The Maryland women’s basketball team is hitting the road to start the NCAA tournament.

The Terps (25-7) received the No. 5 seed in Monday night’s selection show and will face No. 12 Princeton (24-5), the Ivy League champion, Friday at noon in Raleigh, N.C. The winner advances to face the North Carolina State-Elon winner Sunday. It’s the first time since 2010, when Maryland last missed the NCAA tournament, that the Terps haven’t started the Big Dance in College Park.

Mississippi State is the No. 1 seed in the Kansas City, Mo., regional.

For the first time since joining the league in 2014, the Terps didn’t sweep the Big Ten Conference championships this year, finishing behind Ohio State in the regular season and falling to the Buckeyes in the March 4 title game.

Maryland has fallen short of NCAA tournament expectations the past two seasons. In 2016, the Terps were stunned in College Park by seventh-seeded Washington, which eventually made it to the Final Four. Last season, the Terps lost to No. 10 seed Oregon in the Sweet 16, one game short of a rematch with eventual national champion Connecticut.</s>The 2018 NCAA women’s basketball bracket is here. Who are the No. 1 seeds in their respective region?</s>LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A basketball season that began with a bombshell ended with a thud on Selection Sunday. The University of Louisville basketball team missed the cut for the NCAA Tournament.

The Cards were viewed as a bubble team at best heading into the weekend after a 17-point loss to No. 1 ranked and No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed on Thursday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. An upset win by Davidson over Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Tournament Sunday afternoon helped seal their fate.

The Cards may yet accept a bid to the National Invitation Tournament. That bracket will be announced at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Louisville interim athletic director Vince Tyra said last week that he had completed the paperwork for U of L to compete and host games if it is selected for the NIT.

After Thursday’s ACC Tournament loss, several Louisville players, including seniors Anas Mahmoud and Quentin Snider, would not comment on how they would respond to an NIT bid.

Louisville finished the ACC Tournament with a 20-13 overall record and had an overall Ratings Percentage Index ranking of No. 38 against the No. 15-rated schedule in the nation going into Selection Sunday.

In some ways, it was an admirable effort, behind an interim, first-time head coach who was appointed two days before the start of practice and didn’t have a staff in place for three weeks. Louisville's program was thrown into free-fall by allegations made through a federal investigation into bribery and corruption in college basketball. Former coach Rick Pitino and his staff wound up losing their jobs in the fallout of a second scandal to befall the program in five yerasr. Padgett praised the resilience of his team late in the season, but in the end, it came up at least one significant win short of what the tournament selection committee wanted.

“Their head coach that they came here to play for got relieved of his duties three days before practice starts,” Padgett said. “We have to deal -- I'm coaching the team by myself for three weeks. I'm not able to hire assistant coaches for the first month of the season. We have to deal with the distractions of a scandal that happened before most of them were even here. It just kind of goes on and on.

“But the way these guys, for being 18 to 22 years old, have handled it is absolutely remarkable. They deserve a ton of credit for that publicly, because so many times this year they could have just folded up and said, this is not why we came here. They could have felt sorry for themselves. And not one, single time throughout the last four or five months did they do that. And I mean that with all sincerity. It's been the most remarkable thing I've ever seen. Just getting the opportunity to coach these guys day-in and day-out has been the best experience of my basketball career, both as a player and a coach.

The Cardinals were the first Top 40 RPI team from a power conference ever left out of the NCAA Tournament field since the metric went into use in 1981. It also was the first time a 20-win Louisville team was left out of the field since the 1975 Louisville team was left out, but the NCAA field was only 32 teams then.

The two primary reasons the Cards were left out:

1). THE VIRGINIA FIASCO. Up four with 0.9 seconds to play against top-ranked Virginia in the KFC Yum! Center on March 1, the Cards fouled a three-point shooter, then gave up a three-pointer after traveling on the ensuing inbounds pass to lose 67-66. Adding insult to that injury, Davidson salted its victory away with a 58-57 lead over Rhode Island, sending all four of its players to the other end of the court with 0.9 seconds left and lofting a pass downcourt that was deflected harmlessly as the buzzer sounded.

