Elite Bracket Glory: Women Dominate Men in Crucial Final!
Selection Sunday sets the March Madness bracket in stone, so here's everything you need to know about the seeding and format for the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
For the first time, the top 16 teams didn't have to wait for Selection Sunday to know their seeding for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. Following the Power 4 conference tournaments on the first weekend of March, the Selection Committee released all four No. 1 seeds: Reigning champion UConn is the top overall seed, followed by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina - a repeat of 2024-25's Final Four.
They then went a step further by announcing all of the top 16 teams on Saturday, March 14. This shifts the focus for Selection Sunday onto the teams that don't view this day as a formality, and instead shines a brighter light on the lower seeds — underdog programs who see March Madness as a chance to put the nation on notice. The 2026 bracket features Charleston making its first NCAA Tournament appearance, a path to a Palmetto showdown in South Carolina, mid-majors Cal Baptist, High Point and Miami (Ohio) sending both their mens' and women's teams to the dance, some high-octane rematches, a play-in between Virginia and ASU for a 10-seed and much more.
How many teams from each conference make the NCAA tournament? There are a total of 68 teams competing in the 2025 Women’s March Madness tournament. 31 of those teams earned an automatic bid by winning their conference tournament, while the remaining 37 at-large bids were determined by the Selection Committee.
The Big Ten leads the way with 12 teams in the bracket, spearheaded by UCLA, the No. 2 overall seed and top seed in the Sacramento Region 2, followed closely by the SEC featuring the remaining two No. 1 seeds: Texas at No.