Injuries to No. 11 Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley and other key women’s basketball players could upend the NCAA postseason

The GIST: Conference tournaments are underway with 32 March Madness auto-bids on the line. Expect mayhem (especially in the cutthroat Big 12, ACC, and Pac-12) as key players’ Sunday knee injuries have added a whole new layer of unpredictability to the postseason.

Elizabeth Kitley (No. 11 Virginia Tech): The 2023 Player of the Year (POY) finalist and three-time ACC POY has been having another banner season, but her injury during the Hokies’ loss to Virginia has jeopardized the star center’s campaign to lead her team to back-to-back Final Fours. The diagnosis (for her knee, at least) is unclear, but judging by her coach’s reaction, it doesn’t look good.

• Kitley leads Virginia Tech in points, points per game, rebounds, and blocks by a wide margin. Even with fellow all–ACC honoree Georgia Amoore’s offensive prowess, the Hokies’ playoff picture is grim until Kitley returns.

Mackenzie Holmes (No. 12 Indiana): The Hoosiers are primed for a deep postseason run…or they were until Holmes, a Big Ten first-team forward who trails only No. 3 Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in conference scoring, went down in Indiana’s win over Maryland. If the Hoosiers’ scoring and rebounding leader can’t recover, they could hit their ceiling — and their season’s end — quickly.

Molly Davis (No. 3 Iowa): The Hawkeyes are proof that there’s no winning without the entire team — Caitlin Clark, who averaged 31 points in their four losses, can’t do it alone. The good news? Starting guard and headband model Davis will return from her gruesome-looking injury. The bad? No one knows when, and timing’s crucial as they enter two single-elimination tournaments.