Maryland will be making its 12th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 13 years. George Washington will be participating for the 17th time.
The two schools were included in the 64-team field unveiled on Monday night, with Maryland earning the No. 2 seed in the Lexington Region and George Washington claiming the No. 8 seed in the Sioux Falls Region.
Maryland (30-3), the Big Ten champion, will open tournament play on Saturday when it hosts No. 15 seed Iona, the MAAC champion making its first appearance. The winner of that game will play either No. 7 seed Washington (22-10) or No. 10 Penn (24-4), the Ivy League champion, on Monday.
Notre Dame is the top seed in the Lexington Region, which also features No. 3 seed Kentucky and No. 4 Stanford. The Terrapins, who won the national championship in 2006, advanced to the Final Four each of the last two seasons.
The Colonials (26-6), the Atlantic 10 champion, will make their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament when they travel to South Carolina to face No. 9 seed Kansas State (18-12) on Friday. The winner of that game will face either the top-seeded Gamecocks or No. 16 Jacksonville, also making its first tournament appearance, on Sunday.
The Colonials have reached the Sweet 16 four times, most recently in 2008, and are 13-3 in their first-round tournament games. Arizona State, Ohio State and Syracuse join South Carolina as the top four seeds in the region.
UConn (32-0) was the top overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament and potentially won’t have to leave the state until the Final Four, which is in Indianapolis this year. The Huskies are in the Bridgeport Regional.
Joining the Huskies and South Carolina as the other No. 1 seeds were Notre Dame and Baylor. UConn is trying to become the first team to win four consecutive national championships.
Tennessee earned a No. 7 seed, the lowest in school history, in the Sioux Falls Region. The Lady Vols, who have played in every NCAA tournament, will face Green Bay in the opening round at Arizona State.
Duquesne, the No. 9 seed in the Bridgeport Region, headlined five first-time NCAA tournament teams. Buffalo and Central Arkansas will also be making their first tournament appearances.
Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State all missed the tournament for the first time since 1988. The Blue Devils had been in the tournament each of the past 21 years.
⦁ An Associated Press report was included in this story.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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