Selection committee chair discusses the 2024 NCAA Tournament

But getting that field chosen, seeded and set up? That was the hard part.

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Committee chair Lisa Peterson met with media members on a Zoom call shortly after the conclusion of the Selection Sunday television show on ESPN. Before Peterson even fielded a question, she made note that she’s “never been in a room that was so highly debated” in her four years as committee chair.

“We went back and revisited all the teams that we put into the bracket,” Peterson explained. “It’s really what we’ve been saying all year is that in women’s college basketball, there’s so much parity happening and it makes it really exciting for the game.” 

What was not up for the debate was that the South Carolina Gamecocks, led by head coach Dawn Staley, were the top overall seed as the only undefeated team in the nation. The Gamecocks are hoping to win the national title for the second time in three years, while the defending national champions and fellow SEC school LSU were given a No.3 seed — the same seed the Tigers received last year before beating Iowa in the championship game.

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But beyond South Carolina, there were questions all throughout about seeding starting with the committee giving Texas the fourth No. 1 seed over Stanford. The Cardinal had been a No. 1 seed in three consecutive tournaments, but will now be the No. 2 seed in the Portland Regional 4 with Texas.

According to Peterson, recent performance for both teams was a deciding factor.

“What it came down to was Texas has to beat three tournament teams to win the Big 12 Championship and they also went 9-1 in their last 10 games,” Peterson said. She added that, while Stanford had a tougher non-conference schedule, the Cardinal went 8-2 in their last 10 games and, according to Peterson, had their worst loss of the season in that span. “When you’re trying to slip a piece of paper between teams, that’s what it came down to.”

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That recent performance can also be what ended up determining the bubble teams as well. Peterson revealed the first four teams outside of the field of 68 were (in alphabetical order): Miami, Penn State, Villanova and Washington State. Miami was a team projected by several experts to make the field, leading Peterson to answer a question specifically about the Hurricanes.

“it really just came down to the losses that they had and how they looked in those losses,” Peterson said. “Miami was a very up-and-down team throughout the season — flashes of brilliance and then some when they struggled.”

While Miami was expected to be in and missed, the team who many expected to be left out but ended up as one of the last four teams in was Columbia from the Ivy League. The Lions will play in a First Four game later this week, and Peterson once again said that their recent form was a key factor. She specifically mentioned their 21 wins in their last 23 games.

“They played an incredibly good Princeton team [in the Ivy League Tournament title game] — we actually watched that game together as a committee and we thought it was more about what Princeton had done than what Columbia hadn’t done,” Peterson said of the Lions. “Great regular season. They tried to challenge themselves outside of the league, and just really felt like they deserved to be in the tournament.”

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On the whole, Peterson believes there is more parity in the sport now than there ever has been. She cited both the transfer portal and the name, image and likeness (NIL) money as big changes helping that parity settle in, as well as a changing of attitudes at schools across the country.

“I think that you are seeing teams that haven’t traditionally been powerhouses in women’s basketball, they have institutions that are now putting a lot of funding into women’s basketball, and they’re making it where it is a possibility for you to get to the national championship at that institution,” Peterson said. “we have players that have been now coming into college basketball that have been playing since they were 3 years old. We have coaches who are really changing the game with how they coach.

“And there’s a lot more emphasis that’s happening. I think now it doesn’t matter if you don’t go to the four schools that you always heard of back in the ’80s and ’90s. You can you go to any school and you can win a national championship.”

Whether she proves to be right or not will be determined over the next three weeks. The NCAA Tournament will officially begin on Wednesday with the first two First Four games, with 16-seeds Sacred Heart and Presbyterian squaring off before 12-seeds Vanderbilt and Columbia battle. On Thursday, 16-seeds Holy Cross and UT Martin will played against each other, while Auburn will battle Arizona in a matchup of 11-seeds.

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