HHS Top 25: Automatic Bids and Championship Streaks
The 2019 NCAA tournament is right around the corner, and conference tournaments are in full swing. The Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) all crowned champions on Sunday or Monday, meaning that many top-25 teams competed against one another for their conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
As the confetti settled and the participating teams headed home to rest before the Big Dance, we submitted the following ballot to the STI/Hoopfeed Top 25 Poll for Week 18. This week’s poll covered games played from Tuesday, March 5 through Monday, March 11. Movement up or down from our Week 17 ballot is denoted in parentheses.
1. Baylor
2. Notre Dame (↑4)
3. UConn
4. Mississippi State (↑1)
5. Oregon (↓1)
6. Louisville (↓4)
7. Stanford
8. Iowa (↑1)
9. Oregon State (↓1)
10. North Carolina State (↑1)
11. Maryland (↓1)
12. Marquette
13. Gonzaga
14. Miami (FL)
15. Iowa State
16. Syracuse
17. Arizona State
18. Drake (↑2)
19. Texas A&M
20. South Carolina (↓2)
21. Texas
22. Florida State
23. South Dakota
24. South Dakota State (↑1)
25. Kentucky (↓1)
In all, 10 conferences were represented on our top-25 ballot. Here is how those conferences’ tournaments played out, how their ranked teams fared on our ballot this week, and what winning streaks were snapped or extended along the way.
American Athletic Conference: UConn actually lost the third quarter of Monday’s championship game against UCF, but the Huskies won their sixth straight American tournament title behind 25 points and 14 rebounds from senior standout Napheesa Collier. In Geno Auriemma’s 34 seasons, the Huskies have won 24 conference tournament titles. UConn is now 120–0 against the American Conference all-time and remains the No. 3 team on our ballot entering Selection Monday.
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC): Notre Dame took home the tournament title for the fifth time in six seasons, beating regular-season co-champion Louisville in the final and climbing to No. 2 on our ballot. If you count their Big East tournament title in 2013 — their last season in that conference before joining the ACC — the Fighting Irish have entered the NCAA tournament as conference tournament champions in six of the past seven seasons. The Fighting Irish are now 91–5 all-time in the ACC regular season and 17–1 all-time in the ACC tournament, but don’t take that as a referendum on the strength of the ACC this season: tournament runner-up Louisville and semifinalist NC State are also top-10 teams on our ballot.
Big East Conference: A three-point play by Chante Stonewall with five seconds left lifted second-seeded DePaul over top-seeded Marquette on Tuesday night. Despite an uneven start to the season that saw the Blue Demons fall out of the top-25 polls, DePaul won the Big East tournament for the fourth time in the past six years and will enter the NCAA tournament on an 11-game winning streak. Marquette held steady at No. 12 on our ballot this week and will wait to hear on Selection Monday whether it’s done enough to be a top-four seed and host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Big Ten Conference: Iowa earned its first Big Ten title since 2001 when it beat Maryland on Sunday behind 45 points from Big Ten Player of the Year Megan Gustafson. The result boosted Iowa one spot to No. 8 on our ballot, while Maryland fell one spot to No. 11. Since joining the league five years ago, Maryland won its first three Big Ten tournaments but has been the runner-up the past two seasons. Iowa will take a five-game winning streak into the NCAA tournament, and Gustafson will look to continue an amazing streak of her own: she has scored 20+ points and collected 10+ rebounds in 11 straight games.
Big 12 Conference: Baylor, our No. 1 team in the country entering the week, held serve and won its ninth Big 12 tournament title in the past 11 seasons. The championship game victory was also the Lady Bears’ 23rd straight win. All three Big 12 teams on our ballot — Baylor, runner-up Iowa State, and semifinalist Texas — stayed put this week. Now Baylor turns its attention to breaking its four-game losing streak in Elite Eight games (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and making its first Final Four since 2012.
Missouri Valley Conference (MVC): The MVC’s championship game is not until March 17 (you can watch it at 3pm ET on ESPN+). Top-seeded Drake, which rose two spots to No. 18 on our ballot, hopes to win the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year. The Bulldogs have dominated the conference during that span, posting a 53–1 record, but have not advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Pac-12 Conference: Entering Sunday’s championship game against Oregon, Stanford had not lost since February 10. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, February 10 was the day they lost by 40 to … Oregon. But Stanford turned the tables on Sunday, winning by seven for the program’s first conference tournament title since winning 10 of 11 and seven in a row between 2003 and 2013. Stanford held steady at No. 7 this week on our ballot and will take a nine-game winning streak into the NCAA tournament.
Southeastern Conference (SEC): Mississippi State ended a streak of three straight runner-up finishes in the SEC tournament with a win over 10-seed Arkansas on Sunday. This result helped Mississippi State leapfrog Oregon on our ballot and settle in at No. 4. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Teaira McCowan led Mississippi State with 24 points and 14 rebounds for her 12th straight double-double, and the Bulldogs set school records for field goal percentage, made three-pointers, and margin of victory in an SEC tournament game. In the NCAA tournament, Mississippi State hopes to snap another streak, as the Bulldogs have been the national runners-up in each of the past two seasons.
Summit League: The Summit League tournament championship game was a rubber match between South Dakota and South Dakota State, which were ranked No. 23 and No. 24, respectively, on our ballot this week. We might have to flip those numbers next week, as South Dakota State won 83–71 behind the Summit League’s new all-time leading scorer, Macy Miller. Miller had 30 points and 11 rebounds and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third time in four seasons. The Jackrabbits won their ninth conference tournament title in 11 years, and South Dakota has been the runner-up for the last five of those.
West Coast Conference (WCC): In the regular season, Gonzaga was 0–2 against BYU and 16–0 against all other WCC competition. On Tuesday, it was more of the same in the WCC tournament final as BYU captured its third WCC tournament title and first since 2015. BYU will make its 13th appearance all-time in the NCAA tournament, the most of any WCC team. Given Gonzaga’s consistent presence in the top 25 throughout the season (we ranked them No. 13 this week), the Bulldogs are also expected to make the tournament as an at-large selection, which would be the 11th appearance in program history.
Next week will be a special one for women’s basketball, as the NCAA tournament bracket will be released on “Selection Monday,” March 18, at 7 p.m. ET. Keep checking the Hoopfeed website for the STI/Hoopfeed Top 25 Poll through the end of the season, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for coverage of our top 25, bracketology, NCAA tournament upsets, and so much more.
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