That victory would’ve given Louisville the signature win that it needed. But it wasn’t the only time Louisville fell short this season when it had a chance.

2). LACK OF QUALITY WINS. Louisville had good wins at Florida State and Virginia Tech. The Cardinals swept the Hokies and took two of three from the Seminoles, who both made the field. But Louisville also couldn’t close out an overtime game at Clemson, and lost at home to Seton Hall after leading 71-70 with three minutes to play.

Louisville led by three with 59 seconds to play at Miami, and lost in overtime.

The Cards came close all season – and were better, in some cases, on the road than at home. But they couldn’t get the one win to hang their hat on, even late in the season at home, when they lost by 17 to North Carolina in the KFC Yum! Center. In all, they went 0-11 vs. the RPI Top 50.

Now comes another waiting game – finding out whether the team will play in the NIT, and what its coaching situation will be moving forward.

Tyra continually has said he won’t address that until the season is over. After a disappointing Selection Sunday, that time could be upon him sooner, not later.</s>It's your money and your NCAA Tournament bracket , so we can't really tell you what to do with either one. But if you don't want to throw away your cash (or lose a bunch of friends), you might want to take these bits of advice to heart.

In what is fast becoming an annual thing here at SN, we present our idiot's guide to filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket.

1. Double-digit seeds are money — until they aren't. We cannot be responsible for anyone picking an 11 seed to be in the championship game. Upsets happen, just not late in the tournament when most of the points are at stake. Except for that one time George Mason got to the Final Four ... and that time VCU did, too. ... No. The smart play is to predict no chaos after the second weekend.

2. If you're going to pick teams based on uniform color (we won't judge), blue is the best choice. There are so many wonderful shades of blue, too. Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA are all experienced in wearing the crown; they all wear blue. Is that why they're called bluebloods? (No. No, it's not.)

3. Oh, you're a mascot picker, you say. Well, we know "Shockers" will be in this tournament (it has to with wheat, not electricity; don't let that stop you). Or, better to order yourself some Boilermakers. (Google the reference, kids. It has to do with wheat, too. Kind of.) "Zags" will work, too.

4. The major conferences generally win the prize. There are 32 conferences in NCAA Division I men's basketball. Each one will have at least one representative at the Big Dance. That's where the parity ends. Over the past 41 seasons, the following "power" conferences have been responsible for almost all of the championships: ACC, 12; Big East, eight; SEC, seven; Big Ten, five; Pac-12, two; Big 12, two. The exceptions have been Connecticut (formerly Big East) in 2014 (American); UNLV in 1990 (Big West); Louisville in 1986 and 1980 (Metro); and Marquette in 1977 (independent). So, no, the Southland Conference representative is not a good bet to go all the way.

5. Don't have your alma mater going all the way unless it's a true contender. College basketball and football are the only sports where fans' use of "we" is acceptable, but don't go overboard with it. Use your intellect and know your school's limitations.

6. Flipping a coin for an 8-9 matchup works just fine. The selection committee is signaling that these teams are evenly matched, so there's really no need to go crazy doing research. Devote the time to finding the right 12 seed to pick against a 5 seed.

7. If you must use a pet exotic animal to make picks (props to you for being bold), be creative (and careful) if you plan to post the results to Insta or YouTube. OK, that's not real bracket advice; it's more a request by the rest of us who might stumble upon your boa/llama/cockatoo on Insta or YouTube and want to be entertained.

8. If, somehow, you see a potential matchup of teams with the same name (say, Wildcats vs. Wildcats), write in that baby and hope the person in charge of the pool doesn't notice in time and make you decide if it actually happens.

9. Remember there are play-in, er, First Four, games that count in some brackets. These games are played on Tuesday and Wednesday and match minor conference champs and bubble teams. Still, none of these teams will win the NCAA Tournament.

10. When it comes to your bracket, the race isn't to the swift. Take your time, and maybe consult someone who knows the difference between a Jayhawk (Kansas) and a Bluejay (Creighton).

