For the first time in a long time, there are at least a half-dozen teams across the country that could legitimately win the women's NCAA Tournament.
Defending champion South Carolina leads the way once again in March Madness. Unlike last season, when the Gamecocks finished off an undefeated season with a national title, this group has three losses heading into the NCAAs. One came early in the year to UCLA, which only lost twice this season — both to crosstown rival Southern California and star guard JuJu Watkins in the regular season. UCLA topped the Trojans for the Big Ten title.
Notre Dame, Texas and UConn also have a good shot at winning the national championship. South Carolina is a slight favorite over UConn to repeat, according to BetMGM Sportsbook going into the weekend.
All six teams' chances could come down to where they fall in the bracket that the NCAA will reveal Sunday night.
The path for all won't be easy: This year there’s more parity in the sport. This NCAA Tournament will be only the second one in the past 19 years to have no teams entering March Madness with zero or one loss. The other time was in 2022.
Payout time
For the first time in NCAA history, there will be a financial incentive for women's teams. They will finally paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament just like the men have for years.
So-called performance units, which represent revenue, will be given to women’s teams for each win they get. A team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards.
This comes a year after the women's championship game that saw South Carolina beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa do better TV ratings then the men's title game.
Tournament sites
The top 16 seeds in the 68-team field will host first- and second-round games, with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the third straight year. Spokane, Washington, will host half of the Sweet 16 and Birmingham, Alabama, will host the other eight teams.
The Final Four will be played in Tampa, Florida, on April 4, and the championship game is two days later.
Tournament tidbits
One team that wasn't expected to make the field is Stanford, which would end the Cardinal's 36-year streak of playing in the NCAA Tournament. It would be the first time since 1987 that Stanford hasn't played in the NCAAs.
While that streak is likely to end, Tennessee will continue its NCAA Tournament run of appearing every year in the field since the first NCAA Tournament in 1982.
