WTE Bracketology - ESPN (5/1)

[BRS24]

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

12 days later than last year. Lets see if I can keep the region headers straight this year

Not sure about the top conferences' bids here, but long road ahead.
SEC - 11
ACC - 9
Big Ten - 9
Big 12 - 9
Big East - 2
Atlantic 10 - 2

Other notables -
Creighton - #5 Spokane 2
Vanderbilt - #8 Spokane 4
Gonzaga - #12 Spokane 4
Maryland - #7 Birmingham #3
Tennessee - First Four Out

 

[Bone Dog]

Interesting. Does this mean Charlie has UConn as #4 on the S-curve? And ND as #2? Those wouldn't be unreasonable predictions, and I'm optimistic about ND this year, though they need a big maybe more than we do.

 

[Urshurak]

Creighton #5? Not sure what that is based on. They lost a big piece of their roster with the transfer of Emma Ronsiek.

 

[rvwsleep]

11 SEC teams in but no Tennessee.

 

[cuzinvinny]

way way way early for me to worry about this, see ya in Sept...

 

[Kaizen]

Not sure ND is so good and Tennessee is not even in the list.

 

[Bigboote]

way way way early for me to worry about this, see ya in Sept...

Maybe you can trademark “Way way way too early bracketology”?

 

[browns]

Interesting. Does this mean Charlie has UConn as #4 on the S-curve? And ND as #2? Those wouldn't be unreasonable predictions, and I'm optimistic about ND this year, though they need a big maybe more than we do.

ND has the 6'4" Koval coming... the #1 ranked post player

 

[donalddoowop]

Not sure ND is so good and Tennessee is not even in the list.

Kaizen, I believe ND will be very good next season if Miles is completely healed. Take a look at their roster and tell me what you think.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Interesting. Does this mean Charlie has UConn as #4 on the S-curve? And ND as #2? Those wouldn't be unreasonable predictions, and I'm optimistic about ND this year, though they need a big maybe more than we do.

I believe Spokane 4 means uNd is #4, and Birmingham 3 means Charlie has UConn as #3 on the S-curve with Texas as the #6 (#2 in Birmingham 3)...

Hope that helps.

 

[Bone Dog]

I believe Spokane 4 means uNd is #4, and Birmingham 3 means Charlie has UConn as #3 on the S-curve with Texas as the #6 (#2 in Birmingham 3)...

Hope that helps.

Good catch. I missed that.

 

[Rowdy831]

Two starters are off to the WNBA which makes room for a couple starters but if everyone is healthy next year players that started last season will be fighting to get on the court next season. UConn is the only team with 3 number 1 recruits on their team and almost every other player was a top 12 or better recruit. They are absolutely loaded and if healthy will dominate almost everyone.

The if for that team is "if" they find a player that can play the 4. Not having players in the proper positions last year was what ultimately undid them in the loses. Can Ice build on her finish and come back with more confidence and tenacity? Will Ayanna come back from her injury the same player she was without the pain? One of those two can hold down the 4 then this team will be tough to beat.

 

[broooce]

Lynn Holzman of the NCAA says they may review the two regional site format given the problems and complaints from coaches. I hope they go back to four regional sites next year, Birmingham and Spokane are far from CT.

 

[ucbart]

Lynn Holzman of the NCAA says they may review the two regional site format given the problems and complaints from coaches. I hope they go back to four regional sites next year, Birmingham and Spokane are far from CT.

They need to, especially with this new wave of WBB popularity. I get why they went to a 2-site format, and I get that these cities are probably the only ones that bid to host, but this is rough on many levels. These two places are very hard for fans to get to. Not having a regional somewhere on the east coast or in the NE, is just a disaster.

 

[yhun89]

Interesting. Does this mean Charlie has UConn as #4 on the S-curve? And ND as #2? Those wouldn't be unreasonable predictions, and I'm optimistic about ND this year, though they need a big maybe more than we do.

They have Kate Koval who’s #4-5 in the class coming in.

 

[Bills Fan]

Not sure ND is so good and Tennessee is not even in the list.

I'm not an ND fan at all they look pretty good on paper. I don't know the correct names/spellings of their top players, but any team with Miles, Hildago, Westbend, Citron and Koval (the #1 post player in the 2024 recruit rankings) should be pretty good. The ND problem could be their depth and Koval is the only top 100 recruit they are bringing in. They also need to worry about the Miles injury return, much like us with Azzi.

By the time the final seedings are done, ND might be a #2 seed. As we found out the last 2 years, lack of depth can cause problems at the end of the season. In my WTE bracket, I have USC, So. Cal and UCONN as clear #1's with TX or UCLA fighting for the remaining top line.