2009 NCAA Women's Tournament Preview, Bracket, and Seeds

The 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament starts later on in the week. Even though this tournament tends to get overshadowed by the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, there is still a great amount of exciting basketball to be played amongst these female athletes.

UConn is 33-0, completely undefeated on the season. They are coached by the famous head coach Geno Auriemma, one of the most well-known and liked women's college basketball coaches in the entire country.

One of the things that stands out most about UConn's unprecedented success is their dominance in the 2009 Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. They played three games against South Florida, Villanova, and Louisville, and none of those three teams came anywhere close. The Huskies currently hold all 31 first place votes in the latest NCAA Women's Basketball poll.

Even though it is pretty clear that the UConn women have the upper hand in this year's tournament, that does not mean that any of the other teams should be counted out.

The Stanford Cardinal have the best team on the West Coast, finishing with a 17-1 Pac-10 record and a 29-4 overall record. Out-of-conference, the Cardinal had losses to the Duke Blue Devils and the Tennessee Volunteers. They should have a great run in the tournament in 2009.

The Maryland Terrapins are the top seed in the Raleigh Region. They are currently third in the rankings, with a 12-2 ACC record. Their overall record was 28-4. Like Stanford, the Terrapins lost to the Duke Blue Devils. They also lost a disappointing game to a mid-pack Virginia team.

The Oklahoma Sooners should also be a major player in the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. Despite losing a heartbreaker in the final game of the Big-12 Conference Tournament, this is an incredibly talented squad led by experienced center Courtney Paris. She is one of the most recognizable college basketball athletes, and if she can maintain a high level of play and output, the Sooners have a chance to win it all.

ESPN took charge of the selection show on Selection Monday for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, and they did a great job at previewing this exciting tournament.

Here are the seeds for the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, as announced Monday on ESPN.

Raleigh Region

1. Maryland

2. Baylor

3. Louisville

4. Vanderbilt

5. Kansas State

6. LSU

7. South Dakota State

8. Villanova

9. Utah

10. TCU

11. Green Bay

12. Drexel

13. Western Carolina

14. Liberty

15. Texas-San Antonio

16. Dartmouth

Oklahoma City Region

1. Oklahoma

2. Auburn

3. North Carolina

4. Pittsburgh

5. Xavier

6. Purdue

7. Rutgers

8. Iowa

9. Georgia Tech

10. Virginia Commonwealth

11. Charlotte

12. Gonzaga

13. Montana

14. Central Florida

15. Lehigh

16. Prairie View

Berkeley Region

1. Duke

2. Stanford

3. Ohio State

4. Iowa State

5. Tennessee

6. Texas

7. DePaul

8. Middle Tennessee

9. Michigan State

10. San Diego State

11. Mississippi State

12. Ball State

13. East Tennessee State

14. Sacred Heart

15. UC Santa Barbara

16. Austin Peay

Trenton Region

1. Connecticut

2. Texas A&M

3. Florida State

4. California

5. Virginia

6. Arizona State

7. Notre Dame

8. Florida

9. Temple

10. Minnesota

11. Georgia

12. Marist

13. Fresno State

14. North Carolina A&T

15. Evansville

16. Vermont