Selection Sunday arrives this weekend, with the top performers in Division I women's basketball preparing to learn their 2026 NCAA tournament fates.
A full 31 teams will breathe easier knowing their conference tournament titles secured automatic spots in this year's March Madness, including mid-major standouts like South Dakota State, Samford, Colorado State, and Fairfield.
However, the rest of the NCAA's best will be hoping their 2025/26 campaigns impressed the selection committee enough to earn one of the 37 at-large bids — a field typically overwhelmingly populated by Power Four titans.
All teams — automatic qualifiers and potential at-large selectees alike — will lock into Sunday's broadcast, as the 68-team bracket will reveal each squad's path to the national championship.
Following their perfect 2025/26 season, defending champ No. 1-ranked UConn is all-but-guaranteed to take the bracket's No. 1 overall seed, with one-loss No. 2 UCLA also gunning for top-seeded entry after running the table in the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, SEC tournament title game opponents No. 3 Texas and No. 4 South Carolina will likely take the national competition's final two No. 1 seeds, with No. 5 LSU and No. 6 Vanderbilt on the outside looking in after clunky conference tournament runs.
All top prospects are aiming to break into the Top 16 on Sunday, as that elite tier of teams will have home-court advantage in the first two full-tournament rounds, serving as hosts for opening weekend once next week's First Four games are in the books.
How to watch the NCAA women's basketball's Selection Sunday
The full 68-team 2026 March Madness bracket will drop at 8 PM ET this Sunday, live on ESPN.
Conference tournaments rocked Monday's AP women's basketball poll update, as underdogs making a final push for NCAA seeding sparred with Top 25 titans ahead of this weekend's Selection Sunday.
No. 2 UCLA is closing in on newly crowned Big East champion UConn's season-long grip on the top spot, with the Bruins earning three first-place votes after blanking No. 7 Iowa to win the Big Ten tournament.
Elsewhere, ACC champion Duke made the biggest gains in a five-spot rise to No. 8, while No. 4 South Carolina, No. 6 Vanderbilt, and No. 10 Oklahoma all saw slight post-SEC tournament skids.
No. 12 West Virginia shot up three spots after upsetting No. 14 TCU to steal Sunday's Big 12 crown, with the Mountaineers building a case for first-round home-court advantage as one of the NCAA tournament's Top 16 seeds.
"We knew the things that were on the line," said Big 12 tournament Most Outstanding Player Jordan Harrison. "That's something that we talked about — we wanted to try to get those two games in Morgantown."
Despite the conference tournament blowouts, Monday's reshuffling proved that March is bound to bring its madness — leaving no team a sure bet.
2025/26 AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 18
1. UConn (33-0, Big East)
2. UCLA (31-1, Big Ten)
3. Texas (31-3, SEC)
4. South Carolina (31-3, SEC)
5. LSU (27-5, SEC)
6. Vanderbilt (27-4, SEC)
7. Iowa (26-6, Big Ten)
8. Duke (24-8, ACC)
9. Michigan (25-6, Big Ten)
10. Oklahoma (24-7, SEC)
11. Ohio State (26-7, Big Ten)
12. West Virginia (27-6, Big 12)
13. Louisville (27-7, ACC)
14. TCU (29-5, Big 12)
15. North Carolina (26-7, ACC)
16. Kentucky (23-10, SEC)
17. Maryland (23-8, Big Ten)
18. Minnesota (22-8, Big Ten)
19. Ole Miss (23-11, SEC)
20. Michigan State (22-8, Big Ten)
21. Baylor (24-8, Big 12)
22. Notre Dame (22-10, ACC)
23. Princeton (24-3, Ivy)
24. Georgia (22-9, SEC)
25. Texas Tech (25-7, Big 12)
UCLA capped a dominant Big Ten run on Sunday, as the No. 2 Bruins thrashed No. 9 Iowa 96-45 to secure back-to-back Big Ten women's basketball tournament titles — and continue a 24-game conference unbeaten streak.
