UConn coach Geno Auriemma criticized Women's March Madness scheduling on Saturday, laying into the NCAA basketball tournament's organizers after the Huskies' 63-42 Sweet 16 win over UNC.
The legendary manager complained about poor 3-point shooting across all Friday games, citing specific statistics to reporters.
"4-for-20, 4-for-22, 1-for-17, 5-for-18, 4-for-16, 7-for-26. That's the 3-point shooting across the country," Auriemma said.
The numbers included Sweet 16 contenders UConn, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and Duke — teams that normally shoot over 30% from three.
Auriemma then targeted the NCAA basketball tournament's practice and media scheduling. UConn held a shoot-around at approximately 6 AM the previous day. They subsequently conducted Women's March Madness media availability, before starting practice at 6:30 PM later that day. Notre Dame faced similar circumstances with a 5:30 PM practice.
"What did you have to ask them this morning that you didn't ask them last night?" Auriemma asked reporters.
"You know what time our practice time is? 6:30 tonight. So we had to get our kids up, come over here — you already knew who we were playing last night. But we can't get on the court, and neither can the others."
The defending NCAA champion manager went on to question why teams lack input on Women's March Madness scheduling decisions.
"Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, 'Hey, does this work? Do you guys do this during the regular season?'" he said.
He also criticized regional placement and quality concerns. "There's just no concept of how the game is played," Auriemma said of the NCAA's organizing committee.
"What are we doing here about how the tournament's games' quality should measure up to the tournament's sold-out crowds, and the NCAA not putting tournament regional play in the northeast where UConn is located?" he continued.
UConn is chasing its NCAA-record 13th national title, with the championship game taking place April 5th in Phoenix.
Star guards are stepping into the March Madness spotlight, as Hannah Hidalgo and her No. 6 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish open the Sweet 16 against Mikayla Blakes and the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday afternoon.
Naismith Player of the Year finalist and Division I leading scorer Blakes anchors the Commodores, as they attempt to hold off Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner and DI steals leader Hidalgo.
Blakes is averaging 27.5 points per game in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, while Hidalgo powered Notre Dame past No. 3 Ohio State with a 26-point, 13-rebound, and eight-steal performance on Monday.
Both teams are pushing for program turnarounds: Vanderbilt is pursuing their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2002 while Notre Dame is hoping to make it past the Sweet 16 for the first time since winning it all under legendary coach Muffet McGraw in 2019.
"You prepare in November, December, January, so you don't have to get ready," said Commodores head coach Shea Ralph. "You don't have to rise to the level of the occasion, because you're gonna fall to the level of your standard."
The sportsbooks are currently giving Vanderbilt a slight edge, tapping the Commodores as a 5.5-point favorite over the Irish.
How to watch Notre Dame vs. Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16
The Sweet 16 tips off with the No. 6 Irish taking on the No. 2 Commodores at 2:30 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage airing on ESPN.
After a weekend that was nearly all chalk, March Madness lived up to its name on Monday, as two major upsets in the 2025/26 NCAA women's basketball tournament saw some Cinderella stirrings en route to next weekend's Sweet 16.
First, No. 10 seed Virginia made tournament history, becoming the first-ever women's team to advance from the First Four to the third round when they took down No. 2 Iowa 83-75 on Monday.
Fueling the Cavaliers' double overtime victory was junior guard Kymora Johnson, who led the game with 28 points to push UVA to its first Sweet 16 since 2000.
"We just believed that we were going to win this game before it even started," said Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. "Every time they punched, we punched back, stayed poised."
Elsewhere, Monday's elite guard showdown also delivered, as No. 6 Notre Dame ousted No. 3 Ohio State 83-73 behind Irish junior Hannah Hidalgo's 26 points, 13 rebounds, and eight steals.
"We have really fought through the adversity this season, and really the last several weeks have become more tough," said Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey after her squad forced 21 turnovers to overcome Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge's 41-point performance.
"I don't ever really know my stats," Hidalgo said postgame. "I'm just out there hooping."
How to watch Virginia, Notre Dame in the March Madness Sweet 16
The Madness returns this weekend, with No. 6 Notre Dame tipping off the Sweet 16 against No. 2 Vanderbilt at 2:30 PM ET on Friday before No. 10 Virginia faces No. 3 TCU at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday.
Both clashes will air live on ESPN.
Monday's March Madness lineup promises a heated battle, as No. 6 seed Notre Dame and No. 3 Ohio State put their AP All-Americans to the test in the second round of the 2025/26 NCAA women's basketball tournament.
Two dynamic point guards will meet in Columbus, where junior standout Hannah Hidalgo will look to help lift the Fighting Irish to an upset win over the Buckeyes and their sophomore star Jaloni Cambridge.
Hidalgo enters the game leading all of Division I in steals and ranking third in scoring with 25.2 points a game — followed closely by No. 8-ranked Cambridge's 22.7 points per game.
