In the second top-16 reveal by the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee, it was announced that four schools that have won six of the last seven national championships would occupy the No. 1 seed line, as Baylor, Louisville, Notre Dame and UConn all would have earned top seeds if the season ended today.
Oregon, Mississippi State, Stanford and Iowa are currently No. 2 seeds. Teams rounding out the top-16 seeds included NC State, Maryland, Oregon State and South Carolina on the three line, while Miami (FL), Iowa State, Syracuse and Texas A&M were No. 4 seeds.
In addition, the committee designated region assignments for all 16 seeds, with Baylor the No. 1 seed in the Greensboro Regional, while Louisville would be the top seed in the Chicago Regional, Notre Dame in the Portland Regional and UConn in the Albany Regional.
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UConn would be joined by Mississippi State, Oregon State and Miami (FL) in the Albany Region. The Chicago Regional includes Louisville, Stanford, Maryland and Iowa State. In the Greensboro Regional, Baylor, Iowa, NC State and Texas A&M would be assigned. The Portland Regional would include Notre Dame, Oregon, South Carolina and Syracuse.
“Since our first reveal on February 11 there has been significant movement on all of the seed lines,” said Rhonda Lundin Bennett, chair of the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee and senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at the University of Nevada. “We have two teams that have elevated from No. 2 seeds to the one line in Notre Dame and UConn and other teams moving up or attempting to play their way to higher seeds. We look forward to conference tournament play over the next two weeks that will go a long way to determining which teams are in contention for not only top-seed consideration but at-large bids as well.”
Baylor, 27-1 overall and 17-0 in Big 12 Conference play, has won 19 straight games, including a historic 68-57 home win over UConn on Jan. 3 that ended the Huskies 126-game regular season winning streak that had spanned more than four years.
Louisville, 27-2 overall and 14-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, also defeated UConn, 78-69 on Jan. 31 at home. The Cardinals have won 13 of the last 14 games, with the only loss during that stretch coming to Miami (FL) on Feb. 17 at home, 79-73.
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Defending national champion Notre Dame, 27-3 overall and 14-2 in the ACC, was one of the two teams moving from a No. 2 seed in the first reveal to a No. 1 seed. The Fighting Irish have won six straight games.
Louisville and Notre Dame shared the ACC regular season championship with 14-2 records, with the Fighting Irish the No. 1 seed going into this week’s ACC Tournament.
UConn, 27-2 overall and 15-0 in the American Athletic Conference, has wins this season at Notre Dame and over South Carolina.
The first and second rounds of the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship will be played March 22-25 on the home courts of the top 16 seeds. Regional action will take place March 29-April 1, with Albany, New York (Times Union Center) and Portland, Oregon (Moda Center) hosting on March 29 and 31, while Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro Coliseum) and Chicago, Illinois (Wintrust Arena) will host regional games on March 30 and April 1. The 2019 Women’s Final Four will be held April 5 and 7 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Ticket information for all championship sites is available at http://www.ncaa.com/tickets.
NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee – March 4 – Top-16 Ranking*
- Baylor (No. 1 seed — Greensboro Region)
- Louisville (No. 1 seed — Chicago Region)
- Notre Dame (No. 1 seed — Portland Region)
- UConn (No. 1 seed — Albany Region)
- Oregon
- Mississippi State
- Stanford
- Iowa
- NC State
- Maryland
- Oregon State
- South Carolina
- Miami (FL)
- Iowa State
- Syracuse
- Texas A&M
*Rankings based on games played through Sunday, March 3.
Regional Assignments
Albany:
- UConn
- Mississippi State
- Oregon State
- Miami (FL)
Chicago:
- Louisville
- Stanford
- Maryland
- Iowa State
Greensboro:
- Baylor
- Iowa
- NC State
- Texas A&M
Portland:
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Syracuse