The 51-point win marked the largest margin of victory in Big Ten tournament final history, with guard Gianna Kneepkens's 19 points leading the six UCLA players who reached double-digit scoring in the matchup — including 15 points from tournament MVP Kiki Rice.
"For us to come out the way we did, it means a lot because we're doing it against really good teams," said Bruins head coach Cori Close.
Carrying the fourth-strongest Division I schedule alongside 18 Quad 1 wins, UCLA is making a case for the 2026 NCAA tournament's overall No. 1 seed ahead of Selection Sunday.
That said, the Bruins' toughest competition for that top spot is No. 1 UConn, with the defending national champion Huskies topping the NET rankings without a single loss in 2025/26 NCAA play — albeit in the weaker Big East conference.
"I don't really care," Close said about NCAA seeding. "When you focus on things out of your control, it will adversely affect the things under your control."
What's Next for UCLA Women's Basketball
UCLA will learn their national tournament path when the NCAA committee reveals the 2026 March Madness bracket this weekend.
Live coverage of the Selection Sunday bracket drop will begin at 8 PM ET on ESPN.
The SEC flex its muscles on Sunday, scoring two of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee's second Top 16 rankings of the 2025/26 season — two weeks before Selection Sunday.
Texas edged out Vanderbilt for the last No. 1 spot — despite the Commodores earning a higher SEC tournament seed — joining UConn, UCLA, and South Carolina in the elite mix.
If the lineup holds, it would mark the third time in NCAA history that the No. 1 seeds represent the prior year's Final Four.
The NCAA tournament's Top 4 seeds get to host the first two rounds, raising the late-season stakes with home-court advantage on the line.
To that end, the Big Ten is leading the charge for hosting duties, as the conference landed seven teams in the Top 16, with Iowa and Michigan as projected No. 2 seeds and Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Ohio State claiming all four No. 4-seed spots.
"Like the first reveal, the discussions around these teams made it clear that there is not a lot of separation," said committee chair Amanda Braun. "With so much basketball still to be played, there remains a lot of potential for change."
How to watch the 2026 DI basketball tournament's bracket reveal
The 2026 NCAA women's basketball tournament's Selection Sunday show will air live on ESPN at 8 PM ET on March 15th.
The 2026 NCAA Basketball Committee Rankings
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Texas
5. Vanderbilt
6. Iowa
7. LSU
8. Michigan
9. Louisville
10. Duke
11. TCU
12. Oklahoma
13. Maryland
14. Michigan State
15. Minnesota
16. Ohio State
College softball closed out regular-season play over the weekend, transitioning into a slate of cutthroat conference tournaments ahead of this year's 64-team NCAA Division I tournament.
Starting on Tuesday and running through Saturday, the 31 single-elimination softball conference tournaments will determine the champions who will automatically book their postseason tickets with their trophies.
The NCAA committee will award the remaining 33 bracket spots during this weekend's upcoming Selection Sunday show.
SEC dominance sets up blockbuster conference tournament
Thanks in part to recent conference realignment, the powerhouse SEC appears to have the college softball landscape on lock this year, with this week's tournament likely providing a sneak peek of the national tournament.
With the addition of newcomers No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 5 Texas — and led by current national No. 1 Texas A&M — seven of the Top 10 Division I teams hail from the SEC, including all of the Top 6.
Despite some growing pains — and seven conference losses — the defending champion Sooners will look to again lead the pack as they hunt a fifth straight Women’s College World Series title.
Joining the Sooners, Longhorns, and Aggies in pursuit of the SEC crown — and perhaps the national trophy, as well — are No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Florida, and No. 6 Arkansas.
How to watch the SEC softball conference tournament
With the conference's top teams earning byes through to later rounds, the SEC tournament begins when unranked Georgia takes on unranked Kentucky at 1 PM ET on Tuesday.
Later, No. 21 Ole Miss will battle unranked Missouri at 4 PM ET, before No. 16 Alabama wraps up the SEC's first round against unranked Auburn at 7 PM ET.
All three Tuesday games will air live on the SEC Network.
