Stanford earn No. 1 seed, to play Utah Valley to open 2021 Women’s NCAA Tournament

Get ready for the Cardinal’s opener on Sunday.

The Stanford Cardinal are officially a No. 1 seed for the 2021 NCAA Women’s Championship, and they’ll take on Utah Valley to open up their quest for March Madness glory.

Stanford are the top seed in the Alamo region, as the entire women’s basketball tournament will take place in San Antonio, Texas this year. After a year with no NCAA Tournament, all teams, including the Cardinal, will be thrilled to be back in the big dance.

Utah Valley University went 13-6 this season, and are in the NCAA tournament for the first time after getting the WAC’s automatic berth. No, they didn’t win their conference tournament, but the team that did, California Baptist University, is not yet eligible to play postseason basketball as they are moving up to Division I, so Utah Valley got the bid as the 2nd place team in the conference during the regular season, after CBU won the regular season as well.

The Cardinal, who went 25-2 this season, won both the Pac-12 regular season title and the Pac-12 Tournament title. Obviously they are favored to win the opening game, and will be looking to make a deep run.

The Stanford-Utah Valley game will take place Sunday at 7 p.m. PT and will be televised on ESPN. Make your plans now.

Here’s the road in the Alamo bracket if the Cardinal take care of business.