UCLA projected to get NCAA tournament overall No. 1 seed in first bracket reveal
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UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame would be the No. 1 seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament if it began now.
The NCAA basketball selection committee on Sunday did its first reveal of the teams in line for the top 16 seeds.
“We were pretty certain as a group that we had the right four on the one line,” NCAA women’s basketball selection committee chair Derita Dawkins told the Associated Press in a phone interview.
Just outside the top four teams were USC and LSU. The Trojans handed UCLA its first loss of the season Thursday.
An inability to consistently stop USC star JuJu Watkins coupled with turnovers ultimately prove too much for UCLA women’s basketball to overcome in a 71-60 loss.
The top 16 seeds in the 68-team field will host first- and second-round games, with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the third straight year. Spokane, Wash., will host half of the Sweet 16 and Birmingham, Ala., will host the other eight teams.
UCLA and Notre Dame were projected as the top seeds in the Spokane Regional, with South Carolina and Texas in Birmingham. The Bruins were the overall No. 1 seed, meaning they would potentially have the Friday-Sunday games on the second weekend, allowing them an extra day of rest before the Final Four.
Joining UCLA in its bracket was No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 seed Duke and No. 4 seed Tennessee.
LSU was moved from a different region to ensure that the bracketing principle of keeping the top four teams in a conference in different regions was protected. A few other schools also were moved around, which will be more of a problem this season because of the demise of the Pac-12, leaving only four power conferences.
There were six SEC schools in the top 16.
The Fighting Irish would have No. 2 seed USC, with Kansas State and Kentucky. That potentially would set up an Elite Eight matchup of two of the top players in the country, JuJu Watkins of the Trojans and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.
The other top teams in South Carolina’s region were No. 2 seed N.C. State, TCU and Oklahoma. Texas would be joined by No. 2 seed UConn, North Carolina and Ohio State.
Dawkins said Texas was given the nod over Notre Dame as the third overall No. 1 seed because the Longhorns have 10 wins over top teams (Quadrant 1 victories) as opposed to Notre Dame’s six.
Teams just outside the top 16 included Alabama, Baylor, Michigan State, Mississippi and West Virginia.
JuJu Watkins finished with 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks as USC overcame a second-half deficit to send rival UCLA to its first loss of the season.
The Final Four will be played in Tampa, Fla., on April 4 and the NCAA championship game is two days later.
The NCAA has been doing in-season reveals since 2015 to give teams an early idea of where they could be come selection night. Sunday’s reveal did not factor in the games scheduled for later that day, which included South Carolina hosting UConn and Texas visiting LSU.
“We always look for who busts our bracket first,” Dawkins said, laughing about the big games to be played Sunday.
The NCAA will have one more reveal Feb. 27 before the real seedings are announced March 16.
Feinberg writes for the Associated Press.
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