UCLA is the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament for the first time, while Auburn is the top overall seed in the men’s tournament.
Despite UCLA’s two losses this season, the NCAA announced the No. 1 seeds on Sunday night, which included the Bruins, South Carolina, Southern California, and Texas. Dawn Staley believed that her team should be seeded first overall. However, unlike last year, when the Gamecocks won the national title after an undefeated season, this team has three losses heading into March Madness. Since UConn won four straight from 2013 to 2016, Staley’s team hopes to become the first team since then to win the women’s championship again. The Huskies, a two-seed, are looking to end that drought with star Paige Bueckers. They’ll have to go out west if they reach the Sweet 16 and a potential rematch with JuJu Watkins and the Trojans could be waiting in the Elite Eight.
For the first time in NCAA history, there will be a financial incentive for women’s teams. They will finally be compensated for participating in NCAA Tournament games, just like the men have been for years. For each victory, the women’s teams will receive so-called performance units, which represent revenue. Financial performance bonuses of approximately $1.26 million could be given to a team that makes the Final Four over the next three years. This takes place one year after the women’s championship game, where South Carolina defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa received more viewers on television than the men’s championship game. Auburn is the best overall seed for the men’s tournament, followed by Duke, Houston, and Florida. Additionally, the Tigers have the best overall seed. The NCAA selection committee favored the regular-season champions of the record-setting Southeastern Conference, despite three losses in their last four games and a December defeat to Duke in the season’s only meeting. The Tigers (28-5) and Gators were two of the 14 SEC teams to make the field, which will be the most for a conference in the history of the tournament. It came as a bit of a surprise that both North Carolina and Texas left the bubble. The 68-team bracket starts whittling down on Tuesday with preliminary games, and the main draw kicks off on Thursday and Friday, with 32 games at eight sites around the country.
A moving tribute to CBS veteran Greg Gumbel, who oversaw the bracket unveiling for decades, opened the selection show. North Carolina appeared doomed as a result of a 1-12 record against so-called Quad 1 opponents and as a member of an ACC conference on the verge of a historically bad season. But the Tar Heels made it, thanks maybe to a strong nonconference slate, while Texas was also in – their seven wins against Quad 1 teams outweighing their overall 15 losses.
The SEC’s 14 teams were followed by the Big Ten with eight and the Big 12 with seven. On the other hand, the ACC ended up with four teams, barely avoiding its worst performance since 2000, when the conference was only half as big as it is now. Even in a down cycle, the ACC has Duke, and Duke has arguably the best player in the country in freshman Cooper Flagg, a 19-point, 7.5-rebound-a-game freshman whose ankle injury, the school says, will not keep him out of March Madness.
Elsewhere in the bracket, coach Rick Pitino leads his unprecedented sixth program into the tournament, and what a road he would have to take to get to the Final Four.
He will first lead St. John’s in a first-round game against Omaha in Providence, the same building where the coach led the Friars to a surprise trip to the Final Four in 1987. Pitino’s second game could come against Arkansas and John Calipari in what would be a titanic matchup between two of the game’s biggest coaching names.
Tom Izzo, another legendary coach, leads Michigan State to their 27th consecutive tournament. In their opening game, the second-seeded Spartans will take on America East champion Bryant. In addition, Gonzaga is participating for the 26th time, even though it will be difficult for them to extend their ten-year run of making the second weekend. The Bulldogs could face Houston in the second round despite having an “off” year but still winning the West Coast Conference. They are seeded eighth.