MORE: Beware picking these schools in the Final Four

11. If you must fill out more than one bracket (because, gee, you just can't decide between all those teams that wear blue), don't have too much fun with your backup schools. Make sure that all your late-round selections have a snowball's chance of getting to the Final Four. In other words, no YOLO Lipscomb prediction.

12. If you're a visual type who sets your Final Four based on, say, a coach's looks, you could do a lot worse than Villanova (Jay Wright) and Virginia (Tony Bennett). If you're into sartorial splendor, may we suggest Wright, Roy Williams (North Carolina) and John Calipari (Kentucky), who all dress like the champion coaches they are.

13. There's no room for sentimental favorites. Don't fall for the narrative.

14. A No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 seed. Could it happen this year? Sure. Will it? Nope.</s>For the 12th year in a row, the Connecticut Huskies are the top seed in the women’s NCAA tournament.

The Huskies are joined on the top line by Notre Dame, Mississippi State and Louisville. The 2017 champion, South Carolina, is a No. 2 seed in UConn’s region.

Oklahoma is the lowest-seeded at-large in the field after sneaking in with a 16–14 record. Other bubble teams to earn selection include Buffalo and Creighton, both No. 11 seeds. Rutgers (20–12), USC (20–11) and West Virginia (21–11) were on the wrong side of the bubble.

Games begin Friday, March 16, at noon. UConn’s first game is Saturday at 11 a.m. against St. Francis (Pa.).

The regional finals will be played in Albany, Spokane, Kansas City and Lexington, Ky. The Final Four is in Columbus, Ohio, with the championship game on April 1.</s>The Missouri Tigers women’s basketball team are back in the NCAA Tournament for the third season straight. They set a goal early on in their 2017 season to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tourney at Mizzou Arena, something that only the top 16 seed teams in the bracket get to do. Double-digit losses in two of their three last games saw them become a No. 5 seed in the Lexington Region and took them on the road. There is still ample reason for Tiger fans to be proud as its the highest seed for Missouri in the NCAA tournament since 1985(when it was limited to 32 teams) as well as the first time since 2001 that Mizzou men and women’s basketball has reached the NCAA Tournament in the same season.

The Tigers finished with an overall record of 24-7 and a conference record of 11-5. They finished the season ranked No. 17 in Monday’s final Associated Press poll. Game averages included 69.7 points, 39.2 rebounds and 16 assists. They got off to a rough start with a loss to Western Kentucky. After that loss, they redeemed themselves and more with a 13-game win streak that was only broken by LSU on January 4.

The rest of their season got increasingly competitive, seeing them face ranked SEC opponents like Mississippi State and Georgia. Season scoring leaders include guard Sophie Cunningham averaging 18 ppg, forward Jordan Fredericks with 12.1 and forward Cierra Porter with 9.9. Cierra Porter also leads in average rebounds with 7.7, followed by Jordan Fredericks with 7.5 and guard Amber Smith with 5.5. Mizzou has been dealing with several season-ending injuries in 2017, losing starting point guard Lianna Doty to a foot injuring as well as forwards Kayla McDowell and Bri Porter with torn ACLs.

On Saturday the Tigers will head to Palo Alto, California to play No. 12 seed Florida Gulf Coast, who are sitting pretty as the Atlantic Sun Conference champion with a 30-4 record. Both teams are 3-0 against Illinois, Kentucky and SIUE this season. The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to Monday’s second round to play the winner of either No. 4 seed Stanford or No. 13 seed Gonzaga.</s>UConn Is First Overall Seed In NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament

The slots in the NCAA women's basketball tournament bracket have been filled and Connecticut is the first overall seed.

At 32-0, they are the only team to enter the NCAA tournament unbeaten.

The Huskies are aiming for their 12th national championship. Last season, UConn was the overwhelming favorite but lost to Mississippi State in the Final Four.

This year's other No. 1 seeds are Notre Dame, Louisville and Mississippi State.

There were five teams trying to get into the bracket's top spots and in the end Baylor lost out.

