Coming into the 2023 women’s NCAA basketball tournament, none of the No. 1 seeds had lost in the early rounds since 2009. Now, it has happened on back-to-back nights.
The Indiana Hoosiers, the top seed in the Greenville 2 Regional, were stunned Monday by the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes 70-68 at Indiana’s Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in the second round. That followed the No. 1 seed Stanford Cardinal‘s 54-49 loss to the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion in the Seattle 4 Regional.
Like the men’s tournament, the early rounds ended with just two No. 1 seeds moving on. The women’s NCAA tournament, which began in 1982, has had two No. 1 seeds lose before the Sweet 16 in the same year just one previous time: in 1998, when Stanford lost in the first round and the Texas Tech Lady Raiders lost in the second round. The four No. 1 seeds to lose across the men’s and women’s tournaments so far this year are the most combined 1-seeds to lose in the first two rounds since the men’s tournament expanded in 1985.
