The selection committee for the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament has released its preliminary rankings, providing a glimpse of which teams would be the top 16 seeds had the 68-team field been set Sunday morning.
UCLA had been the nation’s last remaining undefeated team until losing 71-60 at the University of Southern California in a Big Ten showdown Thursday night. The Bruins’ loss to their crosstown rivals didn’t keep them from being slotted No. 1 overall for the NCAA field, followed by a pair of Southeastern Conference programs — No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 Texas — with Atlantic Coast Conference member Notre Dame at No. 4.
“We were pretty certain as a group that we had the right four on the 1 line,” Derita Dawkins, who chairs the committee, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Southern Cal, fresh off the upset of UCLA, was fifth and followed by LSU, with the Tigers’ presence giving the SEC half of the top six seeds. Big East leader UConn, the 11-time national champion, was seventh, followed by North Carolina State (ACC), TCU (Big 12), Duke (ACC), North Carolina (ACC), Kansas State (Big 12), Kentucky (SEC), Ohio State (Big Ten), Oklahoma (SEC) and Tennessee (SEC).
Selection Sunday, when the 68-team bracket will be revealed on ESPN, is March 16. First Four games will be played March 19-20, with the first round on March 21-22.