2013 NCAA Tourney: the Round of 32 in Review

photo:  www.lsusports.net

-- Adrienne Webb, LSU. With just seven players at her disposal and with an injured star in Theresa Plaisance, coach Nikki Caldwell turned to senior guard Adrienne Webb. Boy howdy, did the kid ever deliver. For a moment, forget that she dropped 29 points on Penn State. And forget that she drained a 3-pointer in the waning minutes. What she did that blew me away was take Maggie Lucas completely out of the game. Lucas is Penn State's best player and the best player in the Big 10; she is one of the best players in the country. I've been watching basketball long enough to know that sometimes even the best shooters have a cold stretch. Lucas started the game on what I thought was a cold stretch, but it became apparent as the game wore on that it wasn't Lucas being cold. Webb froze her out -- she turned Lucas cold. Though Caldwell was running a zone, it was often Webb who was right in Lucas' face. And I mean, In. Her. Face. It was so bad that with time ticking away, Penn State didn't even try to get the ball to Lucas. Maggie Lucas not taking the last shot? Crazy! To my mind, Webb was the player of the tourney in this round.

Next up for the Tigers? A Cal team that looked pretty shaky against South Florida on Monday night.

10 Women to Watch in the 2013 NCAA Tourney

Delle Donne:  www.caawomenshoops.wordpress.net

10.  Gennifer Brandon, Cal. The Cal Bears don't have one great player; there is no single, singular talent that jumps elevates an entire team, but they do have a collection of really good players. My favorite of the bunch is junior forward Gennifer Brandon, who is a rebounding machine and was a significant force in all of the team's signature wins this year -- once over Stanford and twice against both UCLA and Colorado. Make no mistake, the Bears won't make it far without Layshia Clarendon, either, but when Cal is at their best, they are a tremendously physical team. That physicality starts on the boards with Brandon.