Charlie CremeMar 22, 2026, 12:00 AM ETCloseCharlie Creme projects the women’s NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN.com.Multiple Authors
play0:16Sarah Strong ends the 1st half with a sweet layupSarah Strong ends the 1st half with a sweet layup
play1:18South Carolina cruises in first-round win over SouthernSouth Carolina cruises in first-round win over Southern
play0:27Cambridge puts Buckeyes on top with back-to-back bucketsJaloni Cambridge gives Ohio State the lead with back-to back-baskets.
play1:16Fairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game HighlightsFairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game Highlights
play1:17Syracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game HighlightsSyracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game Highlights
play1:16Virginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game HighlightsVirginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game Highlights
South Carolina cruises in first-round win over SouthernSouth Carolina cruises in first-round win over Southern
Cambridge puts Buckeyes on top with back-to-back bucketsJaloni Cambridge gives Ohio State the lead with back-to back-baskets.
Fairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game HighlightsFairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game Highlights
Syracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game HighlightsSyracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game Highlights
Virginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game HighlightsVirginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game Highlights
Jazzy Davidson drills the trey (0:16)Jazzy Davidson nails it from behind the arc (0:16)
For a third consecutive season, upsets were scarce in the first round. Only three lower-seeded teams won games in the first two days of the tournament, and that includes a pair of 9-seeds (Syracuse and USC) beating 8-seeds.
A pair of overtime games on Sunday provided the most drama: USC and No. 10 seed Virginia, the biggest surprise of this year’s NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers are just the second team since the field expanded to 68 teams in 2022 to go from the First Four to the second round, joining Mississippi State in 2023.
The No. 1 seeds all waltzed to easy wins, although UCLA needed until late in the first half Saturday to finally open up a double-digit lead. South Carolina’s 69-point trouncing was the most statistically impressive victory among the top seeds.
Before the second round tips off Sunday (noon ET, ESPN), we rank the 32 teams that survived and advanced. Iowa’s struggles and impressive performances by TCU and Oklahoma shook up the order.
1. UConn Huskies Original seed: No. 1 overall (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 16 UTSA 90-52 (Saturday)
Sarah Strong ends the 1st half with a sweet layupSarah Strong ends the 1st half with a sweet layup
2. UCLA Bruins Original seed: No. 1 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated Cal Baptist 96-43 (Saturday)
3. Texas Longhorns Original seed: No. 1 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated No. 16 Missouri State 87-45 (Friday)
Texas’ win over Missouri State was simply businesslike. After their defense predictably smothered the Bears’ offense in the first half, allowing just 12 points on 13.8% shooting and 11 turnovers, the Longhorns put it in cruise control. With Madison Booker having a quiet 14-point performance, Jordan Lee led the offense with 19. But, as is the Texas way, this game was won with defense, rebounding and paint dominance, where the Longhorns scored 50 of their 87 points.
4. South Carolina Gamecocks Original seed: No. 2 (Sacramento 4) First round: Defeated No. 16 Southern 103-34 (Saturday)
South Carolina cruises in first-round win over Southern
South Carolina cruises in first-round win over Southern
5. LSU Tigers Original seed: No. 2 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 15 Jacksonville 116-58 (Friday)
6. Vanderbilt Commodores Original seed: No. 2 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 15 High Point 102-61 (Saturday)
7. Michigan Wolverines Original seed: No. 2 seed (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated No. 15 Holy Cross 83-46 (Friday)
The Wolverines made eight 3-pointers Friday but they might not have needed any because they were so dominant inside against the undersized Crusaders. Holy Cross had just one offensive rebound and lost the rebounding battle by 15. More importantly, Michigan scored the game’s first 10 points and was up 27-6 after the first quarter, extinguishing any possibilities of an upset. The performance, led by Mila Holloway’s 20 points, was good enough to hold off Duke to retain the No. 8 overall spot.
8. Duke Blue Devils Original seed: No. 3 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 14 Charleston 81-64 (Friday)
9. TCU Horned Frogs Original seed: No. 3 (Sacramento 4) First round: Defeated No. 14 UC San Diego 86-40 (Friday)
10. Louisville Cardinals Original seed: No. 3 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated No. 14 Vermont 72-52 (Saturday)
11. Oklahoma Sooners Original seed: No. 4 seed (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 13 Idaho 89-59 (Friday)
12. Iowa Hawkeyes Original seed: No. 2 (Birmingham 3) First round: Defeated No. 15 FDU 58-48 (Saturday)
13. Ohio State Buckeyes Original seed: No. 3 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 14 Howard 75-54 (Saturday)
Cambridge puts Buckeyes on top with back-to-back buckets
Jaloni Cambridge gives Ohio State the lead with back-to back-baskets.
