2022 NCAA women’s basketball tournament: NC State is No. 1 seed in Bridgeport Region

NC State is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and the second time in program history. The Wolfpack will open on Saturday against the winner of Longwood/Mount St. Mary’s.

In a bit of an oddity, the Pack’s second round opponent will be a team it has already seen this season. NC State played No. 9 Kansas State on Nov. 19 (and beat KSU 90-69) and played No. 8 Washington State on Nov. 27 (and beat the Cougars 62-34). Encouraging results, at least.

NC State will host the first and second round games at Reynolds Coliseum.

Here is the full region:

You may note that UConn is the two-seed, and that Bridgeport is a city in Connecticut. Yep, the committee went ahead and handed the Huskies the potential to play with a home court advantage through the entire region. Seems fair! (The Sweet 16/Elite 8 rounds will be played in Bridgeport.)

Maybe Indiana—which is another team State has played and beaten this year—will do us all a solid in the Sweet 16. That’d be handy.

NC State might also have to get past Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen, and the Irish handed the Pack its only league loss during the regular season.

The selection committee putting UConn in the Bridgeport Region at NC State’s expense is frustrating, but hey, we still have the best team in the region, and no reason to be scared of anybody else.