Power conferences crown tournament champs in NCAA women’s basketball

March 10, 2025

We’re still six long days from Selection Sunday, but March is already March-ing with a handful of NCAA women’s basketball conference tournament winners crowned over the weekend, securing automatic bids to the 68-team national tournament in the process.

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Power conferences crown tournament champs in NCAA women’s basketball

Source: UCLA Bruins

The GIST: We’re still six long days from Selection Sunday, but March is already March-ing with a handful of NCAA women’s basketball conference tournament winners crowned over the weekend, securing automatic bids to the 68-team national tournament in the process.

This year’s national champ will likely come from the Power Four (the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC) or the Big East, who will lock in their auto-bid when No. 3 UConn takes on Creighton tonight.

Favorites won the rest of the titles…with one massive exception.

Decisive top-5 wins in SEC and Big Ten: Reigning national champ No. 5 South Carolina and conference newcomer No. 1 Texas were neck-and-neck heading into the SEC tourney — they even had to determine the top seed via coin flip. But the Gamecocks proved they’re still the team to beat in this cutthroat conference, demolishing the Longhorns 64–45 yesterday. Another one, thank you.

And in the Battle for LA, Round Three, No. 4 UCLA beat No. 2 USC where it counts: 72–67 in the Big Ten tournament title game, despite a game-high 29 points from JuJu Watkins. A March Madness auto-bid and revenge against your crosstown rival? Doesn’t get better than that.

No. 6 Notre Dame digs a deeper hole: The once-hot Fighting Irish are stumbling into the postseason, most recently falling to eventual conference title winners No. 11 Duke in the ACC tourney semifinals. ND seemed like a lock for a Big Dance No. 1 seed a month ago; now, their place in the national bracket is as uncertain as the second half of The White Lotus season 3.

Wooden Award announces PoY ballot: The 15-woman list for one of the sport’s highest individual honors is crammed with talent, but aforementioned USC sophomore guard Watkins is the undeniable frontrunner.

That said, momentum is everything in March, and a hot streak on the national stage could catapult big names like UConn’s Paige Bueckers, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, UCLA’s Lauren Betts, or Texas’ Madison Booker. Stay tuned.