It feels impossible to pick the top five games we are looking forward to in round one, but if we have to, we’d choose the following:

No. 8 West Virginia vs No. 9 Princeton

Saturday, March 23 at 5:30 p.m. E.T. on ESPN2

Don’t sleep on the Tigers. This Princeton team knows how to win, with senior guard Kaitlyn Chen leading the team to victory. She helped her team upset SEC Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament two seasons ago and again pulled off an upset in last year’s tournament against NC State. The Tigers have come within inches of the Sweet Sixteen in the previous year. Is this the year they make it happen? Like Princeton, West Virginia is also an incredible defensive team, averaging nearly 24 turnovers a game. JJ Quinerly leads the Mountaineers. She is the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a semifinalist for the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year.

No. 4 Indiana vs No. 13 Fairfield

Saturday, March 23 at 1:30 p.m. E.T. on ESPN2

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. That is precisely what the Fairfield Stags did. After a stunning 30-1 season, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions submitted their resume on X to the AP and USA today to pitch a top-25 ranking. Fairfield secured No.25 – the program’s first top 25 ranking. It is an excellent time to hop on the Stag bandwagon. The Stags play Indiana in Bloomington. The Hoosiers lost in the semifinals to Nebraska after leading in the first half. Indiana All American and fifth-year forward Mackenzie Holmes has been battling a knee injury that has left her largley sidelined over the last few weeks. Holme's playing time in the tournament is to be determined.

No. 6 Syracuse vs No. 11 Arizona

Saturday, March 23 at 3:30 p.m. E.T. on ESPN2

Arizona already defeated Auburn 69-59 in a play-in game to secure a spot in the round of 64. The reward? A date with Syracuse, a team that has caused problems in the ACC all season. Arizona is a team on the rise and one that could pull off an upset. Syracuse is led by fifth-year Daiysha Fair, who passed Brittany Griner for fifth place on the all-time scoring list. She averages 22 points per game, which is good enough for the top-10 in the NCAA.

No. 7 Creighton vs No. 10 UNLV

Saturday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m. E.T. on ESPNews

In the Albany 2 Region, the most difficult, both of these teams face an uphill battle for a win. UNLV enters the weekend on the 30-win season. The Rebels did it with a solid group of experienced players and a spunky freshman guard Amarachi Kimpson. It is UNLV’s third consecutive NCAA tournament trip. Creighton finished second in the Big East and is also attending the tournament for the third time in a row – reaching the Elite Eight in 2022. The Bluejays also rely on an experienced group of seniors.

No. 7 Iowa State vs No. 10 Maryland

Friday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. E.T. on ESPN2

Two teams stand before us, and both are on the rise. Iowa State hasn’t lost to a team other than Texas (Big 12 champion and No. 1 in Portland 2 region) since February 14. The Cyclones struggled early in the season as new players and transfers built chemistry. It appears the team is peaking at the right time. Maryland has played in the NCAA tournament every year since 2011, similarly finding its groove later in the season. The Terps pushed one-seed Iowa in a home game, eventually falling 85-93. Maryland also defeated NCAA tournament two-seed and Big Ten tournament one-seed Ohio State before falling to Nebraska. To add to the stakes, Maryland head coach Brenda Frese was an Iowa State assistant coach in the late 1990s.