The 2024/25 NCAA basketball tournament bracket is officially locked in, as Selection Sunday saw March Madness favorites, underdogs, and a few surprises claim their tickets to the Big Dance.
After winning the Big Ten tournament one week prior, UCLA not only earned the NCAA competition's overall top spot, but the Bruins claimed their first-ever No. 1 seed in program history.
Sitting atop the three other quadrants are SEC tournament title-winners and NCAA defending champions South Carolina as well as conference runners-up Texas and USC, giving both the SEC and Big Ten two of the tournament's top contenders.
Chasing the four top teams as No. 2 seeds are Big 12 tournament champs TCU, ACC tournament winners Duke, ACC runners-up NC State, and Big East champions UConn, whose late-season momentum wasn't quite enough to life the Huskies above a second-spot bid.
In a season that saw a record-tying four teams reach No. 1 in the AP Poll, three (UCLA, South Carolina, and Texas) claimed NCAA No. 1 seeds, with once-No. 1 ranked Notre Dame falling out of top-seed contention after losing three of their last five games.
The Irish will now tip off their March Madness campaign as a No. 3 seed alongside 2022/23 NCAA champs LSU, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
Snagging the tournament's last hosting spots are the No. 4 seeds, meaning Ohio State, Kentucky, Baylor, and Maryland will all have home-court advantage through the competition’s first two rounds.
Coaches question NCAA committee's seeding decisions
While some teams were thrilled with their placements, a tinge of disappointment overshadowed other top contenders’ watch parties.
"I never thought I'd be a No. 1 seed and feel disrespected," said USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb after learning the NCAA committee awarded the Trojans the last top seed, ranking them fourth overall.
"It's not an arrogance of any kind, I think that there's a lot of really good teams...but I would love to ask [this committee] some questions."
Head coach Dawn Staley had a similar reaction to South Carolina's positioning, saying "I'm a little bit surprised."
"I'd like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion," said Staley. "We put together, manufactured, a schedule that — if done right — should produce the overall No. 1 seed."
The NCAA committee broke down their determination of the Gamecocks on ESPN, explaining that South Carolina’s head-to-head November loss to UCLA plus last month's 29-point nonconference defeat at the hands of UConn played major roles in the decision.
Despite the disappointment, Gottlieb says her team is ready to take care of business.
"You've gotta play the first game in front of you and earn your way from there, and that's what we'll do."
Big Ten makes NCAA March Madness bracket history
With 12 teams booking spots in the Big Dance, the Big Ten not only earned the season’s most NCAA tournament bids, it also smashed the Division I record for the most programs in a single conference to make a March Madness bracket.
With a conference-record 10 teams, the SEC closely followed the Big Ten, while eight ACC squads and seven Big 12 programs round out the Power Four's 37 total berths.
Also experiencing a record-setting Selection Sunday was the Ivy League, which saw three teams sneak into the competition for the first time in the eight-program conference's history.
After upsetting their way through last weekend's conference competition, Ivy League tournament champions Harvard secured a No. 10 seed on Sunday, while both Columbia and Princeton have a shot at snagging a No. 11 seed as contenders in the NCAA's First Four games.
Dancing for the first time are six teams, with Arkansas State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Grand Canyon, UC San Diego, and William & Mary all set to make their NCAA tournament debuts later this week.
To be the best, teams must beat the best, and the talent concentrated at the top of the NCAA bracket — regardless of seeding — is guaranteed to make for some tough competition.
How to watch the First Four March Madness games
While the the official first round of the 2024/25 NCAA basketball tournament doesn't begin until Friday, the March Madness action will tip off with the First Four round on Wednesday, when eight teams will battle for the final four spots in the 64-team bracket.
Stepping into Wednesday's spotlight are Princeton and Iowa State, who will take the court at 7 PM ET before UC San Diego takes on Southern at 9 PM ET.
Then on Thursday, Washington will face Columbia at 7 PM ET, with William & Mary's match against High Point wrapping up the First Four round at 9 PM ET.
