NEW YORK — Connecticut, Mississippi State, Louisville, and Notre Dame are the top seeds in the final NCAA women’s basketball reveal announced Monday night.
The Huskies would be the top seed in the Albany Region while the Bulldogs would be No. 1 in Kansas City. Louisville wouldn’t have far to travel, headlining the Lexington Region, and Notre Dame would be the top team in Spokane, traveling the furthest of all the No. 1 seeds.
The four No. 1 seeds were in the same order in the previous reveal on Feb. 1.
“Those top four seeds are exactly the same,” said Rhonda Lundin Bennett, chair of the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee. “There was a little bit of movement in that next seed line, but a lot of the same teams are still in the discussion.”
The NCAA women’s basketball committee detailed the seeds and placement for all the top 16 teams for the first time in the three years they’ve done reveals. South Carolina, Florida State and Stanford would join UConn in Albany. Oregon, Missouri, and Georgia would be in Spokane with the Irish. Baylor, Tennessee, and Ohio State would be in Lexington; and Texas, UCLA, and Maryland are slated for Kansas City.
Michigan and Texas A&M fell out of the top 16 teams and were replaced by Missouri and Stanford. The Cardinal won seven straight games, including road victories over Oregon State and Oregon in a three-day span, before the streak ended with a loss at California on Saturday.
“Stanford did sneak in there at 16. They hadn’t had them in the mix before,” Bennett said. “I think looking at the way they are playing right now, I think Stanford is one of those situations where you look at their injuries at the beginning of the season and games they lost. What they are doing this second.”
All 16 teams would host first- and second-round games in the NCAA tournament.
Bennett said there were about a half-dozen teams also in the mix for the top 16 spots.
The reveal is just a snapshot of the season up to this point, with still a few weeks of regular season games remaining as well as conference tournaments.
The NCAA tournament field will be revealed on Selection Monday, which is March 12, with games beginning that Friday.
The Final Four will be in Columbus, Ohio, on March 30 and April 1. This is the second consecutive year that the women will have their national semifinals and finals on a Friday-Sunday format. Before last season, the Final Four hadn’t used that format since 2002.
n MSU women remain No. 2 in The AP poll: MSU earned its 71st-straight week in The Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, and its 35th-consecutive week in the top 10.
MSU defeated Vanderbilt and No. 17 Texas A&M last week to clinch the first Southeastern Conference regular-season championship. It also is the school’s first SEC title for a women’s sports team. The wins improved MSU to 28-0 overall and a school-best 14-0 in SEC play. MSU and No. 1 UConn are the only undefeated teams remaining in Division I women’s college basketball.
MSU’s run in The AP Top 25 is the sixth-longest active streak in the country, while its tenure in the top 10 is the fifth-longest current run. The Bulldogs have been in the top 5 for 11-straight weeks, the nation’s fourth-best active streak.
MSU will play host to Auburn at 7 p.m. Thursday in its regular-season finale. The Senior Night game will be streamed online on the SEC Network +, while the MSU Radio Network will have the radio broadcast.
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