Women's Elite Eight Schedule Begins Monday

The Women's Elite Eight schedule finally begins on Monday night, and only one bracket actually has a surprise team. Four No. 1 seeds and three No. 2 seeds have made it through to the final eight teams, with the exception being the Gonzaga Bulldogs from Spokane, Wash.. Gonzaga is the No. 11 seed in the Spokane Region, hoping to continue with their string of upsets in a Monday night game. One of the complaints about women's college basketball is that the surprises are gone, but on Monday night we might get to see one of the biggest upsets in quite a while.

The women's NCAA brackets have gone almost exactly according to the plans set forward by the NCAA Selection Committee, and maybe it just boils down to that group deserving a lot of respect. They picked seven of the final eight teams correctly, only missing on the No. 2 seed assigned to Xavier in the Spokane Region. There were a few upsets along the way in the other regions, like No. 6 Oklahoma beating No. 3 Miami in the Dayton Region and No. 6 Georgia beating No. 3 Florida State in the Dallas Region, but it has still led to three regions hosting No. 1 vs. No. 2 games this week.

The first game on Monday night is Tennessee vs. Notre Dame to decide the Dayton Region. That game will be played at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST, and it will air live on ESPN. Tennessee is, of course, one of the premier universities for women's college basketball, and they would love to make it to yet another Final Four. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Baylor vs. Texas A&M game that will take place on Tuesday in the Dallas Region. The Baylor game will start at 6 p.m. PST / 9 p.m. EST March 29, and it will also be on ESPN as well.

The second game on Monday night is Stanford vs. Gonzaga to decide the Spokane Region. Gonzaga has pulled off three straight upsets in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, and takes their No. 11 seed into the regional final against another of the women's powerhouses. Courtney Vandersloot is going to try to lead the Lady Zags to their first ever Final Four appearance, and she gets to do it in front of the home crowd in Spokane. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Philadelphia Region, which is down to a Connecticut vs. Duke game on Tuesday.

The Stanford vs. Gonzaga game is Monday, March 28, at 6 p.m. PST and the Connecticut vs. Duke game is Tuesday, March 29, at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST.