2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

The 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament will involve 68 teams in a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 44th edition of the tournament will begin on March 18, 2026, with the First Four, and will conclude with the championship game on April 5, at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.^[1]

CAA Champion Charleston will make their NCAA tournament debut.

Atlantic 10 champion Rhode Island will make its second-ever appearance and its first since 1996. MAC champion Miami (OH) will make its second-ever appearance and its first since 2008. American champion UTSA will make its third-ever appearance and its first time since 2009. Southern champion Samford will make its third-ever appearance, its first since 2012. Atlantic Sun champion Jacksonville will make its third-ever appearance, its first since 2016. Ohio Valley champion Western Illinois will make its third-ever appearance, its first since 2017.

A total of 68 teams will participate in the 2026 tournament, consisting of the 31 conference champions, and 37 "at-large" bids that will be determined by the NCAA Selection Committee. The last four at-large teams and teams seeded 65 through 68 overall will compete in First Four games, whose winners advance to the 64-team first round.^[2]

The top 16 seeds will host the First Four, first round, and second round at their home arenas. In a procedural change, the top 16 seeds were announced in alphabetical order on Saturday, March 15 ahead of the full bracket reveal on Sunday, March 16. This was done to give host sites more time to prepare and organize the logistics required to host. ^{[3] [4]}

First Four

• March 18 and 19
  • Moody Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)
  • Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke University)
  • Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
  • Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)

Subregionals (First and Second Rounds)

• March 20 and 22 (Fri/Sun)
  • Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma (Host: University of Oklahoma)
  • Schollmaier Arena, Fort Worth, Texas (Host: Texas Christian University)
  • Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
  • Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina (Host: Duke University)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • Moody Center, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas at Austin)
  • Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Host: University of Michigan)

• March 21 and 23 (Sat/Mon)
  • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut (Host: University of Connecticut)
  • Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)
  • Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee (Host: Vanderbilt University)
  • Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina (Host: University of South Carolina)
  • Carver–Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa (Host: University of Iowa)
  • Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles)
  • Hope Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia (Host: West Virginia University)
  • KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)^[5]

• March 27–30
  • Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas (Host: Texas Christian University)
  • Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California (Host: California State University, Sacramento)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four and Championship)^[5]

• April 3 and 5
  • Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

Phoenix is scheduled to host the women's Final Four for the first time.^[6]

Teams who won their conference championships (31) automatically qualify.

The tournament seeds and regions are determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and will be published by the selection committee after the brackets are released in March.

*See First Four
Source:

All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4). Games on ESPN ABC, ESPN2, and ESPNU are also on ESPN+.

The First Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the top overall top seed's region (TBD, TBD Region) plays against the champion of the fourth-ranked top seed's region (TBD, TBD Region), and the champion of the second overall top seed's region (TBD, TBD Region) plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region (TBD, TBD Region).

Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team."^[7]

• Cara Seggie, Timothy Bryant, Doug Knight

• The R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the round of 64 (second round), round of 32 (third round), Sweet 16 and Elite Eight (regional semifinals and finals), Final Four and championship game (national semifinal and final), and national champion, respectively.
• The "Record" column includes wins in the first round (First Four) for TBD.
• The "Record" column also includes losses in the first round (First Four) for TBD and TBD.
• The TBD and TBD each had one representative, eliminated in the first round with a record of 0–1.
• The TBD each had one representative, eliminated in the second round with a record of 0–1.

ESPN has the rights to broadcast each of the games in the tournament across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, and ABC. For the fourth consecutive season, the national championship game will air on ABC.^[8][9]

• Christine Williamson (host) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
• Kelsey Riggs Cuff (host) (first/second rounds and regionals)
• Andraya Carter (analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Chiney Ogwumike (analyst) (first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship)
• Muffet McGraw (analyst) (first/second rounds and regionals)
• Meghan McKeown (analyst) (first/second rounds and regionals)
• Dee Kantner (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, regionals, Final Four, and national championship)
• Violet Palmer (rules analyst) (first four, first/second rounds, and regionals)

Westwood One will serve as radio broadcaster of the tournament.

Regional semifinals and final (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

• Nate Gatter and Kim Adams – Fort Worth, Texas 1
• Sam Neidermann and Debbie Antonelli – Sacramento, California 4
• Lance Medow and Mary Murphy – Sacramento, California 2
• Danny Reed and Isis Young – Fort Worth, Texas 3

National semifinal and finals (Final Four and National Championship)

• Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli, and Ros Gold-Onwude – Phoenix, Arizona

(#) Tournament seedings and region in parentheses.

• 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2026 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 2026 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 2026 NAIA women's basketball tournament
• 2026 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament
• 2026 Women's National Invitation Tournament