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Selection committee releases final projection of top 16 seeds, corresponding regionals

A regional matchup that produced a lot of drama in 2013 but not much last year could happen again in the 2018 NCAA women's basketball tournament.

On Monday, the selection committee released the third and final early reveal of the bracket, based on data through Feb. 18. This time, the committee not only included its projection of the top 16 seeds, but also the regionals the teams -- as of now -- would be placed in.

The Lexington Regional could feature a final of No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 2 Baylor. They met in 2013 in the Sweet 16 when the Lady Bears were the defending national champions, and the Cardinals scored an epic upset. Last year, they met in the regional semifinals again, but Baylor won big, 97-63.

The No. 3 seed in the Lexington Regional is Tennessee, and No. 4 is Ohio State. The Buckeyes, who hope to advance to the Women's Final Four held in their home city of Columbus, Ohio, fell out of the top 16 in the second reveal on Feb. 1, but are back in.

Meanwhile, top-ranked UConn is No. 1 in the Albany Regional, and might face the current defending national champion in the regional final: No. 2 seed South Carolina. Florida State is the 3-seed and Stanford is No. 4.

Mississippi State, the other undefeated team besides UConn, is the No. 1 seed in the Kansas City Regional. Joining the Bulldogs are No. 2 Texas, No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Maryland.

Meanwhile, in the Spokane Regional, there's just one team from the West among the top four: No. 2 seed Oregon. The No. 1 seed is Notre Dame, No. 3 is Missouri and No. 4 is Georgia.

The order of the teams, 1-16 is: No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Mississippi State, No. 3 Louisville, No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 South Carolina, No. 8 Texas, No. 9 Florida State, No. 10 UCLA, No. 11 Missouri, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 14 Maryland, No. 15 Georgia, No. 16 Stanford.

Michigan and Texas A&M fell out of the top 16 teams and were replaced by Missouri and Stanford. The Cardinal won seven straight games, including road victories over Oregon State and Oregon in a three-day span, before the streak ended with a loss at California on Saturday.

"Stanford did sneak in there at 16. They hadn't had them in the mix before," said Rhonda Lundin Bennett, chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee. "I think looking at the way they are playing right now, I think Stanford is one of those situations where you look at their injuries at the beginning of the season and games they lost. What they are doing this second."

All 16 teams would host first- and second-round games in the NCAA Tournament.

"It was even tougher this time than last time," Bennett said. "There are so many moving parts right now, so many moving teams playing well and having a lot of teams that had losses and big wins since we talked last."

The women's basketball selection show is March 12 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.