The Associated Press reports the Bears, who lost just one game all season (31-1), instead get a No. 2 seed in Lexington, a region that includes top-seeded Louisville, Tennessee and Stanford.

"'We felt there was a razor-thin margin between Baylor and Notre Dame,' said NCAA women's basketball committee chair Rhonda Bennett. 'Notre Dame did have the top strength of schedule in the country and they did have the best strength of schedule in the country and they had nine more top-50 wins than Baylor and those were the reason that the committee put Notre Dame on that one line and Baylor on that two line.' Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said she doesn't see it as that big a deal. 'We've won a national championship as a two seed, we've won it as a one seed,' she said. 'And really what does it matter? Because the one has to play the two. Mississippi State was a two last year and they played for the national championship. We were a two seed in 2005 and we played and won the national championship.'"

The first round of the women's tournament begins on Saturday. UConn faces St. Francis University of Loretto, Pa.

The men's NCAA basketball bracket was announced on Sunday.</s>The University of Iowa women’s basketball team has received an at-large berth into the NCAA Championships, the NCAA selection committee announced on ESPN on Monday. The Hawkeyes (24-7; 11-5) are a No. 6 seed and will play the No. 11 seed Creighton (18-12; 11-7) from the Big East at 5 p.m. (CT) on Saturday in Los Angeles inside Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Iowa is 7-5 all-time against Creighton.

This year marks Iowa’s 25th trip to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Lisa Bluder has led the Hawkeyes to 13 NCAA Tournaments in her 18 years at Iowa. It is Iowa’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since making the Sweet Sixteen in 2015. The Hawkeyes, a No. 3 seed, defeated 14th-seeded American (75-67) in the first round before downing 11th-seeded Miami (88-70) in the second round.

It marks the third time in program history (1991, 2011, 2014) that Iowa has earned a No. 6 seed. The Hawkeyes are 2-3 all-time as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Los Angeles First/Second Round site is part of the Kansas City region. No. 3 UCLA will take on No. 14 American on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Creighton, 18-12 overall and 11-7 in league play, is making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and second consecutive trip to the tournament. The BlueJays bowed out in the second round of the Big East tournament, falling top-seeded Marquette, 76-70.</s>The Spartans are in the NCAA Tournament for the 21st consecutive year.

Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo always says he hopes to "win the weekend" in the NCAA Tournament. He hasn't been able to do that the past two years, getting knocked out in first and second rounds.

Izzo clearly knows how to win this time of year, though. He's won 47 NCAA Tournament games, a total that ties John Wooden for seventh on the all-time list.

North Carolina's resume earned the reigning national champion Tar Heels a No. 2 seed and a home-state opener despite having 10 losses.

The Tar Heels (25-10) open Friday in the West Region against 15-seed Lipscomb in Charlotte.

UNC is 33-1 in NCAA Tournament games in its home state, with the only loss in 1979.

The Tar Heels entered Sunday fourth in RPI and had a nation-best 14 Quadrant 1 wins, two more than any other team. That included two wins over Duke, a win at Tennessee, a home win against eventual Big Ten Tournament champ Michigan and a neutral-court win against Ohio State.

UNC won nine of 11 games before falling to top-ranked Virginia in Saturday's ACC title game.

The Midwest looks like the bracket of death with No. 1 seed Kansas opening up in Wichita. The No. 2 seed is Duke, with Michigan State at No. 3. Those three have combined for 39 Final Four appearances.

Oh, and Auburn is the No. 4 seed after earning the top seed in the SEC Tournament.

The first four teams out of the field were Baylor, Saint Mary's, USC and Notre Dame, while the Fighting Irish and Bonzie Colson were left out when Davidson won its conference tournament and forced Rhode Island into taking an at-large bid.

Syracuse was the last team into the field.

The No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament are Virginia, Villanova, Kansas and Xavier with the top-ranked Cavaliers getting preferential seeding in the South Region.

The first four games in Dayton, Ohio, will be LIU-Brooklyn against Radford and St. Bonaventure against UCLA on Tuesday night, and North Carolina Central against Texas Southern and Arizona State against Syracuse on Wednesday night.

