Chalk talk: Star power, top teams and No. 5 seeds headline the women's March Madness Sweet 16

There is plenty of star power left in women's March Madness with Paige Bueckers, Hannah Hidalgo and Lauren Betts still playing even if JuJu Watkins won't be.

Watkins hurt her right knee in the first quarter of Southern California's win over Mississippi State on Monday night. She was carried off the court and the school announced later that she was out for the rest of the tournament.

While the stars are shining on the game's biggest stage, the smaller schools are not. There weren't any major upsets or Cinderella stories heading into the second week of the women's NCAA Tournament. For the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams, no team seeded 11th or lower advanced out the first round.

Of the 16 teams remaining, 15 are members of Power Four conferences, with UConn being the other. Two of the four regionals will be held in Spokane, Washington, and the other two in Birmingham, Alabama.

As usually is the case, the top 12 women's teams in the NCAA Tournament all advanced to the Sweet 16, which begins Friday. Bueckers, Hidalgo and Betts have led the way.

Bueckers, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, played her final game at home and put on a show, tying her career high with 34 points. Hidalgo has helped Notre Dame regain its dominant form after the Fighting Irish slumped at the end of the regular season and conference tournament.

Betts has been dominant for UCLA in its first two games, averaging 22 points and 10 rebounds.

South Carolina still has a chance to become the first team to repeat in the women's tournament since UConn won four in a row from 2013-16. The Gamecocks are doing it with a team effort — and a chip on their shoulder.

They felt they should have been the overall top seed in the tournament — but weren't. Then Indiana implied the Gamecocks were vulnerable this year without that dominant post player they have had in the previous championship runs.

Well, they're back in the Sweet 16 with depth and a balanced attack. The Gamecocks' reserves scored an NCAA-record 66 points in their opening win over Tennessee Tech.

Joining the top teams are a trio of 5-seeds — Kansas State, Tennessee and Mississippi. Alabama almost joined them as the fourth No. 5 to advance, but the Crimson Tide lost Monday in double overtime to Maryland.

“This was a heavyweight fight,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “No team deserved to lose this game tonight.”

The three No. 5 seeds all did it on the road, making history along the way. It was the first time since the NCAA changed the format, with the top four seeds each hosting the first two rounds of the tournament. Until this year, never had three No. 5 seeds advanced when playing on an opponent's home court. Three 5-seeds did advance in 2021, but that year the entire tournament was played in Texas because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Tennessee is a Sweet 16 regular, Kansas State is making its first appearance in the second weekend since 2002. Second-seeded TCU is appearing in the Sweet 16 for the first time. It has a rematch with Notre Dame waiting for it in Birmingham. The Horned Frogs beat the Irish in the Cayman Islands during a Thanksgiving tournament.

Conferences left standing

The SEC leads the way among conferences with the number of teams to reach the Sweet 16:

—SEC (6). South Carolina, Texas, LSU, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma.

—ACC (4). Notre Dame, Duke, NC State, North Carolina.

—Big Ten (3). UCLA, USC, Maryland.

—Big 12 (2): Kansas State, TCU.

—Big East (1): UConn.

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