It's been a weekend of big upsets in Power 5 women's basketball tournaments, leading to what could be a historic day of championship games Sunday. Miami (ACC) and Utah (Pac-12) are playing in their conference title games for the first time. Indiana (Big Ten) will try to win its league title for the first time in 20 years, and Kentucky (SEC) for the first time in 40 years.
The Hurricanes and Wildcats are No. 7 seeds in their tournaments, while the Utes are No. 6 and the Hoosiers No. 5. Standing in their way, though, will be three league top seeds that also are projected as NCAA No. 1 seeds: NC State, South Carolina and Stanford, and another team projected in the NCAA's top 16: Iowa.
The ACC final starts the day (ESPN, noon ET) with the Wolfpack vs. the Hurricanes in Greensboro, North Carolina. Regular-season champion NC State has won the past two ACC tournament titles. Miami, which joined the ACC in 2004, upset No. 2 seed Louisville 61-59 on a buzzer-beater Friday and No. 3 seed Notre Dame 57-54 Saturday to reach the championship game.
"I thought it was a great representation of what college athletics is supposed to be," Miami coach Katie Meier said after the Hurricanes' win over the Irish. "I thought it was a lot of fun. We came into this tournament being sick of the 'almosts.' There was not going to be an 'almost' today."
Miami, 20-11, has won eight of its last nine games. NC State, 28-3, suffered its only ACC loss to Notre Dame on Feb. 1. The Wolfpack won 76-64 over the Hurricanes in Miami on Jan. 9.
Kentucky started SEC play 2-8 and at one point appeared to be out of NCAA tournament contention. The Wildcats went 1-8 from Jan. 9 to Feb. 10, a stretch that started and ended with losses to regular-season champion South Carolina. But Kentucky has won nine in a row since and is in its first SEC final since 2014.
In a battle of coaches who were once teammates at Tennessee, Kentucky's Kyra Elzy got the win over the Lady Vols' Kellie Harper 83-74 in the semifinals Saturday. Kentucky senior Rhyne Howard, No. 2 in ESPN's latest WNBA mock draft, led the Wildcats with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. In her three SEC tournament games thus far, she is averaging 23.3 points.
South Carolina, 29-1, beat Ole Miss 61-51 Saturday. The Gamecocks have won six of the last seven SEC tournaments. Kentucky's lone SEC tournament crown came in 1982; the Wildcats lost in the final in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. The teams will meet for the championship in Nashville, Tennessee (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET).
"I think we have a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence in ourselves," Howard said. "So just stay tuned. It's gonna be a great one."
The Big Ten final (ESPN2, 4 p.m. ET) in Indianapolis will pit No. 2 seed Iowa against Indiana. The teams met back-to-back on Feb. 19 and 21, with the Hawkeyes taking both, 96-91 and 88-82. Saturday, Indiana upset No. 1 seed Ohio State 70-62, while Iowa got 41 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore guard Caitlin Clark in an 83-66 victory over No. 6 seed Nebraska.
The 22-7 Hawkeyes have won the Big Ten final three times: 1997, 2001 and 2019. Indiana, also 22-7, has played just once in the final since the Big Ten tournament began in 1995; the Hoosiers beat Penn State for the 2002 title.
The Pac-12 tournament began in 2002, and Stanford will be going for its 15th title Sunday (ESPN2, 6 p.m. ET). The Cardinal, 27-3, were the only Power 5 team to go unbeaten in league play this year. The defending national champions won their Pac-12 semifinal Friday over Colorado 71-45 in Las Vegas.
The Utes, 20-10, joined the Pac-12 in 2011 and had their first winning conference record this year at 8-7. They beat No. 11 seed Cal, No. 3 Washington State and No. 2 Oregon to reach the final.