- M.A. Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Two Pac-12 teams are now projected as No. 1 seeds by the NCAA women’s basketball committee, which released its second and final top 16 seeding reveal Thursday. The projections were made taking into account results through Wednesday’s games. Being in the top 16 is key in the NCAA women’s tournament, as it allows teams to host early-round games.
The top three seeds stayed the same from the previous reveal on Feb. 9: No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks, No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers, and No. 3 Stanford Cardinal. Now joining that group are the No. 4 Utah Utes, who are battling Stanford for the Pac-12 title. The Cardinal won in double overtime at the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday to clinch at least a share.
The Utes moved up from No. 6 in the last reveal despite having lost at the Arizona Wildcats on Feb. 17. They faced the California Golden Bears late Thursday night. Stanford and Utah meet Saturday in Salt Lake City.
The Ohio State Buckeyes also moved up despite a loss since the last reveal, although that defeat was to Big Ten champion Indiana. Ohio State went from No. 16 in the first reveal to No. 12 in this one.
The Hoosiers and Buckeyes are among five Big Ten teams among the top 16, the most of any conference. The others are the No. 6 Maryland Terrapins, No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes, and No. 16 Michigan Wolverines.
The ACC has three teams among the top 16: No. 8 Virginia Tech Hokies, No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and No. 11 Duke Blue Devils. The Pac-12 also has three, with No. 15 Arizona Wildcats joining Stanford and Utah. Arizona is the only team in the second reveal that was not in the first, replacing the ACC’s North Carolina Tar Heels.
The SEC and Big East (No. 7 UConn Huskies and No. 14 Villanova Wildcats) both have two teams among the top 16. The SEC’s other team along with South Carolina are the No. 5 LSU Tigers, who have just one loss but appear to be held out of the top four by the committee because of a weak non-conference schedule.
The Big 12 just has one team in the top 16 in the No. 13 Texas Longhorns. Texas is tied atop the Big 12 at 12-3 with the Oklahoma Sooners, who will host the Longhorns on Saturday. Oklahoma is 22-4 overall and has won six in a row yet still hasn’t cracked the top 16.
The NCAA women’s tournament selection show is Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The women will have 68 teams, with the “First Four” games played March 15-16 at four of the top-16 host sites.
The first- and second-round games will be played March 17-20 at host sites. This is the first season for two regionals instead of four; they will be held in Greenville, South Carolina and in Seattle, with the semifinals on March 24-25, and the finals March 26-27.
The women’s Final Four will be at American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 31-April 2.
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