Charlie Creme picks every game of the 2026 women's NCAA tournament, from First Four to Final Four.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley describes how she's getting her team ready for a run in the NCAA tournament. After 4½ months of predicting which teams would make up the 2026 women's NCAA tournament field, we're no longer projecting which teams are in the bracket.
It's time to pick the winners for every game in it. Put down the pencil. This exercise is about your brain and gut working as one and going with your first instinct. Make a pick. Move teams along. Don't look back. I made these picks without hesitation: Read the matchup, made a quick assessment and selected a winner. That's an instant bracket. A season's worth of slowly consumed basketball knowledge now explodes onto a blank bracket. Here are my picks for every game of the 2026 women's NCAA tournament.No. 6 Notre Dame 60, No. 3 Ohio State 58Why Chiney eyes potential UConn-Vandy collision in Regional 1 Chiney Ogwumike, Andraya Carter and Rebecca Lobo detail the potential Regional 1 matchup between UConn and Vanderbilt.UConn should not have much resistance in reaching the Elite Eight and is playing teams that its No. 1-rated defense can feast upon. What's intriguing here is a possible regional final matchup with Vanderbilt, which would pit Geno Auriemma against his former UConn player and assistant coach Shea Ralph. Along with sophomoreElsewhere, Maryland could be pushed by Murray State in the first round. The Racers like to play fast and are the fifth-highest-scoring team in the country. Injuries have hampered the Terps' depth, and playing an up-tempo game for 40 minutes could be a challenge.No. 3 Duke 68, No. 6 Baylor 52On Dec. 4, LSU beat Duke 93-77. They are headed on a regional semifinal collision course. I went with LSU again, but the game will be much closer and could come down to a possession or two. The Tigers have lost a few of those close games this season. This is one they get. Of course, that would likely set up a game against UCLA for a right to go to the Final Four. The Bruins won't miss on that opportunity and will take care of LSU in the regional final. Ole Miss and Minnesota in a potential second-round game is interesting. The Rebels wanted to host opening-round games. Instead, they must travel to Big Ten country for the chance to get to a second straight Sweet 16. The Gophers might have been the most overlooked team in the nation this season. They won't be anymore, and Minnesota advances in that game. Villanova won't have enough to beat LSU in the second round, but the Wildcats are a prime first-round upset pick against Texas Tech, which is in its first NCAA tournament since 2013.No. 5 Kentucky 72, No. 4 West Virginia 68ELITE EIGHT PICKIf any of the top seeds is going to have an issue getting to the Final Four, it might be Texas. Louisville is a potential problem matchup for the Longhorns in the Elite Eight because of the Cardinals' versatility on offense. There is no one player to key on with Louisville, and it also has the guard quickness to combat the Longhorns' defense. Of course, a potential Louisville vs. Michigan game a round earlier could also be an instant classic. Louisville is the sneaky team in this region. Put Texas through to Phoenix, but keep an eye on the Cardinals. Tennessee vs. NC State in the opening round pits two teams who slumped badly toward the end of the season. Now, each has a chance at redemption. Tennessee has never entered the NCAA tournament with a worse record, but this is a game the Lady Vols can win. If a double-digit seed is going to advance out of the first round, go with Rhode Island. I have Alabama in a close one, but the Rams play topflight defense and have veterans. They will give the Crimson Tide fits.No. 3 TCU 80, No. 6 Washington 61Not only does South Carolina reach the Final Four, but the Gamecocks also get to exact some revenge on the one SEC team that beat them in the regular season. This time the game won't be in Norman, and South Carolina will dispatch Oklahoma routinely. A potential TCU-Iowa matchup in the regional semifinals could be the game of the region. It's the Big 12 regular-season champ against the Big Ten's second-best team.can have a big game against another team that likes to play fast. But the Horned Frogs won't have enough left in the tank against South Carolina. This isn't the best South Dakota State team to enter the NCAA tournament in recent years, but the Jackrabbits should still give Washington all it can handle in Round 1. The Huskies survive, though.UCLA lost one game all season, and it was back in November to Texas. The Bruins have another chance at the Longhorns, this time with bigger stakes. In that first meeting, UCLA made just 4 of 13 3-pointers. The Bruins are the sixth-most-accurate 3-point shooting team in the country. This will be the difference in the game. Texas ranks lastin 3-point rate. The teams are very different now, and the outcome will be as well. UCLA gets over the hump to the championship game, the program's first in the NCAA era. UConn and South Carolina meet a round earlier than last season in a rematch of the 2025 title game. This time it will be much closer than the Huskies' 82-59 blowout of the Gamecocks a year ago -- but the end result will be the same. Just like she was in that title game a year ago,will be a matchup problem for the Gamecocks. Strong had 24 points and 15 rebounds in that one. Expect something similar from the likely national player of the year.It's hard to pick against UConn in a national title game. Strong will be a matchup problem for UCLA, too, and if 3-point shooting is what gets UCLA to this point, the Bruins will meet their match in this game. UConn is the most accurate 3-point shooting team in the country, led by Azzi Fudd at 44.6% accuracy. The Huskies' top-rated defense will help them combat the length that UCLA has with
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