The Huskies' Thursday clash with the Lions will air live on ESPN2, with the other three First Four games earning live coverage on ESPNU.
Print complete NCAA Women's March Madness bracket
As the 2024/25 NCAA basketball Selection Sunday looms, the Ivy League is tipping off its two-day conference tournament on Friday, with an automatic ticket to March Madness on the line in Saturday's championship game.
Compared to behemoths like the 18-team ACC and Big Ten, the small eight-school conference sent two squads to 2024 NCAA tournament, where Columbia fell in the First Four before West Virginia defeated Princeton in the first round.
This year, Ivy League No. 1-seed Columbia took the conference's outright regular-season title with a 13-1 league record, while the No. 2-seed Princeton Tigers and No. 3-seed Harvard Crimson also posted winning runs, following the Lions with respective 12-2 and 11-3 Ivy resumes.
Only half of the league's eight teams make the conference showdown, and the Penn Quakers eked out the No. 4-seed spot on a tiebreaker, clinching their sixth Ivy League tournament berth after finishing the season locked up with the Brown Bears.
Columbia looks to stay atop Ivy League entering March Madness
Princeton has dominated the Ivy in recent years, earning 11 March Madness trips in the NCAA tournament's last 14 iterations and making two national second-round appearances behind now-UConn starter Kaitlyn Chen.
However, Columbia is the conference favorite this year, with the Lions taking aim at their second-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Columbia's first March Madness trip came just last year, buoyed by the team's all-time leading scorer and the program's first-ever WNBA draftee, Connecticut Sun guard Abbey Hsu.
While the Lions are expected to take this weekend's title, booking a likely NCAA tournament No. 11 seed alongside the Ivy League's automatic bid, ESPN’s Bracketology currently has the conference fielding three teams in the national bracket — both Princeton and Harvard are predicted to snag one of the final four at-large spots on Sunday.
All in all, breaking into the outer margins of the NCAA tournament bracket is no small feat, but March Madness rests on the premise that even the smallest conferences can change the game with a single upset.
How to watch the 2025 Ivy League conference tournament
No. 1-seed Columbia will tips off Friday's semifinals against No. 4 Penn at 4:30 PM ET, before No. 2 Princeton and No. 3 Harvard battle at 7:30 PM ET.
The winners will face-off for the conference title and the Ivy League's automatic March Madness bid on Saturday at 5:30 PM ET.
Both Friday semifinals will air live on ESPN+, with ESPNU broadcasting Saturday's championship game.
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.
Monday night's NCAA Big East basketball final saw No. 3 UConn lift their fifth straight trophy, winning the conference tournament title with a 70-50 defeat of No. 22 Creighton.
Star senior Paige Bueckers led the Huskies' charge, finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and a pair each of blocks and steals.
Freshman Sarah Strong also showed out with her third straight double-double, registering 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, six steals, and three blocks.
Notably, Bueckers made UConn history with the win, exiting her college career with a perfect 66-0 conference record and becoming the first-ever Husky to win three Most Outstanding Player awards at the Big East tournament in the process.
"For her to be able to constantly come up with these kind of performances, time and time again, she just has that thing that those kinds of players have," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma after the game.
UConn now holds a record 30 conference tournament titles — eight more than any other Division I program.
"We have a belief system in our program that this is the expectation," explained Auriemma. "I truly believe that the higher you set expectations, the closer you get to achieving those. And we have tremendously high expectations every year, those never go away. And some years you fall short, but most times we don't."
NCAA conference tournaments impact AP Poll rankings
Thanks to their command of the Big East, UConn became to the only Top 15 team to hold steady in Monday afternoon's AP Poll update, as the Top 25 list saw significant shifts in the lead-up to Selection Sunday.
After defeating USC for the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday, UCLA earned a three-spot rise to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, while their rival Trojans fell from No. 2 to No. 4 with the loss.
Meanwhile, South Carolina rose from No. 5 to No. 2 after downing former No. 1 Texas in Sunday's SEC finale, putting the defending NCAA champs in a neck-and-neck race with the Bruins for the No. 1 overall seed in this year's national tournament.
