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NCAA Women's Basketball to End Conference Protection for Top Seeds Starting in 2027
The NCAA will place the top 16 teams in the women's basketball tournament according to their actual seeds beginning in 2027. The shift ends the prior practice of separating multiple teams from the same conference into different regions.
Jul 13, 8:16 PM·1m read1 source
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Beginning with the 2027 NCAA women's basketball tournament, the top 16 teams will be placed in the bracket according to their true ranking regardless of conference affiliation, ESPN reported. In past tournaments the top four teams from the same conference were placed in different regions to prevent them from meeting before the Final Four.
In the 2026 tournament Texas was seeded third, South Carolina fourth, LSU fifth and Vanderbilt seventh overall.
LSU was dropped to the seventh seed and Vanderbilt to the eighth seed to avoid placing multiple SEC teams in the same region. Amanda Braun, chair of the NCAA women's basketball committee, stated that the committee spent significant time establishing the order of the top 16 teams.
She said the men's selection committee will continue to separate the top four seeds from each conference into different regions.
The change would primarily affect the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, as these were the only conferences with four or more teams in the NCAA tournament field. The NCAA is expanding the women's basketball tournament field to 76 teams starting in 2027.
