The women’s NCAA tournament will undergo significant change for the second consecutive season. The field expanded to 68 teams last year. This season, the customary four regional sites have been reduced to two: Seattle and Greenville, South Carolina. The top 16 teams will continue to host the first and second rounds, and the First Four games will again be played at the site of the first-round games to which they feed. Defending champion South Carolina is the heavy favorite, and the Gamecocks seek to become the first repeat champions since UConn in 2015-16. The Final Four is March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

More:https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30423107/ncaa-women-bracketology-2023-women-college-basketball-projections

The post WOMEN’S BRACKETOLOGY: 2023 NCAA TOURNAMENT appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.

The Big Ten Conference is leading the way in women’s college basketball with five of its teams securing top 16 seeds in the NCAA seeding reveal. The Indiana Hoosiers, who are 23-1 and the projected No. 2 overall seed, headline the Big Ten representation, which also includes the No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes, No. 9 Maryland Terrapins, No. 11 Michigan Wolverines, and No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes.

In Thursday’s reveal, which takes into account results through Wednesday, the defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks have named the No. 1 seed with an undefeated record of 24-0. Meanwhile, the ACC also boasts four teams in the top 16, including the No. 8 Duke Blue Devils, who lead the conference with a 21-3 record and an 11-2 record in the ACC. The Big East, SEC, and Pac-12 each have two teams in the top 16, while the Big 12 has only one representative, the Texas Longhorns.

The No. 4 overall seed is the UConn Huskies, while the Stanford Cardinal are No. 3. The NCAA women’s tournament selection show is on March 12, and the women’s Final Four will be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas from March 31 to April 2.

The top 16 seeds in order are South Carolina, Indiana, Stanford, UConn, LSU, Utah, Iowa, Duke, Maryland, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Villanova, and Ohio State. The regional assignments will be divided between Greenville and Seattle, with the first and second-round games to be played from March 17-20 at host sites, and the semifinals taking place on March 24-25.

With five teams among the top 16, the Big Ten Conference is demonstrating its dominance in women’s basketball, and Indiana’s 11-game winning streak, including 7 victories against ranked foes, is a testament to the conference’s strength. The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is shaping up to be an exciting showcase of the best teams and players in the country, and fans can look forward to an intense battle for the championship title.

The post Big Ten Dominates the NCAA Women’s Top-16 Seeds appeared first on womenssportsnow.com.