In the spirit of Selection Sunday being less than a month away and the committee releasing its initial list of the top 16 seeds — speaking of, make sure to check out The Athletic’s weekly Bracket Watch — my mind can’t help but wander to the little number next to each team’s name in March. I’m not terribly interested in who the No. 1 seeds are, though I imagine we’ll see some changes on that line by the next reveal. What’s been racking my brain is which teams are most deserving of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
My favorite thing about the women’s tournament is that there is a meaningful reward for earning a top-four seed. Getting to stay home, draw a friendly crowd — the atmospheres in these games are awesome — and keep routines normal through the first week is an enormous advantage and adds extra stakes to the end of the regular season. Even if a team isn’t necessarily competing for a conference title, there’s value to winning games down the stretch.
Take two teams from the heartland who played Monday, for example. Indiana and Notre Dame are essentially out of the running for the Big Ten and ACC crowns, but how they perform from now until March could decide whether they stay in Indiana for the first two rounds or travel elsewhere….
