No surprise: Unbeaten Connecticut, riding a 93-game winning streak, is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA women's basketball committee's early reveal of the top 16 seeds.
Last year, the committee on three different occasions released its top 10 seeds, and listed four other teams that were in the discussion. This season, though, the committee is making the top 16 public in the order they are on the day of the release. 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, 7 p.m. ET).
The other seeds after UConn are in order: 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.
The NCAA's top 16 seeds are the same teams that espnW bracketologist Charlie Creme predicted Monday morning, but a few are in a different order. The most notable difference is the position of Maryland, which is leading the Big Ten at 19-1 overall and 7-0 in league play. The Terps are four spots higher on Creme's list, at No. 5. Further, he has Stanford at No. 10 and Texas at No. 12; the NCAA's list reverses those two.
Another noteworthy difference: The NCAA has Duke four spots higher than Creme, who puts the Blue Devils at No. 15.
The Pac-12, which sent Washington and Oregon State to the Final Four last season, has the most teams of any conference in the current top 16, with five. Next is the ACC with four, the SEC with three, and the Big 12 with two.
Two seeds in the top five have never made the Final Four before: Mississippi State, which played at South Carolina on Monday, and Florida State.
Meanwhile, UConn is looking for its fifth consecutive NCAA title and 10th consecutive Final Four appearance. The Huskies have not lost a game to an American Athletic Conference foe since that league began play in 2013-14, and they have just one nonconference game left. That is against South Carolina on Feb. 13 in Storrs, Connecticut.
The top 16 seeds will host the early rounds of the NCAA tournament, provided they don't have a scheduling conflict with their facility. The early rounds will run from March 17-20. The regionals will be March 24-27 in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Lexington, Kentucky; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Stockton, California.
The Final Four will be in Dallas on March 31, and the national title game will be April 2.