clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Women's NCAA Tournament 2011 Brackets: Philadelphia Region Top Seed UConn Has Plenty Of Reason For Confidence

Well, if you happened to see UConn demolish Duke earlier this season, then you can guess how they feel about their region: pretty happy.

In a field with Duke, DePaul and Georgetown as the two, three, and five seeds, UConn gets a bracket in which they have already beaten four of the top five seeds on their path to defending their title.

Number four seed Maryland lands on the same side as UConn, but is not exactly a team to sleep on - they also beat Duke by 22 at home on February 17.

So how is it that this Duke team that's take a few losses is a number two seed? Duke has an outstanding defense that can generate points in a hurry if their opponent turns the ball over frequently enough. The recurring problem for the Blue Devils is that offensive end, particularly when they get stuck in the half court - although Jasmine Thomas is one of the most dynamic scoring guards in the nation, when this team stalls they completely break down as we saw against Duke. Given that it took last-minute heroics for Duke to beat NC State during conference play, if there was a team eligible for an upset somewhere along the way it's them.

So this will be a competitive bracket in games not involving UConn as each of the top seeds has major strengths and potential weaknesses. But it would be quite surprising if UConn took a loss before the Final Four.

For more on the bracket, check out our Women's NCAA Tournament StoryStream. To break down the bracket with Gonzaga fans, be sure to stop by SB Nation's The Slipper Still Fits.. For everything women's NCAA hoops, stop by Swish Appeal.