NCAA Tournament seeding projections for UW women, Gonzaga teams

The state of Washington is expected to be represented by three teams across the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.

Both the Gonzaga men and women have qualified by winning their respective West Coast Conference tournaments, while the UW Huskies women are projected to receive an at-large berth.

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Seeding for both the men’s and women’s tournaments will be unveiled Sunday following the conclusion of conference tournaments, with the men’s bracket reveal starting at 3 p.m. on CBS and the women’s at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

Below is a look at where ESPN’s bracketology experts are projecting the three Washington schools to be seeded. You can find the full men’s projections here and women’s projections here.

Gonzaga men

Record: 30-3 overall, 16-2 West Coast Conference

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects WCC regular season co-champion Gonzaga as the No. 3 seed in the West Region, which will play its regional semifinals and final in San Jose, Calif. Lunardi’s projection has the Zags facing the 14th-seeded UC Irvine in a first-round matchup in Portland. UC Irvine has yet to qualify for the tournament, but could do so with a win in the Big West title game Friday night.

Lunardi’s West Region projection includes a potential second-round matchup against projected No. 1 overall NBA draft pick AJ Dybantsa and sixth-seeded BYU, a former bitter WCC rival of the Zags. Arizona is his No. 1 seed for the region.

This will be Gonzaga’s 27th straight NCAA Tournament appearance dating back to the 1998-99 campaign and its 26th straight under longtime head coach Mark Few. The Bulldogs are one of three WCC teams projected for the tournament along with St. Mary’s and Santa Clara.

UW women

Record: 21-10 overall, 10-8 Big Ten

After finishing eighth in the Big Ten and reaching the conference tournament’s quarterfinals, ESPN’s Charlie Creme projects UW to land the No. 7 seed in Region 2, which will play its regional semifinals and final in Sacramento, Calif. Creme’s projection has the Huskies facing former Pac-12 foe Colorado in the first round and a potential second-round matchup against No. 2 LSU, which has reached at least the Elite Eight in three straight years. Big Ten champion UCLA is projected as the No. 1 seed in the region.

A tournament berth would be the 21st in program history for the Huskies and the second under fifth-year head coach Tina Langley. UW also made the tournament last season but was knocked out in the first four.

The Huskies are one of 12 teams projected to reach the tournament out of the Big Ten, the most of any conference.

Gonzaga women

Record: 24-9 overall, 14-4 West Coast Conference

Creme has WCC tournament champion Gonzaga projected as the No. 12 seed in Region 4, which will play its regional semifinals and final in Sacramento, Calif. He has the Zags matching up with No. 5 seed North Carolina in the first round and a potential second-round matchup against No. 4 seed Minnesota. South Carolina, which has reached three of the past four national title games, is the projected No. 1 seed in the region.

The Bulldogs are heading to their 16th NCAA Tournament and ninth under 12th-year head coach Lisa Fortier. All of their tournaments berths have come since the 2006-07 campaign.

Tuesday: No. 12 Gonzaga men top Santa Clara, win their final WCC Tournament

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