UConn has short trips until potential Final Four
NEW YORK — UConn’s drive for five will begin at home.
Winners of 107 straight games, coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies won’t have to leave the state of Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament until the Final Four as they try for an unprecedented fifth consecutive national championship.
The top seed will open at home Saturday against Albany and, if the Huskies advance to the Bridgeport Regional, they would have a short drive there.
While the Huskies won’t have to leave the state until potentially heading to Dallas for the national semifinals, the other No. 1 seeds aren’t as lucky.
South Carolina is the top seed in Stockton, California. The Gamecocks are headed out of the Eastern Time Zone for the third time in four seasons. The Gamecocks’ lone trip to the Final Four came when they played a regional in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2015.
Baylor is the No. 1 in the Oklahoma City Regional, and Notre Dame is the top choice in Lexington, Kentucky.
All four hope to get to Dallas for the Final Four on Friday, March 31. The NCAA switched the national semifinals back to a Friday-Sunday format this season for the first time since 2002. The Huskies would match up with Baylor, while South Carolina and Notre Dame would play if all four teams advance that far. The Lady Bears are hoping to make the short drive from Waco, Texas, to Dallas.
T h a t s c e n a r i o may b e unlikely. Last year, the Hus- kies were the only top team to make the Final Four, as Washington, Syracuse and Oregon State all pulled off upsets to advance.
UConn, which has won a record 11 national championships, is the prohibitive favorite to win again. Unlike the past few years, where it almost seemed a foregone conclusion that UConn would win the title, the Huskies weren’t the favorite coming into the season, with big losses to graduation.
Geno Auriemma challenged his young team with a difficult schedule that saw the Huskies play most of the other top teams in the country, including Notre Dame, South Carolina and Baylor. Still, they did show some vulnerability with a single-digit win over Maryland — the No. 3 seed in their region. UConn also only beat Tulane by three points in February, giving other teams hope that the Huskies are beatable.
Maryland coach Brenda Frese wasn’t thrilled at the low seed. The Terrapins were fourth in the final AP poll Monday.
“We understand it’s tournament time. I’m most surpr i s e d t hat bei ng a te a m ranked top four in the country, (we) earn a three seed,” Frese said. “Thirty wins, win your conference regular season and conference tournament, at this point it doesn’t matter. Put your head down and, given the bracket you have, it’s the next opportunity.”
Duke is the No. 2 seed in the region after missing the NCAAs last year for the first time since 1994.
For the second consecutive season, the NCAA is having the top four teams in each region host the opening two rounds. No. 2 Stanford couldn’t host because of a conflict in its facility, so the Cardinal will head to seventh-seeded Kansas State.
Tennessee isn’t one of those 16 teams, but the Lady Vols will be making their 36th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve been in the field ever year.
The Lady Vols who have shown they can beat nearly anyone in the field but also can lose to many teams too. They open up against Dayton in Louisville. The Cardinals are the four seed in the Oklahoma City Regional.
Elon and Texas Southern are the lone teams playing in their first NCAAs.
The SEC has eight teams in the field, while the ACC and Pac-12 each have seven.