NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 2017: Full Bracket and Championship Pick

The bracket for the 2017 NCAA women's basketball tournament was released Monday, and there is one question that looms over the entire field: Can anyone beat the Connecticut Huskies?

While March Madness on the men's side is defined by bracket-busting upsets, the women's game has developed into a one-team show. Connecticut has won the past four national championships and six of the last eight, all with Geno Auriemma leading the way as one of the most accomplished coaches in sports history.

The Huskies went a perfect 32-0 this season and haven't lost since an overtime clash with Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014. Their 66-55 victory over South Carolina on Feb. 13 marked their 100th straight victory.

Connecticut and the rest of the nation now has the roadmap to a title with Monday's bracket release, but it looks more like step-by-step directions for the unstoppable Huskies machine. With that in mind, here is a look at the full bracket, as well as a national-title pick.

Bracket and Seeds

Seed	Bridgeport Region	Lexington Region	Oklahoma City Region	Stockton Region
1	Connecticut	Notre Dame	Baylor	South Carolina
2	Duke	Stanford	Mississippi State	Oregon State
3	Maryland	Texas	Washington	Florida State
4	UCLA	Kentucky	Louisville	Miami
5	Texas A&M	Ohio State	Tennessee	Marquette
6	West Virginia	North Carolina State	Oklahoma	Missouri
7	Temple	Kansas State	DePaul	Creighton
8	Syracuse	Green Bay	LSU	Arizona State
9	Iowa State	Purdue	California	Michigan State
10	Oregon	Drake	Northern Iowa	Toledo
11	Elon	Auburn	Gonzaga	South Florida
12	Pennsylvania	Western Kentucky	Dayton	Quinnipiac
13	Boise State	Belmont	Chattanooga	Florida Gulf Coast
14	Bucknell	Central Arkansas	Montana State	Western Illinois
15	Hampton	New Mexico State	Troy	Long Beach State
16	Albany	Robert Morris	Texas Southern	UNC Asheville

A full bracket can be found on ESPN.com.

National Championship Pick: Connecticut Huskies

There will be no bold predictions here—Connecticut is the best team and will play accordingly during the tournament, capturing its fifth national title in the process.

The Huskies are not only more talented than everyone else, they are battle tested after playing a daunting schedule this season. They squared off with South Carolina, Florida State, Baylor, DePaul, Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Maryland, South Florida and Temple, and prevailed against all of them.

In fact, Connecticut won every game but three by double digits, and those three single-digit affairs came on the road against Florida State, Maryland and Tulane. It won't step into any hostile environments during the NCAA tournament.

What's more, this is a program that receives the opponent's best shot on a nightly basis, so the magnified importance of every possession will not be a new phenomenon as it is for some teams in March.

The Huskies also have Auriemma on the sidelines, and he won't be intimidated by the bright lights.

Howard Megdal of CBS Sports noted he has 23 regular-season conference championships, 11 national championships, a 90-game winning streak and the current 107-game winning streak on his impeccable resume.

That is how to earn the respect of NBA legends such as Kobe Bryant:

Someone as accomplished as Auriemma grasps the importance of these tournament games and understands how to prepare his team. He explained how they overshadow everything else in the sport, per Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant.

"March comes around and everybody goes, 'You know, you were the best team in the country,'" Auriemma said. "And you stand up and you feel pretty good about yourself. … And then they say, well now we're going to give you three weekends to prove it. What about the last five months? They don't mean a thing."

It is now time for him to help shape the legacies of his current group under that pressure after losing leaders Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck from last season's team.

Jessica Hill/Associated Press

One way the Huskies will do that is by continuing to employ a balanced offensive attack that makes it nearly impossible for opponents to lock in on one player. According to the team's official website, Katie Lou Samuelson (21.0), Napheesa Collier (20.2), Gabby Williams (13.2) and Kia Nurse (12.2) all average double-digit scoring totals per game.

Samuelson, Collier and Nurse all shoot better than 40 percent from three-point range and can take advantage of openings when opponents collapse elsewhere.

Collier (8.9 rebounds per game) and Williams (8.4 rebounds per game) control the boards as well, which gives the team additional opportunities to unleash that lethal offense.

This is a group that has already beaten the best teams the sport has to offer. It also doesn't rely on one single player to score or rebound—meaning it can afford an off night from someone in this single-elimination tournament—and has arguably the best coach in men's or women's college basketball history leading the way.

That is a formula for another championship.