Second NCAA women’s Top 16 seed reveal updates potential path for South Carolina
With Selection Sunday about two-and-a-half weeks away, the selection committee for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament has offered a second and final glimpse into potential March Madness tournament seeding.
The committee announced its second in-season top-16 Thursday night on ESPN2. USC headlines the projected tournament field.
The Gamecocks (27-0) are slated as the No. 1 overall seed. The selection committee has USC in the Albany 1 (NY) regional along with No. 2 seed Iowa (which defeated South Carolina in the Final Four last year), No. 3 seed Oregon State and No. 4 seed Oklahoma. The first top-16 show, which aired on ESPN2 in advance of South Carolina’s away game versus Tennessee earlier this month, had USC competing in the Albany regional with No. 2 seed UCLA, No. 3 seed UConn and No. 4 seed Louisville.
If the season ended Thursday, the Gamecocks would host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Colonial Life Arena before moving on to Albany for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds.
Selection Sunday is March 17.
South Carolina has held the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 most of the season after entering 2023-24 at No. 6. USC is the only remaining undefeated team in college basketball.
Here’s a full breakdown of the top-16 along with regional assignments. Overall seed number is in parenthesis:
Albany 1
1. South Carolina (1)
2. Iowa (7)
3. Oregon State (12)
4. Oklahoma (16)
Albany 2
1. Ohio State (2)
2. USC (8)
3. LSU (9)
4. Colorado (13)
Portland 3
1. Stanford (3)
2. Texas (6)
3. N.C. State (11)
4. Indiana (14)
Portland 4
1. UCLA (4)
2. Virginia Tech (5)
3. UConn (10)
4. Gonzaga (15)