14. West Virginia Mountaineers Original seed: No. 4 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated No. 13 Miami (OH) 82-54 (Saturday)
15. North Carolina Tar Heels Original seed: No. 4 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 13 Western Illinois 82-41 (Friday)
16. Ole Miss Rebels Original seed: No. 5 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 12 Gonzaga 81-66 (Friday)
17. Kentucky Wildcats Original seed: No. 5 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated No. 12 James Madison 71-56 (Saturday)
18. Maryland Terrapins Original seed: No. 5 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 12 Murray State 99-67 (Friday)
19. Minnesota Gophers Original seed: No. 4 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 13 Green Bay 75-58 (Friday)
20. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Original seed: No. 6 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated No. 11 Fairfield 79-60 (Saturday)
Fairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game Highlights
Fairfield Stags vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Game Highlights
22. Alabama Crimson Tide Original seed: No. 6 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated Rhode Island 68-55
23. Michigan State Spartans Original seed: No. 5 (Sacramento 4) First round: Defeated No. 12 Colorado State 65-62 (Friday)
The Spartans struggled to put away Colorado State and had to survive a Hannah Ronsiek 3-pointer attempt at the buzzer to avoid overtime, advancing to the second round for the second straight year. Grace VanSlooten and Kennedy Blair each had 18 points. Michigan State was outshot from the 3-point line and Colorado State drew even on the boards, both concerns for the Spartans heading into the second round against Oklahoma, which has the fourth-best rebound margin in the country.
24. Baylor Bears Original seed: No. 6 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated No. 11 Nebraska 67-62 (Friday)
25. Oklahoma State Cowgirls Original seed: No. 8 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated Princeton 82-68
26. Oregon Ducks Original seed: No. 8 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated Virginia Tech 70-60 (Friday)
27. NC State Wolfpack Original seed: No. 7 (Fort Worth 3) First round: Defeated Tennessee 76-61 (Friday)
28. Illinois Fighting Illini Original seed: No. 7 (Fort Worth 1) First round: Defeated Colorado 66-57 (Saturday)
29. Texas Tech Lady Raiders Original seed: No. 7 (Sacramento 2) First round: Defeated Villanova 57-52 (Friday)
30. USC Trojans Original seed: No. 9 (Sacramento 4) First round: Defeated Clemson 71-67 OT (Saturday)
Syracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game Highlights
Syracuse Orange vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Game Highlights
32. Virginia Cavaliers Original seed: No. 8 (Sacramento 4) Results: Defeated Arizona State 57-55 (First Four); defeated Georgia 82-73 OT (Saturday)
Virginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game Highlights
Virginia Cavaliers vs. Georgia Lady Bulldogs: Game Highlights
Foul trouble for Azzi Fudd and KK Arnold made things just a bit more difficult than expected for the Huskies. Even with its starting backcourt sitting for much of the first half and only combining for 13 points in the game, UConn didn’t have too much problem putting away the Roadrunners. It was still 19-6 after one quarter and 48-14 at the half. Sarah Strong had her typical box score-filling game with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. A possible area of concern: The Huskies, the most accurate 3-point shooting team in the country, were just 7-of-33 from deep.
Sluggish is the only way to describe how UCLA started against the much smaller Lancers. It took until late in the second quarter before the Bruins began to exert some dominance. A 19-2 run that began late in the first half and continued into the third quarter took care of that, but coach Cori Close still didn’t seem happy with a defense that allowed five Cal Baptist 3-pointers and eight second-chance points in the first half. Her locker room message got through. The Bruins won the second half 52-9. Lauren Betts probably didn’t get the ball enough but scored 22 points and grab 10 rebounds in 23 minutes to lead five Bruins in double figures.
South Carolina had a size advantage over the Jaguars and fully took advantage of it. Joyce Edwards became the first South Carolina player to score more than 25 points and shoot over 70% from the field in an NCAA tournament game with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Madina Okot added 15 points and 8 rebounds in just 17 minutes. It was the third time South Carolina hit the century mark in the NCAA tournament and the second year in a row after hitting 108 against Tennessee Tech in 2025’s first round. With the other equally dominant performances by the other top seeds, the Gamecocks don’t move up, but they remain a strong No. 4 overall.
LSU’s relentless offense knows how to put away an inferior opponent. Friday’s game against Jacksonville was reminiscent of the early part of the Tigers’ 2025-26 schedule, when they played just one team that ended up in the top-100 of the NET and scored over 100 points in an NCAA-record eight consecutive games to open the season. Their 15th 100-point game of the season ties the record established by Long Beach State in 1986-87. The 116 points were the fourth-highest total this season for the highest-scoring team in the country, and LSU tied an NCAA tournament record with seven players scoring in double figures. Flau’jae Johnson led the way with 20 points.