NCAA women's basketball heavy hitters are storming the court on Friday, as top seeds enter conference tournament quarterfinals after two jam-packed days of Power Four action.
A few Big Ten underdogs are still alive, with No. 11-seed Oregon taking down No. 6 Maryland while No. 10 Illinois narrowly upset No. 7 Michigan State in Thursday's second round.
The SEC also saw some surprises on Thursday, as No. 9 Kentucky ousted No. 8 Georgia and No. 11 Alabama sent No. 6 Tennessee packing.
Three Big 12 lower seeds also punched quarterfinals tickets on Thursday, with No. 10-seed Arizona State upsetting No. 7 Iowa State, No. 9 BYU scoring a big win over No. 8 Utah, and No. 12 Kansas State continuing their historic tournament run by ousting No. 5 Texas Tech in the second round.
All eyes now turn to the season's national contenders, namely SEC titans No. 1 seed South Carolina, No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 3 Texas, and No. 4 LSU.
The Longhorns received an early nod for the NCAA tournament's fourth No. 1 seed, but that spot could shift depending on the weekend's results.
Projected No. 1 seed UCLA will also manage expectations, as the Bruins look to put a bow on a perfect 2025/26 Big Ten run.
How to watch Power Four women's basketball quarterfinals
The ACC will tip off Friday's Power Four quarterfinals when No. 1-seed Duke takes on No. 9 Clemson at 11 AM ET, airing live on ESPN2.
The SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten will follow suit at 12 PM ET, tipping off their matchups on ESPN, ESPNU, and BTN, respectively.
Champ Week tipped off with a bang on Wednesday, as college women's basketball teams seeking NCAA bracket boosts fought for survival in this week's conference tournaments.
Top Power Four seeds mainly held fast through Wednesday's first round, with only SEC No. 10-seed Texas A&M and Big Ten No. 12-seed Nebraska suffering upset losses.
"If we could keep the game under 60, we've got a good chance to win, and we were able to do that today," No. 15-seed Auburn head coach Larry Vickers said following the Tigers' 50-49 win over the Aggies.
Elsewhere, one team made history despite the chalk, as No. 12-seed Kansas State dropped 17 three-pointers on No. 13-seed Cincinnati to break the Big 12 tournament record.
The Wildcats shot 53.1% from behind the arc in the 91-66 win, led by freshman guard Jordan Speiser (6-of-8), junior forward Nastja Claessens (5-of-7), and junior guard Taryn Sides (5-of-11) — also tying the program's single-game three-point record in the process.
"I don’t even know what to think," Speiser said of the record. "Just the energy that we all gave each other, that really helped go into the way I played today."
How to watch Power Four teams as Champ Week continues
The Power Four conference tournaments will tip off their second-round action on Thursday, with the ACC, Big 12, and SEC starting at 11 AM ET while the Big Ten hits the court at 12 PM ET.
Thursday's full slate of games will air live across ACCN, ESPN+, SECN, and BTN.
Just one week into the 2026 NCAA season, UCLA women's gymnastics is the nation's No. 1 team for the first time since 2018, with senior Jordan Chiles — a two-time Olympic medalist in her final year of collegiate competition — leading the charge.
"It is really easy to be at the end of your career thinking, 'Okay, I am good with where I am at,' but they do not have that mentality," Bruins head coach Janelle McDonald said of her senior-heavy squad.
Winning the all-around in UCLA's January 3rd opening meet, Chiles is the current all-around No. 1, while also topping the rankings in the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor events, while sitting second in the vault.
"I've got the cutesy, I've done the hip hop," Chiles said of her updated senior floor routine. "This is more like the passionate, confident last year of being a Bruin."
Notably, Chiles and UCLA have a leg up in the scores-based national gymnastics rankings considering they began their 2026 NCAA campaign before most other top programs: Only 14 Division I squads — 10 from the Power Four conferences — have started their seasons so far.
This allowed the Bruins to lead the ranks before the rest of the field could earn any points to challenge UCLA's top spot — though that will change this weekend when the majority of the NCAA's gymnastics squads enter the fray.
Pitting some of the NCAA's best squads against each other, the annual Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad will officially kick off the 2026 season in style this weekend, welcoming 2025 champions Oklahoma, finalists UCLA and Utah, semifinalists LSU and Michigan State, and regional contenders Cal, Kentucky, and Michigan across two four-team sessions on Saturday.
How to watch UCLA at the 2026 Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad
The Bruins will aim to keep their No. 1 spot in the first session of Saturday's the 2026 Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, where UCLA will battle Oklahoma, Utah, and LSU at 4 PM ET on ABC.
The second session will begin at 8 PM ET, when Michigan State, Cal, Kentucky, and Michigan will compete head-to-head, airing live on ESPN2.
The first two rounds of the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament saw a lot of chalk last week, as the four No. 1-seeds — Nebraska, Texas, Pitt, and Kentucky — all rolled to spots in this week's Sweet Sixteen.
The Longhorns ousted reigning national champion No. 8-seed Penn State with a second-round sweep last Saturday, while Kentucky became the only top seed to drop a single set through the first two matches when the Wildcats defeated No. UCLA 3-1 on Friday.
"I think what I liked is the concentration throughout the entire match. There were no letdowns," said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott following his team's win over the Nittany Lions. "There's so many good teams right now. The sport continues to grow and continues to be dominant. I told them we don't need to play perfect, but we need to be good enough to win each night, and so that's what we did."
Along with the No. 1 squads, nearly every Top-4 seed advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, with the only Cinderella story coming from the unseeded Cal Poly Mustangs.
