Stanford, UConn, South Carolina, Louisville capture the best seeds in the first revelation of the NCAA tournament

Stanford joined UConn, South Carolina and Louisville as first place in Monday’s first reveal of the first 16 seeds designed for the NCAA women’s tournament.

The cardinal entered Monday’s game against Oregon with two defeats this season. UConn and Louisville lost each, and South Carolina lost twice. The Huskies, Gamecocks, Cardinal and Cardinals are the four teams that occupied the number 1 position in the Associated Press poll this season.

NC State, the only team this season with two wins over the nation’s No. 1 team (South Carolina and Louisville), was runner-up and sixth overall in Monday’s revelation. Wolfpack also lost to two unclassified teams: Virginia Tech (in overtime) and North Carolina. One of Stanford’s defeats was also for an unqualified team, Colorado, and the other was for UCLA.

UConn’s loss went to Arkansas, and South Carolina fell to NC State and UConn. The Huskies were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA 11 tournament for the past 12 seasons and made it to the Final Four in 12 years. They were the second seed in 2019.

The SEC has the highest number of teams in the top 16, with five: No. 2 South Carolina, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 Tennessee and No. 16 Kentucky. Texas A&M has only one defeat, in overtime for LSU. Kentucky has the most defeats of any team in the top 16, with five playing their game in Florida on Monday.

There are four Pac-12 teams: No. 3 Stanford, No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 UCLA and No. 11 Oregon. Stanford was on the road for nine consecutive weeks earlier this season because of COVID-19 regulations in Santa Clara County; the cardinal’s two losses occurred during that period.

The second top 16 reveal is on March 1, at the Baylor-Texas break (ESPN2 / ESPN App, 7:00 pm Eastern time).

The NCAA confirmed earlier this month that the NCAA tournament will be held entirely in the San Antonio area, with some first-round matches in the vicinity of San Marcos and Austin. All games from Sweet 16 onwards will be at Alamodome, with Final Four there on April 2nd and 4th.

As it is a single venue event, there will be a true S curve for support, rather than the geography influencing where teams are placed. Therefore, regions are numbered instead of named according to the city in which they are located.

Region 1: 1. UConn, 2. Arizona, 3. Baylor and 4. Tennessee

This would set up a potential Sweet 16 matchup between the Huskies and Lady Vols, who have not faced each other in the NCAA tournament since the 2004 national championship game won by UConn. The Huskies defeated Lady Vols 67-61 in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 21. UConn was due to play Baylor in early January, but the game was canceled when the Lady Bears took a break due to COVID-19. This regional would have, by far, the largest number of NCAA championships combined: 11 for UConn, eight for Tennessee and three for Baylor.

Region 2: 1. South Carolina, 2. Maryland, 3. UCLA, 4. West Virginia

Gamecocks finished last season and started this as the best ranked team, and climbed to No. 1 again last week before losing at UConn. South Carolina, 2017 champion, currently has a streak of 31 consecutive wins against SEC opponents. Maryland is the only Big Ten team since Michigan State in 2005 to reach the Women’s Final Four (2015). The Terps also made trips to the Four Finals in 1982, 2006 (winning championship) and 2014. UCLA and West Virginia are looking for their first trip to the Four Finals in the NCAA era; the Bruins won the national AIAW championship in 1978.

Region 3: 1. Stanford, 2. NC State, 3. Georgia, 4. Indiana

The Cardinal is looking for his 14th participation in the Final Four – the last was in 2017 – and the third NCAA title (1990, 1992). Georgia advanced to the Final Four five times (the last one in 1999) and the NC State once (1998). Indiana did not make it past the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Region 4: 1. Louisville, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Oregon, 4. Kentucky

Texas A&M won the national championship in 2011. Louisville is looking for his fourth appearance in the Final Four and Oregon, the second. Kentucky went no further than Elite Eight. The Louisville-Kentucky modern-era series in the regular season dates back to 1975, but the shows did not meet this season.