The Connecticut Huskies will be looking for their third straight national championship when the 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament begins. Pairings for the tournament were announced on ESPN during a Selection Monday show, and UConn, Tennessee, Baylor and Stanford are the four No. 1 seeds.
The Final Four will be held in Indianapolis April 3 and 5.
UConn is the two-time defending champion. A tournament preview on ESPN states that the Huskies are hardly a lock to three-peat:
Most would not consider the Huskies an overwhelming favorite to take the title this year in the same way they were the past two seasons. Some of the other squads pose bigger challenges than they did last season.
Yet the Huskies are very strongly in the hunt, and it's not as if anyone's going to be surprised if they're able to pull it off again.
Here are the full pairings:
Left Bracket
Philadelphia Region
No. 1 Connecticut Huskies vs. No. 16 Hartford, Sun., noon in Storrs
No. 8 Kansas St. Wildcats vs. No. 9 Purdue Boilermakers, Sun., 2:30 in Storrs
No. 5 Georgetown Hoyas vs. No. 12 Princeton, Sun., 2:30 in College Park
No. 4 Maryland Terrapins vs. No. 13 St. Francis, Sun. noon in College Park
No. 6 Penn St. Nittany Lions vs. No. 11 Dayton, Sat., 11 am in University Park
No. 3 DePaul vs. No. 14 Navy, Sat., 1:30 in University Park
No. 7 Iowa St. Cyclones vs. No. 10 Marist, Sat., 11 am in Durham
No. 2 Duke Blue Devils vs. No. 15 Tennessee-Martin, Sat., 1:30 in Durham
Dayton Region
No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers vs. No. 16 Stetson, Sat.,11 am, Knoxville
No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. No. 9 Texas Longhorns, Sat., 1:30, Knoxville
No. 5 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. No. 12 Bowling Green, Sat.,11 am, Columbus
No. 4 Ohio St. Buckeyes vs. No. 13 UCF, Sat., 1:30, Columbus
No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 11 James Madison, Sun., 2:30, Charlottesville
No. 3 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 14 Gardner-Webb, Sun, noon, Charlottesville
No. 7 Arizona St. Sun Devils vs. No. 10 Temple Owls, Sat., 4, Salt Lake City
No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. No. 15 Utah Utes, Sat., 6:30, Salt Lake City
Right Bracket
Dallas Region
No. 1 Baylor Bears vs. No. 16 Prairie View, Sun., 7:30 in Waco
No. 8 Houston Cougars vs. No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers, Sun., 5 in Waco
No. 5 Green Bay vs. No. 12 Arkansas-Little Rock, Sun., 5 in Wichita
No. 4 Michigan St. Spartans vs. No. 13 Northern Iowa, Sun., 7:30 in Wichita
No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 11 MTSU, Sun., 7:30 in Auburn
No. 3 Florida St. Seminoles vs. No. 14 Samford, Sun., 5 in Auburn
No. 7 Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. No. 10 Louisiana Tech, Sun., 7:30 in Shreveport
No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies vs. No. 15 McNeese State, Sun., 5 in Shreveport
Spokane Region
No. 1 Stanford Cardinal vs. No. 16 UC-Davis, Sat., 6:30 in Stanford
No. 8 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. No. 9 St. John's Red Storm, Sat., 4 in Stanford
No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels vs. No. 12 Fresno State, Sat., 4 in Albuquerque
No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats vs. No. 13 Hampton, Sat., 6:30 in Albuquerque
No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes vs. No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs, Sat., 4 in Spokane
No. 3 UCLA Bruins vs. No. 14 Montana, Sat., 6:30, in Spokane
No. 7 Louisville Cardinals vs. No. 10 Vanderbilt Commodores, Sun., noon, Cincinnati
No. 2 Xavier Musketeers vs. No. 15 South Dakota State, Sun., 2:30, Cincinnati
You can find out much, much more about the women's tournament at SB Nation's women's college basketball website, Swish Appeal.