Women's No. 1 seeds announced: North Carolina, Ohio State, LSU, Duke

Women's No. 1 seeds announced: North Carolina, Ohio State, LSU, Duke

North Carolina, Ohio State, LSU and Duke were selected Monday as the No. 1 seeds for the women's NCAA tournament.

All four teams have started atop the NCAA brackets before, but the overall top seed Tar Heels the only ones already with a national title. It's the third No. 1 for North Carolina, which is seeking its second championship since 1994.

Duke has been a No. 1 seed five times and LSU has been selected atop the bracket three times. Ohio State received its second top seeding and the first for the Buckeyes since 1993.

The Atlantic Coast Confernece and Big East had the most teams in the field with seven, followed by the Southeastern and Pacific-10 conferences with six each.

North Carolina, ranked atop the final AP Poll, and No. 2 Ohio State each won their regular season and conference championships in their respective Atlantic Coast and Big Ten conferences.

North Carolina (29-1) was placed in the Cleveland regional and will open the tournament Saturday in Nashville against Big West champion UC Riverside.

Six-time national champion Tennessee is seeded second in the Cleveland bracket, and Big East regular season champion Rutgers is third.

"It's like the Final Four!" Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said of the tough Cleveland Regional. "I don't know how any bracket can get tougher than our bracket. ... But hey, that's just the way it is. We have to go play those games."

Others in the Nashville subregional are eigth-seeded Vanderbilt, playing at home. The Commodores will take on Big East newcomer Louisville, the No. 9 seeded team. Tennessee gets No. 15 seeded Army, a NCAA tournament newcomer and Patriot League champion on Sunday in Norfolk, Va.

Rutgers will open close to home when the Scarlet Knights take on 14th-seeded Dartmouth in Trenton on Sunday. Fourth-seeded Purdue rounds out the bracket with an opening round game Sunday against 13th-seeded Missouri State, winners of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Duke's road to the Final Four runs through Connecticut -- and that means a possible matchup with homestate favorite and No. 2 seed UConn. The Blue Devils (26-3) were assigned the Bridgeport Regional, as were the five-time national champion Huskies, who are making their 18th tournament appearance.

The Blue Devils open Sunday in Norfolk against Southwestern Conference champ Southern. The Huskies take on 15th-seeded Coppin State at University Park, Pa. on Sunday.

Georgia earned the third seed in the Bridgeport bracket and is matched up against 14th-seeded Marist on Sunday in Trenton. That subregional also features the battle of a couple of point guard coaches. Dawn Staley's 6th-seeded Temple will play America East champ Hartford, the 11th seeded team, coached by former UConn star Jennifer Rizzotti.

No. 4 seeded Michigan State, also placed in Bridgeport, opens with 13th-seeded Wis.-Milwaukee on Saturday in a Chicago subregional.

LSU (27-3), aiming for its third straight trip to the Final Four, was placed in the San Antonio Regional. The Lady Tigers open Saturday against Atlantic Sun champion Florida Atlantic in Norfolk.

The bracket sets up a potential meeting of two of the top centers in the game in the Lady Tigers' Sylvia Fowles and Oklahoma's freshman star Courtney Paris.

The Sooners, seeded No. 2, finished unbeaten in the Big 12 and Paris was a big reason why. She had 24 points and 26 rebounds against defending national champion Baylor in the tournament title game. She needs three rebounds to become the first player in NCAA history to log 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocked shots in a season. The Sooners open against 15th-seeded Pepperdine on Saturday in Denver.

The Cardinal of Stanford are the third seeded team in the San Antonio bracket and also open in Denver on Saturday against Southeast Missouri State. Big East newcomer DePaul earned the No. 4 seed in the region and play Liberty on Saturday in Chicago.

The Buckeyes (28-2) landed in the Albuquerque Regional, where second-seeded Maryland and defending national champion Baylor await. The Terps handed North Carolina its only loss this season and the Lady Bears are led by Big 12 player of the year Sophia Young.

Ohio State plays 16th-seeded Oakland, the Mid-Continent champ, in their tournament opener on Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind. Baylor locked up the No. 3 seed and play Big Sky champion Northern Arizona, the 14th seed on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.

PAC 10 power Arizona State is the fourth seed in the Albuquerque bracket and also opens in Tucson against 13th-seeded Stephen F. Austin, champions of the Southland Conference.

The women's Final Four is April 2 and 4 in Boston.