Women's Bracketology: 2026 NCAA tournament

By Charlie Creme Updated: 10/28/2025 at 9:15 a.m. ET

The final weeks leading into the 2025-26 season have reshaped expectations. A key injury to South Carolina's Chloe Kitts shook up the order of the No. 1 seeds. The late transfer of Mallory Heyer impacts Minnesota's status. And high-profile exhibition games altered the valuation of some teams -- all reminders that the Bracketology wheel never stops turning. Check back on Nov. 11 for our first in-season update, but for now, here is the final edition of our preseason projections.

Bracket Watch

It doesn't seem possible that UConn could be better than it was with Paige Bueckers a season ago, but that doesn't change that the Huskies are still well-positioned to win a second consecutive title. They remain the top overall seed while Kitts' injury drops South Carolina to third overall and UCLA takes over at second, with Texas holding onto the fourth and final No. 1 seed. We'll have a chance to see how the Gamecocks fare without Kitts before they start a difficult nonconference stretch in late November. Expect their seasonlong race against Texas and LSU in the SEC to have the biggest impact on who goes dancing as No. 1 seeds in March.

On the Bubble

Last Four Byes

Last Four In

First Four Out

Next Four Out

68-Team Bracket

Region 1 Fort Worth

Storrs

1 UConn - aq
16 Alabama A&M - aq/
Fairleigh Dickinson - aq
8 Miami
9 Alabama

Ann Arbor

Raleigh

Knoxville

Region 4 Sacramento

Austin

Ames

Chapel Hill

Baton Rouge

Region 2 Sacramento

Los Angeles

Louisville

College Park

Norman

Region 3 Fort Worth

Columbia

South Bend

Oxford

Durham

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.