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The bracket for the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament was revealed on Sunday. UCLA received the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in school history, while South Carolina, Texas and USC also ended up on the 1-line.
On the flip side, Columbia, Washington, Iowa State and Princeton were the last four teams in and will tip-off this year’s festivities with the First Four, which begins on Wednesday night. From there, it will be a sprint to crown a new national champion.
Now that the bracket has been revealed and the matchups are set, let’s take a look at some winners and losers from Selection Sunday.
Winners
UCLA
UCLA started the season 23-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the country for nearly three months in a row. Then they lost to USC twice in the span of two weeks, which cost them the Big Ten regular season title, and put their hopes of earning the No. 1 overall seed in jeopardy.
But come conference championship Sunday, Texas lost to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament title game, and UCLA got revenge over USC to win the Big Ten Tournament. All of a sudden, everything flipped. The Bruins vaulted back up to No. 1 in the final AP poll, and on Sunday were announced as the No. 1 overall seed.
This is the first time in program history that the Bruins are a No. 1 seed, let alone the top overall seed. They’re still searching for the first Final Four appearance in program history and have a good chance to end that drought this year. A first national championship certainly isn’t out of the question either.
Ivy League
The Ivy League was ecstatic to earn two bids last year when Princeton, who won Ivy Madness, was joined by Columbia as an at-large selection. That marked the first time since 2016 that the Ivy League, known more for its academics than basketball, had multiple teams make the Big Dance.
They outdid themselves this year. For the first time in conference history, the Ivy League has three teams reach the NCAA Tournament.
Harvard won Ivy Madness to earn the automatic bid, and is a No. 10 seed in the Spokane 1 region. Columbia, who won the regular season title, and Princeton both had to sweat it out on the bubble, but received No. 11 seeds in the Birmingham 2 and Birmingham 3 region, respectively. The Lions and Tigers will both have to go through the First Four process, but that’s better than sitting at home.
Only the four major conferences, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC got more schools into the tournament than the Ivy League, who even outdid the Big East.
Arkansas State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Grand Canyon, San Diego and William & Mary.
Entering the season, there were 68 teams that had never made it to the NCAA Tournament. That number has dropped to 62 after six teams officially got their tickets punched on Sunday: Arkansas State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Grand Canyon, San Diego and William & Mary.
All six teams were automatic qualifiers after winning their respective conference tournaments. Here’s a quick look at how they got here and where they now stand:
- Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
The Red Wolves defeated James Madison (one of the biggest snubs) in overtime in the Sun Belt title game. They are a No. 15 seed in the Spokane 4 region and will face 11-time national champion UConn in the first round.
- Fairleigh Dickinson (NEC)
The Knights, who are on a 22-game winning streak, cruised past Stonehill to win the NEC Tournament title. They received a No. 15 seed in the Birmingham 3 region, where they’ll meet TCU in the first round.
The Patriots lost to St Joseph’s twice during the regular season, but beat them in the A-10 title game to earn their first NCAA tourney trip. They are a No. 11 seed in the Spokane 1 region and will face Florida State in the first round.
The Antelopes pulled off a big comeback to take down UT-Arlington in the WAC championship game and will take a 30-game winning streak into the Big Dance. They are a No. 13 seed in the Spokane 1 region, where they’ll take on Baylor.
The Tritons are dancing after taking down in-state rivals UC-Davis in the Big West title game. A No. 16 seed, they’ll face Southern in the First Four, and if they win that game they’ll move on to No. 1 overall seed UCLA in the Spokane 1 region.
The Tribe are the biggest surprise entrant into the field. Despite finishing the regular season under .500, they caught fire in the CAA Tournament and pulled off a 14-point comeback in the title game against Campbell. They are also a No. 16 seed and were placed in the First Four. They’ll take on High Point, with the winner meeting Texas in the Birmingham 3 region.
Winner and loser
South Carolina
The Gamecocks had a strong case to be the No. 1 overall seed after closing the regular season strong and dominating the SEC Tournament, including a 19-point win over Texas — another No. 1 seed — in the title game. Instead, the selection committee favored UCLA and South Carolina was the second overall seed.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wasn’t thrilled.
“I will say this. We’re gonna make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard,” Staley said. “If that’s the standard then we can play any schedule and get a No. 1 seed.”
South Carolina had the toughest strength of schedule in the country, but UCLA crushed them when the two teams met in November, which carries a lot of weight.
While the Gamecocks didn’t get the honor of being named the No. 1 overall seed, you can make a case that they got treated like it with their path to the Final Four. No one in their region will scare them, especially considering they already beat Duke (No. 2) and Alabama (No. 5) by double digits this season.
Losers
Notre Dame
Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 in the country a month ago, and seemed like a lock for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they collapsed down the stretch. They lost three of their last five games, including a double-overtime heartbreaker to NC State and an ACC Tournament semifinal to Duke.
Come Sunday, the Fighting Irish were announced as a No. 3 seed in the Birmingham 3 region, while both NC State and Duke received No. 2 seeds. If they had won even one of those matchups, the Fighting Irish would likely have been on the 2-line. To make matters worse, the No. 2 seed in Notre Dame’s region, TCU, has already beaten them this season.
The Fighting Irish can still get to the Final Four, and possibly even win it all, if they can get their star backcourt of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles back on track. Due to their late-season struggles, though, they have a tougher road than they would have liked.
Colorado, James Madison and Virginia Tech
There wasn’t a deep bubble this year, but a few teams were still holding out hope that they would hear their name called on Sunday evening. Perhaps most notably, Colorado, Virginia Tech and James Madison did not receive good news.
- Colorado (Big 12): 20-12, NET 58, SOS 53
CBS Sports bracketologist Connor Groel had the Buffaloes as the last team in on his final bracket on Sunday afternoon, but it was not to be. Colorado had some impressive wins over the likes of West Virginia and Kansas State, and even made a run to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, but that was not enough to overcome their poor close to the season in which they lost six of their final 10 games.
- James Madison (Sun Belt): 28-5, NET 55, SOS 105
The Dukes went undefeated in Sun Belt regular season play but were stunned in overtime by Arkansas State in the conference’s tournament title game. With 28 wins to their name there was a slim chance that they could still sneak in as an at-large selection, but the committee was unable to overlook their poor strength of schedule.
- Virginia Tech (ACC): 18-12, NET 46, SOS 47
Despite a devastating offseason in which they lost coach Kenny Brooks and star players Georgia Amoore, Elizabeth Kitley and Clara Strack, the Hokies put together a solid campaign. They were just 3-8 against other tournament teams, though, and ultimately that’s not good enough, especially when all but one of those defeats was by double digits.
