2018, the Rebels’ defense has become their calling card. They embarrassed 2021 national champions Stanford, who lost in last year’s Final Four semifinals.

When the season began, many of South Carolina and Stamford, past two national champions, made it to the Final Four. But only one of them he could be in Dallas. Gamecock remains undefeated. They topped South Florida on Sunday to advance to the Greenville 1 Regional’s Sweet 16.

Stanford can only lament the sideways end of a promising season with a surprisingly early exit from the NCAA Tournament without a Pac-12 tournament title. Find the Monday when the Sweet 16 is confirmed.

Click here for Monday’s schedule. All games are available on ESPN’s family of networks and the ESPN app. Also, be sure to check out the bracket for the Women’s Tournament Challenge.

What was wrong with Stanford, and what was right that Ole Miss upset the First Cardinal?

cream: The amount of layups missed was staggering. In the third quarter alone, Stanford missed his six games. They locked the cardinal in a pit all night. Others were the product of relentless contests by the Ole Miss defense. But the cardinal was simply exhausted. The phrase “they just wanted more” has become too clichéd, but if it’s appropriate, this will be the night, and a field goal in the 4th quarter he’ll have one. Despite only deciding, the Rebels played harder and played smarter for most of the match. Stanford coach Tara Vandelbier seemed concerned about the toughness and intensity Ole Miss would bring to the Maples Pavilion. Her players didn’t seem to realize it until it was too late.

Philip: Ole Miss is considered a defensively oriented team and was a masterclass performance on the edge of the floor for Coach Yo’s team. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Rebels contested his 43 of his 52 on-field goal attempts at Stanford, 37 of which were in the paint and 28 of 32 by Jones and Brink. It was something Ole Miss excelled in returning in transition, which prevented the Cardinals from entering the open floor. Thanks to that effort, Stanford has never looked comfortable offensively, ultimately scoring more turnovers (21) than field goals (17) and putting him 10-for-32 in layups. and went 43-39 outbounds. Lowdown. Stanford locked up defensively in the second half, but Ole’s mistake cost him 24 points from a turnover, and in the fourth free his throw from his line he paid for the mistake to the Cardinals, going 10-12. made me pay

Brink said after the game that the Stanford team lacked grit this year, but Vanderbier seemed to think it was a matter of the young backcourt’s inexperience. With the senior group leaving The Farm in the off-season, it will be fascinating to see if or how they can improve in these areas.

audio: Ole Miss last made it to the Sweet 16 in 2007, behind future WNBA player Arminty Price. As the 7th seed, those rebels defeated the 7th seed at the time. 2 Maryland, who was the defending national champion in the second round. Carroll Ross was Rebels coach at the time and built her team on defense like McPhee McEwan, but they had a really offensive standout in Price. I went all the way to the Elite Eight before dropping to national champion Tennessee.

As Charlie and Alexa point out on Sunday, this group of rebels basically squeezed their lives out of the Stanford attack. It shows how staggering their defense against Stanford was.

What is the Ole Miss cap and how will Stanford’s loss affect Seattle 4 Regional?

audio: The first time the No. 8 reached the Final Four was at Missouri State in 1992. The lowest seed to advance to her Four in the Women’s Finals is No. 9 Arkansas in 1998. For Ole Miss to replicate what Missouri State and Arkansas did, the Rebels will need to keep doing what they’ve been doing defensively, but will need more offense.Texas or in Louisville, because they face a team that can defend as well as they do, but with more offensive options. It could be a victory.

Philip: If other teams can replicate what Georgia did to Iowa on Sunday, it might not bode well for the Hawkeyes. But now that they’ve been eliminated, it’s hard to see any of these remaining teams being able to play in a transcendent way to beat a team as hot as Iowa. That’s why you play games.

What’s next for Stanford?

cream: After losing to Ole Misu, Vandelbier cited the team’s inexperience as a problem. she’s probably right. Stanford’s young players looked unprepared for the team’s biggest game in February and her March. They looked away from their element, especially against the rebels.

In addition to not having a true point guard, Stanford exposed a lack of reliable shooters in the second half of the season. Best of all, Hannah Jump relied too much on someone passing the ball to her, a problem exacerbated by point guard issues, Jump said he’ll be back for a year, but shooting need help to maximize their talents. Brink will be there to build around that and become one of the best players in the country, but roster rebuilding and personal growth must be a priority over the summer.

audio: Stanford had perhaps their worst game of the 2021-22 season in the national semifinals, losing to UConn. And it’s no shade against the Husky. Even coach Geno Auriemma said he thought Stanford had to play subpar for UConn to win.

Now the Cardinals have once again been sidelined before a national championship game – long ago – but in an even more disappointing way. Cardinal fans saw this team get worse instead of better as the season progressed I’ll guess again as to why.

For the past three years, I’ve wondered how Stanford always finds the right rotation with so much talent. The chemistry the Cardinals were able to maintain in the pandemic-affected 2020-2021 season, at one point spending nine consecutive weeks away from home, has not been maintained in the last two seasons.After the 2021 Final Four. Losing leaders in guard positions like Kiana Williams in the 2020 Final Four and Anna Wilson after the 2022 Final Four hurt, too.

Which team is most likely to advance to the Sweet 16 outside of the top 16 seeds on Monday?

cream: The 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast may be poised to take the next step and reach the program’s first Sweet 16. After defeating Virginia Tech in the first round last March, the Eagles drew a long, athletic Maryland team. I like his team playing. Smesko bases his offense on the analysis that the only good shots are a high percentage of layups or his 3-pointers at max. The FGCU led the nation in 3-point percentage, but also ranked second in 2-point field goal percentage. In Saturday’s win over Washington State, the Eagles relied heavily on these layups to great success.

FGCU should be able to employ the same strategy as Villanova has no shot blocking presence on the inside or long wing defenders. Villanova also allows opponents to shoot 33.3% of him from behind the arc. Ranked 290th nationwide. Maddy, the nation’s top scorer, slowing his Siegrist pace will be a challenge for the Eagles, but Villanova has the best matchup among the top four seeds that could have come in the second round. Opponent.