USC Trojans projected as No. 1 seed in latest bracketology
The USC Trojans will officially find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday, when the bracket reveal begins at 5 pm PT on ESPN. But it’s looking increasingly likely there will be a ton for head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and her program to celebrate.
ESPN’s updated bracketology has USC as a No. 1 seed now following the Trojans’ Pac-12 Tournament championship and win over Stanford in the final. Heading into that game, USC was a No. 2 seed in ESPN’s bracketology. Both UCLA and Stanford were No. 1 seeds for the Pac-12.
Now, USC and Stanford make up half of the four No. 1 seeds, along with overall No. 1 South Carolina and Iowa.
Each of the top four seeds in each region will host the first two rounds of the tournament. That means the Trojans have the potential to play two games in front of their home crowd at Galen Center before a potential trip to either the Portland regional or Albany regional. The women’s Final Four this year will be played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
First-round games are scheduled for March 22 and 23. Second-round games will take place March 24 and 25.
Looking at ESPN’s path for USC, the Trojans would open with a first-round game against No. 16 seed Hawaii. A win there would send USC on to play the winner of No. 21 UNLV and Iowa State. Also in the projected Portland 4 region are No. 2 Texas, No. 3 North Carolina State and No. 4 Indiana. Despite seven Pac-12 programs included in ESPN’s bracketology, USC is the only conference team in its region.
CBS Sports’ bracketology has USC in an even stronger position and the second-ranked No. 1 seed, just below South Carolina.
