Per Charlie Creme (emphasis in original):
Two factors are in play; these are taken directly from the principles and procedures manual:
- "Each of the first four teams selected from a conference shall be placed in different regions if they are seeded on the first four lines."
That means that Stanford, as a No. 2 seed, will not be placed with Oregon, the No. 1 seed in Portland. It also means that UCLA, whether a No. 2 or 3 seed, also can't go there, and both the Cardinal and Bruins have to take up residency in another region. That blocks the Huskies from going to Dallas or Greenville.
- "By order of the S-curve, the committee will assign each team to a regional and first-/second-round site by taking into account distance from site, mode of transportation and accessibility by fans."
The history of recent selection committees indicates that they really want to stick with this. If teams and fans can drive to a site, that is where those teams are going to be placed. It enhances the experience for all involved. That has been the model.
With its ACC tournament title, NC State has supplanted UCLA as the final No. 2 seed. Given the second principle, however, the situation for UConn remains the same. The Wolfpack campus is within driving distance of the Greenville region and, thus, more accessible for fans. The same holds for Louisville in Fort Wayne. So with NC State in Greenville, Louisville in Fort Wayne and Stanford, by principle, not going to Portland, west is the only destination left for the Huskies.
THAT BEING SAID...
If this turns out to be the case, does it necessarily matter?
--- The last time UConn did not make the Final Four, Paige Bueckers was 5.5 years old (she will be 19 in October 2020).
--- The last time UConn did not make the Final Four, Breanna Stewart was 12.5 years old (she turns 26 this year).
--- The last time UConn did not make the Final Four, Maya Moore was 17 years old, a few months shy of 18 (she turns 31 this year).
--- In 2012-13, the last time before this year that UConn had at least three regular season/pre-NCAAT losses, the Huskies lost to Notre Dame in Storrs (73-72), South Bend (96-87 3OT), and Hartford (61-59) … before
dominating Notre Dame in New Orleans in the Final Four (83-65). UConn's three losses were by a total of 12 points, whereas in the biggest game - the Final Four - the Huskies won by 18 points. UConn went on to win the national title,
destroying Louisville in the title game by 33 points.
--- In the last 6+ years (six previous seasons and the seventh season to date), UConn is 252-9 (96.55 percent). If that is a grade, it is close to an A+ (using 97 as A+). If that is a GPA, it is somewhere between 4.0 and 4.3 (with 4.0 being an A and 4.3 being an A+). If I were a betting man and knew
NOTHING else about women's basketball, I would feel pretty damn confident taking UConn versus the field in the NCAA Tournament.
ALSO...
As an aside, when a number of posters on message boards attack Charlie Creme for not "getting it right" when it comes to his Bracketology, remember this thread - and what the Committee does (and does not do), the rules by which it complies (and the ones by which it does not), etc. Creme is not the amazing Kreskin (nor is he expected to be), but his job is exponentially more difficult when having to balance how and when the Committee chooses not to follow particular rules, deciding which rule is more important than another, or to seed teams certain ways.