The 2025 Big West champions stunned their Power Four opponents last week, taking down No. 5-seed BYU and No. 4-seed USC in five-set thrillers to book a third-round matchup against No. 1 Kentucky — the Mustangs' first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2007 and second since the 1980s.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this week
The 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament resumes when No. 2-seed Arizona State and No. 3-seed Creighton face off in the first of the two-day Sweet Sixteen slate at 1 PM ET on Thursday, with the Elite Eight then set to compete in the Regional finals on Saturday and Sunday.
All games in the Regional finales of the 2025 Division I tournament will air live on either ESPN2 or ESPN.
The SEC displayed its basketball dominance on Thursday's courts, as the conference won all four of the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge Day 2 matchups to feature at least one Top 25 team.
No. 2 Texas handled No. 11 North Carolina 79-64 while No. 3 South Carolina and No. 13 Ole Miss survived nail-biters against No. 22 Louisville and No. 18 Notre Dame, respectively.
"I thought [our players] got out and made big plays for themselves in the fourth and building the five-point lead," said South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. "It was a turning point for us, whether we were going to succumb to losing the game or fight to get back in it."
No one had a better night than No. 5 LSU, however, as the Tigers faced their season's first Power Four opponent to a 93-77 result over unranked Duke, erasing a 14-point deficit behind six double-digit LSU scorers — led by 18 points from star guard Flau'jae Johnson.
"We scored 93 tonight, and look how poor we played in the first quarter. We were behind. Scoring the ball is not going to be a problem," said Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey. "Our problem is we have to just continue to get better on the defensive end and take care of the ball."
Across the 16 total 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge games, the SEC took 13 victories, with only unranked Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and SMU earning ACC wins — over Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas, respectively — this week.
How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball this weekend
This weekend's NCAA docket sees the nonconference schedule cool down, with No. 16 USC hosting No. 21 Washington in the only ranked battle.
The Trojans and Huskies will tip off in LA at 8 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on the Big Ten Network.
The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is heating up, with a pair of Top 10 matchups headlining the first annual ACC-SEC "Showdown at the Net" event on Wednesday.
Recent conference realignment has seen the SEC and ACC emerge as volleyball strongholds alongside the Big Ten, with the two Power Four rivals laying claim to seven of the current Top 10 teams.
Putting their reputations to the test, the conferences launched the two-day "Showdown at the Net" series this season, with 14 SEC vs. ACC games taking place at campuses nationwide while the four top contenders face off in the event's two-game spotlight showcase in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Wednesday doubleheader will first pair the SEC's No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats against the ACC's No. 7 Pitt Panthers before their respective conference standouts take the court as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals.
The battle between the Longhorns and Cardinals — a rematch of the 2022 national championship game — will be particularly tense, as both squads enter the match without a single loss on the young 2025 season.
How to watch "Showdown at the Net" NCAA volleyball tournament
No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Pitt will kick off Wednesday's top-tier college volleyball clashes at 6:30 PM ET before No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville square off at 9 PM ET.
Both games will air live on ESPN.
While NCAA basketball's Power Four conference tournaments wrapped up on Sunday, teams from mid-major Division I leagues are still battling for invites to the Big Dance, where they'll aim to upset top March Madness contenders.
Already harnessing upset momentum is former Pac-12 squad Oregon State, who won the West Coast Conference (WCC) tournament as the No. 4 seed on Tuesday.
After conference realignment saw most of the starters from last season's Elite Eight team transfer to Power Four programs, Oregon State finished the 2024/25 regular-season at 16-15 (12-8 in WCC play).
This week, however, the Beavers found another gear, tearing through their tournament and upsetting the two WCC regular-season co-champions along the way.
Oregon State paves a path to NCAA tournament underdog
First, Oregon State narrowly defeated top-seeded Gonzaga 63-61 in Monday's semifinals, before beating back-to-back defending champion No. 2-seed Portland 59-46 in Tuesday's tournament finale — only the fourth loss suffered by the Pilots all season.
Oregon State's unlikely March Madness bid is the program's 13th overall, and the ninth in the NCAA tournament's last 11 editions.
"I'm just so happy and so proud of this team," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "For this group to cover the ground that they did this year, from day one until now, is absolutely remarkable. It's one of the most special things I've been a part of."
The Beavers’ surge, however, holds consequences for both Portland and Gonzaga, whose slim chances of making Sunday's bracket now rest with the NCAA selection committee.
While Portland is a more recent contender on the national stage, Gonzaga hasn't missed an NCAA tournament since 2016, with the Bulldogs appearing in all but two brackets since their 2007 March Madness debut.
NCAA underdogs looks to spur chaos in March Madness
Should they make the cut, at-large underdogs Portland and Gonzaga would join Oregon State and other smaller conference champions in trying to bust brackets by upsetting top contenders in the first few rounds of the NCAA's competition.
Other mid-major standouts are already considered likely members of the 68-team national pool, with current projections listing Fairfield University (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) and new No. 24-ranked South Dakota State (Summit League) claiming seeds as high as No. 9.
Projections also show that the Ivy League is on the precipice of sending a full trio of upset-hungry teams to the NCAA tournament.
While regular-season champion Columbia is expected to claim a national No. 11 seed after Saturday's conference tournament final, strong seasons from both Princeton and Harvard have the pair currently snagging one of the final four at-large bracket spots.
Atlantic 10 tournament victors George Mason could also pose a threat to Power Four contenders, with the Patriots clinching their first-ever NCAA tournament berth on Sunday despite ceding the regular-season conference title to Richmond.
Though it’s not always wise to bet against heavyweights in the NCAA tournament's opening rounds, emerging college basketball underdogs are embracing the spotlight — and welcoming the opportunity to shake things up after Selection Sunday.