Women’s No. 1 seeds with easiest, toughest draw in NCAA Tournament
The madness is ready to begin following Sunday’s release of the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket.
Now that teams have been seeded and matchups are in place, which of the four No. 1 seeds has the easiest path to the Final Four and which one has the toughest draw of the four teams?
Easiest draw: South Carolina
The SEC champions (30-3) enter as a No. 1 seed looking to defend last season’s National Championship that capped off an undefeated season. Of all the 1-seeds, the Gamecocks appear to have the easiest path to the Final Four.
The top three seeds below South Carolina in the Birmingham 2 regional are Duke (two), North Carolina (three) and Maryland (four). The ACC Tournament champions Duke have the best NET ranking (seven) with eight Quad 1 wins while North Carolina (20) has seven and Maryland (28) has eight.
While you can make the case that the top overall seed UCLA has an easier path due to the fewer combined Quad 1 wins between 2-4 seeds NC State, LSU and Baylor, those three teams are all in the top 16 in NET ranking. For comparison, North Carolina and Maryland each have a NET ranking of 20th or worse
Aside from a potential Elite Eight meeting with the No. 2 seed Duke and its potent defense, South Carolina’s path to the Final Four seems more straightforward than the other 1-seeds.
Toughest draw: Texas
The most difficult path to the Final Four goes to the Longhorns (31-3). Although UConn has the best NET ranking in the country and is the 2-seed in USC’s Spokane 4 regional, Texas’ path looks to be a little more challenging overall.
The remaining top four seeds in the region are TCU with a NET ranking of eight, Notre Dame (five) and Ohio State (19). The three of them combined have 19 Quad 1 wins. The 5-seed Tennessee (14) has struggled as of late, but poses a threat in a potential Sweet 16 meeting with the Longhorns.
- With two teams positioned inside the top 10 in NET ranking, a difficult road lies ahead for Texas in the Birmingham 3 regional.
