UNDATED (AP) — South Carolina has expectedly earned the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament. North Carolina State, Stanford and Louisville also earned No. 1 seeds announced Sunday. This year’s bracket expanded to 68 teams for the first time to match the men’s field with the play-in games on Wednesday and Thursday. It was one of the many changes to the women’s basketball tournament in the wake of inequities revealed at last season’s NCAAs. The final four teams in the field will play games on Wednesday and Thursday.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas earned a No. 1 seed for the 15th time on Sunday, second only to North Carolina for most in college hoops history, and will open the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Region against the play-in winner between Texas Southern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Fort Worth, Texas. The regional finals will occur in Chicago. Auburn earned the No. 2 seed after a late-year slide, while LSU earned the No. 6 seed one day after the firing of coach Will Wade amid allegations of NCAA misconduct that stems from a wide-ranging FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.
UNDATED (AP) — Baylor is the No. 1 seed in the East Region as the NCAA Tournament begins. The defending national champion Bears open their repeat bid against Norfolk State. The Bears open the tournament Thursday close to home in Fort Worth, Texas. The path out of the region incudes potential games against No. 8 North Carolina, No. 4 UCLA and No. 2 Kentucky. The regional final is in Philadelphia. Kentucky is back in the tournament after missing last season with a nine-win season.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Keegan Murray had 19 points and 11 rebounds as No. 24 Iowa beat No. 9 Purdue 75-66 to win its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2006 and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The sixth-seeded Hawkeyes are the fourth team in conference history to claim the title with four wins in four days. They won with a record-breaking offense that scored 351 points in the tournament. Jaden Ivey scored 20 points and Trevion Williams had 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead Purdue, which got within 63-62 with 3:13 to go. But the Boilermakers only scored four more points.
UNDATED (AP) — North Carolina turned to Hubert Davis to replace retired Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams. Now Davis has the the Tar Heels exactly where they ended Williams’ final season. The Tar Heels are the No. 8 seed in the East with a first-round game against Marquette. It’s the second straight season UNC ended up as an 8-seed. The Tar Heels lost to Wisconsin 85-62 last year in the only first-round loss for Williams in his Hall of Fame career. This season’s Tar Heels looked uncertain to make the field in February. A rousing win at Duke in retiring Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game provided a huge resume boost.
