Los Angeles, CA — The women’s NCAA basketball landscape is heating up as the tournament nears. If the tournament were to start today, UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, and Notre Dame would take the top seeds, according to the new rankings revealed by the NCAA basketball selection committee on Sunday. This was the first glimpse of the teams in line for the top 16 seeds in the 68-team field.
Selection committee chair Derita Dawkins stated, “We were pretty certain as a group that we had the right four on the one line.” The committee’s choices reflect recent performances, with Southern California and LSU just missing the top four. Notably, the Trojans handed UCLA its first loss this season last week.
The top 16 seeds are significant because they’ll host the first and second rounds of the tournament. Spokane, Washington, and Birmingham, Alabama, will serve as the locations for the regional rounds once again. In this setup, UCLA and Notre Dame will lead the Spokane Regional, while South Carolina and Texas will battle it out in Birmingham.
UCLA, which is currently the overall No. 1 seed, is aiming to secure a favorable schedule, potentially getting an extra day of rest before the Final Four. Coach Cori Close expressed her excitement, stating, “That’s always where you want to be when you have a team like this,” and emphasized her belief that there’s more to come from her talented squad.
In the rankings, UCLA finds itself matched with No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 seed Duke, and No. 4 seed Tennessee. Dawkins explained that LSU was moved to accommodate the top four teams in a conference being placed in different regions.
As for Notre Dame, it would get No. 2 seed USC, No. 3 Kansas State, and No. 4 Kentucky. This arrangement sets up a potential showdown between top players JuJu Watkins of USC and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame in the Elite Eight.
South Carolina’s region features No. 2 seed NC State along with TCU and Oklahoma, while Texas is slated to go against No. 2 seed UConn, alongside North Carolina and Ohio State. Dawkins mentioned that Texas earned its ranking over Notre Dame by notching 10 wins against strong opponents compared to Notre Dame’s six.
Teams like Alabama, Baylor, Michigan State, Mississippi, and West Virginia are just outside the top 16. As the season unfolds, the NCAA has been consistently revealing rankings since 2015 to give teams clues about potential placements come selection night. The next reveal is scheduled for February 27, with final seedings announced on March 16. For now, the countdown to the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, on April 4 begins.
