NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2010 Starts Today

The NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 starts on a crowded day. The first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 must play second fiddle to the men's second round opener. What's more, everyone in the women's field is playing second fiddle to Connecticut, which doesn't begin their run until tomorrow. But today, the best teams other than Connecticut start to make statements, to try and prove this isn't a one-team bracket. While the men's final 32 square off, the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 still has a field of 64 to narrow down today.

Four matchups kick things off just after noon today on the ESPN channels. At 12:06 pm est, the very first game of the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 tipped off between LSU and Hartford. The Tigers had been Final Four threats for years, but they are down to a seven seed in the Memphis region this year.

At 12:11, Michigan State started off against Bowling Green, while Tennessee became the first top seed to start off five minutes later. The Volunteers begin at home against Austin Peay, the only program with a losing record. Finally, St. John's kicked off a rare tournament appearance against Princeton.

The next pod of games on the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 schedule starts around 2:30. Duke leads off against Hampton, while Dayton faces TCU on Tennessee's home floor, Florida State hosts Louisiana Tech, and Kentucky's Lady Wildcats play Liberty - hours before the men take the court tonight.

The night session begins at around 8 pm est, since there are some rather late games later on. Texas A&M takes on Portland State at 8:06, followed by Oklahoma State vs Chattanooga, Rutgers vs Iowa, and Georgetown vs Marist. Afterwards, just as the final games on today's men's schedule wrap up, the last matches for the women kick off on the West Coast.

Top seeded Stanford tries to overcome their past history against 16 seeds, facing UC Riverside at approximately 10:30. In addition, Baylor faces Fresno State, Georgia clashes with Tulane, and Gonzaga takes on North Carolina.

Although the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 has to start alongside the men, they will have the spotlight to themselves in round 2, on Monday and Tuesday. But no matter when they play, the biggest attention will come whether Connecticut is in action - a consequence of having a 72 game winning streak. The Huskies will start tomorrow's schedule right away, with a noon game against Southern.

For today, the Huskies' competition tries to show why they can threaten for the title too. Tennessee, Duke, Stanford and Texas A&M have the highest hopes among today's competitors. Their road through the NCAA women's basketball tournament 2010 may be stopped by Connecticut later - but for now, they can still do a lot of damage first, beginning today.

Sources

Yahoo Sports- "College Women's Basketball - Scores & Schedule"