UConn edged UCLA as the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA tournament when the bracket was announced Sunday night.
Having the top spot in March Madness didn’t really matter to Huskies coach Geno Auriemma as he looks to lead the team to another undefeated season with the school’s 13th national championship.
“We have been in that situation before, not that much different than being a No. 2 seed or a No. 1 seed somewhere else,” Auriemma said. “I think it is important that we recognize that there are a lot of good teams out there and there are times I felt like we deserved a No. 1 seed based on our wins, our record, who we have beaten and it didn’t pan out that way. This year it did.”
The Huskies (34-0) need six more victories to complete the seventh undefeated season in school history. They are trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since the program won four in a row from 2013 to 2016.
UConn was joined by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina as No. 1 seeds.
UConn, which is led by stars Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, opens the tournament at home against 16th-seeded UTSA and will play in the Fort Worth Regional. If seeds hold, the Huskies could face No. 2 Vanderbilt, which is coached by former UConn great Shea Ralph. This is the 23rd time UConn has earned a No. 1 seed and first since 2021.
“When you break it all down, in the next three weeks, if we are lucky enough to play all three weeks, you have to beat the best teams,” Auriemma said. “It doesn’t matter if you are the 1, 2, 3 or whatever (seed) you are. There are some teams in there that we have already played or just recently played. Everybody is going in front of the media and say our bracket is the toughest, what our matchups are and it is just pointless.”
UCLA (31-1) was just behind the Huskies as the second overall seed in the tournament. The Bruins have won 25 straight games in dominant fashion, with the lone loss this season coming against Texas on a neutral court.
“The debate was pretty close the whole time between the two teams,” NCAA selection committee chair Amanda Braun said. “Went to a committee vote, watched a lot of UCLA and UConn — the vote went to UConn. The observable component, the way we watched UConn win throughout the year. UCLA did a lot of winning as well. The committee felt the observable component gave UConn the edge.”
UCLA reached the Final Four last year before losing to UConn. Cori Close’s team ran through the Big Ten and has an experienced group, led by center Lauren Betts, looking to win the school’s first NCAA championship.
The Bruins will try to win the first women’s national championship for the Big Ten since 1999. The Bruins are one of 12 Big Ten teams in the field. That matches the record the conference set last season for most teams in the tournament. The SEC has 10, the ACC nine and the Big 12 eight.
Other top teams in UCLA’s region are No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Minnesota.
The Longhorns (31-3) earned the third No. 1 seed after winning the SEC tournament title. They beat South Carolina in two of the three meetings this season. Texas will play in the Fort Worth Regional 3. Other top teams in Texas’ region are No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Louisville and No. 4 West Virginia.
The Gamecocks (31-3) are the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento Regional 4 and have been a No. 1 seed for six consecutive seasons. They will be joined by No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Oklahoma.
Tennessee kept its streak alive of reaching every NCAA tournament since the first one in 1982. The 10th-seeded Lady Vols, who have lost seven consecutive games, had only 16 wins this season, the fewest for an at-large team since Oklahoma also had 16 in 2018. The seed is the lowest for the storied program since Tennessee was an 11-seed in 2019.
The College of Charleston won the Colonial Athletic Association to make the tournament field for the first time in school history. The Cougars are a 14-seed and are the lone first-time entry in the field. Last season, there were six newcomers.
BYU, North Dakota State, Utah and Texas A&M were the first four teams left out of the field.
For the second consecutive year, teams in the women’s tournament will be financially compensated, in a similar fashion to the men’s field, for each round they play. “Units” are what the NCAA calls its tally of wins, automatic qualifiers and at-large bids that determine how much conferences are paid. A unit is money paid to conferences when one of its teams appears in the NCAA tournament.
This year, the NCAA is giving teams that reach the championship game and the one that wins the title extra units. That extra compensation was added to the overall pool and doesn’t decrease the overall value of the units.
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 fourth straight year. Fort Worth, Texas, will host half of the Sweet 16, and Sacramento, California, will host the other eight teams.
The Final Four will be played in Phoenix on April 3, and the championship game is two days later.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
