Monday, March 13, 2000
Tennessee, Connecticut claim No. 1 seeds
BY CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
Connecticut and Tennessee, the two glamour teams in women's basketball, were seeded No. 1 in the NCAA tournament Sunday and placed on opposite sides of the bracket, creating the possibility of a showdown in the national championship game.
The other No. 1 seeds went to Georgia and Louisiana Tech, both of whom have been high in the rankings all season and reached the Final Four last year.
The tournament begins with first-round games at campus sites Friday and Saturday.
Connecticut, which has been ranked No. 1 all season, tops the bracket in the East Regional. The Huskies steam into the tournament with a star-laden lineup and a 30-1 record after winning the Big East regular-season and tournament championships.
It's the sixth time in the last seven years the Huskies have earned a No. 1 seed. But they have reached the Final Four only twice when seeded No. 1 — in 1995 and 1996. UConn was the national champion in 1995.
Second-ranked Tennessee (28-3), the Southeastern Conference tournament champion, is the top-seeded team in the Mideast Regional. The Lady Vols and Connecticut have played twice this season before national television audiences, each winning on the other's court.
This is the 13th time Tennessee has been seeded No. 1. The Lady Vols have won four national titles as a No. 1 seed and six altogether.
Louisiana Tech (28-2) is seeded No. 1 in the Midwest. Although the Lady Techsters beat Tennessee and have not lost since a 90-63 setback to Connecticut on Jan. 2, there had been questions over whether the Lady Techsters' soft Sun Belt Conference schedule would hurt them in the seeding.
Bernadette McGlade, who chairs the selection committee, said Tech met the criteria for being seeded No. 1
“La Tech really had such a great, outstanding year,” McGlade said. “They've been in the top four in the country most of the year, they statistically have held up their numbers. They won their regular-season conference championship as well as their tournament, and the teams that were vying for No. 1 had a slight distance.
“It's just one or two things that could make the difference in the No. 1 seeds. The committee unanimously felt last night that they were the fourth No. 1 seed.”
Georgia coach Andy Landers had complained earlier about being sent to the West Regional so often, but that's where the Lady Bulldogs (29-3) ended up.
McGlade said that after Tennessee and Connecticut were placed in their regionals, the Midwest and West remained. Because Louisiana Tech was in the West Regional last year, the committee put the Lady Techsters in the Midwest this time, leaving the West for Georgia.
At the Final Four in Philadelphia, it will be the East against the Midwest and Mideast against the West in the national semifinals.
Penn State (26-4) had appeared to be headed for a No. 1 seed after sweeping through the Big Ten season with only one loss. But the Lady Lions lost to defending national champion Purdue in the finals of the Big Ten tournament and became the No. 2 seed in the Midwest.
The other No. 2s are Duke in the East, Notre Dame in the Mideast and Rutgers in the West. That gave the Big East three of the top eight seeds — Connecticut, Notre Dame and Rutgers.
The top four seeds in each regional, with the exception of No. 3 Mississippi State in the West, will serve as the sites for first- and second-round games. Last season, all 16 of the teams that played at home advanced to the third round.
Mississippi State withdrew its bid to serve as a host because it could not guarantee the 150 hotel rooms the NCAA requires. The first- and second-round games in that subregional will be played at sixth-seeded Oregon, which was upset last year at being sent to Iowa State for two straight seasons.
Also receiving No. 3 seeds were LSU in the East, Iowa State in the Midwest and Texas Tech in the Mideast.
Seeded No. 4 are Purdue in the East, Old Dominion in the Midwest, Virginia in the Mideast and Cal Santa Barbara in the West.
Purdue graduated star guards Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs from its championship club and lost coach Carolyn Peck to the WNBA. But junior Katie Douglas has led the Boilermakers to a 22-7 record and victories in 13 of their last 15 games.
Five teams made the tournament for the first time: Alcorn State, Campbell, Hampton, Pepperdine and Rice.
The Southeastern Conference and Big 12 each landed six teams in the tournament. This is the first time since 1992 that another conference got as many teams in the field as the SEC.
SEC teams are Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn and Vanderbilt. The Big 12 is represented by Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Nebraska.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has five teams. The Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 each has four.
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