LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The UCLA and USC women’s basketball teams are
headed to the NCAA tournament as No. 1 seeds.
UCLA is the top seed in the tournament for the first time in school history. The Bruins won the Big Ten Tournament and will play the winner of the UC San Diego vs. Southern play-in game in the first round of the Regional bracket in Los Angeles on Friday.
UCLA (30-2) has never won an NCAA national championship in women’s basketball. The only two losses for the Bruins this season came against crosstown rival USC. But UCLA beat USC in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament.
UCLA’s first-round game is at Pauley Pavilion and will be televised on ESPN on Friday. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.
USC (28-3) is the No. 1 seed in Regional 4 and will play UNC Greensboro in the first round in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The Trojans have won two NCAA women’s basketball championship in 1983 and 1984.
USC plays UNC Greensboro (25-6) at Galen Center in Los Angeles. The game will be televised on ABC and is set to tip off at noon.
South Carolina, the reigning NCAA women’s basketball national champion, is the No. 1 seed in Regional 3. South Carolina (30-3) plays Tennessee Tech (26-5) in the first round in Columbia, South Carolina on Friday.
The game is set to start at 10 a.m.
Texas (31-3) is the No. 1 seed in Regional 3 and plays the winner of the High Point vs. William & Mary play-in game. The first round game for Texas is Saturday and scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m. in Austin, Texas.
UCLA Men to Play Utah State in NCAA Tournament
UCLA is the seventh seed in the Midwest Region in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and preparing today to face 10th-seeded Utah State in a first-round game in Lexington, Kentucky.
“Because Jerrod and I are friends, on my nights sitting at home when they were on, I definitely watched them,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said, referring to Aggies coach Jerrod Calhoun. “I watched them play against Richard Pitino (New Mexico). I saw them play Iowa.
“I’m well aware of their team. I root for the guys that I know well in the business. Utah State was on an absolute roll at the start of the season. They beat Iowa. They have multiple wins. UCSD got them up there and congratulations to those guys. I did scout the Iowa film in preparation for Iowa, so I watched them closely there. I’ve seen about five, six, seven times at least.”’
Oddsmakers have made UCLA a 4 1/2-5 1/2-point favorite.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the seventh seeds have an 81-54 record against the 10th seeds in the first round, with the 2021 West Region match-up between seventh-seed Oregon and 10th-seed Virginia Commonwealth considered a no contest due to COVID-19 protocols with Virginia Commonwealth.
Connecticut in 2014 is the only seventh seed to win the NCAA tournament. The Bruins (22-10) received their invitation after finishing in a three-way tie for fourth in the 18-team Big Ten Conference. UCLA will enter the NCAA tournament after Friday’s 86-70 loss to Wisconsin in a quarterfinal game of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Bruins are returning to the NCAA tournament after a one-season absence. This is the fourth time in five seasons UCLA has advanced to the tournament.
Utah State (26-7) was third in the 11-team Mountain West Conference. The Aggies lost to second-seeded Colorado State, 83-72, in a Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship semifinal Friday. TNT will televise Thursday’s game 6:25 p.m.
The UCLA-Utah State winner will play the winner of Thursday’s game between second-seeded Tennessee and 15th-seeded Wofford.
