NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2019: Monday's Schedule, Bracket Predictions
While the Sweet 16 is set on the men's side, the women's NCAA tournament still has eight more second-round games to be played on Monday night before its field is trimmed to 16 teams.
The first eight second-round games were played on Sunday, and the higher seed won in seven of those eight matchups. Among the victors were No. 1 seeds Mississippi State and Louisville and No. 2 seeds UConn, Iowa and Oregon.
There weren't many upsets in the first round of the women's tournament, and there were no big ones on Sunday. Monday likely won't be much different, as No. 1 seeds Notre Dame and Baylor and No. 2 seed Stanford are among the schools looking to advance to the Sweet 16.
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Monday Schedule (Picks in Bold, All Times ET)
View the full bracket at NCAA.com
No. 9 Michigan State vs. No. 1 Notre Dame, 7 p.m.
No. 6 UCLA vs. No. 3 Maryland, 7 p.m.
No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 3 NC State, 7 p.m.
No. 6 South Dakota State vs. No. 3 Syracuse, 7 p.m.
No. 8 California vs. No. 1 Baylor, 9 p.m.
No. 5 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 Oregon State, 9 p.m.
No. 11 Missouri State vs. No. 3 Iowa State, 9 p.m.
No. 7 BYU vs. No. 2 Stanford, 11 p.m.
Monday Preview
Cinderella teams are less likely in the women's tournament than the men's, as the top seeds have dominated the NCAA tourney in recent years.
Monday's action features the No. 1 overall seed, Baylor, which will be taking on No. 8 seed California. The Bears have lost only one game this season, and that was against Stanford back on Dec. 15. Their first-round blowout win over Abilene Christian was their 24th straight victory.
"You're excited to play," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said after that win, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. "We hadn't played in about 12 days, I think. You get nervous when you're off that long a period of time. Are you going to come out rusty? I didn't think we came out rusty."
No. 1 seed Notre Dame, the defending national champion, also plays Monday night when it takes on No. 9 seed Michigan State. The Fighting Irish pummeled No. 16 seed Bethune-Cookman in the first round. Before that, they notched an impressive win over Louisville to win the ACC tournament championship.
Michigan State pulled out a close 88-87 win over No. 8 seed Central Michigan in the first round, but it's likely that the Spartans' season will end with a loss to Notre Dame.
If there's going to be a rare Cinderella team in this year's tournament, it would have to be Missouri State. The Bears, who previously beat Drake to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship, upset No. 6 seed DePaul in the first round.
"It's very emotional," Missouri State coach Kellie Harper said after the victory, according to The Gazette. "I'm so happy for this group, and we knew we'd put ourselves in a really good position going into the tournament with how we'd played. It'll sink in a little later."
The Bears will look to carry on that momentum when they play No. 3 seed Iowa State on Monday night.
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