USC, UCLA, Texas, Notre Dame projected top seeds in women’s NCAA Tournament

JuJu Watkins and USC have moved up to a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament in the latest projections of the top teams.

The Trojans would be joined by UCLA, Texas and Notre Dame as the top seeds if the tournament began now, according to the NCAA selection committee, which on Thursday did its second reveal of the teams in line for the top 16 seeds.

Committee chair Derita Dawkins said the group was impressed with USC’s win over UCLA, which happened before the first reveal. That was the Bruins’ only loss this season, and Dawkins noted that the top three teams haven’t lost a game since then.

“We spent a lot of our time in the three through six positions debating those four teams in those spots,” Dawkins told The Associated Press by phone. “There’s significant competition between those teams and other teams in the top six spots over the last 10 days.”

One of those games was defending national champion South Carolina‘s 29-point home loss to UConn, which dropped the Gamecocks to a No. 2 seed.

Dawkins reiterated that there’s still a lot of basketball left. The Power 4 conferences end their regular seasons this weekend, with their conference tournaments slated for next week.

Besides South Carolina, UConn was also just outside the top line.

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 third straight year. Spokane, Washington, will host half of the Sweet 16 and Birmingham, Alabama, will host the other eight teams.

The NCAA will unveil the tournament bracket on March 16.

UCLA and USC, which play Saturday for the Big Ten regular-season crown, were projected as the top seeds in the Spokane Regional, with Texas and Notre Dame in Birmingham. The Bruins — ranked No. 2 behind Texas in the AP Top 25 — remained the overall No. 1 seed, meaning they would potentially have Friday and Sunday games on the second weekend, allowing them an extra day of rest before the Final Four.

Joining UCLA in its bracket were No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 seed North Carolina and No. 4 seed Kansas State.

USC would have No. 2 seed UConn, Duke and Kentucky in its region, potentially setting up a rematch of last season’s Elite Eight game between the Trojans and Huskies with stars Watkins and Paige Bueckers.

The other top teams in Texas’ region were No. 2 seed North Carolina State, TCU and Ohio State. Notre Dame would be joined by No. 2 seed South Carolina, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

With six SEC schools in the top 16, the selection committee tried its best to stick to its goal of keeping the top four teams in a conference in different regions. LSU was moved to a different spot along with a few other teams.

The committee spent so much time trying to get the top 16 teams correct that Dawkins said there was no discussion about teams just outside the mix. The 16 teams on Thursday were the same as those in the first reveal, just in a different order.

“There were teams we talked about for the last reveal, but our conversation was so significant in getting the order right that we agreed on the 16 teams we have,” she said.

The Final Four will be played in Tampa, Florida, on April 4, and the championship game is two days later.

The NCAA has been doing in-season reveals for the women’s tournament since 2015 to give teams an early idea of where they stand. Thursday’s reveal came before a handful of matchups later that evening that could change seeding, including Duke hosting North Carolina.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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