Lower-seeded Notre Dame shouldn't be underestimated, however, as the Irish are riding a late-season winning streak to a 10-2 record over their last 12 games.
"It's super exciting, another phenomenal guard like Jaloni, and to be able to go head-to-head with her, it's going to be a fun game," Hidalgo said ahead of Monday's clash. "She's extremely fast."
"She can do everything, especially on the defensive end," Cambridge said of Hidalgo. "She's a two-way player, so I really look up to her."
How to watch Notre Dame vs. Ohio State in March Madness
No. 3 seed Ohio State will host No. 6 Notre Dame in the second round of the 2025/26 NCAA women's basketball tournament on Monday.
The clash will tip off live at 4 PM ET on ESPN.
The 2026 ACC women's basketball tournament is heating up, as lower-seeded teams look to impress the NCAA selection committee with conference fireworks leading up to the Big Dance.
Thursday's second-round winners will advance to face either No. 1-seed Duke, No. 2 Louisville, No. 3 North Carolina, or No. 4 NC State in the ACC quarterfinals on Friday.
"I think in postseason basketball, everyone's more urgent," said Duke head coach Kara Lawson. "As a coach and as a staff, the players are on both sides because it's one-and-done for everybody."
One team counting on a deep conference tournament run is No. 5-seed Notre Dame, who closed out a shaky regular season with an impressive five-game winning streak — including a finale upset win over nationally ranked No. 12 Louisville last Sunday.
Reigning back-to-back ACC Player of the Year and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo leads the charge for the Fighting Irish, with the junior guard averaging 25.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season while setting a program record in career steals.
"She's part of that Notre Dame legacy guards that are different," head coach Niele Ivey told reporters. "Arike [Ogunbowale] was different, Skyler [Diggins], different. Jewell [Loyd] — a list of those guards who just play this game at such an elite level. That's Hannah."
How to watch Notre Dame in the 2026 ACC basketball tournament
Notre Dame will kick off their postseason by taking on No. 12-seed Miami in the second round of the ACC tournament on Thursday.
The Irish and the Hurricanes will tip off at 1:30 PM ET on ACCN.
The ACC saw some fireworks over the weekend, as the conference's two top-ranked basketball squads stumbled in their regular-season finales.
First, 2025/26 ACC regular-season champions No. 12 Duke fell to rival No. 21 North Carolina 74-69 on Sunday, after two Blue Devil starters — forwards Toby Fournier and Delaney Thomas — fouled out of the game.
The No. 10 Louisville Cardinals also struggled in a 65-62 loss to unranked Notre Dame, with star guard Hannah Hidalgo dominating with 30 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals to help continue the Fighting Irish's late-season surge.
With only three ACC teams in the AP Top 25 Poll, Sunday's results indicate a wide-open field heading into this week's conference tournament.
Clemson and Virginia both earned ranked wins just over one week ago, while Notre Dame now enters the postseason on a five-game winning streak.
"We are a team that, no matter what, we're going to get to work the next day," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey told reporters. "The sense of urgency went to an all-time high in February."
How to watch the 2026 ACC women's basketball tournament
While the conference's top seeds — No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Louisville, No. 3 UNC, and No. 4 NC State — earned byes into Friday's quarterfinal round, the 2026 ACC tournament will tip off with teams fighting to extend their seasons at 11 AM ET on Wednesday, airing live on the ACC Network.
The ongoing dominance of UConn basketball has started to break records, as the top-ranked Huskies humbled unranked Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday — keeping their perfect 2025/26 NCAA season intact.
Monday's 38-point margin of victory marked the largest in the teams' 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping the Huskies' three-game head-to-head losing streak against the Fighting Irish.
"UConn showed why they're the best team in the country," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said postgame.
Even more, UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong added her own individual history to Monday's tally, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points, with the 19-year-old trailing only program legends Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers — who each did so in 55 games to Strong's 59 — in the race to reach that stat.
"I would love to see if anybody has scored 1,000 points by taking less shots than she's taking," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "She's so efficient."
"It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Strong said after leading the Huskies with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday night.
How to watch UConn basketball this week
UConn now returns to Big East play, with the No. 1 Huskies taking on unranked Georgetown at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on TNT.
Monday's NCAA basketball action will put two of the nation's top guards to the test, as No. 10 TCU faces No. 14 Ohio State in Newark, New Jersey's Coretta Scott King Classic — part of a stacked MLK Day slate.
Buckeye sophomore Jaloni Cambridge is on a tear in this season, averaging 21.8 points per game — good for No. 10 in the country — and tallying 102 points, 20 rebounds, and 20 assists across Ohio State's last three games.
At the same time, TCU has seen similar stylings from Notre Dame transfer Olivia Miles, with the senior putting up a career-high 19.2 points per game while sitting at No. 9 in the nation behind her 7.3 assists average for the Horned Frogs.
Even more, Miles is lapping her collegiate cohort in triple doubles on the season, posting four of the elite stat-sheet performances while all other NCAA players have a maximum of one.
