FSU women’s basketball March Madness bracket predictions for 2024 NCAA Tournament
Selection Sunday has arrived as Florida State women's basketball (23-10, 12-6 ACC) awaits its matchup for the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN's Charlie Creme's latest Bracketology forecast has the Seminoles (23-10) in Iowa City as a No. 8 seed facing No. 9 Alabama in the first round.
The winner would likely face host No. 1 Iowa, which is expected to earn the program's first top seed since 1992.
FSU invites fans to join it for Selection Sunday at the Tucker Center at 7:30 p.m. The team will sign autographs from 7:30 to 7:50 p.m. prior to the 8 p.m. Selection Show on ESPN.
The Seminoles will be making their 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tourney.
The Seminoles had a strong start to the season, picking up wins over nationally-ranked Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia Tech, and peaking as high as No. 4 in Creme's Bracketology.
However, three straight losses to Syracuse, Virginia and Duke bumped the Seminoles down to the No. 8/No. 9 seed. They have been forecast as a No. 8/No. 9 seed for the last few weeks.
FSU managed to lock up that spot in the bracket after making a run to semifinals in the ACC Tournament as a No. 6 seed. It picked up wins over No. 14 Wake Forest and No. 3 Syracuse before falling to No. 2 NC State.
The win over Syracuse likely bumped the Orange out of a top 4 seed.
The ACC could earn as many as nine bids into the NCAA Tournament.
Seminole snapshot
Unlike last season, FSU is going into NCAA Tournament play 100% healthy.
Leading scoring Ta'Niya Latson, who is averaging 21.3 points, missed last year's tourney with an injury.
The Seminoles will also have their most important defensive piece in Makayla Timpson, averaging 14.1 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. She has recorded an impressive 17 double-doubles this season, which is a program single-season record.
O'Mariah Gordon (13.4 points per game) and Sara Bejedi (12.2 points per game) have played key roles offensively and Brianna "Snoop" Turnage (6.3 rebounds per game) has emerged as a key rebounder.
Its starting lineup has proven to be solid, but FSU needs support from its bench to make a deep run. The bench is averaging 19.1 points a game.
When it comes to matching with teams that can get support from off the bench, FSU struggles to match up.
Against NC State, the Seminoles struggled to lock in on multiple Wolfpack players and fell into more trouble when Timpson's time was limited due to fouls.
Potentially facing the Crimson Tide
Alabama is 23-9 and went 10-6 in SEC play, to finish fourth in the conference standings.
Its notable wins this season include Louisville (78-73) and Tennessee (72-56). The Crimson Tide have also faced Gonzaga, Syracuse, LSU and South Carolina.
The Crimson Tide were knocked out of the SEC Tournament quarterfinals by Tennessee, 83-61. Alabama shot a low 18% (3-of-16) from 3-point range and was out-rebounded 43-28 in that game.
Sarah Ashlee Barker has been the scoring and rebounding force for the Crimson Tide, averaging 17.2 points and 6.4 rebounds. Aaliyah Nye closely follows in scoring with 14 points a game.
While FSU is getting a little more scoring from its top players, Alabama has a little more depth that could allow for this to be an exciting matchup.
Freshman 6-foot-4 forward Essence Cody could be a major factor in this game the Seminoles were one of the smaller teams among their opponents this season.
NCAA Selection Sunday
Where: Sunday, 8 p.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, Fl.
TV: ESPN
Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU women’s basketball March Madness, NCAA bracket predictions
