One day before Selection Sunday, the NCAA is giving a sneak preview into the women’s seeding for March Madness. On Saturday, the association revealed the top 16 seeds for the upcoming women’s tournament.
The NCAA listed the teams in alphabetical order, leaving the exact seeding a mysterious until the selection ceremony Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. But the reveal indicates who will host the early games: In the women’s tournament, the top four seeds in each quadrant host the first two rounds.
In terms of AP rankings, there are few surprises in the list: 15 of the 16 teams are ranked top 15 in the latest AP poll, which dropped Monday. The only outlier is Minnesota, who took the 16th spot despite being ranked No. 18 in the AP poll.
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Minnesota beat the No. 16-ranked Kentucky, who lost to South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament; it also beat out No. 17-ranked Maryland after faring better in Big Ten play. The Terrapins earned a lower seed than the Golden Gophers in the Big Ten tourney, and ended up getting upset by Oregon in the second round.
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In AP ranking order, here are the top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament:
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No. 4 South Carolina (31-3)
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No. 12 West Virginia (27-6)
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No. 15 North Carolina (26-7)
With some of the margins still tight after conference tournament play, it’s unclear if the seeding will follow the exact pattern of the AP rankings: A team’s seed could be weighed differently depending on a conference championship or overall record. But one of the biggest questions will also be who enters the tournament with the No. 1 overall seed. UConn, as the only team still undefeated, has topped the AP poll all season, but UCLA’s one-loss season had a notably tougher schedule.
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For now, those 16 teams will get to prepare for top seeding and an early hosting berth, joining the 20 total teams who have received automatic bids for winning their conference championships. The remaining autobids will be handed out Saturday and Sunday, as the remaining conferences finish their tournaments.
