NCAA women’s basketball tournament: Where do NC State, Duke, UNC stand in second preview?

Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State remain projected first-round hosts in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, according to the second selection committee preview released Thursday.

N.C. State was the No. 8 overall seed in the first preview, with Duke and UNC listed as the No. 10 and No. 11 seeds, respectively.

The Wolfpack earned No. 8 in the second preview, while the Tar Heels and Blue Devils switched places. UNC earned the No. 10 seed and Duke dropped to the No. 11 overall seed. These come a week and a half after the first release.

Based on the second bracket, the Wolfpack would be a No. 2 seed in the Birmingham 2 Regional, which features No. 2 overall seed Texas, No. 9 seed TCU and No. 16 seed Ohio State. It has already played the Horned Frogs this season and upset the Longhorns last season en route to its 2024 Final Four run.

“We’re fighting for a seed and to host,” N.C. State head coach Wes Moore said Sunday. “If we can play here at home in the first and second round, we’ve got a pretty nice home court advantage.”

Duke would be the No. 3 seed in the Spokane 3 Regional, which features No. 3 overall seed Southern California, No. 6 overall seed Connecticut and No. 14 seed Kentucky.

North Carolina was listed as the No. 3 seed in the Spokane 1 Regional. Its bracket features No. 1 overall seed UCLA, No. 5 overall seed LSU and No. 15 overall seed Kansas State.

Since the first bracket reveal, N.C. State went 2-1. It lost on the road by one point to Carolina but picked up wins over ranked Georgia Tech and then-No. 1 Notre Dame. The Tar Heels went 3-0, including wins over Louisville and Syracuse.

Finally, Duke went 1-2 in the past week. It lost to Louisville and Notre Dame, while beating Syracuse.

“I think that’s just what makes this area unlike any place in the country,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said in a recent media availability. “You think about Power Four schools within a 30-minute radius of one another and how much this area loves basketball. The environments in each of those venues on the men’s and women’s sides are great. College basketball is not like this anywhere else. It’s just not.”

Last season, N.C. State was the only team to host the first weekend. Duke played at Ohio State, while UNC was placed in South Carolina’s regional. N.C. State and Duke advanced to the regional round, both in Portland.

This would be the second time that all three schools have hosted in the same year since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994. The only other time was in 1998, when the Wolfpack made its first Final Four appearance under the late Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils both reached their respective regional finals.

“There’s a reason these teams are good. This is a place where basketball is adored,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart said after the first bracket reveal. “I don’t care that we’re all so close. If the teams are good enough to host, they should host. If we’re all trying to save money, great. ESPN can just send one crew down, and they can do all the games.”

Carolina was ranked No. 8 in the most recent Associated Press poll, while N.C. State and Duke were listed at No. 9 and No. 16, respectively.

The selection committee will release the official bracket at 8 p.m. March 16.

March Madness begins with First Four games on March 19-20, with the first round set for March 21-22 at host campuses.

Regional games take place March 28-31 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington.

The Final Four is scheduled for April 4 and 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Projected Top 16 seeds

Jadyn Watson-Fisher

The News & Observer