SEC surge takes over March Madness with 6 teams in Sweet 16, setting up conference showdowns

NEW YORK (AP) – The Sweet 16 will have a definite SEC feel with six teams advancing from that conference to the second weekend of March Madness. Top seeds South Carolina and Texas cruised into the regional semifinals of the women's NCAA Tournament and are joined by No. 2 seeds Vanderbilt and LSU, No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Kentucky. "I think it's a great sign for the conference. You can't really control if it's spread out or not," Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said. "But you know how we feel about the SEC conference. It's the best conference in the country. If you want to win a championship, you're going to have to come through us, so it's not a surprise to me that we're seeing that many teams in. We'll see. Hopefully we'll continue to be one of them." Both of the 1 seeds will have all-SEC matchups, with the Gamecocks facing the Sooners — the lone team to beat them in the regular season during conference play. "Our league prepares us for this level of play," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "There isn't an opponent out there that we don't feel like we're prepared for because of what we have been challenged with in the regular season and in the SEC Tournament." It's not only SEC teams that had a good first weekend in the NCAA Tournament. UConn remains the lone unbeaten in women's college basketball. The Huskies have won 52 straight games, including a dominant 53-point win over Syracuse in the second round. UConn has reached the Sweet 16 in 32 consecutive years. UConn will face North Carolina in the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels are one of four ACC teams still playing. The biggest surprise of the group is Virginia. The Cavaliers reached the regional semifinals for the first time in 26 years and became the first team to play in the First Four and get this far. They needed double overtime to knock off Iowa and advance. The SEC isn't the only conference that will have teams facing each other in the Sweet 16. Minnesota, back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005, will play Big Ten foe UCLA. Elite guard matchupVanderbilt and Notre Dame will square off in the regional semifinals in a matchup of two of the best guards in the country with Mikayla Blakes and Hannah Hidalgo trying to lead their teams to the Elite Eight. They are both dynamic scorers who can also find teammates for open baskets. Hidalgo is a defensive whiz, leading the country in steals. Star powerAll five of the AP first-team All-Americans are still playing, with UConn teammates Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd leading the way. Texas' Madison Booker put on an offensive clinic with a 40-point effort in the second round of the tournament. Fudd had 34 points in the rout of Syracuse. Lauren Betts led UCLA back to the Sweet 16, and Blakes has Vanderbilt in new territory. Offensive juggernautLSU broke the NCAA record with a 16th game this season scoring more than 100 points. The Tigers face third-seeded Duke in a rematch of their ACC/SEC challenge game that LSU won. The Tigers had scored over 100 points in each of their first eight games before beating Duke 93-77 on Dec. 4. This is a different Duke team, though, as the Blue Devils won 23 of their next 25 games after that defeat.