Among the intriguing early matchups is No. 8 seed Creighton and its star, Marcus Foster, against ninth-seeded Kansas State. Foster began his career with the Wildcats.

Bubble bursts. Here's who is out of the 68-team field:

Notre Dame had a seven-game losing streak while preseason All-American Bonzie Colson was out injured and couldn't do enough by the time he returned.

Louisville had a chaotic season mired by the firings of coach Rick Pitino and AD Tom Jurich amid the FBI case.

Saint Mary's lacked high-quality victories, but it's tough on a West Coast Conference team to get those opportunities.

Nebraska won 22 games and went 13-5 in Big Ten, but was 1-6 against quadrant-1 teams.

Oklahoma State beat Kansas twice and had victories against Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Cowboys also lost an assistant coach in the FBI scandal.

Baylor lost four of five down the stretch to play itself out.

Middle Tennessee made its first Top 25 appearance and dominated the Conference USA regular season, but came up short in the conference tournament.

USC was seeded second in the Pac-12 Tournament and lost the conference final.

The Atlantic Coast Conference leads the way with nine teams in the field.

There will be a couple of major differences for the NCAA Tournament selection show.

First, it will be broadcast by TBS, not CBS, the longtime network home of the tournament. CBS and Turner Sports have partnered on the tournament since 2011, but this is the first time the selection show will be on the cable-only network. It still starts at 6 p.m. EDT.

Second, the show will begin with all 68 teams revealed before they bracket is filled and matchups unveiled. TBS and CBS officials have said that will happen in the first 10 minutes of the show.

That means bubble teams such as Louisville, Arizona State, Syracuse and Saint Mary's won't have quite as long to find out whether they are in or out of the field of 68.

Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament is here and teams sweating out the wait until the brackets are revealed got bad news from the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Davidson beat Rhode Island in the A-10 tournament championship game Sunday to steal an at-large bid. Top-seeded and No. 25 Rhode Island looked like a lock to get into the field of 68 no matter what happened Sunday. But Davidson's only hope was to win the conference tournament — and Stephen Curry's alma mater did just that. For bubble teams such as Arizona State, Louisville, Syracuse, Baylor, Marquette and St. Mary's, that's a problem.

Penn won the Ivy League to earn an automatic bid Sunday, and so did Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference.

For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25

By The Associated Press</s>UConn Is First Overall Seed In NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament

The slots in the NCAA women's basketball tournament bracket have been filled and Connecticut is the first overall seed.

At 32-0, they are the only team to enter the NCAA tournament unbeaten.

The Huskies are aiming for their 12th national championship. Last season, UConn was the overwhelming favorite but lost to Mississippi State in the Final Four.

This year's other No. 1 seeds are Notre Dame, Louisville and Mississippi State.

There were five teams trying to get into the bracket's top spots and in the end Baylor lost out.

The Associated Press reports the Bears, who lost just one game all season (31-1), instead get a No. 2 seed in Lexington, a region that includes top-seeded Louisville, Tennessee and Stanford.

"'We felt there was a razor-thin margin between Baylor and Notre Dame,' said NCAA women's basketball committee chair Rhonda Bennett. 'Notre Dame did have the top strength of schedule in the country and they did have the best strength of schedule in the country and they had nine more top-50 wins than Baylor and those were the reason that the committee put Notre Dame on that one line and Baylor on that two line.' Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said she doesn't see it as that big a deal. 'We've won a national championship as a two seed, we've won it as a one seed,' she said. 'And really what does it matter? Because the one has to play the two. Mississippi State was a two last year and they played for the national championship. We were a two seed in 2005 and we played and won the national championship.'"

The first round of the women's tournament begins on Saturday. UConn faces St. Francis University of Loretto, Pa.

The men's NCAA basketball bracket was announced on Sunday.
The field for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament is announced. Connecticut, the only remaining unbeaten Division I team of either sex, is the top overall seed, with Notre Dame, Louisville, and Mississippi State as the other #1 seeds.