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ASU Basketball: What Does the Women’s Committee Reveal Mean?

By Sam Ficarro

Mar 26, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; The 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four logo is unveiled before the game between the Baylor Bears and the Florida State Seminoles in the semifinals of the Dallas regional of the women's NCAA Tournament at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; The 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four logo is unveiled before the game between the Baylor Bears and the Florida State Seminoles in the semifinals of the Dallas regional of the women's NCAA Tournament at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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On Monday, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Committee reveal their top 16 seeds as of this point with Arizona State slotted at No. 16 overall. What does that mean for ASU?

For the third straight year, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Committee has revealed the Top 16 seeds in the months leading up to Selection Monday.

Monday was the first of three reveals this season by the committee.

Despite going 1-1 in the Bay Area last week, Arizona State (14-5, 5-3) just cracked the Top 16 as the committee ranked the Sun Devils at No. 16.

In the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the top 16 seed overalls (teams ranked with seeds 1-4) get to host the first the two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, giving that team a massive home-court advantage.

The Sun Devils made the cut despite some inconsistencies during Pac-12 play. Arizona State are 5-3 in Pac-12 play after going 16-2 last season during conference play.

With that said, Arizona State was benefited by a tough non-conference schedule and playing in the best conference in the nation according to the RPI rankings.

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ASU was among five Pac-12 teams that were seeded in the Top 16, the most of any conference in the nation.

Washington and Oregon State were ranked as No. 2 seeds, Stanford was listed as a No. 3 seed and UCLA joined Arizona State in those ranked as a No. 4 seed.

Also among those seeded were non-conference opponents Maryland and Kentucky.

In total, four of ASU’s five losses have come against teams seeded above them, which bodes well that the Sun Devils have beaten the teams they were favored over.

ESPN women’s basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme seeded his Top 16 teams before the reveal, and Creme had Arizona State seeded higher than the committee slotting them at No. 14.

"The inconsistencies of a youthful backcourt have created some rough stretches on offense for the Sun Devils, but Charli Turner Thorne’s trademark defense and toughness are also winning games. The Sun Devils’ chances to make the top four in the Pac-12 and the top 16 overall might be determined by their two remaining games against UCLA. – Charlie Creme"

As Creme noted above, it’s important for Arizona State to start picking up wins against those at the top of the conference.

Arizona State is winless versus teams above them in the Pac-12 (0-2 versus Stanford and 0-1 versus Washington).

The opportunities for ASU to pick up some signature wins are plentiful as it begins Friday when they travel to face UCLA.

In total, Arizona State still has two meetings remaining versus UCLA and one meeting versus Oregon State and Washington.

Arizona State will also have the Pac-12 Tournament to prove themselves to the committee.

The biggest surprise in the reveal was seeing Kentucky seeded at No. 15, one spot ahead of Arizona State.

The Wildcats (14-6, 5-2), who are not ranked in the current AP Poll, have struggled this season, but have started to turn it around reeling off four straight wins in SEC play.

The reason Kentucky is seeded is due to their strength of schedule as the Wildcats are ranked second in the nation in strength of schedule.

With Arizona State absent of a signature Pac-12 win, Kentucky seeded highly by the committee bodes well for Arizona State as the Sun Devils defeated the Wildcats in Lexington back in December.

Also, ASU hopes to have Kelsey Moos back next month as Arizona State makes their final push toward March.

Next: ASU WBB: The Sun Devils Get Outmatched at #10 Stanford

The big takeaway is the committee is valuing strength of schedule, and with a couple of wins versus the top Pac-12 teams, Arizona State is in prime position to get a Top-4 seed and host the first two rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.