NEW YORK (AP) — UConn and Notre Dame are No. 1 seeds in the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies enter as the lone unbeaten team and will be vying for their 12th national championship. Last season, UConn came into the NCAAs as the overwhelming favorite before losing to Mississippi State in the Final Four.
This year’s Final Four is in Columbus, Ohio and will take place on March 30. The national championship game is on Sunday, April 1.
Defending national champion South Carolina and A’ja Wilson await as a possible Elite Eight matchup for UConn in the Albany Regional. The Gamecocks are the two-seed.
UConn, which has been a No. 1 seed every year since 2007, opens up against 16-seed Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) on Saturday morning.
Like the Huskies, the Irish are a No. 1 seed again. Notre Dame has been a top seed the last seven years. This might be one of coach Muffet McGraw’s finest accomplishments as Notre Dame lost four pivotal players to injury, but only three games on the season.
The Irish are in the Spokane Regional and open up against Cal State Northridge on Friday. If Notre Dame advances, the Irish would head out west to potentially face No. 2 Oregon if the seeds hold.
While this is the Huskies’ 30th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, Nicholls State, Northern Colorado, Mercer and Seattle will be making their first appearances.
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