First look at 2026 Women's Final Four: Who will win, X-factors, more

The Final Four was held in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1996 and featured Tennessee, Georgia, UConn and Stanford — the same four teams that played in the national semifinals in the previous year. It was the only time in the history of the Women’s NCAA Tournament the same four teams played in back-to-back Final Fours. Until now.

The UConn Huskies, UCLA Bruins, Texas Longhorns and South Carolina Gamecocks are the four teams still standing out of this season's the 68-team March Madness field. A year ago, these teams coached by Geno Auriemma, Cori Close, Vic Schaefer and Dawn Staley clashed in Tampa, Florida, with UConn winning its 12th national title behind Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. Now, all four teams will take the floor in Phoenix, Arizona, this Friday.

UConn will face South Carolina and UCLA takes on Texas. The undefeated Huskies got this far by outlasting Hannah Hidalgo and Notre Dame in the Fort Worth 1 regional final and UCLA erased a double-digit deficit to defeat Duke in the Sacramento 2 Elite Eight. Texas absolutely stomped Michigan in a lopsided victory and South Carolina beat TCU to punch its sixth straight ticket to the national semifinals.

Here’s a closer look at each of the Final Four teams: UConn (38-0) Trips to the Final Four: 25 National championships: 12 Reason they will win: The Huskies have been the most dominant team in the country all season, capturing all but one of their 38 wins by double digits . UConn’s deficiencies in 3-point defense and rebounding haven’t been an issue yet. The Huskies haven’t been in serious danger of losing since trailing Villanova at halftime in February — a game Geno Auriemma’s team went on to win by 14 points.