The road to a historical second straight undefeated national championship begins Sunday in Norfolk, Va. for the UConn women’s basketball team. The top-ranked Huskies, who are the top overall seed in the 64-team field for the NCAA tournament, will meet 16th-seeded Southern in the first round at the Ted Constant Convocation Center at 12:16 p.m.
UConn would meet the winner of the matchup between eighth-seeded Temple and ninth-seeded James Madison in the second round March 23. The winner of that game will advance to the regionals in Dayton, Ohio March 28 and 30.
The Final Four, which could feature a meeting against Tennessee in the national semifinals, is scheduled for April 4 and 6 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This was also the final stop during the Huskies’ national championship run in 2002 when they competed their first 39-0 season.
The Huskies are joined in the regional by No. 8 and second-seeded Ohio State, No. 11 and third-seeded Florida State and No. 16 and fourth-seeded Iowa State.
This is the fifth time UConn (33-0) will enter the tournament unbeaten. Three of the previous four seasons it has done so it won the national championship (1995, 2002, 2009). The only season the Huskies did not was when current assistant coach Shea Ralph tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee in the first round against Lehigh in 1997 and they ultimately lost to Tennessee in the Midwest regional final.
The Huskies are making their 22nd straight NCAA tournament appearance. It the third longest active streak behind Tennessee (29) and Stanford (23) and tied for the fourth longest overall with Virginia.
UConn’s total number of tournament appearances is tied for ninth all-time. However, the 71 wins by coach Geno Auriemma trails only Pat Summitt of Tennessee (104).
This is will be only the second time that the Huskies will have to travel out of state for the first two rounds on the tournament (State College, Pa., 2006). It will mark the first time they will not play a game in-state in the tournament.
The regionals were held at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport in 2006.
A team is prohibited by the NCAA from hosting in two straight years. The first two rounds were played at Gampel Pavilion last season.
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