Breaking down 2026 women’s March Madness

🐕 UConn (Fort Worth 1): Hooping for their NCAA–record extending 13th natty title, the reigning champs are even better this season led by Player of the Year frontrunner sophomore Sarah Strong and grad student Azzi Fudd. The Huskies are unquestionably the team to beat, pummeling opponents by 38.4 points per game on average and riding a 50-game win streak into the Madness.

🐻 UCLA (Sacramento 2): Pick your poison against the Bruins, who boast five potential first-round picks in this year’s WNBA Draft, including six-foot-seven senior standout Lauren Betts. This veteran-laden squad is deep, talented, and dressing for revenge, a lethal combination as UCLA chases their first-ever national championship.

🤘 Texas (Fort Worth 3): The Longhorns flipped the script in this year’s SEC title game behind partners-in-hoops junior Madison Booker and grad student Rori Harmon. All signs point to a deep run — except for their three-point shooting numbers, a stat Texas’ best-in-the-SEC defense works their tail off to make up for.

❤️ South Carolina (Sacramento 4): Death, taxes, and head coach Dawn Staley leading a title contender. Down four starters from last season’s championship game run, the Gamecocks are vying for their sixth straight Final Four appearance. The player to watch? Sophomore Joyce Edwards, the first SC hooper to average 20 points per game since a little someone named A’ja Wilson.

⚓ No. 2 Vanderbilt (Fort Worth 1): Pass the dip because Vandy has a chip on their shoulder after an SEC tourney upset loss landed them in UConn’s corner of the bracket. Sophomore superstar Mikayla Blakes powers this fast-paced, battle-tested squad: The Commodores are 5-1 in games decided by fewer than six points. The apple doesn’t fall far from the (coaching) tree.

💛 No. 2 Michigan (Forth Worth 3): Only one team kept both UConn and UCLA in check this season. Spoiler alert: It’s Michigan, who lost to these two juggernauts by just seven points combined. Sophomore slump? Not in the Wolverine State because last year’s breakout freshmen — Olivia Olson, Mila Holloway, and Syla Swords — haven’t missed a beat.

😈 No. 3 Duke (Sacramento 2): It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Just ask the ACC champs, who had an early-season identity crisis after losing six of their first nine games before rattling off 17 straight wins. The Blue Devils’ success hinges on a juggernaut defense anchored by Toby Fournier, who’s averaging 2.3 blocks per game.

🐸 No. 3 TCU (Sacramento 4): Any team that features grad student Olivia Miles is a force to be reckoned with. That said, the Horned Frogs have been volatile: TCU can beat anyone (they logged four wins over ranked opponents this year), but they can also lose to anyone, with two of their five losses coming against teams outside the AP Top 25.

🏆 UConn’s Sarah Strong headlines Player of the Year race: Strong’s looking like the best women’s college basketball player on the planet — but the 15-player ballot is jam-packed with future pros, including No. 2 LSU senior Flau’jae Johnson, No. 8 Iowa State junior Audi Crooks, and No. 3 Ohio State sophomore Jaloni Cambridge.

⭐ Upsets rare in women’s bracket: Though the Madness has intensified as the talent pool continues to grow, upsets are far less common on the women’s side. In fact, No. 14, No. 15, and No. 16 seeds are a combined 1-372 in the tournament’s 43-year history.

• The only team to pull off a stunner? No. 16 Harvard, who beat top-seeded Stanford 76–71 in the first round of the 1998 tourney. There must’ve been something in the water that season: That was the same year No. 9 Arkansas became the lowest seed to reach the Final Four.

• As for champs, the lowest seed to ever cut down the nets is No. 3: North Carolina (1994), Tennessee (1997), and LSU (2023).

💃 First-time dancers: Two deserving squads will make their dancing debuts in this year’s bracket: No. 14 Charleston won the CAA tournament to punch their ticket, while No. 16 Cal Baptist earned their automatic bid with a WAC tourney title. Two for one.

🧡 No. 10 Tennessee’s perfect March Madness attendance: The aforementioned Cougars and Lancers have a long way to go to match the Lady Vols though. Tennessee’s making their NCAA–record 44th tournament appearance, the only team to compete in every Big Dance since the tourney’s inception in 1982. The true dancing queens.