2018 NCAA Tournament: UConn Huskies Receive No. 1 Overall Seed in Albany Region

Another year, another season with the UConn women’s basketball team as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — the fifth consecutive season, to be exact. The Huskies will play No. 16 St. Francis (PA), champions of the NEC. The two teams also faced off in the first round of the 1999 and 2002 NCAA Tournaments.

Assuming the Red Flash don’t pull the ultimate upset or a meteor doesn’t strike Earth, the Huskies will play the winner of No. 8 Miami and local foe No. 9 Quinnipiac. Last season, the Bobcats were the Cinderella story of the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 as a 12-seed.

The last time UConn played the Bobcats in Storrs, the Huskies won 117-20. It was the largest margin of victory and the fewest points allowed in program history.

In the rest of the Albany regional, the defending national champions South Carolina are the No. 2 seed, setting up a potential showdown in the Elite Eight.

USF is the only other representative from the AAC and were given the difficult draw of not only being put in the same regional as UConn but also having to travel to Tallahassee for the first two rounds, where No. 3 Florida State hosts. The Bulls will play No. 11 Buffalo in the first round.

Elsewhere, No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Oregon are on the same side of the bracket as the Huskies. Meanwhile, Mississippi State was given a No. 1-seed on the opposite side of the bracket, which opens the door to a rematch of last season’s Final Four upset in the national title game.

During the regular season, UConn faced eleven teams that reached the tournament, including four teams ranked as a No. 2 seed or higher.