We have the bracket. The 68-team field for the 2025 women’s NCAA tournament is set. Let the madness begin.
There were no real surprises on the top-line, with UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and USC — in that order — all grabbing No. 1 seeds. The Big Ten got the most teams in the field with 12, followed by the SEC with 10 and the ACC with eight.
For the first time ever, the Ivy League got three teams into the field. Regular season champ Columbia is a No. 11, Ivy Madness winner Harvard is seeded 10th, and Princeton made the field for the sixth straight season, earning an at-large bid and getting seeded 11th. Both Columbia and Princeton will play in First Four games.
Across the bracket and the bubble, there were winners and losers. Some teams cheered their selection, while others were left with a feeling of disappointment.
Let’s break it down.
Winner: UCLA
The Bruins lost just two games in the regular season, both of them to rival USC, but Lauren Betts and Co. avenged those defeats to the Trojans by besting them in the Big Ten title game. During its surge in the regular season, UCLA notched impressive wins over South Carolina, Louisville, Michigan, Baylor, Maryland and Ohio State.
UCLA is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. Cori Close’s team — after losing in the Sweet 16 the past two seasons — is seeking its first-ever trip to the Final Four.
The Bruins got the No. 1 overall seed despite South Carolina having the most Quad 1 wins in the country. Derita Dawkins of the NCAA Selection Committee told ESPN that South Carolina’s 29-point loss at home to UConn hurt its case for the No. 1 overall seed.
Winner: The Ivy League
A year after getting two bids into the NCAA tournament, the Ivy League got three teams into this NCAA tournament, further establishing its reputation as the best mid-major conference in the country.
There’s not much left to say. These three teams in the Ivy have delivered all season long and were worthy of getting their bids. All three were in the top 47 of NET and combined for 13 wins against Quad 1 and 2 opponents.
Loser: James Madison
It sure felt like the Dukes’ NCAA tournament hopes were doomed when they lost in overtime of the Sun Belt tournament title game, but James Madison had an impressive resume that many felt was worthy of a rare at-large bid for a mid-major team.
Consider that James Madison was receiving votes in the AP and Coaches polls. Consider that the Dukes went 18-0 in regular season Sun Belt play, just one of seven teams to go undefeated in its conference this season. Consider that JMU’s non-conference strength of schedule was 26th nationally. Consider the Dukes’ 28 Division I wins equal the most by any mid-major team in the nation. And consider James Madison was 29th in RPI.
Simply put: James Madison probably deserved to be in the NCAA tournament. Instead, it got left on the wrong side of the bubble. Hurting the Dukes’ case was zero Quad 1 wins. Each of the Ivy teams that got in had at least one victory in Q1.
Winner: North Carolina’s Research Triangle
For the first time since 1998, all three team’s in the Tar Heel State’s Triangle region — N.C. State, Duke and UNC — will all host games during the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. Combine that with first weekend men’s games being played in Raleigh’s Lenovo Center, and Tobacco Road will be the center of college basketball.
Courtney Banghart’s Tar Heels might’ve been a bit worried on Sunday night when Baylor and Maryland were revealed as No. 4 seeds, but UNC was slotted a No. 3 seed in the Birmingham 2 region. They’ll face Oregon State in the first round, and looming in the second could be a matchup with one of Banghart’s proteges in Megan Griffith’s Columbia. Griffith coached under Banghart at Princeton and they’ve never faced off on the court.
Duke and N.C. State both earned No. 2 seeds. The Wolfpack are in the Spokane 1 region while the Blue Devils are in the Birmingham 2. That means we could see a potential third matchup this season between rivals Duke and North Carolina in the Sweet 16. To get there though, Duke may have to get past former Tar Heel Deja Kelly, who returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium with the Oregon Ducks, seeded 10th.
Loser: Notre Dame
Just a few weeks ago, Notre Dame was ranked by Associated Press voters as the No. 1 team in the country. Since then, beginning with a defeat in double overtime at N.C. State, the Irish have lost three of their past five games. The Selection Committee seemed to punish Niele Ivey’s side for its sloppy finish, giving them the No. 3 seed in the Birmingham 3 region.
While that’s a bit of a tougher draw than the Irish expected, remember what this team did when it played at its very best. Notre Dame beat Texas, USC, UConn, North Carolina and Duke in the regular season — a particular collection of impressive wins that no other team in the country has.
To potentially reach the Final Four for the first time since 2019, the Irish may have to go through Texas again.
