NCAA women's basketball tournament: Who were No. 1 seeds for March Madness?
The 68-team bracket for the 2025 NCAA women’s basketball tournament was revealed om Sunday, setting the stage for a three-week run that will end with one team cutting the nets at the Final Four in Tampa, Florida.
For several teams, Selection Sunday served as a coronation. After spending the previous four months proving they were one of the best teams in the country, that standing was solidified with a No. 1 seed.
Rivals UCLA and USC, reigning national champion South Carolina and Texas all earned spots on the top line of the tournament’s four regions, putting them in the most advantageous position to make the Final Four and win a national championship.
Here’s a look at the No. 1 seeds heading into the women's NCAA Tournament, which begins Wednesday with the First Four:
NCAA women’s basketball tournament No. 1 seeds
The NCAA Tournament selection committee picked the following four women’s basketball teams to be No. 1 seeds for March Madness:
- UCLA (Spokane Region)
- South Carolina (Birmingham Region)
- USC (Spokane Region)
- Texas (Birmingham Region)
Coach Cori Close, star center Lauren Betts and the Bruins are the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed after a 30-2 regular season they capped off with a win against USC in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. UCLA is aiming to make the Final Four for the first time in program history.
This year marks the fifth consecutive time coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the ninth time in the past 11 years the tournament has been held that they’ve been a top seed.
Staley and her team made their displeasure after not being the No. 1 overall seed known in the aftermath of the bracket unveiling.
“Obviously, I think we did much more than probably any other overall No. 1 seed,” Staley said to reporters Sunday. “We outdid ourselves even from last year."
Dawn Staley's reaction to not being the No. 1 overall seed at this year's NCAA Tournament:
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) March 17, 2025
"I mean, I'm not in the room... Obviously, I think we did much more than probably any other overall No. 1 seed. We outdid ourselves even from last year."@GamecockWBB | @wachfoxpic.twitter.com/uuS9CwC20t
It’s the second consecutive year USC and star guard JuJu Watkins have been a No. 1 seed, a feat the program hadn’t previously achieved since 1986, when the legendary Cheryl Miller was the team’s leading scorer.
The No. 1 seeds were four of the top five teams in the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Texas, the No. 5 team in the poll, earned a No. 1 seed while UConn, the No. 3 team in the poll, is a No. 2 seed.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA women's basketball tournament: Who were March Madness No. 1 seeds?
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