The top 16 seeds, which will host the early rounds of the women’s basketball NCAA tournament, were released in alphabetical order Saturday, with two teams that had not been in the two previous projected top 16s by the selection committee making it in the final 16: North Carolina and West Virginia.
This is a new move by the NCAA: announcing the actual top 16 teams as a teaser the day before the full 68-team bracket is released on the NCAA selection show Sunday on ESPN (8 p.m. ET).
The 16 teams that will host are, in alphabetical order: Duke, Iowa, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, TCU, Texas, UCLA, UConn, Vanderbilt and West Virginia.
UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina — the teams who made last season’s women’s Final Four — are essentially locks for the No. 1 seeds. The Huskies are 34-0 and the only unbeaten team in Division I women’s hoops. They are seeking the program’s seventh perfect season and 13th national championship.
The NCAA released projected top-16 reveals on Feb. 14 and March 1, and the Tar Heels and Mountaineers were not on either list. But after winning 12 of its last 13 in the regular season and making it to the ACC tournament semifinals, North Carolina made it in. West Virginia earned its spot in the top 16 with its Big 12 tournament final win over league regular-season champion TCU.
It’s a big moment for the Mountaineers. The only previous time they have hosted an NCAA tournament game was in 1992.
Maryland was No. 13 in both previous projected top 16s but dropped out after losing in the Big Ten tournament second round to Oregon. The other team that was in the second reveal but fell out is Michigan State, which was projected at No. 14 on March 1. But the Spartans lost to Ohio State later that day and then fell to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.
The First Four games are March 18-19. The first- and second-round games are March 20-23.
The regionals this year are in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California. The women’s tournament moved to a two-regional system in 2023, with two champions crowned at each site. Sweet 16 games are March 27-28 and the Elite Eight games are March 29-30.
The women’s Final Four will be held at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, with semifinal games on April 3 and the national championship game on April 5.
All women’s NCAA tournament games are on ABC/ESPN networks.
