Women’s Bracketology: 2025 NCAA tournament
By Charlie Creme Updated: 9/18/2024 at 9:00 a.m. ET
With players back on campus and informal workouts underway, the countdown is on to the Nov. 4 season openers. 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. How we get there will be different, however. With the Pac-12 gone, there will be 31 automatic bids. With the ACC and Big Ten each now at 18 teams and the Big 12 and SEC at 16 apiece, expect double-digit bids from one or two of these conferences. The selection committee is also moving to the quad system to evaluate teams for inclusion in the field.
Bracket Watch
The demise of the Pac-12 began when USC and UCLA made the jump to the Big Ten. These moves are always predicated on football, but this one also gave the Big Ten, already a deep and historic women’s basketball conference, two of the best teams in the country. The Trojans and Bruins are big favorites to finish 1-2 in the Big Ten and are now projected as No. 1 seeds. JuJu Watkins brings her star power to another part of the country after propelling the Trojans to a top seed and an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, and now USC adds top transfers Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State). The Bruins did the same, adding Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) to couple with 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts and point guard Kiki Rice. The race is already on in the new-look Big Ten.
On the Bubble
68-Team Bracket
Region 1 Birmingham
Columbia
Columbus
Raleigh
Ames
Region 4 Spokane
Los Angeles
Chapel Hill
Waco
Austin
Region 2 Birmingham
Storrs
Morgantown
Durham
Baton Rouge
Region 3 Spokane
Los Angeles
Manhattan
Norman
South Bend
Conference Breakdown
Photo illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock
