UCLA, South Carolina, USC, Texas women’s tournament No. 1 seeds

(AP) — UCLA is the top overall seed in the women’s NCAA tournament. The Bruins were joined by South Carolina, USC and Texas as the No. 1 seeds that the NCAA revealed Sunday night.

It’s the first time in school history that the Bruins are the top team in the tournament. They had two losses on the season, both of which came to the Trojans.

Dawn Staley felt her South Carolina team should get the No. 1 overall seed; but unlike last year, when the Gamecocks finished off an undefeated season with a national title, this team has three losses heading into March Madness, including one to the Bruins.

“Two key factors between UCLA and South Carolina. One was the head-to-head matchup,” NCAA selection committee chair Derita Dawkins told Holly Rowe during ESPN’s selection show Sunday night. “The other was one of our criteria is competitive in losses, and South Carolina suffered a 29-point loss to UConn. Those were the two key differences in those résumés.”

Staley’s team is looking to be the first to repeat as champion since UConn won four straight from 2013 to 2016. The Gamecocks are fresh off a season in which they posted a 30-3 record that culminated with a win over Texas in last week’s SEC tournament title game. Headed into the league tourney, South Carolina was ranked fifth in the country and projected to be a No. 2 seed.

“I’m a little bit surprised because we manufactured our schedule to be the No. 1 overall seed,” Staley told Rowe. “It’s hard enough to win a national championship; we don’t need a chip on our shoulder.”

The Huskies, who are a 2-seed, are looking to end that drought with star Paige Bueckers. UConn will have to go out West if it reaches the Sweet 16, and a potential rematch with JuJu Watkins and the Trojans could be waiting in the Elite Eight.

“There’s a lot of different ways you can go with that. You can say, ‘I wish we didn’t have USC out there, in the way, possibly going to the Final Four,'” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “[But] no matter who you end up playing, it’s going to be a pain in the ass. That’s all there is to it. You just hope to be in that game.”

USC, meanwhile, wasn’t thrilled with its draw much, either. “I never thought I’d be a one seed and feel disrespected,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said, when asked about the Trojans landing as the fourth No. 1 seed. “Sometimes, I don’t understand the people who make decisions in women’s college basketball, and why they do what they do.”

The path for all won’t be easy: This year there’s more parity in the sport. This NCAA Tournament will be only the second one in the past 19 years to have no teams entering March Madness with zero or one loss. The other time was in 2022.

“I think fans want to see good basketball,” Dawkins said when asked about the potential for the four No. 1s to converge in the Final Four next month in Tampa. “And they’re going to see that. I think the teams deserve to be seeded and bracketed according to the work they’ve done all year on the court. And that’s what we did.”

The Trojans and Bruins, newcomers in the Big Ten this season, will try to win the first national championship for the conference since 1999, when Purdue won the lone one. A record 12 teams from the Big Ten are in the field. The SEC has 10 and the ACC eight. The Big 12 has seven.

The Ivy League received three bids to the tournament for the first time in conference history. Last season, Columbia earned the second at-large bid in league history. The Lions are back again as well as Princeton. Both are 11 seeds and will be competing in play-in games. Harvard, which won the conference tournament, is a 10 seed.

Duke, TCU and N.C. State joined the Huskies on the 2-seed line. Notre Dame boasts wins over Texas, USC and UConn but slumped the last few weeks of the regular season and fell to a three-seed.

William & Mary is one of six teams set to make its first appearance in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The others are Arkansas State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Grand Canyon and UC San Diego. The Tribe (15-18) are the first sub-.500 team since Incarnate Word in 2022 to make the tournament.

Virginia Tech, James Madison, Saint Joseph’s and Colorado were the first four teams left out of the field.

For the first time in NCAA history, there will be a financial incentive for women’s teams. They will get paid for their results in the NCAA tournament just like the men have for years.

So-called performance units, which represent revenue, will be given to women’s teams for each win they get. A team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards.

This comes a year after the women’s championship game that saw South Carolina beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa do better TV ratings then the men’s title game.