Both teams are meeting expectations head-on this season, impressing following 2025 NCAA tournament exits that spurred significant offseason roster changes.
Ohio State star forward Cotie McMahon transferred to Ole Miss after the Buckeyes' second-round ousting, while TCU graduated standout starting guard Hailey Van Lith and center Sedona Prince.
With Miles and Cambridge leading the charge, however, both squads are flourishing: TCU faltered just once in their 2025/26 campaign so far — a January 3rd overtime loss to unranked Utah — while Ohio State's two season losses came at the hands of titans No. 1 UConn and No. 3 UCLA.
"Ultimately, [TCU forward] Marta [Suarez] and Miles are two of the best players in college basketball," Horned Frogs head coach Mark Campbell said after Sunday's win over Arizona State. "But for our team to reach our full potential, we need these other players to show great growth. And I think we have."
How to watch TCU vs. Ohio State basketball on Monday
The No. 10 Horned Frogs will take on the No. 14 Buckeyes at 12 PM ET on Monday, airing live on FOX.
No. 1 UConn has aced every test in the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season so far, as No. 23 Notre Dame looks to disrupt the undefeated Huskies' national title defense in Monday's nonconference lineup.
Fresh off a 79-66 ranked loss to No. 9 Louisville on Thursday night, the Irish will lean hard on star guard Hannah Hidalgo on Monday.
The junior is averaging 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists on the season, while Hidalgo's 25.1 points-per-game rate trails only No. 19 Iowa State star Audi Crooks on the NCAA stat sheet.
"It's a long season, and I can't dwell on the loss for too long because my team needs me," Hidalgo said after Thursday's fall to the Cardinals.
On the flip side, UConn is racking up blowout wins, with the team's last single-digit victory dating back to a pre-Thanksgiving 72-69 win over No. 8 Michigan on November 21st.
The Huskies are now riding a 34-game winning streak, fueled by consistent output from sophomore Sarah Strong and senior Azzi Fudd.
"I've been trying to tell the girls that UConn is a different beast," Hidalgo said. "If we think certain teams that we have lost to were tough, then we're going to have a rude awakening [against] UConn."
How to watch Notre Dame vs. UConn women's basketball
The No. 1 Huskies will host the No. 23 Fighting Irish at 5 PM ET on Monday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
NCAA upsets rocked the AP Poll again this week, with significant Top 10 movement as women's basketball underdogs muscle their way up the 2025/26 table.
LSU's Sunday victory over once-unbeaten Texas saw the Longhorns fall two spots to No. 4, while the Tigers returned to the Top 10 to claim No. 6 in a six-spot jump.
No. 7 Kentucky fell one spot after a loss to No. 21 Alabama and a Top-10 win over then-No. 5 Oklahoma, with the Sooners exiting the single-digits in an eight-spot plummet to No. 13 after two losses of their own.
Meanwhile, No. 1 UConn earned unanimous first-place votes after Texas's defeat, with the Huskies joined in the Top 5 by the also-undefeated Vanderbilt Commodores.
Three teams left the AP Poll entirely, as Washington, USC, and North Carolina continue to struggle — with the Trojans snapping a 51-week ranked streak as they strive to find their footing without injured star JuJu Watkins.
No. 19 Iowa State also saw a precipitous eight-rank drop, losing three games in a row as injured starter Addy Brown watched from the bench.
On the flip side, Alabama, No. 23 Notre Dame, and No. 25 Illinois broke back into the Top 25 with Monday's rankings drop.
How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball this week
Though ranked matchups will resume on Thursday, Tuesday night puts one of the three remaining undefeated Division I seasons to the test when No. 17 Texas Tech takes the court against unranked Houston.
The clash tips off live at 7 PM ET on ESPN+.
2025/26 AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 10
1. UConn (17-0, Big East)
2. South Carolina (17-1, SEC)
3. UCLA (15-1, Big Ten)
4. Texas (18-1, SEC)
5. Vanderbilt (17-0, SEC)
6. LSU (16-2, SEC)
7. Kentucky (16-2, SEC)
8. Michigan (14-2, Big Ten)
9. Louisville (16-3, ACC)
10. TCU (16-1, Big 12)
11. Iowa (14-2, Big Ten)
12. Maryland (16-2, Big Ten)
13. Oklahoma (14-3, SEC)
14. Ohio State (15-2, Big Ten)
15. Michigan State (16-1, Big Ten)
16. Ole Miss (16-3, SEC)
17. Texas Tech (18-0, Big 12)
18. Baylor (15-3, Big 12)
19. Iowa State (14-3, Big 12)
20. Tennessee (12-3, SEC)
21. Alabama (17-1, SEC)
22. Princeton (14-1, Ivy)
23. Notre Dame (12-4, ACC)
24. Nebraska (14-3, Big Ten)
25. Illinois (14-3, Big Ten)