The NCAA selection committee released its top 16 for the first time this season, and UConn took the No. 1 overall spot with UCLA, South Carolina and Vanderbilt rounding out the No. 1 seeds. The top 16 spots are particularly important in women’s college basketball because these teams will host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at home.
The Huskies are 27-0 and have defeated four teams ranked in the top 11 (Michigan, Louisville, Ohio State and Iowa). The committee tabbed the Bruins as the No. 2 overall team despite leading the nation in Quad 1 wins — the highest quality of win based on opponent strength and game location — with 14, more than twice as many as UConn. However, UCLA has one loss on the season to Texas on a neutral floor.
The SEC and Big Ten both each have six teams in the top 16, with the SEC landing three of the top five. The ACC has two teams while the Big 12 and Big East each have one.
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The committee will release a second round of its top 16 on March 1, and for the first time ever, the committee will release its pool of 16 teams on March 14, a day ahead of Selection Sunday (that list will not be ranked, just simply the alphabetical grouping of the teams that will host).
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Vanderbilt
5. Texas
6. Michigan
7. Louisville
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Duke
11. Iowa
12. TCU
13. Maryland
14. Michigan State
15. Ole Miss
16. Oklahoma
First look: 2026 Bracket
Fort Worth 1: UConn (1), LSU (8), Ohio St. (9), Oklahoma (16)
Sacramento 2: UCLA (2), Texas (5), Duke (10), Ole Miss (15)
Fort Worth 3: South Carolina (3), Louisville (7), Iowa (11), Michigan State (14)
Sacramento 4: Vandy (4), Michigan (6), TCU (12), Maryland (13)
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What to take from Vanderbilt over Texas for the final No. 1 seed
One huge benefit of the committee releasing these rankings early is we get a sense of what the committee is weighing the most in its evaluation. Thursday’s game between Vanderbilt and Texas, in particular, proved to be an early litmus test of just that: Texas had the advantage when it came to strength of schedule, NET ranking (Texas is at 4; Vanderbilt is at 7) and Quad 1 wins (Texas is 9-3; Vanderbilt is 6-2). But — and it’s apparently a big but — Vanderbilt beat Texas, 86-70.
The committee is clearly giving a ton of weight to head-to-head results and maybe also evaluating how uncompetitive the Longhorns looked in the loss (being competitive in losses is a criterion the committee can consider).
These things are important to keep in mind over the next few weeks of the season as these spots become more solidified, especially so for teams on the cusp of hosting. Uncompetitive losses are a key factor for the committee, but so too are head-to-head wins over highly-ranked opponents.
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On the outside looking in
The Big 12 must be feeling awfully shunned as a Power 4 conference with just one team in the top 16. Baylor and Texas Tech, ranked No. 12 No. 16 in the last AP poll, respectively, were both leapfrogged by TCU (no huge surprise: the Horned Frogs had a big win in Waco over Baylor earlier this week). But still, the lack of Big 12 teams indicates how the committee feels overall about the strength of conference wins when it comes to the Big 12 — and neither Baylor nor Texas Tech really did themselves much of a service with big wins over non-conference opponents this season.
One team that seems as though it’ll have a huge opportunity to move into the rankings is Kentucky. The Wildcats have had mixed results this season, but with wins over Louisville, LSU and Oklahoma and single-digit losses to Maryland, Vanderbilt and Texas, Kentucky feels like a team that could slip into the top 16 with some more good results. And good news for the Wildcats: They could do just that down the stretch with three of their final four games coming against teams in the top 16 — Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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