The Longhorns now clock in at No. 5, despite still being a likely candidate for one of Sunday's four No. 1 seeds.
Making history just behind Texas are Big 12 champions TCU, whose two-spot leap to No. 6 gave the Horned Frogs their highest-ever ranking.
The Top 10's biggest climber, however, was Duke, who jumped four spots to No. 7 after their title-winning upset run through the ACC tournament.
At the same time, once-No. 1 Notre Dame's slide continued, with the Irish dropping two more spots to No. 8 after exiting their conference tournament in the semifinal round.
Rounding out the Top 10 are ACC tournament runners-up NC State, who fell two spots to No. 9, and SEC semifinalist No. 10 LSU, whose one spot drop comes after injuries to the team's two top scorers hindered the Tigers' conference tournament play.
AP NCAA Basketball Top 25: Week 19
1. UCLA (30-2, Big Ten)
2. South Carolina (30-3, SEC)
3. UConn (31-3, Big East)
4. USC (28-3, Big Ten)
5. Texas (31-3, SEC)
6. TCU (31-3, Big 12)
7. Duke (26-7, ACC)
8. Notre Dame (26-5, ACC)
9. NC State (26-6, ACC)
10. LSU (28-5, SEC)
11. Oklahoma (25-7, SEC)
12. North Carolina (27-7, ACC)
13. Kentucky (22-7, SEC)
14. Baylor (27-7, Big 12)
15. Ohio State (25-6, Big Ten)
16. West Virginia (24-7, Big 12)
17. Oklahoma State (25-6, Big 12)
18. Maryland (23-7, Big Ten)
19. Kansas State (26-7, Big 12)
20. Tennessee (22-9, SEC)
21. Alabama (23-8, SEC)
22. Creighton (26-6, Big East)
23. Florida State (23-8, ACC)
24. South Dakota State (26-3, Summit League)
25. Ole Miss (20-10, SEC)
While NCAA basketball conference champions celebrate their trophies and automatic entries into March Madness, top contenders on the losing side are facing more questions than answers — with limited time to regroup before Selection Sunday.
After No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 7 NC State both fell to tournament champion — and emerging dark horse — No. 11 Duke this weekend, projections shifted such that the ACC is not likely to field a No. 1 seed in the national bracket.
No. 9 LSU similarly struggled, losing 56-49 in the tournament semifinal to eventual SEC runner-up No. 1 Texas.
That said, the Tigers' woes, however, could be short-lived. LSU endured the entire conference tournament without leading scorer Flau'jae Johnson due to a shin injury, and then saw standout senior Aneesah Morrow — the team's second most prolific scorer — exit their SEC semifinal loss with a re-aggravated foot sprain.
Both are expected to be back in action when the NCAA tournament tips off.
Win-or-go-home NCAA tournament looms large
Other teams are confronting harder-to-identify issues.
"I feel like we played below our standard. So that's frustrating. We’ve got to get better, and that’s on me," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said after Saturday’s ACC semifinal defeat. "I need to make this team get better, and that’s something that, when we’re back on the court, we will be better for this loss."
Even squads that fell in conference tournament finals departed the arena knowing that next time, there will be no second chance.
"I certainly think we have established ourselves as one of the top two teams in the cup when it comes to seeding," said Texas head coach Vic Schaefer after Sunday’s championship loss to No. 5 South Carolina. "We’ll learn from that [loss].… We’ve earned our way, and we’ll trust the committee to make that [seeding] decision. Whatever they make, we’ll roll with it."
Not every talent-laden team will make it to April's Final Four, but with adjustments, a conference tournament stumble could become a mere footnote in a longer postseason journey.
How to watch the NCAA tournament Selection Sunday Show
The road to Tampa officially kicks off when the NCAA basketball committee reveals the 68-team Division I tournament bracket on Selection Sunday, March 16th.
The Selection Show will air live at 8 PM ET on ESPN.