On the women’s side of college basketball, the NCAA releases its prospective seeding lists, as if the current season had ended that day, every week or two near the start of the postseason tournaments.
Iowa State was unveiled as a No. 10 overall seed – a No. 3 seed in their respective region – in the first release, along with No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 UConn, and No. 12 LSU.
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds were revealed in order as South Carolina, Stanford, NC State and Tennessee for the top four spots and Louisville, Indiana, Texas and Arizona in the 5-8 line.
The No. 4 seeds included Baylor, Oregon, Georgia and Kansas State – giving the Big 12 four of the top 16 overall seeds thus far.
This reason for the releases comes because the top 16 overall seeds in March Madness will host the opening round and second round games at their home arenas, with the team that wins two games on the weekend qualifying for the Sweet 16.
Iowa State has hosted one of such events since the NCAA made the switch to having 1-4 seeds hold the first two rounds. In that weekend, the team took down New Mexico State in Game 1, but was upset by Missouri State in the round of the 32 to end the 2018-19 season.
In the ensuing year, the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 and last season, it was held in a bubble format in San Antonio.
If Iowa State (currently 17-3 overall and a Big 12 best 6-2 in conference play) remains as a top four seed through the end of the year, it will host a first round games on either March 18 or 19 and the second round on either March 20 or 21.
The Cyclones next game will mark the halfway point in conference play, coming at Texas Tech on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
