Day 1 Of Women’s Sweet 16 Removes All Possible Joy From World

No, for real. Lowly upstart San Diego State is gone. Georgia got mauled. Both Gonzaga teams are no more. and the lone upset was a piddly four-seed (Baylor, knocking off Tennessee in a truly abysmal game).

• No. 4 Baylor 77, No. 1 Tennessee 62. Rocky Top Talk:

Thirteen missed field goal attempts in a row.
If anybody needs to find a reason for the loss, look no further than that number, as that was how Tennessee performed from the 7:53 mark to the 1:05 mark. In the same time span, Baylor went 6-9 from the floor and 8-9 from the free throw line. The most frustrating part of this to Vols fans (and, once they review the game, to the Lady Vols) is that the difference had nothing to do with effort. Baylor simply made better shot selections, while Tennessee took tough, ill-advised shots. And as the scoring differential grew, Tennessee became more impatient and rushed their shots, exacerbating their problems and hurting themselves.
In today’s lesson, the Lady Bears played within themselves while the Lady Vols tried to do too much. Tennessee may very well have the most talent on the floor of any team in the country (yes, including UConn), but it’s talent that has to learn to play with control at all times, for all 40 minutes of every game.
• No. 1 Stanford 73, No. 5 Georgia 36. DawgSports: “I mean, dang.”

• No. 3 Xavier 74, No. 7 Gonzaga 56. This one could have been interesting. The Zags grab national attention once a year, and with the boys of both Gonzaga and St. Mary’s out of the way all WCC eyes turned to the She-Zags. And then they went and lost, although it was at least for a reason -- Xavier had four players in double figures and an evident talent differential on both ends of the court.
• No. 2 Duke 66, No. 11 San Diego State 58. The last possible Cinderella bids the ball adieu, unless you count 7th-seeded Mississippi State, and really, how excited can one get about a single-digit seed upset? All at once, the Aztecs were no match for the She-Devils’ Jasmine Thomas and her 29 points, and any hopes of hearing Aztec human sacrifice jokes on live air have had their beating hearts ripped quite asunder.
Now. Let’s not speak of this again. Bring on the next UConn victim and let’s keep this gladiator show rolling, shall we?