What parity? Top women's teams separate themselves ahead of Selection Sunday

Charlie Creme has changed his mind.

If you'll remember Creme, who has been doing women's basketball bracketology for ESPN since 2003, was using the "p'' word just over a month ago when assessing the midseason landscape.

You know, parity.

In late January, to Creme, it was, for the most part, South Carolina and everybody else. One clear standout on top, a gap, followed by a number of teams that could perhaps make their way to Minneapolis for the Final Four.

But now? When it comes to the teams fans might see at Target Center when the Final Four commences April 1? When constructing a short list of teams capable of walking off the Target Center floor as champions on April 3?

"I'm going to amend that,'' Creme said this week, having just returned to his Las Vegas home from his work for ESPN in Bristol, Conn. He'll be back in Bristol for Sunday's 7 p.m. women's selection show, when we'll all know who is in, and where they'll be playing in four regionals around the country.

"Right now, realistically, I'm looking at six teams that could win the national championship,'' Creme continued.

Those six:

South Carolina, defending champion Stanford, North Carolina State, Louisville, Baylor and Connecticut.

Heading into some tournament play this weekend, Crème had South Carolina, Stanford, N.C. State and Louisville as No. 1 seeds, with Baylor and Connecticut as the two best No. 2 seeds.

This could change.

Louisville lost in the ACC tournament. Should Baylor, which has won 10 straight and 15 of 16, add a Big 12 tournament title to its regular-season title, it could usurp Louisville as a top seed.

And while South Carolina is still the favorite in his mind, the Gamecocks' loss to Kentucky in the SEC championship game shows that the team's occasional difficulty in scoring could be an issue.

"That just shows the gap [between South Carolina and everybody else] isn't as big as it was,'' Creme said. "Stanford and South Carolina, you might even say they're 1 and 1A right now. Stanford has a lot of things South Carolina doesn't have. They can score in a lot of different ways. They have experience and confidence to close out games in big moments. Stanford's done it.''

North Carolina State won both the ACC regular season title and won its third straight conference tournament title. Louisville, while mercurial, can play with anyone. Baylor is on a big-time roll.

And Connecticut is healthy.

The Huskies played without Azzi Fudd and Nika Muhl at times, and were without defending player of the year Paige Bueckers from early December to late February with a knee injury. Bueckers is still working back to 100%. But the Huskies have regained their dominance heading into the tournament which, should they be a high enough No. 2 seed, could begin in the Bridgeport, Conn. Regional.

To Creme, Stanford and Connecticut are the two teams most flexible, capable of adjusting their rotations for any type of opponent.

Crème predicts the SEC will get nine bids, the ACC eight, with the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and Big 12 getting six each. As of late in the week he had Northwestern as the first team out of the tournament.

But Crème has no Big Ten teams getting a No. 2 seed. In a regular season – and conference tournament – in which the teams beat up on each other, Crème has Iowa and Michigan receiving No. 3 seeds. And he doesn't have a conference team on his list of potential champions.

"Maryland was a disappointment,'' Crème said. "Maybe Iowa finished better than expected.

Having said all that, does Creme see any potential dark-horse Final Four candidates?

Maybe two: LSU and Texas. Texas sometimes struggles to score, but they play tough defense. LSU is coached by Kim Mulkey, who won three titles at Baylor before moving to LSU before this season.