UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, Notre Dame atop first women's tournament reveal

UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame would be the No. 1 seeds in the women's NCAA Tournament if it began now.

The NCAA basketball selection committee revealed the teams in line for the top 16 seeds in the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

"We were pretty certain as a group that we had the right four on the one line," NCAA women's basketball selection committee chair Derita Dawkins told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Just outside the top four teams were USC and LSU. The Trojans handed UCLA its first loss of the season on Thursday.

The top 16 seeds in the 68-team field will host first- and second-round games, with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the third straight year. Spokane, Washington, will host half of the Sweet 16 and Birmingham, Alabama, will host the other eight teams.

UCLA and Notre Dame were projected as the top seeds in the Spokane Regional, with South Carolina and Texas in Birmingham. The Bruins were the overall No. 1 seed, meaning they would potentially have the Friday-Sunday games on the second weekend, allowing them an extra day of rest before the Final Four.

Joining UCLA in its bracket was No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 seed Duke and No. 4 seed Tennessee.

LSU was moved from a different region to ensure that the bracketing principle of keeping the top four teams in a conference in different regions was protected. A few other schools also were moved around, which will be more of a problem this season because of the demise of the Pac-12, leaving only four power conferences.

There were six SEC schools in the top 16.

The Fighting Irish would have No. 2 seed USC, Kansas State and Kentucky in their bracket. That potentially would set up an Elite Eight matchup between two of the