Baylor, Notre Dame, Mississippi State and Louisville are the No1 seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament, leading a March Madness field that was revealed early thanks to a production error.
The bracket was mistakenly put out by ESPN hours before the network had scheduled its selection show. ESPN apologized and scrambled to air an early selection show to release the brackets while screenshots of the field were shared across social networks.
“In working with the NCAA to prepare for tonight’s Women’s Selection Special we received the bracket, similar to years past. In the midst of our preparation, the bracket was mistakenly posted on ESPNU,” the network said in a statement. “We deeply regret the error and extend our apology to the NCAA and the women’s basketball community. We will conduct a thorough review of our process to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.”
In 2016, the men’s bracket was leaked during the selection show, reverberating on Twitter and elsewhere as fans wondered if the picks were accurate.
The No1 Lady Bears are the top team in the Greensboro Regional while defending champion Notre Dame are the first choice in Chicago. Mississippi State are the No1 team in the Portland Regional, where Oregon are the second seed. Louisville are the top choice in the Albany Regional, where No2 UConn potentially await.
“We’re thrilled to have the season we’ve had. We played an outstanding schedule. At the end of the day, I thought we might be going to Albany as 1 or 2,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “It’s really great to be a 1 seed and we know there’s a lot of work in front of us.”
Walz won’t coach the Cardinals’ opening game against Robert Morris as he will be serving a one-game suspension for using profane language toward NCAA officials during the Final Four last year. The veteran coach said he expects to have the support of the UConn fans if his team reach the Sweet 16 and play in upstate New York.
“If we’re fortunate to get that far I’m confident that half of the UConn fans will be wearing Louisville gear and they won’t know who to cheer for,” Walz said, laughing.
It’s the first time since 2006 that the Huskies aren’t a No1 seed. UConn will try to continue their record Final Four run, looking to advance that far for the 12th consecutive year.
