Defending champion Connecticut and Tennessee were seeded No. 1 in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Sunday, even though injuries leave some uncertainty over how far each can advance.
The other No. 1 seeds went to Notre Dame and Duke, which edged Georgia for the final spot.
Tennessee, the No. 1 seed overall, tops the bracket in the Mideast Regional and Connecticut was installed as the top-seed in the East.
Notre Dame was placed in the Midwest Regional and Duke in the West, meaning the Blue Devils would have to fly across the country if they reach the West Regional in Spokane, Wash. The other regionals are in Pittsburgh (East), Birmingham, Ala. (Mideast) and Denver (Midwest).
The Mideast and East winners would not meet until the national championship game in St. Louis on April 1, so another Tennessee-Connecticut matchup for the title is possible if they can survive that long.
Connecticut beat Tennessee 71-52 in last year's championship game in Philadelphia. They split two regular-season games this season, each winning at home.
First-round games are Friday and Saturday at campus sites.
The selection committee ranked the No. 1 seeds as follows: Tennessee, Notre Dame, Connecticut and Duke.
Connecticut (28-2) goes into the tournament with 11 straight victories but without its two first-team All-Americans from last season, Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph.
Abrosimova tore a ligament in her left foot in a loss Feb. 1 at Tennessee. Ralph, the MVP at last year's Final Four, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in the Huskies' 78-76 victory over Notre Dame in the conference tournament championship game.
Tennessee, a No. 1 seed for the 13th time in the last 14 years, lost Tamika Catchings, twice a first-team All-American, to a torn ACL in a win Jan. 15 over Mississippi State. Others took up the slack and the Vols (29-2) won 13 straight after Catchings went out before losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament semifinals.
Notre Dame (28-2), which shared the Big East regular-season title with UConn, and Duke (28-3) were seeded No. 1 for the first time. Notre Dame began the season with 23 straight victories and earned its first No. 1 ranking in history before losing by one point at Rutgers.
The first- and second-round games will be played on the home courts of the 16 highest-seeded teams with one exception. Iowa, seeded fourth in the Midwest, could not be at home because its arena will be used for the NCAA wrestling championships later this week.
The Big 12 led the conferences with seven teams: Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Baylor, Colorado, Missouri and Texas. The SEC and ACC each got six teams in the tournament, while the Big East and Big Ten have five apiece.
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