Women's NCAA basketball: Who's going to the Big Dance?
The women's NCAA basketball tournament, scheduled to start Saturday, has a field of 64 teams from across the country.
Baylor's Brittney Griner does her part to cut down the net following the Lady Bears' 61-58 victory over Texas A&M in the championship game at the Big 12 Conference women's tournament on Saturday, March 12, in Kansas City, Mo.
Jeff Roberson/AP
The NCAA women have their own version of March Madness, an arguably equally compelling basketball tournament to the men's event.
The 64-team field for the ladies was announced Monday, with the University of Connecticut declared the overall No. 1 seed for the tournament. No surprise here. The Huskies, which finished a 32-1 season as the AP's top-ranked team in the country, are the top seed in the Philadelphia region.
Just like the men's tournament, the ladies' Big East, where UConn is a member, leads all conferences with a total of nine teams earning berths.
The Dayton region features the University of Tennessee, which is the top seed with a 31-2 record. The Lady Vols are one of four Southeastern Conference schools in the field.
Moving to the Dallas region, Baylor is the No. 1 seed there, followed by Texas A&M. The Lady Bears defeated the Lady Aggies for the Big 12 conference tournament championship. If everything goes to plan, those same two teams will meet in the regional final to decide who goes to Indianapolis. By the way, the Big 12 has 7 teams going to the ladies "Big Dance."
Finally, the Spokane region has Stanford, the AP's No. 2 ranked team, as the No. 1 seed. The Lady Cardinal could possibly meet UCLA, whom they beat to win the Pac-10 post-season tournament, in another regional final.
All of the women's tournament games will be televised on a variety of ESPN cable channels, beginning Saturday morning ET.