VILLANOVA, Pa.—For the third time in the history of Villanova women's basketball the Wildcats have been selected as a host for the NCAA Championship. The field of 68 teams for the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship was announced live on ESPN on Sunday night and Villanova (28-6) earned the #4 seed in the Greenville 2 regional bracket. As one of the top 16 overall teams in the tournament the Wildcats will host first and second round games on Saturday, March 18 and Monday, March 20.
 
The first round matchup for Villanova will be against #13 seed Cleveland State (30-4) on Saturday, March 18. First round game times will be announced later on Sunday night. The winner of the Villanova-Cleveland State game will advance to the second round against the winner of a first round contest between #5 seed Washington State (23-10) and #12 seed Florida Gulf Coast (32-3). Villanova has never played any of the other three teams in its mini-bracket for the first and second rounds.
 
This is the 13^th appearance in the NCAA Championship overall and the second in as many years for the Wildcats, who are 28-6 on the season and currently have their highest-ever ranking (No. 10) in the Associated Press Top 25. Villanova has an NCAA Women's Basketball NET ranking of 12 and was the #2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship where it advanced to the championship game for the second straight year. The six losses for the Wildcats are the team's fewest entering the NCAA Championship since the 2004 squad was 22-6.
 
"We talked about it after our last game of the regular season and we were determined to make sure that wasn't our last game on our court," third-year Villanova head coach Denise Dillon said. "Last year we were sitting in here waiting to see our name called and, this year, aware we were in and just not knowing where we were going to be seeded. We are in a great position and we are extremely excited."
 
In the leadup to Sunday's bracket reveal Villanova was included among the top 16 teams by the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee in both regular season rankings reveals on February 9 and February 23. More recently, projections for the NCAA field of 68 consistently had the Wildcats as a top-four seed in advance of Sunday's night's selection show.
 
Villanova's body of work this season includes a 17-3 record in regular season BIG EAST play and two more wins in the BIG EAST Championship over the #7 seed (DePaul) and the #3 seed (Creighton) along the way to facing top-seeded Connecticut in the championship game. During the year the Wildcats have four separate winning streaks of at least five games, including a 5-0 start to the year and nine consecutive wins in December and January with eight of the victories coming against BIG EAST foes. Villanova has tallied 17 of its 28 victories on the year at road and neutral sites while also going 11-2 in home games at Finneran Pavilion.
 
This year's NCAA Championship draw is seven seeds higher than the Wildcats were last season when they were a #11 seed and defeated #6 seed BYU in the opening round before giving third-seeded Michigan all it could handle on the Wolverines home court in the second round. Villanova is 9-12 all-time in the NCAA Championship and has advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 2003. This year's #4 seed is the second-highest ever for the Wildcats, who were a #2 seed in 2003. Villanova previously hosted NCAA Tournament games in 1987 and 1988.
 
Villanova is led by two-time BIG EAST Player of the Year Maddy Siegrist who is the leading scorer in Division I this season with an average of 28.9 points per game. Siegrist is a two-time USBWA All-American and a finalist for this year's Katrina McClain Award honoring the top power forward in women's college basketball, a semifinalist for the 2023 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year and a member of the Watch List for the 2023 Wooden Award and Wade Trophy.
 
A veteran and experienced Wildcats roster has used the same starting lineup in all 34 games this season, including Siegrist along with senior guard Brooke Mullin, junior guard Maddie Burke, sophomore forward Christina Dalce and sophomore guard Lucy Olsen. Siegrist was named the BIG EAST Player of the Year and a first team All-BIG EAST honoree, while Olsen was selected to the All-BIG EAST second team.