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Women's hoops: Projecting the 65

By Brian Landman, Times Staff Writer
Published March 8, 2008

Selection Sunday is eight days away. Here are Times staff writer Brian Landman's best guesses at who will make the field of 65.

Automatic berths (31)

Md.-Balt. Co. America East

Xavier Atlantic 10

North Carolina ACC

Belmont Atlantic Sun

Kansas Big 12

Georgetown Big East

Portland State Big Sky

Winthrop Big South

Indiana Big Ten

Cal-Fullerton Big West

VCU Colonial

Memphis Conference USA

Butler Horizon League

Cornell* Ivy League

Niagara Metro Atlantic

Kent State Mid-American

Morgan State MEAC

Drake Missouri Valley

BYU Mountain West

Robert Morris Northeast

Austin Peay Ohio Valley

UCLA Pac-10

American Patriot

Tennessee SEC

Davidson Southern

Stephen F. Austin Southland

Alabama StateSWAC

Oral Roberts Summit

South Alabama Sun Belt

Gonzaga West Coast

Boise State WAC

* Clinched a berth

At-large berths (34)

Atlantic 10 (1): UMass

ACC (5): Duke, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, Maryland

Big East (6): Louisville, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Marquette, West Virginia, Pittsburgh

Big 12 (5): Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M

Big Ten (4): Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State

CUSA (1): UAB

Missouri Valley (1): Illinois State

Mountain West (2): UNLV, New Mexico

Pac-10 (4): Stanford, Washington State, Arizona, USC

SEC (4): Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Mississippi

West Coast (1): Saint Mary's

Last four in

Virginia Tech

Ohio State

Maryland

Mississippi

Last four out

Florida

Southern Illinois

Kentucky

Saint Joseph's

Bracket-shaping games

No. 1 North Carolina at No. 6 Duke, 9 tonight, ESPN. The winner gets the top seed in the ACC tournament and perhaps all but locks up a No. 1 seed in the big tournament and a significant homecourt edge (Raleigh then Charlotte). Even if none of that were at stake, it's UNC and Duke, for goodness sakes.

No. 12 Louisville at No. 11 Georgetown, noon today, Ch. 10. Again, the winner earns a top seed in its conference tournament, which surely will help its NCAA seeding. Both teams deserve to be on the top three lines, and either or both could make it to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.

FAST FACTS

Women's Final Four

When: April 6 and 8

Where: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa

Tickets: Sold out

On the Web: For ongoing coverage of women's basketball leading up to the Final Four, go to sports.tampabay.com and click on the link to our special index page.

Men's NCAA Tournament

What: First- and second-round games

When: March 21 and 23

Where: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa

Tickets: Tickets still available at $208, including a service charge, for the six games. For information, call (813) 301-6600 or go to sptimesforum.com/ncaa2008.

[Last modified March 7, 2008, 20:45:13]