Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Irish Grab No.1 Seed in the NCAA Tournament

When the brackets were unveiled on Monday night, there was no surprise that the Notre Dame women’s basketball team was named a No.1 seed for the fourth straight season.

Since the ACC Tournament ended a week ago there was little doubt that No.2 ranked Notre Dame women’s basketball team would be a No.1 seed. The only thing that was still in question was where and when they would be playing. That was all answered on Monday night as the Irish were named the No.1 seed in the Lexington Regional. They will take on the No.16 seed North Carolina A&T Aggies on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Irish will also get the perk of playing in front of their home crowd at Purcell Pavilion for the first and second round games.

Assuming the Irish win their first game, they would then get the winner of No.8 seed Georgia and No.9 seed Indiana. A team in the region that could potentially upset the Irish is No.2 seed Maryland, who finished with a 30-3 record and were crowned champions of the Big Ten conference. Notre Dame beat the Terps two years ago in the Final Four to send the Irish to the National Championship game where they eventually fell to Connecticut.

Another tough team that could potentially trip the Irish up is No.3 seed Kentucky. The Lady Wildcats finished with a 26-7 record and in fourth place in the SEC. Notre Dame and Kentucky haven’t played since the 2011-2012 season when the Irish took down the Wildcats at Purcell Pavilion, 92-83.

Overall the Irish got a very favorable region. They won’t have to travel very far as they play the first and second round games at home and the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games are just down the road in Lexington,KY. This years Final Four is also in Indianapolis, so if the Irish make it there they would basically have a home court advantage there as well. Fans of the Irish women’s team tend travel pretty well, so they should have a pro-ND crowd wherever they go, unless they end up playing Kentucky in Lexington.

Since NCAA women’s basketball is so top heavy and the best teams usually make it to the Final Four, don’t not be shocked at all if the Irish find themselves there again this season. Notre Dame is 31-1 and their only loss is to the No.1 team in UConn. Luckily for the Irish, UConn is on the other side of the bracket, so the only time they would meet would be in the National Title game, and frankly don’t be surprised if those are the two teams that end up playing for the title in Indianapolis.