The road to Tampa begins now.
With a flock of their fans sitting next to them in the PMAC, the LSU Tigers watched and waited to see who they would play in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The wait did not last long because in the first region that was presented, LSU was given the No. 3 seed. It will take on No. 14 seed San Diego State in the Spokane 1 Regional.
This region is jam-packed with other top teams such as No. 1 seed UCLA, No. 2 NC State and No. 4 Baylor. If LSU makes it far enough, it may have to face some of them to get to the national championship.
Each of these regional threats have a star player leading the way to get to that national championship.
Lauren Betts, UCLA
The No. 1 overall seed in the entire tournament is UCLA. The Bruins finished their season with a record of 30-2 and won the Big Ten tournament.
UCLA’s center, Lauren Betts, has been leading the Bruins to the best record in program history and has been dominant all year.
The 6-foot-7 junior towers over her opponents and is a force to be reckoned with. Betts is averaging 19.6 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks this season while shooting 63.4% from the field.
There’s no doubt that she has been one of the best players in the country.
Since she may not be as flashy as stars like Juju Watkins, Flau’Jae Johnson, Paige Bueckers and many more, it’s easy to not think of her as one of the faces in women’s college basketball, but she is.
On offense, once Betts gets to her spot and seals her defender, the only thing you can do is double team and leave one of her teammates open or hope she misses two feet from the basket, which she doesn’t do a lot.
She has fluid footwork with a nice soft touch at the rim. She attracts other defenders with her size and scoring ability, but has the skill set to find her teammates and make passes from underneath the basket.
The first team All-American is a unique player that not many other teams can compete with. If there is one player that LSU absolutely has to worry about in its region, it’s Betts.
Saniya Rivers, NC State
Picking one individual player for NC State is a difficult choice, which seemingly reflects who the Wolfpack are as a team.
NC State has four players who average more than 10 points a game. Aziaha James leads the team in scoring with 17. 9 points per game, and Zoe Brooks won ACC’s Most Improved Player while averaging 14.3 points per game. However, it’s Saniya Rivers who I think is the most impactful player for the Wolfpack.
Rivers started her career at South Carolina, and any time someone mentions South Carolina in women’s basketball, ears perk up, and that was true for the NC State coaches.
Rivers only averaged 2.3 points with the Gamecocks, but when she went north to Raleigh, she had an opportunity to blossom.
In her three seasons with NC State, she averaged 11 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks.
While she’s not the highest scorer on her team, she does everything else on top of scoring. Rivers stands at 6-foot-1, which gives her great height to guard positions one through five. Compared to LSU’s lineup, the only consistent starter that’s taller than her would be Sa’Myah Smith, who’s only one inch taller than Rivers at 6-foot-2 and is the starting center.
Her versatility makes her a jack-of-all-trades on defense, and she constantly hounds the opponent’s best player. But when she’s not harassing other teams on defense, she can contribute on offense.
In some of NC State’s biggest games, she stepped up. Against TCU, a team that won the Big 12, she scored 16 points.
When the Wolfpack lost to LSU earlier in the season, she led the team in scoring with 21.
NC State has its two best scorers in James and Brooks, but Rivers brings something to the team that others do not.
Aaronette Vonleh, Baylor
The No. 4 seed Baylor Bears made it to the Big 12 championship game this year before losing to TCU, 64-59.
Although they fell short, they wouldn’t have made it in the first place without center Aaronette Vonleh.
In the semifinal game against Oklahoma State, she scored 37 points with nine rebounds to pull out an overtime win over the cowboys.
This hasn’t been the first time they’ve leaned on Vonleh this season, either. Her teammate, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, has been out since Feb. 15 as she suffered a leg injury against Texas Tech.
Littlepage-Buggs was the leading scorer and rebounder for the Bears. The team needed someone else to step up, and that someone else was Vonleh.
With a combined 57 points in her last two games, she has stepped up for Baylor. She brings physicality and excellent finishing through contact, even against players taller than her.
Vonleh went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma State’s Tenin Magassa, who’s 6-foot-6. The pick and roll has been Baylor’s bread and butter, and once she seals her defender, they’re going right to her, down low.
She shoots the ball at 57.3% from the field, so when she gets the ball in a prized position, it’s most likely going in.
The phrase “next man up” was real for the Baylor team, and they’ve found someone who stepped up.
