Charlie CremeMar 2, 2026, 08:50 AM ETCloseCharlie Creme projects the women’s NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN.com.Multiple Authors
play0:25Notre Dame hangs on at buzzer to upset No. 10 LouisvilleImari Berry uses the screen to get open then misses a potential game-tying shot as Louisville loses to Notre Dame.
play1:15Baylor Bears vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Game HighlightsBaylor Bears vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Game Highlights
play0:28SVP breaks out wild stat over latest UConn undefeated seasonScott Van Pelt provides historical context after UConn finishes off its perfect 31-0 regular season.
play1:17Deciphering which SEC teams have best chance of advancing to FridayThe SEC Now crew picks the teams that they believe will have the most impactful performances in order to advance from Wednesday to Friday in the SEC Tournament.
Analyzing the strength of the top four seeds ahead of SEC Tournament (2:02)The SEC Now crew describes the power that lies within each of the teams in the top four seeds ahead of the SEC tourney and discusses who could top South Carolina. (2:02)
Notre Dame hangs on at buzzer to upset No. 10 LouisvilleImari Berry uses the screen to get open then misses a potential game-tying shot as Louisville loses to Notre Dame.
Imari Berry uses the screen to get open then misses a potential game-tying shot as Louisville loses to Notre Dame.
Baylor Bears vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Game HighlightsBaylor Bears vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Game Highlights
SVP breaks out wild stat over latest UConn undefeated seasonScott Van Pelt provides historical context after UConn finishes off its perfect 31-0 regular season.
Scott Van Pelt provides historical context after UConn finishes off its perfect 31-0 regular season.
Deciphering which SEC teams have best chance of advancing to FridayThe SEC Now crew picks the teams that they believe will have the most impactful performances in order to advance from Wednesday to Friday in the SEC Tournament.
The SEC Now crew picks the teams that they believe will have the most impactful performances in order to advance from Wednesday to Friday in the SEC Tournament.
With the regular season complete in the Power 4 conferences, Champ Week has arrived. Conference tournament titles will be decided in the next two weeks, and leagues will be handing out awards over that same period.
Player of the year in some conferences will be easy choices — UConn’s Sarah Strong in the Big East and Richmond’s Maggie Doogan in the Atlantic 10 look like locks — while other races are close calls, such as in the ACC and Summit League.
The same goes with projecting champions in each conference. In some cases, the No. 1 seeds will be clear favorites. In others it might be the hottest team or a potential Cinderella.
But what is the fun in waiting to find out? Let’s make some predictions on both conference champs and players of the year to whet the appetite for March.
After battling Binghamton all season, Vermont pulled away over the final two weeks. That included a win over the Bearcats on Feb. 12 in Burlington. That’s where the rematch will take place should the two meet again in the conference tournament title game.
The 2023 America East Player of the Year will leave Maine as one of the program’s most productive players of all time. She led the conference in scoring twice and in rebounding three times. This season Smith pulled off the rare triple, topping the America East in scoring, rebounds and assists.
The Owls don’t have a player in the top 10 in the American in scoring or assists but cruised to the regular-season championship. They did it with defense, leading the nation in opponent 3-point rate. Hailey Adams was one of the conference’s best shot blockers and Victoria Flores was among the leaders in steals.
After a Big East Freshman of the Year season at Georgetown in 2023, Fauntleroy struggled in one season each at Oklahoma State and Arizona State before regaining her form at East Carolina. She reached career highs in points and assists and is leading the American in steals.
After losing to Eastern Kentucky by 19 points in late January, Jacksonville has been chasing the Colonels. But now the Dolphins are the hotter team and will get to sleep in their own beds during an ASUN tournament played at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
Rhode Island was the A-10 front-runner most of the way, but preseason favorite Richmond beat the Rams by 26 points in the second-to-last game of the regular season. The Spiders are the league’s best shooting team, have the best player in Maggie Doogan and will be playing the conference tournament in nearby Henrico, Virginia.
Although her team hasn’t been as good as a year ago, Doogan has been better than her 2025 A-10 Player of the Year campaign. She won the scoring title going away and finished in the conference’s top five in seven major statistical categories. Not coincidentally, Doogan’s career corresponded with the best four-year run in program history.
