UCLA is No. 1 overall seed and the Ivy put three teams in the March Madness bracket. But USC and UConn are together in the same corner.
The UCLA women’s basketball team has had a season of milestones, and on Sunday the Bruins added another: For the first time, they’re the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA tournament. The Bruins have reached the 30-win mark for the first time in program history and are hoping to make their first Final Four in the NCAA era, which began for women’s sports in 1981-82.
The Bruins are among the big winners as we look at the women’s March Madness bracket. But what do the committee’s decisions mean for standout players such as USC sophomore JuJu Watkins and UConn senior Paige Bueckers, who met in an epic Elite Eight game last year? And how do things look for defending national champion South Carolina?
The No. 1 seeds were as expected: UCLA is atop the Spokane 1 Regional, South Carolina is No. 1 in the Birmingham 2 Regional, Texas is No. 1 in Birmingham 3 and USC is No. 1 in Spokane 4. The top seeds are split between the Big Ten and the SEC, and both conferences were winners Sunday. The Big Ten has 12 teams in the field — four in the top 16 — and the SEC has 10, with five in the top 16.
Bruins center Lauren Betts, who began her career at Stanford, has excelled in her two seasons at UCLA and could be a key factor in whether the Bruins live up to their top seed and make it to the season’s final weekend. UCLA won the AIAW national championship in 1978, but it has never progressed beyond the NCAA Elite Eight.
Meanwhile, USC is trying to make the program’s first Final Four since 1986 (if it met UCLA there, it would be the fourth « Battle of Los Angeles » this season: The Trojans won both regular-season matchups before UCLA won the Big Ten championship game). UConn, the No. 2 seed in the Trojans’ region, is seeking its 12th NCAA title and has made the Final Four every year but one since 2008.
The makeup of the Spokane 4 region means there could be a rematch of last season’s Elite Eight game in Portland, where the Huskies beat the Trojans 80-73 to advance to their 23rd Final Four. Bueckers had 28 points and 10 rebounds in that game, and Watkins 29 and 10.
Three-time national champion South Carolina looks to have a winning path to the program’s fifth Final Four in a row. Two teams in the Gamecocks’ regional are also past national champions — No. 4 seed Maryland (2006) and No. 3 North Carolina (1994) — but that success for both was quite a while ago.
As for Texas, which is trying to make its first Final Four since 2004, the Longhorns were a No. 1 seed last year, too, but were defeated in the Elite Eight by NC State. Co-champions in the SEC with South Carolina, the Longhorns could meet the Gamecocks for a fourth time this season if both make the Final Four.
