ASU women’s basketball are riding a three-game winning streak into Los Angeles where they’ll look to improve their seeding down the home stretch.
Arizona State has righted the ship in Pac-12 play after a midseason rough patch. After beginning Pac-12 play 4-0, the Sun Devils dropped four of five games as they went through the gauntlet portion of the schedule.
The Sun Devils enter their big road trip to Los Angeles with a 17-7 overall record and an 8-4 conference record.
Arizona State’s resume is not bad considering their worst loss is a home defeat to Utah, who’s ranked No. 85 in the latest RPI rankings.
With that being said, Arizona State doesn’t have a signature win as they have losses versus Mississippi State, Green Bay, Florida State, Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford, who are all ranked in the latest AP Top 25.
So to summarize, the Sun Devils have defeated team’s they’re supposed to beat and have lost games in which they’re favored.
With three weeks remaining before the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Seattle, ASU will have numerous chance to pick up some big wins with UCLA on deck this Sunday and then home games versus Oregon and Oregon State to close out the regular season.
As we’ll do each week leading up to Selection Monday, here are where some outlets have Arizona State seeded in latest Bracketologies.
ESPN: No. 7 seed (Kansas City Regional)
Charlie Creme moved the Sun Devils up to the seven seed-line after a weekend sweep of Washington and Washington State.
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In his latest Bracketology, Arizona State would face the Creighton Bluejays in Waco, Texas, who are in his Last Four In sporting a 14-9 record with a road win over Marquette last Sunday.
Should the Sun Devils advance to the second round they would face the host-school Baylor Lady Bears, the frontrunners to win the Big 12.
The Lady Bears would pose a significant challenge for the Sun Devils as Baylor feature two of the best bigs in the country in forwards Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox.
Head coach Charli Turner Thorne preaches rebounding as a key for the Sun Devils every game, and the potential match-up with Baylor would be no different.
The Summit: No. 8 seed (Spokane Regional)
Russell Steinberg pegged Arizona State as an No. 8 seed where they would head up to South Bend, Indiana, to face ninth-seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The Cornhuskers, despite their star player Jessica Shepard transferring to Notre Dame, sit with a 17-7 record and are 8-3 in Big Ten play with a key win over then-No. 25 Rutgers.
Arizona State would likely be favored against Nebraska and if they were to win, they would likely face the aforementioned Shepard and the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second round.
Notre Dame, despite going through a slew of injuries this season, sit at 22-2 and 10-1 in ACC play and are coming off an impressive 18-point win at No. 19 Duke last Sunday.
Notre Dame gave UConn a big scare earlier this season holding a lead for 25 minutes, but the Huskies put together a fourth quarter surge to win by nine points.
The Irish’s lone ACC loss was an ugly one losing 100-67 at Louisville in one of the worst losses Notre Dame has had under head coach Muffet McGraw.
Notre Dame has since reeled off seven straight wins and appear to be the frontrunners to win the ACC once again.
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Arizona State would have a shot to play well against the Irish considering Notre Dame’s lack of depth due to injuries. The Sun Devils would have to defend Shepard inside and defend guard Arike Ogunbowale.