2026 American Conference women's basketball tournament
| 2026 American Conference women's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2025–26 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Site | Legacy Arena Birmingham, Alabama |
| Champions | UTSA (1st title) |
| Winning coach | Karen Aston (1st title) |
| Television | ESPN+, ESPNU |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rice | 17 | – | 1 | .944 | 29 | – | 5 | .853 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| East Carolina | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 22 | – | 10 | .688 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 20 | – | 12 | .625 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tulsa | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 19 | – | 12 | .613 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Texas | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 19 | – | 14 | .576 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTSA † | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 18 | – | 15 | .545 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temple | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 15 | – | 17 | .469 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 14 | – | 18 | .438 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida Atlantic | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 14 | – | 18 | .438 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tulane | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 11 | – | 20 | .355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 8 | – | 23 | .258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UAB | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 11 | – | 19 | .367 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Memphis | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 10 | – | 21 | .323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2026 American tournament winner As of March 19, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2026 American Conference women's basketball tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the American Conference for the 2025–26 season. It was held from March 10-14, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama for the first time in history.[1][2] UTSA received the conference's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament.
This was the first conference tournament under the American Conference name. In July 2025, the conference dropped the word "Athletic" from its name, as a result renaming itself the American Conference.[3]
No. 6 seed UTSA defeated regular season champion Rice 54–40 in the championship game, earning them their first conference title in program history and sending them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. They beat No. 3 seed South Florida and No. 2 seed East Carolina on the way to the title, becoming the first team to beat all of the top 3 teams in tournament history.
Seeds
Only the top ten conference teams qualify to participate in the tournament.[4] Teams will be seeded by conference record. The conference adopted a stepladder format for the tournament, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the semifinals, the third and fourth seeds to the quarterfinals, and so on.[5]
Tiebreakers may be applied as needed to properly seed the teams.
| Seed | School | AC Record | Tiebreaker | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rice #‡ | 17–1 | |||
| 2 | East Carolina ‡ | 14–4 | |||
| 3 | South Florida † | 13–5 | |||
| 4 | Tulsa † | 11–7 | 1–0 vs. North Texas | ||
| 5 | North Texas | 11–7 | 0–1 vs. Tulsa | ||
| 6 | UTSA | 9–9 | |||
| 7 | Temple | 8–10 | 2–0 vs. Charlotte | ||
| 8 | Charlotte | 8–10 | 0–2 vs. Temple | ||
| 9 | Florida Atlantic | 7–11 | |||
| 10 | Tulane | 6–12 | |||
| DNQ | Wichita State | 5–13 | |||
| DNQ | UAB | 4–14 | 2–0 vs. Memphis | ||
| DNQ | Memphis | 4–14 | 0–2 vs. UAB | ||
| # – American regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. ‡ – Received a bye to the semifinals in the conference tournament. † – Received a bye to the quarterfinals in the conference tournament. | |||||
Schedule
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Tuesday, March 10 | |||||
| 1 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 8 Charlotte vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic | 70–74OT | ESPN+ | |
| 2 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 7 Temple vs No. 10 Tulane | 86–77OT | ||
| Second round – Wednesday, March 11 | |||||
| 3 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 5 North Texas vs No. 9 Florida Atlantic | 80–57 | ESPN+ | |
| 4 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 6 UTSA vs. No. 7 Temple | 59–51 | ||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 12 | |||||
| 5 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 4 Tulsa vs. No. 5 North Texas | 73–76 | ESPN+ | |
| 6 | 2:00 pm | No. 3 South Florida vs. No. 6 UTSA | 51–62 | ||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 13 | |||||
| 7 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 1 Rice vs. No. 5 North Texas | 71–67 | ESPN+ | |
| 8 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 2 East Carolina vs. No. 6 UTSA | 44–54 | ||
| Championship – Saturday, March 14 | |||||
| 9 | 8:30 p.m. | No. 1 Rice vs. No. 6 UTSA | 40–54 | ESPNU | |
| *Game times in CT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding. | |||||
Bracket
| First round Tuesday, March 10 | Second round Wednesday, March 11 | Quarterfinals Thursday, March 12 | Semifinals Friday, March 13 | Championship Saturday, March 14 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Rice | 71 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Tulsa | 73 | 5 | North Texas | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | North Texas | 80 | 5 | North Texas | 76 | 1 | Rice | 40 | |||||||||||||||
| 8 | Charlotte | 70 | 9 | Florida Atlantic | 57 | 6 | UTSA | 54 | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | Florida Atlantic | 74* | 2 | East Carolina | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | South Florida | 51 | 6 | UTSA | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | UTSA | 60 | 6 | UTSA | 62 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Temple | 86* | 7 | Temple | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Tulane | 77 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Source:[6]
* denotes overtime period
See also
References
- ^ "2026 American Women's Basketball Championship - American Conference". theamerican.org. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
- ^ Ashworth, Thomas (May 30, 2025). "Birmingham set to host American Athletic Conference basketball tournaments in 2026". al. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- ^ Writer, Brett Vito Staff (July 21, 2025). "American Athletic Conference rebrands, switching to just American Conference". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- ^ Writer, Brett Vito Staff (July 30, 2025). "American Conference set to move to 10-team basketball tournaments". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
- ^ "Basketball Tiebreakers" (PDF). American Conference. SIDEARM Sports. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
- ^ "2026 WBB Championship Bracket (PDF) - American Conference" (PDF). theamerican.org. Retrieved January 7, 2026.