Waaaaay to early Bracketology ... and a look back

[BRS24]

CC is back

Women's Bracketology: First look at 2026 has familiar teams on top line

South Carolina, UConn, UCLA and Texas are the No. 1 seeds in our first projection of the 2026 bracket.

www.espn.com

Change was everywhere this past season as college basketball moved to 31 conferences and a Power 4. Two leagues put at least 10 teams in the NCAA tournament, and units were finally paid to conferences for success in March Madness. But calm should reign in 2025-26. Players are still transferring and changing schools at breakneck speed, but the system will stay consistent for one more year (until the Pac-12 comes back to life for 2026-27, returning the tournament to 32 automatic bids). The 2026 Final Four shifts west to Phoenix, with regionals being played in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California.​

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Anticipate consistency among many of the best teams, too. The top four seeds in our initial look at the 2026 NCAA bracket are the same that reached the Final Four three weeks ago. Despite each losing important personnel, South Carolina, UConn, UCLA and Texas will head into next season as the favorites. Much of next year also depends on the status of JuJu Watkins, whose ACL injury was a huge blow to USC in this NCAA tournament but also greatly impacts the Trojans' outlook for next season. The Big Ten once again projects to have the most bids, but the SEC should carry the most quality at the top. Five SEC schools are either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in this projection, and seven are in the top 16.​

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Big Ten - 12
SEC - 9
ACC - 9
Big 12 - 6
Big East - 3 (UConn, Marquette, Villanova)
Atlantic 10 - 2
Ivy League - 2 (Princeton, Columbia)

This is how it started a year ago, and how it ended. Baylor and Ohio St jumped in, out, and in, WVU, Louisville, KSU early ins. Final ins - Kentucky, Maryland, and TCU,

 

[BRS24]

And for those of you that followed along my insane posts of (almost) every bracketology update, here's a look at the whole season, from WTE picks, projections from CC, HHS, NCAA reveals, the final 16, and what happened in the tourney. The graphic would have been waaaaay too long, so here it is as a PDF.