The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released its early preview of the top 16 teams in the upcoming women's basketball tournament if the event was set to begin tomorrow. Arizona checked in as a No. 2 seed Monday evening in Region 1 while also being named as the No. 8 seed overall as it stands now.
Monday evening's reveal is intended to be used as a tool to generate buzz for the NCAA Tournament that is set to begin March 21 in various sites around Texas. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the event will be held in just one state this year with just a handful of sites hosting teams.
The first round is set to take place in San Antonio, Austin and San Marcos before the remainder of the tournament is held in San Antonio exclusively.
Arizona is currently sitting at No. 10 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll after defeating then-No. 11 Oregon, Washington State and Washington last week. Still, the committee currently has the Wildcats as the eighth-best team in the country as it stands now.
Region 1 currently features four teams highlighted by top overall seed UConn while Baylor and Tennessee make up the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively. The Wildcats are the second-best Pac-12 team according to the committee as UA is one spot ahead of No. 9 overall seed UCLA.
Stanford is currently slotted as a No. 1 seed in in Region 3 and overall No. 3 seed. UCLA is sitting as the No. 3 seed in Region 2 while Oregon, the No. 11 seed overall, is also the third seed in Region 4.
The Wildcats were in position to be a likely host ahead of last year's NCAA Tournament, but the pandemic forced the event to be canceled. The Wildcats have remained ranked throughout the season and currently sit at 14-2 overall with a 12-2 record in Pac-12 play, which is their best conference start in program history.
A matchup with No. 6 Stanford is a week away in what will be a meaningful game for both programs. A win could help Arizona eventually secure the Pac-12 regular season title with both teams currently only having two losses.
Coming off a two-week stint away from competition has head coach Adia Barnes pumping the brakes on any discussion about the NCAA Tournament with her team right now, however. She doesn't even want her group looking ahead to its matchup with the Cardinal as UA will first head to Berkeley to face Cal this Friday before making the trek to Palo Alto.
"We definitely want to narrow our focus," she said after Sunday's win over Washington. "We don't look ahead. We're not looking ahead at Stanford. We're looking at Washington today, we're looking at Cal for next Friday. One game at a time because you just don't know.
"... We had a scare being in quarantine and missing games a couple weeks ago, so we've learned our lesson and now it's time to be really smart, buckle down and get ready to play some good basketball for the rest of the season."
Arizona's matchup with the Bears is set for a 1:30 p.m. MST start at Haas Pavilion.
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