There's both good and bad things about a chalk NCAA tournament.

The first few rounds are fairly dull. The final two weekends, though, set up to be wildly entertaining.

I bring this up because the women's tournament was quite short on upsets in the first two rounds. Of the 16 teams left, none is seeded worse than sixth in its region --- the first time that's happened since the all-chalk regional semifinals of 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s in 1999 back when those teams all got to host the first two rounds.

For the rap the women's game gets for the relative lack of depth of great teams, the upshot is the elite tend to stick around for a while. And that means a chance for some incredible games, if you're willing to forget only 15 of the first 48 games were decided by less than 10 points. (As a point of comparison, there were 18 such games in the men's tournament, eight in the West bracket alone).

It's just something to keep in mind as the Marylands (a No. 1 seed), the George Washingtons (one of two No. 6 seeds left) and everyone else in between enter regional play starting Saturday night.

--- Patrick Stevens