Lady Vols grab top seed, eye seventh title

Tennessee earned the top overall seed in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Sunday, but two straight national championships weren't enough to get a No. 1 for Connecticut.

Coach Pat Summitt's Lady Vols, winners of a record six national titles, were made the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Also placed at the top of the brackets were Penn State (East), Duke (Mideast) and Texas (West).

Tennessee, Duke and Texas, all of whom won or shared their regular-season conference championships, had been considered locks to be seeded No. 1. Penn State ended up getting the other after playing a challenging schedule, and the Lady Lions face an equally challenging road to the Final Four in New Orleans.

They could end up facing second-seeded Connecticut in the East Regional final at the Hartford Civic Center, which is UConn's second home court. The Huskies are 37-2 at the Civic Center since the 1996-97 season.

This is the first time that UConn, which has won three of the last four NCAA titles, has not been a No. 1 seed since 1998, when as a No. 2 it was upset by North Carolina State in the East Regional final.

Undone by VillanovaConnecticut had appeared to be in line for a No. 1 seed until losing to Villanova in its next-to-last regular-season game and then falling to Boston College in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

But it was a banner year for the Big East overall because the league got a record-tying eight teams in the NCAA tournament. UConn will be joined by Boston College, Miami, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Villanova, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

The Southeastern Conference had eight teams in 1999 and 2002. Seven SEC teams made it this time: Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi and Vanderbilt.

The Big 12 also had seven and the Big Ten six.

First-round games will be played next Saturday or Sunday at 16 sites. Those winners play March 22 or 23.

At the national semifinals April 4, it will be East vs. Mideast and Midwest against West. That creates the possibility of a Tennessee-Connecticut championship game for the second straight year and fourth time since 1995.

Texas is a No. 1 seed for the first time since 1988 and Penn State for the first time since 1994. Duke earned its fourth straight No. 1 seed but is still looking for its first national title.