NCAA Women's Bracket 2014: Top Contenders for Tournament Title

The NCAA women's tournament begins on Saturday, and there are a few teams that are clear favorites to win it all. 

Heading into the tournament, there are two teams that are still undefeated, the Connecticut Huskies and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Those two teams will be obvious favorites to go all the way, but there are a few other candidates as well.

With that being said, let's take a look at a few of the top contenders for the NCAA women's title.

No. 1 Connecticut Huskies

When it comes to women's college basketball, there isn't a more dominant team in the nation than the Huskies.

It feels like head coach Geno Auriemma can never lose, and regardless of who is on his team, the Huskies win. They've won three NCAA championships over the past five years while going to the Final Four in six straight seasons. 

Along with being the best team in the country defensively, the Huskies also lead the nation with 21.6 assists per game and are second in the nation in field-goal percentage at 50.5 percent. Their leading scorer is sophomore forward Breanna Stewart, who averages 19.7 points per game.

The Huskies don't exactly have a difficult road to the Final Four, and they are the clear favorites to win their second consecutive national title.

No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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The other undefeated team this season is Notre Dame, and if the Huskies and Fighting Irish continue to win, they play each other in what would be the most exciting national championship game in some time.

The Irish and Huskies have had a huge rivalry for a while, but they didn't get to play each other this year after Connecticut moved to the AAC and Notre Dame went to the ACC. Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw commented on not playing UConn, according to ESPN.com, while also indirectly taking a shot at Auriemma's team.

"It was very unusual to go through a whole season without playing them, we're so used to it, three times every year," McGraw said. "We've gotten pretty good at beating them the last couple of years."

The Irish have the most efficient offense in the country, shooting 51.1 percent from the field. They also rank second in scoring behind the Oregon Ducks, averaging 86.6 points per game. Jewell Loyd, Kayla McBride and Natalie Achonwa are all scoring threats, averaging 18.5, 17.5 and 14.1 points per game, respectively.

With so many options to put up big numbers, the Irish are a threat from anywhere on the floor, and that should help them make a very deep run in this year's tournament.

No. 3 Louisville Cardinals

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Despite putting up 30 wins heading into the tournament, the Cardinals got no love heading into the tournament, earning just a No. 3 seed. They've gone 30-4 this year, with three of those losses coming against the Huskies and the other coming against the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Cardinals weren't exactly thrilled with their seeding in this game, but they'll have to make up for it by proving everyone wrong. Head coach Jeff Walz was a bit sarcastic with his reaction about the No. 3 seed, according to Tim Sullivan from The Courier-Journal.

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"I was just hoping to make the tournament. You know, with four losses and three of them to UConn, I figured we might be an NIT team. So just to even get a three seed, I was thrilled. I wasn't sure if we had done enough. Hopefully, we can make them proud and show them that we're a good solid three seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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As a team, the Cardinals do a very good job on both sides of the ball, winning by an average margin of 19 points per game. They have three players who score in double figures, but senior guard Shoni Schimmel is the clear star, averaging 17 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

The Cardinals don't have as easy of a potential road to the Final Four, but if they can make it, there's a chance they could knock out either Notre Dame or Connecticut and prove to the committee that they deserved a No. 1 seed.