Huskies women will find out Monday what their seed is for the NCAA tournament

Between bites of Mike Neighbors’ chicken spaghetti the other night at his Mercer Island home, the Huskies exchanged ideas during a team dinner about where they will start the NCAA women’s basketball tournament that begins this week.

“I’ve got it narrowed down to eight teams that we could potentially play,” the UW coach said. “Lots of people have different opinions about what they’re going to do with us. In a way that’s been hard because we’ve been practicing this week without knowing who we’re playing.”

The Huskies know they will be invited to the Big Dance for a third straight year when the NCAA selection committee unveils the 64-team bracket at 4 p.m. Monday on ESPN.

They’re also convinced the NCAA tourney is returning to Alaska Airlines Arena for the first time since 1995 when UW hosted first- and second-round games.

But just about everything else — what seed, what opponent, what region — is a mystery for just a little while longer.

The Huskies will gather to watch the show, celebrate for maybe a minute or two, Neighbors admitted, before heading out to practice and continuing preparations for making another run at the Final Four.

“Monday is going to be fun,” Neighbors said. “Monday is one of the best days in a women’s basketball player’s experience. It’s that anticipation of sitting there waiting to see your name.

“It’s a little bit more fun when you’ve got a pretty good feeling you’re going to be there and you’re not anticipating whether you’re there or you’re not. It is a really, really fun day.”

At 27-5, Washington is one of the contenders to advance to the Final Four in Dallas and potentially prevent powerhouse Connecticut, which has a 107-game winning streak, from winning a fifth straight national title.

Despite a 70-69 upset defeat to Oregon in the Pac-12 quarterfinals, the Huskies’ RPI is 10th nationally and their strength of schedule is 26th, according to RealTimeRPI.com.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme projects Washington will be slotted the No. 3 seed and will host No. 14 Montana State, the Big Sky tournament champion, in the Lexington, Ky., regional that includes No. 1 seed Notre Dame and No. 2 Maryland.

A mock tournament projection from RealTimeRPI.com has the Huskies as the No. 2 seed in a region that includes Connecticut.

Meanwhile, CollegeSportsMadness.com projects UW will capture the No. 4 seed.

“It is a little antsy, but we all have finals that we’re studying for and that’s kind of more important because we’ve got to take care of school,” said senior center Chantel Osahor, a political science major who spent the weekend more concerned about a final Monday morning than the NCAA tournament.

Expectations have grown incrementally for Washington.

“The first year was like are we going to get in?” Osahor said. “Last year, it was like let’s see what seed we are? And this year it’s more like who’s on our side of the bracket type of deal because we’re pretty set on that we’re going to host.

“It’s just whose going to be on our side and that’s what we’re preparing for — all of the different options.”

A year ago, the Huskies were the No. 5 seed and won four games, including three upsets against higher-seeded teams before falling 80-59 in the Final Four.

In 2015, then-No. 6 seed UW lost 86-80 in the NCAA tournament first round.

Neighbors believes Washington will secure a No. 3 seed, which would be the highest seed for the Huskies since they were No. 3 in 1995.

The top four seeds also host the first and second rounds, which is important considering the 16 teams that hosted the opening-round games last year were 29-1 and 15 advanced to the Sweet 16.

Maryland was the only exception and the Terrapins lost to Washington.

“We’ve been on the side when we came into this tournament with everything to gain and nothing to lose so we know what that’s like,” Neighbors said. “This is a little different this time. The number next our name is going to be a little higher.

“We won’t have to deal with travel that first week. We’ll get to sleep in our beds a little longer and we’ll get at least one game here in front of our fans and they’ve been incredibly supportive. So that’s great.”

Neighbors expects the Huskies’ tournament experience will help them this year.

“It’s starting to feel familiar again and that’s a good thing,” he said. “March is all about matchups so I’m anxious to see who we’re going to play and who’s on our side of the bracket. Just about everything else, I’m fine with one way or the other.

“Like I said, I’ve filled out my own little mock draft and some years, we’ve nailed that thing within 1-2 teams. But you don’t know for sure until it all comes out.”