No surprises this time around.

The No. 1 women's basketball team, as expected, earned the top seed in the Eastern Regional in the women's NCAA Tournament, which begins play this week.

Last March Penn State, after winning the Atlantic 10 post-season tournament, was seeded a surprising seventh in the East and had to play No. 10 seed Florida State on its home court because the men's team had scheduled Rec Hall in advance. But this time around, after winning the A-10 title for the sixth time in nine years Saturday, the Lady Lions are the team to beat in the East -- and according to the latest Associated Press poll, in the nation as well.

"It's the position we wanted to be in," forward Susan Robinson said. "We felt pretty good (about getting the top seed in the East) because we had a great regular season. It would have been pretty difficult for them to send us away because we lost only one game, beat Virginia on their home floor and because of our non-conference schedule."

"We're pretty content where we are," guard Tanya Garner said. "We didn't know what the selections was going to bring, but what we've been working for all season has finally come true."

The team boasts the longest winning streak in the nation (18 games) and holds a 29-1 record. It will host a second-round game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Rec Hall against the winner of Wednesday night's game between No. 8 seed James Madison (24-4) and No. 9 seed Kentucky (20-8).

If PSU wins that contest, it will advance to the Regional Finals at the Palestra in Philadelphia on March 21 and 23. The women's Final Four will be in New Orleans on March 30-31.

Apart from Penn State, Virginia is No. 1 in the Midwest, Tennessee is top-seeded in the Mideast and Georgia is tops in the West.

But for the Lady Lions to live up to the seedings, they'll have to go through a competitive Eastern bracket. In their top half of the draw, No. 4 seed Clemson, which knocked Virginia out the top spot last Sunday in the ACC semifinals, plays the Providence-Fairfield winner. In the lower half, No. 2 seed North Carolina State, fresh off its ACC Tournament victory, will play the winner of George Washington at Richmond while No. 3 seed and Big East winner Connecticut will play Rutgers or Toledo.

"We can beat any of the teams in the East, but in the tournament anything can happen," Robinson said. "Who would have thought that last year Virginia would beat Tennessee in the Eastern Regional Final? It's something we have to remember and that should (last year's result) remind us."

From the A-10, Rutgers (23-6) and the George Washington (22-6) qualified despite being upset by St. Joseph's in the A-10 semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively. With those wins and an 18-12 record, the Hawks felt they were deserving of making it into the 48-team field.

"The last two teams we've beaten have been Top 25 teams -- right now, it's hard to say there are 48 teams better than us," St. Joe's coach Jim Foster said after Friday's 72-61 win over the Lady Knights.

Southern California (17-11), Vanderbilt (17-11), Appalachian State (19-13) and Maryland (17-12) all made the field with records similar to St. Joe's.

In the Big Ten, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa and Northwestern made the tournament, one entry shy of last year's record five entries.