3 Takeaways from the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket reveal

Happy Selection Sunday! The day basketball fans have been anticipating for months, when the brackets for the NCAA March Madness tournaments on the men’s and women’s sides are revealed. On the women’s side, the top-16 seeds were released Saturday, showing who will host the first two rounds of the tournament. With the matchups finalized, it’s time to predict who will win the National Championship in 2026.

Here are some takeaways from the women’s bracket reveal:

UConn has a chance to go undefeated this season

As the No. 1-ranked team in the country since the first preseason poll, UConn’s spot as the No. 1 seed in March Madness isn’t too much of a surprise to anyone. They are currently 34-0 this season, having won the Big East regular season and Big East Tournament. As we head into the big dance, the Huskies have a real shot at finishing the season undefeated as back-to-back National Champions.

Their leading duo of Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong are already racking in the season awards and accolades, and the wild part is that both are playing less than 30 minutes per game right now. Fudd is averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game in 28.3 minutes per game while shooting 44.6% from three-point range. Strong has improved to 18.5 points per game in her sophomore season from 16.4 points in her freshman season, but is playing nearly two minutes less per game than she did last season.

UConn hasn’t even needed to play at 100% effort yet this season, preserving that level for this tournament. That’s why the idea that they could go back-to-back seems entirely possible — we haven’t even seen the best of the current iteration of the UConn Huskies.

As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, they will host the first two rounds of the tournament in Storrs, Connecticut. They will face No. 16 UTSA in round one, and then the winner of No. 8 Iowa State vs No. 9 Syracuse in the second round.

As you head further down the bracket, there is potential for a UConn vs. Vanderbilt Elite Eight game in our future. Vanderbilt secured the No. 2 seed in UConn’s regional bracket, so these two teams could be on a collision course with each other. Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph not only coached many years at UConn, but also played there as a student, so the storylines are bountiful here.

Michigan is steadily improving with Swords and Olson leading

When Syla Swords headed to Michigan as the No. 4 player in her recruiting class, she was the highest-ranked prospect in the program’s history. As she develops, she continues to raise the potential of this Wolverines team, and her freshman showing last year proved there was a ton of improvement on the horizon. The Wolverines made it to the second round of last year’s tournament but had to face a tough Notre Dame team, ultimately being eliminated. Yet, the future was bright for the team, whose stars, Swords and Olivia Olson, were only freshmen.

In their sophomore season, Swords and Olson have led Michigan to a top-16 seed, meaning the Wolverines will host rounds one and two of March Madness. Both players were also named to the First Team All-Big 10.

Michigan landed the No. 2 seed in the Regional 3 (Fort Worth) corner of the bracket, improving from the No. 6 seed they earned one year ago. They will host No. 15 Holy Cross in round one, and if they win, they will host again in round two, playing the winner of No. 10 Tennessee vs No. 7 NC State.

If they make it to the Sweet Sixteen, they could face any of No. 14 Vermont, No. 11 Rhode Island, No. 6 Alabama, or No. 3 Louisville. This Michigan team has a great path to be a potential dark horse team in this season’s tournament.

South Carolina and UCLA could be playing with chips on their shoulders

The top-four seeds of this year’s tournament — UConn, UCLA, Texas, and South Carolina — are not surprising. Yet, the order of these seeds, and therefore the match-ups, may end up mattering when it comes to team motivation.

There is always a debate about who is going to achieve the No. 1 seed in the tournament. While UConn was undefeated, UCLA had a little bit more difficulty in their schedule, leading to people believing that UCLA might get the edge. In the end, the selection committee decided UConn’s dominance was worthy of the No. 1 overall seed. That “snub” may end up serving as motivation for UCLA as they head into the tournament, determined to prove themselves — especially in Lauren Betts’s last season.

On the other hand, the other two No. 1 seeds — Texas and South Carolina — are conference rivals who just battled for the SEC Championship. South Carolina lost, a rarity for Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks these days. While Texas and South Carolina will only clash again if they make it to the Championship game, the sting of the SEC tournament loss may end up being the thing that pushes South Carolina to a National Championship.