Women’s Bracketology: Raise your hand if you predicted LSU and Vandy both at 14-1?

Women’s Bracketology: 2024 NCAA tournamentBy Charlie Creme Updated: 1/5/2024 at 9:45 a.m. ET

With the arrival of conference play, we will project the field of 68 every Tuesday and Friday from now until Selection Sunday on March 17. Albany, New York, and Portland, Oregon, will host the regionals, as the two-site format remains for a second consecutive year. It all culminates in Cleveland at the Final Four on April 5 and 7.

Bracket WatchThe opening night of SEC play largely went according to form, but where it didn’t proved to be bad news for the conference. Losses dropped Texas A&M one seed line and Mississippi State two seed lines. After South Carolina (1-seed) and LSU (3-seed), the Aggies’ No. 8 seed is the league’s next highest. The SEC has eight teams in the field, but by comparison, an 8 is the lowest seed of the Pac-12’s eight teams. With Arkansas’ loss at Kentucky and Tennessee’s 7-5 nonconference season, the SEC currently doesn’t have any other contenders to make the field. Vanderbilt is a bright spot for the SEC. Picked to finish last, the Commodores beat Mississippi State and are 14-1. As a No. 9, they have reached their highest Bracketology seed since a No. 7 in mid-February 2014. That was the last year Vanderbilt made the field.

On the Bubble68-Team BracketAlbany 1ColumbiaLouisvilleStorrsLos AngelesAlbany 4RaleighSalt Lake CityAustinStanfordPortland 2Los AngelesBloomingtonBaton RougeWacoPortland 3Iowa CityBlacksburgManhattanBoulderConference BreakdownPhoto illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock