UConn women’s basketball earns No. 1 seed in 2021 NCAA Tournament

UConn women’s basketball’s path to banner No. 12 is set. The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the River Walk Region and will play Big South Conference champion High Point in the first round on Sunday at 8 p.m.

Barring the unthinkable, UConn will play the winner of No. 8 Syracuse and No. 9 South Dakota State. The rest of the region features plenty of intriguing storylines, such as a potential matchup with No. 5 Iowa and freshman sensation Caitlin Clark or an Elite Eight showdown with either No. 2 Baylor or No. 3 Tennessee.

Marquette is the only other Big East team to make the tournament and joins the Huskies in the River Walk region as a 7-seed. During the regular season, UConn played four teams in the field, 1-seed South Carolina in the Hemisfair region, 4-seed Arkansas in the Alamo Region, as well as Marquette and Tennessee.

The other No. 1 seeds are Stanford in the Alamo Region and NC State in the Mercado Region.

This is the 22nd time the Huskies have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the first time since 2018.

Earlier in the day, UConn announced head coach Geno Auriemma tested positive for COVID-19 and was in isolation at his home with no symptoms. The Huskies are still scheduled to leave for San Antonio on Tuesday morning and Auriemma is allowed to join the team on March 24. With UConn’s first two games on Sunday and Tuesday, Auriemma won’t be back on the sidelines until the Sweet 16 at the earliest.