Joe's 2025 Bracket (Women)

Even without Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese, there will be plenty of star power in this year's NCAA Women's Tournament.  Juju Watkins, Paige Bueckers, Flau'Jae Johnson, Hailey Van Lith to name just a few.  It isn't just the players, either.  We normally go into March Madness with one dominant team that's the overwhelming favorite for the National Championship.  That's not the case this year.  There's at least half a dozen teams who could make a legitimate argument for cutting down the nets in Tampa.

There isn't even a clear cut No. 1 overall seed.  Will it be South Carolina, which is 30-3 and won the SEC Tournament?  Will it be UCLA, which finally got the better of rival USC in the Big Ten Final (that will never not feel weird) and is 30-2 on the season?  It's safe to say that the Gamecocks and Bruins will each get a 1-seed and USC will, too.  But who'll get the fourth one?  UConn or Texas?

It'll be very interesting to see what the committee does with that fourth 1-seed.  They both have a valid argument for it.  UConn has been ranked near the top all season, their only losses have come to ranked opponents, and they crushed South Carolina by 30 on the road.  Texas, meanwhile, has three losses.  Two of them are to South Carolina, including the SEC Championship Game.  And the SEC was a much better conference than the Big East this season.  Will that be taken into account?  (If it goes to Texas, it would be the SEC and Big Ten with two 1-seeds each.)

Ultimately, which one is the 1-seed and which is the 2-seed probably won't matter that much.  They'll be No. 4 and 5 overall, so that means they'll likely be in the same region and set up to face each other in a regional final.  And, since UCLA and USC will both go out West, it's a lock that UConn and Texas will join South Carolina in the Birmingham Regionals.  (I still think this two Regional thing is beyond stupid.)

As for who'll get the No. 1 overall seed, I think that's between UCLA and South Carolina.  It matters, too, because whoever's No. 2 overall will be on the same side of the bracket as USC, which will almost certainly be No. 3 overall.  It's splitting hairs, but I went with UCLA because of the top-to-bottom quality of the Big Ten, as well as the fact that the only team they've lost to all season is USC (twice).  South Carolina, as I noted earlier, got its butt kicked at home by UConn and has a head-to-head loss to UCLA.

The rest of the bracket is a little tricker to figure out.  For all the talk about how good the SEC has been on the men's side this season, the SEC women have been just as good.  So has the Big Ten!  Between the two of them, the supersized leagues could account for more than half of the at-large bids.  And let's not forget how good the ACC is at the top, too.  Duke, NC State and Notre Dame are all looking at either a 2- or 3-seed.

All those SEC and Big Ten teams do create a bit of a problem, though.  Trying to avoid having them play each other before the Sweet 16 is a bit of a challenge.  Never fear, though!  I was able to make it work!  Even with 12 Big Ten teams in the field, I managed to set it up where each Regional has three.  The SEC and ACC weren't as hard since they had fewer teams in my projected field.  Still, though, with more than eight from a conference, you have to put three in a Region somewhere.

In total, I've got 31 teams, including 28 of the 37 at-large bids, from either the Big Ten (12), SEC (10) or ACC (9).  That doesn't leave much for anybody else, and I haven't even talked about the Big 12 and its seven teams yet.  Which leaves a grand total of three at-large bids, one of which goes to a Richmond team that had its 17-game winning streak snapped in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.  Creighton gets another, giving the Big East two teams, both of which are ranked.  So, now there's only one at-large bid remaining.

And that bid goes to...Harvard!  That's right.  Back-to-back years with multiple bids from the Ivy League.  There's even some talk about Princeton being a potential Tourney team.  If all three were to get in, it would be unprecedented.  It's also crazy to think that there could be more teams from the Ivy League than the Big East in the NCAA Tournament.

I think this is the start of a trend that will become a regular thing.  We're gonna see a lot of SEC and Big Ten (and ACC) Tournament teams moving forward.  One of the direct results of 16-team Power 4 conferences.  Will they get 12-13 regularly?  Maybe not.  But 9-10 year after year certainly seems possible.

Anyway, on to the bracket.  Since I gave UCLA the No. 1 overall seed and UConn the last 1-seed, those two regions (Spokane 1 & Birmingham 4) will meet in the Final Four.  The other Final Four matchup pits Birmingham 2 against Spokane 3.  But, the important thing to know there is that if both 1-seeds advance, it would be South Carolina vs. USC.

Moving the Championship Game to Sunday afternoon on ABC did wonders for the women's tournament.  Sure, Caitlin Clark and Iowa getting there in each of the last two years certainly helped.  But I think there's enough star power to keep that momentum going this season.  Especially since this tournament projects to be more wide open than it's been in quite some time.  It should be fun.  And, with that, the 2025 Joe Bracket (Women).  (*-If a conference hasn't finished its tournament yet, I went with the team I think will win in out of who's left for this mock bracket.)

SPOKANE 1
16-UC Davis/Southern at 1-UCLA (1), 8-Utah vs. 9-Richmond
13-Missouri State at 4-North Carolina, 5-Alabama vs. 12-Fairfield
14-Oregon State at 3-Oklahoma, 6-Florida State vs. 11-Washington/Columbia
15-Vermont at 2-TCU, 7-Louisville vs. 10-Oregon

BIRMINGHAM 4
16-Fairleigh Dickinson at 1-Connecticut (4), 8-Indiana vs. 9-Georgia Tech
13-South Florida at 4-Maryland, 5-Tennessee vs. 12-Green Bay
14-Middle Tennessee at 3-Notre Dame, 6-Mississippi vs. 11-Florida Gulf Coast
15-Arkansas State at 2-Texas, 7-Michigan vs. 10-Iowa State

BIRMINGHAM 2
16-Howard/High Point at 1-South Carolina (2), 8-Creighton vs. 9-Illinois
13-Ball State at 4-Ohio State, 5-Kansas State vs. 12-Grand Canyon
14-Charleston at 3-Kentucky, 6-Iowa vs. 11-George Mason
15-Lehigh at 2-Duke, 7-Oklahoma State vs. 10-Harvard

SPOKANE 3
16-UNC Greensboro at 1-USC (3), 8-Cal vs. 9-Mississippi State
13-Montana State at 4-Baylor, 5-Michigan State vs. 12-San Diego State
14-Stephen F. Austin at 3-LSU, 6-West Virginia vs. 11-Nebraska/Virginia Tech
15-Tennessee Tech at 2-NC State, 7-Vanderbilt vs. 10-South Dakota State