Iowa remains No. 1 seed in ESPN’s Sweet 16 reseeding

The Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament is rapidly approaching.

After wins over Holy Cross and West Virginia, top-seeded Iowa (31-4, 15-3 Big Ten) will be taking part in the Sweet 16 for the 10th time in program history.

With one tournament weekend in the books, it has analysts nationally rethinking some of what they thought going in. ESPN put together its Sweet 16 reseeding for the women’s NCAA Tournament .

The Hawkeyes are still a No. 1 seed in ESPN’s reseeding per Charlie Creme, but he has Iowa right on the borderline of dropping to a No. 2 seed.

A sigh of relief was felt all over Iowa when the Hawkeyes survived West Virginia. Caitlin Clark plays on. Her 32 points didn’t come easily, as the Mountaineers defined the game’s style: physical and plodding. That Clark equaled her season low with just three assists attests to just how good West Virginia’s game plan was. It wasn’t until a 12-2 Iowa run in the final two minutes—sparked by a Sydney Affolter 3-point play and cemented by six Clark free throws—that a win in Clark’s final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena would be assured.

Along the way, Clark passed Kelsey Plum one more time, setting the record for most points in a single season. Iowa’s next opponent, Colorado, represents another veteran physical team, one the Hawkeyes beat in last year’s Sweet 16. – Creme, ESPN .

However you feel about the Hawkeyes’ performance in the tournament’s opening weekend, one thing is obvious. Iowa remains a big-time draw.

Thanks to the pull of senior superstar Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes’ wins over the Crusaders and Mountaineers drew record TV ratings .

As far as Iowa’s two wins go, style points simply don’t matter this time of year. The Hawkeyes’ 64-54 win over West Virginia had similarities to its win over Georgia in the round of 32 last season.

Iowa advanced to the national championship game after that scare of a win over the Bulldogs. The track record from last year’s tournament should help quell any concerns over how the Hawkeyes won over West Virginia.

The rest of ESPN’s reseeding looked like this. Joining Iowa as fellow No. 1 seeds were South Carolina, Texas and USC . That means all of the original No. 1 seeds remained No. 1 seeds.

Then, Notre Dame , UConn, Stanford and UCLA occupied ESPN’s reworked No. 2 seed line. UConn jumped up one seeding line from where the Huskies started out.

LSU , North Carolina State, Oregon State and Indiana find themselves on the No. 3 seed line. Lastly, Gonzaga, Duke , Baylor and Colorado are No. 4 seeds.

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