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.

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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

Last Four Byes

Last Four In

First Four Out

Next Four Out

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

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 noncompeting 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.

ESPN

Bracket Watch

Top Overall Seed

First Team Out

Last Team In

On the Bubble

Last Four Byes

Last Four In

First Four Out

Next Four Out

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

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