The recent loss at Clemson notwithstanding, Duke has been the ACC’s best team since conference play began. Core players Toby Fournier, Taina Mair, Ashlon Jackson and Delaney Thomas were a big part of the Blue Devils’ ACC tournament title a year ago. Duke was only one point better than Louisville in their one regular-season meeting, and the Blue Devils showed vulnerability against the Tigers, but they still should head to Duluth, Georgia, as the favorite.
Fournier has been outstanding in lifting Duke to the top of the conference, but Hidalgo’s excellence is just too difficult to overcome. She remains arguably the best two-way player in the country, leading the country in steals and topping the ACC in scoring by a wide margin.
Notre Dame hangs on at buzzer to upset No. 10 Louisville
Mark Campbell has changed the program entirely with his up-tempo, pick-and-roll offense. With different personnel the results have been much the same: consecutive first-place Big 12 regular-season finishes. Last year Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince led the way. This year it’s Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez, and the Horned Frogs will be the favorite to also repeat as tournament champs.
The 66-game winning streak against Big East opponents doesn’t seem likely to end at Mohegan Sun in the Big East tournament. UConn has beaten conference competition this season by an average of more than 40 points per game.
UConn’s dominance starts with its overwhelming talent advantage over the rest of the conference, and that talent starts with Strong, the favorite to win national player of the year as well. She led the league in scoring, steals and field goal percentage and ranks in the top five of four other major categories, all while averaging fewer than 25 minutes per Big East game.
SVP breaks out wild stat over latest UConn undefeated season
The regular season was a two-team race between the Bobcats and Idaho. Montana State beat the Vandals by 30 points in the first meeting before losing the second in overtime. The Bobcats were also good enough to beat UNLV and Colorado in nonconference play.
After winning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, Chirrick went to another level in her second season. Only Hannah Hidalgo averages more steals per game nationally. Chirrick has tripled her point production from a year ago, which saved the Montana State attack that lost the top three scorers from last season’s 30-win team.
After winning the league regular-season and tournament titles a year ago, the Panthers are one step away from another sweep. That would put High Point, with the stingiest defense in the Big South, into the NCAA tournament for the third time since 2021.
Panthers coach Chelsea Banbury brought in two significant transfers in the offseason — Lexi Fleming from Bowling Green and Macy Spencer from UNLV. Fleming, who was a two-time all-MAC selection, had the better résumé, but when she went down with a knee injury four games into the season, Spencer became High Point’s top option. She delivered, leading the conference in scoring while making more than 38% of her 3-pointers.
The Big Ten is deep and might have as many as 12 NCAA tournament teams. Yet none of them could touch the Bruins, whose road to the regular-season championship was never challenged. They won their Big Ten games by an average of more than 25 points. Losing the Big Ten tournament championship to USC Trojans a year ago still stings, and this veteran group will have that top of mind when they get to Indianapolis.
The most dominant player on the most dominant team must be the front-runner — even if her numbers aren’t as good as her junior season after the additions of Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker to balance the offense. Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge will provide a challenge, but Betts remains the Big Ten’s most intimidating force on both ends of the court.
This will be a wide-open race with four different teams having held the lead at one point in the season. The Anteaters have the highest NET ranking in the conference and have the best player among the contenders in Hunter Hernandez.
It’s not often the Player of the Year comes from a team in the bottom half of the conference standings, but Wickstrom has been that good. She is averaging nearly six points per game more in Big West games than her nearest competitor in the league.
After winning 25 games for the first time in program history, the Cougars capped a successful three-year run with their first championship of any kind by capturing the CAA regular-season title. Charleston led wire-to-wire with the conference’s best offense and will be heavy favorites to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time.
That offense is led by Barbot, who is in line to win her second Player of the Year award in a row. She led the CAA in assists and averaged more than 19 points per game, nearly two points more than a year ago.
After losing their first conference game, the Lady Techsters went on a tear and never looked back. They had the CUSA title clinched with two weeks left in the regular season. The top offense in CUSA, Louisiana Tech is led by sophomore guard Paris Bradley but does it with balance. Four starters average double figures.