NCAA Women's Basketball: A Wish List for the National Tournament

Nnemkadi Ogwumike punctuated a rout of conference rival California Sunday by blocking a Brittany Boyd layup halfway back to Palo Alto.

It was only your mind’s eye that saw a Dikembe Mutombo-like finger wag, though the Stanford Lady Cardinal senior would have been entitled.

The glimpses of the Sisters Ogwumike available here in their hometown have been limited.  Fortunately, Nneka’s exquisite 42-point gem in December against Tennessee is among them.

With Selection Monday now less than a week away and a dozen or so dance tickets already punched, it’s about time for the cream to rise and the titans to clash.

Notre Dame and Connecticut will deliver their third encounter of 2012 tonight in the Big East Final, but both are likely to receive No. 1 seeds for the National Tournament regardless of the outcome.  [Author’s update: UConn prevailed.]

And just what—beyond victory for your favorite team/alma mater—would you like to see in Lady March Madness?

Abacus Reveals six wishes—and maybe a few juicy matchups—for the upcoming brackets.

Who knows?  We may get an Ogwumike finger wag yet, maybe on a Colorado Rocky Mountain High.

Maryland vs. Stanford

If this game should come to pass, just shadow Nneka Ogwumike and Maryland super sophomore Alyssa Thomas.

There are no better and more athletic players in the women’s college game than these two 6’2” studs, each this season’s Player of the Year in her conference.

Ogwumike gives coach Tara VanDerveer 21 points and 10 or so rebounds a game, shooting 53 percent from the field and 82 percent from the line.

Thomas kicks in 17 and eight, with equal foul shooting and 46 percent field accuracy.

And here’s something an old schooler might find aesthetically pleasing—the Ogwumike girls together have attempted two three-point field goals all season.

Delaware vs. Somebody…Anybody

The story is so familiar. 

Homesick hoops prodigy flees a hoops factory and its high-profile coach, soon to be leading a cast of “who dats?” from “what school?” to unprecedented success.

So, is she Larry Bird or Adam Morrison?

It’s time for us to see Elena Delle Donne play.

Notre Dame vs. South Carolina

Notre Dame expects to win—it exudes their very existence.

Sometimes that air of confidence defeats an opponent before the game even starts.

But that won’t happen to a senior-laden team coached by one of the most hard-nosed players in the history of the sport in Dawn Staley.

These plucky Lady Gamecocks stared down and defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena a month ago.

Senior guard Markeshia Grant’s 27 points fueled that landmark victory.

Does classmate La’Keisha Sutton possess such a game, and would a shootout with another traditional power be the appropriate arena?

Skylar who?

Texas A&M vs. Tennessee

If all had gone as planned, Tennessee’s Glory Johnson would be sporting a couple of Kelsey Bone (no pun intended) bruises, and vice versa.

Bone, A&M’s redshirt sophomore post, is a transfer from…wait for it…South Carolina.  (Just think about that for a second.)

With the schedule the Lady Vols have played, the rugged Johnson has locked horns, heads, shoulders, knees and toes with everyone else.

Why not Kelsey, for old time's sake!

Connecticut vs. Vanderbilt

Is guard play more to your liking?  A leader of an effective and efficient team?

UConn sophomore Bria Hartley fills the bill.

While Tiffany Hayes handles the ball a fair bit and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is a star-to-be, make no mistake about it—Hartley’s the brains of this highly-ranked outfit.

Another clever playmaker, one who has stayed under the radar on a veteran team from a solid conference, is Vandy sophomore Jasmine Lister.

This young lady conjures up bounce passes that seem to defy the “geography and trigonometry of the game,” as Boston Celtic voice Tommy Heinsohn likes to call it.

If nothing else, this confrontation will give renewed hope to us sub-six-footers.

Duke vs. Baylor

Duke center Elizabeth Williams is the odds-on favorite for Freshman of the Year.

Would it not be fitting that she encounter her two immediate predecessors, Odyssey Sims and Brittney Griner?

Actually, the Lady Blue Devil shot-blocking machine, who also contributes 14 points and eight boards to the cause, would pose an interesting challenge to Baylor coach Kim Mulkey’s two-headed power forward combination of Destiny Williams and Brooklyn Pope.

While we’re inclined to wish Miss Elizabeth our best, this game has “One to Grow On” written all over it.

While it would be surprising if all 11 of these teams did not qualify for a shot at the national title, these matchups rest on the whim of the bracket makers and the discretion of the basketball gods.

But a guy can wish, can’t he?