NCAA Women's Tournament 2013: Players Who Will Have the Biggest Impact

The 2013 Women's NCAA Tournament may ultimately take a backseat in the mainstream to the opposing men's tourney, but don't mistake that for a lack of excitement.

As teams head toward conference tournament season and the seeds slowly start to cement, it's become clear that 2013 will produce titillating action for college basketball fans. Even possibly more so than the men's side. 

While most of the focus has shifted toward the downtrodden offensive pace of the men's game, the women hay actually produce the most exciting brand of college basketball. There aren't the same captivating dunks—save for the occasional Brittney Griner throw-down—but the focus on getting off quick, long-range shots keeps contests exciting for the most part.

And with a relatively weak crop of notable stars in the men's game, the women may be taking the cake in that respect as well.

Who are the biggest women to watch for in March? Here is a complete breakdown of a few whose play may ultimately dictate which team cuts down the nets on April 9. 

Brittney Griner (C, Baylor Lady Bears)

We might as well start with the best player in all of women's basketball. Griner has been a dominant force since coming to Baylor, captivated audiences with her two-way talents and this season's NCAA tournament may be the coup de grace to her collegiate career.

Her paper statistics are astronomical as always. Griner is averaging 22.4 points while making 58.9 percent of her shots and blocking 3.8 shots per night. She's inside or near the top five women in the nation in all three categories, keeping Baylor atop the Associated Press poll for nearly the entire 2012-13 season. 

That being said, arguably Griner's best asset doesn't show up on a stat sheet at all. Opponents are shooting just 32.6 percent from the floor against the Bears this season, third-best in the nation, and much of that is due to Griner's presence.

It's Griner's presence in the post and her ability to alter shots that keeps that opposing shooting percentage so low. As with most players who have a shot-blocking presence, Griner simply being on the court forces teams to take bad shots versus Baylor.

With a No. 1 seed in the offing, that won't likely show up until late in the tournament. Baylor is too individually talented for any of the upstarts to really pose a challenge. But once the competition ratchets up, don't be surprised to see opposing teams take long two-point jumpers—the worst shot in basketball—against Baylor.

Chiney Ogwumike (F, Stanford Cardinal)

Speaking of ladies whose interior presence may shift the paradigm of the Big Dance, Ogwumike is staking her claim for Player of the Year honors as well. The junior forward is averaging 22.7 points (third in the nation) and 12.7 rebounds (fifth), while leading the Cardinal to a 26-2 record thus far.

In fact, the only area where Ogwumike doesn't match up with Griner is blocks. She isn't among the nation's top 50 in that category and fails to intimidate in the same way. She is, however, a very strong defensive player. 

Stanford is 18th in the nation in points allowed, but that's more of an indicator of its pace than anything. The Cardinal allow opponents to shoot just 32.3 percent from the field, second in the nation. Though much of that is due to the strong all-around team defensive concept, Ogwumike has done well guarding a varied group of opposing forwards this year. 

One negative note: It will be interesting to see how Ogwumike fares against Connecticut if the two teams face off. Ogwumike shot just 5-of-22 against the nation's best defense in the team's first meeting, as the Cardinal shot an abysmal 19.3 percent for the game.

She also did not have her best game of the season in a loss to Cal, either, so it will be interesting to see whether those woes were aberrations. 

Maggie Lucas (G, Penn State Lady Lions)

Among the nation's top scorers, none may have more of a burden on her plate than Lucas. The three-point gunner is averaging a shade under 20 points per game, thanks mostly to a 47.8 percent rate from beyond the arc (third in the nation), and plays with no other women inside the NCAA's top 50 scorers.

That's an especially important distinction for this Penn State squad. The Lions score at a top 15 rate this season, but they have been prone to long lapses on the defensive end. They allow 57.2 points per game, a rate that ranks outside the Top 50, and that's only partially due to their pace. Penn State's opponents have a 35.4 percent field goal percentage for the season, which ranks a disconcerting 37th.

Lucas isn't the elixir on the defensive end—far from it. Penn State is just a team so heavily predicated on offensive production, particularly from Lucas, that it's doubtful it could survive a poor performance later on in the Dance.

At this point, teams are who they are. The Lions are a mediocre defensive team that needs to score at elite levels to win, and much of that responsibility falls on Lucas' ability to make it rain from beyond the arc.

Following a strong run to the Sweet 16 last season, Coquese Washington will look for Lucas to take her even further in 2013. 

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