LSU women's basketball bracketology: After 6 straight wins, have the Tigers moved up?
During the broadcast Sunday, ESPN commentators repeatedly relayed that women's basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme projected that LSU women's basketball winning at Tennessee wouldn't affect its stance in his eyes.
They were going to remain a No. 4 seed in his projections. Tigers fans were none too pleased with his in-game assessment. No. 9-ranked LSU (24-4, 11-3) did go on to beat the Lady Vols, 75-60, for its sixth straight SEC victory.
What Creme couldn't project is a few teams in front of the Tigers, in the polls and his prognostications, falling. Colorado (20-7), who did beat LSU to open the season in Las Vegas back in November, have lost four straight games. North Carolina State (23-5) have lost back-to-back games, most recently on the road to an unranked Duke team. Kansas State (23-5) lost to unranked rival, Kansas.
Couple the Tigers' winning streak along with the struggles of those teams in front of them forced ESPN to properly move them up.
Here's a look at the latest projections:
ESPN: 3 seed (Portland 4)
Despite the initial chatter, Creme couldn't avoid moving LSU up to the No. 3 seed line in his projections that dropped Tuesday morning. The Tigers leapfrogged Colorado and Kansas State, who he relegated to the 4 seed line. LSU would tip off the NCAA Tournament against No. 14 Chattanooga and would meet the winner of No. 6 North Carolina and No. 11 Iowa State. Two wins in Baton Rouge would advance the Tigers to Portland for regional play where they would get a first-hand look at frontrunner for Freshman of the Year in No. 2 USC guard JuJu Watkins in the Sweet 16.
The Athletic: 2 seed (Albany 2)
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For the first time since the preseason, LSU is on an NCAA Tournament projection 2-seed line. The Athletic propelled the Tigers up from a 4 seed last week to a No. 2 spot in the Albany 2 region in its latest outlook Tuesday. LSU has won six straight games and on track to close out the regular season on an eight-game win streak. In The Athletic's projections, LSU would open March Madness against No. 15 Albany before meeting the winner of No. 7 Michigan State and No. 10 Arizona. The fun would really kick in up in Albany, where the Tigers could potentially face Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16 in a rematch from earlier this season.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Where LSU women's basketball stands in NCAA Tournament projections