Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our man in the USA (and specifically Seattle), Bob Craven, has the lowdown this week on the NCAA Women's Tournament and also the growing phenomenon of international players streaming into the ranks of US women's basketball. There's that and as always, much more!

AND now, the NCAA D-I women's tourney bracket.  It's a different geographic format this year, but the only real difference is that instead of taking place in four different regions, it'll just be two mini-tournaments in two different regions. 

Fortunately for some of us, one of the two regions to host will be here in Seattle.

The four No. 1 seeds will be Stanford (despite losing two of their last three games), Virginia Tech, Indiana, and the overall No. 1 seed, the undefeated and defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks (not to be un-PC but shouldn't that be Gamehens?). 

Both Virginia Tech and Indiana earned No. 1 seeds for the first time in school history, and a No. 1 regional seed has won the title in the last 10 straight tournaments.

South Carolina, with reigning national Player of the Year Aliyah Boston leading the way, hasn't lost a game in over a year, and is six wins from becoming the fourth program to repeat as national champion (joining Connecticut, Tennessee and Southern California) as well as the fifth to complete an undefeated season, joining Connecticut (six times), Tennessee, Texas and Baylor. 

Connecticut, which lost in the title game last year, is on a quest to play in a record 15th consecutive Final Fours and win the school's 12th national title, but it's first since 2016.

First round competition will take place Friday and Saturday, with second round games Sunday and Monday.  The Final Four will be held in Dallas, Texas, on March 31 and April 2.

INTERNATIONAL players have been a big deal in men's basketball in the US for many years.  At the pro level, the NBA has been running its NBA Residential Academy program for quite a while. 

This year's NCAA women's basketball tournament is also remarkable for the high numbers of international players in the US at the college level - a noticeable and growing trend in women's basketball.  The NCAA, citing numbers provided by FIBA, said there were 731 international women playing Division One basketball in the US in 2022, up nearly 350 per cent from 10 years earlier.

As an example, one of the top women's programs in the US over a number of years has been (and still is) the University of Connecticut (UConn). 

Its long-time Hall of Fame coach, Geno Auriemma, has been there since 1985.  Prior to this season, his teams have only had 10 international players on their roster.  This year alone, the Big East champions have six international players.

Last August, when young superstar and Player of the Year, Paige Bueckers, went down with a season-ending knee injury, Auriemma was able to replace her spot on the roster with Ines Betancourt, a point guard from Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores Islands. 

A couple of months later, UConn announced the signing of a player they hope will be their next dominant forward:  193cm Jana El Alfy from Egypt. 

She first became noticed as a young star on the Egyptian national team, which is coached by her father, and she's attended NBA-sponsored camps in several countries.  She is already enrolled at UConn and will be ready to go for this coming season.

At Washington State University, Pac-12 Conference champions for the first time in school history this season, they are going to the Big Dance as a No. 5 seed with nine international players on their roster, including the top seven scorers. 

The U. of South Florida won the AAC regular season title and will be a No. 8 seed in the tourney. It has eight international players on its roster.

The head coach of the U. of San Francisco women's team has been recruiting overseas for the past 20 years.  In the beginning, he said that he saw only three or four other US college coaches at international competitions, but now he sees 30 or 40. 

In his case, he said it was extremely difficult for a small school like his to recruit the best US players.  What he's found is that overseas there are bunches of talented athletes who are often more emotionally and intellectually prepared for college basketball than their US counterparts. 

Internationals are often more experienced and independent and that extra maturity can play a big role.  He said he'd never had an international player who wasn't an excellent student, amazing, given that English is often their second language.

It appears obvious that we'll be seeing more and more international players here in US colleges on an ongoing basis.  Many of these will also be joining the ranks of the professionals, on teams both here in the US and elsewhere around the world.

Anniversaries from March 15&16:
1938--Temple U. of Philadelphia defeats the U. of Colorado 60-36 in the first National Invitation Tournament, which was the first major postseason basketball tournament.  In response, the NCAA held its first tournament the following year.
1939--Villanova U. wins the first ever game in the first NCAA men's basketball tournament, defeating Brown U. 42-30 in Philadelphia.  Ohio State U. beat Wake Forest U. 64-52 in the second game of the doubleheader.
1958--The Big "O" from the U. of Cincinnati scores an NCAA Midwest Regional record 56 points in a 97-62 rout of the U. of Arkansas.
1990--Philip Hutcheson of David Lipscomb U. hits a short running hook shot in the NAIA tournament to become the all-time scoring champion in US college basketball.  (Note:  the NAIA is the governing body for the smallest colleges and universities in the US.)  The 203cm Hutcheson, who scored in double figures in every college game he played in over four seasons, breaks the record of 4,045 points set in 1969-72 by Travis Grant of Kentucky State U.
1997--Dean Smith of the U. of North Carolina breaks the previous record for career coaching victories.  With 877 victories, he passes legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp.
2001--The NCAA basketball tourney opens with a series of very close games and upsets, with the biggest surprise of the day being 15th seeded Hampton beating 2nd seed Iowa State 58-57.
2012--Syracuse U. avoids becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16th seed when it rallies for a 72-65 win over North Carolina-Asheville.  UNC-A was up 34-30 at halftime - the seventh No. 16 seed to lead a No. 1 at the break.
2018--Guard Jairus Lyles (below) scores 28 points and the U. of Maryland-Baltimore County pulls off the most shocking upset in NCAA Tournament history, defeating the U. of Virginia 75-54 to become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in men's basketball.  Virginia entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed after going 31-2 during the regular season.