Notre Dame and Texas A&M Play Tonight for Women’s College Basketball Championship

On the biggest stage in the biggest women’s college sport, two unlikely opponents face each other for the championship. It is a sport where few teams contend for the title in any given year. It was in the previous two seasons that Connecticut did not just win titles, but did so with undefeated records. While a program can achieve such success through great recruiting and coaching, it is the sort of outcome that points to a lack of depth in the player pool, that the next best bunches of players can’t periodically pull an upset, that there simply aren’t many women playing at a level that can compete with the very best. Even on a year after many of their best players graduated, Connecticut was still the favorite going into the tournament, and if it was not going to be them that won the title, it was expected that a perennial contender such as Stanford or Tennessee, or a repeat contender in Baylor would sneak up on them. All but Tennessee were in the Final Four last year, and Tennessee has the most appearances this deep in the tournament in women’s college basketball history (18). [Connecticut and Standard are second and tied for third respectively with 12 and 10.] However, all four teams were ultimately favorites and #1 seeds not based off human rankings shaped by their history but on their performance this past season (at least according to one objective standard).

And yet for just the second time in the league’s history, two teams that are both not #1 seeds will play for the championship. Notre Dame and Texas A&M each defeated two #1 seeds, and each of them avenged three losses against a single opponent in doing so — Notre Dame defeated Connecticut in the Semifinals and Texas A&M defeated Baylor in the Regional Finals after each losing twice to those teams during the regular season and once in their respective conference tournaments. Both teams completed come-from-behind victories in the Semifinals after trailing at halftime, and with Texas A&M ending theirs with a thrilling finish after trailing Stanford by 10 points with just 6 minutes remaining. For both Finalists to perform multiple surprise victories provides drama not normally observed in women’s college basketball, and it is the sort of accomplishment that demands attention be paid to more than just the title game.

There is still more room for growth in the sport. Even with the surprises provided by Notre Dame and Texas A&M, they are still both #2 seeds generally ranked between 6th and 10th in the country. In a similarly unusual year for men’s basketball (by its standards), it was #3 and #8 seeds meeting in the title game. Aside from the #11 seed Gonzaga pulling off a surprising three wins in the tournament, significant surprise victories were hard to come by in the women’s tournament. And yet it is the sort of outcome that guarantees an interesting end to the tournament even before the final game is played. Notre Dame earned one title ten years ago, but it had not made a Final Four since. Texas A&M had assembled good teams before but had never reached a Final Four. For such a pairing to also feature two schools more associated with tradition than progress adds even more intrigue to the final. If you do not watch any other game this year, watch this one. I cannot guarantee that the game will provide fireworks or a close finish, but it is that lack of certainty that made this match-up possible.

Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 PM ET, and the game airs on ESPN.