By ESPN | Created at 2025-03-17 00:58:12 | Updated at 2025-03-17 09:16:56
8 hours ago
ESPN News Services
Mar 16, 2025, 08:18 PM ET
UCLA, South Carolina and Texas, programs that all had a turn at No. 1 this season in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, joined USC Sunday as the four top seeds in the NCAA's women's basketball tournament, which begins this week and will conclude with the Final Four in Tampa.
UCLA received the No. 1 overall seed a week after securing the Big Ten tournament championship in Indianapolis. In that tourney, the Bruins topped the rival Trojans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in both schools' inaugural season in the league.
UCLA had lost by double digits in the previous two regular-season meetings vs. USC, the Bruins' only two losses. The competition between them has seemed to strengthen the mutual respect while making the spectre of another meeting more real. And now, for them to meet again in the NCAA tournament, it would have to be under the bright lights in Tampa.
The Gamecocks secured a No. 1 seed after a season in which they posted a 30-3 record that culminated with a win over the Longhorns in the SEC tournament title game last week. Headed into that tournament, South Carolina was ranked fifth in the country and projected to be a No. 2 seed.
Though Texas lost that title game to the Gamecocks, the Longhorns did secure a share of the regular-season title in their first season in the SEC. They, too, are 31-3 and finished 15-1 in the conference's regular season.
Perennial power UConn, which won the Big East tournament convincingly last week, is a No. 2 seed after a regular season in which the Huskies went 18-0 in league, and closed with a 10-game winning streak.
For the first time in NCAA history, there will be a financial incentive for women's teams. They will finally paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament just like the men have for years.
So-called performance units, which represent revenue, will be given to women's teams for each win they get. A team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
