Women's Bracketology: 2025 NCAA tournament

By Charlie Creme Updated: 11/12/2024 at 9:30 a.m. ET

The 2024-25 season is underway, and with it comes a few changes to the selection process. The demise of the Pac-12 means automatic bids now total 31, which increases the at-large selections to 37. The 2025 NCAA tournament will look the same, with two regionals -- Birmingham and Spokane -- and the top four seeds in each region hosting first- and second-round games. The committee will give us a glimpse at those top 16 teams with in-season reveals on Feb. 16 and 26. Selection Sunday is March 16.

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Bracket Watch

Upsets were hard to come by this week. The top eight teams and the top two seed lines of Bracketology stayed the same from Week 1. But there were some movers. Maryland was one of the biggest, rising from a 5-seed to the best No. 4 seed (No. 13 overall) after upsetting Duke on Sunday. The Terps, with 10 newcomers and only three returners that had any impact a year ago, seem to have come together more quickly than expected. Kaylene Smikle was the first of six players from other major conference programs to transfer to College Park; she has been Maryland's best transfer -- and perhaps the best in the country. The former Rutgers wing is averaging 16.7 points per game, including 23 against Duke. With a relatively light nonconference slate the rest of the way, Maryland might be unbeaten by the time it opens Big Ten play against Michigan State on Dec. 29.

On the Bubble

Last Four Byes

Last Four In

First Four Out

Next Four Out

68-Team Bracket

Region 1 Birmingham

Columbia

College Park

Chapel Hill

Ames

Region 4 Spokane

Los Angeles

Morgantown

Norman

South Bend

Region 2 Birmingham

Storrs

Durham

Columbus

Baton Rouge

Region 3 Spokane

Los Angeles

Raleigh

Manhattan

Austin

Conference Breakdown

Conference

Team

Photo illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock

RULES

ESPN's Bracketology efforts are focused on projecting the NCAA tournament field just as we expect the NCAA Division I basketball committee to select the field in March. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme uses the same data points favored by the committee, including strength of schedule and other season-long indicators, including the NET and team-sheet data similar to what is available to the NCAA, in his projections of the field. Visit the NCAA's website for a fuller understanding of NCAA selection criteria.

64-Team Bracket

The 64-team bracket is the standard version of the NCAA tournament field that has been in place since 1994. If the 2021 field is comprised of 64 teams, there will be some key differences to past years, however.

The primary adjustment from a normal year is, of course, the playing of the entire NCAA tournament at a single site. This eliminates the need for geographical considerations in seeding. Additionally, there will be at least one fewer automatic qualifier this season, as the Ivy League's decision to forgo the 2020-21 season reduces the number of AQ entries to 31 for this season.

48-Team Bracket

In this projection, a condensed selection process would reduce the field by eight at-large teams and eight automatic qualifiers (the latter of which still receive a revenue unit). The top four seeds in each region would receive a bye into the second round, with four first-round games per region - 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9.

16-Team Bracket

In this projection, the committee selects and seeds the 16 best available teams. There are no automatic qualifiers, although all non-competing conference champions receive the designated revenue unit.

To maintain some sense of national balance, conference participation is capped at four teams. And no region shall have more than one team from the same conference.

ESPN

Bracket Watch

Top Overall Seed

First Team Out

Last Team In

On the Bubble

Last Four Byes

Last Four In

First Four Out

Next Four Out

68-Team Bracket

Region 1 Birmingham

Columbia

College Park

Chapel Hill

Ames

Region 4 Spokane

Los Angeles

Morgantown

Norman

South Bend

Region 2 Birmingham

Storrs

Durham

Columbus

Baton Rouge

Region 3 Spokane

Los Angeles

Raleigh

Manhattan

Austin

Conference Breakdown

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