January 24, 2017

NCAA reveals Top 16 seeds

The NCAA women's basketball committee announced its current top 16 seeds yesterday. The top 16 seeds will be revealed twice more this season – Feb. 6 and Feb. 20 – before the actual NCAA selection show, which will be Monday, March 13 (ESPN, 4 p.m. PT).

The top 16 are: 1. UConn, 2. Baylor, 3. South Carolina, 4. Mississippi State, 5. Florida State, 6. Washington, 7. Notre Dame, 8. Oregon State, 9. Maryland, 10. Texas, 11. Duke, 12. Stanford, 13. Louisville, 14. UCLA, 15. Kentucky, 16. Arizona State.

Mechelle Voepel reports the NCAA reveal here: Unbeaten UConn gets No. 1 overall seed in NCAA committee's early reveal of top 16

Charlie Creme analyzes the reveal here: Strength of schedule appears to hurt Maryland, Stanford in reveal, but gives Kentucky boost.

In regard to Stanford, he says:

Texas ahead of Stanford: The Cardinal (17-3) have the better record, a better winning percentage against top-50 teams, and they beat the Longhorns (14-4) by double digits in November. Yet Texas is No. 10 and Stanford is No. 12.

Texas' No. 6-rated schedule (Stanford's was No. 27 [ is 17 on Jan 23]) is the only apparent measurable advantage, although victories over Tennessee and Oklahoma are the truly big wins on the résumé. The Cardinal might have also taken a hit for the loss to Gonzaga, the second-worst defeat by any team on the list.

Texas' position ahead of Stanford also illustrates what the committee has been saying for years: Head-to-head is one factor but decides nothing by itself.

In today's Bracketology, Creme agrees with NCAA's top 16 except that a few are in a different order. He has Stanford at No. 10 and Texas at No. 12; the NCAA's list reverses those two.

Creme now has six Pac-12 teams in the bracket:

Bridgeport Region
2 Oregon State (up from 3)
4 Arizona State (no change)
Oklahoma City Region
3 Stanford (no change)
9 Oregon (no change)
Lexington Region
2 Washington (no change)
Stockton Region
4 UCLA (down from 3)
Caifornia (was 8) has been moved out.

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